Kerstin's extras

Playing with software

2012-01-24T10:50:00.000+01:00

How did we ever manage to experiment with strange ("new") structures before there was weaving software?
The answer (true for me, anyway) is: we didn't. Or, at least, I did not do it often – or, at even lesser (probably nor correct English, but you get my drift, I hope!) I did not often experiment with several layers.

This began with Maja, again. Her honeycomb isn't very interesting, except the quality: she used cotton 30/2 for warp anf weft, doubled for the outlines. (Ok, 30/2 doubled is double the thickness, but in most examples I've seen the difference has been a lot bigger than that.)

I have never woven honeycomb. One of the reasons is that I don't like structures with a so very obvious "wrong side". So I started to speculate... what if?
What if I tried to make a "back" – would I still get the weft distorsions?

This is the original draft

First, I tried with making the cell weft make cells on the back where it would have floated (back side to the left, right side to the right):

Only one cell weft, binding either on the right side or on the wrong. I decided I would have to use double outline picks (two each side), or the outlines would never distort. (As usual, the colours are there to make the draft more readable. You may not agree, but I find it easier, anyway.

Then I thougt that perhaps the non-floating weft would prevent the distorstions. New try:

Hm. This will make two separate layers (I think). If I wished two separate layers, I could as easily sew them together.

Another try:

Here the cells occur at the same place in both layers. Both warps, and both wefts float at the same time. To make the layers connect, I used only one outline weft, picking up one end from each layer.

Dear readers, especially those of you who have woven this structure: what do you think of my chances? Will any of these drafts give me distorted weft (except the original)?

And what did they do for the selvages – were they just hemmed? As I have shafts available, I think I will try to get a small selvage. Maybe some basket weave?

Weftfaced, with 3-colours

2012-01-09T18:51:00.000+01:00

seems not to be the answer.

At least - what I (think I) remember about the 3-colour version was that the colours should always rotate the same, 1-2-3.

Laura suggested the 3-colur version was meant to be woven weft-faced.
I took the draft from yesterday and asked for a weft-faced representation:

Hmm - but we all know that shifting the colours can make big difference. Below left started with orange, then yellow, red - below right the order is red, orange, yellow.

Apparently it is not THE solution...

Jämtlandsdräll (not-quite-crackle)

2012-01-08T16:14:00.001+01:00

Alison gave me an idea - what if the (obviously quite often) missing treadlings in Swedish pattern books gave Davison the idea to "always" use tromp-as-writ?
(I leafed through Davison, and don't think she really does that "incorrectly" very often)

But: whence came the idea of tromp-as-literally-writ for jämtlandsdräll?

Now I have a theory: many (Swedish) books tell you something like: (usually after an explanation of how to determine the tie-up) "the treadling proceeds according to the profile threading" (trampningen följer partisolvningen)..
So, if you are not good at reading Swedish, this may look almost like "treadle as threaded" - with the little difference that we (Swedes) read it as, well, profile threading.

For jämtlandsdräll, determining the tie-up can be somewhat trícky. Below is my attempt to translate from Varp och inslag (ISBN 91-27-35226-9 B):
" Tie-up:
Two shafts will be tied to each pattern treadle.
If two blocks weave pattern at the same time, tie the shafts that are common to both blocks. Ie: block 1 is threaded on shafts 1,2 and 4, block 2 on shafts2, 3 and 1. Shafts 1 and 2 are common to both blocks, and are tied to one pattern treadle.
If one block weaves pattern [where the others do not], then tie two shafts that do not give pattern in other blocks. Block 1, for instance, can be tied two ways: either shafts 1 and 2, or shafts 1 and 4.
If the pattern contains both "single-pattern" and "double-pattern" blocks it is easiest to start with the "double-pattern" blocks. "
(Probably not the best of translations, but...)

After experimenting with a very typical jämtlandsdräll profile, making substitutions according to (slightly) different rules, this is what I have got:

Substituting it "our" way, we get this:

As you can see, the pattern treadling follows the profile treadling, with tabbies in between. (Of course, in this instance, the profile treadling does not follow the profile threading)

Using that same threading, but woven-as-literally-drawn-in, we get:

We will never get the correct pattern - (ie the pattern the profile shows) because the treadling order should be different.

Letting PCW do the block substitution (and then fixing the tie-up - jämtlandsdräll tie-ups should always "be determined" os of above):

But - isn't this another variant of the pattern?
Making it two repeats (and turning the picture, hoping for better visiblity in blogger's new picture-handler) shows that it is indeed so:

Letting PCW do the substitution in "twill form" gets us something very like the original profile (after fixing the tie-up, of course). The differences there are can probably be "massaged out". The reason is that this follows the original profile treadling.

(I extended the pattern repeat to two, in most figures, to get a better wiev of the overall pattern. In other pictures there is one repeat plus one block to balance.)

So, getting back to the original question - whence came the idea of tromp-as-literally-writ for jämtlandsdräll? Why are we not to follow the profile?

And, even curiouser: from where did (Tidball, I think - read it in an American book anyway) the idea of a tree-colour rotation come? (I don't remember if something was said about colour values, so I just used red-orange-yellow):

But then, on the other hand, as Atwater writes (link goes to the document on handweaving.net):

so - who am I to tell what is right or wrong...

(ETA: seems I "fooled" the picture viewer: all pics become reasonably big if clicked, even the turned one!)

But the treadlings?

2011-12-21T12:57:00.000+01:00

Regardless of the loom type(s) used – all fabrics must have a wefting order.
All the “recipes” have a tie-up given, so, obviously, they are meant for a treadle loom.

But where are the treadling orders? Or: when no treadling order is given, which is the “obvious” choice?
To me, nowadays, tromp-as-writ is what I first try – but would it have been, 30 years ago? Probably not. And I’m not (was not) alone in this: in several (modern) texts it says “if the treadling order is not given, it is always a straight order”.

Hm – since when?

This is another of the handwritten drafts:

So – what happens if this gets treadled straight?
(I know which version I would prefer, anyway...)

So, again, I asked my guildmates. They were all, at first, convinced that “straight” is the way to go, if no order is given. Until... vivid discussion followed. After a while, the prevailing ideas were that, for 4-shaft threadings the treadlings were probably straight, but for more shafts, and/or “complicated” threadings tromp-as-writ was probably where to start.

But, again: this is now.

Earlier this year, I was looking into Hulda Peters Vävbok, printed in 1925 – a slim volume with 90 threadings/tie-ups, but nearly no treadlings. (That resulted in an article on my website – found here) Many of her treadlings were tromp-as-writ, or slightly modified, without mentioning that “little” fact.
It turns out that many (most?) old-ish “pattern books” that I have lack treadlings, but most “real” books (hardbound and more pages) include them.
Isn’t that odd?
Especially as the older (pre-1900) books I have usually have treadlings...

Thoughts about looms

2011-12-19T17:37:00.001+01:00

No weaving going on hereabouts, but lots of weaving-related tinking.
I have spent some time deciphering old-ish handwritten drafts. This has made me wonder about lots of things...

One of them is: can we draw any conclusions about looms used from drafts/tie-up used?

The most standard of all Swedish looms is the 4-shaft counterbalance, with one pulley and two horses (on each side of the loom, of course!). (Horses - in Swedish those are often called "nicke-pinnar", "nodding dowels". I don't know any other English word than horse - pls help?) Lamms have been used for a relatively long time. No lamms did not necessarily mean "direct tie-up" - it was pefectly possible to tie more than one shaft to one treadle. To prevent the shafts from moving sideways, one could use a ring of some sort (a piece of cow's horn, it says in one book) to keep the treadle cords together.

Countermarches were is use in the early 1800s, but how common were they?

The most common (I think) way to add more shafts was to use "lunor" - ie two-level pulleys (left) or dräll-pulleys:

From all the extras that came with my loom I think that, maybe, a 3-level pulley was used with horses, thus giving the loom a capacity to use 12 shafts, like this:

(Seen from the side: 2 shafts connected by horses to one cord that goes over the pulley and down on the other side - thus 6 shafts on the back of the pulley-contraption, 6 (not pictured) in front of it)

I have used such a set-up a couple of times, and it is... - well, let's say it can be done, but it takes lots of patience to get the whole thing balanced. However, I fully inderstand why one can prefer to use dräll pulleys (or countermarche) instead.
Dräll pulleys have one drawback: the tie-up has to be on opposites: what goes down in the one end must come up in the other:

So: can I draw any conclusions as to the type of loom was used, when I find several 8-shaft "not-opposite" tieups in one manuscript? As the majority of weaves are 4-shaft and of many different types, I'm not seeing the legacy of a specialist weaver (I think). There are a couple of opposite tie-ups, and as many not-opposites.
Am I seeing a weaver with lots of patience, or one with a countermarche? (From all the extras that came with my loom: maybe I'm seeing a weaver with a loom that is on its way to be upgraded?)

I asked my guildmates, some of whom have learned to weave 50 years ago, (then) using their (grand-)mother's loom. They all believed in the two-or-more-level pulleys, possibly with elastics to help balancing.

Any thoughts?

Double the fun?

2011-11-27T16:15:00.001+01:00

When reading Andrew's musings about double layers and colour, I remembered some ideas I had many years ago. I think I did weave samples, but I can't find them - so maybe I never did?

Anyway, as you may have noticed, I like playing with colour... :) The basic idea was to have two separate layers, one colour per layer, and then slowly changing the appearence of the colours, and in the end getting the the opposite.

So I started to play.... here are some ideas:

These are threaded on 8 shafts, with every other end blue, the other red. The weft order is the same, but, as the weaving progresses, the wefts not always alternate in the layers.
Both start with bringing one end of the other colour to the top, then one pick, next part takes 2 ends to the top etc. Which ends/pick are brought up differs in the two examples. (And yes, I think it would be better with less contrast - gold and yellow, perhaps?) - click to enlarge:

Another approach: here, just the warps that change place - threaded on 16 shafts.
To the left (but needs, obviously, some more work) "going both ways", to the right are both faces of the first half.

(The left needed a lot more contrast to even show at this size...)

Hmmm - perhaps: two warp colours, but only one weft? Would make it a tube, of sorts - but that would, perhaps, make it more useable? Hmm... perhaps I should try it IRW (In Real Weave) too?

???

2011-11-07T17:52:00.000+01:00

It has happened again. It has been quite a long time, but now it has happened twice in one month.

I am, as you know, a little old lady having a small business (and a weavery, to boot) out in the rural back-and-beyond.
Now and again, the "state" (or county, or the local something-or-other, or, sometimes, EU) decides to spend some money "helping" such small businesses. Especially if owned by women.
So they device some courses, especially tailored to little old ladies out in the boondocks. "Hmmm – what is it they really really need? Hmmm... ah, of course: they need to be "brought into the 21st century" – let’s teach them how to use a computer. Well, that is, perhaps, a bit too ambitious... but we can teach them how to use a small portion of it: e-mail!"

I guess this is (sort of) ok. (I think I know about 2 little old ladies that do not use e-mail, after all.) However: the invitation to such classes is sent out ... by e-mail.
Thus: in the last month I have had two different e-mails inviting me to a class in how to use e-mail. (And they want me to pay for them, too.)

What to do? Laugh, cry or perhaps start spamming all organisations doing things like that? Just sigh? I find it extremely insulting to get invitations sent out like that.

(But I do remember, after the hurricane, when all 'phone lines had come down. After a couple of weeks the 'phone company started telephoning their customers, to see if their 'phones were working. We had no 'phone for 6 weeks, that time. And the company did not want to compensate us, as we had not ('phoned) to tell them we had problems... Same thinking?)

As I am so very computer savvy (I may have worked computers before some of the "teachers" were born - ), here is a picture, too:

Seersucker mk II

2011-11-04T17:38:00.000+01:00

or, the quill buster.

By mistake I warped one turn of the mill less than I thought, for the Halloweave project, so there wasn’t enough warp to make a second shawl.

I decided to use the thrums to see if there was a difference in the “seersucker-ing” if I used twill for the flat parts (here the brown stripes), and to use up as many left-over quills of cotton 16/2 as I had patience to. This would then also become a colour gamp of sorts.

To begin with, I meant to use a broken twill, but when I sat under the loom I completely forgot – and did not bother changing from the straight twill I had tied up for...

(Yes, I could have treadled it, but then I would have had to concentrate – I’m all for doing things the easy way)

I ended up with 11 weft stripes of different colours, all different lengths. Here it is, true-ish colours but out of focus:

Some of the weft colours used:

So, did the seersuckering differ any? Hard to tell:

The difference, if there is any, isn’t big enough to bother with, in my opinion.

And here is the “original”, draped on a dress form:

The too short reed

2011-11-01T12:47:00.000+01:00

Laura describes (at Weaving a life) what can happen if you don’t comcentrate, and try to use a reed that is too short for your loom.
When I got my AVL, they had given me another reed tahn what I would have liked (confusion between imperial and metric, no doubt). They would be happy to send me another, but I was eaget to start weaving (well, to start trying to understand this loom, anyway). So I went to the nearest weaving shop to get another, as my old reeds were too narrow to use with a fly-shuttle.
I had seen that the AVL reed was taller than the “normal” (10 cm) reeds, but I did not reflect on tha fact. Home I came, with a “normal” (10 cm) reed in the correct width – proceeded with dressing the loom, threading, sleying the new reed – and could not put the beater top on, as the reed was too short.
What to do? Send for another reed, wait for a week.... ? Or try to fix it?
I bought a piece of aliminum profile, as near to the thickness of the reed sides as possible, and a piece of wood that would slot into the beater top. Glued them together, put the contraption in. It worked, but got a somewhat squishy beat (as the reed could move a bit in the alu profile). So I got some self-adhesive foam (for lining windows to stop draughts) – and I am still using that reed when needed.
(However, when getting new reeds for the AVL I always order 12,5-cm tall, if possible)

Lined with foam:

Slots into beater top:

My ”Halloweave”

2011-10-30T16:17:00.000+01:00

Over at Weavolution there has been a fun event going for the month of October.

I “signed up” for a dare: to try the seersucker method that Cathie posted some time ago.

I had lots of other things to do, but, at the last moment, I managed to get it done!

On the Friday I dressed the loom.

On the Saturday I wove it (and fringed it)

(which, considering what I also did yesterday, was a bit of a feat)

and today, after wet finishing, tumbling and some press it looks like this:

As the method called for the main warp to be tight, the “seering” (or is that the “sucking” ;-) ?) warp(s) to have a lighter tension, I decided to do 3 stripes, and to tension them differently. As I got confused with the math, I ended up with approx the same tension (weight/end) for the green and the taupe stripes, less for the gold stripe.
I cranked up the tension on the brown warp as high as I could.
(All warps are cotton – the brown is 16/2 unmerc, the coloured is 20/2 merc. All are set at 12 ends per centimeter. The weft is an unmerc cotton 16/2, and the whole thing is slightly warp-emphasis - I think I had approx 8 picks/cm)

Just for the threading, I had wound the stripes on the second beam, meaning to take them all off later, to hang freely. Then it dawned on me: I could let them form loops at the back, hang the weights in the loops – it would make advancing the warp easier, too!

To begin with, I had too little weight on the stripes – after several skips I added to all three!

When weaving, the different tension did show up only when I advanced the warp. When cut off, there was just a hint of “something” in the stripes (see picture above).
So: my hope was the wet finishing would take care of the sucking... and it did. Some.

I had hoped the difference would be greater – or, I should say the visual difference. The real difference is there alright:

Try as I might, I can't get a good photo of the shawl (or "not-quite-rebozo") draped, the colours don't want to cooperate. But there are tendencies towards iridescence in both stripes and main part - maybe another day.

But there is some warp left over, maybe I should try with twill in the brown parts...

Let there be light!

2011-10-25T17:34:00.000+02:00

For the longest time I have wondered why light reflectors aren’t incorporated into winter clothing. I have sewn on bands of reflecting material, I have embroidered with reflecting thread. I have experimented with needle weaving reflecting thread into existing garments – here I am, on a winter’s night, on the road outside my home (click to enlarge):

I have also experimented with using that “yarn” (really a narrow strip of PVC plastic, coated with reflecting material) to weave with – pictures without and with flash (pictures taken at the same time):

Before the yardage was made into coats, it was in a yardage exhibition at Convergence – it must have been ’04, I think. It was titled “nightly rainbow”. Here is a detail – top is the reverse (no flash), bottom the right side (flash), both on loom:

Basically, it is a waffle weave with the coloured and the reflecting ends placed so as to be on the reverse side most of the time.

Now, I have just completed another reflecting experiment. This time I used a reflecting thread made to use for machine embroidery. I chose that to see what hand the fabric would have if it was used throughout (together with a woolen warp and weft).
First I tried it just “doubled”, but didn’t like the result.

So... the next step doesn’t really lend itself to “production”: I tried plying it with the weft yarn. Of course (I knew it, but hoped I was wrong) the weft yarn became totally unruly... which meant I had to first unply, then re-ply the weft yarn. It worked, but for production? No...! Maybe I can talk some small spinning mill into making it for me?

However, with a coat/jacket like this, one would not have to worry about being invisible!

(Yes, it has been wet finished, and it handles quite ok. But it will take long before I will try to make a longer yardage)

Another trip

2011-10-22T14:10:00.000+02:00

to another Big City (well – the biggest one we have, here, anyway): Stockholm.
The purpose for my trip was to discuss the changing of the by-laws for Riksföreningen för handvävning – and discuss we did! Among other things we discussed whether we (the assoc) should spread knowledge about the cultural history or just the history of weaving. Myself, I think that other aspects of the history of weaving are as important (the importance of weaving for economic purposes, for instance) as are the cultural aspects. (And I won! That is, I wasn’t alone in my opinion even from the beginning – so I’ve better write WE won.)

After the conference, we all went to see an exhibition: Royal Vintage at Livrustkammaren. Here are more pictures.
Lots of draped dresses:

The last one is not vintage - it is "inspired" by the exhibition.
(yes, it was ok to take photographs)

And... the waterspout:

There is another interesting exhibition in Stockholm now, but I missed that. (Hope to see it later.) It is at Hallwylska palatset – and here are more photos.
It would have been very interesting to see these clothes, especially as I have the rest of the (wool) yarns... my friend and I bought the left-over stock (close to 1500 kg, IIRC) many years ago, and I still have some of it. (I remember, when we came home, we counted to something like 120 different clours, or I should say nuances. Enough to sample “unlikely” colour combinations, anyway. And so many of the “unlikely” combos have turned out great!)
The yarn has figured on this blog from time to time – for instance here, but also here.
I think all of my vadmal was woven with this yarn (not all fabric in the pictures are mine – but both the brightest green and the red are), also the blankets here. And all the V-shawls, and... and, in fact, most of the wool fabric I have made since I bought the yarn!

London: some cultural observations

2011-10-13T11:15:00.000+02:00

The view from my hotel room:

The hotel shall remain nameless, but the price was right...

This time I ventured into (by me) unchartered territory, which meant I had to occasionally consult the map. So... on which (obviously big) road was I? All the crossing (small and narrow) roads had signs - but the big did not. It appears that thoroughfares generally are signed at both ends, but not in the middle. Quite confusing, if one comes up from the underground, in the middle of the (long) road.
Common sights:

Not very common sight:

Also, there are often no numbers on the houses. Thus, I was looking for the Textile and Fashion museum. I walked, and walked, and walked... until I gave up and found a place to ask (it was Sunday). It turned out that I was about 100 numbers past. I turned around, and suddenly I was at #60 (I wanted 83). Turned again. I finally found a small(ish) door, with a small(ish) print (maybe all of 1" high) saying Textile and fashion museum... closed on Sundays (and Mondays).

Well, the weather was nice, so I went to Tate modern instead. The spoor of the (in)famous crack can still be seen:

(and to continue the tradition - here is a small water spout, Tate model:)

Later that afternoon - a sight to be seen only in London?

As it is such a good idea, they can have a link, too: pedibus.

London: fibres, fabrics and...

2011-10-13T09:50:00.001+02:00

fancy dress (NO! But how to allitterate? F...f... fanatics? no, that's even worse... ah: 'ficionados, that will do it!)
So: London: fibres, fabrics and 'ficionados.

Fibres: for the first time, I visited Handweaver's studio, a place full of fibres

"ordinary" yarns, more unusual yarns

glitter yarns

There are also spinning tools, looms, books, magazines... However, having baggage restrictions, I didn't buy much.

Fabrics: there is a small stretch of road having more fabric shops than anywhere else I have ever seen, on Goldhawk road (between Shepherd's bush market and the common). Silks, silks, silks, worsteds, fancy fabrics, fashion fabrics... Did I mention silks? (To make it even better, there is also a pub called The stinging nettle - not quite fibres, but almost...)

As this whole block is threatened with demolition, here are many pictures:

(Should you happen to pass by in the near future, please go in and sign the petition!!!)

'ficionados: as my specific reason for going to London was the Congregation of the Burgon Society, here are a couple of pictures:

From the flea market:

2011-09-29T18:36:00.000+02:00

Two finds!

A small rep rug, of a very traditional quality, with a very traditional pattern:

It is about 45 cm wide and 150 cm long - it has several threading errors (the colours have been swapped).

The varp is a soft-twist multi-ply cotton in two colours. (Difficult to tell the grist - looks like perhaps a thickness like 8/2, but has more plies). Sett is about 16 ends per centimeter.

The thick weft consists of three strands of what looks like ordinary carpet warp, but the thin weft is thinner (than carpet warp, that is)..

Here is a (slightly out of focus) close-up of the selvage and the unfinished end:

and one of the "roses":

As you can see, this is woven with alternating thick and thin wefts throughout. Where the blocks change, the thin weft goes in the same shed as the thick (for the block that changes).

Here is a not-quite-correct draft of part of the pattern. The threading needs to be tweaked at the block changes, but as I'm not going to weave it myself , I leave that to you :-)

and the back view:

For the Americans out there: yes, this is a "ripsmatta". Rips means rep - matta means rug. Thus it is impossible to weave, say, a ripsmatta belt: "rep rug belt"??? Is that a rug OR a belt?

I also found a nice shuttle:

It both had the spindle for the bobbin and the spring was working, so it can actually be used "as is"!

"All about weaving"

2011-09-20T10:58:00.000+02:00

In January I wrote about the myth about "there is no handweaving on the 'net" (here is the post). Among other things I told about the New Important Project aiming to create a 'net portal to contain "everything about handweaving".

That portal is now here. (Oh, it contains, presumably, "all" about several other textile art forms, too: embroidery, knitting, crochet, bobbin lace...).

I suppose it is A Good Thing that there is another weaving "portal" out there, to point aspiring weavers to many resources. So - why am I so obviously miffed? Well, to tell the truth, I am disappointed about not having been consulted. Oh, not me, personally, but, for instance, our local guild works near, or so we thought, the local craft association. We could have got a link, perhaps? Or we could have been invited to participate in the pattern-making ("weaving for all" - a collection of patterns "from north to south")... or: the collection of patterns could have had more than one (ok, two) projects that are not rugs, towels and tablecloths. After all, from the first I heard of the project, it was meant to inspire/convince "youngsters" that weaving is not just boring old things like rugs and tablecloths...

Well.
Perhaps it is just a case of sour grapes. (Age, perhaps? "grumpy old woman"?)
But I wander how one gets to be on the links list, or on the book list...
On the knitting pages, Ravelry has got a link. But Weavolution is not on the weaving pages - nor is handweaving.net.

Some hard facts to contemplate:

A Thursday in Borås

2011-09-20T10:43:00.001+02:00

VÄV2011 was held in Borås the weekend past.

As usual there were lots of people, lots of yarns (but why so many knitting yarns?), lots of books... and lots of exhibitions.
As usual I wondered why I had gone, when I was inside in the heat, throng, ready-warped rug warps... (I seldom find anything at these fairs, 'cos I can't concentrate and I don't like to have to use my elbows to "get to see".)
I did meet with many old friends, some of which I haven't seen for years. This meant I had lots of coffee!

But: in Borås, there are several other things to be found. My big finds where about 75 meters of thin worsted fabric and 10 kgs of thin worsted yarn (I think he said it was 2/56, but it doesn't really matter), both from an industrial outlet.

Black is hopeless to photograph, at least to a hopeless amateur like me! The fabric has a nice drape, which may (or not) show in the picture.
The yarn is posing on the table of one of my sewing machines, and lies beside a cotton 22/2.

On the way home, I visited an exhibition (no water spouts in sight, but it rained).
This was labelled as an "area rug", and the pattern is just brushed. The attendant assured me it was not fixated(?) in any way, which means one can't touch it without destroying the images. Not very practical, but impressive to see all the detail the artist had managed to "brush in" (click to enlarge).

10 minutes from home, there were double rainbows pointing at my house, but as I was driving these will have to do:

The importance of being colourful?

2011-09-18T12:21:00.001+02:00

In response to Laura's post on Yarn (which sounds like an interesting book, but...):
Many years ago, there was a short story published in either SS&D or Handwoven. It was a delightful story, and it went something like this:

Once upon a time there was a little village. The inhabitants were dour and depressed (maybe depressing? ;-), life in the village was a drag, the children were listless... even the dogs were unhappy. Everyone was dressed in black, grey, drab colours all.
Then the village weaver died, and the villagers set out to find a new one. They found two young brothers who accepted the job.
The brothers arrived, and unloaded lots of colourful yarn and cloth. Nobody wanted to buy their cloth, because clothing should be drab, as it always had been. After a while they persuaded a mother to get something colourful for her child - and the child soon started to laugh and play. Slowly, slowly they persuaded the other villagers to try colours.
It took some time, but then the village (and its life) was totally transformed - people were happy, life was not half as dour as it had been before, there was play and laughter everywhere.

... just a thought, now that darkness and cold is before us... Some re-used pictures:

Woollens

2011-09-10T18:26:00.000+02:00

Always the sucker for nice woollen fabrics, I bought another (used) tweed jacket today.

Very ordinary cut, with some nice details. I can't decide if I like the buttons or not -

Approximately 7-8 ends and picks per cm; woollen singles.
Provenience unknown (no label).

On (other) exhibitions

2011-09-10T18:12:00.003+02:00

Last week I went to not one, not two but *three* exhibitions.

The first was "Fashion stories" by Lars Wallin, a retrospective over 20 years of creating couture and prêt-a-porter. (At the moment there is a slide-show here, but who knows for how long it will be up... the exhibition closes on Sept 18th.)

The clothes were fantastic - but the public was... disappointing. All comments I overheard were about which celebrity had worn which dress, and when.
Well.

Another slight disappointment was the state the exhibition was in (ok - it was the last week of a 4-month period), but...
So: reminder to self: if I ever have an exhibition longer than, say, 2 weeks, remember to go check it, possibly bringing a steam iron.

No pictures, but as it has almost come to be a tradition on this blog: a water spout:

The next was at Moderna Museet. Another water spout:

(This water spout is part of this).

Unfortunately, I missed the summer exhibition of Siri Derkert's life and work.
I saw her clothes re-created some years ago, but it would have been nice to meet them again.

For those interested in clothes from the '20ies, there is a book (.pdf) here, describing the project of re-creating Derkert's clothing at Textilhögskolan in 2001. (Text in both Swedish and English)
(And for readers of Swedish - I found a blog I will visit again: Modearkivet.)

The third? Not really anything to mention, but here is the water spout:

Another 15 000 kilograms

2011-08-25T15:32:00.000+02:00

Same threading, same warp (same sleying mistakes), but different weft and slightly different treadling:

The stem should have been longer, but it is now fatter and the foot is thicker.
(Perhaps I should explain: the stripeyness(sp?) comes from the warp - two blue tones, one of them shows as grey, here.)

The shape could be altered some: (this also has the longer stem)
Not woven because the warp/thrums had got too short...

Opinions?
Would any of you buy a special towel for drying your crystal?

Sampling

2011-08-19T18:03:00.001+02:00

This is a sample, woven on thrums from another project.

The sample is a cousin of the leaf scarves (in fact, it is the same threading).
This time I am thinking of towels for hand-drying crystal glasses (I do live in the "kingdom of crystal", after all ;-).
A glass towel should be very thin and flexible, and lint-free - this spells linen, to me, even though the sample has cotton warp.

However, I don't have more than 16 shafts - I can't make the "picture" wider.

Front and back - click to see it in real life-size.

This picture is larger-than-life:

What I can do is making the stem wider and the foot thicker.
I can also make the bowl taller - perhaps I could try for a tulip-shape?

This is not exactly the liftplan I used (sneaker net is down at the moment, due to heavy rain...)

Yesterday I also did something I've been thinking of for a long time (10 years?): I piled books onto the AVL treadle to lift 8 shafts. It took approximately 16 kilograms of encyclopedia for that to happen.
The sample above took 790 picks for ca 55 cm wet-finished cloth. That equals 12640 kilos (or 12 and-a-half tons, if you prefer).
Weaving on an AVL is not for the faint of right leg... but I already knew that. I just did not know exactly how much the lifting amounts to. No wonder there's a joke about AVL weavers and right leg development...
Question: can anybody think of a way to measure the force needed for the flying of shuttles? I haven't used the double box for a while, but I remember what happens every time I go back to the single box: I make the shuttle bounce almost half the way back...
Maybe I should tell my loom is 60".

Another solution / en annan lösning

2011-08-18T23:57:00.000+02:00

Laura's soultion is the right-hand one (right, Laura?) - slightly different look, but sooo much easier...
(why didn't *I* think of that??? ;-)

En annan lösning, från Laura (till höger ovan). Lite annorlunda ser den ut, men bara lite ;-)
(Varför kom inte *jag* på den...?)

Att "fånga" staden

2011-08-18T19:06:00.001+02:00

Men, säger någon, kan man inte fixa till de lösa trådarna på nåt sätt?

Jo, alltså - man kan ju andvända två skyttlar.
Eller (som Anne föreslog borta hos Anki - man kan ta av tråden i varje vändning, för att börja om från andra sidan.
Eller (som Annes syfröken föreslog), man kan sy till kanterna för hand efteråt.

I Amerika är det populät med en annan metod: "flytande stad" (floating selvage). Det innebär att man låter den yttersta tråden vara osolvad, och istället tricksar med skytteln så att varje inslag går "in över, ut under". (Tvärtom går förstås också bra.)
Det fungerar förstås, men är så pyssligt att ingen (jag menar mig själv, förstås) orkar hålla på med det i metervis...

Om man har 6 skaft kan man solva de yttersta trådarna på de extra skaften:

Man skulle ju kunna solva fler trådar i tuskaft - eller kan man det?
Jag vill påstå att det inte är lämpligt, eftersom tuskaft är en tätare bunden väv. Det betyder att tuskaftskanterna lätt "bygger" mer än kyperten, man får spänningsproblem osv.

So, how to catch the edge?

Well, as we have seen, one can use two shuttles.
Or (as Anne wrote over at Anki's - cut the weft at every change of direction, start anew from the other side.
Or (as Anne's sewing teacher suggested) - one can hand sew over each un-caught portion of the ... yardage... afterwards.

In the US it is popular to use a "floating selvage", which means that the outer threads are left unthreaded, and instead manipulate them for each shuttle pass: "in over, out under". (The opposite will work too, of course.)
That is way too fiddly for me.

If you have 6 shafts you can use the two extra shafts for the edge threads.

But - then you can thread a wider selvage, can't you?
IMO that is not a good idea. As tabby is a tighter weave than is twill, it is easy to get a too "long" selvage - it will build faster. You can also get tension problems.

Kypert och lösa stadtrådar, del 2

2011-08-18T18:02:00.000+02:00

Blir dethär bättre?

(Klicka för större bild!)

Om vi räknar inslagen nedifrån:
det första kommer från vänster; kommer ut ÖVER stadtråden.
Sedan går det från höger, och det går in ÖVER stadråden (ut resp in orangemarkerade).
Stadtråden blir inte bunden.

Tredje inslaget kommer från vänster, och kommer ut UNDER stadtråden.
Fjärde inslaget går från höger, går in UNDER stadtråden (andra orangea pilen).
Stadtråden blir inte bunden - nu ligger den fri för 4 inslag.

Femte inslaget (från vänster), kommer ut ÖVER staden.
Sjätte från höger, går in ÖVER stadtråden, som nu ligger fri över 6 inslag.

Sjunde inslaget (efter trampvändningen; fjärde krok-pilen) från vänster: ut ÖVER staden.
Åttonde från höger går nu in UNDER staden - staden binds.

Nionde från vänster; ut UNDER staden.
Tionde från höger: in ÖVER staden, som binds.

A more detailed description of how to understand yesterday's picture.

The wefts are (in the Swedish tradition) counted fron the bottom - in fact, as they are entered on the physical loom... :-)

The first pic is coming fron the left, comes out OVER the edge thread.
Second pic goes from the right, and enters the shed OVER the edge thread (both picks marked in orage)
The edge thread is not caught by the weft.

Third pick from left, exits shed UNDER the edge thread.
Fourth pick enters shed from the right, UNDER edge thread.
Edge thread is not caught, and is therefore free for 4 picks.

Fifth pick comes from left, exits OVER edge.
Sixth pick from right, enters OVER edge. Now the edge thread is un-caught for 6 picks.

Seventh pick (after the change of treadling direction, 4th crooked arrow) from left: comes out OVER the edge thread.
Eighth pic now enters shed from right, UNDER edge thread, which is thereby caught.

Ninth, from left: out UNDER edge.
Tenth, from right: in OVER edge, which is again caught.

Kypert och lösa stadtrådar

2011-08-17T14:39:00.000+02:00

Till Anki:
såhär kan man (relativt) enkelt ta reda på om/hur stadtråden fungerar med en skyttel (de orangea pilarna), eller med två skyttlar (de röda och gröna pilarna).
(Klicka på bilden, så blir den större)

Alltså - med en skyttel går det bra OM man tar av tråden och börjar från andra sidan i tramp-vändningen.

Med två skyttlar fungerar båda trampriktningarna utan problem (utom att man måste hålla rätt på skyttlarna, förståss...)

This is esentially a comment to Anki.

This is one method of figuring out if/how a twill selvage will work out.
The orange arrows are for one shuttle - there will be a warp loop for half the goose eye unless you cut the weft and start from the other side at the change of treadling direction.
OR you can use two shuttles (the red and green arrows) - with two shuttles the edge threads will be caught (nearly) always.
(Click the picture to make it bigger).

How to fly carpets

2011-08-01T18:35:00.001+02:00

I have been asked how the flying carpets (now taken down) were mounted to fly.

I had a theory:

The idea was: route the rug as shown, between two rigid sticks. Put a "string" with a stopping knot under the lower stick, through the hole in the upper, and down the other end.
Hopefully the weight of the rug would press the upper stick down on to the lower stick, and lock the rug in place.

It did not work. So... plan B: put a screw through the holes, and a wingnut under the lower stick. (The rug is still routed the same way.)

This worked perfectly!
For "sticks" we used shaft bars (as they already have convenient holes...), and put a big washer on each "outside" to protect the wood from marks.
The only annoyance was that the hardware store did not have shorter "eyed" screws...

(I still think the theory could work with, say, shawls)

What determines shrinkage?

2011-07-26T14:04:00.001+02:00

Andrew, over at weave4fun describes a curious case of "differential shrinkage".

I told him it has happened to me, too - but as I can't post pictures on his blog, the illustration comes here, instead.

This is a ... lap rug? ruana? - piece of woollen cloth. It has the same yarn in both warp and weft, in several colours/shades.
The yarn comes from an old industrial stash, is woollen-spun and has a grist slightly finer than 6/2 Nm (which is the Swedish "standard" yarn for making blankets).

The longest side is 160 cm, the shortest is 144. The widest end is 47 cm, the narrowest is 42.

- the phenomenon is true for all yarns from this same source, so whenever I want a gradated weave I have to be extremely careful when wet-finishing...

The only explanation I can think of is that the light-coloured yarns have been bleached, and (because of harsher treatment) therefore shrinks less.

I would be very interested to hear other theories!

(It has happened to me with a couple of other yarns, too. And it has always been the dark shades that shrunk most.)

A chair

2011-07-23T13:50:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the whole chair - a nice lightweight white one.
But it had a nice fabric:

It wasn't professionaly upholstered, which means I could get a small portion of the other side, too:

Lastly: another pic from the shop - this time waay bigger that it could have been, had I had access to a 'puter with a photo handling program...

Another dragon

2011-07-18T17:27:00.000+02:00

We went on a day trip yesterday, to see an exhibition by Jeanette Schäring. (Her own pictures are better than mine...)

In Ronneby, I found two dragons, obviously siblings to the one in this post.

How come I find water dragons everytime I go look at exhibitions, these days?

We also spied a weather-proof chair:

Today I'm shop sitting again. A new picture from the co-op:

The blanket idea has been seen as one of the weaves of the month at Riksföreningen för handvävning.

Netiquette?

2011-07-11T13:05:00.001+02:00

I've been hanging out on the 'net since '96 (I think). A lot has happened since then, especially to the discussion lists. Then, everything was strictly text-based, and, as most of us were on dial-up and had to pay per minute and/or byte, postings were often well thought-through.
Now, it is easy to add pictures, broadband often (but not always!) means no restrictions on bytes. There are more "lists", more "forums", more "communities". Blogging is free and easy to manage. It has become cheaper to own websites.
But. It seems to me that at the same time words have become less... important? On some communities where I participate, nowadays it is quite normal that commenters have not really read the question, and thus answers/comments on something else entirely.

Let me fabricate an exaggerated example:
Q: "Anybody knows how to define 'houndstooth' pattern?"
A: "Use one light-one dark in both warp and weft and you get 'log cabin'"

Yes, but... that wasn't the question?

Or, another one:
1:st post: "I found this interesting article (link provided)"
1:st comment: "Very interesting, esp the discussion on ..."
2:nd comment: "Where can I find the article?"

?

I suppose the above is a cousin to what I wrote in january.
Except... these (albeit fabricated) examples are from within a forum. That is: the participant(s) has 1) managed to find the forum, 2) managed to sign in and 3) has had enough interest to read the first part of the thread (well, obviously not - but open the page in question).

OK, everyone of us has "senior moments", whether we are old or young. But I think this is getting more and more common?

I have read articles saying that elderly people get "smarter" when they start using the 'net (whatever that means - and, question is: if you already were a 'net user, are you already "smarter" than you would have been, without the 'net?). I have also read articles saying that surfing/gaming children lose reading ability - but also articles that state that children having access to a computer read better than children without.

Whatever. But: shouldn't we all be courteous enough to try to understand the question(s) before we answer/comment?

Some textile content from our co-op, now open seven days/week:

Frequent flyers... in place

2011-07-06T11:58:00.000+02:00

I've found it almost impossible to get good photos of the mobiles... but now they are all in palce. Now we only hope the visitors enjoy the exhibition! (More pictures at the guild site)

A double act

2011-07-04T11:05:00.001+02:00

A two-tiered mobile, with passengers:

Not quite in focus, but the top one has two passengers: Ture Sventon and Mr Omar.
Ture Sventon is a children's-fiction detective from the '60-ies (still popular) - he bought a flying carpet from mr Omar. He uses it regularly, and mr Omar sometimes helps him investigate.

I thought it could be appropriate to use them, as the exhibition is in the library...

Oh, and I might add that all three are woven in taqueté, threaded on 16 shafts. (But I don't remember if I utilized all blocks)

In a couple of hours all three mobiles will be in place.

A balancing act

2011-07-03T18:13:00.000+02:00

or two?
My flying carpets did not make it for the Friday hanging. They will be there on Monday, though!

Not exactly a "beauty shot", but here is one:

A rainbow (well... artist's freedom?) in corduroy, abow a ... pool of rainwater? (Also corduroy, but it did not come out as I envisioned it. Weft is cellophane.)

The rainbow has a rider, a little hard to see:

Two more to come! And I have all morning to mount them...

Flying

2011-07-02T21:36:00.000+02:00

Friday we hung most of the flying carpets:

The actual opening will be Monday. More pics to be added...

Soon to be flying!

2011-06-23T16:51:00.000+02:00

Today I have got the first carpets for the guild exhibition.
(BTW - what is the difference between carpets and rugs?) Anyway, they have to be carpets - who has heard of "flying rugs"?

I haven't unpacked/unrolled them. I just ordered them in an arbitrary colour order:

There will be some more (my own magic carpets, for instance ;-), but they will arrive next week. The hanging will be on Friday next. Watch this space!

And here is the only sun I have seen today:

A true visionary?

2011-06-14T18:08:00.000+02:00

The French author Jules Verne (1828 -1905) was a true visionary. He not only visualized the submarine, the airplane and the space rocket. In his book De la terre à la lune (From the Earth to the Moon, or Från jorden till månen), there is a chapter called The Cannon Club.
(I've better point out that I have the book in Swedish only, so the translation, and the errors, are my own)

"The Cannon Club

[...] When an American has got a fixed idea, he always looks for another American with whom he can share it. If they are three persons, they elect one as chairman and the other two as secretaries; the fourth member becomes press officer. When they are five members, they hold a board meeting. The Club is constituted.
[...]
A month after its inception, the Club had 1832 active and 3575 corresponding members.
[...] "

(illustration shows all members after a couple of months?)

(written by a Facebook refusnik, just so you know...)

Bird's nests, of course!

2011-06-13T11:53:00.000+02:00

The question was what to do with the "bad" wool - the tangled, the parts with lots of V(egetable)M(atter), the short bits... The answer: bird's nests, of course!

I tried various ways of making them in an efficient way. The best(?) turned out to be: wrap some dry wool around a small ball, well above the equator. Take one plastic shopping bag, previously twisted into a sort-of-spheric shape. Transfer the bag into the "nest", put the whole thing into an old panty-hose. Tie with a string.
I got 10 "nests" into one pair of pantyhose. Put it in the washing machine. Out of the 10 I got 8 passable:

It can even be said that the VM adds to the appearance! (IMO, of course ;-)
Now, it I only could find out a faster way to make the eggs...

Transparent, but still double

2011-06-01T17:04:00.000+02:00

Then there was this show. A group of artists, representing many techniques (from glass blowing to textiles via painting and woodwork), were to have a show titled "Transparency".
At first I wasn't very interested, but then I had an idea: a drapery, with the basket weave for the joined areas, and the occasional word printed on something clear in the pockets.

Something clear... like plastic? Would laser printed plastic survive washing? Or hand written with a waterproof pen? It had to survive pressing, too. Sampling, I found that waterproof pens apparently are only waterproof if used in the wrong place (like if you get a spot on the shirt). I found that laser printers are different - pieces from one printer survived, pieces from the other did not.
In the small samples the basked weave acted like in the first sample, that is: it was nearly invisible.

So I wove, placing various words here and there.
Then I wet finished the piece. Some of the words were still visible, and the one-layer areas were a lot more visible than in the samples...

So... why didn't sampling help? The only reason I can think of is that the wear on the printed words was harder with a whole piece in the machine. (But I had washed the samples, not perhaps in a full machine, but with several towels, at the same settings, in the same machine!)
Why did the basket weave areas become more apparent? Is it just size - that everything looks different on a bigger scale?

The next weave of this type has half-transparent plastic in the pockets. The idea is a triple helix, with two plastic pieces in the same pocket where the "helixes" meet. But I abandoned the basket weave...

I made one "worded" set to order. Most of the words were still visible after wet finishing, but I had to replace some. As I had used a mercerized yarn, it was possible to tease the plastic out (and in) without permanently distorting the weave in the pockets.

The coloured plastic is cut from cheap folders, the type that can take about 10 pages without overflowing. It will survive any kind of abuse - washing machine, any kind of iron, sunlight... and by doubling the colours it also becomes educational. (Several people do not want to believe me when I say that there are only 3 colours. They must not have been allowed to play with watercolours?)

Double, double... (next try)

2011-05-31T16:09:00.000+02:00

So the next try was more... ordinary?
Straight pockets, plain weave between them, coins (but only at the ends).

The coins give a nice weight to the ends, and also add glitter. They are almost impossible to photograph, at least the glitter :)
Some examples:

(Yes, there are coins in there)

I have tried various "dragon scales" (fillings?), but coins still remain the best. I have tried sequins (for instance here), but they have no weight - and also do not like to be machine-washed, and can melt if pressed with a too hot iron.
I have tried finding mirrors, but can only find thick, single-sided and square. Had I found round mirrors I might have tried, but square with rather sharp edges seems to invite disaster.

I also tried stringing beads and let that pick "float" between layers, but did not like the results.

Another idea, still to be tested, is to have (coloured) warps floating between layers. Something like this:

As you can see, I haven't thought enough on this... but I think that at least the cross-wise one-layer areas have to be twill. -There are several more variations outside what is pictured here, including point threading/treadling. And it still remains to decide what kind of yarn would look nice for the "floaters".

Double, double...

2011-05-29T11:40:00.000+02:00

toil and trouble [...] Scale of dragon [...]

As you may have noticed, I like double weave for achieving special effects in one item (as opposed to double width).
It started with a somewhat hazy idea: what if I could make a (scarf) with a pointy end, with kind-of-diagonal pockets, and put someting in the pockets, and...
More or less like this:

(The unwoven ends would be a fringe, which would be "pointed", too)

After fiddling with the structures possible, and the scale possible (I have "only" 16 shafts), I came up with these:

To make it more, er, interesting to sample, I decided on a singles linen 28 for warp, with a cotton 30/2 for weft.
The first that happened was that is was impossible to make the pointy end with a singles linen warp... more or less all "outside" ends broke when I tried to poke the shuttle through. Well, plan B, then: just make the full width from the beginning.
That worked, sort of. After all, it was just a sample, so I didn't have to weave a whole scarf, right?
In the first picture below is the plain-weave-for-the-joined-parts. It worked, it worked, hooray!

Here is the basket-weave-for-the-joined-areas sample:

Hmmm... interesting: it is nearly impossible to see where the single-layer areas are! Maybe something fun could be made out of that phenomenon...?

However. The basket weave version was much more difficult to weave. Where there are areas of plain weave with a "normal" sett, there are also areas where to judge the beat - with the basket weave areas it was all too easy to beat too hard.
And, anyway, the pocket size possible with only 16 shafts was really too small. For the "dragon scales" I wanted to stuff them with, anyway (10-öre coins).

So the whole ideas was shelved for a while.

Reflections on an exhibition

2011-05-17T19:12:00.001+02:00

Some days ago, I went to the opening of a summer textile exhibition. The gallery in question has, since it's opening, made a point of mixing amateurs and professionals. All exhibitions have been "thematical". (In quotes, because I don't quite agree that, for instance, "textile" is, hm, narrow? specified? enough to constitute a "theme".)

Anyway. The contributors were told to write a short "narrative" about their relationship with textile(s). These narratives would be placed near the artefacts, the idea being that the whole exhibition should "tell a tale" about the relations between mankind (womankind?) and textile.

There would be (nearly) no judging - (you know: diversity, blah blah, personal expression, blah blah, connexion with foremothers, blah blah...)

In the hall(s), there were many textiles on the walls - embroideries, tapestries, rugs, tablecloths... Here and there, there were boards with quotes (generally only one sentence, maybe two). The quotes had the writer's name, and a number. The artefacts were not numbered.
In the biggest hall there was a big podium, on which many items of clothing were placed, together with several other items. In one corner, there was a sketch of the podium, with numbers. The quotes were placed beside the sketch.
There was also a big "divan" with a selection of cushions (20 or so), all very different. The result was a mish-mash of unrelated cushions, impossible to "see" (as there was another cushion half on top, an embroidered beside a printed and so on. No numbers, no quotes (that I could see).

So what did I learn?
- I learned that, probably, it is easier to build an exhibition if the theme is narrowed. (I remember one called "blue textiles" from several years ago, in a different hall. It consisted of everything from antique Asian textiles (blue, of course) to the latest (blue) jeans.)
- I learned that a "good idea" ("a mountain of cushions", for example) can turn out not ot be - and that it probably is a better idea to re-think the concept. (In this case, a wall of shelving with all cushions beside each other would have a) allowed many more cushions and b) allowed visitors to see them one at a time. It would still communicate "a plethora of cushions".)
- I learned that, if you ask contributors to write "about half a page", then either show that whole half-a-page or not. Cutting out one sentence will not necessarily be enough to convey the thoughts. The quotes could have been presented as a catalogue instead?
- It is also impolite to make identification impossible (ie having numbers on the quotes, but not on the artefacts). What if I had wanted to buy, or contact, the maker of that fantastic (say) tapestry?
- I also learned not to let myself be talked into something that I instinctively would not be part of. I will not enter any exhibition at that gallery again.

This nice little dragon adorned the park where we were having picnic on our way home:

Slightly better?

2011-05-15T12:06:00.000+02:00

Now it (the not very exciting) is finished into a circular scarf. The (Morse code) text says "make ends meet", from both directions.

A circular (or moebius) scarf can be worn in several ways:

On a cool summer evening, perhaps? (It can be used without a cat, but he really, really wanted to be in the picture...)

Just twice around.

Or, if it isn't needed, but you don't want to lose it (to the cat wanting to get back up, for instance):

I prefer the moebius finishing (a half-twist before sewing), but as this one has two distinct sides it could not be. But I have another idea...

Not terribly exciting

2011-05-06T17:05:00.000+02:00

Woven, cut, washed, mangled. Some reed marks did not wash out.
Looks better from further away?

Seen from too near, the pattern is not visible:

Maybe this threading is better on a 2/2 tie-up?
Below the green sample wet finished - top part same as the orange, bottom with a 2/2 for the background, 1/3 for the other block.
(If anybody but me can see the warpfaced block :-)

But the drape is great, especially after mangling!

Upcycled

2011-05-05T17:57:00.000+02:00

Remember the skeins I machine-washed?

Now I have made spools of both of them, plus one un-washed.
The washed ones behaved well, in all ways. Each consisted of 6 hanks, each of which were approximately 740 meters.
This is more-or-less in accordance to what I have learnt elsewhere (see the article "To read older weaving literature") - except there should have been 8 hanks. Well.
But... the un-washed skein, which looked quite similar in grist - consisted of 6 hanks, each approximately 960 meters...

I wondered if it had something to do with the washing, but:
1. the washing was done almost without agitation, and in cold water
2. the 740 meters look Very Familiar -
So why are the hanks from the other skein longer?!?

Well. The best answer is always "sampling", right?
For a 30 ends-per-inch I had 18 spools of the new yarn and 12 from the stash, in varying grists (from 16/2 down to 30/2, I think).
I warped for An Idea, on two beams.

The idea did not work, that was very clear even after just 20 cm.

Re-threaded for another idea, less complicated. Here are two small samples of that:

They are two variants of using a "wall-of-Troy" threading for a 2-block weave.
The top sample:

and the bottom:

Probably, the real weft will be a it cheerier - yellow, orange?
And I think I have to use the top structure...

how to make it bigger...

2011-04-27T15:08:00.000+02:00

I got a question: how to plan a patterned doublewide weave?

As usual, I answered "Make a paper weaving".

It has now resulted in an new article on my website: "To weave double width" (which also got a part 2, or it would have been way too long).
(Click here for Swedish version.)

Easter holiday

2011-04-27T15:03:00.000+02:00

We opened the co-op for the four days of Easter holiday.

What a difference, both with spring and the painting we have done!

We will not be regularly open yet - it will probably be some week-ends, until the real tourist season begins.

Watch this space!

Ungrateful!

2011-04-18T17:42:00.000+02:00

I can't really blame the sheep for wanting to get out. It really is a lot greener on the outside (but all that is green is not grass, what should be "lawn" is mostly moss).
This is what I saw from the upstairs window a couple of hours ago:

They (actually, just this individual) kept escaping last week, so on the Saturday we spent hours fixing a better (bigger) pasture. There's not much grass there, either, but it certainly looks greener. See the line between the winter paddock and the "pasture"?

But... the ungrateful creature decided "lawn" was better, after two days on the greenish pasture. I could not understand how she had got out - the fence is well over a metre. But I was lucky: she wanted in again. Tried the gate first (maybe it would magically open?), gave up that and went to a special part of the fence, flattened herself completely and wriggled under. (I had never imagined a sheep could get that flat!)

... so I found some pieces of reinforcement bars (is what the dicitonary calls it?) and made some oversized staples. They "only" go 20 cm into the earth, but maybe they will hold a couple of days, at least.

Life is never dull with livestock (or perhaps I should call them "woolstock"?)!

Pigs?

2011-04-12T14:11:00.000+02:00

Sunday was shearing day.

Before and after:

(those pink things can't really be sheep, can they?)

The shearer had a special table, to have a better position when working.

One-by-one there emerged some small, pinkish animals - pigs, perhaps? When the first was "done" and released, the others almost did not recognize their comrade, and there was a lot of running and head-butting.

Obviously they liked to be naked. The immediately tried to escape (and succeded).
Stupidly, we had left the plastic easy-to-move fence over winter, and it did not survive the heavy snow. We did make a smallish paddock with electrified wire, which worked fine as long as they were all woolly. Naked, they could crawl under... the bottom wire was a bit high, now the snow has melted.
When we had fixed the "winter" fence, they accepted to stay inside. Until... one managed to climb the stone wall (something they never even contemplated when woolly). She told the others, of course, and it took me a couple of hours to put up another piece of temporary fence.

The whites all are crossbred - we were told they were mostly Finn, but crossed with Texel (and possibly Shropshire). To keep track of what the wool looked like, and which fleece belonged to which sheep, I took a lock from each, fingerspun a short piece and labeled the sample. It appeares that out of four sheep, I have three different wool types.

(The two brown are Finn, and their fleeces are quite alike. And looks like typical Finn wool :-)

But, before I can do anything more, I have lots of wool to wash...

A small mangle

2011-03-19T15:57:00.000+01:00

Let me present a small table-top mangle:

It is not exactly portable, as the stand and mechanism are cast iron. OTOH, it stays put :)

To change the pressure, there is a spring under the front "table" (that is easily lifted out):

There is a protector sheet fastened to the top roller:

This sheet should preferrably be longer, but I haven't bothered to change it. Shopping for a "mangle sheet" in Sweden will get you a piece of tightly woven (plain weave) unbleached linen.

To use it, put the (in this case) towel as near to where the protector sheet is fastened as possible, the hem as parallell to the roller as possible, and lower the "clutch" bar. The bar is both what engages the gears and also to protect your fingers. Start cranking, just to make sure the towel is in place, and held.
As you go on cranking, make sure the towel stays flat (always smooth it towards the sides). When it has gone a three-quarter turn, the hem is visible through the protector.

The "bump" of the hem will show on the towel - the only way to avoid that is to let the towel go straight through - like I did with this shawl:

(click to biggify - you can see the shawl coming through to the right)

Once the towel has all gone onto the roller, you crank away "until done" - then disengage the clutch bar, and drag the mangled piece towards you. The top roller spins free when the bar is in the up position.

For best result, the goods should be slightly moist. If it is dry, sprinkle with water and let it sit for some hours in a plastic bag, to let the moisture even out.

An experiment with skeins

2011-03-18T11:55:00.000+01:00

I aquired some 3,5 kg of fine cotton yarn (probably 24/2) the other day. It is skeined, and some skeins have brownish stains.

As there were many skeins, I decided to risk losing a couple - selected two stained ones, put in a number of extra figure-eight ties. Then I washed them in the washing-machine. One skein was in a bag, the other was "free".
To minimize the possible tangling, I selected the programme called "hand washing". Unfortunately, that programme will not heat the water above 30 degrees - to get higher temperature, one also get so much more vigorous washing.

The last picture is not in focus, but shows the two skeins when still wet. As you can see, they did survive!

Unfortunately, I lost sight of the stains as soon as I stretched out the skeins, so I can't tell if they did get clean or not, but at least they smell nice! Now, the big question is: was this just beginner's luck - or dare I do the same to the rest of them? And... dare I hope it will work without the bag, net time, too?

But how did...?!?

2011-03-11T15:24:00.003+01:00

I first saw them on Weavolution, here and here, and was intrigued. I do know how to make V-shaped shawls - but they have two ends. These were closed!

I saw they were made on a Cricket loom, which is a rigid heddle loom ("loom", here, means it has both warp and cloth beams).

Hmmm.

I saw how one could make one by using a rigid heddle with body tension (thus being able to apply warp tension without a cloth beam), but I could not think of a way to make them on a "beam" loom.
(I should say: I have no idea how Lydia Kendrick makes hers!)

Until the lightbulb went on: I have a sandpaper beam! As the whole meaning of the sandpaper beam is to maintain tension between warp beam and freshly woven cloth... eureka! (I hoped)

So I decided to try: measured my head (65 cm should be enough), put on a 15 cm wide warp, and started weaving. As the bobbin run out after 62 cm, that would have to be enough... and I started the V part. (This is when the Moebius shape is put in - the yellow side is "outside" on the loom, so it should be on the "inside" when the V is started)

It looked like I had used a too light beat, and had it been more than 120 ends I might have scrapped it - . It is so much, er, "fiddlier" to find the corredt end and getting the weft tension right than one would think...

After cutting the warp, I wrestled the thing off the sandpaper beam (after taking it off, of course), and, here it is, fresh off the loom:

Honestly, it did not look promising... but after burling and mending (more than I care to tell you - when weaving on an AVL, always remember to step decisively on the left treadle!), fringe twisting, wet finishing and pressing it looked nice enough that I wore it to the guild meeting yesterday!

(Maybe I should have pressed it again - it has sat in a drawer overnight)

Now (the day after) I can say it was a fun and fast project - maybe I should make more?

Hålkrus?

2011-02-27T17:00:00.001+01:00

Evelyn posted a question over at Weavolution. She asked how to treadle pattern no 44 (Hålkrus) in Vävbok by Hulda Peters.

The book in question is but one of many - in the early 1900s there were several small books containing "simple" (or perhaps "traditional"?) weaving patterns. They were often thin pamphlets (the Peters book is, in fact, unusually thick - all of 96 pages), often claiming they are describing "local" weaves.
This, I suspect, was the time when Daldräll ("overshot") was associated with Dalarna, when Jämtlandsdräll became "typical" of Jämtland, when Gagnefkrus was attributed to Gagnef, Östgötadräll to Östergötland, Rovadräll to Rova... and Smålandsväv to Småland.

Peters is, at the time, manager of the local Craft society shop in Skara. She is quite unique in that not one of her threadings has a geographical name.
She is also unique in that she does not give any treadlings... The detailed threadings are there, the tie-ups are there, and occasionally she gives some off-hand treadling instruction ("treadled back-and-forth").

The hålkrus, #44, has the threding and the tie-up. It also has a picture - (click to biggify):

As hålkrus usually has well-defined "holes", it is easy to doubt the name. Or, at least, to be confused...

(This picture from the book Varp och inslag, ISBN 91-27-35226-9.)

As I don't like to be confused, I did some research. It resulted in a new article on my web site - read it here.

I also wanted to know what you called it in English, I tried googling.
At handweaving.net I found an excerpt from Master weaver from 1954, titled "Hålkrus, or Gagnefkrus, or Spetsväv, or Lacey Weave, or Honeycomb". It says: " Strangely enough this weave with so many names, has none in English. In colonial times it has been called Honey Comb. Since then however the industrial weaving adopted Honeycomb as a synonym of Waffle. So if we want to call Hålkrus by the name of honeycomb, we must add Colonial, or nobody will know what we are talking about."
So, I googled honeycomb +weave - and, sure enough - most hits I got depicted what I would call waffle - this (scroll down a bit), and this - in fact, there are several waffles on this site, all labelled honeycomb.

Conclusion: the more you know, the more you know that you don't know...

(Please, can I have all possible names for the technique? Don't mind the language!)

In case you wondered:

2011-02-21T12:33:00.001+01:00

I am not a collector.
The fact that I own 6 electric sewing machines, 4 treadle machines, one hand-cranked and 3 sergers does not mean I am a collector.

The other day I met with the glass-industry study group (don't ask - or, take a look at the glass portion of my other blog) we came to discuss collecting. They declared themselves to be collectors (of glass, mostly), and offered me a definition: a collector has no interest in if the thing (maybe I should say artefact) "works" - if only it looks "good".
And more: a true collector would never use the thing (artefact) - if s/he has paid good money for a (say) glass vase designed by (say) Gate, s/he would perhaps put it on a shelf somewhere, but would never even dream of using it to put flowers in. (Knowing some of the self-proclaimed collectors a bit better, I would suspect
the artefact would be placed in a box somewhere, the new owner hoping it could one day be sold - an investment, in fact.)

The idea of restoring an artefact is unthinkable, I was told.

So - I am not a collector.
Well - maybe this one is more for looks than for (even potential) use:

He is, as you can see, called Shakespear and was born in Birmingham. The manual that came with him is dated 1865 - but, according to this site that can't be true. I bought him for his looks - but: he sews! He is a chain-stitch machine, and it is awkward to have to dedicate one hand to the cranking.

My mother gave me my first sewing machine when she got a newer Adler. This is a Singer, and she got it from her mother as a treadle machine. Mother invested in an upgrade, and he has been motorized in all my life. He still sews beautifully, and I use him for "important" edgestitching. Unfortunately, the treadle is unconfortable if used for any length of time. At the moment, he sits on a shelf.

Later, I bought a Husqvarna (in 1972, if memory serves). She served me faithfully until last year - and I will probably have her repaired. (Why? because I'm an idiot - and found a new Elna for approx the same price as the repair would have cost. I suppose it works - but there are no feet for it. AND the "standard" feet that I have been able to mount on ALL the other machines don't fit. Sigh.)
When I started to sew professionally, I bought Princess Pfaff, but I also needed other machines - topstitching in grey, green and yellow took way to long if I had to re-thread for each gown. I had the Singer and the Husqvarna, but I also retrieved the old Adler...

In the meantime, as I had space, I found an old treadle machine - a Husqvarna Triumf - a machine with a shuttle (instead of a bobbin). After some, er, fiddling, he sews. The shuttle looks almost exactly as does a fly-shuttle for weaving - the problem was to figure out how to load the bobbin.
I know the Triumf was maufactured in 1889, but haven't found out for how long.
I especially like the plate with the recommendations of which thread to use with which needle!

Then came the Sackmann's Victoria - I couldn't resist her, with all the mother-of-pearl inlays!
She also has a shuttle, but it operates sideways. Her needle/thread recommendation plate photographed better, as it is flat. (And I wish there was a better choice of sewing threads nowadays!)

She also has another detail - a small grindstone to sharpen the needles! (It took a long time of gentle oiling to make it turn - but now it does.)

Some 'net-search results indicate that this was manufactured by Singer - but the picture on this site shows an inlay much like my Victoria's - and says she comes from Germany.

For some time I also had a Singer 29K70, like this, bought from the estate of a shoemaker. The most interesting feature of that is that the whole needle bar (or maybe just the foot) could be rotated - you could sew "forwards" and have the piece going "backwards". In my house, it was only used once - we repaired a sail with it. And one day, I had a customer who "gave me an offer I couldn't refuse", so it is now gone. Hopefully to a good home.

Anyway. As I am no collector, I can disregard everything, and just enjoy all my sewing machines - even USE them!

- There are other things I also don't collect - like encyclopedias. For readers of Swedish, the pages Kuriosa on my website have some thoughts on the use of encyclopedias through time...

About rules, written and un-

2011-02-08T13:34:00.000+01:00

Many years ago I went to Svensk Hemslöjd to ask if they would like to sell my scarves/shawls.
They did not, for two reasons: 1. I used colours (colours, not dyes!) that did not "exist in nature" and 2. they were not brushed, which made them "feel like fabric".

(I have a problem, here - can some native speaker pls help? "Fabric", above: she meant they felt like material used to sew garmants. What is the most correct word to use for this?)

The shawls I had brought were woven of the most soft and nice worsted (2/2/32 worsted count, spun in Scotland - I still have some of the yarn, but the labels are long gone), had a lace pattern that I also don't know in English (see below), but that Cyrus translates as "mosquito netting", and were (of course!) not brushed.
I had a couple of colour "lines" - I remember one warp was from several shades of burnt orange, with a different orange weft for each - another was turquoise (again several shades). I believe there were two more colur combos - all long gone, no pictures, but this was the idea:

Not even then I was naive enough not to know that there were unwritten rules for what would pass as "hemslöjd", but I had never thought the choice of colour would be one of them. After all, I had used a traditional Swedish weave structure, a traditional, um, "layout" (ordinary straight shawl, with traditional fringes, "ordinary" length and width). And to my mind, they were not "fabric", as they were far too open to sew with...

But - some people never learn... A couple of years later, I came back with different shawls. This time I had some V-shawls, and some I had sewn into a moebius shape. (This wasn't one of them - this was the sample. It is a lot "worse for wear", but it must be over 20 years old now)

In the moebiuses (??) I had experimented with warp face -> even-sided -> weft face structures, for a) more visual interest than plain weave or 2/2 twill and b) to make the join visually seamless. Something along these lines (though I believe it was slightly more complex):

Yes. Or, rather, no. These were not "traditional", so: no thanks.

That was the last time I tried to sell anything through Hemslöjden.

(- I have sold many Moebiuses over the years. It is a very good shape: with the right length it can be worn several ways, according to temperature: One turn over the head and the second turn around the neck; two turns around the neck; when you get warm, use only one turn and you get cooler without risking to drop it. Or it can be hung as a sash - over one shoulder and diagonally down to the waist.)

The next time I had problems with unwritten rules was when I decided to enter a flax spinning contest.
It appeared as if there were no rules - on asking, I was told "there are so many points to consider". After I had won, one of the judges told me that, "properly", I should not have - but the nominal winner had used a spinning wheel that was not traditional. (She had a Louet, with a big orifice, and everybody "knows" it is
"impossible" to spin fine on one of those - thus, her result was a pure fluke. I had an antique Swedish wheel.)
Several years later, after moving down here, I entered another flax spinning contest. The idea, said the invitation/rule sheet, was to educate the public. Good, I thought - looking forward to some kind of open judging, or at least some explanation afterwards. It would be nice to know what constitutes a good linen yarn.
But... not. Even though I came second, I still don't know what flax spinning judges look for in a spinning contest, or a linen yarn. On asking, I was told that I should be happy I had got good points.
(Having a background including dressage riding, I know it it perfectly possible to have judging protocols broken down into several smaller steps, with the possibility for judges to write comments. Which they often do.)

Now, we have the Handwoven/Väv Garment Challenge. Apparently, if one asks Handwoven, one will be told that weaves of more than 8 shafts will not be considered. Note: I have NO problem with that! But: why is this not in the rules?!? Considering the rules already are almost two screens long, one line more would not make that much of a difference.

To search the web / att söka på nätet

2011-02-04T15:44:00.003+01:00

Till alla er som kommit hit för att ni sökt på "gratis vävmönster": välkomna!
Här finns inga "mönster" - om ni med mönster menar "vävbeskrivning". Det absolut bästa sättet att finna gratis vävbeskrivningar är att gå till biblioteket och låna vävböcker.

Naturligtvis finns många websidor med vävmönster - en av dem finns på Riksföreningen för handvävning, där vi sedan drygt ett år publicerar en vävbeskrivning per månad.

På Vi Kronobergsvävares sidor finns många vävtekniker beskrivna, vi har många solvnotor som vi bjuder på - men regelrätta "beskrivningar" finns inte så många. Vi vill snarare inspirera än uppmuntra till att "göra efter".
Vår registersida hittar du här.

På min egen "stora" sida finns ett antal artiklar om hur man analyserar en väv (så att man kan "göra efter"), om hur man konstruerar dubbelvävar, om hur man förstår ett partimönster mm. Samlingssidan hittar du här.
På denhär bloggen finns en del småsaker - sök "weave constrution".

Läser du engelska finns den (tror jag) absolut största samlingen av "gratis vävmönster" på handweaving.net.
Under fliken "drafts" kan du söka på många olika sätt - efter antal skaft, efter teknik, efter källa (oftast mycket gamla böcker). Inte heller här finns regelrätta "beskrivningar". Däremot finns (under fliken "archive") ett stort antal gratis vävböcker, alla copyrightfria (alltså mestadels gamla) att ladda ned. De flesta är inte svenska - franska, engelska, amerikanska, ryska, tyska...

På Weavolution kan man ta del av andras mönster (och bidra med egna, förståss!)

Till sist ett söktips: skippa "gratis", och försök att söka på något mer specifikt: solvnota daldräll, kypert, trasvävar...

(To all of you who have arrived here after searching for "free weaving pattern": welcome!
Here you will not find "patterns" - if by that you mean a complete weaving recipe. The best way to find free weaving "recipes" is to go to the the library and borrow their weaving books. This might not work all over the world - .

Of course there are many websites out there with weaving patterns - one of them found on the site of Riksföreningen för handvävning. We have published a monthly pattern for more than a year, now.

On the site of Vi KronobergsVävare (my local guild) we are offering many drafts - but most of them are without detailed information. We believe in trying to inspire, more than offering instructions on "how to make *this*".
Our index page can be found here. (English version)

On my own "real" site there are a number of articles about analyzing a fabric (to be able to weave it), about constructing a double weave, how to understand a block draft... To find them, go here.
On this blog you can search for "weave construction".

For those of you who read English, the biggest (I think) site to find weaving drafts is handweaving.net. Under the "draft" tab you can search for drafts according to number of shafts, tecknique or source. There are no "recipes" to be found here, either - but there is a big number of old books to be downloaded for free.

There is also Weavolution, where many drafts contributed by others can be found - and you could contribute, too!

Lastly: a tip for searching the 'net: try searching for something more specific - overshot, twill... )

Alternatives to warp sticks

2011-02-03T17:50:00.001+01:00

An alternative to warp sticks: flanged sticks!

This picture I stole from Tallbacka väv - because she sells them. (on her website, click on "Övriga vävprodukter..." She calls them bomhakar. And I am sure she will answer questions in English, if need be :-)

This kind of "stick" will never bend, whatever happens... and you only need one set. Per loom, that is. As they are made of steel, I guess that postage will be a problem for many parts of the world - .

When Laura visited some years ago, she managed to stow them in her luggage - see hers used here.

My table loom did not come with sticks, and I use it seldom enough not to want to buy any. I have tried both corrugated cardboard and bubble plastic, having seen both materials recommended. In my experience, neither works... the cardboard collapses and becomes flat, the bubble plastic is better, but only marginally. So I use a newspaper or two (no, not "paper from newspapers", but the whole thing). I put it in with the folded edge first.

Meanwhile: while using the valet

2011-01-30T18:16:00.000+01:00

For the first many years of my weaving life, I used warping sticks exactly as I was taught: for the first round, place the sticks so they nearly touch each other. * Proceed with making 3 turns, 4:th turn put warping sticks, but not quite as many. * Repeat from * to * until done.
I noticed that, for narrow warps, I had issues with the edge tension more often than not. When I analyzed the situation, I found the reason:
as the first part of the warp was beamed, with sticks, the sticks would bend slightly.

Here, I use three cords from warp beam to "apron bar". (Never use more fastenings than necessary, or the tie-on bars can warp!)

When I used warp sticks from the very beginning, they would look like this (exaggerated, of course):

The pressure/tension on the warp would cause the sticks to bend slightly - and that would often cause different tension on edges and middle.
So - nowadays, I divide the warp (to get away from the middle cord), and wind on enough that the warp is more even with the height of the beamed cords, as seen above.

When I think the surface is even, I introduce the warp sticks. (I would never beam a warp longer than 3-4 meters totally without sticks!)

To make it easier to handle the sticks (I'm doing this by myself, remember), I use button-hole elastic to make a... "mat"?. I make these "mats" appproximately as long as the circumference of the warp beam - and I use them like I was taught: 3 turns, 1 turn with sticks, 3 turns, 1 turn with sticks... - until done.

When weaving, I try to do "the same" on the cloth beam - ie no sticks until "level". This usually means I'm using (say) two pieces of heavy paper/cardboard plus one piece of lighter paper for the protection of the beginning of the cloth. When I think the cloth beam is about level, I put another "mat" of sticks - and that's it.

As you may remember, on this double warp I had two sets of lease sticks , each suspended from it's own "hanger".
The warps were offset a bit, and the blue warp (or, at least, the lease of the blue warp) is under the white.
Now, when threading (from the right), obviously I start with the white warp - there is a single layer of white to the right. I pick the white end "randomly" from the 4-end cross. (Quotation marks, because I try to get them in order - if I see a twist, I try to avoid it.)
When I start threading the double layers, I pick one end from each cross, threading end-on-end. I have never had any problem from the fact that the crosses do not correspond - . (And yes, I leave the lease sticks in, still in their holders - but I make sure they are well back towards the back beam.)

Sorry, no pictures from the threading - but here is an article about how to derive a double-layer weave where the layers change places.

Prequel: before using the valet

2011-01-29T12:14:00.000+01:00

... there must be a warp.
This is the making of the blue-white warp beamed here.
The warp consists of two: one blue warp, one white, to be beamed together. Both are cotton of various grists - 16/2, 24/2 and 30/2. The blue warp has (if I remember) three slightly different nuances.
This warp was woven into a message shawl.

Starting with the white, I put a "tube holder" under a row of hooks on the wall (the picture is a montage - the hooks sit at about 120 cm height).

I use 4 ends, mostly because I have 4 "slots" between my fingers... holding them like this:

This way, the yarns cannot twist around each other, which makes beaming (and, later, weaving) easier. I wind with only one cross, and I do the cross with all four ends. Like this:

After both warps are wound and chained, I take them to the table, take out the reed I will use for rough-sleying, put something heavy on the warp, mark where I will start the sleying:

The sley-hook is my favourite (read more here), and all my reeds has their midpoint somehow marked (here with a piece of wool).

I start picking out the loops from the cross.

Each loop has 8 ends - four "coming" and 4 "going".
For 8 ends per cm, I chose a 40/10 reed (standard Swedish reed-numbering - 40 dents per 10 cm). For the rough-sleying, that means one loop (8 ends) every fourth dent:

I make sure that the stick goes in the same loop as the nearest lease stick, to make transferring the cross easy:

Why, I have been asked, do I transfer the cross at this stage? Why not do it after beaming? I have two answers: 1. 'cos this is what I was taught and (more important) 2. 'cos I tried leaving it until after beaming, and had a lot more tangles. With the cross behind the reed, the reed will place the loops in order for the lease sticks for further separation and ordering.

Had this been the only warp, the rough-sleying would be done, and the warp been taken to the loom (and the valet), but, in this case, there is a white warp, too.
It is to be offset a bit, so I first determine where it should begin:

As this warp, too, shall be sett at 8 ends/cm, I use the second of the empty dents.
When the white warp is sleyed and it's cross transferred, too, both warps are combined on an extra stick:

The extra stick now hold the loops in order, and the whole thing can be transferred to the loom. I just shove the heddles to the side(s), so the warp can pass between them. (When having a wide warp, I take off the shafts - easy to do with this free-hanging type.)

The reed is put in it's normal place, the loops are transferred from the extra stick to the back "apron bar"(?), the two pairs of lease sticks are placed in their supporting hangers, the varp is routed under the breast beam and over the valet's roller:

Warping valet

2011-01-26T13:53:00.003+01:00

When I first learned to weave, there was one method (and one only) to get the warp onto the loom (onto the warp beam, that is): using helpers.
Here is an illustration from my Cyrus (Manual of Swedish handweaving) - mine is printed in 1980, but I'd say the picture is a little older...

As you can see, it takes 4 persons to get a medium-width warp beamed - 3 if it is narrow, and more if it is wider.

This method has historic roots. It is described in many books (among them Grenander-Nyberg, Lanthemmens vävstolar). - often it it said that there were just a few "experts" in every village, to be called on every time one wanted to start a new warp. Most older descriptions tell about how "everybody" came together to help "setting up the loom" - it took several helpers to get the warp beamed, it took two to thread/sley. (There were also several "magic sayings" - should one accidentally come upon a "setting up the loom", any part of it, one should hurry to take a few very high steps, saying "SO high shed, SO high shed", for instance. From Tillhagen, Vävskrock.)

Some years later the guild was collecting tips-and-tricks - and it turned out that more-or-less everybody had their own specials for beaming without help. (One of my favourites was to stretch the warp in front of the loom and place a vacuum on top of it...)

Then came the commercially produced "pådragningsknekt" - literally "valet (helper) for winding on". It is produced for sale by AK:s snickeri, and looks like this:

They recommned stretching the warp from the beam, through the reed (rough-sleyed; raddles are all but unknown in Sweden), over the breast beam, under the foot-rest, up over the valet and down to the floor again. Weights are attached and let ride up to the top of of the valet, then lowered.

I decided to make my own - after all, the commercial product consists of three pieces... Mine is made from 2 pieces of 2-by-2 (inches), approx 2 meters high. There is a hole near the top, where I insert two pieces of steel rod. Between them I hang a sturdy aluminium tube.
The lumbers are placed inside the loom frame; one rod is inserted; tube is held in place and the second rod is inserted. Took about 15 minutes to build (including fetching the drill); takes about 3 minutes to put in place...

As my loom is not as "nice" (I mean smooth), I have modified the warp route - I let the warp go under the breast beam and directly up and over the valet.

For the last bit of warp, I re-route the warp to go over the breast beam instead. Takes many moves of the weight for the last meter!

For weight, I use bricks in (as you can see...) ordinary plastic bags.

The advantage of this kind of easily disassembled warping valet is that it is portable, flexible... I can even use it for the AVL, if I want to. In that case, I lean the lumbers out over the track (or what's it called, where the tension box rides?). I tie the (rough-sleyed) reed to that same track. The beaming has to be done with more care
(ie more slowly), because the reed is not as stable as when it sits in the beater - but it works.

Perhaps I should warn you: aluminium will stain fabric. I've put paper on my tube, which also has another life: it acts as strengthening for the (too weak) knee beam.

Announcement /annons

2011-01-12T22:07:00.000+01:00

(Jo, jag vet att det inte är samma sak)

Nu har jag öppnat en början till webshop på min "vanliga" sida. Än så länge bara på svenska, och med priser gällande bara för Europa. Välkomna dit!

(I have opened a webshop at my "real" site. As yet, it is only in Swedish, and is only for shipping inside Europe. Others please e-mail your orders - don't wait for the English version, it will take some weeks yet...)

Some random thoughts

2011-01-07T19:59:00.002+01:00

At the beginning of the new year, it is time to study the statistics from the old.

But first a short story:
in the middle of the autumn, I went to a weavers' meeting. There, we were, among other things, introduced to a New Important Project: a national crafts assoc has decided to promote handweaving.
They had several reasons for this - the first mentioned was that there is nothing about weaving to be found on the 'net ("If you search for weaving, you get no hits").
Another reason mentioned was that there are no weavers in Sweden anymore, and, after all, Sweden was once famous for its weaving and weavers.
Also several techniques (among them trensaflossa) were "dead", and needed published instructions.
So, the proposed main goal of this New Project was (among other, smaller, goals) was to create a 'net portal to contain "everything" about handweaving - .

At that very moment I searched (Google) for "vävning", with no qualifications, and got about 63000 hits. Among the first 50 hits about 4 were about other things than loom weaving (weaving intrigues, weaving horses, which probably is called something else in English, and two hits for dictionaries).
"Handvävning" only yielded about 1600 hits, of which about 30 of the first 50 were about weaving, the other 20 were from yarn sellers.
As it happened, my guild had had a program about trensaflossa just a week earlier - and, lo and behold, our page about trensaflossa was already to be found - on 3.rd place among about 850 hits. (Ok - our page wasn't there when she prepared her talk...)

Sigh.

Now I have been looking at 'net statistics from 2010.
I have my own web page, but I am also responsible for my guild's page.
Vi KronobergsVävare has had web presence since late 2003. We have accumulated about 100 different pages, of which maybe 10 has a content other than weaving (a few annual meetings and so on), but I really try to make sure that there is some weaving content on every page. We have an index page (in English - for Swedish, go "home" and choose "register") which lists content sorted into weave techniques, material, dyeing, ergonomics, theory, ideas, guild projects and exhibitions, curiosities. (Granted, some of the pages/meetings fall under more than one category.)
We also have a fairly large links page, linking to many "foreign" organisations.
A number of our pages are also translated to English.

So, what did I find in the statistics?
We had 2300 Swedish visitors, 470 from the US, 380 from the rest of the world, making up a total of about 3150 visitors. That makes an average of between 8 and 9 visitors per day. Those visitors viewed a total of 13150 pages, which gives an average of 4 pages per visit.
We had a total of 100 (clicked) outgoing links (I have no idea of how many links there are on the whole site), of which only 35 had more than 10 clicks. 35 had less than 5 clicks - of which 18 were to foreign organisations/resources (such as Weavolution, Complex Weavers, HGA, GCW, Atasda, Italian and French sites... AND handweaving.net). (No, no links here. You are all invited to use our links page, to better the statistics for next year... ;-)

The pages in English (about 20) all have more than 15 hits. Of the 8 outgoing links (from pages in English), 6 have more than 10 clicks.

What can I conclude from that?

Combining the "information" from the Project Person above with the fact that only 1/3 of our links have been popular, perhaps I can say that Swedish weavers don't care about a) information available on the 'net and b) weaving in other countries.
(Yes, I know: English is a foreign language to us, and the study of English hasn't been mandatory in Swedish schools for more than about 50 years...)

Combining the above with the fact that my own site has had 3600 Swedish visitors and almost the same number from the "rest of the world" - well... that was the reason why I decided to write my blog in English. And, in fact - this blog has had more than twice the numbers of visits from the US (only) than from Sweden (1550 and 650, respectively).

So, again: who is interested? And of what?
... looking at keyword statistics for the guild site, the vast majority is after free weaving patterns/instructions.
Most just search for vävmönster, vävnotor (patterns, drafts) but several add "gratis" (free of charge).

There has been several discussions here in Sweden over the last couple of years about the "fact" that there is no handweaving information to be had on the 'net. And that that is especially unfortunate, as all "youngsters" are supposed to search facts on the 'net only (supposedly they can't read books?). Said youngsters have complained that us "oldsters" (if it isn't a word, then it ought to be!) do hoard our information/knowledge, and besides, we only weave boring things like tablecloths.
What I'm wondering is: HOW can us oldsters "share" - if a) books are "out" and b) the 'net is "out", too?

To add some weaving to this (over)long post, here is a boring old thing (sunscreen?), woven on a boring old countermarche, using 4 shafts (but could have been only two...):

Mercerized cotton 50/3 and fishing line for warp, white horeshair for weft; tabby, but woven with a fan reed (sorry, I won't disclose the sett :-) - there is a limit to what I want to share...)
And: no, on account of the fishing line, it could never be used as a tablecloth.

From among the snowdrifts

2010-12-23T18:06:00.002+01:00

(for my Swedish readers)

or, a more , er, "generalized" message:

Every year I think I should weave them - but they have such limited usage (ok, maybe not the second).
Generally I have less exact messages in my shawls.
Currently in stock are: FESTINA LENTE ("hurry slowly"), ARS LONGA ("art is long"), CURA TE IPSUM ("take care of yourself"), UTRAQUE UNUM ("two become one") and TWO INTO ONE and a few others. (Granted, it is a bit too late for x-mas delivery...)

Can't you read Morse code? - no problem, check here, and all will be clear.

The pictures also illustrate that you have to think about (and write out) the messages before you try to weave them, or the scarf can become very short (perhaps there is something that can be added, as en enquiry mark (..--..) or an exclamation mark (..--.)?). If the scarf will be too long - can it be worded differently? "Save the world" is considerably longer than "save the earth", for instance. Or, as above, could it be written "seasons" instead of "season's"?

Over time, I have accumulated a list of "suitable" messages in three versions, with different widths (and lengths) of the code marks. "Save the world" can be done on 14 ends/picks per ".", while "ars longa" does better on 20 ends/picks per ".", for instance.

To end - a snow picture from this morning:

She did have legs of normal length!

So... season's greetings!

Auto-what?

2010-12-03T15:45:00.000+01:00

Today I had problems with the auto-advance ("new style") of the AVL.
I had woven a little more than 50 cm, with (almost) no hint of a problem.
It looked like this (all pics get bigger if clicked):

As you can see, there is the occasional streak, but I'm sure that can be blamed on me. (I have found that it is important to keep the rythm, or slight irregularities easily happen.)

Anyway, I was weaving on, and on, and on... when suddenly, this happened:

I tried to remedy it the first times it happened, to no avail. Irregularities continued - the auto-advance really advanced, and advanced...

Something had to be done (and the scarf was ruined anyway). So I put a brown marking thread, and lowered the a-a arm some.
And then some more, and some more... Almost no change between adjustments to the arm.

What to do? Knowing it would be too much, but being almost desperate to "get a reaction", I put the arm at the very lowest point.
Wove on for almost 15 cm, when (again) suddenly I was getting almost double the pick count.
(I did not change anything at all between the two horizontal marks below)

Now I had to get the pick count lower, again... Again several tries:

After almost 50 cm fiddling around I had got the pick count back to where it was to begin with.

I started with approx 7 picks per cm, at the worst point I had about 3, came up to 12 and then back to nearly 7 (did not manage to get it below 7,3 - average over 10 cm).

What, why?!?

- I have never been able to understand why I can have the a-a give me (say) 10 picks per cm when weaving a cotton warp, put on another cotton warp (same grist, different colour) and have to adjust it to get 10 picks per cm.
I can accept (but not quite understand) that I will have to adjust it if I out on a wool warp - different materials have different properties - but, after all, the auto-advance device is purely mechanical?

Holiday special

2010-11-28T18:11:00.000+01:00

So, now we have opened the doors of this little house:

As it has functioned as a summer-only tourist information for the last 15 years (or so), it isn't exactly full of lamps... "cosy", perhaps?
(And, to say the truth, the electric system has some... quirks, too)

Some of my things for sale are neckwarmers

and the ruffled scarves

The "leaves" are also there, and some fringe twisters, and...

A few more pictures at our joint website, which also has links to the other members.

As it happens, I would be happy to ship even these things all over the world ;-)

Done (for now)

2010-11-24T17:26:00.000+01:00

Today winter arrived for real (well - maybe...) - it has snowed all day. I suppose it can be said that it will give a more x-massy feeling when we open our christmas shop on Saturday...

Meanwhile I got the third scarf done, but not without problems.
First, this thingy fell off:

It is the stopper for the flyshuttle cord, and is essential for weaving. See how snall space there is between its end and the wooden piece behind it? I did invent a few words while trying to get it back...

Then I had suddenly lost the knack of flicking the fly-cord out of the way of the shuttle, which resulted in many over-shot shuttles that then had to be retrieved from down-under-and-behind.

When half the scarf was woven, one shaft suddenly started to misbehave, which resulted in 11 faulty picks, that then had to be mended. (How do the rest of you determine when a piece should be scrapped rather than mended? Halfway done, I started to have doubts - but, by then I had done half of it... so I went on.)

After wet finishing and pressing, I decided that the fabric probably would benefit from mangling. (I have never mangled shawls, as I had doubts about the flattened fringes that would result from it.)
But - some time has to be the first time, and why not now?

I have a smaller electric mangle indoors (the Big Monster lives in an outhouse). What with knots and all, it could not be used "as usual" (letting the scarf get rolled up with the protector sheet). I managed to get the first fringe in between the rollers, and out it came in the back:

And boy, did it change the hand of the scarf!!! (and the fringes looked ok, too) So, up I went to get the second - and the electric mangle refused to cope! Sigh. Until - I remembered that I do have a manual indoors mangle!
And even better: it was a lot easier to get the fringes trough in a controlled fashion!
(As the whole contruction is open, I could let the fringes get taken trough with the help of the protector sheet, stop cranking when the end of the sheet had cone trough, lift out the fringes and let the scarf lie flat again)

So, here they are, all three, showing a bit of all sides:

The colours... well, in the darkness of November...

First of the "leaves"

2010-11-22T10:03:00.000+01:00

I was thinking raindrops, but changed my mind and settled for leaf shapes.

I don't know if it qualifies as a "networked" design, so perhaps I should instead describe it as an "irregular dräll"?

For the first one I chose a green (with some blue in it) weft, which I thought would have enough contrast - but...:

The result can be called "subtle", I suppose. It is hopeless to try to photograph things in (what feels to be) total darkness of November, but the leaf-shapes show up better on the striped side than on the green - interesting, or perhaps strange? After all, the colours are exactly the same om both sides...

Even though I was confident about sett (10 ends per cm, cotton 16/2), I decided to cut off and finish the first before I wove on.
Then, of course, I wasn't patient enough to wait for the washing machine - .

When done and pressed it had a nice hand, so that was ok - especially as I had woven almost half of the next by then..
Blue weft:

...perhaps I should use the blindning orange weft for the third...

sometimes I wish...

2010-11-20T23:29:00.000+01:00

...that the AVL was not quite as, er, "sturdy".
The Other Loom has perhaps 4 bolts, and they have to be taken out on only one occasion - when it is to be completely dissasembled.
I have woven on this loom for close to 30 years now, and have never had a problem with the reed falling out, for example. The breast and knee beams lift out easily, the beater lifts off... and no tools required. But it hasn't got a fly shuttle...

Today I shifted from the double fly shuttle box to the single - at least 6 bolts to take out, plus several other small screws and things that require tools. Then, of course, the bolts and screws have to go back in.
The beater top has two bolts, and to change the reed there are many more (9? 10?). To be able to thread at a reasonable rate, the breast beam had to come out - more bolts.

Don't get me wrong. Once "done", the AVL does nearly everything I ask of it - and with the fly shuttle and the auto-advance she is fast, too.

As I could not (easily) adapt this pattern to full inches, I spread the warp with empty sections between the stripes. By mistake, I started sleying "straight", which means the left side of the warp is about one inch wider on the beam. Had I started the sleying just half an inch to the left... but I decided it will not be a problem. Time will tell...

After having got the auto-advance set and the pattern/threading checked, I stopped for the day.

(no, I will use a somewhat less orange yarn tomorrow)

(I've better confess: it helps to have a club when taking out/putting in the wedges of The Other Loom. But a clog will do, in a pinch)

Making more of the fringe twisters

2010-11-12T16:27:00.000+01:00

Yesternight (is that a word?) I assembled the first five of a new batch of fringe twisters.
As usual, they have cutlery for handles and chessmen for the turning knobs.

The next five are now drying, being ready to assemble tomorrow:

Of the ten, three have rather un-romantic stainless steel spoons, two have slighly smaller "silver" spoons.

Then, there are the specials - two have old steel knives, and three have rather fancy fish knives:

The steel knives are perfectly safe (dull-edged to the point of having been completely useless to eat something with...), but the fish knives have a slight point. But when I found them, I could not resist to use them!

They are all for sale - SEK 180 plus postage. (This means a total of 225 inside Sweden.) A good x-mas present for a weaving friend?
Contact me at kerstin (at) bergdalaspinnhus (dot) com - I take PayPal, and ship to everywhere!

How to use them? Here is a description in English, here is the same in Swedish. (Will be included in the shipment)

The rest of the ruffles

2010-11-11T16:29:00.002+01:00

The double warp(s) are now done -

It never ceases to surprise me, the very very different results one gets just by using different wefts! The dark warp has 4 different blues (in 3 different grists), a brown wool stripe in two slightly different nuances, and the purple has 3 different nuances in 2 different grists.
The three different wefts I used:

The bobbin is silk noil, the other two are cotton 16/2 (the red looks browner when alone).
The red-brown gave, as can perhaps be seen (click for larger), even some iridescence in the blue part.

I have opened the sett successively over the years. When I went to weaving school the recommended sett for cotton 16/2 was 15-16 ends per cm for tabby - in these ruffled scarves I am down to 8, and get a stable fabric. (Well - for scarves!)

On the other hand, reading old weaving books, they never wove cotton scarves... They wove things that had to be sturdy, like bedsheets, for example.
For suppler fabrics they instead went to finer yarns - cotton 30/2 is not uncommon for towels, tablecloths, drapes...
Reading for instance Engeström: Praktisk vävbok (first published 1896), we get recommended a cotton 20/2 at 16 ends per cm for twill - she says it will yield a good quality for kitchen towels, if woven with a "coarser linen or tow weft". For a finer weft, she says, one should go slightly closer.
She has a "dress fabric" (mostly tabby) in cotton 40/2, sett at 24 ends/cm.

If only there were such yarns to be had...

I have looked at our biggest yarn companies here in Sweden - one of them does not offer any cotton finer than 16/2, the next has 63 colours of 16/2, 14 colours of 24/2, all of to 25 colours 30/2, while the third offers 74 colours of 16/2, 56 colours of 20/2 but finer only unbleached.

the things you can learn from the 'net...

2010-10-31T18:09:00.004+01:00

It started with my looking at the statistics for this blog. It went on with my testing some of the search words used.
Soon I had come to a very muddled (only IMO, of course ;-) article about Swedish weaving. There I could learn that "a young Swedish man, in 1832, created Sweden's first loom".
Hmmm - "first loom" in 1832??? What on earth??? So I followed the reference link, and found that J T Munktell (who was apparently much into steam as a power source) possibly constructed Sweden's first power loom (a fact that most sources don't mention), but also constructed the first locomotive, the first threshing machine and, and... and also is (almost) the Founding Father of Volvo.

So, what have I learned today?
1. do not believe everything you read on the Internet (we may live in the back-of-beyond, but we sure had "looms" before 1832. They may all have been "foot-powered", but...)
2. Toyota is not the only modern car company that started with a loom - here you can read about J T Munktell (right column, .pdf file)
3. I will look at my old Volvo BM tractor with new eyes from now on...
(the glamour shot is copied from here - mine is a lot less, er, polished? It is from the same year (1956), possibly hasn't been washed since then... I'll spare you the "true" pic - but it looks more like the one here. Perhaps I should mention that they did renovate theirs.)

Variations on a theme

2010-10-31T12:48:00.000+01:00

Bilder till Siv - ganska lika, men inte riktigt: den andra är trampad-som-solvad, den första har en kortare trampning av varje parti. (Klicka på bilderna så blir de större)

Almost ths same, but not quite: the bottom one is treadled exactly as drawn in, while the top one has a shorter treadling repeat.

Saturday

2010-10-30T18:26:00.001+02:00

I wanted to have the two shawls ready by Saturday, as there was a market in, er, "town".

As I did spend most of Thursday traipsing around Glimåkra for the "weave days" (where I bought this

- what on earth was I thinking... Will I ever even try to weave with a wire that size? It looked thicker when I didn't have a sewing thread to compare with...)

Well. After "wasting" a day on that little purchase, I had Friday to complete the first two shawls. I had woven one meter, but what with the shrinkage they have to be around 2,5 meters on loom. And... with two parallell warps this means 5 meters total.

So, here they are, in the almost-sunshine of the Saturday morning:

When fringed, wet finished, pressed and brought out into daylight, they were a lot more subdued that I had thought...

I also wet finished the weft samples:

I like the pink for the red-orange (bottom), and maybe the reddish brown (fourth from top) for the blue-purple.
But first, the next two: blue-purple crossed with a dark purple (slightly darker that the second-from-top), red-orange crossed with a (nearly) blinding orange (more intense than the second-from-top).

I had more visitors than I usually have on the "market days". Unfortunately no sales, but also not much weaving.

An efficiency experiment

2010-10-28T17:57:00.000+02:00

As shawls are too narrow to use the fly-shuttle on, I thought I would try putting two warps side-by-side. Maybe it would prove to be as efficient as doing them one-after-the-other?

Not being sure if the two-warp idea was a good one, I only warped for 3 shawls per warp. As they are to be a "winter" version of these, which depend on shrinkage, this means about 9 meters of warp.

A bad photo, but an overview of the arrangement:

First, I sampled different wefts

One plus with the two-warp arrangement is that I could see all combinations at the same time - some wefts can work in both warps. Weaving the samples was ok, I did not feel very slowed down by the constant shuttle-changing. (Two picks in right warp, two in the left)

So I decided on some silk noil weft(s), and started weaving.
1500 picks later, I know that 1. my beat is acceptable (7,5 picks per cm instead of 8) and 2. it is slower (or, at least, more tiring - which comes down to the same thing).

Oh well - only six-and-a-half meter left!

- the colours look all wrong, it is so dark these days that I have to use all possible lighting, and use the flash... anyway, you might be able to guess that one set will be called "lighten up the winter dark" and the other something like "match the weather" :-)

Corduroying

2010-10-10T19:07:00.001+02:00

As everybody but us Swedes from the back-of-beyond probably knows, there is a verb: to corduroy.

I have a couple of bottomless mudpits in my back yard. When the autumn rains arrive, you can sink deep enough to lose a wellie. We have tried to dump stones in them (to no avail). So, today I decided to "corduroy" them. I did not do it quite as described, but instead took a big bunch of dead branches, topped that with a nice tangle ("web", perhaps...) of freshly cut raspberry bushes (nice and tough) and several tangles of vines.
When done, we could walk across it without sinking, but if the (almost) corduroying will survive the winter, nobody knows. Yet.

Maybe I should label this post "off-loom weaving"...

Lost in translation - part II

2010-10-05T12:01:00.011+02:00

As I wrote here, odd things can happen when applying automatic translation to specialized texts.

The other day I happened to come to one of my own pages in English, with Google translator turned on. Oooops...
The translator is stupid - it just does what it is told. So, if it is told to translate from Swedish to English, it tries to do that, regardless of which laguage the text was written in.

Like this, for instance (using the same examples as in the last post):
The Swedish text:

"Såhär gick jag tillväga för att konstruera sjalen:
Båda lagren skulle vara tuskaft. För att väva två lager tuskaft behöver man fyra skaft. Eftersom sjalen har två partier går det åt totalt åtta skaft.
Jag väljer att solva de orangea trådarna på jämna skaft (2 och 4 för det ena partiet, 6 och 8 för det andra), och solvar alltså de lila trådarna på de udda skaften. För att lättare komma åt att solva väljer jag att ha partiet med de flesta trådarna på skaften närmast mig. Där båda lagren överlappar solvar jag varannan lila, varannan orange."

becomes, when asked to be translated from (supposed) English -> Swedish:

"Sahar Gick JAG tillväga för Själen ATT konstruera:
Bada lagren skulle Vara tuskaft. För ATT Vava Två lager tuskaft behöver man Fyra skaft. Eftersom Själen HAR Två Partier gar DET Åt Totalt Åtta skaft.
JAG väljer ATT solva de orangea trådarna In jämna skaft (2 and 4 för DET ENA partiet, 6 and 8 för DET Andra), and Solvår alltså de lila trådarna in de udda skaften. För ATT lättare Komma Åt ATT solva väljer JAG ATT ha Partiet Med de flesta trådarna In skaften närmast mig. Dar bada lagren överlappar Solvår JAG varannan lila, varannan orange."

(I wonder where all the CapItaL LettERs came from? And why some, but not all, "å" become "a"? And... I know what "själ" is (soul) - but why should a sjal (in supposed English) become a själ (in Swedish)?)

The English version: (translated/written by myself):

"This is how I did it:
Both layers were to be plain weave. To weave two layers of plain weave we need four shafts. As the shawl has two blocks we need a total of eight shafts.
I choose to thread the orange ends on odd shafts (1 and 3 for one block, 5 and 7 for the other). The purple ends get threaded on the even-numbered shafts. Where both
warps/layers coincide I place the colours one-by-one."

becomes, when translated from (supposed) Swedish -> English:

"This is how I did it:
Both layers were to ask plain weave. To weave two layers of plain weave We Need four shafts. As The Shawl hock two blocks we need a total of eight shafts.
I choose to thread the orange ends on odd shafts (1 and 3 for one block, 5 and 7 for the Other). The purple goat threaded ends on the even-numbered shafts. Somewhere
bothering warps / layers coincide in place the colors one-by-one."

- we have lost the warehouses and wires (from the other post), but have instead got both goats and hocks. And gained a different syntax.
Being a non-native speaker, I can't, of course, ever claim to write perfect (not even "good") English - but I'm not so very sure that Google can do it better...

Conclusion: make sure you have control over the "auto-translator" before giving up on a strange text, that the author claims to be in a specific language!

(A bonus example, from the bottom of the same article. Original text:

"A word of warning: do not make too long warps! The fact that the web has single layers at the sides, but double in the middle, will disturb the warp tension. I had problems already after about 150 cm woven - the sides got slacker than the middle."

becomes:

"A word of warning: Do Not make too long warps! The fact thats the web speed single layer at the sides, But DoubleClick in the Middle, Will disturb the warp tension. I Had problems Already after about 150 cm woven - the sides slightly slacker than option-the-middle."

I know what warp speed is, but web speed? And *where* did the double-click come from??? And what is option-the-middle?)

The naming of names

2010-09-29T09:37:00.001+02:00

"I am a draper mad with love. I love you more than all
the flannelette and calico, candlewick, dimity, crash
and merino, tussore, cretonne, crepon, muslin,
poplin, ticking and twill in the whole Cloth Hall of
the world [...] "
(from Under Milkwood, Dylan Thomas 1954)

I can add some myself, off the top of my head: duroy, stuff, fustian, genoa, thickset, roundtop, gabardine ... and tweed.

All of them "weave names", all of them... confusing (at least to me, the foreigner).

Janet wrote, à propos my jackets , that they were both classical tweeds.

Of late, again I have had occasion to get confused about cloth naming. Remember the corduroy ?
There is that very Swedish (or at least "swedishified", I thought) word korderoj. I've known it (as a word - unfortunately not as a cloth quality) all my life. When I met corduroy as a cloth quality (or structure), and knew it for what we (Swedes) nowadays call Manchester velvet, I assumed that korderoj was the older Swedish word for, well, corduroy.

It turns out I was wrong.

All available (old and new) Swedish reference books claim that korderoj is not "what the English call corduroy", but instead is a "simple" (or maybe "cheap"), coarse (often striped) fabric for men's suiting.

To make things worse, "corduroy" is not derived from French - instead it is believed it comes from "cord" + "duroy". Duroy is a fabric name - meaning either "A lightweight WORSTED, akin to SERGE and TAMMY, and not the same as CORDUROY" or "duroy: coarse woollen" . (which, incidentally, ties it with Korderoj... perhaps).

Well, back to tweed. Janet, I'm glad you call them tweed jackets - it's what I called them myself. Until...

This is how Wikipedia defines it:
"Tweed is a rough, unfinished woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is made in either plain or twill weave and may have a check or herringbone pattern. Subdued, interesting colour effects (heather mixtures) are obtained by twisting together differently coloured woolen strands into a two- or three-ply yarn."

Also, there used to be a yarn called "tweed yarn", a singles, fairly coarse, with nubs in contrasting colours. The yarn itself was dark, grey, dark blue, dark green etc.

And, I think I remember having read some old English literature - Woodehouse, perhaps? - about tweed being "thornproof" and not showing mud spots.

All of the above means the jackets are not tweed. (But it almost sounds like the korderoj above?)
The Donegal tweed (from Magee - bought in Donegal Town) I have supports that. Except it is woven of singles. There are about 7 ends/cm in the warp, and 5 or 5,5 picks per cm. It shows some signs of tracking.

But... then, there is the Harris tweed (bought from a weaver, maybe in Harris, maybe in Lewis)

This looks a lot more like my older jacket - worsted, patterned... but woven with singles, with 12-13 ends and 19 picks per cm. The number of colours, and their sequence, is less complex than the Elgin, er, tweed.

The more you know, the more you know what you don't know - as usual... :-)

Looking at industrial fabric

2010-09-21T18:33:00.001+02:00

This jacket found me in a second-hand shop the other day:

It is (well, was) a good-quality garment which has seen some ... hard work. There is a spot I will have to do something about, and the lining needs replacing.

This is a fabric of a type I like: the nearer you get, the more details there are. This one has (probably) six different colours/shades. It is all wool, fairly soft woollen type singles sett at approximately 8 ends per cmentimeter.

I have another old jacket - this one I have had (and used a lot!) for more than 15 years:

This fabric is very diferent from the other - worsted, to begin with. 2-ply yarns, 4 colours in the warp, four in the weft, about 14 ends/cm. This, too, reveals more details when you look closely:

Aren't both these a proof of what I have always been saying: why use only one colour, when using a dozen or so gives so much more interesting results?!

And isn't it also interesting that the older one looks bluer than the new one, despite the yellow/ochre and green yarns? (No, it is not a camera problem - it really does look more blue.) And isn't that proof that colour sampling (too) is A Good Thing?

Portrait of a Lady

2010-09-12T18:29:00.000+02:00

or, more accurately, of six ladies.

Since about a week, our household has four new members:

I also managed to get some better portraits of the two older ladies:

The two brown are, we were told, purebred Finn, while the white ladies are Finn x Texel in varying proportions. (Or, possibly Finn x Shropshire x Texel - obviously you have to be a spinner to take notice of sheep breeds...)
I have yet to see the x wool sans sheep, but they seem to have a slightly more defined lock formation.
I wrote about sampling the Finn wool here. Fortunately (or do I mean UN- ?) it will be another half-year until I have any white x wool to sample...

Lost in translation?

2010-09-09T12:40:00.000+02:00

The other day I was surfing handweaving.net , looking for texts/books about rugs.

I stumbled on The Shuttle-craft Bulletin of 1951, where I found the following:

Hmm. "Careless shags"?
A minute later, I realized what it was about... We call it "slarvtjäll" in Swedish. It is a compound word, slarv-tjäll, so... one could assume that looking up "slarv" and "tjäll" would give one some kind of translation.
OK, so "slarv" comes out as "carelessness"; "tjäll" does not exist in any of my dictionaries.
Knowing we are talking about rag rugs - ok, let's call it "shag".

Now, as I happen to be a native speaker, and having an interest in etymology, I know better. "Slarva" means "rag", "tjäll" is an old word (probably with the same root as "tent"); in the olden times it was used for (sturdy) lengths of fabric - wall hangings, if you will. What we arrive at is, in fact, "rag rug".
(OK, so in weaving circles we have given the name to the technique described in SCB: a rag weave embellished with inlaid pieces of rag, often with the ends protruding. OK, so it can be said that it looks "careless"...)

Sometimes I amuse myself with Google Translator. When applied to weaving texts (I should say "specialized texts") it can sometimes get funny, other times just incomprehensible.
A part of the article on double layers on my website:
Swedish -> English -> Swedish:

Såhär gick jag tillväga för att konstruera sjalen:
Båda lagren skulle vara tuskaft. För att väva två lager tuskaft behöver man fyra skaft. Eftersom sjalen har två partier går det åt totalt åtta skaft.
Jag väljer att solva de orangea trådarna på jämna skaft (2 och 4 för det ena partiet, 6 och 8 för det andra), och solvar alltså de lila trådarna på de udda skaften. För att lättare komma åt att solva väljer jag att ha partiet med de flesta trådarna på skaften närmast mig. Där båda lagren överlappar solvar jag varannan lila, varannan orange.

becomes

This is how I went to practice in the construction of the shawl:
Both stocks would be plain weave. To weave two layers of plain weave you need four shafts. Since the shawl has two parties join it for a total of eight shafts.
I choose the solvency of the orange wires on regular shafts (2 and 4 for one party, 6 and 8 for the second), and solvency is, the purple wires of the odd shaft. For easier access, the Solvency I choose to have the lot of most of the threads on the shaft closest to me. Where two layers overlap solver I alternately purple, orange bi.

and back again

Det är så jag gick till praktiken i byggandet av sjalen:
Båda lagren skulle tuskaft. Att väva två lager tuskaft du behöver fyra axlar. Eftersom sjalen har två partier går det för sammanlagt åtta axlar.
Jag väljer av solvensen för den orange tråd på regelbunden axlar (2 och 4 för ett parti, 6 och 8 för den andra) och solvensen, den lila trådarna på de udda axeln. För att lättare komma åt Solvens jag väljer att ha massor av de flesta trådar på axeln närmast mig. Om två skikten överlappar varandra lösare jag växelvis lila, orange BI.

The same passage in English (translated/written by myself)
-> Swedish -> English :

This is how I did it:
Both layers were to be plain weave. To weave two layers of plain weave we need four shafts. As the shawl has two blocks we need a total of eight shafts.
I choose to thread the orange ends on odd shafts (1 and 3 for one block, 5 and 7 for the other). The purple ends get threaded on the even-numbered shafts.
Where both warps/layers coincide I place the colours one-by-one.

becomes

Detta är hur jag gjorde det:
Båda lagren skulle tuskaft. Att väva två lager tuskaft vi behöver fyra axlar. Som sjalen har två block vi behöver ett sammanlagt åtta axlar.
Jag väljer att gänga den orange slutar på udda axlar (1 och 3 för ett block, 5 och 7 för övriga). Den lila slutar få gängade på de jämna axlar.
Om båda trålvarpet / lager sammanfalla jag placera färgerna en efter en.

and back again

This is how I did it:
Both stocks were plain weave. The two layers of tabby weave, we need four axles. As the shawl has two blocks, we need a total of eight axes.
I choose to thread the orange ending in odd axes (1 and 3 for a block, 5 and 7 for the other). The purple ends have tapped on the shoulders periodically.
If both warps / warehouse I place the same as the colors one by one.

I wonder if the original Babelfish (of Hitchhiker fame) was better?
(But I promise to tap you on the shoulder on the occasion your warehouse gets too full of purple wire...)

Have you ever had a broken warp end?

2010-09-07T20:08:00.000+02:00

Thanks to all the "foreweavers" (is that a word? - ok, all older weavers I have met) who have taught me so many tricks over the years: THANK YOU!

Here are two methods to mend a broken warp end:

There is a more wordy explanation on my website - click here for the English version, here for the Swedish.

Grist-and-weave?

2010-09-02T09:39:00.000+02:00

I have always wondered if/how colour-and-weave designs would work with thick-and-thin yarns.

Now I had a good opportunity to test it. I had some cotton 8/2, and some 16/2 that was just a shade darker, so I threaded up a hound's tooth pattern:

This is what I got:

Ho hum.
How fortunate I did not have a thin yarn in the same colour...

So - obviously the difference in size was not enough, thought I.

For the next sample I used 4 ends of a white mercerized cotton for the thick and one end unmerc for the thin, threaded to log cabin.

Okay, this time the pattern shows, but the quality is, er, sturdy. And not interesting enough to merit a re-sleying.
Re-threaded to hound's tooth:

Even more ho-hum (or should that be "less"?)...

For good measure, as there was a bit left of the lilac warp, I re-threaded that to log cabin.
Wove, from the top down,

- log cabin in thick and thin
- plain weave with only thin weft
- 2/2 twill with only thin weft.

Now I have one not-very-interesting (but soft) scarf, and one idea less to bother with.
I think it is called "experience"?

(But we did get a "draft-of-the-month" for September, at the guild site, so it served a purpose)

Loom waste?

2010-08-30T19:57:00.000+02:00

The shortest thrums yet?

Granted, the sheds were not the greatest for the last inch or so... but it worked!

(Once I had a student who happened to miss one turn for one section. As luck had it, that section was threaded on the front shafts. She managed to weave well until that section was halfway through the shafts...)

A tubular selvage for differential shrinkage

2010-08-21T06:43:00.004+02:00

After some experimenting, I have constructed a threading for a tubular selvage that works well for differential shrinkage.
Using this:

I now get this:

instead of this:

Here is a longer artcle on how and why. (Swedish version here)

Flying!

2010-08-13T05:53:00.002+02:00

The first of the magic carpets has taken off!

More corduroy

2010-08-03T12:42:00.008+02:00

After the first corduroy samples I abandoned the table loom and put the next warp on the AVL. Much easier!

I had studied the corduroy chapter in The techniqes of rug weaving and wanted to try several ideas.

The first experiment was using two colurs in various sequences, with and without ground picks (front and reverse):

On page 408 there is a description of how to get triangles just by combining colours. The result is pictured in the gallery section:

I tried that (the very uppermost part of the uncut sample).
Here is what it looks like when cut:

My triangles are not very... well defined... But, perhaps, using "proper" rug quality yarns would have helped?

Oh, and I should point out that I did not even think about selvage treatment - that will be for another sample.

Form or function?

2010-07-30T18:39:00.003+02:00

Everybody likes a beautiful tool.
The question is: what is beauty - especially in conjunction with tool?

The very nice wooden sleying hook below is my first. The traditional Swedish sley hook has this form, is slightly thicker and made of white plastic. I don't know what the "original" sley hook looked like, nor what it was made of, but when I begun weaving all hooks had this form. (And most heddles were made of string, too - the new-fangled texsolv did exist, but were, well, "new-fangled" and not very popular.)

I did like everyone else - threaded heddles with my fingers, sleyed reeds with the thickish white plastic hook.
Then I bought the very nice and thin wooden sleying hook. This hook, exactly like the plastic ones, tended to fall to the floor when I lost the grip. I knew someone who had a silver hook (same model) on a chain round her neck, but the chain was not
long enough to let her keep it around the neck while sleying.

Then I met the red plastic hook (I think my first one was green). It had a hole in one end - with a piece of string the problem of the fallen hook was eliminated. But... it was not half as attractive as the nice wooden one.
After having used it for about 15 minutes I was sold... it may not be "beautiful", but it is everything else:
fits though "open eye" texsolv heddles (and thus increased my threading speed by, well, lots), fits all reeds down to 9 dents per cm (for the 11 dpcm I use the nice-looking wooden one), and hangs around my neck. Or on the loom, for that matter.

The long-necked metallic one - I don't remember how I came by that one. It is the only one that fits through the metallic heddles, but that doesn't make it any easier to use. The blade is so long that I can't use it while holding the handle...

So, for threading/sleying hooks I see the absolute beauty in red plastic!

Grass carpet

2010-07-17T19:09:00.007+02:00

Now the "grass carpet" is woven, too, still in twill coruroy. I used five or maybe six different yarns for the weft, in cotton and linen.
Here it is, hot from the loom:

About the cutting, Collingwood writes that there are two ways: either you cut "straight up" or you follow the "twill line". I may have misunderstood how to cut "straight" - found it very difficult to identify the logical "straight".
Anyway - to the leftit is "twill cut", to the right it is "straight". The right side has pile of different lengths, but it doesn't really show.

Apart from the fact that a table loom is too flimsy/weak to properly beat a structure like corduroy, I also found that I have too long tabby stretches (or perhaps I should have used a different pile weft) - the ground shows too much.
(OTOH - we've had a dry spell here - it almost looks like my real grass-carpet, er, lawn:

As a comparison, here's my only previous experience of corduroy - a proper rug quality, with proper rug yarns. I wove it ages ago, and usd it for my weaving bench. It is double corduroy, and the two parts are cut with different methods, with a bit of un-cut in between. I tried to figure out which part was which, but I couldn't...

Still pondering how to achieve the flight of the cellophane one. Maybe I should try it with fishing line for warp... but that has to be on a "real" loom, if at all.

Flying carpet?

2010-07-16T11:24:00.008+02:00

The new theme for our guild is RUGS.
As you may have guessed, rugs is not what I usually weave. So, to make things more interesting, I decided to weave (very small) "different" rugs. Like... a flying carpet?

Literature studies did not yield much on the construction of flying carpets, so I made a few guesses: wings, it will need wings to fly, yes? And wings... fly wings, bug wings, fairy wings, they are all transparent and shiny? So: cellophane for weft.

The first technique that came to mind was rya knots. But I wanted to thread for something more, er, efficient, so I threaded up for what Collingwood calls double corduroy.

Here are the first samples:

The knots were impossible. After two rows the tension was completely off, and my patience was rapidly waning.
Went on to the double corduroy. In the first sample I used the warp yarn (linen 16/2) for the tabby picks, and also extended the tabbies some.
For the second sample I used the cellophane for all wefts. It looked better, but was too stiff for the hazy idea I had about mounting (a flying carpet has to be flying), so I re-threaded to what Collingwood calls twill corduroy.

It is now woven. I meant to do a "woven edge", but (as you can see) I have to practice a lot before I can do one that looks ok. With patience thin again, I decided I could do a plaited fringe at the other end...

This, too, is a bit stiff, but if I re-think the mounting...
In the meantime, I'm weaving off this short warp as a grass carpet (the word "lawn" could work in a textile environment, but hardly about rugs).

The techniqes of rug weavingcan be downloaded from handweaving.net.

Here is the castle

2010-07-12T11:07:00.003+02:00

This is the top of the castle.
I admit I have not tried to take it apart, but think it would be more that a-pain-in-the-thumbs to put it together again, even if it is not glued...
At the bottom of the structure there are both screws and visible glue, so that's no option either.

#¤&@¤£# !!!

2010-07-10T17:05:00.009+02:00

Why am I doing this??? And twice in a week, too...

I don't particularly like table looms. Then this thingy came my way, had 8 shafts and was cheap.

So I bought it, sight unseen. I mean, a loom is a loom, even if it is a table model, right?
I had very limited experience with metal heddles, but, thought I, a heddle is a heddle.
Then I wanted to test my new-to-me sample loom - and... soon found that I don't like (rather "hate") the heddles on this loom. They won't slide (except if I handle them one at a time), they tangle (how is still a mystery), the eyes are too small for all my heddle hooks...
So I wove one small narrow warp, and put it under a table.

Then came the guild's anniversary exhibitions, and we decided we needed a dog. The dog itself was made of hex mesh, but it also needed a tail. I decided to weave it a tail, on the Lillstina. (It also got vadmal ears, but they came from existing scraps)
I made a 5 cm-or-so warp, with 4 ends of steel wire (to shape the tail) and some rug warp. As the tail was only to be 20 cm-or-so, it was ok (sort of).

Again the loom was put under the table for a couple of years.
Next time it came out was for a "culture day".
This is me, weaving a shawl.

For that shawl, I really had to move some heddles. Couldn't figure out any way to do that in an even moderatlely efficient way, but got them moved.
- The shawl came out allright - a woollen stripe in the middle, wich created nice ruffles after wet finishing/fulling:

One-and-a-half year later, I needed some illustrations for an article. Did not want to try to warp the AVL with a meter-long warp, so out Lillstina came again. That was on Monday last.

But... apparently I have not had my share of, er, punishment? yet, 'cos as soon as that little warp was done, I decided to make another warp...

Dear readers - . How is one supposed to move heddles on a loom like this?!?
Fortunately, there was only one shaft (and fortunately, it was near the back) that needed more heddles. I had to pry the heddle bar out with a plier - and the only way I could figure out how to put on heddles was one-by-one... There is no way (that I can see) that the heddle frames can be taken out, and there is no way (that I can see) to put those new heddles on in a bunch. #¤&@¤£# !!!
Here it is, next-to-last shaft raised, heddle bars pried out of their holders.

(And it was a pain-in-my-thumbs to try to pry them back again... and no pliers big enough to use...)

Worsted, sort of

2010-07-01T17:00:00.005+02:00

Second sample was combed, still unwashed. That was not very wise - even that small amount did gunk the combs up. I could not find the diz, so I used a nice abalone button instead.

It was more difficult that I remembered to spindle the combed fibre - or, maybe, I'm just out of practice...

Plied and washed it definitely has more worsted character than yesterday's sample. Some loft, a lot less elasticity.

Visually, they are not as different as I thought they would be.

I plied both yarns fron a center-pull ball, something I avoid when spinning "for real". Maybe the spinning direction is more important for worsteds than for woollens, but I think it makes sense to try to preserve the direction always. And yes, it means that, when I unload a spindle I first make one ball, then make a new one, just to get the direction right.

Now I really need to make that washing frame I have planned - or maybe I should just go for mosquito netting, while this nice drying-weather still holds.

1:st homegrown yarn!

2010-06-30T17:14:00.004+02:00

Finally, I managed to sort my first homegrown fleeces. They were shorn months ago, but temperature and weather were against my doing it earlier.
First, perhaps, a portrait of the "donors" - they are two old Finn ladies. They aren't interested in getting their picture taken, but here's one and part of the other:

It will be some time until I get the fleece washed, but I wanted to spin a couple of small samples all the same.
This is the first - carded and "spindled":

After plying and washing it looks like this:

This small sample is approximately 10 wraps per centimeter. It came out nice and lofty with lots of elasticity.

Next sample will be combed, I think.

Gowns on stage

2010-06-15T09:49:00.004+02:00

New/more official pictures of the academic dress of Linnaeus University: the four promotors declaring their right to confer the degree.
Here is a picture of the rector, out of his gown but still wearing the chain of office. As appropriate, for this part of the country, it is made of glass...

Fringe twisters

2010-05-29T18:31:00.001+02:00

In between the sewing - a new batch of gowns is under way - I needed to do something more "rustic".
This is the result: a bunch of fringe twisters with gold forks for handles. As they were so easily bent I suspect they are real gold ;-)

After lots of experimenting I started to make three-pronged fringe twisters about a year ago. They all have cutlery for handles, and chessmen for the turning knobs. Now I have fine-tuned the process, so I dare offer them for sale for a bigger public... Should you be interested, e-mail me.

The snake-adorned gowns in use!

2010-05-17T18:51:00.003+02:00

The gowns were for the rector and pro-rector (some would say the vice chancellor and the pro vice chancellor) of Karolinska Institutet , Sweden's oldest medical universtiy. They are celebrating their 200-year jubilee this year, and wanted new gowns for the highest officials. (So now you know why the snakes are there... :-)

The gowns were first worn at the ceremony of promotion of the new doctors (I guess I should say the ceremony of conferment of the PhD degree in medicine) last week.

Now I have found the site for all the photos of the event. There are a lot, so... here is a short list of the photos most interesting to me:
This shows the rector in front, the pro rector in the background (opens in new window). Click "next" for a picture of the pro rector.
I also like this photo. Photo nr 499 and 501 are nice, too.

A rose is a rose is...

2010-05-17T09:57:00.003+02:00

(can be) a piece of barbed wire and some silk cabbage.

Since I learned to make roses, I have a special eye for nice scraps otherwise too small to be used.

These roses were given to a friend for the opening of her new exhibition the other day.

After appliqué-ing...

2010-05-09T16:22:00.005+02:00

my fingers look like this:

Probably I should learn to use a thimble...

The red silk had to be backed, and I choose a black bourette I had on hand. This meant the left hand not only got scratched, but also black from the crocking bourette.

For the first gown, I did the appliqué before I attached the facings. Easier to work, harder to attach to the gown.
So, for the second gown, I first attached the facings, and did the appliqué afterwards. Much more unwieldy, but easier to match.

Total: more than five meters of gold lace appliqué, with a golden "rod" in the middle.

Now the gowns are done and delivered, and I'm hoping for "official" pictures soon...

Below the collar...

2010-05-07T17:57:00.007+02:00

there had to be something - a jacket, perhaps?

Again I browsed my Arnold (Patterns of fashion, ISBN 0-333-38284-6), and found this interesting sleeve cut:

It comes from a Spanish book (Geometria y traca, by Francisco de la Rocha Burguen, 1618)

So I made a simple front, a Spanish sleeve and a pleated back.
After having made the pattern, I wove the approptiate amount of material, using the weave I showed here
I used the same warp yarn as in the collar, merc cotton 30/2, but in two shades. For weft I used a softer merc cotton, still 30/2.

... as one cannot use a jacket like this over jeans, I also had to make a dress to go with it :-)
I found some shot doupioni silk in a slightly darker shade - and this is the result:

Now I only have to wait for the perfect party to wear it...