More from the County Fair Part 2

 Ingrid wove these two scarves that are intertwined around one another using a technique called gradients.  A couple (or several) colors are gradually changed from one being dominant to being the subdominant color.  These were techniques she learned in an online class and expanded into her own designs.

 The color changes in the scarf below (also woven by Ingrid) move from dark to lighter and the effect when tied around the neck is stunning in its complexity.   It is 10/2 Tencel, sett at 36 epi and woven with an extended point twill on 8 shafts.

This is a shawl that Ingrid entered in the fair this year.  She wove it with Malabrigo Silkpaca lace yarn for both the warp and the weft.  The structure is twill.

Twill Exploration

Observations about weaving twill towels from Mardi:

After completing some relatively difficult projects and wrestling with adding  4 shafts, expanding my Ideal Glimakra loom to 8 shafts, I decided to try a set of “easy” twill towels.  I browsed through 8-Shaft Patterns , edited by Carol Strickler and noticed that there were several variations of twills threaded in an 8 shaft straight draw and decided to explore the possibilities.  

First I decided on color and design and got started.  I chose turquoise with green stripes, sett at 18 EPI. The width in the reed was 22inches.  I wove the towels to 33 inches plus allowance for hems. 

Plain Weave is always a good place for me to start, just to see what the overall color effect is.  The result was as expected.  Then I tried #2, #13, 327 and #29.  I discovered that not every pattern looks good on both sides.  I also discovered that I hadn’t checked for floats.  There were a few with 4 thread floats. I wasn’t sure that was going to be acceptable. When I took the towels off the loom I wasn’t happy at all and then remembered that it is really not possible to evaluate the results without wet finishing.  They actually turned out satisfactorily.

Turquoise Towel

Another Turquoise Towel

After finishing the turquoise towels, I wanted to see if it would be possible to tie on a second set.  One might think that is easy, but I had not tied the first warp onto the back beam. I had looped a rod through to attach the warp.  I didn’t know how to tie on to slipping threads.  It was suggested at a meeting (Thank you Jackie Hervey) that I try to stabilize the first warp by weaving a short section in front of the reed, allowing enough thread length to complete the tying process. It worked beautifully and a second set of yellow striped towels was secured. Due to the difference in yarn grist, I decided to re-sley to 20 EPI.

Yellow Towels with Tied-on Warp

I decided to try #21, Brighton Honeycomb for the first towel.  It gave a nice texture (with some really long floats).  The finish was satisfactory.  Doubting further experimentation, I wove off the 3 remaining towels in plain twill and was really quite pleased.

My final notes to self are as follows.  First, I should sample.  I should also use Fiberworks to check things like floats and back of fabric view.  I also decided that while a straight draw “looks easy”, the patterns that can be achieved are somewhat limiting.

A Design Process Story

Mardi showed some beautiful scarves at the last meeting.  She shares her process in the narrative below.

 

 

The Process:

First I wanted to make a scarf using some knitting yarn left from an abandoned knitting project and used Cascade Sock yarn as the weft. The draft was something that I put together by taking some of the twill threading I liked from another project.  Unfortunately, the weft yarn ran out before planned and the scarf is a little shorter than planned, but still acceptable.  I decided to experiment with the remaining warp.

#1 - I used some homespun singles from some gray CVM that I had spun.  It compressed the twill but it was a little scratchy. (Igor liked that one.)

 

#2 - I used some alpaca knitting yarn that I had around, similar color but it had a larger grist.  It was very satisfactory in terms of softness.

 

#3 - I wanted to see what would happen if I used a color in the weft.  I didn't have anything that matched the magenta in the warp, but I had some wine colored yarn sitting on a bobbin and decided to use it.  The result was softer than the other 2 samples and I liked the color the best.  I might add that I never liked the warp yarn very much, so almost anything improved it.

 

 

Blue and Violet Tencel Scarf.

We are trying a new approach here on the Not 2 Square blog.  Instead of a couple of us writing up descriptions all the time, we have invited our members to explain their process and details about their pieces.  Mardi N. offered to do the first post about her tencel scarf.

This is my first project using Tencel. It is essentially a scarf length sample.

I had already woven one scarf using the Dornick Twill #196 by our own Dee Jones that I found by accident in Strickler’s Book of 8-Shaft Patterns. The first scarf, magenta was treadled as directed in #196. For this second scarf with the same threading, I decided to use the alternate treadling, #197.

Half of the yarn was dyed in KathrinWebber’s class last spring and the blue gray stripes in this scarf were dyed at home as it was necessary to augment my supply of warp to achieve 10 ½ inches in the reed. The yarn used was 10/2 Tencel. For the weft I chose some wine colored rayon of unknown grist that I had in my stash.

The sett was 20 EPI and the PPI was approximately 19-20. The overall length on the loom was 72 inches, not counting the fringes. After wet finishing, the width was 8 ½ inches and the length 64 ½ inches. Take up was 12% and the overall draw in was about 20 %.

I was extremely pleased with the weight and the hand of the scarf. - Mardi

A Week at Vavstuga

At our latest meeting Mardi shared her experience at Vavstuga Weaving School http://www.vavstuga.com/ .  The week sounded like it was fabulous and she shared the four pieces she wove during the four and a half day class.  

The first piece is a block damask with an 8 shaft broken twill.  The warp and weft are both 16/2 line linen (Bockens) and the sett is 11 ends per centimeter  (everything was measured in metric units.)  

Block Damask

-->

The next piece is a twill towel.  The warp is 22/2 Cottolin (Bockens) and the weft is 8/1 tow linen.  The sett is 10 ends per centimeter.  The tab was woven by another student.

Twill Towel

Towel tab

Mardi's third piece is a tablecloth.  The warp and pattern were chosen for the students.  They threaded the heddles and reed.  The warp is Bockens 8/2 cotton and the weft is Bockens 22/2 Cottolin. The sett is 9 ends per centimeter.  

Tablecloth

The last piece is a blanket.  This was woven out of "Tuna" which is a size ("worsted weight") Swedish yarn.  It is a simple twill woven with two yarns together in the weft.  The warp colors and pattern were chosen for the students and they got to choose the weft color(s). Mardi used a burgundy red and a red orange. The sett is 6 ends per centimeter.

Blanket

These textiles were really lovely.  It was amazing to see how much Mardi was able to accomplish in such a short time frame.  Sounds like a fun place to check out.