MUD

Help! I’m caught up in quicksand; I am muddling my way through several complicated procedures, in both knitting and weaving, and my arms and legs and brain are operating in slow motion. It’s also possible (probable) that I have made several relatively simple procedures far more complicated than they need to be.

Let me explain.

Swatching for the East Meets West Jacket from Knit One Below has left me convinced that I have to start from scratch with entirely different yarn. My first swatch was shaping up to be so lovely, I scrapped it and cast on for a sleeve. Might as well get some real mileage out of a swatch, right?

But the so-called sleeve quickly showed me that even though I was spot-on gauge, it was knitting up into a loosey-goosey fabric. Far too flimsy to hold any shape later on.

It was suggested that I swatch to get a comfortable fabric with just the solid color yarn (Silky Wool) and adjust my numbers from there. This is all clear as mud, right? But I narrowed my focus into doing exactly that, because I sort of understood how that would work. The new swatch quickly showed me that I would have to knit this sweater on a size 3 needle at best to get a fabric that might work out okay.

Not doing that.

Back to the drawing board and starting over with at least one different yarn….possibly swapping out both. Depends on what I can find both color and weight-wise to please my senses. Right now my senses are perceiving a muddy brown, and that doesn’t please me at all.

ON TO THE WEAVING

I am fresh from my first adventure in floor loom weaving. I have a set of successfully-completed napkins….

and I am ready to tackle a baby blanket. Maybe. I want to warp the loom for double-weave, so I can make one whole blankie instead of having to weave two pieces and seam them. Have I ever mentioned how much I detest seaming?

I am being a good weaver and I am warping the loom right now with a small sample to make sure I understand the principles of double-weave before I commit to using this beautiful yarn:

(LynnH Colorsport and Debbie Bliss Prima)

I would like to be one of those bloggers who explains my thinking process SO clearly and effectively that weavers far and wide would turn to me for advice.

Not gonna happen.

This next paragraph or two will make no sense at all unless you are a weaver. Even then, it’s questionable. Feel free to skim. I have a 12 dent reed. My yarn requires a sett of 6 epi. Normally I would sley one thread every other dent to get that sett. But it’s doubleweave (two layers, joined on one side, so the fabric opens up to twice its width when it comes off the loom. Clever, right?) so I should sley two threads per dent. I warped the yarn accordingly.

Then I decided that was incorrect. That would be equivalent to a sett of 24 epi. I should sley two threads every other dent. No, I should sley one thread per dent….half would be on the top layer; half on the bottom, giving each layer a sett of 6 epi.

Layers of pure mud, I’m telling you.

I am in the middle of threading the heddles right now. I striped my yarn as if it were a single layer; it’s not going to create the plaid effect I want. I have no idea what it’s going to look like. I’m just muddling through now, curious to see what I will end up with. The most important information is whether I got the sett right, and whether it works to create a pleasing fabric. (Soft, drapey, perfect for a wee babe.) If I get that part right, I’ll seek out some expert help before I warp for the real thing.

This is not intuitive for me. I need a clear set of directions to follow. First, do this. Then do that. Precise numbers. Clear diagram. I am trying to make up my own draft pattern for this blanket, and it should be simple. It should be clear.

Clear as mud.

Comments

[Vera]

Nice weaving.