Weaverly

Alice Schlein

recent posts

  • Eight and Sixteen

    Further explorations of network drafting with initials greater tnan straight 4-end. In this first example, for 8 shafts, I have used a point twill as the initial: 1-2-3-4-3-2.The resulting threading is tromped as writ, and the tieup has no floats longer than 2. Maximum float length in the resulting draft is 5.

    The same process is followed in the following draft for 16 shafts. Max float lenth in the tieup is 3, and max float length in the full draft is 5.

    I haven’t yet woven these drafts but I suspect the combination of plain weave and areas of longer floats will produce a lacy fabric suitable for table linens, curtains, etc.

    The software I’m using for these explorations is TempoWeave from LoftyFiber.

  • Playing With Point Twill

    I spend hours playing with point twill threadings, mostly because I find them easy to thread on an 8 shaft loom. In the following illustration I show three stages in one of my experiments. Read these diagrams from right to left. First is a point twill threading with a treadling developed on a point twill initial (1,2,3,4,3,2). The max float length is 5. Then I took a small section of this treadling and mirrored it, so that the design contained internal symmetry. Max float went down to 3. In the final (leftmost) design, I turned the draft so that the treadling became the threading, then tromped as writ. The result is a lacy-looking thing.

    Here it is a little bigger. If you’d like to try weaving this, I’ve uploaded the draft to Handweaving.net as #81193.

    It’s a lot of fun to take sections of this draft and repeat or reduce them; and you can spend hours playing with changing or wrapping the tieup. Just remember to keep track of float length: longer floats require closer setts.

  • More Shafts Than Necessary, & Other Matters

    In this halvdrall draft, you will see that this design can be woven on 4 shafts. But because of the imbalance between numbers of heddles on shafts 1 and 2 compared to shafts 3 and 4, I would have had to move heddles around on the loom, a task I really hate and try to avoid. I have the luxury of 8 shafts on this loom, so I spread the threading out onto all 8 shafts. Problem solved.

    The warp is linen, the tabby picks are cotton, and the pattern wefts are marled linen and a very stiff natural colored hemp. All the yarns are from my stash, and I was going for maximum absorency. The following picture is the first towel cut off and hemmed, but not washed.

    The following picture is the towel after machine washing and drying. Shrinkage in warp & weft is about 12%. The absorbency is wonderful. However, I am very disappointed in the behavior of the hemp pattern weft which appears to have gone its own way and pokes out of both selvedges in a very uncivilized manner!

    Never mind. The towel will be used and enjoyed. Just not for company.

  • Four Leaf Clovers

    I’ll bet you didn’t know that four leaf clovers can be blue. Insert smiley face. This draft for eight shafts was created using the principles of network drafting and amalgamation. To learn more about these topics, check out the online class I’ve created in partnership with LoftyFiber. The class is self-paced and contains many hours of video and written instructions. It is suitable for weavers with eight shafts and above.

  • A Gradient Warp

    I’m assembling leftover cones of 30/2 linen in an effort at stash-busting (does that ever end?) and tying to arrange them in order of tonal value.

    An effective way to do this is to photograph the yarn in olor and then reduce the image to black and white.

    After the decisions are made, I begin winding the warp, two ends at a time, and as each color is used up, I add the next one in line, and so on. This warp will require two chains. Here’s the first…

    …and here’s the second.

    The two chains meet again in the raddle, and they are ready to be wound onto the warp beam. Stay tuned.

    And in the Department of Books, I have finished reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, one of my favorite authors. Warning – X-rated for violence and adult content.

  • A Balanced Weave

    When I was a very new weaver, one of the first pieces of cloth that draw my attention was a handspun, handwoven gray wool. The structure was plain weave, there was nothing flashy about it, but it invited you to caress it and enjoy its slight variations in tone. As. I recall, the warp and weft were balanced: same epi and ppi.

    But as I jumped ahead willy-nilly in my weaving self-education, and followed my personal rabbit holes of loom-controlled structure, I never got around to covering some of the basics. It seems that now is the time to repair some of those omissions.

    From my stash I pulled some skeins of handspun woo/linen blend. This yarn was spun and plied a couple of years ago from a carded blend purchased at Lofty Fiber. It was a dream to spin and was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to shine. I warped my rigid heddle loom at 10 epi. So far I am getting a comfortable beat of almost 10 ppi. I expect that after the tension os released and this piece is wet finished I will get a balanced cloth. We’ll see.

  • Found Object

    Last night while sorting through a box of stuff in order to make room for more stuff (an endless cycle around here), I found this treasure. It’s a tiny gansey, wingspan 14″, which I knitted many years ago in a workshop taught by knitting genius Beth Brown-Reinsel. Full disclosure: this is Beth’s own design, although the initials are mine.

    Discovering this tiny sweater after so many years is heartwarming. I’m going to find a space for it on the wall. Or if any appropriately sized person shows up here, they are welcome to wear it.

  • Conundrum

    Here’s the puzzle: whether to buy more yarn and weave/stitch/sew to make more stuff which then has to find a place, or to remake/reuse what I already have stored. And here’s the other part of the puzzle. There are still only 24 hours in each day (at last count). What takes priority? Time at the computer, time at the loom, time with family and friends, time with books…as my grandmother used to say, Oy vey.

    A big salute to all my hardy friends (and some not so hardy) who turned out for No Kings Day. My heart was with you.

  • Weaverly is Back

    Yes, we’re back, with a slightly different look. After blogging for 15+ years on a platform which vanished after a 30-day notice (although I should have seen the warning signs) we are back. Thanks for your support and your patience during this frustrating time. And a very big thanks to Trevor, Andrew, and Cathy, three skilled and patient humans, who made the new Weaverly happen.

    I decided not to include my email address, but you can communicate with me, if you wish, by leaving a comment down below. Scroll all the way down.

    There’s also a place on the sidebar to subscribe.

    Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I experienced a bookcase collapse, weaving books all over the floor, looked like an earthquake. Had to take steps. Reorganization time. Here are a few unposed snapshots of the studio this morning.

  • On the Fringe

    I am fascinated by weather maps and find unexpected beauty in wind patterns especially. How can anyone resist this morning’s map off the Carolina coast (as long as you are warm and dry, as I hope you are)?

    Yesterday I cut off a finished warp, and machine washed & dried it after separating the individual napkins (which had been hemstitched while still under tension). I had not previously worked with this 8/4 cotton as warp and was blown away by the beauty of the fringe after washing. I had spent weeks on the computer version of the draft, and more weeks on the weaving, but was totally unprepared for the star of the show: the beautiful fringe.

  • Working With a Rosepath Initial

    You’ll need some distance to make those dinnerplate-sized circles appear. Or just squint a little. 8/4 cotton warp & weft at 15 epi and ppi.

  • Combining Extended Initial, Network Drafting, and Amalgamation

    This draft for 16 shafts combines a 4×6 initial (rosepath or extended point twill) on a straight pattern line, with amalgamation of the resulting threading. Tromp as writ. The maximum float is 5. This draft would be very weavable, with much textural variety in the various blocks. Restrict the length of the floats in the tieup to 2. Wrapping or rotating the tieup will give many interesting variations.

  • Trying New Initials for Network Drafting

    When plotting your pattern lines on a network, whether for warp or weft, you needn’t be limited to straight lines, such as 1-2-3-4. Why not try initials such as point twills, rosepath, etc. In fact, any combinations that work together as warp/weft combinations on a given number of shafts will work as initials in a weave draft.

    The following weave sampler of 4 different 4-shaft threadings, when combined with their associated treadlings (in other words, tromped as writ) shows that any two of these initials will work together.

    Therefore, in the following diagram, any of the initials in the first row will work in a threading draft with any of the initials in the second row for a treadling draft:

    In subsequent posts I will give examples of the process with actual 8 and 16 shaft drafts. Stay tuned!

  • Further Experiments With Point Twill

    Liftplan created with a simple curved line which was then networked with a rosepath-type initial. It required a bit of cleaning up, but here’s the result.

    Here’s some Muhly grass from a few years ago.

    And. in the Department of Books, I just finished reading Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki by Haruki Murakami