Snap, Crackle, Pop

I just tackled another new-to-me weave structure, crackle.  Crackle is also known as Jamtlandvaev in Swedish weaving terminology.  The American name for the weave structure comes from the pottery terminology for a type of glaze.  Some of the colors in the woven cloth just barely peak through, like the crackles on a ceramic pot. And crackle is a whole lot easy to spell and pronounce than Jamtlandvaev.

These towels were woven with a 4 block crackle using 4 colors.  In each single color warp block, there are at least 3 options for color - the warp color, the tabby weft and the pattern weft.  Crackle is similar to overshot because you weave a tabby shot and then a pattern shot.  This gives a huge variety of color options once the loom is warped.  I used 4 colors for the warp: tan, pumpkin and burgundy in 8/2 cotton and a navy blue yarn frogged from a cotton sweater.  The pattern weft floats over up to three warp ends at a time.

Researching crackle, the set up sounded complex, but it's actually easier to weave than it is to read the instructions.  It's a block weave, with the rule that at the end of each group of the same blocks, you need to add another warp thread called an "incidental".

A  is threaded: 1, 2, 3, 2
B is threaded:  2, 3, 4, 3
C is threaded: 1, 4, 3, 4
D is threaded: 1, 4, 1, 2

A = 1
B = 2
C = 3

D = 4

In one of the towels, I used the same tabby throughout.  The other three, I just selected colors randomly.  On some, I was consistent in the number of picks per block - 16 tabby and 16 pattern.  On the other towels, I mixed it up, which resulted in thick and thin rectangles in a wide variety of color combinations.  The other benefit is the front and back sides of the cloth can end up with different color variations.

The starting point for these towels came from Country Rustic Towels, Best of Handwoven, A Dozen Projects Using 8/2 Cotton.

Date Finished  March 2013

Loom  Baby Wolf

Weave Structure  Crackle

Reed  12, 16 epi

Warp     Fiber  cotton

              Count  mostly 8/2

              Color tan, burgundy, pumpkin, navy

              Mfr  Dragon Tail

              Source  Earth Guild

Warp     Width in Reed  22 in

              Ends  354

              Length  4 yds

Weft      Same

Beat        More   Weft Faced        

Size  Finished 19 x 24

Notes  - These towels are wider than a typical dish towel.  Next time, I'll narrow the warp.  Ended up with 3 towels and a small handtowel.

WOLF TRAP IMPROVEMENT

I love my Baby Wolf loom, I got it used about a year ago.  It is perfect for taking between Montana and North Carolina.  It might even work to take to workshops, as long as I have someone to help get it in and out of the truck.  The loom came with rollers, which allow me to move it around in the house and even out to the front porch.  It also came with a wolf trap, a sling for holding tools that fits on the front beam.  However, the dowels were continually coming out of the wooden supports and the whole thing would collapse.  Gary saw my frustration with it and made a small piece that fits onto the front support, after the wolf trap is on the loom.  This provides enough support so that it won't fall off, unless I pull the support piece off.  Brilliant, thanks.