Fiddling

 

spool rack set up - this is one half of the rack

I had no intention to do two posts today, yet, here I am...

When I did the class on sectional beaming for Sweet Georgia I recommended that people put the yarn on the spool rack using the bottom row of pegs first and then work upwards.  I still advise this - although the circumstances have changed for me  and I am now leaving the bottom row empty.

This year has done...things...to this body which has meant I needed to change what I was doing to take the stress off my joints/muscles.  

I *used* to be able to squat down and pop right up again, no problem-o.  Last autumn that began to change for me.  I can still squat down.  It's the getting up that is the challenge.

This year I finally realized this situation was not going to change any time soon and I began to set up the spool rack leaving the bottom row of 'spikes' empty so that I could work with the yarns at a more comfortable position.  Since right now I'm doing 32 or 36 (mostly) epi, this puts the yarns in a place that I can just bend slightly to work with the bottom row, and the yarns are still mostly lower on the rack.

Why?  Because if the spools/tubes are kept lower, if there is any kind of issue with the yarns (e.g. one breaks, or a couple entangle) the jerk of the yarns doing a doh-see-doh will not tend to tip the rack over.

This is the Leclerc studio bobbin rack and it will hold 50 tubes or spools.  Doug added another rail and when pulling off the side of the yarn package, there is room for 60 packages.  This rack has served *almost* all of my warps and if I wanted/needed to beam more than 60 ends, I got creative to make that happen.

Bottom line?  If something - a piece of equipment or a process - isn't working for you?  Change.  It will take time for the new approach to become routine, but eventually it will just be part of what you do, when you do that thing.

Last note - I don't thread the colours in an order.  Since I'm beaming sectionally and I don't use a cross but just pull the number of ends off the masking tape that holds the section in some kind of 'order', I just pull however many ends I need and disregard the colour.  When the two colours are very close in value and pretty close in hue, this works well.  I would not necessarily do this for high contrast hue/value - although I might if I felt that would fit the design I'm going to be weaving.

(Sample, sample, sample!)

As mentioned in the post earlier today, I will be 'testing' the draft for the magazine article, seeing if the yarns behave the way I need them to.  If it doesn't, (and I suspect it might not - for one of the yarns, at least) I will go ahead with the project for the magazine.  

One of the advantages of being 'retired' and weaving for my own satisfaction, is that I can take my time when working on an article and do lots of samples so that I know what I'm going to accomplish.  And there are *no* other deadlines or demands on me!  

I could get to enjoy this approach to weaving...

Sectional Beaming

 

As usual, there are so many subtleties in weaving that one SOS student needed to see how the beginning of the warp would look like.  I thought it might prove more helpful to see the end of the warp in order that they could see how the sections were all consistently lined up.

The leader strings I use are seine twine.  Seine twine was engineered to be used to make seine nets (hence the name), and as such the yarn is very dense and very strong.  Weavers use it for rug warps and other tasks.  Before TexSolv heddles and cord were developed, seine twine was used for many of the loom cords/tie ups.  Some still use it because it's a lot cheaper than TexSolv.  

As it happened I had a spool of seine twine when I got my AVL because I'd been making rag rugs, so the AVL got kitted out with seine twine leader cords.  When I 'retired' the AVL I kept all the leader strings and in fact, most of the leader strings on the Megado are re-used strings from the AVL.  I had to change the length, but that was a simple matter of tying the loop so that it was shorter and the knot fit within the space between the rakes, but was still long enough to reach up over the back beam.

The warp gets beamed one section at a time.  I have one inch sections because I knew when I bought the loom that I needed the smaller option due to my using fairly fine threads for warp.  As it is, I have done projects that required 72 ends per section, although that was not common.  I did do 60 and 48 epi more frequently, though, so having a studio bobbin rack that held 60 spools meant I could easily beam my finer thread warps.

My current series is 32 epi, which is what the photo shows.

The warp is not a solid colour.  It is made up of equal parts peacock and bleu moyen (from Brassard).  The two colours are the same value, so they don't announce themselves as being very different.  However, when woven, they do show up as a subtle difference.

These are the towels that I cut off the loom a few days ago and wet finished.  The colour difference doesn't show up much in the photo, although you can just see some 'streaks' happening.  Those are the two different colours showing up.  With one colour slightly different than the other, when I used a periwinkle blue for weft (right towel) the warp shifted to the blue end of the spectrum.   When I used navy blue (left towel) for weft, the warp shifted to the green end.

Overall I have had a lot of fun working through this series, but once these colours are used up (a total of 5 warps) I will be changing to something else.  Likely shawls, so I can have some available for the fall craft fair.  Maybe.  We'll see.  That's the goal.  Without goals with a deadline, I tend to procrastinate, so I'm announcing it here to remind myself what my plan is.

Always keeping in mind "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.”...  A fitting quote considering Robbie Burns day is coming up?

Launch Day!

 

Tomorrow the Sectional Beaming class on School of Sweet Georgia is set to launch.

This class was particularly challenging because I didn't want to just show the process, but to include information on how to use the equipment in 'interesting' ways, including how to beam an 'ordinary' warp wound on a board or mill.  As such, there were challenges in terms of staying within the format for the class (video) and then providing documentation that (I hoped) would help people explore the possibilities for the equipment to make interesting cloth.

Sectional beaming was such a mainstay of what I did that for a time I didn't even own a board or mill.  Everything I did was done by sectional beaming.

Over the years I learned a lot about what made for 'good' sectional beaming.  I also learned how much I could glide over 'perfect' and still get 'good' results.

There are definite advantages, but also, disadvantages.  As part of the support for the video class I found myself writing a 20+ page booklet to try and address more fully some of both.

There are many people who are production weavers who use sectional beaming, whether it is with the 'standard' spool rack, or the warping wheel or square.  I don't use the latter, for reasons, which may have nothing to do with why someone else uses them.  If someone is interested in either of those, I suggest asking for advice or feedback from someone who does because like everything else about weaving, it depends.

As a new weaver, I thought I had the correct answer for everything and everyone.  Until I realized that human beings are not identical and what works for me, may not work for someone else.  Since then I have tried to help people find what will work for them, and then encourage them to do that.

A number of my Olds students, when confronted with the first requirement of their homework to document *their* method of dressing the loom would assume that meant they needed to feed what I did back to me.  I assured them that the problem was to document *their* method, not mine.  I hoped that some of what I showed them would appear in their process(es) but if not, no matter.  They certainly did NOT get marks deducted if they continued to use their own process because the point wasn't that they adopted *my* process, but to make sure they could communicate *their* process.

It was with a certain level of trepidation that I agreed to do this class for SOS because I know full well that every weaver who uses sectional beaming will have their own 'tricks' and that what I do doesn't work for everyone.  OTOH, I have used this equipment for decades and I do have opinions, hints and tips. 

So - tomorrow is launch day.  If you join for a month you can access all four of my classes, but also?  All of the SOS classes.  You can join for a year and have access to the classes for that year, plus you can ask questions on the forums and get info from others or ask me questions directly and I'll answer as best I can.

Plus you get access to the 20 page booklet of information on sectional beaming, which while not encyclopedic, was my best effort to address common issues with using it and is the only place it is available.

First Snow

 

winter solstice last year

As we settle into winter, the sun continues it's journey southwards and soon enough the snow will not be a scattering of flakes on the ground, but an accumulation.

There have been many 'things' happening chez nous, many of them with an element of stress about them.  But life is stress, sometimes good stress, sometimes, not so much.

So I will begin with the good news - I am still in a very rare remission of the cancer I live with.  It was my understanding that people with Small B cell lymphoma can live for a long time - with treatment.  I am amongst the fortunate few that has actually achieved 'remission' - as in not high enough active level of cancer cells in my blood to be treated.  The doctor at the cancer clinic confirmed my special snowflake-ness and said I should celebrate that it is holding.  For how long?  No one knows.  An actual remission is so rare that they don't have any idea.  Just...come back in six months and see if it continues to hold.

So I continue to ride the cancer roller coaster.

Yesterday the HVAC crew finished installing the new heat pump/natural gas back up.  Now we get used to the new technology, which is different from our old gas furnace on a number of levels.  We chose to upgrade after our furnace pooped out last winter during a very cold 'snap' that lasted for weeks, two of which we had no furnace.  We made do with space heaters, but at the cost of our electricity bill.  And the repair, of course.  As summer drew to a close, my inner danger radar began ringing alarm bells and we decided to replace the furnace and it seemed the best approach was a heat pump, which would also replace our 40 year old a/c, and upgrade our natural gas water heater.  The government of Canada and provincial government were both offering incentives to change away from fossil fuels, but we live far enough north that -20 C temps are common in the winter and we could not rely solely on a heat pump, so we kept the natural gas as a back up.  We won't get much money back from the grants on offer, but whatever we get will be welcome because this upgrade took a big bite out of my savings.

It isn't the 'best' solution, but it was the 'best' we can do, given the level of technology now.  But that installation meant I had to clear out my storage room enough for the crew to get into the space and install the new equipment.  All while I dealt with my broken body.  More stress.

We hired a young person to come help Doug shift the stuff that needed moving out of the storage area and drape the shelves with plastic, in case of construction dust.  Doug will bring the shop vacuum in to clean up the rest of the dust.  The crew did a good job of picking up the large rubble, but there is still 'dust', and I want/need that dealt with before we take the plastic draping off the shelves and shelves of yarn.  And then everything needs to be moved back.

The guild is having a booth at the local craft fair, at which I have textiles for sale.  After much mulling, I will do a BOGO special in my ko-fi shop soon.  Once the inventory is back from the craft fair I will sort it and see what I have left and what I'm willing to do a BOGO offer on.  So, sometime next week?  It depends.

In the meantime I have two more boxes of homework to mark, and then I am officially 'retired' from teaching for Olds College.  This year there was a really high rate of students who submitted their homework for marking.  8 out of 9 of the students have sent their work in.  

And yesterday I completed the last (I think) of the edits for the Sectional Beaming class for SOS.  The class was 'difficult' because I wanted to not just explain the process but to include a lesson in designing for utilizing the sectional beam for production.  This lead to some challenges, not just for me, but the team doing the post production.  I think we've done a decent job, but the class is not for beginners because in order to effectively design for working with the sectional beam, the student will need to have a grasp of weaving essentials (imho).  Or they can just watch the video class in order to learn more about it and then decide if they want to pursue the tool further.

A sectional beam can be used to great effect, but the weaver really should have an understanding of the craft of weaving and the principles in order to best use the tool.  You don't have to be a production weaver, although it can enhance productivity.  Like everything, there are pros and cons, and I try to discuss those in the supporting documentation I provided.

If you are interested in what a sectional beam does, some of the challenges of working with one, pitfalls, trouble shooting, or want to put on longer warps by yourself, you might find this class of interest.  I even show how to beam an 'ordinary' warp on the sectional beam.  Will I sell the documentation separately?  No.  I invite you to join SOS for a month and watch the video class as well as refer to the documentation.

The class launches on Nov. 9, I'm told, but joining SOS means you also get my other 3 classes, plus all the other classes SOS offers.  Makes a great Xmas gift?

Other things happening?  I continue to spend a lot of time on personal 'maintenance' as the chiropractor, massage and physio therapists try to get my body functioning again.  Again and again I realize just how much physical fitness I've lost over the past year, since things started to go badly in my body.  Getting into the local pain clinic has helped and I am still hopeful the new medication for pain will kick in further as the dose increases.  I'm still on an 'introductory' dose and today I phone the pain clinic to check in.  I'll be asking when I can increase the dose.  OTOH, the new med comes with a nausea warning and I've had to make sure I don't take it on an empty stomach.  A minor but necessary change.

I have also managed to get both my flu and covid vaccines in the past 3 weeks, and continue to wear a mask whenever I leave the house.  The latest reports about covid are...concerning...and I'm not about to assume that everyone is 'healthy' when the numbers of cases continue to climb.  

And for all those people in my life who assure me the latest covid variant is 'mild', I'd like to remind them that I have cancer of the immune system - half of my immune system is 'sick'.  And frankly I don't want your 'mild' cold, flu or any other communicable disease that might be floating around, either.  What might be mild for *you* will not be mild for *me*.  And I'm damned if I will get really sick (or die) because someone takes offense at my wearing a mask in their presence.  I've managed to dodge covid (and any cold or flu) for nearly 4 years.  I've quite enjoyed NOT getting sick on top of managing a body that has been rode hard, put away wet for most of my life.

As winter draws in, I withdraw from doing much outside of the house - other than the necessary trips for 'maintenance'.  

And keep weaving.  Yesterday I sleyed the new warp and will begin weaving once I've dealt with a few other things on my task list.  

The current warp will nearly use up the mercerized cotton - the next decision is whether or not I'll put one more warp on at 36 epi and use up the rest, or shove that yarn into my bobbin lace stash.  TBD.

Flexible

 

books waiting to be mailed (photo from earlier this year)

It's a bit...fun...self-publishing your own books.  Not only do you get to write the thing in the first place, guide it through publication with the assistance (if you are wise) of an editor, you then get to market it.

During the 'birth' process there is a whole lot of 'wait and see' that happens.  Waiting while alpha readers give feedback, editing, feedback, editing, feedback, editing, finally you have relatively 'clean' copy and you trepidatiously send it off to an actual editor for the final polish and application of lipstick.

It is said that an author never actually finishes writing a book, they simply, at some point, *stop* writing the book.  If they didn't, the damn thing would never see light of day.

So a book gets written, and in between and around doing that, other things also need to get done.

As I wrote the documentation for the sectional beaming class for SOS, the document grew and grew and grew as I thought of yet more things that I felt needed to be said.  In the end, I wound up with a monograph - more than 20 pages plus photographs.  

I won't say it's a comprehensive document, that would have taken a lot longer and me doing a lot more digging than I was willing to do, but it's as comprehensive as I could make it within the context of supporting the video class.  And of course, not everyone will want to do things 'my' way, but perhaps they will see a hint or tip that helps them?

Will I publish it separately from SOS?  No.  If you want it, you can pay SOS $25 for a month's membership, take the class and refer to the supporting documentation provided.  

The coming two weeks are...fraught...with a number of things.  I got another box of Olds homework and there may be two more arriving soon.  The HVAC system will be installed next week, the craft fair and guild sales are happening, and I'm still dealing with three different therapists plus the pain clinic, trying to get more functional.

I can still weave, so I'm doing that as best I can in between juggling multiple medical appointments, including the cancer clinic on Thursday.  I don't think the cancer is back, but I'm in an extremely rare remission which could end at any time.  Like the Sword of Damocles, the prospect of that little life challenge hangs over me.  Living with cancer isn't fun no matter which cancer, or your prospects.

And life keeps lobbing curve balls.

So I try to pause, take a breath, think through what needs doing 'first', then concentrate on doing that thing.  I keep doing my exercises, hoping for more strength and hopefully functionality.  I keep on doing the slow and steady thing as best I can, in spite of my desire to move on to other things.  And not beat myself up too much when I need an afternoon nap.  

It doesn't do to get stuck in what you want to do when another curve ball comes blasting at you, so I dodge and change my expectations.  

Most of all, I keep going.  Because as Winston Churchill supposedly said, if you are going through hell...keep going.

Launch Date

 

Got word today that the Sectional Beaming class will launch on Nov. 9, 2023.

This class is for people who are beyond beginner level, and want to up their game, maybe beam longer warps, do some 'production' weaving, maybe weave yardage or towels for everyone in the family for Christmas, or play around with what is possible.  I give hints and tips for how I approach designing, and give information for Sister Towels that were woven on the demonstration warp Felicia and I wound onto the loom for the class.  I discuss some pitfalls and trouble shooting issues, but mostly I hope to let people see the possibilities for designing, yes, even on a long warp, and not necessarily wind up with identical items (although I have no trouble weaving lots of the 'same' thing!)

Details are given for the demonstration warp, and I wrote a lengthy 'article' to further explain the technique.

For anyone interested, use the link for School of Sweet Georgia here...  If you sign up on Nov. 1, you will have access to all four of my classes, plus all the rest of the classes SOS has, not just weaving, but spinning, knitting, dyeing, etc. for a full month - or a year if you decide there is more you want to explore.  Then introduce yourself and join in the discussion.  :)

Looming Deadlines

 

tension box top view

tension box side view - extra dowels for additional tension

The past month has been...challenging...but hopefully things will start to get 'better' now, instead of the constant slide downwards.

It appears that the pain I've been experiencing is not so much the damaged disc as it is the SI joint, given the diagnostic injection last week provided relief and actual improvement in my functionality.  I still feel 'fragile' but part of that is due to the loss of physical fitness I have noted over the proceeding months/years.  I'm just not as fit as I was and therefore don't have the level of strength necessary to keep doing what I've always done - before.

I should be getting an injection of corticosteroid into the joint in the next few days - just waiting for the booking clerk to phone to schedule it.  In the meantime, I will also be getting a new 'off label' drug which will hopefully help with the peripheral neuropathy in my feet.  The doctor isn't sure it will help, but is willing to let me try and see.

If, after those things happen, I feel 'better' I am hopeful I can begin building strength/fitness again.

Not being able to weave for two weeks, then only at half speed since, it has taken 'forever' to get the warp off the loom, but it happened at long last and I'm in the midst of beaming the next.

While I do the new warp, I'm taking photos.  Lots and lots of photos.  The goal is to document the process - as *I* do it - and see if School of Sweet Georgia wants to use it as supplement to the class on sectional beaming that we filmed almost exactly one year ago.  If they don't want it, I *may* offer it as a monograph.  TBD.

I'm not saying my way is the only way, or the best way, just that my way is how I've done it for about 4 decades and it has worked well for me, plus I point out things to watch out for because they can cause issues.  People interested in beaming sectionally may find this information helpful as they work through learning the process, using their equipment.  Because like everything else about weaving, it depends.

I have firm opinions about which processes/tools I prefer, but mine may not work for others.  Everyone needs to think through the process given their requirements and do what is 'best' for them.

Last I heard there were still only two people registered for the class in October and I really don't have sufficient spoons to re-design that, if it is going to be cancelled anyway.  So, I'm ignoring the fact that if it goes ahead, the drafts should already be sent out so participants can dress their loom.  There may be a mad scramble if it does go ahead.  Or I may just cancel on my own.

Much depends on how much 'better' I feel after I get the new regimen for pain control happening.

In the meantime, I'm hopeful the colours I chose for the new warp (not shown in the photo - that's an old photograph) will work nicely together after all.  I'll know better once I actually begin beaming, later today.  As always, before the actual 'work' can begin there is a boatload of preparation.  I completed most of that yesterday, but doing the photos/documentation is taking a lot longer than just going ahead and getting that warp beamed.  However, I have no appointments today, so if I can keep at it I should be able to complete that part today, process the photos and get them inserted into the document, and get that file sent off.  

And *then* I can start threading.  

New warp.  New possibilities.  What fun!

Far From Ideal

 

I wasn't entirely happy with how the 2/20 warps were weaving off.  I knew when I started on them that I was pushing the boundaries of 'ideal' or 'best' practice, and frankly?  If I'd only been doing one warp I would have simply gritted my teeth and done it, dusted my hands and moved on.

But I don't have just one warp's worth of yarn.  I have what is beginning to feel like a never ending supply of the stuff.

I'm being reminded - daily - of how much play time is involved with very fine yarns (8400 yards per pound or around 5-6 miles...)

As each warp went on - and came off - I was getting more annoyed at myself for continuing a process that I knew was less than ideal and with this one determined to change what I was doing (finally!)

So I set up this warp, with its various different sized tubes, so that the yarn would pull off from the end of the tube instead of the side.

When you pull from the side, the 'ideal' is to have all of the yarn packages be the same weight.  Then as you pull the yarn off of them, they all have the same degree of drag, exerting the same (or similar) amount of tension on the threads.

With some tubes full, some half full, and some of them nearly empty (yes, I'm trying to use up my stash!), the threads were going onto the beam at various rates of tension.

In the past this hadn't been a huge problem because the AVL had a beam with a one yard circumference.  The Megado has a beam of something like 14.5".

It was making a difference.

The AVL also had a much longer distance from breast to back beam which also allowed minor tension issues to resolve over a longer distance.  With the Megado and a shorter footprint, there was less room for the yarn to settle.  That coupled with the much smaller circumference was causing some problems.

I kept going because they weren't being transferred to the cloth, in part because I cut and serge the cloth, then wet finish them.  During wet finishing any tiny difference in tension seemed to be eased out of the cloth itself.

But I wasn't happy with how the yarns behaved in the loom.  The ends that were too tight (relative to the others) tended to 'float' in the shed and I'd hit them with the shuttle in the unclear shed - and sometimes they would break.  The ones that were too loose would sometimes sag and create a shed that wasn't clear and one symptom of this was the weft loops that kept developing.  If I saw them before I wove very far I'd back up and unweave, remove the loop, then continue.

Each thing by itself wasn't really a big deal and nothing I hadn't dealt with before.  But honestly?  I'm old and cranky and not much given to putting up with such things right now.

So today I set the warp up to be pulled from the end of the tube.  It seemed to be 'better' but once I started threading I could feel that again the fuller tubes and the ones that were more empty were beaming on at slightly different tensions.  

I'm hoping that overall the situation has improved and will wait and see how this warp weaves off before I decide if the change was an actual improvement.  Or not.

But the improvement I noted in the beaming may well be sufficient to continue doing it this way.  Fingers crossed it will extend to the weaving, as well.

Just now did about 1/3 of the warp, realized I'd made a threading error, back tracked and found the error and fixed it.  It wasn't very far back and didn't take all that long in the scheme of things, but I am done for today.

Time to make dinner and veg a bit.  Who knows, maybe I'll feel like hemming tonight.  I have 7 more of the first red warp to hem, the 'neutral' towels (18), and today ran the second red warp through so now there are 17 of those that will be ready to hem as soon as I press them.  They are 'steeping' in a plastic tub which will even out the damp/almost too dry parts and make them a lot easier to press.  Manana...

Another Sunday

 

I'm coming down to the wire on the latest warp with just one towel left to weave.

I've been beaming sectionally for a very long time but when you push past the 'ideal' sometimes?  Things don't go smoothly.

So it is with my stash reduction efforts.  I've been setting up my spool rack to pull the yarn from the sides of the tubes, which is great when the tubes are all the same weight, as shown here.

But when they aren't?  The yarns will go onto the beam at different tensions.

I knew that would happen, but generally I can make it work.  With the towels, the tension differential isn't even apparent after wet finishing.  But it's starting to bug me.

Plus!  Plus I am about to go do a recorded class on beaming sectionally and I want to talk about why I use this specific spool rack and how it allows you to pull off the top (or the end) of the yarn package.

When you do that, it doesn't matter how full the tube is because the weight of the yarn package doesn't enter into the equation.

What you DO have to do, though, is apply more tension via the tension box.

So my next warp will be done that way.  I'll set up the warp so that I can take from the end of the tube instead of the side.  I'll work through (remind myself) of what needs to be done when choosing this option and hopefully get to do it once again before it is time to pack the rack up and drive it down to Vancouver for the purpose of doing the taping.

In order to that, however, I need to get this warp off the loom and get the next one on.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to weave I go...

Sectional Beaming

 

circumference of the empty beam:  14.25"  The arrow shows where 'zero' is on the tape measure, and therefore the circumference of the beam

circumference of beam with 60 layers of warp:  16.5

Since I am in the process of developing a new class for School of Sweet Georgia I have been paying a great deal more attention to the process as I have been doing it today with my next warp.

It occurred to me that a lot of people forget that the circumference of the beam will change as the layers build up, so if they just count the number of turns (which is how I've always done it), the actual length of the warp will be more than they think if they don't factor in this build up.

(Some people use other methods but my needs are different from most so I'll just talk about what I do in case it makes sense to anyone else.)

So how long IS my warp, anyway?  About 22 tea towels, give or take.  Because the actual length of any tea towel design will depend on how many picks I need to weave the motif and any hem/border that I want to include.  This may vary from around 1000 picks to 1200 picks (or more), give or take.  And depending on the yarn being used.

For example, the warp that is now in the washing machine had a towel repeat of 1256 picks.   But that was 2/16 cotton with a target of 32 ppi.  This warp?  Is 2/20 cotton with a target ppi of around 40.  This may change as the weft changes, so in the end I decided to use a short repeat, use a measuring tape to weave about 42" or so, then weave in a cut line (a contrasting colour) and when I've woven 8 towels, that section will get cut off and the tea towels separated for wet finishing.  I will tie on and keep going until the next 8 towels are done, rinse, repeat until the warp is finished.

But I can get a rough estimate of the length by using the 'mean' circumference length.  It's not entirely accurate, but can come pretty close.  Subtract the actual circumference from the circumference of the warp which is a difference of 2.25".  Half of 2.25 is 1.12" or for ease, say 1 1/8".  

The half-way length would then be about 15.37" - or for ease 15 3/8",  However, it is actually easier to do the next step using the 15.37" number so I'll use that.  Half of the warp will be more than that mean, half will be less.

15.37 x 60 (turns) = 922.2 inches or about 25.6 yards.

These numbers really need to be worked out each time because the circumference will change depending on how many threads are in a section, how thick those threads are, how much tension they have been wound with and how many layers there are.

Since I have been a production weaver all my life, I have almost never tried to do a specific warp length (like 10.3 yards).  My goal was to weave much longer warps in order to reduce the amount of time I spent dressing the loom, that is, threading and sleying.  The longer the warp, the more items I can weave, and the less loom waste.  A warp of 100 yards will have exactly the same amount of loom waste calculated as a 10 yard one.  Therefore if there is 27" loom waste for a 10 yard warp, and also 27" loom waste for a much longer warp, say 40 yards, there is only 27" loom waste instead of 27 x 4 = 108"  for that 40 yard warp.

Not everyone wants to do a 40 yard long warp however, so it becomes more important to them to work out how to measure their warp going onto the beam.  Even when I do a 10 yard long warp however, I still want 'extra' in order to weave a header, spot any errors and fix them, check for ppi, check that I have no tie up errors, check for weft - both actual fibre/yarn and colour.  So for me, winding on 20 turns for a 10 yard long warp (if the loom has a half yard circumference beam), works perfectly fine.  The build up on a 10 yard long warp on a half yard beam isn't all that great, but it is a little and I use that 'extra' to test for the afore mentioned variable.

When I got rid of the AVL with its 1 yard circumference beam and got the Megado, I had to re-think my approach for the smaller circumference.  So I spent quite a few warps doing warps of various numbers of turns, working out how many units of whatever it was I was weaving, then increasing or decreasing as my needs changed.  It's not 'perfect' but that isn't all that important to me right now.  That may change in the future.  Or not.

I've written about sectional beaming elsewhere on this blog - put sectional beaming into the search bar and they should all come up.  A blog isn't a format for a really deep dive into any topic, so I've addressed various bits and pieces of it over the years.

But sectional beaming does have some advantages - and some disadvantages.  Once you know both, you can decide if the technique is appropriate for you.

No One True Way

 

AVL tension box mounted on Louet Megado

Warp installed in tension box

Never fails - someone recommends a tool or process and a chorus of voices will insist that the One True Way works perfectly well for them, no need to even consider or think about any other way of doing something.

When I got the Megado, I was giving up a near 40 year relationship with the AVL.  A loom that we had heavily modified over the years to more accurately meet with my approach to weaving in order to create the textiles I wanted to make.

Over the years I had modified the AVL tension box, removing the cross making mechanism - because it didn't work well for me.  A lot of people were Very Concerned because you absolutely NEEDED a cross in order to properly thread your warp.

Um, no, not for what I was using (yarn) and what I was making (again yarn).

Doug made extra tensioning pegs for when I was primarily beaming off the top of cones because two tensioning pegs were not providing sufficient tension on my 100 yard long warps.  

When I stopped doing that, I was then using 1/2 pound tubes of primarily cotton and the drag from the side of the tubes meant I didn't need four tensioning pegs anymore, just two.  But I kept the extra pegs, because I found filling plastic spools and beaming from those provided less drag and I needed one or two of those additional pegs to beam under the level of tension required to give me good results.

At any rate, the first time I posted a photo of the Megado with the AVL tension box rail affixed to the back of the loom, I could hear a number of sharply in-drawn breaths at the sacrilege of drilling holes into my brand new Extremely Expensive loom.

It's a wooden machine.  If it needs to be something else and a couple or four holes drilled in will allow me to work the way I want, those holes can be filled later by the next owner.  Wood is very forgiving that way.

Too many weavers seem to think that the way they learned is the ONLY way to weave.  When they will not open their minds to something other than the One True Way, they may run into problems and then have no real way to work around the problem by adjusting their processes or tools.  And then they say 'oh you can't do that'.  Well, maybe not the way that was tried - and then failed.

When we don't allow ourselves the possibility of having multiple ways to address the challenges of weaving, we shut off the flow of knowledge.  If we open our minds when presented with a different way of doing it, the immediate reaction should not be 'I don't understand!'  but, oh, how does that work, then?

At least that is how I work in my studio.  Where there is No One True Way, but many ways something could be done, which one might be the best?  Then if it isn't working the way I want, what needs to change?  Do I want to make that change?  If no, then maybe I set that project aside until I am willing to make needed changes to my processes or my equipment.  Sometimes I need my in-house engineer to take a gander and suggest a different tool.  If he can then make such a tool, I might need to wait until it is ready before trying again.

It has taken me two years of working with the Megado to begin to become friends with it.  40 years of working with the AVL left me with certain expectations and assumptions, many of which had to be adjusted.  I had to learn how the loom behaved and what it needed.  There are things about it I still don't like - the very small diameter back beam, for instance - but it's the same diameter as most looms.  I'm just 'spoiled' because I had a one yard circumference on the AVL and that made beaming a warp 'easier' than the 14.x" beam the Megado has.  I'm not overly fond of the square (rounded off corners) shape of the beams, either, but they work ok.  My preference would be for a round cloth beam, but it isn't, so onwards we go.

I miss the cloth storage roller at the back of the loom that allowed me to weave an entire 20-40 yard long warp off but now I need to stop after every 7th or 8th towel and cut off and re-tie because the cloth beam is too padded to easily re-tension.  Rather than fight with the re-tensioning every time I advance the fell, I'd rather add a bit more warp length and cut off and re-tie.

See that gap in the gathering reed of the tension box?  I leave that to make room for the several wraps of leader string.  Without the gap, I was getting additional build up in the middle of each section because the profile of the leader string wound several times around the beam was causing an issue.

And so it goes.

Weaving can be a constant state of learning.  IF we allow ourselves to keep an open mind.

But ultimately?  If someone is happy with what they are doing and wouldn't change a thing?  They don't need to.  But when I share something on line it's because I know so many weavers, some of whom have issues with one thing or another and I simply want to point out that there are other ways.  Other tools.  Other techniques.  And sometimes, just because someone doesn't know that, they struggle, needlessly.  So I share information.  I try to share information about things that might help someone with an issue they might be having and have no idea how it might be done differently.

As for sectional beaming?  There are also other ways to do it than with this kind of set up.  There is the Warping Wheel/Square which some people adore, for reasons, none of which were good for me and my body so I tried it once, decided I could never make it work the way I wanted and moved on.  Some people like to wind a chain for each section and beam each one individually.  Again - tried it, didn't like it.   For reasons.  But if someone likes it and prefers it, then they should do that.

Weaving is a vast pool of knowledge and there are many many ways to create cloth.  Keep your mind open, always.  Keep learning, always.

The fact that I have been weaving for damn near 50 years and still learn new stuff is part of what keeps me getting out of bed in the morning.  But don't like something I share?  Don't do it.  Do what brings you joy.  

Sectional Beaming

 

The photo is from a while ago - last spring as I recall.  But it shows my studio bobbin rack, which I prefer to the smaller racks where the tubes sit horizontally.

The set up here is not ideal insofar as the tubes are not equal in how much yarn is left on them.  Since part of the tension applied comes from the drag pulling the yarn off the side of the tube, the fuller tubes go on slightly tighter than the more empty ones.

Part of understanding what matters and what doesn't, is simply trying things and observing what happens.  

Over the years I've had to deal with a miscellany of different yarns in different amounts and hope they will play well together.

Turns out that mostly?  They do.

Of course you have to be confident that the yarn will withstand the tension involved in beaming sectionally, so tender yarns might do better if taken from the top of the tube rather than the side.

But needs must, and sometimes I've simply made the decision to 'sacrifice' a bit of yarn to see if something was going to work.  Or not.

Over the years I have settled on yarns that I prefer to work with, gotten to know them really well, and understand what they will tolerate.  And what they won't.

So my latest warp is much like the one in the picture.  A mixed bunch of tubes of various weights which means that some of the ends are tighter than the others.

The yarn is wound on firmly enough that there is very little 'give' if I press down on the sections.  This is important because the yarn needs to be tightly enough wound that there is no leeway at all for the upper layers to cut down into the lower layers.  How much?  Depends.  Each weaver needs to experiment to find out what all those variables look like for them.

I've worked with the Brassard 2/16 bamboo before and I know how much variation the yarn will tolerate and while I can feel the different tensions in the web on the loom, I also know that it will all equalize once the scarves are cut off and wet finished.

I would be a little more 'careful' if I was producing yardage, but I'm not, and I know that the magic in the water will resolve the kinds of tension issues currently in the web.

Work in Progress

 

Here is a photo of the AVL tension box I have used since, oh, 1983?  Thousands of miles of yarn have traveled through this device.  It has been modified and we have worked together for literally decades.

When I got the Megado, I looked at their tension box and decided that I was going to somehow make the AVL box work on the loom and Doug made adaptations to the loom so that I could.

Changing looms meant changing some processes - because change one thing and everything can change.

I have been weaving pretty much exclusively on the Megado during the past year and I am still adapting my processes.  The longer you do something a certain way, the harder it is to change what you are doing when something changes!

So my minor tweaks have been done slowly, carefully, constantly adjusting and making further slight tweaks.

For this latest series of towels, the ends per section changed from 32 to 30, for reasons, although the warp then gets sleyed at 32.  As careful as I am while beaming, I was still having issues with the 'ribbon' of yarn not filling the section evenly so I tried this and that and kept tweaking over the summer and each warp.

The last couple of warps I made a more major change.  Instead of putting four ends in each dent of the tension box reed, I started putting 5, then leaving a gap in the middle to allow for the build up of the seine twine leader strings.

Yesterday I made a bit of a mess, in part because this was such a new tweak I forgot to leave the gap, but once that got straightened out, the warp began to go on quite smoothly.  It won't be perfect, but I have learned over the years that very slight differences will disappear in the wet finishing - at least on towels that get cut apart and wet finished separated.  It might be more of an issue with a longer textile.

In the end when I go back to 32 epi I may go back to putting four ends per dent and not leaving a gap.  Or maybe I'll try it for one warp and see how it works.  But 32 divides equally by four, while 30 divides equally by 5, so...

Weaving offers continuous opportunities to learn and change.  Lessons for Life, too.

50 Yards

So what does a 50 yard long warp look like?  Like this.

Sectional beaming - the only way to go in this instance imho...

No, this isn't the longest warp I've ever done.

In spite of Life Happening in a mild sort of way, I have managed to get this warp nearly done the beaming part of the process.  I think there are 5 more sections to fill.

My sectional beam is in 1" sections.  Ultimately it means more winding (twice as much as a beam with 2" sections) but it also means I don't have to have as many yarn packages.  Since this warp is 32 epi, if I were beaming 2" at a time I would need to have 74 yarn packages.

This warp is going to use up 32 epi x 44 sections each 50 yards (plus) long = 70,400 + yards - or about 10 pounds of yarn.

With about 1400 ends, it has taken me a couple of hours to beam this much with another 10 minutes or so to finish it off.  (My neck muscles are beginning to protest so I need to stop for a while and do something else.)

Threading will take about 3-4 hours, then an hour or so to sley and tie the warp to the front apron rod.

I am hoping I can finish beaming and at least strip the loom so that threading can begin.  I might even get one repeat done yet today, but at 3 we are attending a memorial service.  While life may go on, it is good to stop and remember one whose journey has ended...

To Pack, or Not to Pack

A while ago I talked some about warp packing and why it is generally A Good Thing.  

There are, however, some exceptions.

Yesterday I beamed the last of the samples for A Good Yarn:  Rayon.  Rather than wind a whole bunch of spools in order to beam the warp sectionally, I wound an 'ordinary' warp on the warping board (11 meters) and beamed it onto the AVL's sectional beam.

First I took all the tie cords for the sections to be filled and taped them out of the way on the axle of the beam.  Then I attached two tie cords (yellow) to hold a steel rod.  Although I tried very hard to make the strings exactly the same length, they are slightly different.  I found that this tiny difference in length really didn't make any difference so the rod remains slightly out of true.  :/

Then the loops of the warp were put onto the steel rod.  Notice that the cords are not at the ends of the rod but right next to the warp.  The tension of the warp and the tie cords are equal and no bending will result.

The warp is then routed under the tension box rail (not all AVL's have this - my loom is very old and came with it.  I find it useful for beaming with a warping valet) and up over the rod attached to the ceiling.  The warp is 12.5 inches wide and I use one half-full bottle of water for a weight.  (About half a gallon.)

The lease sticks are positioned between the tension box rail and the valet rod in the ceiling.  The reed is between the rail and the beam and helps to keep the warp filling the appropriate sections.

The sectional rakes keep the threads in their place.  The warp is beamed with sufficient tension that no warp packing is required.  If the rakes were  not there, the lower warp threads could roll to the side and the upper layers cut down into the lower layers.

The cross is transferred to the other side of the reed, the reed removed and the lease sticks hung just behind the heddles with the warp now ready for threading.

Currently reading Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon

Sectional Beaming, pros and cons

Many of the processes and tools involved in weaving are quite specific in their advantages - and disadvantages.  One of these processes is that of beaming sectionally.

This is what a sectional beam looks like.  In this case the sections are one inch (nominal) in width.  Of course the metal staple that divides the sections one from the next takes up some room so the actual width between staples is somewhat less than one inch.   About 5/8" if I remember correctly.

Sectional beams commonly come in one or two inch wide sections.

The advantage to sectional beaming is that one can beam a very long, very wide warp without assistance.  Sectional beaming is helpful for somewhat fine, somewhat fragile threads.  Beaming sectionally is also useful when working with yarns that have twist energy in them.  Since the warp is beamed with tension, there is a great deal of control getting the warp onto the beam with minimal tangles.

But there are a number of disadvantages while using sectional beaming, too.

One of the disadvantages is that you need a yarn package for every end in a section.  For example, if you have a beam with 2 inch sections and you want to dress the loom with 2/20 mercerized cotton at 36 epi, then you will need 72 yarn packages.

This is a Leclerc spool rack.  When I bought it, it would hold 50 yarn packages.  Doug added an additional rail which allows me to beam up to 60 ends at a time.  Generally this is more than enough for my one inch sectional beam.

The yarns are run through a tension box.  This is an AVL tension box which has the great advantage of a swiveling reed at the front which allows me to 'size' the width of the ribbon of yarns going into the section.

Doug modified the box by cutting off the top of the gathering reed and installing a 'gate' that prevents the threads from popping out.  Having no top on the gathering reed means that I can very quickly load it.

He also made extra tensioning dowels so that if I am beaming off the top of the yarn package I can apply addtional tension to the threads so that they go onto the beam very tightly.  When pulling from the side of a tube or spool, generally the weight of the yarn package is a factor and only two dowels are needed to apply appropriate tension.

Another disadvantage is that if you want a striped warp, it is more efficient to design a stripe that fits into the size of your section.  In other words, if your stripe doesn't fit your section, you'll need to remove the yarns and change them in order to get the colours where you want them.

If I want a stripe larger than an inch, I try to make the overall stripe repeat some multiple of 1 inch.  Then I fill all of the sections with the first colour combination, remove the yarn from the tension box and spool rack, then load the next combination and fill that colour and so on until all sections are filled. 

This can be quite a challenge as for example when I wove a tartan that did not fit within a one inch repeat.  Of course each different combination also needs as many yarn packages as required for the size of section that your beam may have.

Fortunately it is possible to beam an ordinary warp onto a sectional beam so there are times when I will do that.  I've got a 'slide' show on my website showing how I do this.  Click on Education then on Warping Valet.  By using the warping valet it's very easy - but you can run the warp over the top beam of the loom, too.  It's a little awkward but can be done.

Ultimately the success of beaming sectionaly is to beam the warp under firm tension.  No warp packing is required - no sticks, no paper.  When the warp is beamed tightly enough the threads cannot cut down into the lower layers.

One hint - if you do not have a tension box with the front swivel you can use Leclerc 'fingers' to guide the threads into the proper section if you have a Leclerc sectional.  If you have a loom other than a Leclerc, it is also possible to use tubing to do this job.  Depending on what sort of dividers you have on your loom you can use a size of tube that fits your dividers.  Apply the tube to one side of the section you want to fill, then bend the tube over to the divider beside it.  Then do the same to the other side of the section.  Unfortunately I don't have photos of this because I don't need to do it. 

Some bad ASCII art:

^    ^
| |_| |

where the ^ represents the tubing going from one divider to the next one beside it and the section to be filled is in the centre.

Currently reading The Sharing Knife (part I) by Lois McMaster Bujold (thanks for the recommendation, Syne!)

Sectonal Warping

I expect I've blogged about this before, but the question came up on one of the lists recently so I thought I share how I transfer the bouts from the back beam to behind the heddles ready for threading.

Here is the beam all ready to go - 30 sections.

Each bout is taped to a long stick.  Once all the sections are taped to the stick it is then 'threaded' through the beams.  This is why I have plastic covering the lower beam.  If it isn't covered the warp threads can catch on the sectional dividers on the lower beam and get pulled off the stick.

And here is the warp pulled through to just behind the heddles.  Now, Doug has modified the loom and it has an area on which the stick can sit.  Not all looms have this so one way to deal with the stick is to suspend it from the top of the loom.  When I'm using both beams, I tape the bottom beam's stick to the loom and suspend the top beam's stick from strings that hang from the castle of the loom.

This method won't necessarily work for everyone.  I don't make a cross, just peel the tape back and pull the threads from the tape for threading.  If you make a cross, you will probably insert the lease sticks into the cross and suspend the sticks from the castle.

Endings and Beginnings

In many ways I think that this combination is my favourite for this warp.

Once I ran out of the 24 nm linen, I switched to a fine cotton slub that I've used for towels before.


It's a finer slub than I've seen from other suppliers and makes a nice quality of cloth suitable for towels. The slight slub gives a good texture and they are fairly thirsty.

The yarn comes in a small range of colours but this time I only ordered in natural and ivory which should also add a nice bit of texture to the placemats on the Fanny loom. Ivory was used here because I'd used ivory as the neutral in this warp.


And the warp is now done, done, and I've been thinking about how I'm feeling and what I'm realistically going to be able to do beginning tomorrow.

Beginning by beaming a warp requiring two beams, one of which is only a half yard (which means 80 turns for that part of the warp, even though it is only 10 inches wide) seems like that would just be asking way too much of myself.

So I'm thinking I need to do something less challenging - say another towel warp using up some of that 2/8 cotton set aside for colour gamp kits and using either the cotton slub or a really nice linen/rayon boucle' for weft. It would also be a small enough warp that I could show Mizz B how to beam sectionally and not be too concerned if she takes a little while on the learning curve. It would only be 10 yards after all. :) So we'll see what she says if she comes tomorrow.

Over the years I've taken flak for my equipment choices, the last time being when I added air assist to the loom. One person told me that if I were handicapped it might just possibly be acceptable to use such equipment and still call my work 'hand woven'. Why I should need to be handicapped to justify using the equipment I have no idea.

Well, right now I am handicapped and from the looks of things will continue to be so for some time even though it is temporary.

The air assist is allowing me to get back to work and weave much sooner than if I didn't have it. While I am not yet behind schedule in terms of production for fall sales, I would be if I wasn't able to weave for a couple more months.

And so I am extremely grateful that I didn't allow the nay-sayers to determine my choice of equipment. I don't know how long it will take before I can comfortably weave on the Leclerc Fanny - probably much sooner than if I had a jack loom - but I can and will be weaving on the AVL, looking ahead to the fall sales and continuing to use up stash.

Weaving is not just what I do. In many ways it is what I am.

And I am so glad I have been able to get back to the loom once again.

Currently reading Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Sectional Beaming

I'm setting up the AVL for an experimental warp for Diversified Plain Weave.

With DPW, you need two different warp threads - two very fine ends to every thick end. Since I'm beaming a 20 yard long warp, and the fine threads are very fine compared to the thick ones, it's much more sensible to beam them separately.

When I'm doing two warps, I usually beam the bottom warp first, then the top one.

My beams have 1" sections. There are times when I wish I had 2" sections in order to halve the time required to beam, but generally, 1" makes more sense for me.

I like to work with fine threads, and a 2" section would mean twice as many yarn packages, so twice as much spool winding (if I'm using spools) or buying twice as many tubes (which can get to be expensive).

My loom is old. It doesn't have a directional roller for the bottom beam - the warp just comes off the top of the actual beam, straight through the heddles to the front of the loom.

One of the things required before I could beam this warp was have Karena make a bunch more leader strings. :}

I'm about 2/3's done the fine warp, and hope to finish beaming and start threading tomorrow.