Tag Archives: double weave

Weaving blankets

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Here is a blanket that has become one of my favorites to weave.

In the book where I saw this draft it is called Breaks & Recesses. I think I need to come up with a different name.

I have mentioned before how much a woven piece changes after it is has been properly finished. In the case of wool that means wet-finishing or some degree of fulling. When a piece is fulled the individual threads  become less distinct as the wool fibers catch on each other and the piece becomes cloth instead of  a bunch of separate threads. (Fulling is an irreversible process that needs to be controlled–picture a wool sweater that goes through the washing machine and dryer.)

This is a dramatic example. The blanket on the right is the same draft and using the same yarn, but it has not been finished yet. This yarn is one that was mill-spun of wool from sheep at the place where I used to go for sheepdog training. The yarn feels harsh and oily, but it softens beautifully when fulled.

A custom blanket customer saw a similar blanket and wanted me to weave her a queen size blanket using this pattern. “Sure”, I said. “No problem.”

I use double weave to weave a queen (84 x 90) blanket on a 60″ wide loom. That means that I weave two layers at a time with a fold on one side.  I have to allow for take-up and shrinkage (part of that is the fulling I described) so this blanket measured 54″ wide on the loom (double–opened up that would be 108″) and I planned to weave 100″ in length. A lot of this is educated guessing based on previous similar projects.

This pattern is woven on 8 shafts. To weave a double width blanket I used 16 shafts, 8 for each layer. First I had to figure out that part. None of this will make sense if you are not a weaver and I didn’t intend for this post to be an explanation of all the steps. One of these days maybe I’ll do that, but not now.

This looks nothing like the pattern in the finished blanket. That’s because in this draft every other horizontal and vertical line is the opposite layer (odd numbers are the top and even numbers are the bottom). When I buy new software it will be something that will show me the top and bottom layers.

When I finally started weaving the blanket I knew that something wasn’t right, but I had a hard time figuring out exactly what it was. I used a mirror to see the lower layer but I had to go back to the book and the computer to see that I had reversed some of the squares in the draft.

Here is a close-up of the top layer as I was weaving.

This is what the computer looks like as I am weaving. I have what is called a compu-dobby and the computer drives which shafts lift, although I do all the work.

See the shuttle at the other side of the loom?

As I step on the treadle certain shafts lift so that the shuttle can carry the yarn in between the threads.

This is after the shuttle has gone from left to right and is now on the other side.

This is a view of the left side where I can separate the layers. The fold is on the right.

I finished weaving this blanket today and am working on correcting a few errors. Then I will have to crochet the edges before I full it. I should take photos of these processes and report back.

 

Weaving day

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I spent most of the day at the loom weaving a project that it taking way longer than I expected. I planned to weave a ruana for the show coming up and I based the measurements on the ruana that my daughter wove way back when she was 11 years old.

When I took the measurements of this piece I assumed that we had warped this using double weave–to come up with a double width fabric in the back and two separate layers for the fronts. That was assumption #1 that was wrong. I planned colors of stripes to coincide with two twill patterns. As I was winding the bouts of warp I put them in the raddle for my AVL 8-shaft loom. It occurred to me part way through that I needed 16 shafts to weave the 2 layers that I planned. OK, no problem. Since I hadn’t yet wound the warp onto the beam I could move the warp to the 16-shaft AVL.   This was a tedious project to thread. With the help of the computer (and a lot of trial and error) I figured out how to thread this and then have the twill lines reverse on the bottom layer.

I also used the computer to figure out how avoid 3-thread floats between the transitions of the two patterns. This is one layer (shafts 1-8). I did another draft for the 2nd layer (shafts 9-16) and then interspersed the tie-up to create double width and again for two layers.

Here is the fabric on the loom. I am using the Zephyr 50% wool/50% silk yarn that I carry in my shop. The big mistake I made was planning this at double weave instead of just weaving one really long strip and sewing them up the back. My assumption about the original ruana was wrong–we did it just that way, not double weave. I’d have been finished a long time ago if I had woven one long strip. The double width isn’t so bad except that the yarn is so dense that I had to pay close attention to make sure that threads weren’t catching. Here is the system I rigged up for that.

A glance in the mirror each time I change sheds shows if it is clear or not.

The harder part is now that I’m weaving the two separate layers. Two shuttles is much slower than just half the speed of using one shuttle. I think I have another couple of hours tomorrow and then this warp will be finished and I can move on to other projects to finish in the next two weeks.

Here is a weaving project that is very different from the ruana. In a previous post I showed this pile of mohair and yarn scraps that was working on in Oregon:

This is what it turned into. Thanks to the ever willing Shelby for modeling. (Without a model it would probably not look much different than how the fiber looks piled on the table.)

A few days ago I wove another.

This will be in the Artful Fiber show at the Artery to accompany this painting:

There is something about this painting that makes me think of a fluffy boa.