November
Big projects are over, time for something different....
01.11.25
Summer and Winter design - threading plan from Anne Dixon, Handweavers pattern book p 144
Black paper warp. Weft in white fine wool from stash.
Lift pattern:23,13,13,23,23,13 x 2
14,24,24,14,14,24 x 2 with tabby in between.
I started threading this too late at night! So many mistakes, loose threads - but it is a weave for today!
02.11.25
Bit of an improvement on this one -using the white cotton for the pattern and some finer paper yarn for the tabby. I like the weave of the darker squares -the white is hidden behind but because the white yarn is thicker and the black thread is stiffer it still shows through. It almost looks like a double cloth but isn’t. Same lift pattern as the previous day.
03.11.25
New lift pattern: 13, 23 x 6, 13.
This weave really shows up my inconsistencies.These aren’t so noticeable when I use the paper yarn, but in the cotton it is much more obvious. I don’t mind the irregularities in the art work that I do, but if I am going to weave cloth it becomes very obvious. Must do better!
04.11.25
Using a thicker yarn for this one which gives a denser coverage and emphasises the pattern a bit more.
In this weave I have changed the lift pattern so that the middle section is not ‘staggered’ or brick pattern but more ‘blocky’ which I think I like more. I like the regularity of it, and the squareness is emphasised. Maybe I should do one that increases the rows to make a complete square instead of a rectangle.
Lift Pattern: 14,T,14,T, 24,T, 24,T, X 4
14,T X 8
13,T,13,T, 23,T,23,T, X 4
13,T X 8
05.11.25
Trying with a couple of different colours today - Looking at this and wondering if I would really want to repeat this? Again, the parts that I am more attracted to are the sections that are ‘hidden’ with the black yarns more dominant.
Lift Pattern: 14,T,14,T, 24,T, 24,T, X 6
13,T,13,T, 23,T,23,T, X 6
06.11.25
Used a really lovely, soft very thick yarn - Beautiful to weave with and wondering what I can actually weave with this - it will become so thick - maybe I should actually do some knitting with it! And it feels too good to use for a conceptual piece - but why?
Lift pattern: 13,T X 4
14,T X 4
07.11.25
Another one in this wool weft.
Lift pan: 14,T,
23,T X 6
14,T
Coming to the end of this warp - I have enjoyed playing with some ideas with it. Using different size yarns, all a variation on plain weave.
08.11.25
Am I enjoying working with colour on this one? Two different patterns here - the middle section is somehow more appealing - the dense black isn’t so good with the colours.
09.11.25
With the single colour the contrast with the black is more defined. It is less busy than it is with the two colours of yesterday, which I prefer.
10.11.25
This one is really subtle, and as you move the sample around so that it catches the light differently the pattern in the weave becomes more obvious. Woven with the black paper warp and a black linen yarn. The linen has more give to it so makes the denser patterns - it can be beaten more closely.
11.11.25
I really like the use of this thick gray yarn - the textures are really interesting and varied.
12.11.25
Playing around with two different yarns as a bit of contrast. With some of these weaves that are ‘just weaves’ I am getting some pleasing effects which might be interesting in future projects.
13.11.25
Tricky to weave on the small frame loom until I worked out a simple way! But works out fine.
14.11.25
A variation on a theme - simple but I like the mixed background which has two colours of yarn woven in together.
15.11.25
Rummaging through another stash box - lots of wire and metal pieces that I have stored there for a maybe project. This wire is very soft so would be interesting to explore further in a more ‘wire filled’ weave.
16.11.25
The white yarn adds a completely different feel to this weave - I definitely prefer the black yarn. I haven’t got that out of my system yet!
But I really like the use of this slightly rusty steel wire - it is much more attractive to me than the shiny copper wire. It feels more earthy, grounded, and connects me with something that I am not quite sure about at the moment.
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17.11.25
And now for a bit of barbed wire. This combined with the very soft lambswool yarn reminds me of being out on a walk and seeing sheeps wool caught on a barbed wire fence. I don’t have any more of this barbed wire at the moment and wish I hadn’t woven it with this rather shiny soft wire - I should have used the metal steel rusty wire - but that is too stiff to use as a warp on the frame loom.
18.11.25
Lots of bits of bent scrap wire in the stash from an old hanging piece that I have destroyed! Again - I don’t like the white yarn, but I suspect that if I rusted the yarn it would work better. For a future project!
19.11.25
|And now for something completely different.
The reed and the cross. Using a piece of scrap metal from my stash.
As I was winding this warp I was reminded of the way the dents are separated on the weaving reed,with turns of threads to keep them regular.
Adding in a small ‘cross’ to the middle of this is reminiscent of the essential cross that is made in a warp that is being wound.
20.11.25
Some more scrap metal from my stash. The regular square boxes remind me of the gaps in the weave when it is woven perfectly - with everything regular and even - doesn’t often happen in my weaving!
21.11.25
Playing around with a silk warp that I have had on my loom for ages and has got left behind with other projects that have been going on.
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Do I like the yellow? No, not really. And the sett is still too dense at 16 epc.
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The pattern is quite pretty - but maybe I’m just not really a pattern person!
22.11.25
Overshot design worked with and without the tabby pic.
Woven with 60/2 silk warp and a raw silk weft from my stash.
Without the tabby it is far too dense, and is very stiff. With the tabby which is woven in the 60/2 silk there is a lovely contrast between the yarns - the fine silk has a sheen to it whilst the raw silk is very matt - I really like the contrast.
23.11.25
This is woven using a really fine paper yarn that I recently purchased from Laura Thomas. It is very soft and I am interested to see if I can weave something that is wearable with it.
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The sett on this is much too dense, and using a reed that that requires 4 ends per dent leaves these lines in the weave which I don’t want.
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I plan to weave another piece to see what happens when I wet finish it, and then want to play with the sett.
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And maybe the design.
Feeling excited to have started using this yarn.
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24.11.25
Experimenting with different colour options for the overshot weave - I think the pattern is the most distinctive on the centre section, where the tabby is in a dark colour and the pattern in the light wool.
Given that I have the warp on the loom, I could make this into something now - I want to use it up.
25.11.25
Been looking at Christine Miller’s book on weaving with wire - and needless to say, in spite of all her instructions I chose to do something completely different.
This is woven on my small mirrax loom - a combination of very fine copper wire warp and raffia weft - neither yarn is particularly easy to work with, and together they were a nightmare in this loom. Both of them kept slipping, the tension kept slipping - not one to be repeated!
26.11.25
Tried again with wire on wire - this time the warp thread snapped completely and, unlike with thread, you cannot retie the warp.
Maybe I will keep this really fine wire for the table loom - but maybe it is also too fine for a warp.
27.11.25
Woven with a different sett - 8 epc, 60/2 silk warp, fine paper weft. Wet finished.
The wet finishing doesn’t seem to have affected the paper yarn at all - I wonder how often I could wash it without it being a problem.
At 8 epc the handle is much softer compared to the weave of a couple of days ago at 16 epc - the ratio of silk to paper is very different. I find myself wondering what I could do with this!
28.11.25
And this one is woven at 12 epc. It is slightly stiffer than yesterdays, I think 8 epc works well although it is very loose for this yarn.
I might try with a twill, or with my overshot pattern that is currently on the loom, to see if 8 or 12 is better with a looser weave.
30.11.25
And the last one for this month - you can see the overshot pattern really clearly in this combination - 60/2 silk warp, at
8 epc, silk and linen weft from my stash. I would estimate the cotton to be about a 16/2.
Again I painted the warp - in very random shades of yellow and green - it is visible in the plain green but less obvious in the pattern. However I do like the fact that it is not bright white.
29.11.25
A painted warp in shades of pink and blue - but not very saturated in this sample.
The thick wool yarn disguises the tabby background - in order to get the pattern I want I need to be really careful and sample a lot with various yarns. Not sure that I really like this…