Why I am Sampling

To me "Sample" is not a dirty word.  I have begun to work on the long white cotton warps that I bought last year from a mountain weavers estate.  I did not plan these warps, I did not wind them, and I am not familiar with 12/3 cotton, I don't know what the best sett in the reed will be for this particular project.  I have gone up  from 12 epi, which I used with the waffle weave, to 15 epi, since I only have a 15 dent reed for this loom, and at 15 epi this project is 26 inches, which will fit my little loom.

Sampling is the only way I am going to find out if the sett is correct. I finished winding this warp back onto the loom on Wednesday.  I tied it on and was amazed that I did not have a threading error! I took some navy 8/2 cotton, which is a little thicker than the warp and began to sample.

First, I must say that it is nice to see something besides white!  Second, I love this pattern!  It is the Friendship Twill in the Davison book.

On closer examination, I notice that the table element which is supposed to be a square, isn't a square.   I think that first, I will try doubling the weft to see if that helps.  Then, I will cut it off and wash half of it to see how the hand of the cloth is, and the final dimensions after finishing.  Only then I will know if I will have to change the sett to square it up or if  it will be fine just as it is.

I may have to go up to 20 epi to get the cloth I want.  That would make it 19.6 in the reed, still very doable for hand towels, though a little narrow for breadcloths.

Here is a close up of the table element.

Lunch time!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

Riverrun Scarf Finished!

Last night I bound off the January Sock Yarn Project.  (I am planning to use 1 skein of sock yarn a month for myself this year.  It won't always be socks.)  5 days ahead of the Jan 31st deadline.

I inserted the blocking wires into the scarf while it was dry, and then steamed it with my iron.  It is so cool to watch the stitches relax as the steam hits them!

Close up

Once it was dry, I tried it on.

I am really pleased with this scarf, it is almost 2 skeins of the Noro Silk Garden. (My In Town daughter happened to have a skein too!)  The scarf is almost twice as wide as it was supposed to be.  For next month, I have a really cool pair of socks picked out.

On the weaving front, I am finished with the 3rd Waffle Weave towel in the 12/3 white cotton.  I plan to weave one more, then cut them off and finish them.  These will be for my own kitchen since I am pretty sure they are going to be too narrow to sell.

I have chosen the next pattern for these towels.  It is from the Davison book, and it is called the Friendship Twill pattern.

I am going to have to tweek the threading quite a bit since I only have 196 ends, but I think I can make it work.  I will then play with the treadling awhile to see what I can come up with.  I am still going to be using only 1 shuttle, but a lot of fancy treadling it looks like.
One thing I need to remember when I use the Davison book is that it is written for a falling shed and this loom is a rising shed.  I will have to be very careful when it comes to the tie up.

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina