I was finally able to start weaving the shawl, (excuse the photo Blogger is uncooperative today) It has not been without some challenge the yarn is slippery and doesn't catch on to itself, it slips and slides from one position to the other it's behaving like fine fishing line. In order to stabilize the first few picks I hemstitched them.
Another issue I'm having is that when the shed is in the down position which causes the slotted yarn to be in the up position is is very loose this is annoying but I have resorted to sticking a pickup stick in before the weft to keep it down. When the slotted yarn is in the up position same thing really loose, what I've done here is use another pick up stick behind the heddle for tension.
In the passive position when all the yarn slotted and heddle holes are even across the loom, the tension is fine ** scratches head in question** okay I give - wasup with this?? What did I do incorrectly cause I can't figure this one out. I retied and rolled the back and cloth beam as tight as I can, you can bounce a dime off this stuff it's so tight, if I rubbed coal on it for a week I'd have a diamond.
This is the close up of the fabric being produced very open and lacy I was going to do some leno and lace work but not with this yarn I can't even begin to control it on plain weave and I think I may drive myself crazy with lace work. I'm planning on trying to use some other thicker yarn for the weft maybe the 3 ply cotton and see if it reacts any different. More on this later.
Another issue I'm having is that when the shed is in the down position which causes the slotted yarn to be in the up position is is very loose this is annoying but I have resorted to sticking a pickup stick in before the weft to keep it down. When the slotted yarn is in the up position same thing really loose, what I've done here is use another pick up stick behind the heddle for tension.
In the passive position when all the yarn slotted and heddle holes are even across the loom, the tension is fine ** scratches head in question** okay I give - wasup with this?? What did I do incorrectly cause I can't figure this one out. I retied and rolled the back and cloth beam as tight as I can, you can bounce a dime off this stuff it's so tight, if I rubbed coal on it for a week I'd have a diamond.
6 comments:
You are learning the hard way about trying to weave yarn at a much wider than normal sett and with far fewer picks per inch than would be normal. That yarn is going to slip and slide all over the place unless it is somehow restrained. And the slipping and sliding is only going to get worse off the loom. And think about wearing it! To restrain it you would have to do a leno weave which requires another shaft or shafts and special heddles. I really don't know anything about the process. You might possibly be able to do something like this in plain weave with a very soft wool, but even so, it is going to slip and slide while being worn. You could do hand leno, but that would take forever on this warp. Thicker yarn for the weft, preferably wool would probably work but you might well loose the openness. A soft thick cotton might work as well. Pearl cotton is also slippery. As for the sheds, I have no idea what is going on!
Thanks Peg, it's definatly learning experience so I'll take it as that. I'll finish the piece and see what happens, I may do some needle work on the open weave to keep it together. I just need some thinking time to come up with a solution I may be able to save the piece.
Do you use a sewing machine? Even if you have done no machine embroidery, you could use any decorative stitches your machine might have and create an overall design. But I would weave a extra bit to sample on first.
I can hand embroider and have done extensive counted cross stitch work. So I think I'll go in that direction, maybe.
I would definitely try a thicker weft too. Just to see what difference it makes. I will be interested in how this wet finishes!
I know you already started weaving, but if you have enough length on the warp, another alternative might be to stick more warps yarns in. See where you have the pink (?) stripes you have more warps close together? For example, I might consider putting more of these areas and even more yarns in between. So for e.g. between the existing pink stripes, a skinner pink stripes with 2 warp ends to the eye/slot consecutively, so you have a bit more in the warp to hold the weft. As well, I might also try a really packed set of picks - say, every 20 picks you weave 3 picks very closely, so you have comparatively tightly woven areas making up the outline of squares and only the inside of the squares are netty??
With the open weave, though, my concern would be the exact same problem I'm having just now (haven't blogged about it yet, however) - as I wind on the front beam, the knots on the loom or the warp ends dig into the cloth I just wove, even though the paper or whatever I use to separate the layers that go on the beam. Not sure if I have pics, but if I do, I'll send you some.
Listen, if this works, though, it's going to be fab, don't you think? I'm impressed how regular your pics are.
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