Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

When I finished threading my warp, I discovered I had some unexpected threads left over. Oops. So when I sleyed the reed, I painstakingly double-checked every threading and caught a few mistakes.

In one case I had to insert temporary heddles, and halfway through I found I threaded a pattern twice in a row, so I had to shift the remaining 200+ threads, a pair of heddles at a time. After 13 hours total to measure warp and dress the loom, I'm now ready to weave.

#weaving

Just finished measuring out 600 2.5yd warp threads for my next project: a pair of hand towels woven with a doubleweave overshot pattern. In my enthusiasm I actually overshot (pun always intended) the thread count. I originally only needed 540 threads (16.75" wide towels), but now I'm just going to extend the warp to be 18" wide (576 threads) and have wider towels.

Why not use all 600 threads? My overshot pattern repeats at 18 and I don't want to figure out how to divide it. #weaving

Walking through Universal Studios seeing a lot of Harry Potter scarves. I guess I am getting some confidence as a weaver (and even a machine knitter) because after inspecting one up close in a shop my first thought was "oh, I could make something better than that easily..." #weaving #knitting #machineknitting

My son asked if I would teach him how to weave so yesterday he learned how to warp a rigid heddle loom and the basics of plain weaving. Now he is busy making his mother a scarf. I'm wishing I had a smaller rigid heddle loom, this 32" Kromski is not ideal for a kid. That said, his beat is pretty consistent and he's doing a decent job managing his selvedges so far. #weaving

I just finished reading The Romance of French Weaving which covers the history of French textiles from the early Gauls to the early nineteenth century. I learned quite a bit about the origin and etymology of fiber terms in general from it.

Next on the list is The Valkyries' Loom, which covers Scandinavian weaving history of the Norse people.

I'm enjoying reading about the weaving histories of specific cultures. Are there any others that folks recommend? #weaving #history

I recently ordered a small package of fabric labels so I could add a simple "Handwoven by Kyle Rankin" label on things I made for others (you can see an example on the wider scarf at the top of this thread).

I'm torn whether I should add the label to something I've made for myself. I mean I already know it was handwoven by me, but perhaps it would be good to add it for posterity decades from now?

Those of you who label your projects, do you label projects you make only for yourself? #weaving

I finished my scarf! I had previously made a scarf as a gift that I liked so much that I decided to make a narrower men's version for myself. I've attached pictures of both for comparison.

This weave was pretty loose to get the pattern I wanted. As a result I had to be very careful with it off the loom, and also fix a few picks that were out of place.

I ended up washing this in hot water and agitating it quite a bit, because I wanted it to full and shrink a bit into its final form. #weaving

Fixed! I had to undo all of my weaving and white header, and then I untied the left warp bundle and removed the floating selvedge and then unthreaded the leftmost thread from its heddle turning it into a floating selvedge. Then I retied that bundle to the beam and started over and caught up to where I was. That's enough for the night. #weaving

Here we go again. I liked the last scarf I made for a gift so much I'm weaving a narrower men's version for myself. #weaving

I put the knitting machine away when tidying up the other day, and I now have the supplies to either start work on the fourth (and final?) knitted hat, OR I could weave myself a scarf based on my last black scarf pattern. Since everything is put away it is equally convenient to start either project.

Now I have to decide, knitting or weaving? #knitting #machineknitting #weaving

I finished the scarf this weekend! I'm really pleased with how it turned out, to the point that I think I want to make another for myself (this one is a gift). #weaving

You can see the pattern emerge on this fabric very quickly. Here is the first few inches of the scarf. Instead of just repeating the pattern throughout the full width, I extended the pattern on each edge to give it a one inch border on each side to frame the central pattern. #weaving

In the warp zone again. This time I'm making a black linen (warp) and black wool (weft) scarf. I'm using a standard "Ms and Ws" point draft twill pattern from Handweaver's Pattern Directory pg 90. #weaving

The final tote fabric is done! This makes four different totes I was able to make from the same warp. This fabric I'm going to set aside and make into a tote some time after I'm done with the rest of my holiday projects. I'm definitely ready to start on something else. Next up: twill patterned scarf. #weaving

Desktop-sized Fully Automatic Loom is an Electromechanical Marvel
https://hackaday.com/2022/11/28/desktop-sized-fully-automatic-loom-is-an-electromechanical-marvel/ #weaving #electromechanical #hackaday

While I'm not going to quit my day job and get into the handwoven/handsewn purse business, if I did, I'd name my company Totes Adorbs. #weaving #sewing

Project use-up-the-rest-of-this-warp is well under way. I decided to weave enough fabric for another tote so the warp doesn't go to waste and this time I'm going with a color scheme inspired by leaves (brown, green, orange and red). I don't have any plans for this tote so I'm actually just going to weave the fabric and then set it aside so I can get to the other weaving projects in my queue. #weaving

My tote is done! This one went quite a bit faster than the previous ones (16 hrs start to finish), and the basic leather punch kit I bought was well worth it. I'm really pleased with how the color combination worked out, it made the tote a cool-toned version of the original warm-toned tote (also pictured).

#weaving

We are all aware that many surnames are derived from professions (Smith, Cooper, Weaver). In the course of my research into the history of weaving I didn't realize how many others derived from cloth production:

* Fuller - someone who fulls woolen cloth (works cloth in water to shrink/fluff it)
* Walker - derived from Waulker, someone who Waulks, or fulls, fabric
* Shearer - shears sheep, or removes excess nap from cloth
* Draper - weaver/seller of cloth
* Dyer - dyes cloth

#weaving #fiberarts

Now that I'm really cranking through this project, I had the fleeting thought "wow maybe it *would* be profitable to sell these" until I did the math. It will take 8 hours to weave the fabric and another 12 to finish it (tying fringe, washing, ironing) and sew it into a tote. I realized if I sold them for $350 I'd cover material costs and pay myself a $15/hr minimum wage.

So if you are wondering why I'm not opening up an Etsy store or something, that's why. #weaving