FO day!

I am keeping very busy here at Casa Wool Therapy. I finished my first rug on the cranbrook a few days ago. And yes, that includes the hem! I hand hemmed these and it turned out fabulous, I will be doing it again. Final measurements (30” x 72”)

 

 

 

 

I pulled another scarf off of my RH too. It is a mash of 2 different hand dyed yarns, both by the same dyer, Three Irish Girls. The warp is a 50% Alpaca, 30% Merino, 20% Silk blend in a solid, and the weft is a single ply 60% Silk 40% Merino blend.

 

 

Happy Weaving!



Lessons Learned

I am finally weaving on my Cranbrook, but only after a very long and frustrating weekend. I choose to change out the original string heddles for new texsolv heddles and they arrived last week. Hence the loom sitting vacant for a month :(

 

I decided to run a small test warp on the loom to get a feel for her, so a short 2.5 yard warp was ran for a bath mat. You see, I have this huge box of sock loopers for such an occasion.

 

 

The loom was warped, threaded and tied on in record time. I climbed into the body of the loom, which by the way is really cool, to tie up the treadles. I kept thinking that something was off.... things don't look right. After just sitting underneath a moment and staring at all the parts, I realized that the treadles were upside down. Easy enough fix, right? So I pulled out the bar that the treadles are on and I flip them all over. Re-tie.

 

Something. Is. Still. Wrong. I am a little more than frustrated at this point. I just don't get it. So I pull out all of my manuals, books on tying up countermarchs, and hit up google. I can't find anything I have done wrong at this point, so I decide to go back to the beginning. Do I have this monster put together correctly? I open the original assembly manual and read it line by line. Nothing jumps out at me and as I am sitting there staring at a picture of the loom, the problem smacks me in the face. Why yes, my treadles were upside down, but that was because the whole treadle frame was upside down! The treadles are supposed to hang from the frame, not rest on it.

 

 

I cuss at this point. The only way to fix the problem is to take the whole loom apart, flip the treadle beam and put it back together. And oh, re flip the treadles since they were on the beam correctly in the first place. And OH, did I mention this beast is warped? My husband and I start discussing how to attack this. I would rather try to save the warp instead of just pitching it, so a game plan is put into place. I tape all the warp threads to the warp beam like I've see sectional warpers do.  Then I untied all the threads from the apron bar and overhand knot them in front of the reed in small groups. My husband unpins and pulls out the back beam while I unhook the harnesses and pull the reed out of the beater. Together we walk all these pieces away from the loom. So far so good! Pulling the loom apart at this point is a cinch, and in under 10 minutes we have the back treadle beam flipped and treadles re flipped. In another 5 we have the warp beam on and harnesses re hung. The tape worked very well and I only had 1 section pull out of the reed.

 

 

I am really surprised. REALLY surprised it worked. I have no tension issues yet and we are weaving smoothly. I don't believe my shed is as big as it should be, it is at about 2" wide. I asked some weaving friends on Ravelry about it, but we have come up with nothing yet. The loom may just need some fine tuning and that will come as we move forward.

 

 Yeah for my first rug!!

 

Finishing and photographing

I have a pile of things ready to be finished.

 

Sewing, washing, hemming, pressing and twisting fringe. FUN!

 

 

This scarf was the first warp I put on my new to me Louet Spring. Finally washed and ends knotted. 8/2 Tencel warp and weft.

 

 

This AWESOME scarf was woven for a Raveler, and used hand dyed sock yarn as the warp with 8/2 tencel as weft.

 

Only a Partial photo of this project because it is a Christmas gift! Woven with 10/2 Perle

 

And last but not least, a set of kitchen towels. The warp was hand dyed by Blazing Shuttles. I used 8/2 Cotton for weft, 3 in orange, 3 in navy and 2 in turquoise. These towels are listed in my Etsy shop!

 

 

Happy Weaving :)



 



Bexell Cranbrook - a dining room table replacement

Guess What? I have a new loom!

A thread started on Ravelry about 2 months ago in the warped weavers group concerning a loom on craigslist. The poster was asking for thoughts and opinions on the loom. It was a 60" Cranbrook made by Bexell and my heart dreamily fluttered as I wished that someday I could own a Cranbrook. I mentioned it to my husband and I got the big old stink eye....

 

Well, a few days later I sent a message to the craigslist poster asking if it was still available. It was and I proceeded with an epic yarn destash. Scott (my husband) said if I could acquire the funds, he wouldn't gripe to much. I put almost my entire stash up forsale on ravelry, and within 3 days I had every penny I need to buy it. It was on like donkey kong! The seller asked if I would hold off picking it up so she could finish her rug that was currently on it.

The fantastic woman I was buying the loom from loved tapestry weaving and weaving Navajo rugs. These are both hers!

 

We did a lot of talking and I found out that she was the original owner of the loom, purchased in 1977. Within all of the paper work she passed on to me was the original purchase order and manual.

 

Tear down went quick and we were off! It was about an 8 hour journey one way, and the boys did great as always. We had that baby wrapped up like a burrito on a 5x9 trailer. I spent the next day washing it as well as rubbing it down with wood beams. Putting it back together was a snap, and I did it all by myself! Seriously, was not able to be patient enough to wait for hubbo to get home. Nope.

 

This Cranbrook has replaced my dining room table, so now I officially have a loom room.

 

Pre loom with table (not used for dining)

 

 

Loom room set up

 

Official details - Bexell Cranbrook J60 4H/10T made in 1977

 

 



Testing Lily Louet

Ok. So I name my looms. And my new Louet Spring is officially named Lily Louet. She has finally gotten herself properly dressed! I choose a short and quick project so that I may get a feel for her. I didn't want to throw on a 12 yard warp and realize 12 picks in that I hate weaving on her.

 

 

I choose an 8/2 tencel for an easy undulating twill scarf. I also choose to use only 4 shafts instead of all 8, this being my very first go round with a countermarch loom. I feel the need to understand the process before I try to get crazy with the pattern and shaft combos! Also, the built in raddle? Awesome.

 

 

It took me a week after picking her up to get to her, but she is tied on and ready to go.

 

 

The rigid heddle also got herself dressed this week in a commissioned project for another Raveler. It is hand dyed sock yarn, fully warped in my 12" AKL. I found the color repeats and warped to produce a faux ikat scarf.

 

 

Call me crazy, but I still love weaving on my RH!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Sock it to me!

Have I mentioned how much I love weaving on a rigid heddle with sock yarn? A ton. Right after I bought my first floor loom I sold my Ashford Knitter's loom (AKL). I had actually thought that once I start weaving on a "big girl" loom, aka a floor loom, that I would never want to revisit my slooooow weaving RH. A month or two without that little AKL and I quickly realized I had made a big mistake! I love making scarves out of wacky variegated knitting yarn.

 

 

This little beauty was dyed by a Ravelry buddy, Azlynn of Dyelectable Yarns, and is an 80/10/10 MCN blend. The colorway name is roadkill. The image of roadkill isn't all that beautiful, but this skein sure is.

 

I decided to pair it with some Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga (also 80/10/10 MCN) in Grey Scalloped Bar Butterfly.

 

 

The result is stunning although I am only 1/4 of the way into it.

 

 

My cats loved it too. I left to go to the store, and when I returned home the caked skein that was waiting to become the weft looked like this.....

 

 

I almost cried. I did yell. I was tempted to throw it away. But with some encouragement I sat down and untangled it myself. Only after I contacted some of the fabulous women in the Knot a Problem group on Rav. These women love to untangle yarn, and will do it for others. More power to them. I'd rather knot do it ever again ;)