Back to the loom.

As I was threading the heddles, I found that having the lease sticks unsupported was probably not ideal, the distorted path of the warp was leading to alternate warp looking longer than the others. Things getting out of alignment makes me a bit nervous. I don't like my warp tension to be uneven. I decided to support my lease rods better.

Sometime ago I tried a method that involved resting extra sticks between the shafts and back beam, but this wasn't ideal because the sticks were high at the back beam, so the lease rods weren't quite level and everything could slip out of place too easily.

This week's solution is shown in the photo. Another task for the G clamps! As these are oversize, 4 inch, clamps they easily coped with holding an extra pair of short sticks to support the lease rods.

When I was ready to tie to the front apron rod, I used an extra cotton cord at the outer edges of the apron rod tying it to the back beam. This held the apron rod steady so I could tie the warp threads and at this stage I removed the G clamps and used this string to support the lease rods as well. The reason for holding the apron rod steady like this is that otherwise it depends for support on the warp threads. I would tie the outer edges of the warp first and these would stablise the apron. The first bunches of warp are therefore difficult to tie, and adjustments are difficult, as all the weight of the apron is carried by the knots I'm tying. I've used a temporary extra tie like this a couple of times and found it makes the task much easier. See photo below, arrow points to the cotton cord at the outer edge of the apron.

As the weavers reading this know, there's another stage between threading the warp yarns through the heddles on the shafts and this stage of tying the warp to the front apron. That is the sleying of the reed. The reed hangs in a moving frame to beat weft threads forwards on the warp, with the aim of creating an even weave. For this sampler I'm preparing to weave, I am using a reed with twelve spaces, known as dents, to the inch. I'm threading 2 warp ends through every dent. Or that's the intention - spot the error in this next photo.

It may not be immediately apparent to someone not used to looking at loom set ups just where the error is. I didn't notice it until a while afterwards, in spite of thinking I was looking carefully and checking as I went along. When I realised I'd made a mistake I moved the loom a bit in order to get it in a postion where I have better light, and can see better! The next photo has an arrow to indicate the error, in case you missed it too.

By the time I spotted this I had tied bunches of warp threads to the apron rod. I had to untie and shift every pair of threads one dent sideways until the error was gone.

Something I have been finding as I set up the loom was this warp is that it is very helpful having different coloured threads. It does make it easier to spot if threads are twisted or crossed out of place. I hope you will agree, when I get around to posting the photos of the sampler I'm now weaving, that they look good in the cloth too. I'm enjoying weaving on this warp.

Tea-break from loom set up - and let's talk knitting.

I've been working on my loom setup this morning. The warp is tied on to the apron rod and now the tension in the thread groups needs adjusting. I also need to adjust the treadle ties to get a good shed. I've made a start, but this job is made harder by the new cloth aprons on my loom. These aprons prevent me reaching the lams from the front of the loom once I've got a warp on. Access from the back of the loom involves something that's a bit like gymnastics and a bit like finding the last piece of the jigsaw is slightly too big to fit the gap (!) as I have to swing myself through a gap at the side of the loom frame that's 17 inches high and have a 12 inch deep space to sit between the back of the loom and the lams. I understand that the other Toika looms have more space, but my Norjaana is sold as compact for people lacking space, that suits me, as I'm (fortunately) a compact sized person myself.

Photos of my progress with this weaving project will follow, I've taken a few but have to borrow a computer at the local library to get them posted into this blog (software compatibility problems).

Now, here are photos of something quite different. I'm learning to knit as well. I'm very proud of the jumper you see in this next photo, as this is my second attempt. The first time I had this much jumper knitted, it turned out to be rather misshapen, due to poor (erratic!) tension control. I sadly undid the whole thing and started again. The first time I'd rushed along happily, re-knitting has been slow and patient.

The wool used is Twilleys Freedom Spirit, shade 505.














The pattern is my own design, with assistance from Knitting in the Old Way: Designs and Techniques from Ethnic Sweaters byPriscilla A. Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson, pub. Nomad Press, 2004, ISBN 1-800-462-6420 and, because this book alone wasn't enough to get me to understand pattern design, I have also used a really excellent book I found recommended by The Knitting History Forum, Knitting Your own designs for a perfect fit by Montse Stanley, pub. David and Charles, 1982, ISBN 0-7153-8227-6. This book is out of print, but I found a copy by using abebooks. Montse is very through in explaining choice of style, construction technique and pattern drawing using specially proportioned graph paper. There's a nice chapter too on "amending and altering", as she understands we don't all get everything right everytime! I've been knitting on a Addi circular needle, 3mm size and 60cm long. This is smaller than recommended for the wool, but I needed this size for the correct tension because of holding the yarn in my left hand "continental" style which produces looser stitches.

I've paused this knit project temporarily, while working on the sleeve design. As I'm lost without a bit of knitting to keep my hands busy when I relax at the end of the day, I've started another pair of socks. I'm using an Opal sock yarn and knitting on a set of 5 needles, 2.5mm. In this picture you can see how I've started with a daimond for the sock toe, and have picked up stitches on all four sides to knit the foot section.






I've knitted about a dozen pairs of socks now, since getting started when the Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers ran a sock knitting workshop last year. IThe diamond / square toe comes from Lucy Neatby in Cool Socks Warm Feet (Tradewind Knitwear Desings, ISBN 0-9733940-0-05), and I use a "short row" heel technique, described in Lucy's book but I believe this was popularised by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. My feet are UK size 4 ( 37 Eur.) and I find a good fit for me is 56 stitches round (13 on each needle). I start knitting the toe when the foot length is the same as the distance from my toe to heel bone.

Here's one last photo to show a handknitted sock in everyday wear - and one of the boots I wear most days, being a country dweller. A very comfy combination!

Treadle tie-up and threading.

Here's evidence of some progress. I've tied up the treadles of my countermarche loom, a Toika Norjanna, for a waffle pattern on p.46 of The Best of Weavers - Fabrics that go Bump (ed. Madelyn van de Hoogt, pub. XRX 2002, ISBN 1-893762-11-4). There are two related weaves on the same page that I shall also try, as all have the same 8-shaft straight threading.

I have texsolv cords for my loom tie-up, and am posting here a photo of the treadle tie-up. It took me a few months to develop this system, which has saved a great deal of time. The first time I tied up the treadles it took several hours - now I can do it in about 1/2 hour.

The features to note here are, firstly, for every treadle hole that needs tying to a lamm there is a square anchor peg holding the texsolv cord under the treadle, and a square anchor peg is used on top of the lamm to attach the cord.

Second, every texsolv cord is of ample length to thread through the top lam if need be. When I bought this loom, it had a set of short cords and a set of long cords that needed swapping around. Changing to long cords all over means I do not have to reach under the treadles to remove and reattach cords.

It is a feature of the countermarche loom system that every treadle is tied to every shaft - either via the lower lamm which raises the shaft, or via the upper lamm which will lower the shaft.

I'm not going to explain here the different handloom operation systems, but, basically a countermarche loom creates a larger shed for the shuttle by either raising or lowering every shaft - hence every heddle and every warp thread carried by a heddle. Best book on different loom types: Eric Broudy,
The Book of Looms: A History of the Handloom from Ancient Times to the Present, (ISBN: 0289708737). Some learning to weave books are also helpful, and I understand (haven't seen a copy) that Peggy Ostercamp's book Warping Your Loom and Tying on New Warps (web site www.weaving.cc ) has a good explanation of loom types).

This clever little gadget was, in its former existence, part of a d string on a guitar. In it's current handy loop form it is an excellent tool for threading the texsolv cord through lamms and treadles, as shown below.

The next photo is of the warp threads that I wound on to the loom the other day. Every thread (alternately) runs under or over the two lease rods, crossing over in between the rods. These lease rods are held in position by a couple of very useful large metal rings, they are sold in hardware shops, I think for carrying very large bunches of keys. This is an idea from another weaver, Leigh which she shared in her blog (see here for photo) earlier this year. I find this an excellent method of supporting the lease rods (plus cords tying the rings and rods to the loom frame) as, previously, when I used only linen ties, the sticks would swing around a bit and getting hold of the right thread was therefore harder to do.

The "cross" over in the threads for these lease rods is created at the stage of unreeling the thread from and measuring the appropriate length of yarn out on a warp board.

In this photo you see my hand (having reached over the loom shafts) selecting the first thread to thread through a heddle on a loom shaft. I select every thread carefully like this, having learnt the hard way that getting the threads out of order or twisted at this stage causes problems :( later.



Every single thread that will be part of the weave pattern is pulled through a heddle on a loom shaft. If you're thinking - not every thread then - you're right. Two threads on each edge of the warp are to be used as a "floating selvedge" and do not form part of the pattern weaving.

The next photo shows the first eight heddles threaded, behind (to the right) are further groups of threads sitting in half-inch groups (of 12 threads, I will weave at 24 warp ends per inch (epi)). Running over the shafts, to the right again, are four threads that remain of the first group of twelve. You can't see them, but those lease rods are between the raddle and the back of the loom.








My final picture here shows another careful precaution - each repeat group threaded through the heddles (here eight threads, threaded through heddles on shafts 8 - 1) is tied in a slip knot. I check the group is all in correct order and through the correct heddle, with no twists or crossovers, before I tie that knot.

This system helped me spot an error shortly after taking that photo. I counted the threads in a group and found there were 7, not 8. I looked again and found I had missed out one heddle. It saves a lot of time to put this sort of error right at the earliest possible moment! Yep, that's another lesson I learnt the long way!!