There's Nothing Like A Little More Fleece....

....... to make a spinner's day! And my day was made with two more bags from Cathy (who seems to have a secret life as a fleece magnet.)

Of course, all new fleece must first pass inspection......

Rascal is quite a fleece lush, so I really have to keep an eye on him when there's raw fleece around.

What do my two bags contain?

This one is full of more Shetland, (yay!). There is both white and black adult fleece, and some fawn lamb. The black is a different texture than the Shetland samples I have been spinning lately, so I am very curious about it. I'm trying to decide whether or not to dye some of the white. I have an idea to do a knitted vest or something in all natural Shetland colors. However, I already have some white, and color is so much more fun to spin than plain white. Well, we'll see.

This second bag contains raw Merino! I'm quite excited about this as I've never worked with raw Merino before, only commercially processed top. It's hard to tell from the photo, but there is both white adult and fawn lamb in the bag.

Now to go put everything up and out of You-Know-Who's way.

© 2007 Leigh's Fiber Journal

New Loom = New Books. Right?

Of course right. I've gotten quite a few excellent suggestions for books to add to my library. Some I've ordered, and others are still on my wish list. Here's what I've gotten so far.

I've already mentioned this book, Tying Up The Countermarch Loom by Joanne Hall. Actually I wish I had gotten it when I first got the loom. It would have been a big help in setting it up for the first time. Even so, it has been invaluable in evaluating and adjusting the shed. That alone has been well worth the purchase price.

Although written for Glimakra looms, this book is helpful for any countermarche loom. Chapters include explanations about both horizontal and vertical countermarches; Texsolv cords, heddles and ties; how to assemble the shafts; how to tie the apron rods, jacks, lamms, and treadles; threading, sleying and tying the warp; and of course, how to evaluate and adjust the shed. In the back of the book is a section on knots; a warp sett chart; a page on metric and English measures and weights; a reed chart; and a glossary. This book can be purchased directly from Glimakra USA, scroll about half way down the page.

Peg recommended this next book to me. It is entitled Eight Shafts: A Place To Begin, by Wanda Jean Shelp and Carolyn Wostenberg. I know this may sound odd, but at this point, I am finding it difficult to think in terms of eight shafts. I think that like a lot of other things, this will come with experience, but to start, I need help. This book is it. Chapter 1 is entitled "A Common Language," and offers explanations of all the basic elements of understanding pattern drafts. It has the best definition of "unit" and "block" that I've read so far. Though most of the material in this chapter was review for me, applying this information to eight shafts has been very helpful.

The rest of the chapters cover specific weave structures with a large selection of drafts for each of them. Included are several chapters on various twills (straight, point, extended point, and twills with breaks), color effects (color-&-weave and shadow weave), crackle, lace (Bronson, huck, and Atwater/Bronson), colonial weaves (twill overshot, even and uneven two tie, and summer & winter), and some miscellaneous weaves (twill blocks and warp faced). Each draft includes the threading, tie-up, and treadling. No drawdowns are included, but photos of the fabrics are offered instead.

I first looked for this book on Amazon.com, but found a better price at Woodland Woolworks. Even though the shipping and handling was higher, it was still a better deal.

The third book is still on order. It is A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns by Carol Strickler. Quite a few people recommended this book so I couldn't resist getting it. I ordered this one from Amazon, on July 2nd. Unfortunately it won't be shipped until sometime between now and the middle of August!

This last book isn't new, but in light of the discussion we've been having about different types of looms and how to adjust them, I can't help but mention it.

Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps by Peggy Osterkamp is the second in her New Guide to Weaving Series. What I've been reading lately, is chapter 9, "Adjusting Looms." In it she explains how the three different types of looms work, and then goes into a lengthy discussion on how to evaluate and adjust jack, counterbalance, and countermarche looms. Very helpful! So much so, that I plan to put another warp on my Schacht Mighty Wolf jack loom and see what I can do to get a better shed and reduce some of the problems I've had with it.

Other chapters include, "Beaming on a Plain Beam," "Threading the Loom and Sleying the Reed," "Tying On," "Tying Up the Treadles" (on both counterbalance and countermarche looms), "Weaving", "Sectional Beaming", "The Automatic Warp Tension System," "The Warping Drum," "Combining Sectional and Plain Beaming." "Two or More Warps," "Designing Random Stripes," and "Knots."

This book can be found on Amazon.com, but again, Woodland Woolworks has the better price.

I'd be very interested in more book suggestions on countermarche looms and 8-shaft weaving. What would you recommend as some of your favorites?

© 2007 Leigh's Fiber Journal

Warping the Glimakra: Blanket Done!

By Leigh

Here it is....

The blanket is complete. After washing it measures 39.5 by 53.5 inches plus 4 inches of fringe at either end. The threading was a straight twill, which meant I simply threaded each shaft in turn, 1 through 8. I treadled from 1 to 8 and back to 1 again, repeating to make the twill zig zags. I used a worsted weight 4-ply knitting yarn sett at 8 ends per inch.

Here is a closer view, so that you can see how the variegated weft yarn turned out.....

Basically, the colors matched up on both edges, but in the center of the blanket, each weft pick is a different color, creating a more speckled effect. The strangest thing to me was the way the zig zags turned out. I expected them to be solid colors from left to right and back again. But look at them .....

Where the zig meets the zag on the lefthand side, two different warp colors are picked up, so that they are not solid lines of color! This was very puzzling because my threading.....

.

... changed color with the first shaft. So I had 1 - 8 in orange, 1 - 8 in green, 1 - 8 in brown, repeat. Obviously I did not do a drawdown!

So I've accomplished something and have something to investigate. (For what I discovered, see Mystery of the Twill Zig Zags.)

Although I have to admit that the colors and overall effect of the blanket are not what I would choose for myself, I am not dissatisfied with it as a first project on my Glimakra loom.

© 18 July 2007 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com

Related Posts:
Twills - The Basics
Warping the Glimakra:
.....Adjusting the Loom With Texsolv
.....Winding On the Warp
.....Threading
.....Tying Up the Treadles
.....The 3 Duhs
.....Adjusting the Shed
Mystery of the Twill Zig Zags

Shetland Update - Sass

Although most of my energy and effort have been directed toward learning and weaving on my new countermarche loom, spinning and knitting have been going on too. For spinning progress, I am pleased to report that I am continuing to work on the Shetland samples Cathy sent me.

The lovely silver sample on the left is from Sass. It is absolutely the softest sample so far. It is a lovely light grey with white tips. Length ranges from 3.5 to 4 inches with 7 crimps per inch. As you can see, the tips are wavy at about 4 per inch. The staples in the scan on the left have already been washed. They are sound, open, and very soft. It is a single coated fleece.

As with the other samples, I drumcarded it to blend the color thoroughly. I seem to have misplaced my sample card at the moment, so I don't recall the measurement of the singles, but the 2-ply yarn is 16 wraps per inch (WPI).

As I take a close look at the yarn, it seems to me that it is the most inconsistent of all the Shetland samples I've spun so far. However, I have found that knitting will hide most of the imperfections. I use to worry about the slubs and inconsistencies in my yarn, and how they would effect a knitted fabric. While I (as spinner and knitter) always find my eye drawn to them, it was quite an eye opener when I once deliberately spun a slubby yarn for knitting. I was dismayed when most of the slubs pretty much disappeared into the final fabric. I realized that to feature the slubs, I needed to make them more pronounced. The little slubs and in consistencies in this yarn will at best, lend a homey, handspun quality to the final garment, considered quite desirable by some.

As spinners, we work hard to produce beautifully consistent yarns. We admire the consistency of other spinners' yarns and apologize for our beginnerish looking attempts. Oddly, a perfectly consistent yarn is often rejected by the nonspinner as being "too perfect." In the eyes of some, it is that handcrafted quality which make the yarn desirable in the first place. How ironic is that!

Thanks to Mabel Ross, I finally realized that my goal as a spinner all boils down to who is in control; me or the fiber? Am I able to achieve the yarn I want, or does the fiber alone dictate the end result. What an eye opener it was to try and spin a thick slubby yarn after working long and hard toward perfecting a consistent fine yarn. I think some of you would agree with me that it is more difficult to spin a consistent thick yarn than a consistent fine one. And to control the size and placement of slubs is a quite the challenge.

I can't say that I am always in charge. It is the goal I work toward, but each new fiber or breed presents its own set of challenges. And this is what keeps me interested in spinning. Hopefully there will always be something new to learn and experiment with. At least that's what I'm counting on.

© 2007 Leigh's Fiber Journal

Warping the Glimakra: Beginning to Weave

At last, I have started weaving. At times it seemed as though I'd never get to this point, but it finally arrived. After all my hard work on the warping and adjusting, I was very curious as to how the weaving would go.

My project, you may remember, is a child's blanket for Project Linus. Since there was a request for larger blankets for boys, I tried to pick my colors accordingly. The blankets also have to be machine washable, so I chose good old Red Heart yarn.

For some reason, I am always drawn to space dyed type yarns. I don't know why, but the color variations always intrigue me. I eventually chose the one on the right for my weft, because it was the only colorway for which I could find solids to match. Evidently, these yarns are expected to be used by themselves, but I did find orange, brown, and green yarns close enough to use for warp stripes.

Although awkward at this point, weaving is going well. I am learning how hold back the beater as I throw the shuttle. The narrow treadles hang loosely and close together, so it is difficult to keep track of my treadling, even though it is a simple straight pattern. Also I have to learn when to advance the beater as my weaving progresses, and then remember to do it!

I think it will be awhile before I get any sort of rhythm going, but tension is good, the fell is straight and my selvedges are acceptable.

Ironically, after all my fuss and worry over getting the treadles tied up correctly, (see duh#3) I discover that I am looking at weft faced zig-zags while I weave. They were supposed to be warp faced which are of course, on the bottom! Ah well, if that's the least of my problems, then I won't complain.

I realize that I still have things to learn about this loom and that further adjustments could be made. But I've gotten started and there's no stopping me now.

© 2007 Leigh's Fiber Journal