Cheap quills and weaving

I can't say enough good about paper quills, first they're silent, second they cost almost nothing. Out of two paper grocery bags (now at 5 cents each) I obtained over 70 quills! First I cut off the bottom of the bag, then I fold it flat and cut along both edges. I then accordion fold each side according to the size of the quill I need and I cut through the layers following a circular shape (here using a Heineken coaster).

Weaving wise, I reached today the 30" mark on the second Smålandsväv runner. They need to be about 60" long each for my dining room table (The picture shows 24" but I kept weaving after taking them).

Today, I'm weaving on the second Smålandsväv runner and run out of handspun woolen weft.

So I got the roll of wool roving I got from Upper Canada Village two summers ago out and spun a full wheel bobbin. I weave it single so no need to ply. We all know about cat's interest for wool do we?

A new project, huck lace linen towels taken from May/June 2003 Handwoven magazine.

But I find them too thin so they'll be woven as table runners.

Finishing up mom's Christmas gift

I have to finish up twisting these fringes for Christmas...

Overshot & fur cushions

I brought back home my overshot class sample woven at our weaving guild. It will be a good match for this old fur coat I kept aside to make cushions.

I started by taking apart the coat.

And was surprised to find out that fur coats are in fact made out of multiple small pieces.

I am very pleased with the results :-)

Finished weaving the 2nd throw

I am finished weaving the 2nd throw. It will be mom's Christmas gift.

There is still a good amount of warp left but I chose to take it off and use it in a future tapestry project.

First Smålandsväv runner ready

My first Smålandsväv runner is ready for our Guild exposition this coming weekend.

Last project on the Ideal 90

My Ideal 90 loom is returning to it's previous owner in Quebec City after a good 8 years with me. It is time to let my very first Glimåkra loom go.

My last project on this loom is a set of linen floorcloth taken from Väv Magasinet 2/10 woven on 6 shafts.

The loom is ready for it's next move. I replaced the linen cords with Texsolv.

2nd throw

The is enough warp left on the loom for a second throw. I replaced the narrow stripes with different ones attached to a shaft stick for easier warp advancement.

The shaft stick is attached to the frame with 2 strings. After advancing the warp, adjusting these 2 strings until an even tension is obtained is all it needs instead of adjusting every single stripe separately.

It looks quite different than the previous (70's) one.

Beautiful 70's

I finished weaving my first throw this morning. I am here twisting the fringes and must admit I like it a lot despite it's outdated colour scheme.

So the previously called ugly 70's colours turned into beautiful 70's and could not match any better in our living room. Am I plagued with bad taste? Please don't answer.

Ugly 70's or Autumn palette?

Some old second hand wool added up to my stash a good while ago and I need it to go. Call it ugly 70's or autumn palette if you wish but throwing it away is not an option. Maybe I secretely like this colour scheme I grew up in? Probably more an out-of-comfort-zone project.




Most of this two ply coarse wool it is dark brown and light pink, warped at 8 epi.




Creativity sometimes require adjustments... the two middle narrow stripes don't match and need to be replaced.




So does technique. A weighted warp offers decreasing resistance to an increasing pull while a fixed one offers an increasing (equal) resistance (well until it breaks). Combining both tension methods on the same project gives unequal tension. I had to think of something else and replace the weights with texsolv cord which allows fine tension adjustement on the modified sections and a constant behaviour when beating.




Why 8 shafts? to weave the first throw in broken twill and the second one in tabby. This project could be published in a magazine no? Well maybe, if this was 1972!




As usual, I had to build something: a temple wide enough for this loom.

smålandsväv

I once found this picture on the Internet and kept it for future use.
(http://riksvav.se/kronobergsvav/y11/feb11.html)




Last weekend, I warped the loom for my first Smålandsväv weave. It was also the first time I used a warping paddle and made a cross at both ends. I found out that the portée cross simplifies putting the warp up on the loom.




I drilled useless extra holes on the two middle treadles, right underneath the closest preset top harness beam. But I ended up with too much space between both harnesses. The back shafts are finally threaded on the 10th holes.






My samples... washed, pressed, then mangled. The ground weave in 2/9 linen, 18 ends/inch (7 ends/cm). A bit too open, Maybe I'll use a thicker ground weft. Blocks are 3x3 ends. Pattern weft used is cotton chenille (5 middle colours), 2/8 worsted wool (navy), single handspun wool (large top grey) and doubled 2/9 linen (bottom yellow). Wool gave the best results: weft shots are nicely sitting flat next to each other, slightly felted. Cotton chenille doesn't look at its best once pressed and worst after flat mangling, same as when just getting unrolled from the bobbin.




The first runner is woven with natural 2/8 worsted wool. There is 10 yards of warp wounded up on the back, hopefully enough for 3 or 4 pieces.

Linen-cottolin scarf and rug samples

While Nero is helping out on the hand dyed linen-cottolin scaft project,




I am preparing a short warp for weaving rug samples for our weaving Guild.




So short that it's not even reaching the warp beam.




All done!

Late with posting but busy weaving this spring.

I have been busier weaving than posting lately which is in a sense much better than having no time to

My first double-weave overshot sample is completed.




Then I wove a second one that looks like a regular single layer overshot but look closely and notice the different sections where the colour of the tabby colour becomes the pattern weft in the adjacent section.







After cutting these samples off, I re-slew everything to try the "sun, moon and stars" pattern found in Jennifer Moore's Doubleweave book with the remainder of the warp.




This loom doesn't have a counterbalance beam so I used three jacks on each side to hold the pulleys.




I also found out that putting a rubber band around the upper sticks on each side helps a lot stabilizing the shafts when weaving on a narrow warp.




The small loom was used for a cotolin tea towels project.







I also wove a matching narrow band to make suspending loops for these towels.




At our weaving Guild, I wove a few 8/2 cotton towels. The direct view we have on the waterfront is so inspiring.







And back home my last project was to weave a table runner using siberian iris leaves I cut and kept in the garage some 2 or 3 summers ago.




The loom is warpes with linen, mostly singles with narrow gaps between each colour sections. I used a repp technique where leaves are woven in groups of 6 and cut at about 6 inches from the selvage line.




The floor soon became a mess.




So did the table during the final trim




And here is the final product!