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Wednesday 4 January 2012

Weaving a sampler with 2 heddles on the knitter's loom!

I have finally finished this sampler, and now it is washed and pressed it is an impressive example of what can be achieved on a simple rigid heddle loom with the addition of a second heddle, and not even using a pick up stick, except for the final 2 designs. I am hoping this will form the basis of teaching workshops for beginner weavers and those with rigid heddle looms. I acknowledge the use of The Weaver's Idea Book by Jane Patrick as the inspiration for this sampler and can highly recommend this book! This sampler concentrates on the interplay of texture and colour using 2 heddles.




As the photos show, the loom is warped up in 5 colour-combination sections to give a large range of different effects per weft pick: all red, red and teal, all teal, teal and beige and all beige. A wider loom would make it possible to add many more variations, but on the 12" knitter's loom these 2" wide (when finished) sections are big enough to see the patterns. Very often, I found that the texture and pattern only fully emerged on finishing-weaving with 2 heddles means that sometimes the interesting detail in the weave structure does not show until after washing and pressing, so it is worth persevering with each design even though they may look very similar on the loom. Just changing the weft colour can make an enormous difference. This was great fun. I now need to warp up the knitter's loom for the school project.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE WEAVE SHED!!

First things first-I need to clear up all my unfinished bits from 2011, in preparation for all the new ideas and projects buzzing around my head.
Next week I will be starting work on an exciting piece of work in a local primary school, working with years 3,4,5 and 6, to create a large textile wall hanging for the new school library, using a range of techniques. This means I need to prepare the knitter's loom, rigid heddle loom, inkle looms, peg looms and french knitting bobbins! Not to mention the felt making materials and equipment. So, tidying and finishing off is the name of the game this week!
A new project from Salt is also proposed, and some sampling for Kate from the Lancashire Farm Wools scheme. So I had better get my skates on.......