gamp

Off of the Loom

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Sunday I finished weaving the throw in the morning, tied the fringe and washed it to full the wool.  I threw it over the empty loom to dry.  When I arrived in Rowe yesterday I immediately took it out to the garden to take a couple of photographs.  I’m only sorry you can’t feel how lovely this is.  There is nothing like wool.  I love the color play and it truly was a great experiment in color.

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I learned a lot in this project – there were problems I had to figure out myself.  Those are the solutions you remember, they may not have been the best solutions but the finished project worked and I will do things differently the next time I warp.

It’s getting to the point now where I have so many things I want to weave I don’t know what to do next.  I think I will do another overshot project, maybe with mixed fibers this time.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be learning about a whole new set of problems.

Gamp Progress

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I thought I’d post a couple of photos of the progression of the gamp I’m weaving.  This is in Harrisville wool.  The weather finally broke and we are back to tolerable temperatures.  I did a lot of weaving this past Sunday and a little on Wednesday.

I have to say that this project has taught me a lot more about weaving than color interaction.  I’ve had a couple of issues with the tension on my warp (which I’ve corrected) and I also broke a warp thread the other night.  That was a bit more of a challenge figuring out what would work and what wouldn’t.  It broke between the heddle and the reed.  I thought I could knot a new thread in – not.  So I just put a new thread from the back to the front and weighted it like I’ve done with a broken floating selvage.  It worked I’m happy to say.  The best part was the lack of panic on my part, I just figured out how I could make it work.  Six months ago that might have been a problem, I would have had a more difficult time figuring it out.

I hope to have this off of the loom this weekend.  As beautiful as it is I’d much rather be doing overshot, plain weave is just so boring.

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Weaving Wednesday 12

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Half the yarn on the warping board.

Although it’s been very hot and humid I decided that I had to get another project on the loom – I needed the meditation. This will be a color study in Harrisville Shetland wool. There are 18 stripes of 18 colors.  Each color intersects every other color, answering that question of how the colors work together.  It’s also the first time I’ve done a multi colored warp.

My weaving instructor kept telling me to do this with the materials that I have but since I really didn’t have any I got this little kit from the Yarn Barn of Kansas.  I love, love, love the Harrisville wool so I figured this was the safest way to go.

130714 (2)Warp on the lease sticks.

I wound 24 ends of each color then proceeded to the loom.  I love how bright these colors are but with the heathered overtones that Harrisville is known for.  This was very easy to thread into a standard twill -1,2,3,4 over and over with all of the numbers coming out even (my OCD loves this kind of project).

130714 (3)Heddles threaded.

I love the way this looks as it progresses. A friend recently asked me how I could work with wool in this heat but you really don’t handle the fiber a lot while you are doing this – well, you do but it’s not like wrapping yourself in a wool blanket.  Once the loom is warped and you start weaving you aren’t really handling the fiber that much.  I also have a fan blowing on me from the back of the loom, that helps.  I truly think weaving is much more of a summer craft than knitting or rug hooking because you don’t have to hold anything in your lap.

Next up slaying the reed.  I should be able to do that tomorrow night and start weaving.