🧗‍♀️ Many Ways to Climb a Point Twill Hill 🏔

I recently saw this in an email from Long Thread Studio who publish Handwoven magazine for weavers:

 “Fun fact: There are 65,534 tie-up combinations on a 16-shaft loom.” To which I replied, “And I bet there is someone out there trying them all.” Although I didn’t know the validity of the number at the time, I was pretty sure I was right that somewhere in the world a weaver was trying every tie-up combination, “just to see.”     

Taken from : Handwoven article

They were talking about me I think..... 😊

I had bought a large 3 pound cone of natural 8/2 unmercerized cotton "ring spun" from Unicorn Weaving Yarns (Quebec) on Etsy.  I planned to do a long 11 yard warp and then weave 10 towels and each one a different tie up / treadling on my Megado.   The cotton showed me a hint of what was to come when I took the first bout wound off the warping mill as it all twisted up on itself!

Beaming the warp was tricky due to the curl or energy in the yarn. It looked like a nice even two ply to me but....     (Oh, I have two more 3 lb cones of this yarn so I hope they aren't all like this!)

I had to get help... lucky Hubby, and we fought all of it on.  Threading went okay.    16 shaft point twill with a straight draw on either side.    Sett 24 epi.

Weft was from 3 colours of Bockens Nialin cottolin in a green turquoise, mid blue and an oatmeal shade.  I'm trying to use up the last of this stash.   ⭐️   Gold star for me!

 This sweet little 5-6 inches became my samples for my records.

I wove four towels and was about to weave number five when I noticed something iffy.    I looked carefully under a pick glass and saw that I had ONE thread missing from the threading sequence.  It didn't show until I changed to the new treadling and then became obvious.    😢

I cut off the four towels and rethreaded the left 4-5 inches of the warp, resleyed and tied back on again.  Once you know... it has to go!

So I have some samples and nine towels.   Only one towel has an obvious mistake and all four of the first towels are being gifted to relatives, who either won't notice (my brother) or if they do, know enough to keep quiet as they won't get anymore.  Towels work perfectly as seconds regardless.   

Eight towels here.... with one blue one off in someone's kitchen already!

The blues...

The oatmeal...

The green turquoise...    (the gifted towel has the same pattern as the large diamond in the centre of this grouping, but in blue)

One towel was gifted immediately to our house painter for his Dutch wife so I wasn't able to get a picture of it before it went.  The man had just single handedly painted the whole exterior of our home and 2 garden sheds in five days so they earned a gift of a blue and white towel. 

So in the future I will wind only a short warp with this cotton as its not worth fighting the curl.   Or use as weft?  It will be used up though...   the hand and softness of the cloth shows it was worth the battle. 

Some individual pictures showing both sides:

There will be more pictures to come of our newly painted house but a slight delay as our painter has hurt his back..... but soon!

Happenstance

I must admit to playing favourites in my studio.  My 'go-to' loom has been the Spring. I like the way it involves all of me. Mind and body.  I can make choices on the fly and improvise.  The only drawback is the tie up which I have tried to improve for me physically by lifting up the loom and sitting on a stool to do the cords. With the loom only being 36 inches wide and light, it's not a big issue.

The Megado has no tie up per say.  The computer tells it what to lift and when.  Its very straight forward. The weaver simply treadles and throws the shuttle.  You watch the lines build into your chosen pattern and try to catch any irregularities within a pic or two.   All the thinking part is done when you are designing your draft. All the planning must be done in advance, or take time to revise away from the loom. 

Its a very different mindset and one I felt uncomfortable with..... but I think that's all changed. I'm feeling the love now.  

I had to get used to a different way of sitting and throwing. I also had to adjust to the fact that my left leg and knee are simply not strong enough to do its fair share of treadling so I have been building up strength slowly. The right leg does much of the work (for now).   Artificial joints don't move like a normal hip or knee and so you only gain 80-85% of your original mobility back.

Some thing was off with the loom though..... it was cranky and out of sorts. I would have to tighten up nuts and bolts after each towel woven.   It shouldn't be like this....

Here you can see what the screen I looks like when I'm weaving. This shows me at the end of a treadling repeat. I will reset the 'lag chain' again and carry on.  You can set it to endlessly loop and it will carry on, but I like to stop and change legs, wind another pirn and occasionally stretch.

Here's what it looks like on the loom. Its not a pattern you'll find anywhere but one that came by happenstance.

This is what I was originally weaving. A plaited or braided twill, but it wasn't very clearly defined. See the sample on the bottom in the picture below.

So I found another braided twill pattern and tried this one out:

This is the one is shown as the top sample and as you can see, it makes a big difference.  I must admit that being able to change things on the fly like this is kind of nice!

Roll the clock well ahead and I finally came back to the loom to get things moving again.  I decided to make start fresh with a new draft  and so started playing in Fiberworks again.

The green sample is one I tried and it was too muddled and so it went to the trash bin. Then I found this interesting pattern:  

Its meant to be woven as a point twill (see left hand side of draft) but my threading is a straight draw (see the right hand side of draft).  I tested it out as shown in the turquoise sample pictured above.   I liked it!   I might even try this one again in the point twill version in the future.

So I wove off 7 towels, using up some of my cottolin stash for weft.  The warp is 8/2 unmercerised cotton in a natural beige or bone colour.  Sett is 24 epi.

So six full sized towels, final measurements approximately 19 inches x 29 inches.  There is one shorter one that I'm calling a table square.

 I wove to 34 inches on the loom, they relaxed to 33 inches and came out of the wash (before hemming) to 30 inches!   That's a lot of loss in the length. They also lost in width as well so its a good thing I make them large to begin with!   I did a very simple rolled hem and hand stitched.   A good press in the Singer steam press and they are finally done.

Thick and thirsty !   Two are being gifted right away 😊

Meanwhile....I'm happy to say that the Megado is finally being reloaded with 6.5 yards of tencel for scarves.  I'll be sleying the reed this afternoon. We did a total rebuild of the back of the loom and shifted some carriage bolts that were in the wrong locations. Suddenly the loom is behaving and we will have a much better time of it from here on in!

The Spring has an 8 yard cotton warp waiting to be threaded for another towel warp.   So who gets my attention now?   Its a coin toss every day now....  I admire their differences and love them both.

At long last.  💖

Year's End

Christmas preparations are well under way.   I see lights every where, homes with trees showcased in the living room windows and traffic is heavy on the roads as everyone dashes to and fro.

We'll be staying close to home for the holidays, just hubby and me!   Our time with the grand kids will happen after New Years when things quieten down a smidge.   Its all just fine with us as we don't get too cranked about Christmas anyhow.   Its an awful lot of pressure on a young family for one day and so we actually prefer to do it at a quieter time.

Our daughter in law sent us a picture from a recent photography session and they are making selections from the professional's cd to purchase.   So the copy I have (for now) has their watermark but its still a great one of the grand kids.   So here are my little darlings!   Ethan (3 1/2 years old) and Madison (nearly 10 months old). I want to know how they got Ethan to sit still that long!

As of now I have completed sorting all photographs from the Family Collection. Boxed up anything not being done during the scanning phase, such as negatives and slides.  Its become more compact but still is a sizeable lump in the studio.  But its a far cry from ten box loads it was three weeks ago!

To be fair, the two Home Depot boxes are full of negatives, slides (to be viewed and done later) and a lot of scenery and travel shots that won't be done for a *long* time. The main portion is the envelopes top right and the stack of albums from the blue lid and up.  The plastic box with the blue lid and down are full of documents which will be used for genealogy and the ongoing family tree at Ancestry.  Most of them will be scanned as well to be part of the permanent record.

 I'm researching scanners and various on line articles on how to do this project right the first time. Its looking like the Canon scanner we have is likely suitable for the job.  Now wouldn't that be nice?

So the anniversary date of when I first started this blog is coming up on January 8th. Its hard to believe that I've been at this for eight years!  Some of you have even been following my antics for all those years too.  (big warm thank you!)  Some of you are newer to the blog and enjoying reading older posts.  I've heard from many of you via email, become fast friends with many and had some even come to visit me.

This is when I like to do a 'give-away' to readers as a thank you.  This time the gift is a recently completed huck lace guest towel ,  of 10/2 mercerized cotton and with a fine bamboo weft.  It features extensive hemstitching as well.   Now I must admit that its not entirely perfect and is what we call a second with a treadling error. Its still lovely and only weavers would know.... your house guest will never notice as they dry their hands.

So how do you enter the draw?  Well, I would like you to write a comment (see blow the post and click on the 'comment' word)  and tell me what you like about my blog? .... what keeps you  coming back?  

**Please be very clear with your name and an email to reach you.**  

I will make the draw by old fashioned, well stirred  "name in a hat" style and announce the winner on January the 8th.

 In the mean time, the good news is,  I am back to the looms once again!  I have made a good restart and it feel great to be back on the bench again.  This break away from weaving has been beneficial in a few ways in that my knee has had better time to heal but I was still productive every day, and now I can get back to the looms feeling energized and ready to start the new year!

I have been weaving for a time most afternoons and I'm happy to tell you that I have completed one scarf and started another. Plus I have two towels done on the Megado.   So I'll keep on and hope to have some show and tell for you some time soon!   Here are some pictures:

An eight shaft elaborate point twill, woven "network style". What you can see there is one repeat measuring 7 1/2 inches.

I've shown this one before but it does show the scarf being "treadled as threaded".  I had wound the warp forward to start the second scarf and suddenly realized I had forgotten to take a picture!  I was feeling pretty good about finishing one scarf and eager to start again!

Purple and teal towels done and I'm moving onto a pretty shade of blue cottolin next!  I'm having fun again...

I'd like to wish you a Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Yule!

and Io Saternalia!

For the more traditional of you out there, Merry Christmas !  We hope you enjoy time with family and friends and no doubt there will be good food and lots of it. I hope Santa brings you some yarn as well as other goodies!

I hope 2016 is a healthy and happy year for us all. I know that I'm sure looking forward to seeing happier times and definitely more weaving in the weeks and months ahead!

Remember to leave a comment for an entry into the draw for the guest towel give-away January 8th!    I will be back with a New Year's Day post about what is on the loom AND  my annual studio year in review....

Drum Roll Please! The Winner is......

So, I wrote down every name of people who wrote a comment on the December 21st post and very scientifically, shook them all up in a sealed container and drew one out.... and it was......

Here's Barbara's comment:

 barbara said...

Hi Susan - Congratulations on reaching your 7th Anniversary of your blog - I have enjoyed every posting, and have learned lots from your writings. I am so pleased to hear that your recovery is coming along, and you are even thinking of go out to see a movie "The Hobbit", I too plan to see that as soon as Christmas is over. I have really tried to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, and am fortunate that I don't have to get all involved with the "commercial" end. This makes for a very relaxing time, spending time with whom I want to spend time with. Nice to see that you are starting to think about weaving again, and things will fall into place when your body is healed. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Bruce. Enjoy the holiday season! Weaverly yours ... Barbara

Barbara has won the 12 shaft kitchen towel!   Its a rather interesting twill. Its a twelve shaft draft, threaded like a turned twill.  White cottolin sett at 24 epi and the weft is 8/2 cotton in pink. There is two distinct blocks (treadles 1 to 6, and, treadles 7 to 12) What you see above is a simple treadling of 1 through to 12 and repeated. Optically its a brain teaser! 

Please email me with your mailing address Barbara  to weever at shaw dot ca .  Its all wrapped and ready to go!

I find it hard to believe that I have kept this blog up for seven years as of today. I also know that some of you have been reading it all that time too. Thanks for hanging in there for the weaving content and also for enduring home renovations, new well being drilled, trees being felled,  trips away and baby arrivals!   Many of you have come along in the years since and live in many diverse places all around the world.  Great to have you all come and visit.

I have heard from many of you via email and sometimes run into you at places like Ravelry (where I am weever) and Facebook (where I have a page called Thrums Textiles ) and enjoyed chatting with you.  I have handled questions on looms, sources for yarns and such. The one thing I have noticed is just how much we have in common regardless of where we live.

Besides busy lives with children and grandchildren, we all share a love of weaving and working with fibre, of challenging ourselves to do more and better.  How to fit more weaving into our lives and how to make beautiful, functional cloth.

On the home front right now, I am making my way slowly with a cane in the house and the walking is getting easier as 'things' adjust to the new reality. My physiotherapist is quite pleased with my progress.   I even sat in the studio yesterday and spun on my spinning wheel while I waited for laundry to run its course. It felt great and it exercises the lower legs nicely.  So the wheel has been promoted to the living room to keep me busy and I have some lovely fleece from New Zealand on the go right now.

I did get to the movie, "The Hobbit: The Five Armies" and loved it.  I sat on my four wheel walker with a cushion and kept shifting my legs to keep things happy.   The length of the film was the only challenge but I survived! The multi-plex theatre has eight individual theatres and our film was in number 8.... the farthest away (of course). So Bruce suggested I sit on the walker and lift my feet.....and he pushed me down the long hallway and saved me many, many steps!  What a guy huh?

One Step at a Time

While I'm embarrassed to say how long this project has been going on, I'm also happy to crow that it's finally  finished now!  Do you ever have a project that you are happy to start but it turns into the longest 'short' warp ever?

So what happened? Well, I love the big loom... my Woolhouse Tools countermarche, but she needs a full leg extension to treadle and that can aggravate a lower back problem. So what happens is that what ever is on the loom must wait until I can treadle again comfortably.

Then add my left knee into the mix and a right foot as well and it complicates the issue.  While I complain about health issues, I rarely go into much depth on this topic but this time I will explain what I do know. I need a left knee replacement and waiting to see a surgeon. Then after that is done and healed, my right foot needs a mid foot bone fusion.  That requires a full three months to heal properly with no weight on the foot.  I drew the short straw when it came to the family's arthritis gene pool! None of this will be happening for at least a year

I share this as I'm not producing as much finished weaving as I used to and so things here at the blog will naturally reflect that. I'm continuing to weave regardless, but just not that fast.  

Baby Boomers are getting older and with that comes health problems such as worn out joints. It makes good sense that loom builders consider some modifications to their looms or at least have them available as options.  The 20+ tie up assist on my Woolhouse was one of those adaptations  and its very name means "twenty plus more years of weaving". I added mine after my hip replacement in 2001. It sure made life easier not having to crawl under the loom for tie up's.

Enough of my woes and lets get on with the towel project...

The draft came from Handweaving.net and is threaded like a turned twill. Its the tie up that adds the twist! The draft above shows the two variations I used separated by a black stripe. More on them later.

I used 22/2  cottolin that I bought way back when from Nordic Studios when it still resided in Canada. (It was later sold and evolved into the Lone Star Loom Room ).  My sett was 24 epi and my warp was 8.06 yards for seven towels. (see what I mean about not that long??) The idea was six towels for sale and one for us. I like large towels and so they were 25"  in the reed and a total of 618 ends. I literally had enough cottolin left for one floating selvedge only and the second had to be 8/2 cotton. The two pound cone was barely enough for the warp. I haven't come quite this close before!

My weft was 8/2 cotton from Brassards that I have on hand so this project was helping with stash reduction. 

I found the treadling of simply going from treadle one to treadle twelve the easiest on my joints. The work was evenly shared by both legs and so after one towel woven  turned twill style, I went back to the simpler version and did the other six towels the same. I made each of them a different colour and once off the loom and edges secured by the serger they looked to be a happy bunch! (see the very top picture)

I enjoy hand sewing the hems. I also find there is no obvious stitch line like a sewing machine produces. It hangs smoothly with no buckling along the hem line. The sewing holds up nicely and I have a combination cottolin and cotton towel that was hand hemmed back in 1998 that is washed regularly and still looks great. Remember that sewing machines are a 'modern' invention and for many hundreds, if not thousands of years it was just the simple needle and thread.

They were washed and hung to dry out doors on my drying rack. I brought them in for ironing while still a touch damp.  The final measurements were 23" by 28" so generously large.

lime

cinnamon

peach

royal blue

bubblegum pink

moss green

plum

I also managed to get an additional square measuring 24" by 24" in plum which I'm turning into a table centre and crocheting an edging. I'll show you that when its all done. Then were even some samples for my records which is always nice.    This project was hard work but I took it one step, literally, at a time....