Unobservant weaver

I don't know how I missed it, but when I used the pick up stick on this towel, I managed to catch one thread wrongly. To be fair it isn't at all obvious on the right side. This warp has given me a lot of tension troubles. I think my warping technique will have to improve. I'm using crochet cotton with two ends in each slot and one in each hole. I warped front to back and when I wound on, there were tangles. Apart from that, even though I tied on at the front with the heddle raised, after a few inches of weaving the slot threads became loose compared with the hole threads. I cut this towel off and tied on again, and the same thing is happening with the second towel. Frankly, I'm puzzled. In an effort to keep the edges neat and reduce draw in, I tried a makeshift temple consisting of some kumihimo weights, nuts, and some hooks intended for hanging ribber weights when machine knitting.


I decided to just go for it and gently pulled out the offending warp thread and rewove it. It was only about 2 feet long and took 10 minutes. You'd never know.

Plaid

I seem to be a bit behind with blogging again ( I love how Bloggers' spellcheck doesn't recognise 'blogging' ) Anyway, I nearly have a finished pair of socks, once I can decide what kind of cast off to use. I normally knit top down socks and don't have this problem. My Cabled Spiral 2 sweater was finished ages ago, and I forgot to mention it. I haven't managed to get any good pictures of it yet anyway, I'll have to try again. The crocheted top (Forest Flower top) is also nearly done. I just have to finish the edges and work in the ends.



These are a couple of the mats I made, using patterns made using the pickup stick. The yarn is a 4 ply cotton (8/4) sett at 12.5 dpi. I could have done with weaving the hems with a thinner yarn, but I didn't have anything that matched, so the hem on the top one is a bit bulky. The lower one I hem stitched, but I don't think it will be very durable. These are really only samples, which may come in useful as mats.


The plaid is done. I ended up with about 39" length,11.25" wide. The cotton is 4 ply and I used the 12.5 dpi heddle. This may be the raw material for a small zippered bag. I kept all the colour changes on one side and once it was off the loom I machine zigzagged along that edge before washing it.

Weaving

Here we have a selection of pick up stick patterns. What a great way to get some texture! I'll be dividing this length up into assorted mats and hemming them. My favourite so far is waffle weave and I want to try that with some warp stripes some time. Some of the warp threads get deflected and if they were in another colour, I think it would look way more complicated than it is.

I just got started on some plaid. Initially I warped with two heddles to try some double weave, which I managed okay, but the cotton was sticking in the slots and getting a clean shed was annoyingly difficult. I wove a few inches and abandoned the project. I then removed half of the warp and retied to try a few twill patterns, but the sett was wrong for that, so I abandoned that too. I removed the warp and measured some more to go with it, and threaded the 12.5dpi heddle for plain weave. I have had this 4 ply cotton for a while and it suggested a plaid pattern, so here it is. I'm aiming for a balanced weave, and so far the squares aren't too far off square.

Getting up to date

Having finished the crocheted Simply Spring top recently, I was tempted to start another summer top. I've had some Emu Perle (acrylic which looks like perle cotton, light DK weight) in the stash for ages in several colours and I've used some of it for other tops. This time lilac was the choice, and the pattern I'm using as a starting point is the cover design of the latest Interweave Crochet magazine (Spring 2009). Instead of the flowered yoke I will have a try at working a more solid circular yoke. So far I nearly have half a front done and the fabric is very pleasing. I'm using a 5mm hook.

My interest in various yarny pursuits fluctuates with time, and at the moment crochet is pushing its way to the front. This was why I ordered some more Clover soft touch hooks to fill in the gaps of my set. When they first came out, I bought the set which covered 2.5mm to 6mm in half mm increments. I just discovered that they now make the quarter mm sizes between 2mm and 4mm, along with a range of steel hooks in the smaller sizes 0.5mm to 1.75mm. So, seeing that they are my favourite hooks, I couldn't resist. Of course I had to make a case to keep them in, so I made another like my original one.


I have managed a little knitting: the neckband of the Cabled Spiral is nearly done, but I need to put the stitches on a longer needle so that I can try it on to check. I've also started a sock with the Wendy Happy bamboo/nylon yarn. I'm using Wendyknits Seaweed sock pattern with a little alteration to the lace pattern. I'm reversing the chart on alternate repeats. This is the second attempt because the first try was too big, so I'm doing the medium size now. Even on 2.5mm needles 66sts seems to be enough in this pattern.

Last but not least I finally finished spinning some superwash english wool tops which I dyed myself. It is fairly bright and it ended up about DK weight 2 ply. (223m, 91g)

Playing catch up and a Drum carder

I have some FOs to report; the Monkey socks are done and I'm very happy with them. The Regia yarn is superb to work with and feels soft.


After a bit of a time out, the Simply Spring crochet top is finished too. I had to decide how to finish the neck edge and the bottom edge. the pattern has you work just one row of dc (UK terminology), but I needed a bit more depth to prevent the neckline gaping and to stop the lower edge from flaring out. In the end I worked several rounds of dc, ch1 where the dc goes into the ch space on the previous round. After washing and blocking, I'm pleased with the fit of it. Now we just need some warm weather. For a change I've finished something in advance of needing it. This won't be the case for the Cabled Spiral because by the time I finish that, it will be too warm to wear it.


I finally finished the Wendy Happy scarf and used my new hair braider gizmo to twist the fringes. It certainly saves some wear on the fingers. 36.8cm in the heddle, 35.2cm wide after finishing and 1.8m long excluding fringe.


I need to wear glasses for reading and I hang them round my neck with a made by me kumihimo cord so I don't lose them, and one of the rubber ends gave way a couple of weeks ago, so I dusted off the marudai and made a couple of new cords. I ended up using the one at the bottom, attaching it to some new rubber ends. Job done!

I've saved the best for last - I have a drum carder now. My hubby decided that he would like to build one for me quite a while ago. He is not a well man, so this has really given him something to work towards, doing a little at a time. He enjoys precision metal work, so the majority of the structure is metal with a minimum of wood! I've christened it, and it works great.



I have two doffer rods and a small carder for cleaning the cloth. The gap between the drums can be adjusted and the infeed tray can be raised and lowered. It has high quality sealed bearings and will outlast me I think.

A couple of progress pics

On the loom:
4 ply cotton at 12.5 dpi, with simple pick up stick patterning.

Repeating myself

We are having to have a new central heating boiler installed after the old one stopped working over a week ago. Luckily the weather hasn't been too bad, and a couple of oil filled radiators are taking the edge off, and along with the immersion heater for water, we haven't been too badly affected. Work begins on Thursday, and we've drained the system and made a start on emptying cupboards where access will be needed. Crafting has to take a back seat for a while, but I can still fit some in.


My second Cabled Spiral sweater is still stocking stitch and no cables yet, but the body is excellent mindless knitting, and it is growing. The yarn is Emu superwash DK in a marled grey and it's very soft. I'm having to use 4.5mm needles to get gauge which is odd, but whatever works is fine with me.

This is one and a bit no purl Monkey socks. My first pair were made exactly as the pattern, but these have plain ribbing, not twisted, and a slip stitch heel instead of stocking stitch. The yarn is Regia Design Line, Kaffe Fassett colour 4260, which I think is the Caribbean colourway. I'm pretty happy with the way these are turning out. There is the occasional splodge of colour, but mostly pleasing stripey bits.

I can see a trend here, my current knitting projects include two repeated items.


Weaving-wise, currently I'm weaving a wide scarf/stole with Wendy Happy bamboo/nylon 4 ply yarn in shade Aquarius. It is threaded at 12.5 epi now having started out at 10 epi which proved to be much too airy. Weft is a dark airforce blue/ grey 3 ply wool. It's plain weave and the width on loom is 14.25".


I haven't mentioned the next ufo until now, because I wasn't sure about it early on, but I've been crocheting too. This is the Simply Spring top from Crochet! magazine May 2007. The yarn is Rowan Cashcotton DK in Sage and Parchment. I'm using a 4.5mm hook and recalculating because of the gauge difference. The back is about 75% done, so it won't be too long before it's done.

In a bit of a rush

Does this remind you of anything? It's cotton which I will be making into an oven glove, hopefully with better insulation properties than my current one which lets heat through far too fast for my liking. I just wove a long strip of plain weave using the same rustic type of cotton for both warp and weft. I need to get some binding and then I'll put it together.

I really wanted to make something that used some twill patterning, so I made YAS (yet another scarf). I threaded two 10 dpi heddles in a 3 2 1 3 2 1 threading which worked out at 15 epi. I'll elaborate about the threading another time,'cos I don't have the time right now. I explored the weave drafts at Handweaving.net and found two which worked for me. I used one for about 10" at each end of the scarf and a second for the middle section. The pattern at the ends (no. 62700) was very different on each side, while the other (no. 34910) was the same on each side.


This shows the transition from one pattern to the next, the ribbon was my length guide, because I needed to know when to start the ending pattern. The yarn is 80% acrylic, 20% wool 4 ply from the machine knit stash. The finished scarf is 20cm wide and 1.82m long. On the loom it was 19cm and 2m. I always thought that woven fabric decreased in width when finished, but not mine, well not all of it. I tried twisted fringe for the first time - my poor fingers. I need to get a fringe twister if I'm going to do more of this. I love the effect though.

In knitting news, I've finished one all knit (no purls) Monkey sock, and started the second. These really are going quite fast for me. I've started another Cabled Spiral sweater because I really like the yoke, but this one has ribs for the cuffs and body. So far I have both sleeves done to the armpit and about 4" of the body completed.

I've just started weaving YAS using Wendy Happy bamboo yarn for warp, plain weave with a 3 ply wool weft. Pretty. I'll try to get some photos taken soon.