Stella's (Worldwide) Adentures - Part II of II

This post may be a little cryptic as I decipher scribbles or try to remember what I didn't scribble. If you're a weaver or are familiar with weaving jargon, I hope you get the gist; otherwise, you can laugh and think, "Oh, what a load miscalculations!" 

2026/1/21
I started working on these premises and made the warp and wound it on the back beam:
Warp: 30/2 100% merino, 60ends, (14ends per repeat*4 reps+4fl,) * 2.2m; folded in half to weave two strips side by side.

Threading: same on both, 5678765-1234321.
Sett: 48EPI on the right set, 42EPI on the left. 
Weft: sample 30/2 single, doubled, and tripled. 

2026/1/22
I threaded, sleyed and started sampling. Very quickly I discovered one 30/2 threaded in each heddle was too fragile as ends were breaking left and right and I could not sample properly. Times I used 30/2 in the warp, I doubled and used two ends as one. Neither am I dexterous enough to weave two strips side by side.

I made a second warp, with 74 ends, (14*2ends per repeat*2.5reps+4fl), 2.2m; threaded in the same way but only 2.5 repeats wide, and sleyed at 48EPI, 4pairs/8ends per dent in a 6-dent reed; I'm weaving only one strip. 

2026/1/23

Sampled. 

Far right: It was obvious even 30/2 tripled, (in 3 similar, not identical, colors,) made the design fussy and the motif squashed. But I noticed leftover merino used to spread the warp ends at the start looked good. (I also noticed a threading mistake so fixed that.) 

Second right: I had three similar 100% knitting merino leftovers and auditioned them. I liked the orange best as I felt it matched the (faded) Bayeux mood best, but it was too airy and squashed the motif, and the value was too close to the warp the motif did not show up well. The dark purple showed the motif best and was the thickest weft but there were no similar colors used in others' contributions as yet. Teal, on the other hand, showed off the motif well enough, but also several blues already used made it fit in the group best. 

The question was, whether to try sampling 30/2 quadrupled with one color and sample, (to show off fussy weaving for my aesthetic satisfaction, taking extra hours to weave,) or to go bold and sensible with the leftover merino. We actually took a quick trip into town to photograph Stella with a couple of iconic Nelson locations while I decided I'm going with the sensible direction. 

Second left: I reduced the width to two threading reps wide; 2.5 reps had a nice with symmetry and the stripe was wide enough not impossibly difficult to weave; 1.5 reps would have suited the project better but would have been close to impossibly slow to weave. I also thought the directional movement in the draft when positioned sideways would allow the asymmetry. I wove 40cm, expecting it to shrink to perhaps 38cm-ish. (I made no measurement nor checked shrinkage.) Tar left experiment with pale yellow 100% linen just for fun. 

With the weaving finished, and the teal strip inspected, I foolishly took the rest of warp off, put away the tools and vacuumed before wet-finishing, a bad order but I do it all the time. Of course I found a lifting mistake and the wefts were banged into position too firmly I couldn't mend it, so wet-finishing I did, briefly considered using the strip as is, then went back to the warping board. I also thought 40cm on the loom was too short. 

Rather than rescuing the discarded warp, I made another 2.2m, threaded with two threading repeats, and sleyed at 48EPI.

2026/1/24
I wove again, this time 42cm-ish, checked very carefully for mistakes, with the warp and tools untouched. There were no mistakes, but I had the presence of mind to notice the erratic beating. My beating is inconsistent at the best of time on better looms, but I was weaving on Klik, standing up, (because if I sat I can't see the shaft numbers,) and my back was hurting. If need be, I had another warp ready to weave. 

2024/1/25
I have never manipulated a piece in the wet-finishing this much, trying to disguise the different beating. Even though I had enough time to weave another, with the bad weather I was not sure if it would dry in time for me to attach it to the linen cloth, (itself a time consuming task, I expected,) package it up to communicate tracking numbers, etc, and for Ben to drop it off first thing Monday morning. For the first time, I even took out a hair dryer to coax the strip to dry faster.

The next conundrum was the position on the linen. Earlier I decided I'd love the top right, opposite Mia's text, but the just above it, the hemming of the linen is a little curvy and I wasn't sure how to deal with that. Also, with a strong teal color, the longer length, and the height, my strip overpowered Mia's text. (I did considering cutting the mistake off the first piece and using that.) We looked at bottom left, which might have been OK after 30 others contributed; bottom centre, which was interesting but in the present stage looked crammed; or bottom right, the color, height and length dominating the least there. 

As well, the weather improved, the temperature shot up, with high humidity after all the rain, I hemmed it at the coolest spot in the house, the top of the stairs, where the light wasn't great. That task took about an hour and a half, redoing some stitches so they remain as invisible as I can manage. But I was done at a reasonable hour of... can't remember... something like 8PM. 

Q. E. D. As Mom used to say: "Quite easily done." I don't know about easily; Klik is not an easy loom to weave pieces, (though great for studying new structures or sample while editing threading/sett rapidly,) I did so enjoy being a weaver and thinking and talking about it. It was a great reminder. 

2026/1/26
The box was sent off to the next contributor, Helen in Canterbury, first thing in the morning, and she received it at lunch time the following day. We already miss the noisy girls. And I have plenty of warp still left on the loom.