The Pendleton Wool Rag Rug ... Still on the Loom

This morning, I started weaving the Merino wool premium strips from Pendleton Woolen Mill.   

I designed the warp for this round specifically for this color way.  It's based on the one in Tom Knisley's Weave a Good Rug Book.  I had to adjust his pattern to fit my weaving width (26 inches).  The iWeaveIt App was wonderful for this--but I digress ...

At the top of the pick, you can see a sample strip from Pendleton.  They are about 1-1/2 inches wide.  Previously, I sewed the strips together and rolled them into balls in preparation for this very moment.

I love the way they are packing in so nicely!  I'm keeping this rug!

 THis is what I started with --  3 inches of header, that will be a rolled hem sewn to the back of the rug.  

 Here's a detail shot of the header woven at the end of the first rug.  The header (at Tom Knisley's recommendation) is 2 strands of the regular 8/4 black carpet warp (same as I used for the warp).  I wanted to show howbeautifully the black showcases the other colors around it.

Here's another shot of the header at the end of this rug.  I got to use one of my new Jim Hockett shuttles that I purchased last fall at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in Jefferson, WI.
This one is a beautiful Bird's Eye Maple.  The weight and heft seemed right for this task.  My usual cherry Shacht shuttle was too light for the task.  Besides, I can get a lot more cotton onto the 6-inch bobbin.

For weaving the thicker wool strips, I'm using my ski shuttles (not pictured).

Detail shot of the gorgeous wood on this shuttle.  

Back to weaving ...

Color Gamp is off the loom

It's a big deal to take a project off the loom.  This color gamp has been done for a few months now, but I've been reluctant to do the next steps just because I wasn't sure how long it would be before a new project got warped and ready to go ...

There it was -- the moment of truth ...  cutting it off the loom, and opening it to see a double layer of fabric -- open and true, not stuck together in any place.  

This was a kit from The Yarn Barn in Kansas - Shetland Wool Color Gamp.  I turned it into a double weave just because the working weaving width of my loom is only 30 inches (or so).

There are few things to repair and correct -- a few warp strings popped and broke along the way.  I was getting good at repairing them as they happened, but some on the bottom layer were harder to see and fix. 

Then there's the wet-finishing.

I was also interested in seeing how the colors worked with or against each other in the warp and weft.  It was a worthwhile project as a color study.

 Here is is fresh off the loom.  Like magic, you open it, and the fabric opens and it's twice as wide.  Wow!  It worked!

The 2nd half looks much nicer than the first half.  By then I had figured out how to repair broken warp strings, and the tensioning, and beating.

The first half needs a few small repairs where warp strings broke on the underside, and I didn't realize it until too late ...   Once I get those repairs done, I'll be able to hem the ends, and then do the wet finishing. 

 Here are some of the sample color blocks.  Again, it's a color ctudy, so you can see how each color interacts with the warp and weft in all the other colors.  Pretty neat.

 Here's the fold.  I'm hoping this settles down with the wet-finishing.  

After a few minor repairs where I had to re-thread some broken warp strings, and hemming the ends, I was ready to do the wet-finishing.  It softened up nicely.

Very interesting to see how the colors interact and "play" together, or not.

Picture Frame Loom on a Stand

The cooler weather makes me want to work in fibers again : Spinning yarn and weaving.  A friend at work gifted me some wonderful alpaca yarn, and now I want to use it! 

Many years ago, I saw a speaker give a demo on using an old picture frame to weave rag rugs.  It was something she learned years ago herself from the older generations in her family.   So I kept my eyes open at the thrift stores and purchased a few suitable frames.  But I didn't really want to make rugs, nor use up my fabric that way ...

Since then I acquired a small table loom, and really enjoy the back and forth meditation it allows me --  but it's quite a process to get the thing warped.  So I was looking for a simpler option ...  Back to the Picture frame loom idea.  On Pinterest, I found a couple of sites / videos that looked most useful :

This one used the idea of heddles on the Picture Frame Loom.  I love the heddles on my table loom.  That is what makes the process of weaving go so fast.  I don't have that option on the Tri-Loom, which is what makes me hesitate starting a new project there--that and the space it takes up.

This one puts is all together : Heddles, shed sticks, even foot peddles to make the shifts smoother.




In this video, Noreen Crone-Findlay explains it all, and talks you through the process, even including  tension bars, warping this type of loom, and putting in the heddles and a recycled/upcycled folding / spinning stand for the picture frame loom that makes warping and working this kind of loom easier and more ergonomic.   I think this is going to be my fall project with Sweetie this year.  ;-)

And so my husband and I set out to build a picture frame loom modeled after Noreen Crone Findlay's mostly recycled loom.  I know how expensive these are to purchase new, and I love the idea that it's so simple to build a workable loom yourself.    And so we did ...

The only thing we purchased new was some hardware for about $8.  The picture frame was $2 at a local thrift store.   The rest of the wood was from my husband's stash--cherry and walnut.
A heddle bar scavenged off an old broken drying rack, and a shed stick salvaged from a bed frame that otherwise fell apart.    

 

The legs fold into each other (like nesting dolls) so that it folds flat for storage.

Brilliant design, NCF!