Beginnings. Endings.

 

From time to time I see (what I assume to be) new-ish weavers lamenting that the yarn package they are working with has a knot in it.  Or they try to come up with a way to make 'endless' warps so that they don't have to keep re-dressing their looms.

Generally I sigh and scroll on by.

But the essays I've been writing means that I've been thinking more about attitudes and techniques and this one keeps coming back.  I've probably written about this before, but my 'muse' can't seem to let go so I'm here - again - to muse about beginnings, endings and the existence of knots.

Weaving has so many similarities to living a life that pretty much any advice I give for coping with problems in weaving can be extrapolated to living, but for now I'm just going to write about weaving.  If anyone wants to see anything useful beyond weaving, well, that might be A Good Thing.  It depends.

So. 

Knots in yarn.  Yarn is not endless.  To make a longer string/yarn, it has to be joined to another length of string/yarn.  There are ways that can be used that do not entail the use of a knot, but some of them simply don't work for every circumstance.

So, a knot it is.

To then get into a bit of a tizzy because the yarn you are using has a knot in it isn't very helpful.

Because a length of string can, and will, contain a knot. Sometimes more than one, depending upon the length of said string.

There is literally nothing helpful about taking a photograph of a knot in a string and posting it to the internet expressing a deep sigh at the 'poor quality' of said yarn.  Instead learn how to deal with it.  If it is weft, cut the knot out and overlap it, just like you do when you are joining in a fresh bobbin.  It's a knot.  It happens.

If it is in the warp, and you wound that warp, it should have been dealt with while you were winding that warp, not complaining about it when it appears in the loom.  If you didn't fix it during winding/beaming because it slipped your notice, there are ways to replace the knot.  Learn how.  Lamenting the loss of a few inches of yarn is really not a good attitude.  In My Humble Opinion, of course.

I've seen photos of setups where people set up a creel and mount full cones or tubes on it and then just drag the fell forward which feeds more yarn off the yarn package as each yarn is tensioned so that it doesn't pull forward during weaving, but will come forward when the fell is advanced.

But guess what?  All of those yarn packages will eventually run out and they won't be at the same place because yards/pound is only ever an approximation.  So you either replace one end at a time and wind up with knots in your warp anyway, or you 'sacrifice' the tag ends of the cones/tubes when you replace all of them at once.  If you can use them for weft, great, but maybe you can't.

I relish the end of a warp because it means I can try something different, something new.  But I get that not everyone wants to take the time to become efficient at dressing a loom.  Sectional beaming will allow for longer warps (in some looms, up to 100 yards long, depending on the thickness of the yarn).  God knows, I did 100 yard long warps for literally years.  We got good at replacing any knots noticed during beaming, using glue that would wash out and overlapping the yarn, gluing it into place, using a hair dryer to dry the glue quickly so that the beaming could continue.  The glue dissolved during wet finishing and it looked like a 'regular' needle woven in repair.

If a knot got missed during beaming, I got good at replacing it, using a replacement yarn to 'by-pass' the original with the knot in it until the original was long enough to bring back into the web.  Then needle wove the ends in during burling (inspection and repair).

Same with broken warp ends.  Repair/replacement yarn hung off the back beam until the original was long enough to bring back into the web, needle weave in during burling.

Weaving is a labour intensive activity.  Learn how to get proficient (and efficient) at doing it.  Accept that every string has a beginning AND an ending and learn how to deal with it.  Warps will frequently offer challenges with knots in the warp or warp ends breaking.  Learn how to fix those.

Don't let a minor inconvenience become a bigger issue than it is.  And don't let 'perfect' spoil 'good'.

Plans, Best Laid

So, I had a plan.  It was a good plan.  I was pleased with myself for coming up with said plan.

Until I got to the loom.

Plan A was sort of what I wanted, but it wasn't weaving up in a way that made me happy.  I couldn't seem to work out the technical issue, so I stopped about 12 inches into the towel, backed out of the weaving function of Fiberworks, edited the tie up and started again.  About six inches into that towel, I gave up, went to the desktop, which I find much easier to design in Fiberworks than the laptop, and scrubbed both tie up and treadling to start over again.  The threading was 'set in stone' at this point, but I could still play with the other two variables.

Plan C was quite different from Plan A but I thought it might just work.  Back down to the loom with thumb drive in hand, and try (try, try) again.

The tie up is uneven or unbalanced, insofar as there are fewer threads lifted than left down.  This gives a different look to each side of the cloth - more warp emphasis on one side, more weft on the other.

Right now I'm thinking the warp emphasis side will be the 'right' side.  It looks stronger, more dramatic than the mostly weft side.

But I learned a long time ago to not set my plans in stone.  And to be satisfied with something that doesn't quite match the image in my head because sometimes I can't get what I want.  But I can get close.

This warp is going to be 'challenging' because of all the broken ends that will have to be dealt with as the warp gets used up.  I remember counting 13 breaks but there might be a few more.  I have already run into two of them.  One has been resolved, the other has a repair end hanging off the back beam.  The original end has come loose from the beam and once I'm finished the next towel, I will tie the original to the repair end, pull the original through and pin to the cloth at the cut line.

(edited to comment that my shuttle is not 'dirty' - I just weave so much that the wood shows the wear of being used)

Fix

I know I've posted about this before but thought that it is time to revisit it because it is just so darned clever!

First learned this from Kerstin Fro:berg...

Although I try to remove knots from the yarn as I wind a warp, sometimes they aren't obvious, or sometimes, as with this very textured yarn, the problem is not a knot, per se, but a a flaw in the spinning which creates a large lump.  So it was with this warp...a large clump that snuck into the warp and which was not happy in the reed.  The only solution was to 'cut it out'.

What Kerstin does is thread a repair end into the same heddle as the culprit, weave for 2-3 cm, then cut out the bad end and continue weaving with just the repair end until the original is long enough to be brought back through the heddle, reed and pinned to the woven cloth.

The beauty of this technique is that no needle weaving is required after the cloth is removed from the loom and with a yarn this textured, that is a real bonus!

My contribution to the technique is what I do if I have the yarn on cones:

I purposefully kept the dregs left over from warp winding just in case I had to do any repairs and only on the 15th warp did I need to do this, but because I had it was a piece of cake to fix the problem.

Check the video clip but essentially I take the loose end of the yarn, pass it up through the bottom of the cone and through the top.  The weight of the cone is usually enough although weight can be added if you are weaving with higher tension than the cone provides.  To lengthen the yarn when the cone rises to the back beam, it is a very simple matter to grab the yarn at the base and pull more yarn off the cone from the bottom.

Void, Voided

click photo to biggify

So much for a nice stretch of purely studio deadlines.  Between my mom and both of us, we are having Life Happening.

It started with Doug's surgery to fix an annoying problem, then my putting my back 'out'.  Mom is having some health issues and between the three of us we are running around with multiple health related appointments.

After a nasty couple of days I woke pain free this morning and since I'm supposed to walk more than I sit, decided to try weaving on the AVL.  The first session wasn't an unqualified success but after icing it and winding a warp it settled down and I was able to finish the first towel.

Warp winding isn't walking as such, but with the constant change of body weight from foot to foot with each pass of the yarn on the board, it mimics walking and I've actually felt much better doing that than sitting.  I've managed to wind 5 place mat warps and started storing the weft yarns in the bin with the warp to be woven off later.  (foreground stack of bins)

There are still a couple of bags of yarn on the work table which will have to be put away - once my back is feeling better.  Carrying heavy stuff really isn't recommended right now.

Oh yes - in case you are wondering how I dealt with the missing 6 threads in the warp...you can just see the 6 replacement tubes dangling off the back of the loom.  The rod in the ceiling I use for a valet originally began life for just this sort of thing - hanging repair ends.

I let them down nearly to the floor, then when they get close to the rod I let them down again.  I can weave about 1.5 yards before I need to deal with them, which is just about exactly one session worth of weaving.

Afghan Progress

Sunday I started weaving on the afghans. With this warp it is essential to use a temple. I really wish I had rotary or ring temples when I'm weaving full width, and perhaps after Convergence I will. At least I'm hoping Fireside will be there so I can look at their temples. I hear a number of AVL owners have set their looms up with the Fireside temples, so we'll see.


The first afghan was woven using a fairly dark muted blue.




The second was woven with black as weft. You can mainly see the difference in the red stripe. In the blue weft afghan the red is shifted slightly to the purple end of the scale and the varigated stripes look bluer.

I had a picture of how I mark flaws, but see that I neglected to load it. Since loading a bunch of pictures is a bit of a pain, I'll just describe it.

The warp had some knots in it and I chose to deal with them in the loom by using Kerstin's hint of adding the repair thread before cutting out the original (knotted) end. After weaving so that old and new ends are overlapped for about 1.5 inches I cut out the knot and draped the original end over the back of the warp. When I finish the afghan I tie the original end in again. This way there is no need to repair afterwards. The repair ends hang over the warping valet. I didn't think to take a picture of that but can if anyone is interested.

Unfortunately a couple of the knots didn't subscribe to this plan and naughtily got woven into the cloth. (Bad pun - sorry!)

Anyway, I keep a tapestry needle handy with a contrasting thread in it and when I spot these miscreants sew the thread through the web in an "X". When I'm rolling the cloth off onto the inspection table I can easily spot these flaws and mend them.




After weaving two afghans it was time to cut in the next colour. Sorry about the photo - it was dark and gloomy under the warp and I see now it isn't in very good focus.

After unwinding the new bout and laying it flat on the woven cloth I cut the old warp and laid it onto the web. Carefully selecting the ends in their sequence (hopefully), I tied the new warp to the old. I tried working toward me and away and haven't decided which is more efficient yet. I'll get more practice when the next two afghans are woven.




This looks a bit of a rat's nest but really the threads are all nicely tied together. I used an overhand knot because I really don't want these knots to come undone. Certainly not while I'm easing them through the heddles and reed!




The tension on the second beam was let off so that the warp could roll forward freely and I stuck a stick in the loops because I didn't want any errant ends wrapping around the sectional dividers. In this photo the knots have been eased through the heddles and I'm about to ease them through the reed.




And here we are - all ready to go again. Unfortunately today was a write off for a number of reasons but I did get the afghan warp ready for Wednesday. Tuesday I've got appointments all day and doubt I'll get to the AVL. But it looks good that I can finish weaving on Thursday or Friday and begin fringe twisting, which will take as long as the shuttle throwing.

Currently reading The Stone Butterfly by James D. Doss

Who's That Tapping?

So I had a little oopsie while beaming the tea towel warp. Well, more than one, but I'll only discuss one here!

One of the ends snagged on the S hook holding the water jug and broke about 2 yards from the end. Then I couldn't find the other end - no doubt buried in the beam - so I just let it be until after the warp was beamed and I started threading. The missing end was easy to find. I'd wound two ends (actually Karena wound this warp) so it was obvious where the missing end was when there was only one end instead of two in the cross.

Since I'm using the same thread as the weft for hems I just wound a full bobbin, threaded it where it should be, then after tying on suspended the bobbin from the warping valet. :) The repair end goes under the back beam - you can just see it at the back of the loom heading up toward the valet.

When the bobbin is hanging low enough it means that from time to time I feel it tapping on my shoulder. But it also means I don't have to get up to let more thread off as the warp is advancing. When the original end is long enough, I'll tie it back into the weaving and remove the bobbin, which can be used as weft for the hems.

What can I say? I'm lazy. :)

Just finished reading Cockeyed by Ryan Knighton and started The Empress of Mars by Kage Baker.

Broken

Bad things happen. Threads break.

It's especially annoying when they break during sectional beaming, because I don't always notice right away. This is what happened here. I'd wound on several turns before I twigged a thread had broken. :(

What I do in this instance is re-thread the offending end through the tension box, loosely coil about a yard and a half or so, tuck it into the warp and continue beaming.




When the broken end surfaces, I pull the coil out, tie it onto a repair end and hang it off the back of the loom.



The repair end goes from the bottom and up the centre of the cone. The cone is then run under the tension box rail, and over the rod in the ceiling that doubles as my warping valet.




It is but a matter of a moment to grab the loop at the butt of the cone and pull off a yard or so and then let the cone down to about an inch or so off the floor.

As I weave, the cone automatically rises. When it gets to within 6 or so inches of the bar in the ceiling, I go round to the back of the loom, yard off some more yarn and drop the cone down to near the floor level.

The flare of the cone prevents any more yarn from coming off than I deliberately pull off, and if I pull too much it's an easy matter to wrap a few coils around the butt, shortening the length.

When the original end is long enough, I then tie that onto the repair end and pull the knotted end through to the front.

When I'm doing short lengths like here for towels, I just wait until the original end is long enough that I can pull the knot through at a cutting line and I don't even have to needle weave the end into the cloth, just pin it into the already woven towel so that the join happens at the cutting line. :D

What can I say? I'm lazy!