The Call Of The Loom

Now that’s a Canadian title if I ever heard one! Autumn has truly arrived on Vancouver Island and I have heard the call of the Loom, sounds like a good book. 

I want to weave something exciting and interesting as well as beautiful; something to really inspire me and I am always drawn to iridescence.  This made an Echo Weave the perfect choice.

I hauled out the Itten Star and started looking for warp and weft choices.  I searched for the post where I talk about this wonderful tool, only to find out that I have never done one!  I will do a complete post on this soon.

One colour combination that always creates iridescence is the Split Complement.  This is essentially two colours side by side on the colour wheel combined with the colour directly opposite them on the colour wheel.

I decided on Blue Purple and Aquamarine as my warp choice; they are placed in the warp in an Aquamarine, Blue, Aquamarine, Blue sequence.  The weft that was needed to make the Split Complement is in the Orange Red family. 

I got my Tencel yarns out and found that I only had three colours that fit the bill, Ruby, Spice and Cayenne.  I was immediately drawn to the Cayenne, but of course there was just a few grams on the tube and I was not sure if I would have enough.

Well, I’m a problem solver and so I decided to put on a two scarf warp which would allow me to actually measure out how many grams of weft yarn this scarf would take.

For the first scarf I chose to simplify my treadling and to make a scarf that was going to come out completely differently than the Echo Weave, but still had the same feel and yarn use.  

I chose to use an Analogous Colour combination.  This combination is one where three colours sit side by side on the colour wheel; for example, blue, turquoise and green are analogous colours.  I looked for it on the Itten Star and found that this type of colour combination is not included, so I jury rigged my own to show you.

My weft choice for the Aquamarine and Blue Purple warp is Greyed Teal.....these are all very close in colour depth so the overall look of the weave is tone on tone shimmer.

I am almost finished weaving this scarf and it looks like it will be truly lovely.  Because of the colours I have chosen, it will be just a nice Crackle Weave scarf.

I was asked what this little dohicky that I use to hold spare warp ends was, so I looked it up and it is called a Yarn Holder or a Knitting Bobbin and I think is was made by Boye.

We have added two more weaving drafts up for sale.  The first draft is an original Clasped Weft pattern that is on 4 harnesses.  This draft is called Piano Keys Clasped Weft Scarf.  Etsy listing for Piano Keys Clasped Weft Scarf Weaving Pattern.   

The second draft is an original Diversified Plain Weave pattern that is on 12 harnesses.  This draft is called Music Notes Diversified Plain Weave Scarf.  Etsy listing for Music Notes Diversified Plain Weave Scarf Weaving Pattern.

Weaving Drafts for Sale

I have been thinking for a while that I would like to sell some of our original drafts, especially the 12 shaft designs as they are hard to come by.  So when I got a message asking if I sold weaving drafts, I took that as the push that I needed to get started.

It is surprising the time and information that needs to go into each pattern.  First I started by naming the drafts, as some of my drafts have silly names like ‘Interesting Motif’.  I went with a space theme; all the drafts are named after Nebulae.  I then created WIF, which is a universal weaving file that can be used with most weaving programs.  

The next part was to create a PDF with the draft, project guide and further breakdowns of the threading, tie up, and treadling just in case the person buying the draft doesn’t have a weaving program. 

The first draft is an original Crackle Weave pattern that is on 6 harnesses.  This draft is called Helix Nebula Crackle Weave.  Etsy listing for Helix Nebula Crackle Scarf Weaving Pattern.  

The second draft is an original Echo Weave pattern that is on 8 harnesses.  This draft is called Cat’s Paw Nebula Echo Weave.  Etsy listing for Cat's Paw Nebula Echo Scarf Weaving Pattern.

The third draft is an original Crackle pattern that is on 12 harnesses.  This draft is called Orion Nebula Crackle Weave.  Etsy listing for Orion Nebula Crackle Shawl Weaving Pattern.

The fourth draft is an original Crackle pattern that is on 12 harnesses.  This draft is called Rosette Nebula Crackle Weave.  Etsy listing for Rosette Nebula Crackle Shawl Weaving Pattern.

I will be adding more drafts in the coming weeks so please check out WovenBeauty on Etsy.  Next week the drafts are going to be the Piano Scarf and the Music Note Scarf.  I’ll also be adding a page to the blog (beside the Tips and Tutorials Tab) that will have links to the drafts that I have available for sale.   We will be posting more regularly again, I have some tea towels to share with you!

 

Final Garden Photo is Climbing Lilies (Gloriosa rothschildiana).  We got these as tubers from the Horticultural Society and we didn't know what to expect.  We planted them in early spring, dug them up in June to see if they were alive, they finally started to grow in July and by August we had these lovely flowers.  They were well worth the wait!