Warped and ready!

I spent yesterday trying out a slightly different warping 'method' - this is best done while you still have the other end on the warping pegs though, it would be a whole lot easier!

Anyway, I cut the warp off the back beam and actually tied it like you do with the front beam. My NSI loom was supposed to be warped that way, as I recall; and I had done my best warping that way. Since I had already taken the warp off of the warp pegs, I used my second raddle to help keep the warp spread out:

(The raddles are extra-long so they will work on the wider Harp as well.)

It took quite awhile, but I took my time at it too. Then I wound the warp on using venetian blind slats, and when I ran out of them I used heavy paper for the last few turns. I probably used way too many slats. :-) But doesn't that look nice & even?


So then I did the header and started the hem. I have an obvious bow in the hem (pictures really show flaws!) so I'll be fixing that before I continue.



I finished the Weave-It square for eLoomanator's weave-along as well - it looks more windowpane-y in real life.


I've got the Weave-It wound for a linen square as well - that ought to be much more obvious. I was going to weave the linen square yesterday, but after putting everything in my box to take to the other room, I set it down and promptly spaced off the project. :-/ Oh well, tomorrow's the weaving guild meeting and I have 4 HOURS between the time I get off work and the time the meeting starts (and can't go home, as it's an hour drive each way), so I'll be taking the Liten Spindle and the Weave-It with me to work. I'll get some uninterrupted crafting time in my office. :-D

Square Deal Weave-Along starts today!

Go over to eLoomanator's blog and get the pattern o'the week - it's one I've been wanting to try. I'm going to try it in Aunt Lydia's Denim first; and then if I have time I'll try it in Euroflax linen.


I haven't wound on the warp on the Flip yet, as I can't decide if I want to try lashing on. It would make sense to try it on this loom since the warp is so much narrower. If tomorrow goes well, I'll try to decide and get started.

I have weaving content!

I've been on a bit of a fall-cleaning binge, so I've only touched most of my crafty stuff to move it around. But I started warping the Flip Sunday (unfortunately, this is as far as I got except for making it into a warp chain).


I think I'm going to like the 'coat rack' idea, but this particular coat rack is beveled so it's hard to clamp to the table. (And it must've been made in China - some of the holes weren't big enough for the pegs!)

I use a dumbbell to hold this lightweight folding table in place (and I put on one the loom stand foot as well, just in case):


And I used one of the nifty raddles DH made for me:


I will be using a second raddle behind the heddle once I start winding on - I have an awful time with warps twisting while I wind on and I'm hoping this will help. I'm planning on winding on today - keep your fingers crossed!



In fun weaving news, eLoomanator is starting a Weave-It / Loomette / Weavette / whatever version you have Weave-along! I have several of these little gems in varying brands and 'styles' - this one still has a project on it:


I had just bought this box to put a Loomette in my car for those times when I'm stuck waiting for something or someone:


Perfect!


These little squares don't usually take long, and I will probably do some of the weave-along squares, but I doubt I'll be able to keep up as easily distracted as I am! But doesn't this look like fun?!!!

A sleying we will go...

Sunday night I sleyed the Flip - wow was it nice to work on a narrower loom! I really like the large holes in the 8-dent heddle as well - it was quite easy to get the worsted weight Sugar n' Cream through the heddle holes. (Not having seen the 10-dent heddle, I don't know if the holes are large in that one as well; but judging by the size of the heddle hook I would imagine they are.)

Last night I started sleying the Harp. I'm struggling getting the Sugar n'Cream through the much-smaller holes on the Harp heddle, so this is taking awhile. I only have a third of it sleyed, because of: the small hole-size; I'm having trouble seeing what I'm doing (I really need new glasses and I'm sleying the Harp on the stand - I think it's too high); and I found a warping mistake - I missed a slot. So I'll have to measure out a piece of carpet warp and attach a weight to it so that the weight hangs off the back of the warp beam.

I'm itching to get to weaving, but tonight I'll split my time between putting the header on the Flip and continuing sleying on the Harp. Maybe I'll even throw a couple of picks on the Mattel loom!

I've been a busy bee....

Yesterday I re-warped the Harp (isn't that a pretty chain for my first try?):

and I warped the Flip (isn't that quite the messy chain for my second try?):
using the cut-off warp from Friday's Harp-warping attempt. (I don't know why that first pic has a green-ish tinge to it.) I still have quite a few pieces of that first warping attempt left over, and I'll be able to use the Sugar & Cream part for the weft - probably on the Flip project since it's narrower - less joining that way. I really like the colors together, which ought to keep me motivated on these two projects. I need to remember when I start weaving that I want to do hems on these, instead of fringe.

I wound on this afternoon, but I haven't sleyed the heddles yet as my back needs a break (and I did some aerobic gardening this morning), but I'm planning to sley the Flip after I soak in the shower. I did chance on a tiny improvement on Kimberly's warp-a-RH-by-yourself method. Instead of using pop cans (that kept slipping off for me), I remembered these wrist weights and just pulled a handful of warp through the hole and secured it with a dowel through the loop. It's easier to slide these down too, compared to the pop cans. The grey ones are one pound, and the red ones are a half-pound.
Hopefully I'll get started weaving tomorrow or Tuesday.

Oh - I almost forgot. My plan o' the day actually worked pretty well, but I decided not to continue plying yesterday. I'll save that for later this week or next weekend, I think.

I'm also thinking of having DH make me a different warping peg. This one will be horizontal, instead of vertical, with longer clamping pieces for a better grip. I'm not sure if it will work, but I'm going to run it by him and see what he thinks.

Warning: Disaster Ahead...

We'll start with the good and sorta good first though. The Flip is here! This is how it was packed:So it took maybe two minutes to assemble, unlike the Harp that came in several pieces. All I had to do was unwrap the plastic, unfold it, and attach the dowels:


Originally I was going to do mug rugs on it for a quickie project to test it out, but now I'm thinking of trying dishcloths that will match the towels on the Harp, even though I'll end up using different-sized heddles. I'm using a 10 on the Harp, and I ordered an 8 with the Flip. More on the reasons for that idea later.

Speaking of heddles - the really good news is that I ordered a 16" Ashford heddle with the 15" Flip - and IT FITS in the heddle blocks. Since the bottom of the heddle is rounded and the Flip block slots are flat-bottomed, I may end up 'flattening' the bottom of the heddle so it sits better. It's a tad bit wobbily in the slots as well, but it fits well enough to use. :-D


On to spinning. I put the plying flyer on the Babe Thursday night and oiled in the appropriate places and thought I was pretty much ready to go. I even assembled my tensioned lazy kate:I found these instructions quite awhile ago on the Crafty Canines' blog:

DIY Tensioned Lazy Kate

and added a couple of modifications from the Keyboard Biologist's version.

Building a Homemade Lazy Kate

It works, too. :-D

Then I tried treadling the wheel. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the plying flyer hit the bottom bar. :-/ So I sanded off the shoulders carefully, which took quite awhile, watched the plying video on my Joy of Spinning cd again, and sat down to ply. Again the flyer was hitting the bar - there is a lot of 'slop' in how the flyer shaft runs, and it kept moving toward me and the thicker part of the bar. Off I went to find something to use as a spacer to keep it back against the wheel post (I tried yarn, but it got wound up under the brake and the bobbin). Luckily I found a bit of tubing that fit, and finally I'm plying:
It seems like the plys aren't very 'close' together, but if I do it much tighter then the ply becomes unbalanced. I probably shouldn't have started with alpaca. :-) Oh well, it will work regardless - perhaps after I wrap it on the niddy noddy it will even out some, as I'm sure I've got some of it too tight. I thought the plying would go a lot faster, but it looks like I've barely made a dent in the bobbins.


I took a break from plying to warp the Harp for the towels. Since I couldn't wrap my teeny brain around how I should do this on the warping board, I decided to use the warping peg instead. So here is my warping setup:Notice the full basket of dog toys, and yet the favorite toy is that piece of cardboard under the loom. Sigh.

This is a complicated warp for me, and I kept making mistakes early on but finally got the hang of it and it started going quicker:


Here is where the disaster comes in - if you have small children, you may want to avert their eyes. Here is where the process was 5 hours later:
The warping peg popped off the table when I was almost done, causing a rat's nest of yarn. It was 99% my fault, and 1% the design of the peg. I noticed that the peg's table was leaning forward, so I put a weight on the back causing the loom to lean forward. So dummy me added a weight to loom, and off came the peg. I do wish the peg had longer clamps - so many tables have rounded edges and with such short clamps you can't get much grip. I put the Flip's warping peg on the table when I was trying to sort out the warp, and it is better designed - much more robust, the peg is thicker and not quite as smooth - I think that's a good thing, and the threaded bolt is 'captured' so it isn't always falling out like the Harp's; although the clamp isn't any bigger so it's not optimum. But I'll be using it for the next warping attempt.

I tried to put the warp back on the peg and straighten it up, but the more I worked with it the more messed up it got, so I finally gave up and cut it all off. What a waste of yarn and time. I did learn a few things though.

1) Weight down both the table and the loom before starting, especially when using a portable table.

2) Use warp ties even when using the warping peg, just in case.

3) The dowels on the bottom of the Harp stand are excellent for holding the little cones of carpet warp while warping - they don't go dancing across the floor this way. I'm going to have to add that feature to the smaller stand.

Since I have all those 'short' pieces of yarn leftover from the Harp now, it gave me the idea of using them on the Flip for dishcloths. Since the dishcloths will be narrower the warping shouldn't be as much of a problem (famous last words). We'll see how I feel about it after warping the Harp again though.

I'm going to try another plan o' the day again - we'll see what happens.

This morning, warping the Harp.

This afternoon, a few hours of plying to rest my back (warping kills my back).

After plying, I'll see if I can figure out a way to attach the Flip on the smaller loom stand, and do the figures for the dishcloths (which shouldn't take long at all).

Anyone taking odds on how much if any I get done?

And if I'm very very good, perhaps I can warp the Flip tomorrow.

Saturday morning

And what a beautiful day it is looking to be, though quite chilly - brrrr!

Thursday I spun, and spun, and spun some more. Actually it was only two hour's worth, and it was generally going well, but it still doesn't look like I'm getting the fiber pile down. I guess that's good though - maybe I'll have enough for the wrap after all. The bobbin is finally starting to fill up!

I took yesterday afternoon off, and sat down to the Hearthside loom and started tying on the front beam. And I noticed something didn't look quite right. And then I realized I hadn't sleyed the heddle yet! LOL Good grief! So I spent the evening doing that. I had to take several breaks as that leaning over the loom is uncomfortable for me. Next time, I think I'll take the loom off the stand and lean it sideways against the wall to sley - that ought to work much easier.

Today I will be tying on the front beam. :-) And I need to wash some batting for this project too. Other than that, I believe this is a kind of miscellaneous day; since DH has the day off I may not get much accomplished. Maybe I'll get out one of the crochet projects that's been languishing in my (HUGE) UFO bag. :-D

And of course there is always housework, darn it! And the hound wants attention, and I need to clean off my computer desk - we're getting a satellite modem installed soon! WOOHOO!! I so can't wait to dump this lousy dial-up!

As promised...

We have pictures! First we have Grandma's loom after cleaning it up a bit:

This is a Sears Hearthside 27" Rigid Heddle Rug loom from the 1940s - the only rigid heddle I've heard of that was meant for rug weaving. It's rather coarsely made, especially compared to the Kromski Harp; but I have a Hearthside Rug Frame from the same era that is also rather coarse. Since they were meant for rugs the manufacturer probably didn't think they'd need to smooth-finish pieces too much. Mom remembers Grandma weaving rugs on it, but doesn't think she has any. I also have the original booklet that came with it (thank goodness for packrats! LOL). Those black strings on the 'warping stick' - I have no idea why they were there. They are looped onto the stick and have another loop so you can tie your warp to it, but I don't know why you would want to. And the owner's manual isn't that specific.

While I was putting the warp on ("dressing the loom"):

(Oh my aching back!)


And another with the warp ready to be tied on to the front beam.


I can't believe how big this loom feels, compared to my 24" Harp!

That's as far as I got, as I ended up winding it on myself (hence the pop cans still on the end of the warp), since DH was attending to the sick refrigerator (sigh). I need to find something easier to tie onto than pop cans - the cans keep sliding out!

As I was winding on, I discovered a loop had come off. I managed to tie it back on to the warping 'stick' - hopefully it won't cause any problems. I seem to have ok tension at least. Of course it wasn't an edge loop!

After all that, I need to do some yoga!

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.

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!

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!