Winding the Warp

The first half of the warp

In the fall of 2013, I managed to get over to the OCGH and wind half of the warp on the huge warping board that had been found in the attic with the loom.  (It was actually only the 2 vertical pieces, the ones with the pegs; the horizontal pieces were not to be found. I used large wood clamps to attach the pieces directly to the studs in the room.) I put a cross at both ends, not yet decided on how I would approach the warping, and sectioned it off in 1" (20 ends) bunches. Then it got cold, and since the loom is in a shed, working on it in the cold weather was not practical.

Sectioned in 20-end (1") bunches

When I returned in the spring of 2014, the half warp was waiting for me.  I removed it, rolling it on sticks to keep it even.  Then I spent a couple hours winding the second half. I had two cones of the yarn, so the warping time was reduced by winding 2 ends at a time. Not having more dowels with me, I left the warp on the warping board.  When I returned a couple weeks later, to my horror I found that mice had found the wool and eaten it beyond recovery. Now I was really glad that the cones were so big.  I was also very thankful that I had decided to store the first half of the warp at my house.

The Mouse Feast

Take 2 on the second half of the warp: In light of the resident mice, I decided to rewind on my warping board at home.  My warping board isn't as wide as the one at the OCGH, but it would work.  I measured the length of the warp at the OCGH using a twine, knotted at the appropriate length.  I put that guide twine onto my warping board and started winding.  By mistake, 100 ends later, I discovered that I had somehow measured wrong and that this half was shorter than the first half.  Argh. (I now have a 200-end, 9 yard warp of wool singles ready for some other project, someday.)

Take 3 on the second half of the warp: I took the first half outside and unrolled it, remeasured it on the twine AND with a tape measure. Back at my warping board, I started again, using the guide twine AND measuring twice. 260 ends later, I rolled up the warp and looked forward to another trip to the OCGH to do some beaming.

Take 3, with Take 2 chained up beside it.

Fabric Design & Planning

In July 2013, I attended NEWS (New England Weavers' Seminar) and took a class with Marjie Thompson, who is known for her work with historic textiles. She gave me some tips on patterns and fibers. We talked about linsey-woolsey (linen warp, wool weft), all linen, and all wool.  Linsey-woolsey and linen fabrics are typically sett relatively close.  So, since the heddles for this project are knit at 20 epi (10 epi on 2 harnesses), I've decided to do an all wool fabric.

My weaving friend Dorothy had a huge stash of a natural color wool singles - 2800 yds/lb and 35wpi - and she generously donated two huge cones of it.  I made a sample on my Harrisville, and tried out some different accent colors for horizontal stripes, all of different weights.  I didn't have a 10d reed, so I used a 12d reed sleyed 2-2-1, resulting in some pretty serious reed marks, which became less obvious after washing. The accent wool colors were various weights, and I beat them differently. Some of the accent colors fulled differently than others during washing.

Sample after washing

Sample before washing

In the photos:

• Green - 5300 yds/lb, 20 ppi
• Natural - 2800 yds/lb, 14 ppi
• Red - 2100 yds/lb, 13 ppi
• Charcoal 3200 yds/lb,18 ppi

I also tried the green doubled at 14 ppi and at 12 ppi, and the natural beat at 11 ppi. (Not shown in the photo.)

My conclusion is that Dorothy's singles yarn would work well at the given sett. The fabric weight is perfect for a blanket, and it could be displayed on one of the beds in the Garrison House. With a weaving width of 26" and taking shrinkage into account, it would need 3 panels. To allow 2 yds/panel plus loom waste and lots of extra, I decided to warp 10 yds. There was plenty of yarn, thankfully...

Save the Date!

The bottom line here is that lots has been going on, but I'm not a faithful blogger.

The fabric has been planned, the warp wound and beamed, the heddles threaded, and the reed is being sleyed.  Dan also made a custom bench. Over the next few days I plan to catch up on the details of all this activity in my blog.  In the mean time, here's a teaser and a Save the Date notice.

Heddles threaded; reed sleying in progress.

On Sunday 28 September 2014, the OCGH is holding their annual Colonial Crafts Day.  Dan and I will both be there. Dan will have his Joyner tools, and I'll be in the shed working on the loom.  The event (free, but donations welcome) runs 2-5 pm.  Check their website for directions and other details.

Stop by and say hello!