I started with a Rigid Heddle loom, because there are a ton of YouTube channels for help with them. But the weavers guild is a great suggestion, both for help and they often have inexpensive equipment rental.
Warp: 8/2 cotton in Natural (Beam 8/2 from Gist) Weft: Bottom, 8/2 cotton in Cayenne (Maurice Brassard) Top, 8/2 cotton in Orange A cherry wood boat shuttle loaded with orange yarn rests on the last six inches of the cayenne and natural towel. There is an empty one inch gap between the end of the first towel and the beginning of the second towel. The first four inches of the second towel have been completed.
On to Towel #2! Same tie-ups, different treadling (hw#57799 vs. hw#57800). Also switched from Cayenne to some version of Orange from Maurice Brassard for the weft. (Yarn purchased on sale with no color number attached, just called "orange".)
#weaving #multishaft
Yeah, I walked away from it last night to decide. Will be undoing it, because it does NOT look intentional.
Crackle pattern in 8/2 cotton - Natural warp and Cayenne weft. The design has a single diamond on the end of one section instead of double diamonds, because of a mistake.
Literally at the halfway point of this towel (finished repeat 4 of 8). Do I undo 14 picks to fix my pattern error? Or do I duplicate the error in repeat 5 and then return to the pattern? (It's missing 6 rows...)
Sigh. Trying to decide how much it hurts my brain.
#weaving #multishaft #hwnet57800
8 shaft loom with 8/2 natural on the warp and 8/2 Cayenne on the weft. Image shows 30 picks of tabby and then 1.5 repeats of handweaving.net #57800, a crackle design pattern.
Treadles 1 & 2 still suck to use (too close to the pivot point so require extra force for a decent shed), but luckily I only need them for 30 picks at the start and end of each towel. Currently planning a set of 5 towels with different treadling/tie-ups.
#weaving #multishaft #hwnet57800
Totally depends on your pepper to tomato ratio
Do you make the signatures as well? Or just the binding? What kind of thread do you use? That is a beautiful journal!
An orange cat has taken over the seat her mom was using to wind her warp, at 94 out of 133.
Winding, interrupted - what happens when you take a moment to answer a phone call while winding your warp. I suppose she thinks this is only fair, as the warp board is resting on her recent preferred bed.
#warpboard #weaving #cats
Two towels lay overlapping each other, showing matching patterns in alternate colors. Bottom towel is predominantly teal with honey, black, and natural accents. Top towel is predominantly honey, with teal, black, and natural accents. They are laying on a wood- look desk, and a black and silver keyboard is visible.
The other half of the same two towels, with the bottom towel now showing an extra 2 inches, and the patterns no longer matching. (You can now also see the computer mouse and mouse pad in the picture.)
So. Figured out how to use a boat shuttle. Also learned my PPI is completely different for boat vs stick. Same number of rows, but you can 100% tell where I switched mid-project. Also, I need to work on my selvedges with boat shuttles.
(And these colors should not have been mixed.)
#weaving
I feel this in my soul, lol
That part is in good condition - I just recently refinished this loom, including replacing the brake system. I had to modify a few pieces to make the Schacht brake system work with it, and I think I just don't have it quite dialed in yet. It's close, though!
Aha! I'd only seen the Leclerc wooden temples!
I think I need to shorten both the brake wire and the wire that goes from the brake lever to the pedal. Which means taking it all apart again, as I only need to shorten slightly.
A slightly altered Schacht floor loom brake system, on a handmade no brand floor loom made out of cherry wood. On the floor next to the loom is a home made raddle, made of nails in a poplar board. You can also see the rug on the floor and a blue couch through the legs of the floor loom.
As I finish up these towels, I now have to figure out a tweak for the brake before my next project. The brake release pedal doesn't put enough pressure on the brake to fully release right now... so I actually end up pulling the warp beam out of the frame on one side.
#weaving #multishaft
Could also try the insulation strip you use around doors to prevent the cold seeping in, maybe?
What temple is that? Or is it a handmade one?
It's crazy how things happen exactly when you need it!
An orange cat lays inside the top/cover/lid of a mostly packed suitcase. Clothing rests under the covers, waiting to be moved inside.
Working up to telling her she isn't coming along....
#cats
An orange cat and a cream cat cuddle on top of each other in a windowseat cat bed. A bright beam of sun shines on them.
I think we've officially reached the "too big to sleep double" stage in this bed.
#cats #caturday
A stick shuttle with one and a half wraps of 8/2 cotton rests on the towel fabric. The towel is a warped on large chucks of light grey and natural 8/2 cotton, with two sections of black and natural thin stripes. The weft is a summer and winter pattern, in honey, light grey, and aqua.
I've played bobbin roulette with my sewing machine, but somehow shuttle roulette feels more satisfying! Just enough left to hemstitch this towel, and then reload for towel #2.
Oh! And I've discovered I just hate ONE of my boat shuttles. So I'll retire the stick shuttles for towel #2.
#weaving
How is it that every year about now I have to acknowledge these hand made gifts just aren't going to happen this year.
I guess as long as this bunch doesn't join the pile of almost finished projects from the previous years....
That looks a lot more functional than me just using the pocket on my pullover fleece right now!
An orange cat snuggles into her human's arms, her head tucked in close and eyes shut. A blanket covers all of the cat except her head and one leg.
Being a favorite bed makes it difficult to get anything done except reading.
#cats
Kitchen towels on an 8 shaft loom. Warp is 8/2 cotton in blocks of natural light and light grey, with two sets of black and natural stripes off set on each side. Warp is 8/2 cotton alternating teal and light grey in sections and honey and light grey in other sections. Pattern is Bauhaus towels from Handwoven.
A buff colored cat tests the strength of the front apron of the loom, peeking over the edge of the tan fabric.
It's a great feeling to know I put this all back together properly. I have one more set of "this could be better" improvements for the loom, if I can figure something out, but it definitely works like this! (Left side treadles require oomph+ to get a decent shed.)
#weaving #multishaft
I don't know if you're using a pattern or not, but there are a ton of really great bagmaking patterns and designers, with great instructions for beginning bagmakers. (Same with leatherworking patterns, if you're wanting to be less terrified!)
I find myself a mix of grateful and disappointed that I didn't start #weaving until I left Lawrence, KS. I can only imagine the joy/trouble I would find if work was only 5 minutes away from the Yarn Barn.
(Also, I'm confused why there weren't more handwoven items in the vendor markets!)
It's entirely possible that I just need more practice, lol. After multiple times of having to figure out where exactly my Schacht shuttle went through the warp and onto the floor, I gave up this round. I have seen that practicing with it not threaded is recommended, so maybe I'll try that next.
Towels in progress on the loom in a summer and winter pattern (Bauhaus Towels from Handwoven). The center is light grey, with a 1.5" section of thin black and cream stripes on the left. The weft is a poorly chosen tan with not enough contrast alternating with the light grey. (The weft color will be changed for the next towel.)
Things I've learned:
1) I'm glad I have stick shuttles long enough for this project.
2) I understand why only stick and ski shuttles were included with the loom.
3) A race needs to be wider than just the bottom part of the reed holder.
I'll figure out boat shuttles after I add a race.
#weaving
After one warping error (well, 4, but all corrected at the same time), one threading error (well, 2...but I only caught the second after I'd already fixed the first...so we're calling it a design feature), and much hatred of my current heddles... I'm finally #weaving on my floor loom!
Similar here. On the other hand, this year *for the first time in decades* our state house election actually had a Democratic challenger for my district. The Republicans have been running unopposed because it was a given they'd win. (And the Republican incumbent won by only 420 votes in my county.)