After finishing off my Pendleton selvedge rugs, I decided to play with the remaining warp. I never wove Krokbragd before so I re-threaded and re sleyed. I had some hand spun, hand dyed wool, some that I spun, some from a retired weaver that I wanted to use before the moths ate it. It was all heavy duty rug grade, not enough of one color for an entire project. The weaving started slowly, but went a little faster after I got started. I really enjoyed playing with the colors.
My only question is, how do I get the ends to stop curling up? I read in Collingwood's book that to eliminate this problem with a weft faced weave, one has to use the plain weave shed during the weaving, which I did. I had the rug rolled the other direction for about a week, I even weighted it down with bricks. It still wants to curl a little. Other than that, it was fun to do.
Thelma,
I hope someone more experienced in rugs can weigh in here, but when you mentioned using up a lot of handspun, a red flag went up for me.
My guildmate gives a program, "What spinner's know that weaver's don't" because I kept asking her questions about problems I was encountering such as this. In my case, I believe I got some massive edge-curl when I used alternating shuttles of yarns twisted in s and z. (It only curled in the corners, not all the way down the selvedge.) I kept the sample as a reminder!
Sally
Thanks Sally. You just jogged my memory! I am a spinner, but haven't spun for a long time. I've forgotten that bit about the curling. The rug curls up all the way across both fringed ends. I've woven with my handspun many times, this is the first time I ever experienced curling, maybe that's why I didn't remember it. The s and z twist makes perfect sense to me now that you mentioned it and reminded me. The rug was an experiment on a very short end of warp, it served it's purpose, I learned. It's like a giant sample. I put the rug in the doorway to my studio. Currently I have "T" pins holding it down, maybe after a l o n g time, it will stop curling. :)) Sharon
Heavy duty steaming with wet towels over the rug will settle it down but if you look at the rug structure the way it is constructed you are fighting a structural effect. Krok likes to curl, it is in its structure.....unless you get a perfect balance of warp/sett/weft and you know how hard that is! Your sample is lovely! Steam it!
Thanks Deb, I'll do that!
