03-01-2020

Finally getting serious about getting this warp on the loom. Of course the planning sheet that hung around for so long is now nowhere to be found. So I don’t know how many epi I was planning or even how long the warp is. Looked through the notebooks and didn’t find any notes there either. Came here thinking that I might find some notes, but I guess not…

So below I will do the necessary calculations to backwards engineer what I was thinking originally. I know I never really calculated whether I had enough weft yarn, I just thought it looked like so much that of course I would have enough.

Why, oh why am I so haphazard?

03-01-2020

Warp yarn is gray Lincoln from Sandy McCabe. Coned yarn that I bought circa 2000.
12 wpi, so 8 epi for a twill.
80 ends in one chain
154 in the other.
Total 234 ends/epi = 29.25 inches wide. Is this too wide?

115 inch warp length.
Ruana length 40” x 2 = 80”
+ 4” hem =84
leaving 115-84=31 inches for loom waste. That should work. 40” will be plenty long for a 5’ person and then with take up and shrinkage it will still be plenty long enough. Also, I don’t think my loom actually uses 31 inches for loom waste. That is a bit higher than usual.

Weft yarn is Cotswold 2-ply from my first fleece. Purchased circa 1998 and spun shortly after.
Approximately 1200 yards = 43,200”
29.25” wide, so 43,200”/29.25” = 1,963
So fewer than 1,476 weft picks total. At 8 ppl that is less than 184 inches potential length, but I only have 115” of warp so I should have plenty of weft yarn.

Now on to sleying the reed…

03-21-2020

Have woven about 24 inches of 2-2 twill. I love the way this yarn feels in the cloth. I’m trying to leave plenty of space between picks. At first I was weaving too tightly and I had to undo it and start again. I’m going to have to measure my Japanese style vest and use it to see how much longer I should make the front than the back. I need to allow for the inches that will go over the shoulder from the back neck area.

03-29-2020

Off the loom! I love the sheen of the wool and the color shifts. Can’t wait to see how it changes with wet finishing.