Interdependent

 

'linen tester' showing .25, .50 and 1 inch dimensions (got it from Jane Stafford)

New weavers don't get the connection between the various factors in the development of a cloth.  

That is not a 'failing', just a lack of knowledge.  It is only after they weave enough cloth, pay attention to the results, that they begin asking the questions they need to ask (if they follow the thread) and begin to understand how the answers in weaving are only ever *conditional*.

What do you want?  What will it take to get you there?  Which fibre?  Spun in which way?  Which weave structure.  Even, what loom are you using?

The question of density is packed with conditions.  

There are the 'ideals' and then there is reality, based on functionality.

I see people saying that true freedom is to ignore the 'rules', do what you want, free your creativity.

Which is all nice and all, if you don't care about the qualities you are building into your cloth.  If you don't care, then, do as you will.

OTOH, if the apocalypse arrives, knowing the 'rules' and understanding the equation of time spent to get the cloth made and how well it serves becomes an issue, it might be a good idea to actually learn the 'rules'.  Just so you have those in your weaver's toolbox.  

I've been known to bend those rules in order to wind up with a particular quality of cloth.  I'm not adverse to bending them until they 'break', just so I know that particular boundary, too.  

So when I talk about 'ideals', I also hold space for bending the boundaries.  So there are times when my twill isn't 45 degrees (after wet finishing), but maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less, sometimes very much not the 'ideal' at all.  It depends.

When we shift the dial back and forth between this quality and that quality, we can fine tune our results.  But knowing certain things - like combining stripes of plain weave *and* some other weave structure, like waffle weave, will produce certain results.

(receipts)

I have been known to do something like this *on purpose* - for an article.  

Understanding the concept of dimensional loss (commonly referred to as 'shrinkage') should be understood.  And if you achieve that dimensional loss, know that you are doing it willingly, not by accident.  For example, the dimensional loss in waffle weave (or Brighton Honeycomb if you are in the UK) can be as much as 50%.  Not a problem if you have woven samples and you know that going in, not just discovering that after you have woven your entire project and do not have enough cloth to do what you wanted to do.

So, do use your creativity.  But maybe make a sample or three before committing to a large project?

Next!

 

Yesterday I finished the warp I put into the loom in January.  It doesn't always happen that I get the knots this close to the heddles, but it is quite satisfying when it happens.

Because I never (usually) make just one thing, but several items per warp, and I tend to allow a little 'extra' in case I need to weave more samples, or if the loom is misbehaving, or...whatever...I sometimes have more than a yard left when I'm 'done' weaving.

I have been struggling (for so long, so so long) that I have not done the things I intended to do at the end of December.

That said, I am beginning to see 'changes' in my pain levels.  It seems like healing is beginning (for one of my pain sources) and that feeds my tiny sprig of hope.  Maybe *this* year will be 'better'.

Otoh, speaking of misbehaving looms, my Megado is not happy about something.  I am getting floats on the back side of the cloth which will be suboptimal when I begin the silk and cashmere scarves.  I may get Doug's help to re-align the dobby.  The sensor is ever so slightly out of alignment.  OTOH it's winter and wood shrinks when the relative humidity drops, so perhaps it will begin to 'fix' itself?

But I really don't want silk and cashmere scarves 'ruined' with treadling errors not of my doing.  

I am going to take the rest of this week and try to get the samples for the next WEFT article woven so I can begin writing the text.  On breaks I might begin beaming the silk warp.  The threading draft is ready, to be tested to see if the structure is going to work.  Again I'm working with two sets of yarn of different grists, so a sample will be absolutely necessary.  

We are having unseasonal weather.  It has been raining (in January!) and the snow is nearly completely melted away.  If it doesn't snow some more to build the snow pack in the bush, this year's 'wildfire season' is going to be...not great.  

Someone asked why it was a problem?  Partly it is because when it melts at this time of year it doesn't get absorbed by the ground, which is still frozen.  It runs straight 'downhill' and down the rivers to the ocean.  Nothing gets stored in the ground for use later in the year.  If the rains don't come in the spring, the ground water doesn't get built up, the ground itself becomes parched and any little spark, be it lightning or campfire, can set up a blaze that devastates the forests and ultimately animals AND human lives.

We desperately need to recognize climate change and DO SOMETHING to mitigate the problems.  There is no Planet B.

More Snowflakes

 

weaving draft for silk/cashmere scarves

I'm about done with the current warp, which was an interesting little tangent to go into.  But I'm about done with that highly twisted single 6 cotton, and am anticipating a very nice jaunt down the silk warp, cashmere weft bylane.

I really liked the weave structure I used with the single 6 but the twist energy pretty much erased the actual motif, and I thought it had some nice features about it, so I essentially reduced it to the number of ends I needed for a scarf warp and will go ahead with the same thing for the scarves.  

Seems like I have a whole lot of very fine (as in gossamer) cashmere in natural white.  After doing a grist comparison yesterday, I decided I am going to have to double the cashmere even to get close to the 2/30 grist of the silk.  Since the cashmere is in skeins, it seemed the best way to deal with what is a fairly 'tender' yarn, is to use it doubled and the best way to do that is to use the double bobbin shuttle.  If that doesn't work very well, I can then double it by winding from two bobbins onto a single bobbin, but before I spend the time to do that, I'm going to try weaving with the double bobbin shuttle.

The other thing I wanted to point out is that this weave structure is the 'same' on both sides - except the warp and weft change places in the motif.  The front side is a mirror image of the back.

 The fabric will have a difference one side to the other since the warp is shiny silk and the weft is mat cashmere, so the effect will be a subtle difference.  The effect when done in contrasting colours is greater, but I like the mat/shiny effect, too.  

And I have rather a lot of the fine cashmere, so I'll be doing a range of scarves using these (and other sizes) of silk.  If I run out of options to use up white, I also have rather a large amount of very fine worsted wool to use on some of the intense coloured silks also in my stash.  So I have my 'work' cut out for me.  

I don't expect to be exploring much in the way of weave structures, but some colour options.

And, in the end, weave down some of my silk and cashmere stash.  Win-win!

New Book

 

Stacey Harvey-Brown's new book Creative Dimensions in Weaving is now available.

If you are curious about creating 3D effects in textiles, Stacey has been doing lots of digging into how to make that happen.  The book can be purchased immediately as a pdf download.  I haven't invested yet as I really prefer print, but getting books from overseas is getting expensive, and a pdf download is (ahem) immediate.  

And let's support actual human knowledge, not LLM/AI.  

And check out her web site for some other books she has written.

Better Questions

 

pretty painted warps for eye candy

I have been thinking about how learning works.  I mean what does a person need to do when confronted with a very large pool of knowledge - more an ocean than a pool.  Where do they start?  How do they manage the info dump that can be presented?  How do they file that info dump away?  How do they access it later?

Perhaps these questions are more important to me since the brain injury, which happened in my speech centre.  And because I was hoping to keep teaching for my twilight years.  And now struggle with words.

And over and over I come back to the same answer.  If you want better answers, you need to ask better questions.

Which is facile, I know, and what the hell is a 'better' question when you don't know anything?

So I've been thinking.  A lot.  About learning.  And teaching.  

I gave the first Zoom presentation in two years on Saturday.  It was, thankfully, a small group, but a diverse one.  At least two of the people were very experienced and the rest seemed to range from beyond beginner on up.

The topic was The Weaver's Toolbox, and I talked about how looms functioned, trying to convey the mechanics of how most of the common looms worked.  Plus some other tools.

At the end, there were questions.  Thoughtful ones.  Questions that let me know that the questioner had been processing the information, thought about it, started to follow the thread I had presented, and wanted to define the information so that they could fit it into their foundation of knowledge.

As we get AI stuffed down our throats from every direction, this is a process that we need to keep active - the absorption of information, processing it to make sure it is making sense within context, and analyze it to make sure it is fully understood.  This is the very opposite of what LLM/AI does - which is essentially make stuff up.  

I see it on chat groups when someone asks a question and someone responds by posting an AI response - inevitably not helpful or even accurate in many cases.  AI does not understand the craft.  How can it?  It is just making up an answer that appears plausible.  

OTOH, dozens of us are out here trying our hardest to help new weavers make sense of the craft.  Sometimes even showing a light on something they may have not quite understood before.

After sitting and thinking about the presentation on Saturday, I am encouraged.  I managed to get through the 60+ minute presentation without losing my words.  It helps that I already have my 'script' created, which reminds me of the path I want to follow.  The thing that helped me the most was realizing that even in the 30 minutes after the presentation I was still able to answer questions, not all of them directly related to the topic.  So I'm feeling a glimmer of optimism that I can take up the reins again, and who knows, keep teaching.

I am also encouraged to see others saying the same things I've been saying for decades.  Even new weavers seem to be aware of wet finishing, and are taking that 'final' step into consideration.

I suppose if nothing else, helping to bring awareness of that step means that I've done my 'job'.  

Over the past couple of years I've seen notices of the original Magic in the Water for sale - weavers downsizing, or in estate sales.  If one comes up it has 20 (or more) samples with actual fabric samples, before and after wet finishing.  I hoped it would become a valued resource for weavers, and so it appears it has.  The text (with photos) version is still available both in print or pdf download.

My other books were an attempt to explain some of the subtle effects that need to be considered in weaving.  (Also available using the above link.)

If you are a new weaver, get some books.  Read as many as you can.  Realize that not all experienced weavers will make the same recommendations - we may differ on details, but most agree on the principles of the craft.

Find the end of a thread and carefully tease it out until you can see it fully - if you can.

Weave 'samples'.  A sample can be a scarf.  Or a tea towel.  A pot holder.  A mug rug.  Study samples woven by others if you can.  If you can't, study photos in magazines.  And read how the weaver created the effect that intrigues you.

Above all - think.  Don't assume.  Ask yourself why something is happening.  Ask questions.  As you learn, your questions will become more informed and you'll get better answers.

Learning is a lifetime activity, if you should desire to make it a part of your creative processes.

The life so short the craft so long to learn...

Twist and Texture

 

I finally got a photo of the texture that developed during wet finishing.  Below is how the cloth looked in the loom...

Now, the cloth in the loom was really pretty.  And no doubt I may do something similar in the future.  I'm planning some white on white silk (warp) and cashmere (weft) scarves, and I think this sort of design will look really lovely.

But the goal was to use up some of that single 6 with high twist 'energy' in it, and on the whole, I'm pleased with the results.  

As tea towels, I think they will work (i.e. they will dry dishes) and they have an interesting texture.  The cloth feels a bit 'rough', so not something one would want to wear against the skin.  But neither will most people want to work with a highly energized yarn, which generally means a yarn with a high degree of twist.

There are other ways to encourage 'tracking' (for that is what this is, ultimately, just an extreme version of it) by using yarn with lycra in it, or the differential between yarn that will full and shrink versus one that will not.  I've done both and they can be quite effective.  And yes, sample before setting up for a big project because the results can vary in ways that might not be intended - or welcomed.

I've included the selvedge in the photo although you'll have to biggify the image to really see it.  It is not a plain weave selvedge and it is not straight.  And it doesn't matter.  The selvedges are secure enough for use.  

Normally I would give tea towels another hard press after hemming, but I don't think I'm going to bother.

I'm down to the last (maybe) 4 towels, and once those are woven, I'm going to move on to the next stash challenge - the silk and cashmere.  

I'm looking forward to working with some co-operative yarn for a while.  And weaving down more of my stash.  

Challenges

 

after wet finishing

loom state

Someone asked about weaving something that resembled ribbing.  I suggested something like the above, which isn't exactly what they wanted but what might be experimented with to get the effect they wanted to achieve.

Then I suggested that if they kept their stripes narrow enough, they might be able to encourage the cloth to 'collapse' and wind up with something even more 'rib' like.

Today was the first time I felt able to agree to doing a zoom presentation.  They had chosen the topic of 'Weaver's Toolbox'.  I spent a lot of that time explaining how the 'main' types of handlooms work, because if something is going on, it's good to know if it is a 'weaver' problem or a 'loom' problem'.  One of the things I missed talking about is tightening the nuts/bolts/wedges of a loom which is primarily wooden.  

Relative humidity has been on my mind a lot lately because we are in the depths of winter, where the relative humidity drops, significantly.  Doug mentioned a while ago that he went round the loom and tightens the bolts.  (He knows how difficult I find such things right now, so I was grateful he took care of that for me.)

Anyway, the presentation this morning seemed to go well, once I'd sorted out the technical issues yesterday (thanks Microsoft - NOT!) and the next one is in 4 weeks time.  Once I'm done that I'll assess how they went and decide if I begin promoting my giving more.  I feel hopeful that if people find things of interest, maybe things they were not consciously aware of being issues and that they needed to pay attention to.  

As usual, I went beyond  the time allotted, but people were asking really good questions.  Usually when that happens, I know I've opened some possibilities for people.  Helped them think beyond the 'usual'.  

And bottom line, that's why I do this.

My website is still giving out 'danger' warnings, largely because my security certificate has expired or something.  But I don't collect your data so hopefully you can just click on through, if you are interested in my zoom topics.  Just scroll down the page a bit and they are listed.