This one was similar to the others. The main difference I was aiming for here was to return to a single overall yarn color/style for both the warp and the weft. This is like the first couple of scarves I made. I sought a muted scarf, with one simple green stripe. I think it turned out well.
For this post I include some photos that emphasize the measuring and warping process. For most weaving projects the measuring, and the cutting of the warp to length, is a separate process from warping the loom – putting the yarn onto the loom, through the heddle, and winding it onto the warp beam. There are many methods. I learned a simple method at the Fiber Factory in Mesa that is the only method I’ve used so far.
That method starts with tying the warp to the warp beam to start, threading it through the heddle, then circling it around a peg that is the appropriate distance away from the loom to give the right length for the piece. Advantages: You are doing several steps at once. Disadvantages: You end up using a lot of space in your work area, so generally you need to start and finish the warping in one session. Also, you have to find a surface to which you can anchor that peg. That’s not always easy.
It does look kind of cool while working on it, though, so I took a few pictures along the way.
Here’s a shot of the yarn circling the anchored peg. Once I had to restart this effort because the peg slipped off the table, resulting in a mess. So that’s why you see that the peg is not only clamped to the table, but is also held back with some bungee cords.
The warp traveling all the way across the living room. The loom is being restrained by wedging the loom’s feet under a heavy sofa.
The heddle’s point of view. Part of this effort includes threading the yarn through the slots in the heddle. Later, after cutting the yarn way over at the peg end, half of the yarn strands are pulled through holes in adjacent heddle slots. That’s not a great explanation. It is easy to understand if you see it done one time.
And now we’ve warped, tensed the yarn onto the warp beam, and have starting weaving. The weft yarn is the same as the warp yarn for this piece.
Here’s a closeup of the weaving in progress. I have just used up a shuttle’s worth of yarn, thus you see the break. It generally gets hidden in the finished product, especially with same-color warp and weft. Also, the closeup shows that while weaving, sometimes it looks like you aren’t weaving tight enough. The washing in hot water closes most of those gaps, and helps smooth the selvedges (edges).
Done!
I try to take pictures against different backgrounds so that the “right” colors come through. I’m not sure this pic was successful, but this piece is more subtle than the other pieces I’ve made so far.
