Showing posts with label tree motif. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tree motif. Show all posts

Friday, January 31, 2025

Pine Tree & Snowflake Crackle Bookmarks

I had a yard-long warp and managed to weave three pine tree and snowball snowflake bookmarks. Atwater and Snyder called them snowballs, but I changed the name to snowflake because, as you can see, mine aren't solid like their diagrams. 

Fresh off the loom in the order woven (left to right). The middle bookmark is backside up.

Particulars

  • Pattern: Mary Snyder, The Crackle Weave (1961 edition) page 24, which was based on Mary Meigs Atwater's The Recipe Book Series I, Recipe No. 12.
  • Structure: 4-shaft crackle weave
  • Yarns (all cotton):
    • Warp: 20/2 cotton warp in light blue
    • Tabby weft: same as warp
    • Pattern weft: 
      • for the two on the left I used 6/2 in dark green and white
      • 10/2 for the one on the right I used 10/2 in medium green and natural
  • Warp ends: 100
  • Sett: 44 e.p.i.
  • Sley: 3-4-4 in a 12-dent reed
  • Threading: 
  • Treadling: ad lib

Notes and Observations
  • There wasn't a treadling draft so I experimented.
  • I also experimented with yarn weights and colors.
  • Of the pattern yarns, I like the heavier 6/2 better.
    • It made a firmer fabric, which would be more suitable for a table runner.
    • It made the pattern stand out more
  • I had a couple of warp yarn breakages, some of which I didn't fix because the sett crams the heddles so close together, making it difficult to rethread them. 
This was a good project and I gleaned good information for a possible future table runner in an adaptation of Atwater's coverlet pattern.

Pine Tree & Snowball Bookmarks: Planning
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Monday, January 13, 2025

Pine Tree & Snowball Bookmarks: Problem Corrected

 Well, I got my setback sorted out. Turns out I needed to add 13 more warp ends to complete the threading pattern. Rather than unwind the warp and start over, just rethreaded the heddles from where the mistake was, and then weighted the additional warp bout in back. 


I don't know if it was lazy of me to do it that way, but it was certainly easier!

Then I tested out the sheds to make sure the pattern was symmetrical and now I've got it. 


Liftplan from the bottom:
1. Shafts 3-4
2. Shafts 1-3
3. Shafts 1-2
4. Shafts 2-3

Last time, I mentioned that there are no treadling instructions for the bookmark, so this gave me an idea of which sheds I need for the pine trees and snowballs. It appears that I'll only need sheds 3 (shafts 1-2) and 4 (shafts 2-3) for these, and shed 1 (shafts 3-4) for the squares between the motifs on the selvedges. 

I'm referring to sheds rather than treadles because this is a direct-tie table loom that requires a liftplan instead of a treadle tie-up. It I did have treadles to tie up, the numbers (1, 2, 3, 4) would refer to the treadles.

Now I can get started on weaving some bookmarks.

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Friday, January 10, 2025

Pine Tree & Snowball Bookmarks: Setback

There was no treading draft for this pattern, so I began my weaving with a bit of experimentation to see what all the sheds did.


The bottom row is sheds 1, 2, 3, 4 consecutively for several rows, then moving up are rows for each shed, repeated with tabby in between the pattern picks. The pattern is supposed to be symmetrical from selvedge to selvedge, but as you can see, two of the sheds (B and C), are not. That, plus a threading error smack dab in the middle. 

I loosened the tension and tried to check the threading in the heddles, but it's too crammed to make an easy job of that. So I cut the warp right above the sample, removed the beater, and am making a more careful check. 

I figured it could be one of two things:
  • threading draft error
  • miscounting on my part

What I discovered, is that I had the wrong number of warp ends. I knew from Lucy Brusic (A Crackle Weave Companion) that Snyder's book contains some errors. But I could see that the threading draft was correct, so my next step was to count the warp ends in the draft. 


The instructions (The Crackle Weave, 1961 edition, page 24) called for 88 ends. Yet the draft counts out to 112, including selvedges and incidentals. In checking Syder's 1989 revised edition, I saw that the bookmark width and number of ends was omitted. So someone must have caught the error and omitted it, but it would have been helpful to indicate the correct number of ends required. 

So, mystery solved, but I'll have to add 24 more ends to the warp and rethread to correct that error in the middle of the warp. Fortunately it's a short warp and so should be doable. 

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Monday, January 06, 2025

Pine Tree & Snowball Bookmarks: Planning

In my project planning post, I mentioned that I want to weave a pine tree and snowball table runner. For it, I'm thinking of adapting a coverlet pattern from Mary Meigs Atwater's Recipe Book.

Mary Meigs Atwater, The Recipe Book,
Series I, "Coverlets," Recipe No. 12.

It's a complicated pattern, however, and I've learned that the threading drafts in that book don't always jive with the image. Happily, Mary Snyder adapted the Atwater draft for bookmarks.

Mary Snyder, The Crackle Weave page 24, 1961 edition

Starting with this will give me a chance to better understand the threading and treadling, before tackling the larger project. Plus, I'm thinking that having a selection of bookmarks on hand will be nice for little gifts as needed.

Snyder has some good suggestions for yarn colors too, although the bookmarks call for a much finer yarn than I will use for a table runner. The bookmark call for 20/2 cotton warp at 44 e.p.i. With my 12-dent reed, I will sley it 3-4-4. Tabby weft is the same yarn as the warp. The pattern weft is heavier, so I'm going to start with 10/2s . My color choices are medium blue for the warp and tabby, white weft for the snowballs, and green for the pine trees.

Not the best representation of the green. Hopefully, it will look
more accurate when I photograph the bookmarks in progress.

I haven't decided about the little squares that separate the motifs. Maybe a red to give them a Christmasy look? Or black or blue? I'll have to experiment.

Currently, the loom is being threaded, so weaving will begin soon.


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