Oops!

Last night didn't go as planned, so no crafty news. I should be able to do some crafty stuff tonight/tomorrow though - stay tuned! :-D

Tuesday

I haven't done any weaving since Saturday, but here is the picture of Saturday's weaving that I couldn't get to load in my last post. I did make some progress on the garter stitch shawl Sunday. I watched all the "Threshold" dvds this past weekend, and they were so engrossing that they made the time (and the yarn!) fly by. I still can't believe this series was canceled! :-( I took last night off as usual - Mondays just do me in anymore!

I'll be weaving tonight though - I want to get this project done. At my current weaving rate, I'm guesstimating it's going to take me about 2 more weeks to finish this. I really hope I'm wrong, as I'd like to do a different project. I'm not tired of this one, but I am ready for something new. This is why I rarely get anything finished - I get distracted by something else too easily. 'Luckily', I don't see much of anything for rigid heddle looms so it's harder to distract me with new patterns! LOL Maybe I can satisfy the 'wanting to do something new' by re-planning DH's woven scarf - I just kind of guessed the first time, and it would give me good practice at actually planning a project instead of just winging it.

I do need to figure out how I'm going to handle the fringe on this. I don't normally make fringe, as I don't like it, but it seems appropriate for this project. I'm concerned that if I just knot the ends, the fringe will get ratty or unravel since this yarn is less than sturdy. I've read something about braiding fringe I think; I'll have to try to remember where I saw that.

A dreary Sunday morning

It's raining again today, and though I like the rain, it seems to make our lousy dial-up connection even worse. I've been having a lot of trouble uploading the pictures I took for the blog. Since I'm having so much trouble, I'm going to have to go with what I've been able to load so far.

I did get a few hours of weaving in yesterday, though progress isn't obvious because of this:
I have to stop after each pick, bring the heddle close to the 'web line' to line up the pick, then carefully pull the new pick's edge into place. If I don't, since the yarn sticks to itself so badly the edge pulls in really tight and the edge would be much more uneven than it is. This really slows the weaving process down.

I took another picture of the web (which I couldn't get to load) - it looks pretty much the same, though I seem to be getting more 'nubs' ('slubs'?). I think I'm not advancing the warp as often as I had been, so I'll have to start paying closer attention to that.

Here is the partially-woven scarf with the new warp I hope to use - it's not quite the same color, but I think it will work better than the acrylic - at least I hope it will.

I had hoped to get to the halfway-point on the rug yesterday, but I counted the pegs on the side and there was just no way I was going to be able to do that. The next time I work on it I should get at least that far, though. I need to get that done so I can put the frame away and make room for the 27" RH. Either that or put the loom upstairs in the living room. It will have to stay whereever it is until the project is finished, so I'd better be sure it's where I want it. I still need to plan the project though, so I don't need to rush just yet.

Today I'll probably just work on the garter stitch shawl. I hope to make a pretty good dent in it today, so I can finish it and get back to the Baltic Sea Stole. Maybe I'll do some spinning today too - haven't done any in quite awhile, and there's actually a cobweb on the wheel!

Saturday morning

Instead of getting on the loom right away this morning, I decided to get a little bit of that pesky housework out of the way (and I must emphasize "little bit" LOL). So I started the Roomba in the room I'm going to weave in (I'm still loving that little guy!) while I cleaned the floor around the dog's water bowl. Then I headed downstairs to do some rug tying while the Roomba worked on the living room and the washing machine did it's thing. :-D Now if I just had a robot to dust...

While I was in the craft room tying I was thinking about where to put all the weaving stuff. I already can't fit the spinning stuff in there, so I still haven't figured it out. I'm debating selling one of my 'sets' of knitting machines, as I haven't used any of them for a few years now (originally the room was set up for machine knitting, but I now have 4 sewing machine cabinets in there, plus two more that won't fit; plus some portable sewing machines, plus tubs of yarn, a couple of tubs of fabric...). One of the treadles is to eventually end up upstairs, once I finish fixing the cabinet; and I'm debating keeping the sixth - it's for portables and has a nice inset for the machines. I would like to have all my crafty stuff in one room, but it all sure takes up a lot of space. I do want to sell one of my treadle machines - or at least the cabinet. Perhaps I can work on that when I'm on vacation in a couple of weeks. Then at least I could get the spinning-fiber tubs in the room.

My DVD of "Threshold" arrived yesterday, so I have some good TV-watching to weave to. I'm looking forward to trying out the new weaving stool as well, and I should get some serious weaving done if the stool is halfway comfy.

I've been thinking about DH's woven scarf, debating whether to wait until the current project is done on the Harp, or start anew on the Mattel loom. I might just start over on the Mattel. I wonder if I can rescue the project if I take it off the loom but don't cut the warp (in case I don't like the new result)? Since I'm currently using acrylic for warp so it's probably not salvageable anyway. I want to switch to a Euroflax linen warp, and in blue, instead of white, to match the weft a bit closer.

No pics yet, but I should get some up tonight if we don't get more thunderstorms. If I don't get them up tonight, I'll get them up tomorrow.

I'm off to the loom! :-D

This is going to take a little longer than I expected...

Rats! I didn't get to weave tonight. My craft room is in such a mess that I spent more time that I had planned on it, and am wondering what I'm going to do with all this crafty stuff. It looks more and more like there is a craft purge looming (heh).

I did get a new footstool from WalMart this afternoon to sit on while weaving. It's the same height as the old, but with a firmer top, and you can store stuff in it! The only disadvantage (so far, anyway) is that the material is a kind of suede, which will be a dog-hair-attractant. I should be able to re-cover it without too much trouble though (I hope).

I also ran the Roomba again tonight while making supper. If the Roomba lasts at all, I'm a convert. :-D

I should get some weaving in tomorrow night though - keep your fingers crossed!

Wednesday night

I worked on the wrap for about an hour, but it looks pretty much the same so I didn't take another picture yet. Perhaps I'll get more done tonight - though it will probably still look the same. :-) Hmm... what can I take a picture of for the next entry....

I must admit I had more fun last night watching my new Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner work. It's surprisingly quiet, and didn't freak out the dog, much to my surprise. He did keep a pretty close eye on it though! LOL

Tonight's plan is some weaving, and putting stuff away in the craft room, and maybe even some rug tying, as I didn't get to it this past weekend. I need to get that project done and out of the way so I can set up my grandmother's loom in there - there's not enough room for both (and I need to figure out where to put the tying loom - it's HUGE). It actually shouldn't take me long to finish the tied rug if I just do it. And I should probably work on the garter stitch shawl - I only did one row Tuesday night. Guess I'd better start a to-do list!

No weaving tonight either...

I've decided to work on the garter stitch shawl tonight - I'm just too tired after the dog kept us up barking last night (who knows at what). Also I hope to get a bit further in the card weaving book after I get a few rows done on the shawl.

Good news! My LYS actually has some yarn in that is workable for warp - 6/2 mercerized cotton on cones in some very nice colors. I bought one in a shiny rosy-purpley kind of color (deep raspberry?), though it seemed a bit pricey. I like to support my LYS though, and the owner is incredibly nice. I also bought a skein of Euroflax linen yarn (light sportweight) to use as warp for DH's scarf, instead of the awful white acrylic(!) I'm currently using. The linen is at least blue, so I'll using something closer in color - the weft yarn is dark blue with colored flecks. (Hmm... comparing yardage with cost between the linen and the cotton, the cotton's a pretty good deal! LOL)

While talking to my LYSO about weaving, which she is interested in but doesn't have time for (yet), a plan started getting a bit more solid in my mind. I have wanted to make my mom something on my grandmother's rug RH, and the plan got a bit of a boost while talking to the LYSO. I need to think about a color scheme, and I also need to find a spot to set the loom up, as it is larger than the Harp - 27" - and with its stand it takes up some serious square footage. This set-up won't be portable once the loom is set up. Mmmm... more projects! LOL

Onwards we go...

Yesterday I posted about my yarn becoming abraded from the heddle, and Kymberly suggested in the comments that I try using hairspray (thanks Kymberly!). I've been trying it, and I do think it helps, though doesn't totally solve the problem (and it makes the dog sneeze! LOL). It sure is easier than rubbing the yarn with wax though. And perhaps a 'heavier' hairspray would help - my hairspray doesn't have a lot of hold.

Since the yarn sticks to itself so badly, the weaving is slower-going than I thought it would be. I have to pause on each pick to even up the edge a bit (not always successfully), and 'unweaving' a pick can be challenging.

I had set a goal yesterday of getting through the current piece of paper from winding the warp on, but had forgotten about the birthday party we were to attend so I didn't quite make it. And the paper was apparently a longer piece than I thought, as it seemed to take forever today to finish it. Some of my edges aren't looking very good, I think mainly due to the yarn's stickiness. The web is looking very much like homespun fabric, due to the white 'fuzzies' making little bumps here and there, but I still like it. :-)
This is picture is actually quite close to the correct color. I did get through that piece of paper this afternoon, and am done with weaving for today and probably tomorrow, since I usually don't do crafty stuff on Mondays. I need to do some knitting tonight, and my Minnesota Vikings are on tv, so I'm off to watch them!

Saturday morning

I wove (off and on) for about 3 hours last night - this sure seems to go faster than my knitting does (I'm a sloooow knitter)! Anyway, to see what's happening -

Here is the warp behind the heddle:

And here is the warp in front of the heddle (after the heddle has passed over it a few times):

Seriously bad. But it seems to be making a nice web so far:











I do get an occasional bit of fuzz on top of the web, but it pulls right off.

I've tried lightly rubbing the warp with the oily wax cakes I make for my knitting machine yarns to protect the yarn, but I don't think they are soft enough to work very well with the warp already on the loom. I might warm them up a bit to make them a bit softer. If I had known ahead of time that this yarn wouldn't hold up I would have run the yarn through the cake's hole, and I would have a much more uniform coating (how you're supposed to apply the wax).

I'm also winding onto the cloth beam more often than I normally would, to limit the abrasion as much as possible. Not sure it is helping, and I'm not sure how well this is going to turn out, but it is going relatively quickly. I do seem to be getting some obvious draw-in, and I'm kind of wishing I had made the project wider. A good learning experience, regardless.

I keep forgetting to mention - on this warp, I inserted paper while winding the cloth beam as well, as this yarn really sticks to itself and I was concerned about accidently weaving some of the warp ends into the web.

I'll probably do a bit of craft rotation today, as I want to do some rug tying and I should do some knitting, but I'll probably be weaving this morning. It doesn't make sense, but I feel like the faster I weave this, the less the yarn will be abraded. Isn't that dumb? LOL I taped some old Bela Lugosi movies off TCM last night, so that ought to keep me happily weaving for hours! :-)

No weaving here...

Last night I decided I'd better work on the knitted shawl, as the deadline is starting to loom (heh!). And after I got too bored with that, I took a look at a new book - "Card Weaving", by Candace Crockett.
http://www.interweave.com/weave/books/card_weaving.asp

I find card weaving interesting because I haven't figured out how it works yet, and I love figuring out how things work; plus I am amazed by the patterns that can be achieved using cards. I'm not sure I'll ever do much card weaving, but I will be giving it a try in the future. I didn't get very far into the book so I can't give a review yet.

I also bought "Tapestry Weaving", as I've always loved to draw but am truly awful at it. I think tapestry weaving might let me 'draw' with yarn, and still have it look halfway decent. :-)

I'll be back on the loom tonight!

Wednesday night

I've started! Wow is this stuff hard to see - I'm going to have to find a different place to weave, as the blue on the yarn and the blue of the rug are the same. I'm also seeing some white fuzz starting to form behind the heddle, which means I'll have to advance the warp more often to keep from getting 'lines'.

Since I can't really see it, I like it so far! LOL

Due to a surprise visit from SIL and her son, no crafting was done last night (though a good time was had by all).

I will get back to weaving tonight though!

Monday night

I decided to take Monday night off of pretty much everything, except for running the dog. :-) So nothing new here - but I'll be back to it tonight. Maybe I'll even have more pictures - I noticed I have been a bit remiss in posting pictures, so I'll try to post more.

We have warp!

I was beginning to think I'd never get it done! I'm going to wait until tomorrow to start weaving, as I've been neglecting the garter stitch shawl again, and I really need to get that done. I need to re-check the weaving instructions to see how long of a fringe I'm supposed to have as well, and I'd rather start weaving with a fresher brain.

The last 'hank' of warp was still a bit shorter than the other two hanks after winding the warp on a second time, but it was only about 2 inches shorter this time, instead of the 6 or so inches short I ended up with on the first winding. The paper had really bunched up under that side the first time, and I'm glad I took the time to fix it. To remedy the bunching, I cut the paper into 3 pieces, about 2.5 feet long, so I had to keep adding it in while winding, so that the pieces weren't so long that they caused a problem when they didn't roll straight.

Here is a picture of the yarn:





As you can see, it is a loosely-twisted two-strand yarn, and really annoying to work with. :-) It's quite pretty though - the real color is like faded denim. And at least when knitted up, it has a nice hand.

And here is a picture from the first warp attempt, so you can see the warping in process. Doesn't it look like things are going well here? LOL

Well...

I don't want to do that again! I had an awful time yesterday trying to dress the loom. I don't think the warping board method will be my first choice in doing a warp - I had the worst time with the yarn popping off the board over and over again. Not sure if it was the yarn, the smoothness of the pegs, or how tight I was winding (I think I was winding much tighter than before). This time I had the board leaned against the wall, as per the video, instead of on the stand, and I don't think it worked as well.

One of the previously-warped 'hanks' was extremely tangled after I took it off the loom - next time I'll just toss the messed-up warp and start over, if I have enough yarn. I was using the warp-it-yourself-method pictured here:

http://www.wovenspun.com/blending_tutorial/warping_loom.htm

and it worked well, except for the problem with the incredibly-tangled section. I ended up with a rat's nest at the bottom, and had to cut the loops so I could get it untangled enough to finish winding on. One of the problems with this yarn is it sticks to itself, and in spots, it seems to 'fuse' to itself - almost as if it were wool and was felting. Needless to say this has not been a fun experience, and I'll probably only use this yarn on the knitting machine in the future, instead of on the loom.

I also discovered that I just cannot roll anything straight. I had a nice wide, long, sheet of kraft paper to use for the warp seperator, and of course it didn't wind straight. I didn't think it would be too big of a problem, but one side of the warp is much much shorter than the other, so I'll be re-winding today. SIGH.

Keep your fingers crossed that today will go better, and I'll finally finish dressing the loom. If I am successful, I should have pictures up.

Saturday morning

I've come to a decision on the project. Instead of doing a half-density warp with a 12-dent heddle, I'm going to do a full-density warp with the 10-dent heddle. My weaving friend, after seeing the yarn I'm using, brought up the very good point that mohair will fill in the extra space left by the half-density warp, whereas the yarn I'm using is barely fuzzy and rather fine, so I would end up with a rather 'airy' wrap. Which, the way the temps have been, actually might not be all that bad!

So now I need to redo my calculations again, which should take about 10 minutes; take the warp back off the loom carefully (and put it somewhere the dog won't tangle it up); and make more warp ends. Luckily I kept the warp guide string, so I'll have same-length warp-ends. I still need to mark the 10-dent heddle, so that will take a little bit of time as well. I should have the loom warped and ready to go around mid-afternoon though (fingers crossed). If things go really well I'll have pictures tonight. Stay tuned!

SIGH...

I AM AN IDIOT.

I lack the ability to visualize things/projects I have little experience with, and it gets me in trouble all the time. It's a real disadvantage when you are learning crafts on your own.

I started dressing the loom tonight, and as I was going along, halfway through the first 'hank', I noticed that it wasn't going to go very far if it was supposed to be 20 inches wide. So I figured I must have really screwed up the calculations and decided to finish threading the warp I had already made, and then make more tomorrow.

Then I looked at the book. I was supposed to warp half-density - every other slot - not full density. DOH!! So now I need to figure out how to get the warp back off without messing it up too much. That's going to wait til tomorrow though - I'm too tired at this point to dare try.

I'm also supposed to have lunch with my weaving friend tomorrow, if she feels better, so I can pick her brain as well. I don't know how much difference it will make that I'm using cotton instead of mohair for the half-density thing. I will probably have to experiment to find out.

The good news is my car is back from the shop, and if the ace mechanic is right (fingers are crossed) I only needed an $80 thermostat instead of $1000 head. WHEW!

A Night Off...

I decided to take last night off, so no progress was made. I plan to 'dress the loom' (put the warp on) tonight; hopefully it won't take too long so that I'll be able to post an update with pictures tonight.

No progress yet...

But I wanted to get a picture up of the warping board half-warped. According to both sources (Betty Davenport & the Kromski video) I should only do half the ends at a time, and that sounds prudent to me. So I need to add some ties to the warp before taking it off, and as tired as I am tonight I might not get any more done. But I should have more done, and more pics, tomorrow night.

Monday night

I did the recalculations (which was pretty easy, since the answers are in Ms. Davenport's book), and decided to try the warping board method of warping. I've been hesitant to use a warping board, as I don't 'get' the cross-thing, so I'm taking it slow. I've got half of the ends on the board, and should have the rest wound tonight (hopefully with a picture).

I realized while setting up the Harp's warping board I hadn't finished 'cleaning up' the previous project (besides needing to cut apart and tie the last two placemats), so that took a bit of time as well.

On a non-crafty note - if you are a resident of Connecticut, PLEASE take the time to vote today (preferably against the old guard)! This is an incredibly important primary, and your opinions need to be heard. Thanks!

Back at the ranch...

Whew! I'm back from my trip, where everyone oo'd and ah'd over the placemat I took along to show off. :-) I was considering trimming the fringe shorter, but I think I like it this long, so I'll trim them all to about this length for now. I still have two placemats to cut apart and knot, but I might start warping the new project tomorrow night anyway. ;-)

In discussing the new project with my weaving friend, she suggested I use the 12-dent heddle the pattern calls for instead of the 10-dent I had planned on using, as the cotton/acrylic won't full like the wool would. That is something I hadn't considered, as I've rarely used 100% wool in my knitting. So when I warp up the Harp I'll start with the 12-dent heddle. This means I need to redo my calculations as well, as I did them for a 10-dent. Hmm... might be Tuesday night before I get to warping....

We have another thunderstorm coming in, so I'll sign off for tonight. Hopefully I'll have something to write about tomorrow night!

Nothing to report...

other than I tied the fringe on two more placemat ends. Unbelieveable how long that takes me! Somehow I actually grabbed on to a woven-in end as I was tightening an end knot, so I've messed that up a bit, but hopefully it won't be very noticeable.

It looks like I'll be tying all week - and then I'm out of town for the weekend, so there might not be much new content here til next week. I do need to get a picture up of a finished mat though - I'll try to do that tonight or tomorrow.

Monday

No weaving, spinning, or knitting was accomplished last night, because I spent all evening looking for that confounded ball of mohair, which was not to be found. I may have given it to my sister. Since I'm not a mohair fan anyway, not finding it does not break my heart. ;-)

In my search, I found two left-over partial cones of Forsell Velvateen, a cotton/acrylic blend. I knit a Big Snuggly for FIL out of it a few years ago on the knitting machine, and it had a very nice hand. It is not stretchy at all, so it should make a good warp yarn. I had been wondering what I was going to do this, and I'm using up stash, so it's good all around. :-D I was surprised to see how little 100% wool I have in my stash - I might have to do some stash-clearing soon.

I checked wraps per inch on the Velveteen, and although it looks like I will need to use the 10-dent heddle instead of the 12-dent used in the book, I believe I can substitute this yarn (this is really a very very basic 'pattern' - I was more concerned about the yarn being sturdy enough to be used for warp). This is another plain weave pattern, so it should go pretty easily (and possibly quickly as well). On this piece I'm going to work towards getting the right number of picks per inch and even edges.

I'm going to have my weaving girlfriend check my numbers before attempting to dress the loom, which probably won't be until next week. I need to finish the fringe on the placemats and work on my other projects a bit this week first. As soon as I finish tying & trimming the placemats I'll have a post a picture of the finished mats.

Hmm... now that I think of it, I've got some knitting machine yarn in another box that might work on the loom too....