SCARF - About time! We're weaving! :(

Greetings friends. I finished the prep for weaving since I know you are all dying to see how this thing weaves!  I realized (duh) that it takes two warp bundles to get through the threading 1 complete repeat.  It stand to reason.  There are on average 31 ends in each bunch and one repeat uses 62 ends!

Full warp beamed and tensioned

SCARLET weft all ready to go!

Nice clean shed, the tray thread in the middle is the floating selvedge

The next step was to BEAM THE WARP.  I threaded the ends and then tied them in groups to the back apron bar.  Then with a little bit of help, I slowly wound the warp onto the back beam.  Hopefully preserving even tension!  Once I got to near the end I tied the warp bundles to the front apron beam.  This takes several passes (at least two) to be sure the tension is even.  TENSION IS EVERYTHING.  It completely affects how the piece will weave;  how bad the draw in is, how nice the selvedge stays and other factors.  Too much tension and your warp can snap or fray or twist your loom!

1/2' woven

I use a heavy craft paper to wind with the warp to keep it separated while weaving.  Reduces snags and tension problems.  Once I was this was completed and I was happy with the tension I began weaving.  In the meantime I re-wound the bobbins with the scarlet warp and started weaving.  I used a larger cotton warp for a few passes to spread the warp into its weaving width from the knots we tied onto the apron.  Since they suggest leaving 9" for fringe I opened a tabby shed and inserted a piece of paper 9" long by the width of the scarf.  This preserves the length needed for the fringes.

I then began weaving with the scarlet warp.

Not what I expected but will keep on weaving....the warp is diappearing instead of showing?

SCARF - FOCUS FOCUS, but its tedious!

I think the most demanding and tedious part of a weaving project is threading the loom.  My table loom has 4 harnesses or four things that lift threads either individually or in sets.  Each id a frame with two metal bars the run across the frame and hold in total about 500 metal heddles.  Each heddle gets a single thread in a specific order on one of the harnesses.  Below you can see the harneses labeled from front of the loom to the back 1 through 4.

The notation that weavers use to basically delineate how a project works is a DRAFT.  A draft shows how many harness you need.  How the threads are putthrough the heddles and how when weaving specific sets of harneses are lifted (treadling)  it can also contain color information if your weft follows a pattern as well.  This is the draft for our pattern (Handwoven Magazine, May/June 2013, pg. 52; Susy Liles)

This shows us a ton of information.  The square in the upper right corner is both the number of harnesses and the tie-up.  Or which harnesses should be used together.  Since the highest number is 4 we know we will use 4 harnesses or shafts.  From how the numbers are arranged we know that we need 4 tie-ups; group shafts 1&2, 2&3, 3&4, and finally 1&4.  So we will be lifting shafts in pairs for this project.  The little slashes directly underneath show the order in which they will be used.

The firs slash is under the 1&2 column.  So the first pass of actuall\ weft will have all the threads in shafts 1&2 raised, then the same goes for 2&3 etc.  This is the standard tie-up and treadling for straight twill.

The bar at the top shows how each thread is threaded through the heddles.  The first black dot means the thread is a floating selvedge and DOES NOT GET THREADED.  This thread will never be lifted and is a weaving device used to be sure you catch all your threads all the time.  The the second thread is passed through a heddle on the first shaft.  The third thread goes through shaft 2 etc.

Looking at the order wil wil thread 1 through 4 a total of seven times (28 threads) + 1 Floting selvedge = 29.  We then thread 3 more ends in the same pattern but when we get to the fourth shaft it start a new pattern than reverses our original threading patter, this will cause our twill to slant  in opposite directions.

And so it begins.  I show the heddle with their eyes below and the first bunch of warp threaded through the heddles.

Each "eye" needs to have a thread, 251 of them in all

Full warp sleyed in the reed

First warp bunch in the heddles

SCARF - New Warp...

It became apparent that the orange warp I dyed was not near enough different from the other oranges to just not get lost in the weave.  During my previous post I was ruminating about some possible other colors.  I took the plunge and dyed some SCARLET.  I think this will provide enough contrast to make the whole scarf interesting though I was very close to using electric green!

Same as before 400 yds of warp.  Anyone interested in 400 yds of bright orange, gossamer weight yarn.  It is bamboo and is soft as butter!  really its amazing!  message me and its yours! (it will come as 4 small center pull balls!

Anyhow, below is my filter dip to see if the color would be acceptable.  I was afraid it might also be too dark but I think we have a winner.  I took a few photos of the before and after.  Natural light really shows the color of the new warp.  Inside light makes it look pinker than it is..

I am ecstatic about the new warp.  The color is perfect and will show really well in all the colors of the warp.  and while the sett is calculated to make the warp more noticeable this will be a nice counterpoint.

In other news I finished sleying the reed.  This means pulling the threads through the beater reed at the required sett. 30 epi or ends per inch.  Now the real FUN, threading the heddles.  To be clear there are TWO threads in each of the slots you have seen in the reed.  Now each individual thread needs to go through a heddle!

SCARF - Dressing the loom

I am hoping the warp will give you a better idea of what it looks like once it is beamed onto the loom.  While it rinsed and washed really well the natural twist has shown up after the warp bundles have dried.  In the future I have to use a larger yarn to tie the crosses.  It is going to be a bitch to keep these straight and open properly.  (it is but I figured a trick, still a pain)

My plan was to keep them all together and just get them on the loom as a large bunch.  However, with the problem I was having getting the crosses OPEN, I am going to sley a group at a time which is about an inch.  It is still going to be painful.. Live and learn I always say.

I also decided against the violet red splashes on the warp.  When adding the dyes I could tell they were going to be really saturated..  Maybe next time I use half strength dyes or less.  I did not want to wind up with pastels though.

My method here is front to back.  I am using a 15 DENT reed meaning 15 spaces per inch.  If you remember our sett was 30 EPI or 30 ends per inch so two per dent.  This makes it easier to sley the reed (pulling the yarn through in an orderly manner) because you can hook a loop off the warp bundle and sley it easy peasy.

You have to pay attention to the odd numbered warps (31 or 33 ends) so you have the single on the right side... So if there are 31 ends you will have 15 loops and one loose end.  You will sley 15 dents and then the last end through the 16th dent.  When starting the next bundle you have to ensure that A) it has an odd number of ends and B) the single end is on the top to be sleyed first.

Note the alternating bands of color.  I am not happy with the dye job but I am blaming myself since I am not a professional dyer.  I used 5 colors and while they are kind of noticeable the oranges and reds blend together.  Overall it looks like three colors.  The orange weft is just going to blend with the oranges there is not enough differentiation.  I may dye another set of warp in the violet red to keep it totally different...or maybe a dark green or scarlet...another fall leaf color that would set the scarf off well (hmmm scarlet....)

4" of warp sleyed in the reed

Another view of the sleyed reed