I have a questions;I find that I'm having trouble with the placement of my feet on the treadles , to me it seems as if the treadles are too close together, if I were to space them out say I treadle harness 1 & 4 on pedal 1 and harness 2 & 3 on pedal 3 leaving one in between each sequence will that effect the balance of the weaving in any way? I don't really think so, but I thought I throw out a dumb question, although I know the only dumb questions are the one's you don't ask.
Next question, in the next pic you see the two black lines on either side of my shuttle those are the floating selvage yarn, should I thread those through a non working harness say #6 just to keep them lower? As it is right now I have to push on them when I throw the shuttle so that the weft thread catches them.
Last question I promise: To weave a header, regular tabby weaver do I need to crawl under the loom and undo the tie ups every time or is there some magical combo of foot work I need to do?
Yes, I know you guys are enjoying my beginner naivete, the duh questions and reminiscing of your early weaver frustrations, I hope that it's not too boring and you all can stick it out, I promise this drivel will not continue for long, I have exactly 10 books from the library in my possession and am reading and taking tons of notes.
I have also promised myself I will save up some $$ and take a beginner's class and the Folk School in NC, that may not happen soon but it will, maybe by the time I get there I can actually take an itermediate class and not be a total dumba$$.
9 comments:
I started to answer but it began to get to long so I sent it in an email :)
My two cents......
I weave on a Macomber, the Big Mac (like yours) I have no trouble with the treadles being too close together, Baby Mac much closer. I also weave barefoot or with socks in the winter, I can feel the treadles that way. If it helps for you to leave a treadle unused in-between the working ones go for it - there's no right or wrong - do what feels right for you.
Floating selvedges should not go through a heddle - I'm assuming that's what you meant when you mentioned using a non-working harness. They only go through the reed and then float at the mid-way point when you riase harnesses, easy to throw the shuttle over and come out under.
To weave a header just tie up extra treadles to tabby and use them only for weaving the header - you can put them on the far outside if that feels comfortable for you. I think I remember seeing that you had plenty of treadles for this.
I love new weavers! Love to see them get excited over the process, love to see them learning and improve with each warp. Keep it up!
This table runner looks great!
I weave in bare or socked feet. I have to so I can feel the treadles. They are pretty close together on my loom too. My feet get a little sore when I weave for a long time because my treadles are narrow and have such square edges. I've joked around about adding pads to the tops of my treadles. Shoes or slippers are just too wide and catch on the other treadles.
I even spin in bare or socked feet. I keep trying to do it with shoes but it just doesn't feel right for me. lol
Cindie answered all your questions perfectly. All I can add is that I weave with socks or slippers. If you want a little grip but not a lot of bulk, the inexpensive black slippers made in china or thailand work great. They look like Mary Jane's but are all black cotton.
Runner looks great.
Did the DVD arrive?
I also weave with socks. I like the treadles close, I just "slide" my foot from one treadle to the next in order to make the pattern. I also tie up my treadles to do a "walking" pattern...right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, etc.
I am so impressed that you are weaving a pattern! It looks great!
My shoes hit 3 treadles at once. I am not kidding. In the winter I wear slipper socks with those little plastic designs on the bottom. I did have a pair of felted ballerina slippers with dr. sholls insoles in the at one point...I wonder where those are. Those were my favorites.
Somehow in the act of weaving your brain will eventually get it and your feet will follow. I have read people prefer to put their tabby treadles different places. I like mine on the far left but I only have 6 treadles on my big loom.
I spin barefooted too. I think most spinners do. I knit with shoes on or off but have also knit with gloves on. It didn't work so well but it was cold outside.
I think Cindie really covered everything. I like to weave barefoot or with just socks in the winter. I'm tall, so sometimes I have to lean back just to see the treadles to make sure my feet are where I want them to be.
I love your runner!! Learning to weave is so worth it!
Here are my answers to your questions...
1) Leaving a space between treadles is fine, as long as you have enough treadles. When you're weaving, you do pretty much need to do so in bare feet (socks ok, no shoes). Once you get in a rhythm, the goal is to have your feet sort of inch over to the next treadle, not lift your whole leg/foot up. That's great if your treadling is fairly simple up & down. It's trickier for complex treadling. But sure, leave empty treadles wherever you'd like.
2) I never thread my floating selvedges through anything. I do find that I often need to hang a weight on them to keep them taut enough so that I don't have problems missing them. I also determine my pattern of going over/under the floating selvedges based on which way it's easier for my hands to get the shuttle in just the right place at the right time. It does NOT matter what your pattern with the selvedges is, as long as you're consistent. You could for instance go over-over when you're throwing the shuttle to the left and under-under on the return. Or over-under on every throw. Or under-over on every throw. But I'd guess you need to get a bit of weight hanging on them to tighten them up some.
3) As Cindy said, just tie up 2 treadles to weave your tabby header. Unfortunately, this may mean that you don't have extra treadles to leave spaces. So another option, depending on your tie-up, is to step on 2 treadles at once. If, for instance, you already have 1 treadle tied to 1-3 and another to 5-7, you could step on those two at the same time for the first pick of tabby. I find I almost never have that option, and just do tabby treadles at the far right. On my old Mac, the two treadles on the far right are a bit separated from the other 8, as is also the case on my 4-harness counterbalance, with the far right 2 generally used for tabby.
You didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you....THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A DUMB QUESTION!! All questions are great. And obviously you have lots of weaving readers who are happy to answer. Is there a weaver's guild near you? If so, it's sometimes nice to have nearby folks you can chat face-to-face with, too.
Enjoy the Mac!
You are doing beautifully-the only thing you lack is experience and you are improving on that every time you weave! Barefoot is my fav way, too. I sew that way, too, so go for it and keep sharing-you have come a long way in just a few weeks-be patient! :')
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