Comments | susannaknits: Beam me up, Scotty!

susannaknits

Beam me up, Scotty!

Apr 09, 2009 09:51

I took the loom to Knit Night last night so the yarn store owner, M, could help me beam the warp. (I'm proud of learning the lingo, but that still sounds very Star Trek to me.) I thought it was all very organized and would be really easy. I thought it couldn't take more than an hour or so.

I was wrong.

( The continuing adventures of Weaver-Girl! )

loom, weaving

Comments 8

lysystrata April 9 2009, 15:11:53 UTC

Sounds like a beguiling combination of frustrating and fascinating!

susannaknits April 9 2009, 17:25:23 UTC

An apt description. I think I'm still too excited about it to have gotten as annoyed as I might have otherwise.

stringlady April 9 2009, 15:52:09 UTC

Funky selvedges are pretty common at this stage. As are ones that don't match - you get the hang of them as you weave. When I started, my left pulled in and my right was loose - gee, can you tell I'm right handed?

There are tricks for keeping the beamed warp under control. I have to start remembering them myself... I wrapped onto brown paper (wrapping paper, paper bags) which was wider than the warp, so it was less likely to slide, or to press down unevenly between the already beamed threads. (I did 12 yard warps, so some of my techniques are overkill for normal warps.)

stringlady April 9 2009, 15:52:51 UTC

Forgot to say - the important thing is - you're weaving! Wonderful!

susannaknits April 9 2009, 17:24:15 UTC

We used paper, but it was only a few inches wider than the warp. Since I eventually want to weave fabric that will be usable for clothing, I'm going to have to get that "overkill" thing down.

stringlady April 10 2009, 13:25:42 UTC

OK - overkill... Every few feet of warp, put in 4 thin sticks. As well as the paper. Just get lathe or lattice cut the weaving width of the loom. All this, BTW, is called packing. And you really only need the sticks on long warps.

My old loom had a weaving width of 22 inches. Brown wrapping paper at the office supply stores came in rolls just the right size. It was very handy.

(The comment has been removed)

susannaknits April 9 2009, 17:22:25 UTC

I think the problem was that I was holding the cross wrong. I think. I think/hope/choose to believe at present that if I do it right, this problem will not recur. I'll have to check out that paper, and I'd love to see your tool. You tried to describe it to me, but I couldn't picture it.

spinpsychology April 9 2009, 23:33:31 UTC

Fabric on and right off the loom always look funky until you wash it. Even after all these years there are still moments that I wonder if my fabric will look o.k.. Also, don't be surprised if one of your selvedges looks better than the other. Most of the time if your right handed the right selvedge will look better and vise versa. As you get more comfortable throwing the shuttle your selvedges will even out. Don't forget to measure the width of your fabric periodically as your weaving to make sure your not getting too much draw in.