Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

when first we practice to... uh... weave.


Here's my first woven project.  I learned quite a bit, which is just a nice way to say that I messed up a lot.

There's not a ton that you can do wrong basic weaving, I mean it's just sending the shuttle full of yarn back and forth.  But the edges get wonky if you're not careful, and I tried to get fancy tying off the fringe and it looks a bit sloppy.  I also misjudged how long to make the warp (vertical) yarns because I hadn't factored in how much would be needed to tie the yarn onto the loom but which wouldn't actually become part of the weaving.

The biggest issue I had was that I used the wrong sized yarn for the reed that came with my loom.  The reed is the wood & plastic thing in the middle that the warp yarn goes through.  Reeds are spaced wider for thicker yarns and narrower for thinner yarns.  Since the spaces on my reed were bigger than needed for the lace-weight yarn I used, it ended up being a very loose, drape-y weave.  Which isn't necessarily a problem.  But it's one of those things that is supposed to be a choice and not an accident.  Which it was. ;)



Oh well. I've already got another project on the loom and hopefully it will turn out a bit better.

2 comments:

Kaye said...

too cool! when i was at rhinebeck last fall these looms were awfuly tempting!

Michael5000 said...

This must be one of those you-can-see-the-problem-in-real-life things, because I'm looking at the picture at full magnification and your woven fabric looks great!

(I've been MACHINE BINDING (!!) some kid quilts that I've been working on. Very liberating. Makes me think of you.)