sweetgeorgia

Warping for plain weave workshop

Last week, I received my warp for the upcoming Jane Stafford workshop and have just started warping the table loom in preparation. I’m going to be using a Schacht 15″ 4-shaft table loom and have started warping from front to back. The warp is destined to be “plain weave with supplementary warp” and came all nicely chained up in a bag with detailed instructions and weft yarns. Looks like most of the yarn is 2/14 linen and 3/30 linen sett at 12 epi. I’ve never worked with linen before, so this is a completely new experience for me. So far, I’ve discovered that linen has a mind of its own.

I’m pretty sure linen likes to be warped from back to front, but I don’t own a raddle and my efforts to make my own raddle from a piece of plywood and spare nails have been delayed… because I need nails, or can’t find my hammer, or some such fuss. Besides, I like sorting out the warp threads and colours first and making sure that it’s all correct before everything gets wound onto the back beam.

I’m also trying to salvage this beautiful cotton warp. It was originally put on the small table loom and then I decided that I wanted to re-sley it for a tighter sett… so I cut it off the loom, maintaining the cross, and now I am just reassembling it on the big Spring loom. It’s now sett at 30 epi for a nice warp-faced look.

It’s finally the weekend, and I have new toe-up socks on the go.

Moving forward on all fronts

I am inching towards completion of many, many things. Yes, indeed, that is five pairs of socks at my desk. Not including the two pairs that are currently in my knitting bag. I don’t think this is the ideal situation, but things are the way they are. I knit two rows on one then two rows on another… two rows is about all my attention span can handle right now. Having finished a little February baby sweater for a friend (she’s due anytime now!), I’m satisfied with just working on simple stockinette socks… that have been in my in-progress bin for the past five years.

There is this handwoven scarf on the loom that is distracting me… the kettle-dyed colours of Malabrigo plus the texture and groundedness of the tsumugi silk weft and making me very happy. I have maybe 10 or 12 inches more to weave and then it will be cut off and washed. It seems silly that after all the expense and space of getting a 44″ wide 8-shaft loom, I end up weaving 9″-wide scarves in plain weave. Nothing makes me happier. Maybe one day, I’ll become one of those pattern-structure weaver types and lust after some computer-driven crazy shaft loom… but not likely.

Actually for three days in March, I’ll be attending Jane Stafford’s weaving workshop, “Pushing the Boundaries of Plain Weave”. It’s hosted by the Greater Vancouver Weavers & Spinners Guild and about 14 or 15 students will be doing a round-robin style workshop where we’ll all weave on each other’s looms and take home a complete set of samples. I’m really looking forward to experimenting freely with my very beloved plain weave.

Yet another plain weave scarf from both handspun warp and weft. It’s hand dyed blue face leicester handspun in the warp, 2-ply and about DK weight, plus very fine merino laceweight weft (the same yarn I used to knit the Lotus Blossom Shawl ages ago). Seeing as how there is about 10 cm of snow in tomorrow’s forecast, this brand new scarf might just come in handy.

Our weaving studio classes just started last Wednesday and we’re getting the first sampler warps on the looms. Plain and simple Quebecoise wool in bright, happy colours. I’m excited to see these samples start to take shape for the students.

This past month, I’ve found myself at the studio nearly full-time. And even though we don’t open the studio to the public on all days, I’m here bright and early every day… winding bobbins, skeining yarn, receiving orders of natural dyes from Earthues, dyeing yarn, weaving, spinning, knitting, doing my accounting and designing. Hours and hours are spent updating the website and entering inventory. Daily, I get calls to advertise in this medium or that. But even though I am constantly, productively doing things, I still feel like completion is always so far away. Bobbins are full and need to be plied. Those few inches could be woven off. That other loom needs to be warped. And I’ve got this pattern here that I need to finish writing out…