Double Weave on the Rigid Heddle update

The start of the rigid heddle double weave project was slow.   Figuring out the heddle and pick up stick sequence required thought.  I have a little book which I wrote the sequence in, to make sure I had it correct.  It's the same order as any other double weave joined at one side, but it just feels a bit different not using treadles.  I started from the right, as my left selvedge is my better one.  This puts the join on the left side, so theoretically it should be neater and more invisible.

The order was bottom layer A, which was the bottom pick up stick, top layer A, front heddle up, top layer B, top pick up stick , bottom layer B, back heddle down.  The 4th  pick with the back heddle down was slow as it made a very small shed, which didn't always separate, depending on where the fell line was.   The two top threads were no problem, but the second thread on the bottom, didn't separate enough to get the shuttle through.   Pick 4 became a hand picked shed, where I slipped my fingers under the cranky layer of threads and slipped a third pick up stick through them in front of the heddle, to make a shed where I was least likely to miss threads.   This worked really well.   It made a slow process even slower.   However, once I got used to the whole process, picking up that last pick of the sequence became quite fast.

I put in a small burgundy stripe near the beginning, but am not sure I'm going to put another at the end.   It looks nice, although maybe I should have put 2 or 3 stripes in.   The yarn isn't packing quite as nicely with the two heddles as it would do otherwise.  I don't know if this is do to my technique or the yarn sett.   It's a little looser sett than if I'd used the floor loom.  I would have used a sett of 9 on the floor loom and I had a 7.5 or a 10 dent reed to choose from for the rigid heddle.   I went with the 7.5, because the yarn is definitely too thick for a sett of 10.   (Sett is warp threads per inch).   

Anyway, because of this bit of looseness to the weave, I may weave a few extra inches, which means  I'm not sure of where to put in the last end stripe to balance the shawl.   The stripe is 2 inches wide and 8 inches from the end.    I warped a width of 25 inches (doubled).  Figuring out the drawn in and some shrinkage, I wanted it to be 45 inches x 60 inches long.    But it's weaving up at 23inches wide x 2, is 46 inches before wet finishing, so it will be a little bit narrower when washed.  Warp shrinkage though has varied with this yarn, depending on which loom it was woven on.   So it might be easier to just put a single stripe on one end that fuss with the second stripe.

The double weave is working well though.   One crossed thread, which will need to be snipped and fixed as it's holding the two pieces together in that one tiny spot.   Otherwise, the layers are working well and properly separated.  The left join looks very even and so far I'm happy with it.  I'll know for sure when it's wet finished though.   There are a few skipped threads here and there.  They're mainly at the beginning when I was figuring the process out.  I've fixed some of them, bu others looked to be easier to just spend a few minutes with a repair thread and fixing them manually, after the fact.   

I've woven 58 inches so far, so another  8 - 10 inches to weave.   I guess if I'm putting that second stripe in, it should go in soon. I'm still trying to decide if that 8 - 10 inches is enough to wet finish to 60 inches finished length.   That is the stripe dilemma.

Checked Double Weave Wool Blanket

The checked double weave blanket is off the loom.  All I did after cutting it off was to do a quick zigzag stitch on both ends to keep the blanket from fraying before it was finished.   I had entertained the thought of twisting fringes, but when I cut it off, I managed to cut off the fringe allowance on the front.   I actually don't really like blankets with fringes on the ends.  They look spectacular for sure.  However functionality is suspect.  Fringes get in the way.  They tickle your face and nose.  The cause much too much excitement for the cats, who think they are built in toys.   They dangle into your tea when you least expect it and drag on the ground when you wrap yourself in the blanket.

 I thought the fringes would look nice.  I'm really glad I don't have fringes.   I cut this off the loom on Sunday.  I let it sit and relax until Monday afternoon when I started looking for and fixing skipped threads.  I finished those and hemmed it while visiting with my daughter.    I tossed it in the washer last night for a partial fulling.   Today I cut off all the thousands of ends.   I had tons of bobbin changes.  Not only did I need to switch bobbins  and shuttles for each colour change,but with doing the 60ish inches wide, a single bobbin only did about 16-20 rows.   There a lot of bobbin changes.

I almost took a photo of the ginormous pile of ends and bits I'd cut off.  But then I thought of a bunch of cooking blogs I'd visited which have photos of the ingredients, photos of the empty bowl and spoon, photos of the addition of each ingredient, each step, and then 12 photos of the finished product, from various angles and with different crispness in focus etc.   It's like you can't just jot down the recipe and a series of steps anymore.  Instead you need to tell everyone that your second cousin twice removed's stepmothers sister, loves the recipe so much she framed it for posterity, with 47 photos of the production of the recipe because we all have so much spare time these days that we can spend 10 minutes scrolling down to find the recipe is hidden behind a link button.   ARGh..

 Really, I don't care and didn't think anyone else would care about a pile of short cut bits of yarn either.   I did notice I missed 3 ends on one side which needed to be stitched in, which I did and while doing that I found 2 other skipped threads that I'd missed.  When I went back to fix them, I couldn't find them at all.   After hanging a load of laundry on the line, I came back to toss the blanket in the washer for a second fulling, but had to wait as our very old cat had poked around to move it so he could have a nap on it.  Eventually he moved and I got the blanket in for a second wash.  This was a short wash, on warm wash/cold rinse, so there was a bit more fulling action.   It's not as thick as the last blanket, but it's not flimsy and airy either.   It has a nice weight and isn't going to stretch or wear badly.    And.... my hubby decided that he "really liked it".    Now I think this means I need to make another blanket.   It won't be checks though as that is just too much work.

Specs -
  It was 63" wide by 113" long right off the loom.  This was my 36 in Fanny so I'm pretty happy about that.

After the hemming and the first fulling, it was 58 " x 103 "

Final size after second fulling -  52" x 95"

Doubleweave and signs of spring

 This warp was threaded pretty easily.  I'm not sure why, but I designed the stripe based on the finished width of the fabric in inches, and didn't take the thread count into consideration.   IN order to make it work, I had to add a few threads, so it's wider than I had planned, which isn't a bad thing for a blanket.

It's slow weaving though.   I much prefer the Finnish Toika temple.   I think it is easier to use.   The little spiky points at the end are easier to set into the fabric and it's thinner so you can see the fabric while you're weaving.  I'm having to be very careful because the spikes often miss the second layer and the width hides skipped threads until I am almost a whole block up.  Because it's double weave, it takes 4 shots of the shuttle to show 2 shots on the top layer, so it's double the unweaving to correct a mistake..   Egads!  Sometimes it seems like it has been 2 steps forward and 2 steps back.

The sap is running and buckets are up!  Yay!  That is a sure sign that spring is on the way.

More Double Weave.

 I'm making another double weave blanket.  Not only did I really enjoy making the last one, but I decided I want to learn more about double weave.   Working on making double wide fabric competently is my next step.   Another blanket is the project because a) I have the materials on hand and b) I've hardly gotten to use the blanket I just made.   It seems it is currently a favourite cuddle spot.

I'm sure that once the latest stupid cold weather passes, the cats' interest will also pass, but then I won't need it either!

Dion uses the blnaket the most.  I find him on it at least once a day, usually more often.

Mu, or Cat as we call him because for a long time he was our only cat, also loves this blanket.  He's old though, about 16 and too skinny, so it probably keeps him warm.

Dion again.   One day I found 3 cats curled up on this blanket.  It is certifiably kitty approved.

 The new blanket is planned to be 26 in wide on the loom.  It is 2 colours, with 2 in. alternating blocks in a checky pattern.   If I'm going to learn about the weave structure, I thought it was good to do a pattern requiring  a little more effort than the first one.     The yarn is wool I had on hand, purchased for another project which never made it up in the project queue.  I'm using the same threading as last time, although I didn't tie this project on as it's planned to be wider than the first blanket.

Double Weave blanket

The double weave wool  blanket is off the loom.    I wove it to about 87 inches long.  My plan was 85inches but there I did a couple of inches more just because length wasn't so much of an issue.   It came off the loom at about 82 long and 44 wide.   Because of the learning curve with the temple, there was a bit of packing in the centre line where the two sides attached.  I easily pulled out 2 threads from the centre which gave enough space for the rest of the threads to spread out.  Because it was tabby weave, I had to pull out 2 threads to make sure the weave structure was continuous.

I probably should have left enough for fringes, but I have discovered that I don't like blankets which have fringes.  They tickle my neck and face, and arms and wherever else those fringes end up.  I find it most annoying.  However, I just ran the ends through my sewing machine with a zig zag stitch,  cut the ends about 1 inch from that and put the blanket in the washer for wet finishing.   I also put in a pair of jeans and a couple of other items to balance the load.

I used warm water -  I only use warm for finishing fabrics.   I set it for the normal cycle, but only for a short agitation time.  I checked it a couple of times and ended up letting it run the whole cycle.   I pulled it out and still wasn't happy with the fulling -  I wanted it fairly dense so I could do some embroidery on the red band.   I shortened the time cycle and ran it through the washer again.   This time though, I got distracted by loading the woodstoves and by the time I returned to the washer, it was the spin cycle.   

So yes, it did full just a little more than I wanted.  I lost 10 inches in length and 4 inches in width..  I've tried embroidering on it and it's just a little more fuzzy and dense than I'd prefer for that.  On the plus side, it's fuzzy and almost soft.  It is amazingly warm.  At one point there were 3 cats cuddled up on it and no room for me.   

I hemmed it after it was fulled.  I used the thrums to hem it, so the yarns match.  In hindsight, I probably should have hemmed it before I fulled it instead of after so that the hemming threads would full as well and become virtually invisible.  They aren't easy to see as it is, but in a perfect world......

From a distance, it looks a greeny-brown with a red stripe.  It isn't until you are up close that you can see the different coloured weft and warp.   The colour variations in these photos aren't noticeable by most people.  Nobody has commented on it as of yet.     It was really difficult to get a good colour representation.  The middle photo is closest but it's still too bright.

This was a fun project.   Once I started weaving, double weave made so much sense.  It was ridiculously easy.  I had a few skipped threads on top, and only one on the bottom.  There were no threads attaching the two layers in the wrong places.   The temple made the selvedges easy, once I figured it out.    Anyway, I'm super happy with this blanket.   Super, Super Happy!

Double Weave and New Shoes!

I'm finally weaving.  It's been slow going though.   First, I had the worst time threading the single stripe which is on the bottom layer.   I ended up rethreading it 5 times.   Then, when I thought I was good to go, Phil, my sweet orange kitty helper, wouldn't be persuaded to leave the loom alone.   In the end, I re-threaded ALL the heddles and re-sleyed the whole thing.  I very quickly tied everything on so that no more kitty helping could interfere!

Then I waffled about warp colours.  Originally I was going to do the red, so as to have a solid red stripe.   After sampling, I then thought that the red was a little to bright, so was going to switch out for green.  However after checking out my supplies, I didn't have enough green, so I went back to the red.  Now, seeing how much red I've actually used, I probably did have enough green.   I don't really like playing yarn chicken with my projects though, so I'm happy enough with the colour choices.

Then, the 1st treadle in my pattern, started getting caught in the loops of the treadle beside it.  Since it was an unused treadle, I pulled out the pin holding the cords and set it on the ground the way we do with some beginner classes.   Next, the first shaft kept unhooking from the lam.   Then once in a while the second one would unhook.  Talk about a nuisance.   I had to crawl under the loom, re-attach the hook and then unweave what ever few rows I had done because there was invariably a skipped thread.    Finally the brake spring slipped off.   How does that even happen?  The result of that was having to wait for someone stronger than myself to hook it back up.     ARGH! 

So far I've been pretty thrilled that I can slip my hand between both layers and thus working like it's intended to work.   I've also been using a temple.   I'm actually enjoying it.   There is definitely a learning curve for selvedges, but even if the only benefit is that there is less abrasion on the outer threads I think it is worth it.

New shoes!  Runners are almost as good as new boots, almost but not quite.  Still, they are comfortable, although maybe a bit bright.   They were on sale but of course the blue ones were already sold out in my size.    They are very spring-like and are happy coloured shoes.

Soon I'll have a picture of my seedlings.  Japanese Indigo seeds have sprouted.  They were a bit unevenly timed as some seemed to start right away while other seeds took their sweet time.  I ended up soaking some seeds overnight which helped a lot.  I also planted 4 white cotton seeds.  I think I have some green ones around as well.  If I can find them, I will try to start them also.  The green cotton seeds are a few years old though so might not still be viable.   Still, things growing always makes me happy!

Off and On the Loom

Done and done!  The sparkly scarves are off the loom.   They look pretty good if I do say so myself.   I'm happy with them.   I measured up the second similar warp I'd wound; the one that I'd thought I'd made a mistake on.   It turns out that I did indeed wind the whole warp incorrectly.   I had intended to tie it on to the warp still on the loom.   I didn't feel like rewinding it right then.  What a mess that would be - putting it back on the warping board, skeining it up and then winding a new warp.   So, instead, I set it aside, cut off the remaining warp and started putting the blanket/cloak warp on. 

That one is the green warp which I'd tried to dye brown, but only managed to get a splotchy darker green.  It's actually a nice colour green and I can live with the splotches.   The project is using double weave.  That means dressing the loom with 2 layers at once, and in this case, attaching them at one side.  I'm using the left side since that is where I get my best selvedges.   If I can find some fishing line, I'll run a heavily weighted floating selvedge on the left side, to help minimize the draw in where the two layers join.

I put in a single stripe along one side.   I did make the mistake of winding it with the skein of green, when I'd already wound and dyed that bit of green.  So I pulled out the undyed green and have added in the dyed bit.  I got it right since the added in green bit matched numbers exactly with the red.    It will be a bit of a pain to pull the undyed green out the rest of the way, but if I do it slowly and as I go, it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I've never done double weave before for a whole project.  I've sampled a bit during a guild meeting.  I've read about it.  I've watched a couple of videos of which some were good and some were rather iffy and not horribly useful.   However I think I've got a reasonable idea of what I should be doing.  It's going to take forever to dress the loom and thread those heddles.  Gosh, I've been threading for what seems like half the day and have maybe 1/5 done.  Of course I'm checking my threading each inch or so, which takes a bit more time.  I'm hoping that saves time in the long run. 

New to me bands I've discovered -  The Dead South, Poor Man's Poison and The Haunted Windchimes.   Something new to listen to while I'm threading heddles.