Practicing Twiddling my Thumbs

I saw this pic, then last night's pic, and well, they look pretty much the same, but here it is, I'm waiting for it to dry.

I fixed some of the floats, but not all, washed it in the washing machine in hot water/delicate cycle, and kept interrupting to check. I don't know if it was the temperature or the length of the not-quite-full cycle, but the mercerized cotton looked a little too-handled when I pressed.

More about the hand, sheen and structures later, but we won't mention the selvedge, because it's pretty bad, much worse than it appeared last night.

Off the Loom

Well, it's off the loom, and currently resting under the couch.

Because selecting the weft colors was such a big part while I wove, I was surprised to see such bold vertical stripes when I put it on the floor.

There are a lot of bits I like, sometimes the pattern, sometimes the color combination. There are a few weaving mistakes, which I decided to leave in this piece, partly to admonish my being so terribly nervous/intimidated by the faceless Guild selectors and their "technical criteria", but more my subsequent inability to enjoy anything to do with the Guild organization.

I do one have specific problem. One of the drafts I modified after the halfway point either had big float problems, or perhaps the tension was loose in some areas of the cloth that the shuttle went under the warps, and I have big floats across the width in two rows, separated by one OK row. If only one row was problematic, I would have simply pulled it out, but with two rows, I would need to do some mending.

Boo hoo.

I'm relieved I'm finished. But as usual, I'm wearing that same old stony expression and feel exasperated. I can't wait to move on to the next piece. Or at least to wash and press this and see how it'll turn out.

What, The Penultimate Weaving Day??

I wove for about an hour, after modifying every lift plan in the first and second combination every so slightly.  In some instances it worked, and made the appearance of the block slightly different though you can't tell here because they are not seen along the original lift plans; in some instances, they look like Big Mistakes. But I'm going ahead; I don't pray a lot, but when I do, I get distracted and loose my train of thoughts, and I often wonder how many favors/forgivenesses one can ask in the duration of one prayer, and how long I can keep his attention to myself before handing him over to the next prayer. And by him, I mean, THAT Him, because I did go to a Catholic Convent School for 10 years.

For example, the draft that looks Very Bad above was altered like this.

Lately, though, I thank the universe, sometimes out loud, instead of praying.

I had planned to weave for just one more day and I've woven 125.5 cm so far, but because I probably don't need to do anything more to the fringes, I could weave Friday afternoon, I suppose. I'd like to get back to it this afternoon/evening, but not sure if I can because we're having supper at a pub with friends we get to see only once or twice a year and then tale a stroll along the isles of the supermarket.

Slow Morning

I'm taking things slowly again this morning, doing some physiotherapy exercises, looking at pictures of woven scarves and textile exhibitions on the Internet. At the end of last night I'd woven 98 cm, but I need to weave over 200 cm, hopefully around 216cm, so I get a respectable 2-meters-plus of cloth after the piece is finished. And that's by the end of the day tomorrow.

On the good news side, I received two more yards, and a beautiful card.

Thank you, Peg Cherre and Holly Haynes. I've started to think about weaving something I can carry around with these friendly one-yards, not a scarf, but some kind of a talisman/lucky charm; I'm moving away from the idea of a standalone object d'art/craft.

Combed

I did some physiotherapy exercises first thing this morning, and the old left wrist/elbow/arm is definitely complaining, so I cleaned the kitchen pantry, cooked dinner, wove for 15 minutes, and tried to make the Italian Hemstitching a little tidier by crawling under the loom and pushing the bottom up a little with a comb I had for years but never used. When pushed up, however, the bottom of the lozenges loosen, so it's most definitely worth getting it right the first time and not manipulated later. But this comb is going into my weaving tool drawer.

I think I'll go read a little now. I hope to get another 15 minutes weaving in before the end of the day, but it's a worry as I only have 78 cm done.

Ooops

Tired Monday

I kept waking up last night and couldn't go back to sleep for no apparent reason. And the old arm started telling me something; no pain, no soreness, just reminding me it's there. So I took it easy this morning, looking at the three samples, noticing some things that should have been blatantly obvious.

1) If the sett is set closer, the colors appear more saturated. Well, doh!

2) If the sett is set closer, my rectangles become skinner and longer. Well, double doh, but I decided I can live with this.

3) If the sett is set closer, the hand is definitely different. This, I knew, and from my recent experience with Mom's scarf, I almost looked forward to the less fluffy, more fabric-y hand. As I said yesterday, Sample 3 is too small to give me a good understanding of the difference, but that and what's on the loom now feel thicker and... more trust-worthy, rather than fluffy and lacy and airy-fairy. 

4) If the sett is set closer, the appearance of my designs change. For now, I can only say they are different, but can't explain how, nor which I prefer.

The idea of knotted fringes did not appeal to me at all, and I considered putting in not-so tiny beads at the head of the fringes; I had something like the rosary or prayer beads in mind. But the fabric is not thick, so the sizes of beads I had in mind would have been be disproportionately bulky. And as much as I liked the intricately laced fringes, I have no appetite for them for this project.

I studied the illustrations in Virginia M West's "Finishing Touches for the Handweaver" and Suzanne Baizerman and Karen Seale's "Finishes in the Ethnic Tradition", and tried out Italian Hemstitching from the former, (page 24) and Neolithic Edge from the latter, (page 9). Neolithic was easier and quicker but the Italian Hemstitching looked somewhat reminiscent of the bead idea, so though my technique is silly-shocking-laughable, I went with it.  The shape reminded me of medallions of Virgin Mary, the only jewelry we were allowed to wear in our convent school, and fitted nicely with the prayer theme.

I didn't get to weaving until around 5.30PM, but the weaving goes quickly, and I managed 67 cm today. So far I'm pleased; not ecstatic, but pleased, with what I've got.

Sample 3, and No Rest for the Tardy

Reed Marks/Stripes
On careful inspection (by Ben) my 12-dent reed (from the US?) also had skinner blades/separators, but my 6-dent reed had thicker blades, resulting in these three choices:

A) Resley 2/20 cotton at 42EPI but keep the thicker cotton at 36 on the current 6-dent reed,
B) Resley everything at 36EPI on the 12-dent reed,
C) Resley 2/20 cotton at 40EPI and the thicker cotton at 35.

I wasn't sure if A) would improve the situation much, since the size of the blades will remain the same, and a dent in a 10-dent reed is much easier to see than in a 12-dent reed, (B), so I went with C), fiddling around where 2/20 are adjacent to the thicker cotton. Oh, that pesky pale cream that doesn't full, that was sleyed at 50EPI.

In addition, I put yesterday's Sample 2 in a hot, regular rinse cycle and then in the dryer for about 20 minutes but did not see any improvement. Which was kind of a relief as I hate the thought of putting mercerized cotton in a dryer.

Drafts/Structures
I did not make new drafts/lift plans. I altered my test patterns aiming for 44 or 88 picks each. I did not create more complicated lifting, either, because the way I see it, most days in my life are same-old-same-old but it's the slight variation that makes a big difference, like a Tui came to my banksia tree, or a loaf came out great even though it's the same old recipe in the usual setting on my bread maker. Things like Brisbane trip doesn't happen to me too often, so I wanted to stick to structures like twills and basket weave.

Here are the three lift plans with four variations each, plus two variations of the short 8-pick part.(I can show you only the lift plan because I don't have the random threading documented.) And you can see how easy it would be to modify them as I go.

First draft combination, four permutations, 44 picks

Second draft combination, four permutations, 43 picks

Third draft combination, four permutations, 85 picks

Two faces of the short rectangles, shown here with 16 picks, but woven 8 picks each

Because so much is left to random, unseemly floats, not too long but not pretty, pop up every now and then. Based on today's sample, I rethreaded six ends; this only guarantees there won't be too many blatant floats if I use the same lift plans in the same order.

I'm deciding on the draft as I weave, referencing the structures in the samples. (The tags specify the draft variation.) If I get bored, I can start the draft from the other end, or change face, to create yet more slight variations. For the short rectangles, (not necessarily all 8 picks), I can also use one of the first four varieties. And I can still alter a draft as I progress.

Weft Colors

Dark, Depends, and Light containers; I am choosing as I weave.

The Last Sample

52.5 cm wide and 26.5 cm long on the loom after weaving 291 picks; washed in hot water/regular cycle, steam-pressed, and almost dry, it's now 50.5 cm wide and 25 cm long. And I have reached that "something of maximum return" place.

The sample is too small to know accurately how the hand differs from Sample 1, but it feels heftier, which I don't dislike. Reed marks negligible if you didn't hear/watch me go on and on about it, though they are still there.

I'm not sure if I still like "Prayer" as the name of the piece; it's more like Shakers shaking, Quakers quaking and African Americans singing and dancing to their fabulous Gospels. I'm warming to the idea of changing the title to "Hallelujah" but we'll see how the final piece looks.

Tonight, I contemplate about fringes, and tomorrow I start weaving the real deal.

Sample 2

Apologies for the shocking photo. Ben and I tried but I ran out of patience, so I've declined Ben's offer to bring out the heavy guns to shoot this sample.

I resleyed 108 ends at left selvedge at 42EPI (right in this pic) to see if it would solve the stripe problem, which it did marginally, but not in the straight twill part. It's so annoying, I have a whole bunch of barber shop poles in this cloth. I also investigated my reeds, and saw that Mom's Japanese reeds have skinner blades (?) than some of my non-Japanese reeds, but I couldn't tell if the 6-dent reed currently in use was fatter or about the same, nor do I have a Japanese 6-dent reed. I could resley the 2/20s at 40EPI and the thicker cottons at perhaps 30EPI, though I prefer not to. Undecided.     

Though instincts told me 88 picks would be about the right length for the longer rectangles, when I counted the first fulled sample it was more around 100, so I made drafts that changed after 100 picks. (Do you see one shot of pink in the dark purple rectangle? That's the 88th shot.) Both seems too long to me. What I noticed was that within the longer rectangles in yesterday's sample, I change the weave structure. So I could either have long rectangles with two different weave structures, or I can change colors at around 4cm; I'm leaning towards the first solution.

In addition, the alternate long and short rectangles appear so boring compared to yesterday's sample, so I might introduce another size. Or not.

I tried to create bright ribbons in horizontal damask, but I used a 5-end damask (!!) so I got some sheds where all the warps in a particular color stripe were up or down. Back to the drawing board, but if I can have fake-damask areas in 4-shafts, (I know I'm supposed to use strange numbers or some such; I read up on it years ago when I only had a 4-shaft and an RH,) it would create a nice contrast to the almost-all-twill cloth. I am happy with the horizontal ribbon being 8 picks each.

As regards weft colors, looking at the two samples, I decided pretty much all of my pink/red/purple yarns can be used in the larger rectangles as they tend to recede; all yellows and oranges, no matter how they look on the bobbin, must go into the short rectangles. Greens proved a little tricky and will depend on the colors preceding and following. There is one cream color which greatly displeases me for not fulling. At all. Though I cannot be bothered taking it out of the warp, it is not going in as a weft. 

I also made simple knotted fringes, and knotted the end as well to see if I could cut off the second knot to get nice, untangled fringes. It worked, even without the first knot.

With the combination of 21 inches at 36EPI and 108 ends at 42EPI, the cloth on the loom was 57.5 cm wide and 55cm long.  I put it through one cycle of regular hot/warm wash, but not in a net bag because though I have a bag large enough for this sample but not for the real piece. It is now just short of 56 cm wide and 47.5 cm long, (though they may shrink a bit more as they are still damp,) and the length required 440 picks.

I can't remember the exact term, but when I was a student I remember being offended by a term/phrase I believed to be originally scientific used in economic context; it was something like something of maximum return, and meant that after a point, no amount of additional investment would bring in more profit, so the implication was, no use investing in the products, process, staff or customers. I thought it was outright unethical not to always strive to make improvements, (and still feel that way to some extent.) However, as regards fine-tuning the drafts and the color orders, I think I have reached that point. Technically, I can go back and record the threading and plan each square, but I haven't got the time nor the will. I'll try to make interesting drafts, but I don't want to over-complicate my task, and I will still need four days to weave the woven part.  This is, after all, a combination of very simply structures woven at random as much as my setup and psyche allows.

With that in mind, I have only tomorrow to:

1) Decide on the sett and resley if necessary.

2) Create drafts containing designs around 60 picks, 20 picks and 8 picks, probably, keeping in mind that I can weave from the top or the bottom of the draft, so each draft, with directionality, (is that a real word?) could act as two. Sample and measure to see if I like the size.

3) Decide roughly what kind of a fringe I will made, to decide how much warp I need at each end.

4) Consider the weft color order; at this point I'm leaning towards putting bobbins in either the Long/Receding/Quiet or the Short/Loud container, and picking colors as I go.  The greens will have to go to a third box, but I like them, and hope to use them. The middle-sized rectangles, if I decide to use them, will depend on the context so I will choose as I go.

Also, I'm thinking of taking the samples to the dry cleaners and ask them to press one to see how that looks like, and possible ask them to press entry piece.

I'm by no means disavowing the other approach, of precisely (or, whatever adverb you prefer,) planning colors, threading and lifting so I know exactly what each rectangle would look like, as well as the whole piece, to create tighter and more precise kind of cloth. I happen to be the kind of person who does get a kick out of this kind of exercise. Sometimes.

I'm enamored by my sample pieces, though. Usually after a project is finished all samples go to my special samples basket drawers, but these two, I might just cup and make something for myself, overlong floats and all.

Hopin' and Prayin'

The reason why I haven't posted about Brisbane is, I finished threading the Prayer Shawl warp last night and have been sampling with gusto. (I also didn't skip drawing this morning.)

The weaving is going unexpectedly quickly, as evident in the size of the first sample. Overall, I'm pleased, but there are much minor problems that need investigating in the next two days, which add up to a non-negligible headache.

1) Strips: I weave 2/20 cottons in 36EPI, six per dent in a 6-dent reed.  With the swirly "Rococo" scarves, I never remember having had stripe problems, but in this sample it just didn't go away. I ended up putting it through two cycles of gentle wash in warm water, but especially in the simply- threaded and structured areas, it's bad news. I have one stripe towards the center where I threaded in undulating twill, and that dark purple disguised the stripes the fastest and best.

2) Though I used only two kinds of cottons in the warp, the skinner 2/20 from the same source are actually manufactured in Italy, Korea and Taiwan, I think, depending on the color.  They behave in different manners, but in this case, I'm having problems with the difference in fulling.

The thicker cotton, which Mom ordered for me in six reds in Japan a while back, is also threaded at 36EPI, so those strips are slightly denser and thicker, but I decided they give a nice lifted ribbon-y effect so I'm not changing the sett there. And other than plain weave, they don't present any beating problems.

3) I've been thinking I'll need to investigate some fancy fringing for this project, but I don't want the fringe to be too fancy they steal the eyes away from the cloth. And then I remembered I like the hemmed finish for my cottons; it's like getting bird's nest out of my hair. 

In addition to ironing out these issues, I must:

4) Decide on the order/combination of weft colors and the length of blocks. At first I planned to change colors every 4 to 8 picks for the most part, interrupted by longer areas, (ergo very slow weaving,) but looking at the sample, I now prefer either color changes at regular intervals, OR long rectangles (about 88 picks) interrupted by 4- or 8-pick "ribbons". Truth to tell, I was shocked and dismayed at how bright the warp was when I finished threading, and how parts of the sample looked like psychedelic Tartans. So at this moment, I think longer rectangles of darker colors and short splashes of saturated ribbons may be the way to go. 

5) Devise a set of structures consisting of desired number of picks, showing off some of the more noticeable color stripes, like the dark purple in the middle.

6) Experiment with ironing. I'm no Ironing Queen and I really wished Nancy still lived in Nelson.

Sorry, this is not a well-written post, (not that that's unusual); I wonder if I'm coming down with something, or if my body is hurting because I wove, ahem, around two hours in one go... But it's not the arm.

EDIT: This is by far the widest warp I made with my 2/20 cottons and I was worried about the feel/hand, as my narrow scarves feel a bit too harsh, but so far it's not been a problem for a shawl. 

* * * * *

Thank you, Dianne, for not being able to decide which one to send me. They are all lovely.