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.  

Riding the Avalanche

 

Just started weaving this warp yesterday.  So far, so good.

However...

There is an 'easter egg' in this cloth.  The warp is 2/20 merc. cotton at 36 epi; the weft is singles 6 with energy (high level of twist - which if you look closely you can see evidence of in the little 'pigtails' in the weft just above the fell) and it is weaving in at 32 ppi - which was what I had guestimated.

The threading is quite simple, over 16 shafts, and the tie up is: 1:3:1:3:3:1:3:1 and the treadling is as drawn in.

Now I'm not claiming that some weaver somewhere, some day, hasn't done exactly this threading draft.  But I would venture to guess that no one has used this precise yarn combination before.  I could be wrong, but, it's not a common thing to do.

Why am I doing it?  Well, I am *trying* to use up as much of my stash as I can.  I'm down to the last large mill cone, plus the bit of cone that was left over after finishing the previous warp.

Am I tired of coaxing the single 6s to 'behave'?  Yes.  Yes, I am.  Even though there will likely be a rather large amount of yarn left over, pretty sure I'm 'done' with this yarn.

And since I have not done a wet finished sample, it's a mystery what will actually happen.  There will be *something* happening, though.  The degree of twist energy is significant and it has done something 'interesting' every other time I've worked with it.

Will the effect be pleasing?  Dunno.  I have faffed around and will find out...

Stay tuned in a couple weeks to find out when I do.

Tracking

 

I did an article for WEFT (vol 1?) that talked about tracking, and included a photo of a cloth woven in twill and showed the tracking effect on that twill cloth.  It was very subtle, and hard to see, but if I looked closely enough, it was clearly there.  The thing is, tracking is impossible to ignore in plain weave and people assume nothing occurs when twill is woven, but...it does.

The cloth I'm weaving now has a weft that is highly twisted.  I've been observing the effect of weave structure in the cloth, which I felt was being accentuated by the 'normal' amount of twist that tends to show up in plain weave, and, since the towels I was making had areas of plain weave, the weave was developing some interesting textures.

Since I still have a few cones of this highly twisted singles, I decided to play with the effect and see what would develop in the wet finishing.

Well, I finally got a 'batch' of towels ready - with only 7 towels, that made for a small load, but ok - and ran them through the washer and dryer earlier this week.

They did not disappoint

So here they are.  They are woven in a 1:2-2:1 twill and look at all that lovely texture!  And yes, they have been hard pressed, so they aren't just wrinkled fresh out of the washer/dryer.

Change one thing...