This is my first double width attempt, and it makes me nervous. Dressing the loom feels intimidating when you are trying something new. Each layer has its own warp chains and its own set of lease sticks. And eleven colors–will they end up in the correct order? My uncertainty makes me feel like a beginner again.
Colorful wool warp travels over the breast beam, under the foot beam, and over the crossbar of the warping trapeze while it is being beamed onto the warp beam. Each layer of the double weave warp has two bouts. Walking weights hang on the bouts to add resistance for beaming the warp with even tension. Afternoon sun plays along by creating changing designs on the hanging warp.
Stepping through uncertainty takes bravery, and a bit of “Oh well, it is what it is.” Even ordinary weaving is filled with uncertainty. You don’t know if you succeeded in dressing the loom properly until you start weaving. And you don’t totally see how your weaving looks until it comes off the loom. Even then, the fabric has more to reveal when it is wet finished. Weaving is not for cowards.
Beaming complete for wool double-width blanket. This view causes me to respect the process that brings me to this point of accomplishment.
Doing the next thing with courage does make a difference. It is like that with prayer. When I face a new difficulty, I struggle to know what to pray. I feel like a beginner again. But I keep coming back to this comforting thought: God always listens to the heart as much as to the words. God does not look for a “leader” who prays, he looks for an ordinary person who has faith to hear and obey. This is the person whose prayers reach God’s ears.
I arranged, added, and swapped until I had eleven different colors to blend into a courageous wool warp. I had more fun pulling out skeins of yarn in Vävstuga’s shop than a kid in a candy store! The yarn is for a double weave blanket that has been on my mind for a few weeks. Yesterday, I finally had a chance to wind this wild warp! Dressing the loom is next!
Yellow will be the center color of the double weave wool blanket. The symmetrical way the warp is wound on this warping reel might fool you, though. These are only a few of the eleven colors that will be blended across the warp.Second bout wound on the reel. I check and double-check my written notes to make sure I get the correct color order and numbers of ends.
Away from home, I can only think about weaving on my looms. As much as I enjoyed the experiences of Vävstuga (Vävstuga Autum, Vävstuga Autumn II) and New Mexico (Pointers for Exploring New Mexico Fiber Arts Trails), I have been eager to put my hands to the tasks of weaving here in my own little studio. Winding the warp, feeling and smelling the soft Tuna wool, getting over-excited about the blending colors on the warping reel, handling the fat warp chains… Ah, I am where I’m supposed to be!
One layer of colors for the double weave blanket.Basket holds what is left of the eleven skeins of Tuna wool. These two warp chains will be the other layer of the double weave blanket.
Come home. Do you ever hear that? …as if you have been away too long? The nudge is to return to your faith roots. Enjoy the refreshing that comes in the presence of the Lord. It’s good to be where you know you belong.
How should I arrange eleven colors of wool for the warp of a double-width blanket? By “intuition?” Why not pull yarn snippets out of a hat in a random sequence? I do have resources on color theory I could consult. Best yet, I like the idea of viewing snapshots to compare various arrangements. This is play!
Eleven colors of Borgs 6/2 Tuna Wool. Trying out different color arrangements for a woven blanket. Back to front – option 1 and option 2.Two more possible arrangements of color. Adjacent colors will be blended together where they touch, to make smooth transitions across the warp. Back to front – option 3 and option 4.
You could make any arrangement work since the colors will be blended from one to the next across the warp. The color that makes the biggest difference, however, is the weft color. Just now, as I write this, I realize that I forgot to purchase yarn for weft. Oops! How did I miss that?
Grace and truth give us a fresh start. Grace gives me choices, and makes something beautiful, even if I get colors in the “wrong” order. Truth kindly shows me what I am missing, and what I need. Grace and truth are brought into our lives through Jesus Christ, and become a framework for life’s fabric. Grace brings forgiveness. And truth brings freedom to begin.
Of the four arrangements of yarn colors pictured, which one do you prefer? I would love to hear what you think. Leave your “vote” for option 1, 2, 3, or 4 (back to front) in the comments.
If I line up all my weaving shuttles, end to end, how far do you think they will reach? The accumulation started slowly, adding a shuttle here and there, as needed. My husband contributed to my collection by handcrafting some of the shuttles for me. “I could use a stick shuttle in such-and-such a size.”“Okay, dear,” he would say, before going out to the garage to whip up yet another yardstick shuttle for my rigid heddle loom.
Ski shuttles are for rag weaving. Boat shuttles are for almost everything else. Most of my boat shuttles are traditional Swedish shuttles. All these fascinating shuttles, such simple tools, work the wonder of weaving.
Shawl woven on 32-inch rigid heddle loom, with super kid mohair/silk and baby alpaca. Smooth, handcrafted walnut stick shuttles were used for this project.Tapered edge on pine inkle loom shuttle helps for beating in the weft. I have been known to weave with crazy novelty yarns on my inkle loom.Maple band loom shuttles, hand-carved by my husband, *live* in a small handmade bag that hangs on the back corner of the band loom. This shaped shuttle is perfect for the tricky one-handed manipulation that is needed. If they are too smooth and polished, however, they slip right out of my hand.My favorite ski shuttle is the beautiful cherry wood shuttle made by my husband, Steve. It helps to have several ski shuttles. The “Creative Expression” Rosepath Rag Rug used three shuttles at a time to get the gradient color effect.Boat shuttles eager to weave. Do you hear them? … “Pick me”…”No, pick ME!”These are a few of my favorite things. Swedish woven goods made on a Swedish loom with Swedish boat shuttles. (I’m the only thing not Swedish here.)How far will my shuttles reach? 34 1/2 feet (that’s 11 1/2 yards, or 10 1/2 meters long). I ran out of room, so the last one is standing on end.
Finish the finishing, please. I always have a pile of handwovens that need finishing. Don’t you? The finishing smorgasbord includes repairing skipped threads (unintentional floats), securing ends, fringe treatments, hemming, wet finishing, pressing, adding hanging tabs, embellishments, and more. You know you are finally finished when your handiwork is being used and enjoyed.
1. Twisted fringe on bamboo huck lace small tablecloth. This cloth covered an heirloom table, becoming the altar, at Melody’s wedding. (This short piece was at the end of the warp after weaving two shawls.) You can see the shawls HERE, and twisting the fringe HERE.
Twisted fringe gives an elegant finishing touch to this small huck lace table covering.
2. Added hanging tabs to handtowels. Installed Ikea rod with basket and hooks to hang handwoven handtowels in the powder room. (When you need tabs for towels, it helps to have a collection of inkle and band loombands.) You can see the most recent towels HERE – I kept one of the eight for myself; the rest became gifts.
Ikea basket and hooks hold assortment of handwoven towels for guests to use in the powder room.
3. Untangled the fringe of alpaca/tencel throw. (A wet finishing nightmare I don’t care to repeat.) You can see what it looked like before washing HERE.
Each strand of fringe was carefully separated one-by-one after leaving the alpaca/tencel throw in the washing machine a few minutes too long. Untangling took longer than tying the lattice fringe. Hours and hours.
4. Hand-stitched rolled hem on Swedish lace tablecloth. (I may use this as a curtain for my weaving studio window, hung on rings with clips, on a rod.) HERE are the long curtain panels that hang on windows in my home.
Swedish lace panel can be used as a tablecloth, or a curtain, or even a light, summery shawl. The hand-stitched rolled hem gives a delicate touch to this elegant piece.Swedish lace is shown to its best advantage when light is allowed to shine through the cloth. The pressed rolled hem adds a classy touch.
5. Hemmed small sample piece to carry around with me when I have a cup of coffee. (I grab this re-usable “scrap” instead of a paper napkin or paper towel. It also doubles as a coaster wherever I happen to sit down.) The original M’s and O’s towels are HERE; and HERE you can see what I mean about carrying my coffee cup around with me.
Scrap of handwoven fabric, from a cottolin warp of handtowels, follows my favorite coffee cup around.
6. Replaced nylon cord on handwoven Roman shades with a cord I wove on my band loom. (The “temporary” nylon cord stayed more than a year. We now enjoy seeing this on our kitchen door every day, finally fully finished.) The only place I have a picture of the original nylon cord, and of the fabric on the loom for the Roman shades is in my Projects on Weavolution HERE. (I’m not sure if you can see it without logging in to the site.)
Linen and cotton threads that match the handwoven Roman shades were used to weave the pull cord. Cord woven on Glimakra two-treadle band loom.Handwoven Roman shades finally have a matching pull cord. When the shades are lowered at night, the two-block twill structure is seen covering the whole kitchen door window. Woven on 8-shaft Glimakra Standard loom.Opening the shades to start the day and welcome you. Please come in!
May you reduce your finishing pile (I know you have one).
