Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

The experiment with Jacquard acid dyes taught me one thing quite clearly — acid dyes are not great on Texsolv. I should have known this already, as I know acid dyes work on animal fibers (wool, silk) but not on plant fibers (cotton, linen). While acid dyes work on nylon (think sock yarn), they aren't great on polyester. Texsolv heddles and cords are polyester. So, maybe the answer was to find a dye that works on polyester? Of course, I started by looking at The Woolery, Paradise Fibers, Yarn Barn of Kansas, Susan's Fiber Shop, Earth Guild, and other usual suspects. Not a lot of luck. It turns out, the answer was almost in my own backyard about three miles away at Hobby Lobby and WalMart. Let me preface this by saying I rarely go in either of these stores. In particular, I probably hadn't been in that super WalMart in close to a decade. I'm almost surprised the bank didn't call to ask if my debit card had been stolen after I shopped in both places the same week. They...

As the change tsunami rolled through my life last year, it washed away many old things, but also washed in some new things. One of those is a 16-shaft 32-inch-wide Ashford table loom. When I first started weaving, I quickly realized what intrigued me was the complex structures. I am particularly fond of doubleweave and advancing twills. Complex twills are shaft-greedy structures. I soon upgraded my four-shaft table loom with an 8-shaft expansion kit. Then I discovered I always seemed to want to weave something slightly wider than 24-inches. So I bought the 32-inch loom and sold my 24-inch loom. But I still had only eight shafts. I even wrote to Ashford and asked if they ever made the 16-shaft model in the wider width. I only ever saw it offered in the 24-inch width. Well, apparently Ashford made a run of 16-shaft looms in the wider width in early 2018. And I, somehow, did not get the memo. By the time I learned about it, they were all gone. And then representatives from Ashford w...

Today's post is not about knitting. Instead, it is about weaving. Specifically, it is about this video of an unusual weaving gadget. As I mention in the video, frame looms of this type are fairly common. This strange shed-cylinder thing is the brilliant gadget. I'm posting because I would dearly love to be able to purchase such an item. And I think there are weavers out there who would like it as well. I have no idea who made it. I have no idea if there is a patent associated with it. All I know is it is clever; and I have never seen one in a book, magazine, or the booth of a fiber festival. Clever makers, please, have at it! By the way, the whole loom comes apart. I can store this in a box a little larger than a pencil box. I can foresee a manufacturer offering a loom bag for this system. It would make it easy to store and transport, and it could hold the assortment of pieces. I could also foresee a design for the side pieces allowing them to shorten as the warp ti...

Actually, it took a more like three years. I read about weaving more than I actually weave. There just aren't enough hours in the year. Way back in the spring of 2015, I decided to weave a pillow for my car. I had bought a full-body pillow, but the fabric had torn along the seam. I browsed the weaving books in my library, and went with a snowflake twill from page 25 of Twill Thrills . (Note: XRX now offers their Best of Weaver's series on a stitchip . This is a great way to have a digital library. I consider this seven book series essential, since each book covers a different weave structure.) I used some leftover Aunt Lydia's size 10 crochet cotton to sample. Yes, I actually sampled! I warped the loom, threaded the pattern, and wove with different tie-ups to see what patterns I got. I wrote notes. I figured out some extra threads to make the pattern repeat flow from side to side. I planned the project. I bought the yarn (8 balls each of black and victory red)...

I've alluded to my growing interest in weaving (as if I needed to fall down yet another crafting rabbit hole). I spend way more time reading and fantasizing about weaving than I actually weave. When I was visiting the Skein and Garment Show building at Maryland Sheep and Wool, there were signs announcing this new edition of Sixty Scarves for 60 Years . I had heard of this book but never seen it in person. And, of course, the Skein and Garment Show was the last place I went at the festival, before heading to the car and driving back to the man cave. But, I also noticed the signs mentioned Red Stone Glen . This is the fiber arts center set up by Tom Knisely after The Mannings closed. From what I can tell, Sixty Scarves for 60 Years was originally published by the Weavers Guild of Greater Baltimore to celebrate their 60th anniversary in 2009. If I understand correctly, members of the guild wove scarves to exchange. They also created this book to share information about what d...

Dressed loom from the work side. Back in the summer, I bought a loom. I'd been looking at weaving for awhile. Getting into weaving is a little difficult, because looms are expensive and there are a lot of loom manufacturers. (The same could be said of buying a spinning wheel.) I ended up with an Ashford table loom. This is a rather nice little loom, in that it folds and can be slid under a bed or stacked along the back wall of a closet. This also means it can be easily transported to workshops. And the 24-inch/60cm width is just right for a folding card table. Dressed loom from the back side. The loom sat in my home from mid-summer to mid-autumn. In November, I decided that it needed to at least be put together. So I did that. After another two or three weeks, I bought some Kauni yarn, put a warp on the loom, and wove. Sampler This is just a basic sampler. I used a straight threading (i.e. shafts 1-2-3-4 in order left to right front to back). As you are looking at it ...