Hi all. I have moved my Trunk Sale from a series of posts to the Pages at the top of the screen. Please also note my Donate Button!

Cheers!

It’s been a while since I’ve shared what’s on the loom, but then again it’s been a while since I’ve actually had something on the loom. This piece is a scarf in Diversified Plain Weave, a technique that I’ve worked with before.

I published two scarves in Handwoven Magazine, one in May/June 2012 and one in May/June 2013, using Diversified Plain Weave (look them up!) One of the scarves was a circles scarf, and I thought I would like to rework that design into rows of offset circles. And this is what I came up with.

I used 20/2 cotton for the ground warp and tabby weft, and 1450 ypp rayon chenille for the pattern warp and weft.

I’ve finished these scarves and am now planning another warp that I may use as a basis for a pattern for my Etsy shop.

Stay tuned!

Just a short post to let y’all know that I’m running a 25% off sale on my Merino/Tencel scarves in my Etsy Shop (see link on the right side of this page). This sale will go till December 13, so please visit and check it out!

Also, I’m bundling my Handpanted Tencel yarns and (separately) my Rhythm Crackle patterns for 10% discounts. This will go on indefinitely :-).

Cheers!

I’ve tried everything else I can think of with the Rhythm Crackle draft. What’s left? Turned Crackle!

Turned Crackle is a one shuttle weave. The warp consists of alternating thick and thin threads. The weft consists of either the thick or the thin thread (your choice, but I prefer the thick). Berta Frey wrote about turning crackle drafts in her book Designing and Drafting for Handweavers. She notes that the treadling draft for classic crackle looks like a threading draft for Summer and Winter. By turning the treadling draft to become the threading draft, we can weave the design using one shuttle instead of two.

I tried two different versions with yarn sizes. The yellow and the orange are 16/2 unmercerized cotton (yellow) and 8/2 unmercerized cotton (light variegated) warps with 16/2 unmercerized cotton weft. By the time I got to the end of the orange one I was ready to tear my hair out. Much too slow! So, for the blue and the green one I used 8/2 unmercerized cotton weft. This time the weaving time was much more acceptable. For all the sett was 24 epi.

Here is the drawdown:

I used my weaving software and applied the “turn draft” function to my Rhythm Crackle drawdown.

These two details show the difference between using a thick weft (blue) and a thin weft (yellow). Besides being faster to weave, the blue just looks better. The yellow looks more honeycombed? (head scratcher there).

The summer is dwindling and I haven’t been overly busy with projects, but this is one that has been on the back burner for a few months. Started in April ;-). Finally off the loom, and ready for its close-up.

This is from Carol Strickler’s A Weaver’s Book of 8 Shaft Patterns, #532 which is written for Summer and Winter. But, I am not a big fan of two shuttle weaves anymore, and this one as written requires more treadles than I am willing to retie. Converted to a turned draft, you only need one shuttle instead of two. However, if you don’t have a 16 harness loom the convenience factor dips a bit. This particular turned draft requires 14 shafts. I wove it on my Ashford 16 shaft table loom. Another reason it took so long!

I chose 8/2 rayon for the background warp and used up some handpainted 6/2 rayon for the pattern warp. I used the same 8/2 rayon for the weft. I love the 6/2 together with 8/2. It is just a bit thicker, making the pattern stand out just a bit more. If anyone has a source for 6/2 rayon I would be very interested. It is impossible to find.

I am looking to do another turned draft next. Rhythm Crackle as a turned draft seems like an interesting next project!

Now available in my Etsy Shop! The second Rhythm Crackle Pattern variation. I’m naming it the Lattice Towel for 4 harness looms. Calling for 16/2 unmercerized cotton for warp, and 16/2 unmercerized cotton and 8/2 unmercerized cotton for the wefts. Please visit!

Now available in my Etsy Shop! The first Rhythm Crackle Variations Pattern has just been added to my Etsy Shop (button link on the right). Please visit!

The next step in this Crackle journey was to try a lighter weight warp yarn for less “weighty” towels. I chose 16/2 unmercerized cotton for warp, but still sett at 24 epi. I used that for tabby weft and 8/2 unmercerized for pattern weft. I really loved the result! The hand of the towels is great. The weaving time, however, was much longer, which makes sense, since it takes longer to weave finer yarns.

Other changes included three new treadling variations. Because. I soon realized that I couldn’t keep doing the same pattern again and again. Here’s what I came up with:

Treadling variation number 1. Same treadling order as the original pattern, but treadling each block 8 times. This elongates the pattern and makes it more distinct.

Treadling variation number 2. Rhythm Crackle ZigZag #1. Gradually increasing the number of times each block is treadled, then reversing and decreasing.

Treadling variation number 3. Rhythm Crackle ZigZag #2. Same idea with different proportions. (Fun fact: I changed tubes in mid towel with what I thought was the same color yarn. Wrong. The difference is so subtle, I didn’t catch it until I took a photo with my new camera.)

I will figure out how to offer these new variations with my original pattern in my Etsy shop. But for now, I’m working on some turned Summer and Winter drafts, and travel plans are afoot!