I have done a thorough break down of my weaving journey' across 3 scarves .
I had seen scarves woven with ladder yarn on the internet and thought it looked lovely! I have some balls of ladder yarn ( from now on, known as LY) and wanted to use it.
So I set up a 8/2 tencel gradient of 200 ends with LY every 25th end (total of 7). I used a sett of 20 epi. I wound it in with the warp. This did not go as planned. Of the warp for 2 scarves I only got one, and that I sat with tweezers and tried to gently tugged all the LY squares out.
Some conversations with 2 other weavers who have done this successfully and I end up with a new warp, a **sett of 18 epi, using a 12 dent reed ** Its sleyed 1,2, across. I always left an empty dent for the LY and finessed the sleying to have a '1' before, and after the LY. Giving it room to move.
The Italian Berlini LY was hung separately off the back of the loom in empty old film canisters (yes, I have a stash of those) BUT empty is too light so I end up adding one small stainless steel nut. You may have to play around and come up with what you have on hand.
Length of the LY: I used a 4 yard length for a scarf of 75 inches plus fringe of 10" x 2 and it wasn't enough! I would easily use 6 yards next time for one scarf. A safe bet is to double the warp length for the LY to the main warp.
I had to do some some fancy addition of paper clips to new lengths to eke it out to get my scarf done and fringe allowance .... not for the faint of heart!
The scarf with the magenta weft: woven to 75 inches plus fringe allowance. I had some issues with tension that wouldn't respond to my tweaks, and so I'm not happy with it. Plain weave will show off uneven beat and tension issues. I also just let the LY sit and go where it wanted.
The scarf with the dark teal weft: woven to 75" plus fringe allowance. I would weave 4-5 inches and then using a blunt needle tease out every second LY bump to make it pop more. I liked this effect best, and this was my favourite of the three and the best effort.
It's plain weave.... and I spread it over 8 shafts so I didn't have to shift any heddles around, which on a Megado is a royal pain.
I hand washed these scarves and used the spin cycle only to get water out. I worked them with my hands to smooth and flatten and then laid over a clothes rack to dry.
I pressed them using a wool setting and light steam to smooth the tencel portions. I folded the scarf in half and holding by the fringes, I 'wapped' in against the edge of the bed to soften and make the LY squares pop again. An old technique for de-crunching silk scarves after washing.
So I'm all done working out this out and moving onto new things....but since I have more LY in the stash, I will do it again.
Now I will add notes below each picture.... you may need to refer back up to the three sections on notes on each scarf for further clarity.
Initial warp wound with LY as a part of it. Bad move.
The take up pulled on the LY and so it became tight in the cloth. I tried to tug some of the colour buds out. It didn't go well as I hoped.
Scarf finished but looks blah.
I learned that the fringe needs to be tightly twisted.
Some colour nubs show now after working it, but its nothing like the scarf I saw on line.
So, I would another warp for two scarves.
This time in blues and the LY is hung separately..... with a small steel nut in a film canister.
Tencel 8/2 in Royal, Blue Ming and Azure
Berlini ladder yarn in colour 135 "Bon Bon"
Sett is 18 epi in a 12 dent reed; empty dent for the LY
The film canisters contains the extra warp length, which is good as its slippery stuff!
First scarf, I used red purple tencel and then struggled with tension issues on the right hand side. I tried extra weights etc but I was too far in to cut off and start again, or unweave.
.The colour buds as they happened naturally during weaving.
Here you can see the issues with the selvedge. Its not truly bad but it bothers me.
With the magenta over the blues, it shows as rather purple.
So onto the final scarf, and my favourite. I used 8/2 dark teal tencel.
Now despite being on the same warp, and I did not cut off and re tie on, the tension issues disappeared!
The weaving went well and no problems with the edges. Plain weave, to a pattern weaver, is sort of monotonous, so I found something to occupy my time.
Every 4 inches or so, I used a blunt needle and teased out every second colour bud to to make it more prominent. It shows nicely in the photo above.
The colour buds look great in the fringe too
So that's a wrap on this weaving adventure. I'll make some more in time and have ideas for a different look. I still have more balls of Berlini ladder yarn to use up! But time for something new.
Now, for the back story and credits:
It seems that the first known use of ladder yarn in weaving was recorded in April 2015 by weaver, Mette Froekjaer in her on line blog. Kelly Paul of Berkshire Handwoven saw this and was inspired to try her hand. This is her result:
It's beautiful and inspired me on my journey. Kelly used 16/2 bamboo along with her Berlini ladder yarn.
We all had to loosen up and use less normal setts, leave an empty dent for the LY, hang the LY separately and allow almost double the warp length for the LY. So you can use what you have to hand, but be sure to follow the basic guidlines. I recommend you re-read my mistakes and how I found a way forward again. It seems something simple.... isn't. 😊
