On page 85 of her book " Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials," Margrethe Hald described a fragment of cloth where the pattern of the material is solely formed by the spin direction of the threads. The artifact dates from the second century C.E. When you look at the photo of the cloth, it is clearly a plaid. I want to test this phenomenon for myself.
The sett of the artifact is 47/38 per 2x2 cm (59/48 per inch). While I can spin a thread fine enough to match that, I am not yet able to weave successfully with thread that fine. Therefore, I am spinning at about 30 to 40 wpi for my test pieces. I am testing 5 different fibers - Shetland, Jacob, BFL, Icelandic, and Romney, which vary in luster. Just for fun, I've chosen a variety of spindles for the project. I don't expect the spindle choice or gauge of thread to have a significant impact on the results.
So far I have spun commercially prepared Jacob and Shetland top, as well as BFL that I have washed and combed myself. I spun a small amount of Shetland on my #2 whorl (a 15 gram cone) at 35 wpi, and a larger amount on my #6 whorl (a 26 gram cone) at 28 wpi. The BFL was also spun on the #2 whorl, and the Jacob on the #6 whorl, at similar gauges to the Shetland.
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