It's been a busy time here this October and we're now into November, complete with shifting clocks back an hour to standard time and into what I'd like to call "the Dark Times". You know, the time period where you can have lunch and watch the sun set at the same time? 😳
It took some time to tweak Maeve up and get her running smoothly. Heddles needed thinning, then layering shaft by shaft so not cause the shafts to float. I discovered that the apron rod at the breast beam (stick is more accurate) is actually 1/4 inch too long and jams under the breast beam when starting a warp. Nothing more complicated other than being simply a tad bit long for the space. I know a man with a saw who can fix that so not a problem.
The loom doesn't come with beater blocks anymore like my old loom so we had to make some from maple and install. Funny thing is, they still pre drill it for the blocks and then don't add them. I didn't like looking at the holes, and I wanted the beater blocks as it meant a further reach for arthritic shoulder joints.
The black rubber 'feet' under the loom and bench leave black marks on the carpet, so I ordered clear 1 inch foot cups and after cutting down the soft side to the right height, slipped them onto the bench's feet. No more marks! The loom's feet will be done at some future date when I have some big burly helpers to tip her side to side to slip them on. Its little details like this that drive me crazy and so I look for a solution.
In her spot so I can see the garden.... or watch winter storms.
This plum shade is the start where I wove just to get the feel of the loom and check for errors. Happily none! I chose a handweaving.net draft #79912 as it used all 16 shafts and is basically a point twill and sequentially a reversed point twill. The heddles were all bunched up and so each and every one of the 728 had to be teased apart, cut either top or bottom loop if missed and so this took a fair amount of time to do.
I could see lines in the warp so I carefully checked and they were threaded correctly. I had used a 14 dent reed, slayed 2 ends per dent so that reduces warp streaking. I would stop and check every little thing that looked 'odd' and there was nothing to fix.
I had double soft butter yellow ends as a design feature in the coloured stripes. I wasn't too sure about that but it worked out okay to have them than not.
It was 7.5 yards of 10/2 cottons from Web's; sett 28 epi. Approx 25 inches in the reed and I wove each of the 6 towels to 37 inches. Three has cream weft, one had khaki, one was a plain version of the three main stripe colours and the last was a plaid where I wove a plaid and also included the butter yellow. That one is my favourite.
Here are the group of 6 towels with the Cameo Rose pink stripe facing out. There was also a silvery purple and a deep mossy green. The neutral portion of the warp was a cotton colour called Shell and I used a neutral cream as weft on three towels.
This is the plaid: I also noticed that there were lines in the weft every pattern repeat now that it was off tension. It also happened on the reverse but in the second portion of the repeat. It looked like skips! It affected every towel, front and back. So I checked the draft, the tie up plan, did the shafts misbehave? Everything was correct and fine. So its a feature that appears off tension that looks like a mistake but isn't. It still bothered me though.
I have another warp that I was planning to use the same draft again and now was changing my mind on that. I will use the same threading but a different tie up plan.
Here my favourite as the soft yellow perks everything up. I turned the hems and hand sewed them. I'm not a fan of the 'stitch ditch' line. Some of my buyers use what I call a kitchen towel as a table runner instead so this makes them more versatile.
The khaki towel.
The three towels with an off white 10/2 weft.
The towels end up being 21.5 inches wide by 30 inches with the shrinkage and hems turned. Quite a bit of shrinkage but they are still generously large sized towels.
Things well under way on Maeve:
The name Maeve is of Irish origin and means "she who intoxicates" or "she who rules". It comes from the Old Irish name Medb, the name of a powerful warrior queen in Irish mythology, also linked to the Proto-Celtic root *medu- for "mead" (a honey wine). Another meaning associated with the name is "the cause of great joy".
Well, once we have all our initial kinks worked out, Maeve will rule the studio and be the cause of much joy !
My newly set up winding station. Current weft yarns on top and the next projects weft yarns on the second shelf. Third layer has a series of 3 pound weights to use while beaming a warp. Towel under the winder is by dear friend Wayne Nicholson.
Finally, for those of you out there with 16 shaft looms, the draft and you'll see there are a few treadling variations to try. I have the number wrong below and the correct draft number is 79912 at handweaving.net. I call it a senior moment 😉
