Category Archives: Looms

Moving Yarn

Equipment, Kumihimo, Looms, Weaving, , ,

For those readers now looking for some deep and meaningful story, alas it is not to be! This is the story of moving yards of yarn from one format to another.

It is October and time to start the 2026 Christmas towels. The structure this year will be my favorite huck lace diamond design, with a solid white warp and then using up my odds and ends of greens and reds – a striped weft. These will be woven on ‘Big Mac’ as I need the full 8 shafts for the pattern. I normally wind enough warp on the loom for 28 towels which give me enough for the family and friends gifts with, one or two left over. This year I am trying more warp so that I can weave the required number of Christmas towels and have some left for a dozen in other colors (perhaps spring, summer, or fall combo’s).

As I have a sectional beam on ‘Big Mac’ I first wind the required number of bobbins with enough yarn to fill the 11 sections needed for a starting width of 22″. This year I am using a 6/2 combed cotton for the warp instead of the normal 8/2 open ended. There’s a slight difference in the weight (as the number goes down the weight goes up, but it won’t be a significant difference). It could result in the ‘diamonds’ not being as symmetrical, but I can likely adjust tension and beat to compensate. Time will tell.

The yarn comes from the cone to the fishing line counter under finger tension to ensure the counter doesn’t slip. In this configuration it is counting down from 999, but as I am winding on 1000 feet it’s just a matter of winding until I hit 999 again. The yarn then travels 25 feet down to a peg and back to the bobbin I’m winding. This length is critical to allow the yarn to naturally go from side to side on the bobbin and thus wind evenly. It’s still sometimes a little uneven but not enough to be a problem.

This is the 36 bobbins full. That’s 6.82 miles of yarn moved from the cone. Next steps will be to wind the sectional beam – a future posting.

Other work during the weekend, which was going to wet right through with the remnants of hurricane Isaias passing to the west of us. We mostly had inside work planned because of that but Sunday afternoon all rain was gone so we did manage to get outside.

Before that though I worked on my small kumihimo bobbins (tama). I have to add some weight to each so that there will be a natural tension between them and the weight bag (Tsuri-omori) as I braid. This is all an experiment to see if I can produce these for the potential class in beaded kumihimo.

Initially I bore out the center hole to make space for as much lead as possible. I then hammer in lead air rifle pellets to fill the hole. Finally to tidy up the ends and add just a little more weight I glue a nickel on either end. I need a set of eight before I can try braiding.

Anne didn’t waste any time either. She wound and then braided her second beaded kumihimo necklace with very little input from me this time.

Her new one has the Ravens purple and gold braid along with white and gold beads.

And as mention we did get outside to gather some firewood from the forest. The dampness is not a problem as I just gather limbs off fallen dogwood or in a lot of cases standing dead dogwood that absorbs very little water for years.

A relatively quick burn before a nice soak before dinner.

And the final news from the Oak & Fern… I saw what is likely to have been our last hummingbird for the season. Our regular ‘flock’ of 10+ left a week or so back but yesterday there was a lone hummingbird at the feeder. Very likely from north of here and heading south like the rest. We keep feeders up for a few more weeks just in case.

Alternative (and very temporary) Studio

Kumihimo, Looms, Studio, Weaving

With the work on the studio stairs still underway all the looms are in ‘storage’ positions out of the way of the actual building. I have deadlines to meet on the next two projects so one solution was to move ‘Gypsy’, the HD 21 inch 4 shaft portable loom into the kitchen. The work I had to do was to re-sley the reed to see how my combined card weaving/floor loom would look on a 10 dent reed rather than the original 8 dent. The first test was at 8 dent and each group of 4 warp yarns has to go through the same dent in the reed. This spread it out a little too much so that the weft showed up in the finished sample. Typically you don’t see the weft in a card woven sample. The warp yarn easily moved around in the dent at 8 so I was confident that at 12 it would work and bring the warp yarn groups closer.

The re- sleying worked fine and then the tying on of both the card woven portion and then floor loom parts.

It has taken a while to get the tension and beat ‘right’ as while the card woven part in now better, the twill weave on the floor loom sections is now a completely different sett. It was 2 ends per dent in the first example (16 epi) and is now 1 end per dent (10 epi). It requires just ‘placing’ the weft rather than an actual beat.

I’ve ended up with the card weaving upside down, hence the second photo of the underneath of the woven portion!!

I’ll carry on weaving this now so I have plenty to be seen at the guild meeting in October where I am going to show everyone how it is done.

In a typical ‘the best laid plans of…’ fashion yesterday we set off into the forest to gather some firewood to heat the hot tub. We’d not gone more that a couple of hundred yards when the definite sound of heavy rain on trees could be heard approaching from the west. We turned around and barely made it back to the house before a heavy deluge started and along with some thunder, continued through until lunch time. Out backup indoor plan was to start teaching Anne how to do beaded kumihimo ahead of the May 2027 Birchwood Fiber Festival ( https://birchwoodfiberfestival.com/ ) where she will likely be assisting in a class teaching students this technique. We had to time how long various aspects of the process would take so that we could see if it was going to be at all possible in a 2-3 hour session.

First step was to wind yarn (20/2 unmercerised cotton) into groups of 6 and attach them onto the tamas (bobbins). With that done we then had to put the required beads onto each strand.

That all went smoothly and we attached the 8 tamas to the marudai ready for braiding. I used mine and Anne used the marudai I had made as a test. The idea was to be able to demonstrate the actual techniques without having to swap places on the one marudai. We braided 1/3 plain braid then 1/3 with beads and then 1/3 plain again. The basic plan for a class is we would have everything up to almost the end of the first 1/3. Everything would be set up and ready to go from then so the new student only needed to learn the basic braiding moves then braiding with beads then finish off the last portion. Seeing this was a first time for Anne we timed her as our ‘test case’ Sadly she is a very quick learner and once started was almost as fast as me and she didn’t make any mistakes (like I did, requiring an un-braid, re-braid to fix putting two instead of one bead on one turn!!). It still showed that our basic plan still seems sound.

We have noted any improvements to be made and I’ve ordered the clasps to make these into necklaces or if the plain braid is cut shorter; bracelets. Once we cut them off and finish them I’ll drop the pictures into a future post.

We can now return the ‘craft’ table to normal kitchen table work, and now the loom is up and running move that back to the studio. We’ll have a kitchen again.

Current Weaving Projects

Looms, Project, Weaving
Knotted pile rug woven on ‘Bernie’.

On the upright loom I began another Turkish knotted rug after completing ‘Denim’ last year. This one is called ‘Te Aruhe Kowhaiwhai’. Te Aruhe is ‘the fern’ and Kowhaiwhai is a style of decoration common in Maori meeting houses. It’s my own design and represents the winding fern fronds of our forest home which we call The Oak and Fern. Possibly that means I’ll have to create an acorn pattern for the next one.

Handspun 2 ply cotton woven in tabby on ‘Dot’.

I began learning how to spin cotton a few months back and this woven test is from the first skeins I produced. Lots of ‘character’. I have improved enough that I am now producing a relatively even 3 ply that should weave up more neatly.

Variegated yarn table runner, birds eye twill on ‘George’.

The first table runner from the yarn brought back from NZ is complete. I’ll space out enough for fringes then start number 2. It will be different from this one in that it will have just white yarn in the weft to pick out the birds eye twill a little better.

QR code woven in skip plain weave on ‘Gypsy’.

It’s been slow going on this project as it’s a very manual and intricate process to weave each pick and after I leave it for a while I have to go back and try and remember how to do it to maintain a consistent transition from black to white and reverse.

These are the weaving projects. Next I’ll detail the spinning and will also update the Studio build pages with photos of the progress.

Hearthside Loom Restoration

Equipment, Looms

The restoration on the Sears Roebuck Hearthside Loom stalled over winter as I worked through various other projects. But in some unseasonably warm weather today I was able to set up outside and do some sanding.

The heddle frames (6) all need some cleaning, minor repairs, and some replacement parts before the loom can be put back together. I started with one (number 6 as it turns out – some previous owner had marked each with black marker on the unseen ends). I have generally preferred stamping the number into the visible top of the frame and putting matching numbers in the castle to match. Future work once they are cleaned up.

The first problem was the flat stamped heddles were all mixed up direction wise and also in some cases put on the heddle bars intertwined. I took off all the heddles and sorted them into the correct orientation. While they were off I sanded the rust of the heddle bars and put a light coat of CRC on them before putting the heddles back on. This frame had 80 heddles. 3 other frames look about the same amount and 2 don’t have any.

Replacement hook
Original hook

The heddle frames had two different styles of heddle hooks (and numerous missing). I believe the original were the simple threaded hook with a spring and drilled out dowel. I suspect over time some dowels split or broke and the owner at the time purchased the more modern metal hooks. I ‘borrowed’ some hooks to make up the 4 and in the future will buy replacement metal hooks to standardise. There are 3 heddle bars missing which will need replacing idc. To fit the newer hooks on this frame I had to drill out the small holes with something suitable for the screw part and also drill with a larger drill about 1/8 of an inch to allow for the spring stop to go below the surface of the wood – needed to ensure the hooks were at the correct height for the heddle bar.

The first heddle frame came up OK. It will certainly never rival some of my other looms for looks, but for functionality it will be fine. I’ll wait until just before re-assembly to apply some light oil/wax for protection.

I did sand down some other parts of the frame and will continue with that as I order the heddle bars and hooks.

Weaving in New Zealand

Looms, Weaving

We are just back from a very pleasant 3 weeks visiting family and friends in New Zealand. While visiting Havelock in the South Island I found a bag of variegated yarn for $10 and thought it might be ideal for a project.

Some of the polyester yarn

As it turns out that happened faster than I thought as our temporary home while in Wellington belonged to our friend Jinnie who has a table loom that was at the time not being used.

For the first time ever I dressed a loom without doing any real calculations first (apart from checking the WPI of the yarn and the dents per inch of the reed in the loom). I wound the warp around the back of two chairs and tied it on to the warp beam and wound it on under light tension ready to warp back to front. With Anne and I working back and front we had it dressed pretty quickly which was good as we had to pack it up the following day so we could drive it and Jinnie up to where she was currently living in Taupo.

After adding some thick weft to even out the warp I threw a few weft picks to ensure everything was working OK and barring one skipped dent there doesn’t seem to be any problems with the straight twill threading. After we left Taupo to return to Wellington Jinnie has continued weaving and some interesting color striping is starting to appear on the cloth.

Tartans and more tartans

Looms, Project, Tartan, Weaving, , , , ,

The weaving of the Brown tartan finished a little while back, but I kept the finished throw on the loom as we were visited by my sister-in-law and her husband (the new owners of the throw) and I thought it might be nice for them to actually see it on the loom. They were very pleased with how it came out. We’ll now take it off the loom and finish tying up the fringes on either end then wet finish it. Delivery will be next time we visit their Lookout Mountain home some time soon.

Brown tartan on the loom with yarn for the next tartan.

To save just a little time I will cut of the current tartan and leave the remaining warp threaded through the heddles and reed. I am currently winding the warp for the next tartan – a custom design for Anne’s niece and her fiance as a wedding present in April. By tying on to the threaded warp I can slight speed up the process of threading through both the heddles and reed. I have done this before and while it seems like it would be a real time saver – by the time you tie on every warp thread (or almost all – this throw is slightly smaller) it is quicker but not hugely. I think it might be one or two less steps that could introduce threading errors, which is a good thing.

A fairly simple tartan design but it does look good (on the software)

In between tartans I was working on the 2023 Scenic Valley Handweavers guild challenge which is to take analogous colors from a color wheel and also using black; highlight those colors. I was able to find three colors amongst my stash and decided not only to weave them somehow but also to, on the same warp, repeat the pattern three times using three different weaving techniques. A challenge on top of a challenge as it were!

The colors are from a very simple primary and secondary color wheel and are red, orange and yellow. The first technique was completely new to me and is called ‘skip plain weave’. Often seen in rugs (Central Asian), but also European and Southern American woven pieces. It is one sided as the ‘alternate’ colors float across the back behind the weft faced ‘front’. I have begun the second technique which is Turkish knot pile weaving. When I finish, the blocks will have the pile trimmed quite short. The final technique will be tapestry weaving. The warp is 8/2 cotton, the skip plain weave is 3/2 pearl cotton (left over from tartans) and the pile and tapestry are an acrylic knitting yarn left over from the ‘Four Horsemen’ blanket project. I will then mount and frame the whole thing, tentatively called ‘Blocks of Sunrise & Sunset’, before the deadline in June.

Dressing ‘Gypsey’
Skip plain weave
Starting the pile weaving

This project will take a pause while I push through the ‘Wedding Tartan’, but should be ready by the reveal date.

Modifying ‘Bernie’

Looms

My upright loom (Bernie) came with almost everything in working order, with the exception of the springs for the friction brakes and small pegs to hold the beater springs and raddle (when used). Bungee cords worked fine on the brakes and I made do with some small dowels for the pegs. To save some space when I moved the loom into the new studio I removed the hinged beater frame which effectively doubled the back to front size.

This was always planned – to replace the hinged beater with one that slid up and down the front frame – connected to the original springs so that the beater returns to the up position and is pulled down to beat. To do this I had to make 4 sided open ended boxes, one for each side, then cut a slot to hold the aluminum end pieces of the beater frame.

I waxed the front frame where it has to slide and will eventually fill in the slot where the old front to back hinged beater frame went. The boxes were made from some of the wood that came from the original frame. I only had to buy some screws.

The final job was to make the pegs. I ordered the wooden balls and the dowel came from Lowes. All the woodwork will get a final sand and a light coat of varnish to seal and it’s ready to go. I have begun winding a warp to try it out. More about that later.

Every now and again I get motivated to search through the Internet for images of upright looms, but as yet I’ve not found a match. Dryad’s and Leclerc’s are both similar but sufficiently different to discount them although they do both have a sliding beater so in that respect my loom is becoming more similar. Maybe one day…

Celebration

Looms, Project, Studio, Weaving

With the change in weather over the last month from the relatively normal regular rain/storms of Summer and early Fall, I finally managed to complete the roof. While the studio portion of the roof had been 90% complete there was the 10% over the spinning loft area and the large portion over the utility room above the garage. It took 2 weeks of fairly long days to take down the tarps and replace with the shingle roof.

Once done I no longer have to get ready for any rain by positioning buckets at strategic spots and was able to complete the move of all the large looms from the house to studio. Five looms are on the studio floor at present and one (‘Senior’) is disassembled on a set of shelves as I gradually clean it up prior to re-assembly. We also moved a lot of the artwork and wall hangings from the original loom room and I’ve hung them on the exposed walls to add a little bit of color.

Studio Floor
Spinning Loft display wall
Utility Room towards the Spinning Loft and Library

Still plenty of (now undercover) work on the Studio to do, but in the meantime work continues on the ‘Oak and Fern’ rugs and I’ve begun dressing the ‘Big Mac’ loom with warp for the Christmas towels.

Rainy Day work

Clean & Service, Equipment, Festivals, Looms, Project, Studio, Weaving

The ‘Oak and Fern’ bathmat is now finished. It’s still on the loom as I have enough warp for another four to five foot long rug. I may weave two smaller door mats for the doors from the studio to the garage and the workshop. I have plenty of weft yarn.

Oak & Fern Bathmat Finished

In other work in the studio I continued cleaning various parts of ‘Senior’. The treadles are like the rest of the loom wood – perhaps maple under a dark stain. One part that seems to be different is the shuttle race on the beater frame. It appears to be a darker wood and is typically a harder wood as it is an area that experiences a fair amount of wear and tear.

I’ve numbered the heddle frames as they are removed and cleaned to ensure I put them back in the right order. The frames and lamms seem to be in reasonable condition and don’t have much wear. One small shortfall is the lower lamm where the original wire connections to the treadle was made is only as wide as the 6 treadles side by side. Most looms have two extra treadles, i.e. for a 4 shaft; 6 treadles. If I add two more treadles I may have to extend the lower lamm on each side. The side by side picture shows the first cleaned treadle and beside it the shuttle race. The slot for the reed at the back of the race is a good example of the workmanship. The top and front of the race are finished and smooth. The slot edge is still as originally cut . I’ll likely sand it of a little more just for the looks as functionally it doesn’t need changing.

Today is the start of a fine period here in the valley so I will be able to get back up on the roof to get as much done before we head up to Townsend for the Fall Guild sale this weekend where I will be volunteering and selling some of my woven and spun items.

Hearthside Loom Restoration

Hearthside Loom Restoration

Clean & Service, Looms, Project, ,

A few months back I received an email from the Townsend Guild saying they had been offered an old loom if anyone wanted it. The photo’s showed a jack loom with 6 shafts that folded to reduce front to back size. While definitely showing the signs of age it mostly looked ‘all there’. I took a quick trip up to Knoxville to pick it up.

It turned out to be a Sears Roebuck Hearthside Loom from the late 1940’s. They were advertised in the SR catalogue between 1946 and 1950. Designed by Nellie Sargent Johnson for Sears and build by the Pope Machine Company in Kankakee, Illinois. It is a 6 shaft jack loom. The loom has a 38″ weaving width and came with a 12 dent reed.

The loom was described by the donating family member as in working condition, but once home it was fairly evident that the loom had not been woven on for some time and was missing a couple of parts that would have prevented any weaving. At the time I didn’t have room to set it up properly so I just unpacked it, checked everything, then covered it with plastic sheeting and put it in a corner of the garage. Move forward a few months and I needed to move some sheet rock from on top of OSB sheets in the garage and given that I now had room in the studio I was able, with help from Anne, to move it into a more permanent place so I can devote some time to restoring it back to clean working order.

The loom has some quite innovative features but overall the quality is not quite at the standard of other loom manufacturers (although I guess there weren’t too many at the time). The first goal is to clean up all the woodwork and assess any damage. I won’t be aiming for ‘brand new’ but rather clean and functional with some display of age. I will also look at minor modifications to improve the working without changing the overall look and feel. I would like to be able to demonstrate with it at the next Fiber Arts Festival in April 2021 so will look into strengthening the base and adding something to enable rolling it.

The loom will be called ‘Senior’. I’ll update this blog with more as work now continues.

During a rainy day today I started removing parts of the loom and sanding off the old varnish and accumulated dirt and dust. The construction is fairly basic and while the design is innovative the construction had left some joins weaker than ideal and it looks like there have been ongoing repairs and moving/addition of screws. The metal hinge connections for the treadles were well rusted up, but I managed to remove them eventually.

The photos are (L-R). The back beam in received condition – typical of most of the loom. The breast beam and beater top after clean up. The treadles in place and off the loom ready for sanding. I have also cleaned up one heddle frame and numbered it so it will go back into the right slots, and the shuttle race which needed some stuck on marker tape removed.

The only serious damage to the loom is water related where I suspect the loom sat in water for a period resulting in a little of the end grain of lower parts softening. The earlier repairs involved adding more screws higher up. I’ll fix it by sandwiching the old wood with a surround of good wood as part of a box frame base to help with overall stability/strength. Most of the screws and bolts will be replaced as I reassemble the loom. I will have to design and make some replacement parts and try to improved the rudimentary (original) cloth and warp beam winding handles. Plenty of work for winter months.