Weaving Tools - Handmade

Weaving takes an incredible amount of stuff to get to the point that you can put a warp on a loom and weave it off.  Warping board, cone holder, heddle hook, reed hook, temple, bobbins, bobbin winder, fringe twister, boat shuttle, ski shuttle, stick shuttle,,,,, The list goes on and on and on.  Then there is the yarn, different colors, different sizes, different fibers.  All of this is to say is that it takes serious coin to be a weaver.  It is very different than knitting a sweater where you need knitting needles, yarn and a pattern and you are ready to go.  I was lucky enough to have started weaving over 40 years ago and accumulated a fair number of weaving tools at that time, when costs were pretty low.  My 45" 4 harness loom cost $350 new in 1972, today that loom would run over $2,000.  But instead of going broke buying tools, I have a DH who is a superb wood worker and he has made me quite a variety of tools, some patterned after the standards and some of his own invention.

For Christmas this year, he made the beautiful boat shuttle to the left.  It has an open bottom and holds the Schacht size bobbins and feeds easily through the shed.  It came from a dead dogwood tree that DH  cut down at a house he was remodeling in Brevard.  Since I weave in two locations that are 2000 miles apart, I can never have enough boat shuttles.  I am currently weaving crackle towels that have 4 color changes and so I am using every one of my 4 boat shuttles in Montana.



Late last year, I was working on a project that required a double yarn for the pattern weft and winding two threads on a bobbin does not always lead to both yarns pulling evenly out of the shuttle.  The double boat shuttle solves this problem by winding two separate bobbins.  This shuttle is also made of dogwood, which has been used for making weaving tools for ages because of it's hardness and close grain.


Wolf Trap Snuggy

 This ingenious little piece of wood snugs up my Wolf Trap on the Schacht Baby Wolf Loom.  Without it the Wolf Trap was always falling off the front beam.

Reed Holder

The reed holder arrived unanounced in my studio, I think because I was always borrowing DH's clamps whenever I wanted to sley the reed.  As a front to back warper, I usually sley the reed on a table, instead of on the loom.  I have used clamps, soup cans or whatever was on hand to hold the reed in an upright position.

Cross Holder

Another tool for warping, just a small block of wood with 4 nails to hold the cross.  I can walk away from warping and not loose the cross.  This little invention came from Barbara Miller of the Western North Carolina Fiber/Handweavers Guild.

Nostepinne

Scandinavian tool for winding balls.  I have used this for unwinding sweaters purchased from thrift stores.

Inkle Loom

Gary made this inkle loom in a day, when I thought I would be taking an inkle weaving class.  Unfortunately the class was full, but fortunately I got a great little loom for making bands.

Overshot Runner - Susan Hanes

I found this overshot pattern in Handwoven's Deck the Halls for a holiday table runner and cut up for Christmas ornaments.  The pattern called for red and green plaid warp and tabby weft, with white for the pattern yarn.  I changed it up to match the yarn I had on hand and finished it in time for Valentine's Day.  Actually it was even completed in time for Chinese New Year, red works for so many holidays.  With the 3 1/2 yard warp, I completed 3 table runners, two red and one aqua.

The pattern is also found in Marguerite Davison's, A Handweaver's Pattern Book where it is called Susan Hanes.  It must have NC textile connections to the Hanes family.

The pattern yarn came from the Humane Society Thrift Shop for $1 a ball.  It is a mercerized, cotton crochet yarn, close to a 5/2.  From the label, it looks like it was made in the 60's, so antique yarn for these antique looking table runners.  It was purchased originally from a discount store, Sky City, a chain that has been out of business for over 30 years.

Date Finished January, 2013

Loom  Baby Wolf

Weave Structure  Overshot - Susan Hanes

Reed  10,  2 ends 

Warp     Fiber  cotton

              Count  8/2

              Color  natural

              Mfr  Dragon Tail

              Source Earth Guild

Warp     Width in Reed  15 3/4"

              Ends  317

              Length  3 1/2 yds

Tabby Weft   - same as warp
Pattern Weft   Fiber  cotton, mercerized, crochet thread

              Count  - unknown, used single on one, not heavy enough, used double on remaining two runners

              Color red and turquoise

              Mfr

              Source  Humane Society thrift shop

Beat                       50/50                    

Size  Three runners, 14 x 28 inch (hemmed)

Notes:  The draft in Handwoven has an error in the repeats,  The number of ends is correct, but the repeat pattern is not, there are 4 1/2 repeats of the pattern, not 5.  I used a crochet yarn for the pattern yarn, but as a single it was not thick enough to create the overshot pattern.  Doubled the second two and made a much better appearance.  For each of the runners where the pattern weft was doubled, I used a little over one ball of yarn.

Overshot - Cat Tracks and Snail Trails

This set of 3 towels is not yet finished, even though it was started over 2 months ago.  Soon after putting this on the Newcomb, we left town for Montana.  I have been busy on other projects and will post those as soon as I get around to taking the photos.   I hope to get a chance to finish the Cat Tracks towels later this month.  The towels are weaving up nicely, but in the pattern areas, two strands of 8/2 cotton is required.  I have been winding a single shuttle with double strands which doesn't always feed through evenly.  Gary recently made a double shuttle for me, which solves this problem.  I can't wait to finish up these towels with the new double shuttle.

Date Finished - not done yet

Loom  Newcomb

Weave Structure Overshot

Reed 10, 2 ends per dent

Warp Fiber cotton

Count  8/2

Color natural and blue

Mfr  Dragon's Tail

Source  Earth Guild

Warp Width in Reed  18 1/4 "

Ends  362

Length  3 1/2 yds

Weft Fiber  same, doubled for pattern yarn
           

Beat 50/50                    

Size

Notes

Space Dyed Scarf

I love this scarf and it will stay on my neck most of the winter.  It's the first thing that I have woven AND dyed in the past 25 years and I am planning to dye more yarn for weaving this winter.  I took a class from Kathrin Weber at Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in October, 2012 on space dyeing.  We dyed a couple of skeins of cotton and rayon and one warp.  One of the things I learned from the weaving is the importance of making the color changes every 6 inches or so, not every 12 inches.  To show the effects of the different colors, you need to have frequent color changes.  The other two skeins have longer distances between the color changes.  When weaving these, I think I will tie on the warp on in groups that allow the color to shift several inches, giving an ikat-like effect.  Here's one of Kathrin Weber's designs that utilize this technique.

This scarf was made with the warp I dyed during the class.  The drawback is that the warp was only 100 ends, 4 yards long.  I got one full sized scarf from the warp and a short scarf, only about 40 inches.  It might be long enough for my 6 year old grand-daughter to wear, or it could make a cool cover for my tablet.

Because I wanted it to be predominantly warp faced, I needed a pretty close set, 20 epi.  I only found that out after sleying the reed at 15 epi and finding that the colors on the warp were not as clear as I would like.  So took all the ends out of the reed and started over.  The only other issue with this warp is that at 100 ends, it would give me a scarf only 5 inches wide, so I added several stripes of blue chenille.  The chenille was also used as the weft, which resulted in some iridescence in the fabric.

Date Finished  December 2012

Loom  Schacht Baby Wolf

Weave Structure  Plain

Reed  10 epi

Warp Fiber  Rayon thick and thin

Count 

Color  White, then space dyed with Procion dyes - mostly blues and reds

Source Blazing Shuttles

Warp Fiber  Rayon chenille

Count  1450

Color  Blue

Mfr

Source Webs

Warp Width in Reed  6.5 inches

Ends  132

Length  4 yds

Weft Fiber  Rayon Chenille

Count  1450

Color  Blue

 Source  Webs

Beat Warp Faced

Size  6.5" by 66" plus fringe

 

Towels

I completed another set of towels over the Christmas holiday.  I wove 4 towels from this warp on a rigid heddle loom, one of them was gifted at Christmas.  All of the yarn comes from yarn that was frogged from a couple of sweaters.  The red yarn is from a cotton sweater of Gary's that had lost it's shape.  He gladly gave it up to the cause.  The yarn in the stripes came from a single sweater that had large blocks of color.  I picked it up at a thrift store in Durham when I was shopping with Judy and Nona.   We were wasting time while waiting for Cathy to get off work so we could drive up to DC to meet Martha for a ladies weekend.  I normally wouldn't have bought it cause it was expensive, $3 for a sweater.  My usual price is 50 cents, so $3 was exorbitant, but still cheaper than the typical price for cotton yarn at $20 per pound, plus shipping.  But we were facing a 4 hour drive and I knew we could get the entire sweater done, especially if I had help from Judy and Nona in the frogging process.  The other benefit of this sweater was that it provided seven different colors, making it a good choice for accent stripes.  The only drawback is that it is a cotton/ramie blend and the ramie is not as absorbent as the cotton for dishtowels.  Using the cotton/ramie blend in small stripes shouldn't effect the feel of the towel.  I put a 20" warp on the loom, because with this yarn set at 12 epi, there is substantial shrinkage.  The finished towels ended up 17" by 24".

My mother also joined into unraveling over the Thanksgiving day holiday.



Beginning the weaving



Date Finished   December 2012

Loom  Schacht rigid heddle

Weave Structure  plain

Reed  12 epi

Warp Fiber   cotton

Source   frogging


Warp Width in Reed  20 inches

Ends  240

Length  4 yds

Weft Fiber  same

Beat 50/50 

Finished size  17" X 24"

Blue Ridge Fiber Show

The Blue Ridge Fiber Show is a biennial exhibition sponsored by the Western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild.  As a new member of the Guild, I had never been to the show before.  It was hung in September and this is the last week it will be displayed, so I just barely made it before it is dismantled.  Some beautiful examples of weaving, felting, and spinning are displayed with entries submitted from around the country, not just Guild members.  This was a juried show and all of the winners of the BRFS can be seen here. 

The Guild also took an old two harness barn loom and Guild members demonstrated weaving during the run of the show. 

The show is held at the NC Arboretum, located just south of Asheville.  December is not a great time to visit the Arboretum, since most of the plants are dormant.  But you can see the structure of the gardens and I can't wait to go back in the Spring.

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.