Learning to weave

As I have said before, I want to learn to weave so that I can better understand how the spun thread is related to the woven cloth. With that in mind, back in March I purchased a rigid heddle loom. How hard can weaving be, I thought. After all, didn't we all learn to make potholders as kids? Well, didn't I have a lot to learn! I was so excited when my loom arrived, I grabbed what thread I could find - Gotland that I had previously spun to play with the breed - and warped up the loom. My weft is merino. For the first 9 inches, everything went fine. I was very proud of myself. Even my selvedges were even.

That's when everything went to hell in a handbasket, as my grandmother used to say. The warp threads began to break, and I had no idea how to fix them. The book that came with the loom didn't address that problem (or any problem). I hadn't thought about leaving myself extra thread for repairs, so the first thing I had to do was spin more thread. I tried tying in a new piece, but the knots wouldn't go through the heddle. When I was finally able to talk to Siobhan, the finest weaver I know, she told me how to fix the threads. Weave them in at the fabric side and bring the thread through the heddle to the back. Worked like a charm. But, by the time I knew the correct fix, I had already tried my own fix, which resulted in horrible weaving. It is full of mistakes and uneven tension. I was ready to throw the piece away. But I didn't.

Today I finished the piece. It is 5.25 x 21 inches. I had started out hoping to make a scarf. After all, I had been doing Navajo weaving off and on for 35 years, which is more difficult than weaving a simple tabby fabric. I expected a respectable result. This piece will be put away as a "lessons learned."

What I learned:

• Having a tightly spun warp thread is extremely important. The thread I had spun was not made for that specific purpose, and the friction of the heddle abraded the threads quickly.
• Gotland is a very slippery wool. It behaves very differently than Shetland or Merino, for example, making the tightly spun thread even more important. The tension of the warp caused the fibers to slip apart (even though they had been set), stretching the threads, which in turn impacted the overall tension of the piece.
• Because the threads did not stretch uniformly, it resulted in some areas with loose tension while others had tight tension. This made it difficult to pack the weft.
• As the tension at the edges became loose, it made it difficult to keep an even selvedge

For my next piece I will spin a thread specifically for the purpose. I may also try weaving without using the heddle bar to pack the weft. That should result in less abrasion. What was the other thing my grandmother used to say - if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

My first sock

I did it! I knit my first sock. This may not seem like much, but it was a new experience for me. While I figured out how to make cables on my own, I never would have figured out how to turn the heel and complete the sock without the help of my wonderful friends. The directions were so confusing! I guess I am more of a hands-on learner, which is also my favorite way to teach. I cast on the second sock immediately so that I am sure to wind up with something more useful than a "sack" to hang by the mantle at Christmas.

Spinning silk

I have silk fiber (filament?) in two forms - hankies and "roving." The interesting thing about the hankies - when you peel them apart, each one is one cocoon - one very long fiber. The only reason to spin it is to get a thread that is thicker than a single silk fiber. My attempt to spin from a hankie was less than successful. I pulled the fibers apart and wrapped them around a paper tube to keep them from tangling. Then I spun the thread from the tube. My hands tend to be rough (even with lots of hand cream) and my fingers catch on the fibers. The result was a very inconsistent thread. It looks better after I plied it. I'm really going to have to keep practicing this.

I then spun from prepared silk roving. This was much easier, and I am pleased with the results. I plied the first spindle-ful and kept the second as a single. Perhaps I will attempt to weave something.

single, 2-ply, and 2-ply from a hankie

Although the silk roving is slippery, it isn't really much more difficult than spinning wool. However, this isn't a method that would have been used during the medieval age. Spinning from a hankie, once I have more practice, will result in a fine, smooth thread, suitable for tablet weaving, embroidery or loom weaving. Since the roving is made of relatively short pieces of fiber, it results in a "halo" of fiber ends because the silk has no crimp.