Friday, October 5, 2018

Is There or Isn't There?

I have been working on the napkin warp I blogged about awhile ago, and I am almost done, I think, the order was for a dozen napkins.  The first napkin I wove, was too short so I had to make some adjustments.  I wove 3 more, but I was having some problems with the edges, and with some lines in the cloth when I advanced, so I cut those 3 napkins off and went from a really old "ratchet and pawl" system, to a "live weight" system, I also added some weighted tarp clips to use as a temple and those two changes made a big improvement.

(A live weight system consists of a slippery rope wrapped 3 times around the warp beam, a small weight on one end and a heavy weight on the other.  This system keeps an even tension on the warp the whole time, all you have to do is advance the fell line as needed.)

I had been weaving along and making a check mark each time I finished a napkin,  (I think, was that the 4th or 5th?) when I started to have doubts as to whether I had put on enough warp, since I had some trouble in the beginning, and there was more waste than I had anticipated.





I had cut 3 off of the loom, are there 9 napkins on that cloth beam?





(No, there were only 7)

Can I get one more napkin?




( No, I could not,  about half way through the napkin, the shed became too small.  So, I cut off the napkins and I will tie onto this warp and pull the new warp through the reed and heddles.


When it was all said and done, I had 10 out of 12 napkins  for this order.  Time to order some more natural 16/2! (I  ordered enough natural to make another dozen, but I am going to concentrate on getting these last 2 napkins wound and woven right now, the rest will be for another time!)


While I am waiting on the new yarn to get here, I wound the stripe section and I have gotten it tied on, ready to go.

 I have already corrected the mistakes I could find in the 10 napkins that have already come off of the loom, so they are ready to go to Marie who will do the hemming for me.  (I do stuff for her that she doesn't like, and she does stuff for me that I don't like)

I won't take them to her though, until I get those last 2 napkins off the loom, so that she can finish them all at the same time, it works much better that way.

I wish that I had used the live weight system and the temple from the start, but that is how I learn sometimes, the hard way.

Until next time, keep on Weaving, Tina

1 comment:

LA said...

You've got me scratching my head! In your next post could you show your solution for the brake? It sounds intriguing! Great job getting most of your napkins woven...they are beautiful!