Tried and True: Linen

Take a short stroll through our home and you will see and touch linen in all its superb versatility. Linen warp and weft speaks of elegance. Yet, this natural fiber is right at home with ordinary daily living. Linen, oh, how it sings!

I am thrilled to be dressing the Julia now with 16/2 linen on eight shafts. We will have another linen highlight to grace our home—a table runner for our dining room table.

Bockens 16/2 line linen for a handwoven runner.
It is a happy day when new tubes of Bockens 16/2 line linen arrive at the door.
Making a linen warp.
Winding two threads together at a time on the warping reel.
8-shaft Julia and linen warp.
Dividing the warp into three bouts makes it easier to spread and beam the warp with even tension across the warp.
Glimakra Julia 8-shafts. Glorious linen!
Golden bleached linen is a gorgeous backdrop for the olive center section and contrasting midnight blue borders.

Is there anything more vibrant than the sheen of linen saturated with color? And, have you noticed that plain unbleached linen is anything but plain? Linen fills both ends of the spectrum—glowing exuberant color and natural wrinkled humility. Linen, oh, how it sings! There’s always room for more music in the home.

May your home be filled with everyday elegance.

Happy Weaving,
Karen

Process Review: Perfectly Imperfect

I waded into deflected double weave for the first time. It took me one full scarf to figure out what I was doing. By the second scarf, I had a much better sense of how the pattern fits together and what to do with the shuttles (most of the time). Both scarves are quite imperfect (no one will ever know…). The loom behaved perfectly, though. This is my Julia’s first project using all eight shafts. Now, I know that this sweet loom is up to any challenge I give her.

20/2 Mora wool by Borgs for a lovely scarf.
20/2 Mora wool by Borgs. Yarn is temporarily secured by pulling a loop behind the warp at the nearest upright on the warping reel.
Putting a new warp on the 8-shaft Glimakra Julia.
Preparing to dress the loom. The lease cross end of the warp chain is placed through the beater.
Glimakra Julia 8- shaft loom is ready to weave!
Warp is beamed and tied on, and the treadles and lamms are tied up.
Wool deflected double weave.
First scarf gives me a chance to learn. Beat consistency is getting better with practice.
Learning ins and outs of deflected double weave.
Trickiest part about deflected double weave is understanding how the shuttles interact so that the color from one shuttle (the salmon color) never goes to the selvedge.
Trying to learn deflected double weave.
Gaining confidence and consistency on the second scarf.
My first deflected double weave!
Stiff Mora wool will soon soften in the wash. After cutting off, I discover that a tiny misunderstanding gave me a consistent wrong thread all along one selvedge on the back side. Maybe we should call this defective double weave. (But, really, no one will ever know.)
O, the joy of twisting fringe!
Bundles of light and dark threads are twisted into swinging fringes before the scarves are washed.

By the way, I like the finished airy scarves, even with their flaws.

Deflected double weave scarf in Mora wool.
Finished scarf has delightful pattern and character. Mora wool is sufficiently softened through washing and drying, to make a supple fabric.
Texas hill country foggy day and new handwoven scarf to go with it.
Perfect (imperfect) scarf to brighten up a foggy day in Texas hill country.

May you wade into a new experience.

Happy Weaving,
Karen

Unroll the Cloth Beam of 2020 – Year in Review Video

Every year my weaving journey is peppered with notable highlights. Here are seven such highlights from 2020: 1. Siblings Tapestry, complete and hanging in our living room. 2. Joanne Hall (my weaving mentor and friend) visited our home in February (while in Texas for her Swedish Art Weaves workshop). 3. New 8-shaft Glimakra Julia countermarch loom. 4. My favorite fabric of the year, Jämtlandsdräll in 6/2 Tuna, woven on the brand-new Julia. 5. Rag rugs woven on the drawloom. 6. Studio tour on Zoom for the San Antonio Handweaver’s Guild In November. 7. Handwoven Christmas tree skirt with Nativity appliqué from handwoven remnants.

Pictorial 4-shaft tapestry.
Last year began with completion of this Siblings tapestry.
Jamtlandsdrall on the Julia with 4 shafts.
Favorite cloth of the year. Jämtlandsdräll on the new Julia.

2021 is beginning with the start of a new pictorial tapestry, an empty loom waiting for a new warp, and a drawloom warp that is near its finish line. Plus, two other looms that are mid-project. I am not expecting any dull moments around here. Thank you for joining me in this ongoing adventure.

Four-shaft pictorial tapestry weaving.
Tapestry for the new year. I am starting with practice weaving for certain sections of the planned tapestry. You can see a pair of eyes on the cartoon under the warp threads.

Unroll the cloth beam with me and go back through time to recall the Warped for Good projects of 2020:

God completes what he begins. My prayer for you is that his finishing work will secure any loose ends.

May you see how far you’ve come.

Happy New Year, friends,
Karen

Process Review: Weaving Rhythm

“With so many looms, how do you decide what to weave every day?,” I was asked. The answer lies in my Weaving Rhythm. I have five floor looms. I happily aspire to meet the challenge of keeping all of them active.

Glossary

Weaving Rhythm ~ A pattern created across time, through a regular succession of weaving-related tasks.

Arrange individual tasks to keep each loom consistently moving forward in the weaving continuum.

Weaving Continuum ~ The cycle for each loom that is continually repeated.

When the first few centimeters are woven on a new project, begin planning the next project. When finishing is completed for the current project, wind a new warp and dress the loom for the next project.

First Things First ~ Prioritize daily tasks to maintain the Weaving Rhythm.

  1. Finishing
  2. Dressing
  3. Weaving

Do some finishing work first. Do some loom-dressing tasks next. The reward, then, is sitting at one of the dressed looms and freely weaving for the pleasure of it.

Weaving bath towels on the Glimakra Standard.
Glimåkra Standard, 120cm (47″), vertical countermarch. My first floor loom. Weaving the third of four bath towels, 6-shaft broken and reverse twill, 22/2 cottolin warp and weft.
Weaving hanging tabs for bath towels.
Glimåkra two-treadle band loom. Weaving hanging tabs for bath towels. 22/2 cottolin warp and weft.
Glimakra 100cm Ideal. Sweet little loom.
Glimåkra Ideal, 100cm (39″), horizontal countermarch. My second floor loom. Dressing the loom in 24/2 cotton, five-shaft huckaback, for fabric to make a tiered skirt. Ready to start sleying the reed.
Hand-built Swedish loom.
Loom that Steve built, 70cm (27″), horizontal countermarch. My third floor loom. Weaving the header for a pictorial tapestry sample, four-shaft rosepath, 16/2 linen warp, Tuna/Fårö wool and 6/1 tow linen weft.
Sweet little Glimakra Julia 8-shaft loom.
Glimåkra Julia, 70cm (27″), horizontal countermarch. This is my fifth (and final?) floor loom. Weaving the first of two scarves, eight-shaft deflected double weave, 8/1 Mora wool warp and weft.
Weaving lettering on the drawloom.
Glimåkra Standard, 120cm (47″), horizontal countermarch, with Myrehed combination drawloom attachment. This is my fourth floor loom. Weaving some lettering for the seventh pattern on this sample warp, six-shaft irregular satin, 16/2 cotton warp, 16/1 linen weft. 35 pattern shafts, 132 single unit draw cords.

Give Thanks ~ Live with a thankful heart.

Every day I thank the Lord for granting me the joy of being in this handweaving journey. And I thank him for bringing friends like you along with me.

May you always give thanks.

With a grateful heart,
Karen

Process Review: Jämtlandsdräll with Julia

My intention is to weave fabric for a couple of cushy throw pillows. But after just one pattern repeat, I realize that this cloth on my brand new Glimåkra Julia is something I would like to wear! No pillows this time. Instead, here is my new autumn/winter shoulder wrap, embellished with frisky swinging fringes. Miss Julia has proven her worth on four-shaft Jämtlandsdräll (crackle) in 6/2 Tuna wool. Her next adventure will be something that explores all eight shafts. (See My New Glimåkra Julia Loom.)

Jämtlandsdräll Wool Wrap - woven on Glimåkra Julia.
Finished wrap. Ready for cool weather!

This project starts with the draft for the Jämtlandsdräll Blanket on p.59 of Simple Weaves, by Birgitta Bengtsson Björk and Tina Ignell. Tuna yarn samples, along with Fiberworks Silver for Mac, help me jazz up the color. I settle on three colors for the warp, with burnt orange as the anchor. Six different colors are used for the pattern weft, plus dark teal for the tabby.

Planning my next weaving project on Fiberworks.
Paint chips, Tuna yarn samples, and Fiberworks Silver for Mac aid my planning process.
Colors! Let's see how they work together on the loom.
Colors! Let’s see how they work together on the loom.
Beaming the warp on my new Julia.
Beaming the warp.
Weaving Jamtlandsdrall (Crackle) on my new Julia.
Daylight, plus colorful yarn. As summer is warming up outside, Julia is dressed warmly inside.
Weaving Jamtlandsdrall (crackle) on my new Julia.
There is something about weaving with a double-bobbin shuttle that I especially enjoy.
Color gradation in the pattern.
Some color gradation in the pattern.
My new Glimakra Julia!
Miss Julia, filling up her cloth beam.
Crackle (Jamtlandsdrall) in Tuna Wool.
Ending with a few picks of plain weave.
End of warp on my new Glimakra Julia.
Thrums at the end of the warp will serve as fringe.
Cutting off Jamtlandsdrall (crackle)!
Cutting off, giving a view of the back side of the cloth. Front and back have reverse images.
Jämtlandsdräll, just off the loom.
Jämtlandsdräll, just off the loom.
Twisting fringe on Jamtlandsdrall wrap.
Much to my pleasant surprise, after removing (unweaving) my short sample weaving at the beginning, and untying the front tie-on knots, I had the EXACT same length of fringe–to the centimeter–on both ends of the woven wrap.
Chunky, frolicky fringe.
Overhand knots secure the weft. Two groups of four warp strands each form each chunky fringe. Now, this wrap is ready for wet-finishing.

This is one of those times when the weaving is so satisfying that I truly don’t want the warp to come to an end. (…except that I’m excited to start on Julia’s second adventure!)

Jämtlandsdräll Autumn/Winter Wrap
Jämtlandsdräll Autumn/Winter Wrap

May your adventures never cease.

Happy Weaving,
Karen