Even More Weaving
Well, having raced through the gray on gray rather boring twill for Wolf's tunic (I hope we now have enough fabric) I decided to use the excuse that the guys are having a MURP (role playing) weekend to have a weaving weekend. Or rather, it is more like a warping weekend, but hopefully that will mean having a floor loom project going in the background, but one I can work on rather than just sits there, like the last one.
So, this afternoon I started off by removing the gray fabric and darning in the ends that might ravel in the washing machine. Then I looked at my brown yarn and realized I might not have enough for the *gulp* eight yards of fabric I was hoping to make. I need that much because my loom is narrow, though it turns out my new reeds will weave wider than then the old ones. So, I decided to use one of the newer reeds at a somewhat higher thread count than I've been using. Which meant I needed more yarn. So I found some nice dark/sage green that's the same tone as the brown warp and spent the afternoon counting warp threads.
I can now say that it is possible to count out an eight yard warp, for 26 inches of fabric at 15 threads to the inch, in one afternoon. However, in future I may turn it into a two day job. But, since I really, really want to try and at least get the warp on this weekend (or by Monday afternoon at the latest) I plowed on ahead with some podcast radio shows for company. It might have been quicker if I had not had two false starts and had to re-wind and start over, but it was better to find the mistake before putting it on the loom than afterwards.
Eight yards will be the longest warp I've ever tried so I'm crossing my fingers that things go OK. On the other hand, since what I really want to weave is fabric, as opposed to say wall hangings, I figured I'd better start getting used to it. With a maximum width of 24 to 26 inches for the unwashed fabric, that's a good few panels to make a dress or tunic. There is a way to make wider fabric but you have to double the cloth and its tricky. One mistake and you have double fabric instead of double wide fabric. Given my mistake track record so far, I'm giving that a pass for now, though I may try it again later. Also, you can't do "twill" double fabric on a "four shaft" loom and much of the Viking wool fabric is twill weave. Twill is a process of going over more than one thread at a time, modern blue jeans are twills. The Vikings like them as they made stronger fabric than just plain back and forth weaving. The did make and use some plain cloth, but twill was more common.
Anyway, the warp is now counted out and I'm ready to attack the really hard part - slaying the reed tomorrow unless something comes up.
I did get some pictures today of the gray fabric on the loom before I took it off and the warp chains for the new fabric on the warping board. I will try to post those later when I have time to process them.
Now its off to do a bit of knitting before bed, having already finished the Romance Novel during dinner...
So, this afternoon I started off by removing the gray fabric and darning in the ends that might ravel in the washing machine. Then I looked at my brown yarn and realized I might not have enough for the *gulp* eight yards of fabric I was hoping to make. I need that much because my loom is narrow, though it turns out my new reeds will weave wider than then the old ones. So, I decided to use one of the newer reeds at a somewhat higher thread count than I've been using. Which meant I needed more yarn. So I found some nice dark/sage green that's the same tone as the brown warp and spent the afternoon counting warp threads.
I can now say that it is possible to count out an eight yard warp, for 26 inches of fabric at 15 threads to the inch, in one afternoon. However, in future I may turn it into a two day job. But, since I really, really want to try and at least get the warp on this weekend (or by Monday afternoon at the latest) I plowed on ahead with some podcast radio shows for company. It might have been quicker if I had not had two false starts and had to re-wind and start over, but it was better to find the mistake before putting it on the loom than afterwards.
Eight yards will be the longest warp I've ever tried so I'm crossing my fingers that things go OK. On the other hand, since what I really want to weave is fabric, as opposed to say wall hangings, I figured I'd better start getting used to it. With a maximum width of 24 to 26 inches for the unwashed fabric, that's a good few panels to make a dress or tunic. There is a way to make wider fabric but you have to double the cloth and its tricky. One mistake and you have double fabric instead of double wide fabric. Given my mistake track record so far, I'm giving that a pass for now, though I may try it again later. Also, you can't do "twill" double fabric on a "four shaft" loom and much of the Viking wool fabric is twill weave. Twill is a process of going over more than one thread at a time, modern blue jeans are twills. The Vikings like them as they made stronger fabric than just plain back and forth weaving. The did make and use some plain cloth, but twill was more common.
Anyway, the warp is now counted out and I'm ready to attack the really hard part - slaying the reed tomorrow unless something comes up.
I did get some pictures today of the gray fabric on the loom before I took it off and the warp chains for the new fabric on the warping board. I will try to post those later when I have time to process them.
Now its off to do a bit of knitting before bed, having already finished the Romance Novel during dinner...