12 Shaft Advancing Twill Again

I really enjoyed weaving the 12 shaft twill pattern that I used last time; and since it was quite a complicated 12 shaft tie up I wanted to use it one more time before putting on a new project.

My first stop was to look through my stash of Tencel yarns and I found a few last of the cones that really looked good together.

I wanted to use them up, so I just started pulling the warp because I knew that I could adjust this pattern to fit whatever number I got.

I started with the silver and as I got near to the end of the cone I began to randomly introduce the greyed teal.  The teal seemed to run out very quickly so on to the aqua blue.  At this point I had 216 threads and decided to stop before I made it into a shawl! There was quite a bit of yardage on the iris so it went back into the bin for another day.

I love the way it looks as it curves over the back beam!

The sea silk scarf was sett at 20 ends per inch, 2 per dent in a 10 dent reed I knew I had to change the sett because the Tencel is of a smaller grist so I went with 27 ends per inch for this scarf, dented 2-2-2-3 in a 12 dent reed.  This scarf worked out to an even 8 inches wide.  I was toying with using the last of the Iris Tencel for the weft, but opted to use the same 2/10 white Tencel as the sea silk scarf to keep the look pastel.

This is definitely one of my more subtle scarves colour-wise, but a really lovely pattern to weave and I really recommend it.  I'm sure it will look even better after it's washed!

I generally plan on a scarf warp to be about 100 inches long; but because of the way the pegs on my warping board are set, this warp is 104 inches long.

This is the scarf straight off the loom and the front tie on, which will become the fringe is 11 inches long.

The back loom waste, which will become part of the fringe is 16 inches long.

The woven scarf length, before washing is 78 inches long, which is plenty long enough for a double neck wrap!

Weaving Words

Float ~ A part of a warp or weft yarn which crosses several other yarns without forming a tie.  The length of a float is measured by the number of crossed (skipped) yarns. 

Fibre Binder – An Update

Every January Mum and I pull out the stash to do an updated inventory list.  The stash lives in the hallway linen closet and everything (pretty much) lives in a tub. Please note, when all the stash is put away, there is no room in the inn!

Each tub is filled with a single type of fibre.  In the below picture is the tub for mercerized cotton of various sizes.  Somehow over the year a cone of linen/cotton blend snuck in!

So the tubs get a good tidy up and the cones all get re weight for the Fibre Binder.  Mum developed the Fibre Binder in March 2009 and we are still using it!  Honestly, it makes it much easier to keep track of what we need to buy to compliment a yarn because it can come along for the shopping trip!

The binder is divided into sections based on fibre and grist.  Each cone of fibre is weigh and a small piece snipped off to show colour.  Manufacturer, colour name, and anything else we know about the yarn are also added.  We try to keep it updated throughout the year but sometimes in the rush to move onto the next project we forget; so doing it right away in the New Year sets the tone for the year!

This year we did a little cull of things that we just aren’t going to use in the foreseeable future.  There are cones of wool, cotton, chenille and linen.  Everything is being donated to a sale in March with the proceeds going to the charity Grandmothers to Grandmothers.  The Stephen Lewis Foundation launched the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign in March 2006, in response to the emerging crisis faced by African grandmothers as they struggled to care for millions of children orphaned by AIDS. 

Final Photo is the Comox Glacier.  It dominates the landscape in our area.  It is truly huge and there is something majestic about it.

Fixing a Broken Warp Thread – 12 Shaft Advancing Twill

I put on enough charcoal grey 2/8 Tencel warp to make two scarves.  I finished weaving the 12 shaft advancing twill scarf in scarlet and now I needed to audition some wefts for the second scarf.  The choices are a bright blue, red violet, straw, gold and taupe.

I went with the gold, in the picture it is the second one from the bottom.  I honestly don’t know why I thought the taupe would go with the grey.  I guess that day I saw more yellow in it and thought that it could be a substitute for gold.  I don’t know what I was thinking or seeing!

I changed the treadling for this scarf.  I lengthened the vertical lozenge of the cross for a better balance between the arms of the cross.  I also like the large table that is created under the arms.

There was some excitement while weaving this scarf.  When I was about 10 inches from finishing the scarf I heard a snap – I had broken a warp thread.  I don’t think that I have ever broken a warp thread before.  It was on the left side and the third thread in from the edge.  You can see the shredded thread in the picture.

To fix the broken warp thread I pulled the broken thread out of the reed and heddle.  I then placed a weighted film canister on the end to approximate the tension of the warp for the other half of the warp thread.  I pulled replacement charcoal thread and put it through the heddle and reed.  I pinned the replacement to the woven scarf with lots of extra thread.  The extra thread will then be needle woven in after the scarf is off the loom.

Dangling from the back of my loom were three film canisters – one a floating selvedge and the other two from the broken warp and they were going to twist.

So I made a quick separator.  I used a piece of card stock and cut a rectangle with three slots in it.

It keeps the threads separate and under control.  Sorry for the poor picture quality.

Here is the only photo I’ve got with the two scarves side by side.  I had to do some needle weaving on both of them before they could be wet finished.  I think that they are looking good!

Here are some photos of the finished project.  The gold scarf has a luscious gleam to it.  For Sale.

Final photograph was taken during a morning walk last week.  It is Steller’s Jay, which has a black head and upper body but the rest of the body is bright blue.  It is the provincial bird for British Columbia.  There was actually four in the tree!