String is addictive. It is just lucky for me that it is a positive rather than a destructive force in my life. I do go weeks, sometimes months without string, but it always dangles before my eyes again and tempts me back. I've been doing a number of smaller projects lately. A third attempt at a knitted hat. Continued slow work naalbinding a pouch. Tablet weaving a pattern I made based on the Anglo-Saxon diamonds pattern--I altered the inner diamond to be more leaf-shaped. Some quick inkle projects--a chain pattern in linen-cotton blend and a widened version in cotton. I'm hustling through the inkle because I'm donating them at an event next week.
Dreams of complex tablet weaving, going back to double face weave, wrapping my head around twill, actually weaving with silk, trying out brocading all dance through my head as do thoughts of trying out a warp-weighted loom of my own. Of course, I'd have to get the loom first.
I don't have access to a camera right now, which makes this blog a little harder. I tablet wove another of the wave patterns in purples and blues and sent it to its new home without a picture. It was funny wrapping my head back around it--it had been quite a while since I'd done any tablet-weaving. But I got it worked out and even fixed a color issue I'd had with my first try at that pattern. If you get a dot of the wrong color in that pattern (well, two mirror image dots), try doing one set of three forward, three back before returning to four forward, four back (that's only for one of the two packs of course). It shifted where the colors were perfectly and off I went. I cut off the portion with the mistakes and the fix, so if I ever do get access to a camera again, I can show you what I'm talking about.
I also messed up my modified Anglo-Saxon diamonds at one point when I fell into the turning pattern from the wave pattern! Oops. Took a little doing to undo that one and get it on track again. Plus, I had warped up one of the cards wrong, with three white and one purple instead of three purple and one white. I tried simply suppressing the white when it shouldn't be showing, which helped some. Then I added an extra purple to the weft for a few picks to get it anchored, then brought it out in it's new place in the warp, threaded it through the hole it would be replacing in the mis-threaded card, and warped it all up. Then I cut the old thread. Viola, purple instead of white.
I need to do the last one now. I just cut that one to get the white out of the mix. The pattern appears fine with one thread missing, but the card has a tendency to pull out of place, and I have to be very careful to ensure it doesn't turn itself when I don't want it to. I've had to go back and correct for that too a couple times. Just when I'd fixed that the last time, the pattern did something else odd. Frustrated with all the backtracking on what should have been a simple fast pattern, I took up inkle for the moment so I could power through before next week's deadline. But after that I'll have to get back on the horse. If I don't have the patience for this pattern, after all, then I'm not going to do well with more complex things.
I've also been doing a lot of spinning again of late. And I tried out pre-dyed roving for the first time. I got some beautiful green roving over the holidays and have now spun it all up. I tried not to go quite as thread-thin as I'd been doing with the oatmeal colored yarn, but still kept it fairly thin. I think I'm going to try two-ply with it. I wonder if I have the courage to try to weave with it and I wonder if it's strong enough to hold up under tension. If not, I might be better off making it a higher ply and knitting something with it. It took a little getting used to--I think I've been weaving with the same big batch of roving so long that it was a little strange transitioning to any other wool--but once I got going it was good. The green is gorgeous all spun up, so it hasn't stopped it's temptation to do more with it. On the other hand, I'm tempted to go choose a new color. If I'm going to weave or knit with it, it will need friends.
Also, I've been helping teach the toddler (my niece, of sorts) how to weave. I'm actually kind of jealous of her loom. It spreads the threads more than I'd like with no way to adjust that, but the transition of the shed is effortless as was stringing it up. She's weaving a fuzzy blanket for her doll! It's precious.
Showing posts with label spinning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spinning. Show all posts
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Fiber Fun Recap
While my posting has been lamentably slow of late, my adventures with all things stringy have been more frequent and fast paced.
Last month was Great Western War which, this year, held an early period sheep to shawl project. The project was cooperative with all who wished helping to hand spin with drop spindle, set up the warp weighted loom and weave on it. Arriving half way through the project, I was in time to help spin weft and to help weave though I saw something of the end of the set up phase. I spun that weekend till my hands literally ached! I must have at least tripled my total amount of spinning I've done in my life. I also got some practice at spinning while walking and though it slowed me somewhat I was doing so with tolerable ease after a while. I made less successful attempts to use a distaff.
It was fantastic to see the warp weighted loom in action and to try my hand at it. It makes a lot more sense now. For years my only weaving experience was tablet weaving and without seeing other--more common!--forms of weaving in action, it was hard to understand how it actually worked. Between inkle weaving and the warp weighted loom it makes a great deal more sense now.
I also took a class on spinning linen on the drop spindle. I had the vague idea that this was a good deal more advanced than spinning wool, and the teacher was indeed relieved to see her only two students busy at work spinning wool when she showed up (working on weft for the weaving of course!). But it wasn't actually all that hard, just a little alien. Animal fibers, like wool, want to bind together. They have little hooks along their length that grip each other. Wool, being rather kinked as well, does this very easily, but other animal hair can also be used. Plant fibers do not have this property. However, when bast fibers like flax (linen) get wet, they become a bit gummy. This stickiness when wet is what is used to bind the fibers together and once bound (aided by the twist you spin in) they dry stuck together. Voila! Linen thread! The linen fibers are hugely long--perhaps a yard--one one only needs two or so even at the outset, making it quite easy to achieve thread-thin, sturdy handspun without it breaking every couple of minutes. My consistent wool spinning still needs to stay more than twice that thick to keep from breaking all the time.
I definitely recommend learning to spin linen from someone who does it. I'm sure the hands-on approach is infinitely easier than learning from description in this case. But in case you lack access to such a person, here's a quick and dirty summary.
You'll need your fibers, whether long or short (the tow, the shorter whiter softer fibers can also be spun) to be prepared and laying together in one direction. Apply them to a distaff such that you can pull fibers off the bottom. It will be easiest if the distaff can be fixed upright or held by someone else if you aren't accustomed to using a distaff.
Have a bowl of water handy. One hand will be controlling the supply of fibers and preventing the twist from traveling up to the bulk of the fibers. You won't want this hand to get too wet because you don't want your fibers getting wet and gummy till they're at the point of being spun to thread. Once you have your two or three fibers pulled out dampen the length, and attach them to the leader thread (some commercially purchased linen thread might be ideal, but you could simply tie the end to some wool or cotton string. Resting the spindle on a surface give it some spin (you will want one with a point at the bottom rather than a hook) then let the spin travel up to the damp fibers.
Once you are able to wind some of the linen thread onto the spindle, the thread should be strong enough to bear the weight of the spindle and be used normally. Make sure to leave plenty of time to overlap new fibers. You should join new fibers about a foot before the end of fibers in use and never have fewer than two fibers--this requires a little more advanced planning than usual.
When you wind on your thread, move up and down the spindle rather than spinning on at the same spot. Because the gumminess is what is binding the fibers together, you can get the whole clump binding together if you don't spread it out, criss-crossing fibers rather than piling them on in parallel.
Looking back up at that, I don't place any reliance on it being useful enough to try. But if you'd like clarification, don't hesitate to contact me. And if you're in norther California, I can even demonstrate at some SCA event if you'd like! Though I should really practice to keep my hand in, and I will soon be out of flax to spin and have not yet acquired a source for it.
Also at GWW was a "wool to whatever" contest wherein the contestants were invited to take undyed wool roving and produce anything they could think of. Contestants were encouraged to be not only creative, but to try out new things. I was tempted to try some felting, a technique I'd learned a few months ago at West-An Tir War, but I lacked supplies. I probably could have scavenged, for the most important elements beyond wool are soap (I think we even had some in camp, and if we hadn't, someone else would have) and something hard and water proof to serve as mould. But where I would go from there, I didn't know. And I was spending most of my time on the warp weighted loom project and its spinning.
But late at night, after I'd turned my last batch of weft spinning in, inspiration finally struck. I spun yet more, made my first ever attempt at plying, and then used couched embroidery (with a little straight stitch thrown in) to embroider a Pictish goose with mirror and comb onto a piece of felt I had with me (sadly modern fake felt rather than wool felt, but what can you do?). I worked feverishly by torchlight while the nearby group got increasingly drunk. They were very friendly though, and made sure I had enough light throughout! I was up stitching till the wee hours of the morning and then had to get up bright and early to submit my entry. But I was glad I attended great court because I actually came in 3rd! I felt a bit outclassed--one of the other winners had felted a viking hat, complete with decoration. But the sponsor of the contest told me later that they were very glad to see people try new things, and it was in fact my first plying and second ever couched project (or first; I certainly understood the premise and I think I may have used the technique on Elf's drum case years ago.)
Well, after writing all that about just my fiber exploits at GWW, I feel the need to wrap this up. Perhaps I will come back to the rest of my recap, but the brief version is I have also:
- Twined a water bottle holder out of jute around a glass bottle
- Begun picked pattern inkle weaving which is not coming out as I envisioned, but is a good first try I think
- Learned to knit in the round and knitted most of a hand bag which I don't know how to finish!
- Picked out out gorgeous string with my mother who recently visited
Last month was Great Western War which, this year, held an early period sheep to shawl project. The project was cooperative with all who wished helping to hand spin with drop spindle, set up the warp weighted loom and weave on it. Arriving half way through the project, I was in time to help spin weft and to help weave though I saw something of the end of the set up phase. I spun that weekend till my hands literally ached! I must have at least tripled my total amount of spinning I've done in my life. I also got some practice at spinning while walking and though it slowed me somewhat I was doing so with tolerable ease after a while. I made less successful attempts to use a distaff.
It was fantastic to see the warp weighted loom in action and to try my hand at it. It makes a lot more sense now. For years my only weaving experience was tablet weaving and without seeing other--more common!--forms of weaving in action, it was hard to understand how it actually worked. Between inkle weaving and the warp weighted loom it makes a great deal more sense now.
I also took a class on spinning linen on the drop spindle. I had the vague idea that this was a good deal more advanced than spinning wool, and the teacher was indeed relieved to see her only two students busy at work spinning wool when she showed up (working on weft for the weaving of course!). But it wasn't actually all that hard, just a little alien. Animal fibers, like wool, want to bind together. They have little hooks along their length that grip each other. Wool, being rather kinked as well, does this very easily, but other animal hair can also be used. Plant fibers do not have this property. However, when bast fibers like flax (linen) get wet, they become a bit gummy. This stickiness when wet is what is used to bind the fibers together and once bound (aided by the twist you spin in) they dry stuck together. Voila! Linen thread! The linen fibers are hugely long--perhaps a yard--one one only needs two or so even at the outset, making it quite easy to achieve thread-thin, sturdy handspun without it breaking every couple of minutes. My consistent wool spinning still needs to stay more than twice that thick to keep from breaking all the time.
I definitely recommend learning to spin linen from someone who does it. I'm sure the hands-on approach is infinitely easier than learning from description in this case. But in case you lack access to such a person, here's a quick and dirty summary.
You'll need your fibers, whether long or short (the tow, the shorter whiter softer fibers can also be spun) to be prepared and laying together in one direction. Apply them to a distaff such that you can pull fibers off the bottom. It will be easiest if the distaff can be fixed upright or held by someone else if you aren't accustomed to using a distaff.
Have a bowl of water handy. One hand will be controlling the supply of fibers and preventing the twist from traveling up to the bulk of the fibers. You won't want this hand to get too wet because you don't want your fibers getting wet and gummy till they're at the point of being spun to thread. Once you have your two or three fibers pulled out dampen the length, and attach them to the leader thread (some commercially purchased linen thread might be ideal, but you could simply tie the end to some wool or cotton string. Resting the spindle on a surface give it some spin (you will want one with a point at the bottom rather than a hook) then let the spin travel up to the damp fibers.
Once you are able to wind some of the linen thread onto the spindle, the thread should be strong enough to bear the weight of the spindle and be used normally. Make sure to leave plenty of time to overlap new fibers. You should join new fibers about a foot before the end of fibers in use and never have fewer than two fibers--this requires a little more advanced planning than usual.
When you wind on your thread, move up and down the spindle rather than spinning on at the same spot. Because the gumminess is what is binding the fibers together, you can get the whole clump binding together if you don't spread it out, criss-crossing fibers rather than piling them on in parallel.
Looking back up at that, I don't place any reliance on it being useful enough to try. But if you'd like clarification, don't hesitate to contact me. And if you're in norther California, I can even demonstrate at some SCA event if you'd like! Though I should really practice to keep my hand in, and I will soon be out of flax to spin and have not yet acquired a source for it.
Also at GWW was a "wool to whatever" contest wherein the contestants were invited to take undyed wool roving and produce anything they could think of. Contestants were encouraged to be not only creative, but to try out new things. I was tempted to try some felting, a technique I'd learned a few months ago at West-An Tir War, but I lacked supplies. I probably could have scavenged, for the most important elements beyond wool are soap (I think we even had some in camp, and if we hadn't, someone else would have) and something hard and water proof to serve as mould. But where I would go from there, I didn't know. And I was spending most of my time on the warp weighted loom project and its spinning.
But late at night, after I'd turned my last batch of weft spinning in, inspiration finally struck. I spun yet more, made my first ever attempt at plying, and then used couched embroidery (with a little straight stitch thrown in) to embroider a Pictish goose with mirror and comb onto a piece of felt I had with me (sadly modern fake felt rather than wool felt, but what can you do?). I worked feverishly by torchlight while the nearby group got increasingly drunk. They were very friendly though, and made sure I had enough light throughout! I was up stitching till the wee hours of the morning and then had to get up bright and early to submit my entry. But I was glad I attended great court because I actually came in 3rd! I felt a bit outclassed--one of the other winners had felted a viking hat, complete with decoration. But the sponsor of the contest told me later that they were very glad to see people try new things, and it was in fact my first plying and second ever couched project (or first; I certainly understood the premise and I think I may have used the technique on Elf's drum case years ago.)
Well, after writing all that about just my fiber exploits at GWW, I feel the need to wrap this up. Perhaps I will come back to the rest of my recap, but the brief version is I have also:
- Twined a water bottle holder out of jute around a glass bottle
- Begun picked pattern inkle weaving which is not coming out as I envisioned, but is a good first try I think
- Learned to knit in the round and knitted most of a hand bag which I don't know how to finish!
- Picked out out gorgeous string with my mother who recently visited
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Spinning Yarn and Tangling Cards
My Birka tablet weaving has been a bit intimidating so today I chose spinning as my activity while I caught up on my shows--now that I've been doing all this tablet-weaving, it feels wasteful to sit and watch something without my hands making something.
I was pleased to find that my spinning skill hadn't declined any in the months since I last tried my hand at. That isn't to say that I'm great at it, but it's reasonably thin and reasonably even and I'm getting better at prepping and feeding in the wool while the spindle is spinning, rather than giving it some spin and then stopping it and then letting the spin travel up some prepared length of wool and so on. I was even using continuous roving rather than breaking off managable pieces and tearing them lengthwise to make them thinner like I did in the beginning. This did become humorous however when I got up to answer the phone, clutching spindle and thread and unwittingly trailing roving across the whole living room and office. Regathering it seemed disturbingly like recoiling intestines.
This evening I finally tackled the weaving again. I got it going and was finding something of a rhythm with it. I have it in 4 packs now, one of which is two combined which only need be separated for two of the eight picks. Even with only four packs instead of five and overlapping them a bit, they take up a lot more working area than usual. And so the spin forming is more quickly a problem than usual. I decided to try changing direction after less than two feet of weaving. The direction change looks quite decent though I'd be tempted to try a couple other potential reversal points to see how they differ. But it looks of a piece, so I wasn't too worried about needing to change directions more often than usual.
Unfortunately, I apparently didn't have the reversed turning sequence drummed into my head well enough. I've messed up the turning sequence somehow and am now in that painful and slow process of working my way backward to a familiar point. I'm too tired to have the patience to get any further with it right now. Hopefully it will look less scary, not more so, in the morning.
I was pleased to find that my spinning skill hadn't declined any in the months since I last tried my hand at. That isn't to say that I'm great at it, but it's reasonably thin and reasonably even and I'm getting better at prepping and feeding in the wool while the spindle is spinning, rather than giving it some spin and then stopping it and then letting the spin travel up some prepared length of wool and so on. I was even using continuous roving rather than breaking off managable pieces and tearing them lengthwise to make them thinner like I did in the beginning. This did become humorous however when I got up to answer the phone, clutching spindle and thread and unwittingly trailing roving across the whole living room and office. Regathering it seemed disturbingly like recoiling intestines.
This evening I finally tackled the weaving again. I got it going and was finding something of a rhythm with it. I have it in 4 packs now, one of which is two combined which only need be separated for two of the eight picks. Even with only four packs instead of five and overlapping them a bit, they take up a lot more working area than usual. And so the spin forming is more quickly a problem than usual. I decided to try changing direction after less than two feet of weaving. The direction change looks quite decent though I'd be tempted to try a couple other potential reversal points to see how they differ. But it looks of a piece, so I wasn't too worried about needing to change directions more often than usual.
Unfortunately, I apparently didn't have the reversed turning sequence drummed into my head well enough. I've messed up the turning sequence somehow and am now in that painful and slow process of working my way backward to a familiar point. I'm too tired to have the patience to get any further with it right now. Hopefully it will look less scary, not more so, in the morning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)