Leigh's Fiber Journal
Sunday, July 06, 2025
Big & Little Brother Blankets: Design Ideas
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Big & Little Brother Blankets: Planning Problems
So the actual yarn turned out to be finer than I anticipated, more like sport weight than a worsted weight knitting yarn (terms they don't use any more).
Worsted weight works well at 8 ends per inch, but I will need a higher sett for finer yarn. Since I bought all they had of the colors I chose, I need to do some calculating to decide what to do.
Wraps per inch was 14. I found some helpful charts at The Woolery website, that classified it as sportweight or fine yarn and suggested a sett of 10 dents per inch. So I need to recalculate.
Monday, June 23, 2025
Big & Little Brother Blankets
This is a project I've had in mind for my grandsons. The "big" brother is 3 years old and the little brother is 1 month old. I doubt either one will actually appreciate the gesture, but a handwoven gift from their grandmother is something I want to do! And with the Glimakra set up with a new treadle tie-up system, I'm anxious to see how that goes.
I've done my yarn calculations a bit backwards. Rather than start with a finished size, I'm starting with an on-loom size. I have an idea of the draw-in and shrinkages, and the final size really isn't technical; in the ball park baby blanket size will do.
- on-loom width: 40 inches
- sett: 8 e.p.i.
- on-loom length: 40 inches
- crochet edges so no fringe: 3-4 inches between blankets
- loom waste: 28 inches (I'm never sure about this with the Glimakra)
- Total warp yardage: 2960 yards
- length for each blanket will be same as width, 40 inches
- on-loom width 40 inches x 8 p.p.i. = 320 inches for 1 inch of fabric
- on-loom project length: 80 inches
- 320 x 80 = 25,600 inches = 712 yards
I want to use Hobby Lobby Baby Bee Sweet Delight because it's cuddly soft and washable. And this week it's on sale for 30% off, so now's the time to buy. Hopefully, I can find enough skeins to pull it off.
Sunday, June 08, 2025
Treadle Tie-Up From the Top: Installing the Texsolv Cords
8 bunches of 10 cords each |
This will be the last time I will have to get down on the floor and hunch over to thread the treadles and lamms! Once I'm done, the cords will be a permanent fixture and easy to arrange from the top on a comfortable seat. No more backache!
Each cord is threaded through the bottom of each treadle hole, where the pony bead secures it.
up through the lower lamm holes,
then up through the upper lamm holes, and knotted at the end so they don't slip back down.
Here's what it looks like with all the cords in place.
Next, I need a warp on the loom to try out my new tie-up method. I have a project in mind, but harvest and canning season is heavy upon us. Warping the loom will have to wait until I have some free time.
Treadle Tie-Up From the Top For My Glimakra: Resources
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Treadle Tie-Up From the Top: Preparing the Texsolv Cords
To set up my 8-shaft Glimakra for tying up the treadles from the tops of the lamms, I need 80 lengths of Texsolv cord. The first step was to determine their length.
The measurement from floor to the top of the upper lamm is 23 inches. Then I need to allow for knotting the cord at both top and bottom. Using the Vavstuga idea of securing the cords under the treadles with pony beads . . .
. . . requires about 4 "buttonholes" of cord, which is about 2 inches.
I'll also need to knot the cord at the other end, to keep it from slipping back down through the upper lamm hole. That takes about 1.5 inches. The other option would to be to put a peg into the end buttonhole, which could be moved if the lamm was needed. Anyway, I added 3.5 inches to my measurement of 23 inches. Plus, I need enough cord to grab it and work with it, so it looks like Jean's measurement of 28 inches per cord length sounds about right.
If I make my cord lengths 28 inches, then my 55 yard spool of Texsolv cord will give me 70 lengths. My partial spool gives me 4 more. Scrounging around in my box of Texsolv cord scraps, I found the remaining 6 that I'll need, so I'm good to go!
To measure and cut the cords, I used a board with two finishing nails as a jig.