Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

The best way to get over the fear of messing up something you have handwoven is to put it to use right away!

#weaving

I finished weaving my pair of doubleweave overshot hand towels! I'm really happy with how these turned out.

In these pictures you can see how the colors invert on the opposite side of the towel. On one towel I experimented with inverting the colors for the stripe and I think it does add an extra dimension and visual interest to it, but I'm also curious which of the two you prefer. I also subtly modified the pattern on that one so the pattern around the stripe was symmetrical.

#weaving

For the second fancy hand towel, I'm experimenting with inverting the colors for the stripe section. I like the effect but now I'm wondering whether it would be even better to invert the colors for the borders around the stripe as well. The problem is, now that I've committed to this, I can't really try that idea out on the other half of this towel without making it asymmetrical.

#weaving

I finished weaving the first in a pair of fancy hand towels. From this angle you can see how the doubleweave overshot technique makes the pattern reversible--the opposite side of the fabric has the same pattern but the colors are inverted. I also somehow leveled up on my selvedges partway through this towel.

These are for us to use and don't have to be a matching pair, so I'm going to experiment with a different stripe pattern for the second one.

#weaving

I finally started weaving the next in my series of fancy-so-you-feel-guilty-using-them household items: fancy cotton hand towels!

This project is an excuse to try doubleweave for the first time. In this case I'm doing a doubleweave overshot technique which results in a dense, thick fabric without the long floats overshot usually has.

#weaving

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