CCW 2012 Exchange
The Cross County Weaver's challenge for 2012 is "black, white + 1 color". I have been thinking about this challenge since July 2011, when I picked up some 16/2 cotton at the Mannings after the MAFA workshop weekend. A long time ago, I saw the draft for "Squares" (page 51) in Robin & Russ's 200 Patterns for Multiple Harness Looms and I thought this might be a good candidate for exploration. I started sampling that 8 shaft pattern on a table loom.
I really liked the first sample fabric, but I wanted to evolve it someplace new for this challenge. So the next step was increasing the stripes from 6 to 8 warp threads, and redrafting the pattern to get the stars in the B&W areas (instead of plain weave). This meant bumping up to 12 shafts, but the result was more dramatic and appealing to me. However, with the increased emphasis in the B&W areas, I felt the need to decrease the lime green areas for better balance. So I rethreaded and wove a third sample. Bingo!
With three samples in hand, I thought I was ready to thread up the big loom and weave yardage. But then yet another thought occurred to me! So I redrafted a 4th time, and now I am actually dressing the floor loom for the "real" yardage. Stay tuned for the "final reveal" ;- )
(FYI, it's due in March, so if I forget to update, someone please remind me!)
2/8/12 Update
I am weaving the first few inches, and SO happy I redrafted a final time to clean up the green intersections. Also, the B&W areas alternate in "twirl" direction on the final draft. The treadling is a bit complicated. I am using 12 of my treadles, but a modified tie up. 1-8 are like the Strickler book for the B&W areas, but 10-12 work in tandem with the 1-8 so the green stripes do what I want them to do, when I want them to do it! I have the last 4 treadles labeled A, B (= alternating green tabby), and GL (For green left) and GR (you guessed it.) My initial tie up didn't work to keep my body balanced on the bench, so I had to retie. Now it is working a lot better! I certainly hope I am as excited to weave the 7th yard as I am the first pattern repeat!
-----------------
2/9/12
I realized my tie up is not quite the same as Strickler, because I alternated the direction of the twirls in the draft and treadling. I also wanted to use two feet, to balance the load when lifting. And put the fewest warps on the farthest shafts. (This is on a jack loom.)
Tabby is 4+12, opposite 5+11
B&W pattern is 1+9, 2+9, 3+9, 4+9, 5+10, 6+10, 7+10, 8+10 = 8 pics per color x 7 stripes = 56 pics in ascending or descending order
Green Stripe 1 is 1+11, 1+12, 8+11, 8+12, 1+11, 1+12
Green Stripe 2 (not shown in draft) is 1+11, 1+12, 8+11, 8+12, 1+11, 1+12
The green stripe is the most difficult to treadle. Now that I have woven a bit, I am thinking to redo the tie up. Add shafts 11+12 to treadles 1-4, and shafts 9+10 to treadles 5-8. These treadles are in the center of the loom. I can then use 2 treadles on the far left and two on the far right, to tie up the 1+11, 1+12, and 8+11, 8+12 options to make treadling the green easier. (I like to leave an unused treadle between "treadling units" if I can, so my feet know when I have jumped to a different part of the treadling.)
Also, because the color change is very quick, I am weaving with 3 shuttles at the same time. It takes a bit of concentration to keep the selvedges neat while the unused weft runs up the edges. I came up with this idea to park the shuttles on the castle nose-up, so they are out of the way when weaving, but the weft is in proper position so I can capture it entering or exiting the shed as needed.
>Sigh< Yes! This will be tedious to weave. Anyone have a good audio book recommendation?
Color and Weave Gamp
This is a gamp I designed for my Guild.
I put a lot of information about Color and Weave on a website for this study group the link is:
https://sites.google.com/site/wssaguildp...
A little on Color and Weave Effect:
I found two definitions on-line and they are:
"A Textile Terminology" by Dorothy K. Burnham--
Colour and weave effect - The form or pattern produced by a weave in combination with the order in which two or more colours are used for warp and weft.
"Handweaving and Cloth Design" by Marianne Straub--
"When weaving with contrasting colours, the relationship between the weave construction and the warping and picking plan forms the basis from which many strongly patterned cloths can be designed."
Or as one of my Guild-mates put it: This is a very neat warp - 2 colors, 2 shafts and well over a hundred different patterns! Now how cool is that - and all done with smoke and mirrors - no, no, no - just that magic of the relationship between the threading and the treadling which makes weaving so marvelously interesting!
Many weaving patterns are the result of the way weave structure interacts with value or color changes in the warp and weft threads. The simplest effect is “salt and pepper”- an interlacement of a light warp and dark weft or the reverse. One of the best known effects is “log cabin”. This structure can be woven on only 2 shafts such as a rigid heddle loom. What I find so appealing about this is the visual interest you can create with a very simple loom, and with very few shafts, simply by changing colors.
When I put this together I chose an off-black and an off-white so as to make it only the pattern changes that matter without the interaction of color as well. I set it up in a very simple mathematical way-- first all white, then one white, one black, next one white, two black and so forth.
If you have weaving software and want to play a little with this, I uploaded a wif of the gamp to Weavolution, you can download it from there if you want: http://www.weavolution.com/node/6063
There's a scan of the whole gamp here in the pictures..
Log Cabin Scarf
Details on how to "direct warp" for the Log Cabin weave are posted on my blog:
bontricot.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/direct-warp-a-rigid-heddle-loom-for-log-cabin-pattern-scarf/
I used small boat shuttles (Schacht) and attempted to keep the ribbon yarn flat and untwisted throughout the project from un-skeining the ribbon yarn, to winding shuttle bobbins, to the actual weaving. This was semi-successful and often required hand-placing the weft picks to remove twist. The struggle also lead to experiments and observations in the twist we introduce through various unwinding operations. See my blog for details:
bontricot.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/observations-on-unwinding-controling-twist/
Steve
Color & Weave Blanket
Wool blanket using worsted, kettle-dyed knitting yarn. A stash busting project if ever there was one. I would have preferred a much stronger contrast, but something about the subtlety is appealing. Once off the loom, I plan to sew the panels together, braid or twist the fringe and lightly wash. It should ultimately turn into a very cozy blanket.
Mrs. Bailey's Scarf
The scarf was skinny because it was warped by weighing the yarns and going until they were 1/2 used up -- it wasn't until I was done that I realized we'd made the scarf twice as long as it should have been!
My daughter started the weaving, I finished it. A gift for her 3rd grade teacher.
Houndstooth Check Color
OK, so MW's was black and white :-) This is a simple plain weave, using color to create the checks. Easiest woven with two shuttles, each starting on different sides.
Shepherdess Check
Based on the Shepherd Check found in Wedkenecht's Color-and-weave II
This is a 2/2 twill with a straight twill threading and a 6-pick point twill/herringbone twill (?) treadling.
