Weaving and Wishing for Spring

Wishing for Spring Cotton Towel

This has been a tough winter with more snow, colder temperatures and more freezing nights than I can remember. Added to my Midwest Polar Vortex adventure, spring seems a very long time coming. Yet it is still early March. Guess it’s time for patience. In the meantime, I’ve planted several seed trays indoors. Anticipation grows.

While awaiting spring, indoor color adventures continue. Here is the second warp using the Strickler draft #760. The turquoise 10/2 unmercerized cotton had been on my shelf for some time. With 10/2 perle cotton in Porcelain Green, 20/2 UKI mercerized cotton in Banana and 20/2 cotton in a variegation called Spray I think this is a winning combination.

Wishing for Spring Cotton Towel, reverse side

I don’t usually complain about the weather and a few crocus have been blooming. Patience is a virtue, right? Still, I’m very happy that this winter will soon be over – at least according to the calendar.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Why RepWeaver?

Rep is one of my favorite weave structures and I have woven lots and lots of Rep.

An alternate allusion is “repeat” or “repertoire”. The second usually refers to a stock set of plays, songs, etc. performed on a rotating schedule. 

For the most part I weave each of my designs three times, tying on to the first warp twice. This way I can try a variety of colors and make slight design changes on each subsequent warp, learning as I go.

Results of my Waffle Weave adventures
6 Harness Waffle Weave (far left to right) light blue, olive, red
7 Harness Waffle Weave (center left to right) dark teal, pink, dusty plum

In my waffle weave adventures I wove two variations: one on 7 harnesses, the other on 6 harnesses. Both were warped with three different color versions. Here they all are.

Fall is coming - my favorite season. It's a great time to switch gears and seek new adventures. Time to get back to Rep Weave.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

A Wave of Blue Waffles

Blue 6H Waffle Weave Towel

Here you see results of the final warp of my waffle adventures, at least the final one for now. These just happen to be my very favorite of all the Waffle Weave towel warps I have woven – six warps producing 44 towels.

For the Blue towels I tightened the sett from 34 e.p.i. to 36 e.p.i. The final combination of 16/2 cotton (Natural & Variegated) for the waffle cells partnered with 20/2 cotton (Blue) for the plain weave stripes made the best cloth of all my waffle weaving. The blue towels are pleasant to the eye and to the hand. As an extra-added bonus they are very good at soaking up water, too.

Blue Wave Waffle Towel
Front side showing border treatment

Blue Wave Waffle Towel
Reverse side showing border treatment

Someday I’d like to get back to weave waffles but for now other projects beacon. Warp Rep is on my horizon. Hooray!

Loved One's health issues continue to sap time, energy and emotion. It seems, though that improvement is on the horizon. So maybe life will get back to some kind of new normal. Time will tell. Our garden also keeps me away from the loom but that is a happy distraction. Slight hints of autumn are beginning to show. Autumn is my favorite season. Happy times lie in store.

Happy Weaving!

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Green Waffles Without Ham

It sounds a bit Dr. Suess-ish but I could not resist.

Would you, could you if they were hand woven?

I do! I do like them handwoven, Sam-I-am!

Green Waffle Weave Towel
Showing hem and both sides

This warp is coming closer to the ideal combination of structure, sett and yarn size to truly please me. The colors make me happy, too. The sett is 34 e.p.i. Natural colored 16/2 cotton is combined with Olive green and variegated 20/2 cottons. Using slightly smaller sized yarns for the plain weave warps and wefts made for the best waffle weave structure yet. Every successive warp has shown slight improvement over all previous waffle warps. It is very satisfying to watch a design develop.

Two Waffle Weave Towels
Two different border design ideas

Here you see two ideas for border treatments. The folded towel starts out with the weft colors arranged as in the warp. Then after a few repeats I dropped the green and used natural in its place. It is very different. The one on the right shows the green replaced by natural for a few repeats a short way above each hem. Although I like the towel on the right best, both are nice.

My loved one's health issue continues to suck most of the time and energy out of us both. I finished weaving this warp back in April. There is one more waffle warp done since then. I will write about that one next time. And (Hooray!) there is another new warp on my loom. More to come . . .

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Marled Madness

Already it is April but the whole "March Madness" hype still rings in these ears. So I decided to make my own version and changed it to "Marled Madness".

Swedish Kitchen Towels with Marled yarn warp ends

Do you remember my puzzlement over how to use marled yarn? What is marled yarn? It is yarn of two or more colors plied together. The tube I have consists of one ply of navy blue and one ply of white spun together.

While pondering this question I decided to try using marled yarn in my Swedish Kitchen towels. It is in the places where I previously used variegated ends. This warp was maddening to weave because it was difficult to see where I was when doing the border.

While on the loom these did not impress me at all. In fact, they were hard to weave because they did not excite me.

Fortunately, initial impressions are often mistaken as was the case here. The finished towels are nicer than anticipated. Doing these was a good experience and I like them very much now.

In two of these towels I added marled tabby ends throughout. Weaving with three shuttles was fussy but the result is nice. The red and gold towels were done this way.

Detail of Swedish Kitchen Towel using marled ends in warp and tabby weft

Swedish Kitchen Towel

I put another new idea to use on the hems. You can see a couple of marled weft shots in the photo. They are spaced in such a way to mark the fold lines. This worked very well for me and I like the way it looks. Having that marled end near the sewing line at the top of the hem helped keep my sewing in a nice straight line.

For my next warp I am looking at colors and drafts for another of my "Wee Coverlets". There is a precious new addition to our family. I want to swaddle her in my love even though she lives very far away.

Warp On/Weave Off,
RepWeaver

Swedish Kitchen

Swedish Kitchen Towels, Warp #109 by RepWeaver

Here, at last, are additional photos of Warp #109 towels mentioned in the previous post. Choosing colors and watching them interact gives me great joy while weaving. Having a few variegated ends in the mix mulitplies the fun.

Once these come off the loom there are always "Aha" moments. Colors and combinations that appealed most to me while weaving aren't always my favorites when finished.

Nine Swedish Kitchen Towels, Warp #109 by RepWeaver

Red pattern weft washed out the effect of
red in the variegated warp ends.

Since the variegated ends in this warp were a combination of red, brown, gold and forest green I thought the brighter red pattern weft would be my favorite. But it turned out to compete too much and washed out the effect of red of the variegation. The darker maroon pattern weft was far better, causing the brighter red in the warp to zing.

Swedish Kitchen towel by RepWeaver
Two shades of green that did not seem happy together
Here you see both front and back sides of the towel 

The green towel below was my least favorite while weaving. Its blue green pattern weft seemed to fight the yellow green in the warp and tabby. Do clashing colors set your teeth on edge? That is what these greens did to me as I wove. But in the finished towel the colors worked. One of my weaving friends even said the green one was his favorite of the lot. Green pattern weft does a fantastic job of highlighting the red variegation in the warp.

The reverse side of Swedish Kitchen Towel with Maroon pattern weft
This color combination proved a favorite both on and off the loom

Warp #110 with marled (navy and white plied together) warp ends used where before there were variegated ends

This is the current warp on my loom, the one I wrote about in the last post. I tied it to my two previous warps. The marled warp ends don't seem to be working the way I'd have liked. Maybe this will be another case in which the finished product outshines the work in progress. Let's hope.

Knitted Shaker Dish Cloths

Here is a good way to spend time when away from the loom. These are knitted Shaker Dish Cloths. Leave it to me to find another way to incorporate variegated yarn! These work well and are fun to use. Knit some for yourself or to give as gifts. The pattern is available for free at Very Pink. Look for other great patterns there as well including "World's Best Kitchen Scrubbie", one of my favorites.

That's what I'm up to today. I wonder what will happen tomorrow? One can never be too sure.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Back in the Saddle (Or Back on the Loom Bench)

Hello, again!

Swedish Kitchen, Detail

It has been a long, long time. For several weeks I have been away. I spent three weeks over Christmas in Washington, D.C. Then most of February I was with our daughter and son-in-law who just gave us our third grandchild. Their new little sweetheart joins an older sister and brother so they are a very busy family. Mine was a working visit but loads of love and fun.  Now I am home again and missing them, yet, home is the very best place. And I am back at my loom.

Here are a few quick shots of my latest towels. I will take more but first I need to iron that stack of towels. Here also is a shot of the third iteration of this design. I am going out on a limb here and using a plied yarn in place of the usual variegated ends. Time will tell if it works. I will be sure to let you know.

Swedish Kitchen Towels by RepWeaver

There are no travel plans in my immediate future but there will be visitors. Oh, and we will be having our siding replaced and the house painted. Neither of these will take me away from home but may limit weaving time. The excitement continues!

Warp on/Weave off,

RepWeaver

Warp #110

Norse Kitchen Miniature - Second Warp

Miniature Norse Kitchen by RepWeaver, Group photo

Miniature Norse Kitchen by RepWeaver, Group photo

Norse Kitchen in miniature was such a satisfying weave project I couldn't wait to get back to the loom for another round.


This time I chose a warp of 20/2 UKI perle cotton in color #52 Chestnut. To this I added variegated ends at specific spots in the draft across the warp. These warp ends range in color from brown to gold to olive green to red. Click on the detail photos for a closer view of how these variegated colors seem to magically appear and disappear in the finished towels.


Even though overshot is a two-shuttle structure, weaving these was a lot of fun. Watching the variegations morph from one color to the next adds interest during the process. When warping I don't try for any Ikat effects but sometimes this happens. Serendipity is part of the fun.

Warp On/Weave Off,
RepWeaver

Norse Kitchen Miniature
Detail showing variegated warp ends

Norse Kitchen Miniature
Detail showing variegated warp ends

Norse Kitchen Miniature
Detail showing variegated warp ends

Bother Number Four

This is the last one, I promise. Going by the level of annoyance, this really is number one on the list.

After the first few inches weaving this problem really stood out. It was especially apparent in the repeating middle section. Take a close look and you will see what I mean.

"Norse Kitchen" from draft in A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison

The ground interlacements on either side of each little white cross are not even. Checking the draft from the Davison book, one side of the center repeat section has six ends alternating on shafts two and three and eight ends on those two shafts on the other side. This problem pops up in the border sections as well but isn't as noticeable.

If you look at the photo accompanying the draft in the Davison book you will see that sample also shows this problem. I guess this is a lesson to look very carefully at sample photos as well as at drafts. It's dangerous to make assumptions.

The Davison sample photo is curious. It is so different from other samples in the book. It appears to be an entire woven piece and clearly shows crease marks. This made me wonder if the draft had been copied from the woven article and not actually woven by Davison herself. At the top of page 186 is a notation "Adapted from Caroline Halvorsen's Page 106 - No. 185".

Last week I did a search and discovered a book by Caroline Halvorsen and placed an order for a used copy. I do not know if this particular book is the source of inspiration for the Davison draft. But I aim to track it down.

Reading the "Understanding Overshot" chapter in The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers by Madelyn van der Hoogt it looks as if this draft may have originated in an abbreviated form. If you read the section "Variations in Drafting Format" on page 41 there is a clear explanation of how an unbalanced draft could occur.

When the Halvorsen book arrives I'll let you know what I discover. Then I will show you my solution to the problems with the Davison draft.