sley – Page 2 – Warped for Good

Process Review: Dressing the Drawloom the Second Time

June 25, 2019June 23, 2019 Karen

Dressing the drawloom the second time is easier than the first time. No slip ups or confusion. Just smoothly moving from one step to the next. (Read to the end to see what to expect for July.)

With my first drawloom warp the most challenging part was distributing the pattern shafts. (See Q and A with Joanne Hall and Drawloom Dressing.) This time something clicked and the light bulb turned on. Instead of blindly following steps, I now understand what I am doing, and why. And I am having fun in the process!

Winding warp on the warping reel. — Winding the warp on the warping reel, making two bouts.

Big fat wool warp chains. — Warp chains of 6/2 Tuna wool, ready to dress the loom.

Ready to thread pattern heddles. — After beaming the warp, the loom bench is moved to the back of the loom for threading heddles. Pattern heddles first, and then, ground heddles.

Sleying the reed on the drawloom. — With the reed sleyed, it’s time to return the ground shafts to the front of the loom and put the reed in the beater.

Leveling string is doing its job! — Warp is tied on, and the leveling string is doing its job.

Distributing pattern shafts on the drawloom. — Inkle band serves to separate pattern heddles as I distribute the pattern shafts.

Adding pattern shafts to the drawloom. — Pattern shafts are resting nicely on the pattern shaft holders. Their little hooks grab the Texsolv that connects them to the draw cords and handles.

Dressing the drawloom! — Pointed threading can be seen in the arrangement of the heddles on the pattern shafts.

Testing pattern sheds on the drawloom. — Testing pattern sheds by pulling some of the draw handles. After a few small adjustments, she’s ready to weave!

Wool on the drawloom. — First sample. 6/2 Tuna wool warp and weft, 4-shaft broken twill on the ground shafts, sett is 5.5 ends per cm, 16 pattern shafts with 1 extra shaft for the edges.

Friends, It’s that time again, when Warped for Good is put on pause for the month of July.

Thank you for sharing in this journey with me!

What’s on my looms: I am near the end of the blue double weave blanket on the Standard, and I am planning a new pictorial tapestry for that loom. The drawloom is dressed and in motion. And the Ideal loom is still sitting ready for rosepath rag rugs. Also, Steve and I have a Casita trip planned that will include some leisurely backstrap band weaving.

What’s on your loom right now? Share with us in the comments.

See you the first Tuesday of August! (In the meantime catch me over on Instagram @celloweaver.)

May your second times be better than your first times.

Keep on Weaving,
Karen

Two Kinds of Dressing

November 23, 2018November 22, 2018 Karen

Before everyone arrives for our Thanksgiving family gathering, I am making pie crust for the pecan pie, dough for my “famous” cranberry bread, and doing the prep to make Gram’s turkey dressing. Each family is bringing their contributions to the meal (feast). Thanksgiving Day is a flurry of activity with too many cooks in the kitchen—just how we like it! And sitting at the table with the feast before us, we give thanks. Thanks to each other, and to our Creator. We are blessed!

Making perfect pecan pie for Thanksgiving. — Thanksgiving feast prep. It takes two pastry chefs to make the perfect pecan pie.

And before everyone arrives I also manage to sley the reed on the Standard. A different kind of dressing—loom dressing.

Sleying the reed. — Two ends per dent in a 45/10 metric reed.

Next step - tying on! — After the reed is sleyed, I remove the loom bench, lower the shafts, and move the countermarch to the front of the loom. Then, I place the reed in the beater and make sure it is centered. Next step–tying on!

Fresh warp on the back beam. Magical! — Getting dressed. Oh the beauty of a fresh warp going over the back beam! Magical.

A feast for the eyes and hands and heart. Thankful indeed!

May you give thanks,
Karen

Tools Day: Click Test

August 14, 2018August 13, 2018 Karen

It is not easy to see sleying errors in this fine-dent reed. I unknowingly quadrupled the ends in four of the dents, instead of the specified two ends per dent. When I check as I go, I find the errors while they are still easy to fix.

How to check and double-check for sleying errors:

Tie ends into threading groups, using a loose slip knot. (I do this before threading the heddles.)
Sley one threading group. (I sley right to left.)
Visually check the sleyed group of ends for skipped dents and crowded dents.
Do a Click Test. Use the hook end of the reed hook to count the dents by running the hook along the reed…click, click, click… Make sure the number of clicks matches the number of dents needed for that group of ends.
—This is how I caught my errors. When the dents came up short in the Click Test, I knew I had some crowded dents that I had failed to catch in the visual check.
Move ends and re-sley as needed.
Sley each remaining group of ends, checking as you go, visually and with the reed-hook Click Test.

Reed is sleyed. Dressing the loom for double-weave towels. — Two ends per dent in this 70/10 metric (equivalent to an 18-dent imperial) reed.

May your errors be few and fixable.

Happy sleying,
Karen

Thousands of Threads

April 6, 2018April 5, 2018 Karen

Finally! Every warp end is in a heddle, where it needs to be for double-weave cloth to happen. I don’t mind the time it takes. The process of dressing the loom is fascinating. And I hope I will always see it that way. I’m thankful that I get to weave.

Threading complete! 2,064 ends for a double weave throw. — Threading complete! 2,064 ends in that many heddles, at about 3 ends per minute. But who’s counting?

And now, onward to sleying the reed!

Sleying the reed. 4 ends per dent. — Reed is sleyed at 4 ends per dent in a 50/10 metric reed (equivalent to a 12-dent reed, imperial), at about 12 ends per minute, which feels pretty fast at the moment.

Thanks. It’s something we give. Heartfelt thanks is a ready gift that costs us nothing to give. Gratitude leads us to see blessings in the ordinary, and opportunities in the routines of life. When we abound in giving thanks, letting it spring up from a satisfied soul, we bring life to our family and our community. An abundance of thanks to God lifts our eyes to a view from above. It’s there that we see all those threads, thousands of them, working together to become a glorious cloth for our good. That’s reason to give thanks.

Thankful for friends like you,
Karen

Transferring Warp Ends Takes Courage

March 6, 2018March 5, 2018 Karen

There are four pairs of overlapping warp chains, with stripes to line up. I created a mess. A few options to consider: 1. Give up. 2. Weave it as is, destroying the design. 3. Use two sets of lease sticks, and expect problems with threading (2,064 ends). 4. Transfer all ends to a single set of lease sticks, arranging threads in order for each stripe.

Eight warp chains...to correct a huge winding error. — Each of four warp chains were duplicated when I realized I had wound only half the correct number of ends in each chain.

Option 4 seems the riskiest. If I lose the cross while transferring threads, I have an even bigger mess. It’s all or nothing. Go for it! Fortunately, my apprentice, Juliana, arrives in the nick of time to give me a hand.

Transferring color stripes to one set of lease sticks. — Lease cross is tied separately for each color “partial” stripe.

Transferring two warp chains to a single set of lease sticks. — Stripes from the two warp chains are transferred to a single set of lease sticks. Now the stripe colors are at their full correct width.

Preparing to transfer warp ends. — For the four center warp chains, each section of color is separated and tied at the cross. It takes an extra set of hands to transfer them in order to the primary set of lease sticks.

Delicate transfer of warp ends accomplished! — All warp ends are now successfully transferred to a single set of lease sticks. Let the loom dressing begin!

It worked! All the threads are successfully transferred to one pair of lease sticks. What a relief! I can beam the warp knowing that all is well. A beautiful double weave throw is imminent.

Pre-sleying the reed at the loom. — Warp is pre-sleyed at the loom. So far, so good.

Double weave warp ready to beam! — Ready to beam! Looking forward to this dressing and weaving experience.

We all have made a mess of our lives, and we know it. We hear of options to fix things, but one seems the riskiest: Transfer everything to God. But what if I mess that up, too? There’s good news. God transfers us. When we place our trust in Jesus Christ, God transfers us from our messy state to his good order. And the result is a weaving that showcases his workmanship—a beautiful you.

May you take a worthy risk.

With you,
Karen