peggyosterkamp

Use Twist! Turning a Ball or Spool upside Down Can Effect the Twist of a Yarn! 

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Introduction: 
The diagonal lines you see on a yarn indicate the twist put into the yarn when it was made. We use the term S and Z to indicate the twist of yarns. Some people use the term clockwise and counter clockwise and even others say right-hand or left-hand twist.  See below for a quick way that always works to tell if the twist is “S or Z.” (Even if you turn the yarn upside down!) 

The twist naturally in yarns can be affected when the yarn is taken off the end of any spool, cone, pirn, or bobbin. When yarn is taken off the side, the twist is unchanged. It’s easy to see diagonal lines in toilet paper showing twist being added or not at all. If I turn  a roll of toilet tissue upside down, we can still see twist, but it will be in the opposite direction. Often times this doesn’t matter, but some yarns will kink up if more twist is added or come apart if twist is taken away. The photo shows how to avoid changing the twist direction by pulling the paper off the side of the roll.

An easy way to always  tell S&Z  
Knowing that most yarns are twisted in the S direction, and that the right hand is the dominant hand for most people, swing your right hand across your body. Start the swing with your hand at your side and swing it towards your left shoulder. That is the same diagonal of S twisted yarn! And swinging your left hand across your body gives the diagonal for Z twisted yarn. When I’m in a yarn shop I don’t actually swing my arm—I just swing my hand across my chest—right for S direction and left for the Z direction.

You can add S or Z twist when you unwind yarn from the end of a spool. When the yarn, as seen from the end of the spool, moves in  a clockwise direction as it unwinds from the spool, S twist is added. By turning the spool end-for-end, the yarn will move in a counterclockwise direction as it unwinds, adding Z twist to it (subtracting twist). S on Z would subtract, too, and Z on Z would add, etc. 

Tightening the twist would make the yarn slightly harder, and loosening the twist would make it slightly looser and softer.  

Basically, yarn comes off faster and without jerks if it comes off the top of  a cone, or end of a spool. Be sure you take the yarn straight up from the center of the spool or cone.

A vertical set-up can be as simple as a reed supported by two chairs. I used to say I’d never buy spools because they topple over. Now I know why: if the thread isn’t guided directly over the center of the spool the yarn won’t come off freely.

When yarn comes out of a ball vertically, as it does when it comes out of the top of the ball, it has added a twist just as though it were coming off the end of a spool. Turn the ball over to reverse the twist direction. 
If  you unwind the ball starting at the outside of the ball the amount of twist being added (or subtracted) increases as the circumference of the package gets smaller and smaller. However, if you begin to unwind a ball from the center of the ball where the circumference is small, you’ll be putting in the most twist at the beginning. That is because one twist is added for each time the yarn traverses the circumference of the ball. In other words, there are more twists per inch where the circumference is small.

If you take the yarn off the side of the ball, the twist won’t be changed.

By putting a cone on a lazy Susan, you can take yarn off from the side of a cone.

Designing Wefts (Not Warps): Use a Doubling Stand 

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Introduction: 
The reason this is not a good device for warp yarns is because the upper and lower yarns will be of different tensions when they leave the doubling stand. This isn’t a problem with weft yarns. 

Have you ever wanted  to combine two or more yarns as one weft? Have you discovered it doesn’t work very well because, no matter what you’ve tried, one yarn always loops up so they don’t lie flat together in the shed? The answer is: use a doubling stand to double up weft yarns so they come out of the shuttle together and evenly.

Doubling stands can be homemade or purchased. The photo shows a commercially made stand. (Note the optional tension box for winding tight weft packages.) Notice how the yarn from the cone  is circling around another yarn coming up through a tube in the center of the cone.

Tension boxes can look very different from one another, but they all have a series of dowels—sometimes 3 and sometimes more—over and under which you thread the yarn. This threading puts drag (tension) on the yarn.  
If you don’t have a tension box, you can use your warping board, a spindle-backed chair, or the posts of the lazy Kate located on your spinning wheel. What you need is a series of dowels or pegs that the thread can alternately go over and under to put tension or drag on the weft as you wind.

One or more yarns are put on vertical posts with the yarn guided exactly up from the centers of the posts.  Above these yarns is a single cone or spool of yarn supported by a vertical tube instead of a post. The yarns below are guided up through their respective thread guides and then up through the tube and the center of the extra cone. Then, the lower yarns plus the upper one are taken together up through a guide above the center of the top cone. You can see what happens: the yarn from the upper cone encircles the yarns coming up through its center. This encirclement keeps all the yarns together without any of them looping up during weaving. To guide the bottom threads up through the cone on top, fashion a long hook from a coat hanger or use a long heddle.

Three keys to keep in mind when setting up a doubling “situation” or in making a homemade stand. 

  1. The thread guide for the lower spools must be exactly over the center of the pins or dowels that hold the spools or cones. 
  1. There must be enough space between the tops of all the packages and their thread guides to allow the yarn to whip off the packages freely. 
  1. The top cone or spool must have a way for the lower yarns to pass up through its center. 

A tube to hold the top cone is the hardest thing to find—try hobby shops or a good hardware store. There are many other ways to accomplish the job. I’ve seen one cone underneath an upside-down “milk crate” with another cone sitting to top and the thread from below coming up a hole in the crate and through the top cone. There are many ways you might make (or rig) a doubling “stand” yourself. 

Treasures I Took Home

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Introduction:

 The last day of the World Shibori Network Foundation tour had me packing to fly  home to San Francisco with just a few treasures. I had promised myself that I wasn’t going to buy things this trip. I am proud of myself!

The first thing I couldn’t resist was this jar of liquid graphite—who could resist such a  tiny, interesting thing as that? I’m sure I’ll use it someday when I paint again.

The engineer’s plan for the museum with the drips. It is in the Day 9 post HERE   
I’m really enjoying it now and remembering the museum that I loved. I won’t keep  this very long.

A close up of the engineer’s plan for the drops in the Teshima Art Museum.

This calendar will remind me of the lovely gardens all year. I’ll put it outside my front door.

This is a real treasure. I went back to an antique shop looking for a collection of these tiny tea bags used in the Tea Ceremony. Alas, he only had this one left. These little bags were made of antique textiles to hold the small pot of green tea. I have been fascinated by them and made a few myself.

These are some of the tea bags I made out of cloth I dyed with natural dyes. The cords are traditionally tied in complicated ways so that if anyone stole the tea inside, they would never be able to retie the knot! I learned enough kumihimo to make the cords.

Another treasure from the antique store: this bag. I like the corners of the basket as much as the antique textile. It’s 9 inches tall.

My final purchase: a shirt from the Sou Sou shop in Kyoto. (pronounced so so). I knew I would want one and waited until almost the end of the trip until we got to the shop. I’ve gotten one every visit to Japan. When I got home, I counted and I have 7 shirts—all different!

The Sou Sou label I treasure. There is a shop in San Francisco and a global online shop that ships.

Japan Trip 2025 – Day 12 – Saving the Best for the End?? A Very Busy Day in Kyoto, Watch for Day 13

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We stayed one night in the oldest Japanese Inn (ryokan) in the country, the Hiiragiya. Here, our futons were made up for the night for a wonderful night’s sleep.

As is traditionally done whenever people are leaving, everyone outside and inside the bus waves and waves until out of sight.

The beautiful Silver Pavillion called Ginkakuji. However the name, it was never covered with silver leaf.

The 2-meter-high cone is called the “moon viewing” platform. It’s a symbol of Mt. Fuji and is meant to reflect moonlight. It and its garden are beside the Silver Pavilion.

The raked area beside the moon viewing cone represents the “Sea of Silver Sand.” Notice the mob of tourists on the right in the photo. They are going to go on a path up the hill supposedly to view beautiful gardens of moss and trees. However, when I went on that path on another trip it was solid with people and you could be run over if you stopped to take a look.

Lunch at a very special small restaurant with a “contemporary” chef included this dish with a delicious garnish of fried carrot tops!

We got up early the next day to beat the crowds, but we might have been the 4th tour bus to arrive! This is at the Ryoanji Temple, and people are contemplating this famous garden. I’d hoped to stay there a while but the crowds sort of spoiled the effect.

Notice the gorgeous mud wall. It’s as famous as the rock garden.

Japan Trip 2025 – Day 11 – Coming to Kyoto: From Very Modern to  Very Traditional

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We visited the Miho Museum, I.M.Pei‘s masterpiece outside of Kyoto. The trees were beautiful with the green umbrellas we were given. We were near Kyoto on this fabulous World Shibori Network Foundation tour with Yoshiko Wada.

Here is the dining room, an indication of the building’s architecture.

There was beauty everywhere and I couldn’t resist taking this photograph. So Japanese.

The museum is built on the side of a mountain. I understand they dug out the side of the mountain to build it then filled the earth back in. This was a view on this rainy day.

On the property I.M. Pei designed the building for a special school. Here is the entrance with the top of the building behind.

This is what the inside looks like. It’s the chapel for the school.

Another inside photo. This is the back door.

We stayed in an old, traditional ryokan (a traditional Japanese Inn). Here I am after a lovely soak in the wooden tub waiting for dinner. I’m wearing a yukata and jacket which is what you do after a bath before dinner.

Two not-geisha women entertained and visited with us. So nice to see them up close. This one is not a geisha yet , but on the way with her years of training.

This women was in training I think only 3 years. She will have to quit when she gets married. She is “looking for a boyfriend”!

Their hairdos were interesting to see up close. This one is a wig.

The backs were as interesting as the fronts—especially how the obi is tied. It was a marvel to see them walk and turn around so easily with the amount of fabric at the hem.

Chichu Museum: Another Architectural Wonder

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This museum absolutely thrilled me for its creativity. This is a picture of the Chichu Museum—chichu means “in the ground” and this unique museum is just that. The only things that show on top of the ground are the skylights. The architect is Tadao Ando. The museum is on one of the Art Islands in the Inland sea. It is on Naoshima Island.

The whole museum has only 3 artists: Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria. Each of the 3 galleries has its own skylight shape. Monet’s is square with a narrow border. Turrell’s is a “square U” shape. DeMaria’s galley has 2 skylights:  one large  and one small. I figured out from the photo what all the skylights were for. Besides the artists’ galleries there is one for a triangular courtyard, a square courtyard, a narrow, 26-foot-long bench in a sitting area, and one for just a wall.

Monet’s paintings were large in a huge room. One painting measured 6 ½ feet x 19 ½ feet. They were all waterlilies done at the end of his career. To me they were too fuzzy, not what I expected. One painting per wall.

The Turrell exhibit had a line waiting so we missed that, but the Walter DeMaria room was a marvel—and extremely interesting to me. The room was large—79 feet x 33 feet. One could climb up the steps, but we didn’t. The point was that the light from the skylights changed with the time of day as well as the time of the year and that reflected on the sphere as well. The small skylight was at the top of the steps, out of sight. As we walked from one side to the other, what we saw in the sphere changed with the change of perspective. When we were walking back and forth, so many other things in the room changed, too.

The gold posts were interesting too as the light changed. Sometimes they seemed like lamps, sometimes like gilded posts. The 3 posts in the groups were triangular, square and pentagonal (5-sided). However, of the 27 sculptures,  no 2 were in the same order. The light shone brighter on the surfaces catching the light making the “space imbued with an air of tranquility”.

A note about the photo on the cover: the dark area is the narrow entrance to one of the three big galleries!

Japan Trip 2025 Day 9 – Lot of Art on the Art Islands

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Lots of art installations are scattered around on the Art Islands. We spent two days exploring ART on three of the islands in the Inland Sea before going to Kyoto. The islands we visited were Inujima, Teshima, and Naoshima. Setouchi Triennale Art Festival was going on so even more than the permanent installations were to be seen. Some in our group rode electric bikes around. The non-bikers saw a lot too. This was my favorite: Teshima Art Museum as we were walking to approach the museum.

Inside the low white building on the floor we silently watched the paths tiny drops of water took as they dribbled erratically.

Some trickles ran into puddles which may or  may not join other puddles or paths.

I can’t tell from this photo whether this drip was coming out of the hole or disappearing into it.

Give the Gift of Weaving Books! Buy any two books and get 30% off the price of the books.

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Select books HERE then in checkout enter the discount code “HOLIDAYBOOKS” to get 30% off if you order any two print books from the website.

Give the Gift of Weaving Books! A Free Book When You Order My New Edition of Weaving for Beginners

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Go HERE to order the new edition of Weaving for Beginners: an Illustrated Guide. 

Read about this new edition in my post of October 20, 2025  HERE

In the cart, HERE enter the discount code “WARPING” to get a free copy of Warping Your Loom & Tying on New Warps by Peggy Osterkamp when you order Weaving for Beginners. (Remember to ADD BOTH BOOKS TO THE CART in order to get the free book.)

About Warping Your Loom & Tying on New Warps:
In Book 2, learn how to prepare your loom for weaving — beginning at the back of the loom. You will learn how to beam on, thread, and sley the reed. Also: chapters on sectional beaming, tying on new warps, knots, and adjusting jack, counterbalance and countermarch looms. Step-by-step instructions and sections at the ends of chapters for quick reference. Having Peggy’s books at your loom is like having a patient teacher at your side.
Fourth edition ©2021, revised edition; 206 pages, over 200 illustrations.

Give the Gift of Weaving Books! A Free Book When You Order My New Edition of Weaving for Beginners.

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Go HERE to order the new edition of Weaving for Beginners: an Illustrated Guide. 

Read about this new edition in my post of October 20, 2025  HERE.

In the cart, HERE enter discount code “WINDING” to get a free copy of Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle by Peggy Osterkamp when you order Weaving for Beginners. (Remember to ADD BOTH BOOKS TO THE CART in order to get the free book.)

Information about this book can be found on my website under the tab: Books/DVD HERE

Japan 2025 Day 8 – Two Completely Different Gardens

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We began the day at the gorgeous Ritsurin Koen garden. The pine trees have spectacular shapes.

Another beautifully trimmed tree. The mountain behind are also part of the gardens.

That tree on the mountain is part of the scene. The man with the chain saw on the mountain was talking with the man on the ground so he would cut the trees just right.

More pruned pine trees. They were a huge part of the gardens.

Notice this tree has been trained to cross the water.

Feeding the fish is popular. At another spot a few toddlers were doing it and were so cute.

We were lucky to see gardeners pruning the pine trees. Can you see the ladder the man is standing on?  And see that the ladder is attached to the little bridge over the creek?

The pruning is serious business.

I loved watching the pruners as you can see.

Two more specialists. They made little dams in the water so the pine needles wouldn’t get into the lake.

Japan 2025 Day 7 – Two Greats in One Place

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This is the Simone Art Museum in Hiroshima. The outside is completely mirrors and much inside too.

A shot of this incredible building from the roof. The round area is covered by mirrors.

A view of the galleries buildings from the roof. These buildings were connected to the round building and were the art galleries.

Then there were the gardens outside the building by this Frenchman.

Colors were important.

Another view of the garden.

A restaurant for lunch. A huge grill. Oysters cooking and the flat bottom of the meal

The final result minus my first bite. Delicious!

Japan 2025 Day 5/6 – We Visited A World Heritage Site: the town of Iwami-ginzan near Omoricho on the Japan Sea Coast

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Yesterday we flew from Tokyo to the Japan Sea cost.
Today we strolled along this tiny village’s Main Street to admire the old houses that have been restored/rebuilt. We learned how this abandoned village was restored and became the World Heritage Site.

The tall thatched roof house is really old. You can see the rice paddy with new rice and old rice drying. We had a fantastic lunch in the house.

This tray with my lunch. When the fish dish was ready it would fit in the empty corner

The chopsticks were held in a leaf.

A stool with legs can sit on a tatami mat with this design.

This low table was set with our tea cups. Note the blue “rug” underneath. It was heated!!

This is the control for the heated rug. It kept my stocking feet from getting cold.

From a distance I thought I saw a sculpture in the rice paddy.

The “sculpture “.

An interesting noran: door curtain. Gives me an idea for an art sampler.

Front of a house with the shoji screen patched with fabrics.

Another front door with a patched shoji.

Many of the tiny house fronts had small “gardens “. I loved the vase of marigolds.

If not a garden, often art works were displayed.

The owner of this house was a big gardener.

A little creek long side of  the street with a little falls.

A temple entrance (shrine?) along the street.

Even a vending machine was interesting.

The flower in a bamboo vase was actually a cover for a drain pipe.

Persimmons drying. A special autumn thing to do.

Even a doggie had an old textile patch. This is the woman who began restoring the abandoned village with her husband 14 years ago. And now it’s a World Heritage Site!!

Japan 2025 Day 4 – Last Day in Tokyo

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We visited this unique building. The National Art Center. I think it is full of galleries but we just enjoyed the building.

The inside. We went to the fourth floor for this view.

We had a fabulous lunch. Here in the Aoyama District. That’s where all the top designers have shops. Issey Mayke being the most important

Inside the flower shop part of the restaurant was this Christmas decoration made with a real  cotton plant!

This is the table where we sat. A lovely, lovely place. There is most always a line to get in.

Another interesting building. All the floors are underground.

The show at this museum was hugely interesting.

After a disaster one might have been prepared by having clothes with newspaper in pockets for warmth.

Cardboard beds for after a disaster.

Cubicles in a sports center after a disaster. All very interesting. 21–21 title of exhibition

Japan 2025 Day 3 – A Day for Inspiration

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Went to subway And we all tried to keep from getting lost. Then took a train for over an hour. Luckily white haired people were given a seat for the long ride.

We got off the train and a short drive to The Enoura Observatory—not an observatory but huge area of spectacular nature sites and art. All by Hiroshi Sugimoto. He is a collector of stones by the way.

Here is one of the many installations. You can see Mr Sugimoto’s fascination with stones. He gets them from all over. Stone dealers come to him!!

More beauty.

I loved the care taken with the paths.

Another beautiful path. Even though we stayed on top we could look down and enjoy the beauty.

Three of us ate dinner at This is the Farm. Here is the salad for the 3of us. A treat to go there again and get to know people better and quietly.

Before the big salad we had these beans and tofu. Why can’t I remember the national the beans?? We all thought they were the best we’ve ever eaten.

Japan 2025 Day 2- A Very Busy Day in Tokyo

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We spent time in the Sumida Hokusai Museum Building. It is as special inside as out.

We know the famous Hokusai wood block print “The Wave”. This exhibition covered a whole floor of these ladies. There were lots of explanations for each one. As his work progressed various changes occurred which seemed minuscule. The eyes were more or less round etc.  Most were high class women however one was of a woman filing her nails. Another floor showed the progress of his work and his influence. Very pleasing the exhibition was.

An interesting house with a tiny shrine next door tucked in.

Here’s the tiny shrine preserved among many buildings.

A scene along a sidewalk we  encountered . Looked like a nursery school out for a walk.

Had a fantastic dinner at a tiny restaurant called Kabi. Several cooks/waiters prepared a meal with maybe 18 courses with paired wines of course.

The first course. The dishes were as interesting as the food was delicious.

Dessert. Creamy inside the ball. A piece with nuts on top. The “pasta” wasn’t pasta!! A fantastic meal all round.

Lunch at the Farm

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I took myself to this restaurant called The Farm. Here is the menu. Note it says please eat all the vegetables. I selected the 1 hour lunch. I think that’s what I did!

I picked up a big wooden tray and went to this table to select my salad ingredients. A variety of dressings and about another half table of salad ingredients. I made a really big salad.

My drink was a large delicious kale smoothie.

Dessert was kale cheese cake!!!  I ate both big pieces.

First Day in Tokyo Japan

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I met two old friends who took me to the Nippori Textile Town district. There were several blocks with shops. Each one sold just one thing. For example buttons, upholstery fabrics, braids, just leather to make any amount of crafts—the tool, notions, and patterns, etc. Just like in New York Times 5!

There were a few fabric stores but this was the biggest and most crowded. It was Wednesday afternoon and a shock to see so many people shopping.  I think the name of this shop is Tomato !! So overwhelming that I wasn’t interested in shopping. I saw tote bags for the Tomato shop and resisted buying one. But I still think about it.

While waiting for my friends I watched the making of a huge flower arrangement. I thought this was the first time I’ve done nothing maybe in years! This cart held the flowers that were to be used. I saw a sign in the hotel that they were part of a project to use “non-standard flowers.

This gives an indication of how big this arrangement was. It was at the entrance of our hotel.

Here’s the final result. It’s a fantastic display with falling water over the dark background.

The New Book is Here! The Fourth Edition of Weaving for Beginners

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ORDER HERE

New for this edition of the book is an envelope inside the front cover. Inside is a poster with directions for warping the loom. One side for “Back-to-Front” the other side for “Front-to-Back”.

This is the poster that is inside the envelope inside the front cover. It has illustrations and page numbers for reference. That makes it easy to quickly see what the steps are, but it has more references if needed. If you already have previous editions of Weaving for Beginners, you can order just the poster that you want.

Here is the information about Creo Press who is now my publisher. Note Printed in USA—the first time that’s been possible for many years!

Here is my introduction to my former apprentice, now my publisher, Vera Totos who now lives in Hungary!

ORDER NOW HERE

More about “That Warp”

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Here’s my first finished piece from “that” warp mentioned in the last two posts. LINK + LINK It was accepted in an important show at the O’Hanlon Gallery in Mill Valley, California. LINK The juror was Carole Beadle, a well-known teacher of fiber art. (I didn’t have time to fix the straying wefts as I would normally have done.)

However, before I submitted the work, it fell down when I was working on the hanging device. With the threads off tension this is what I faced!

I spent hours and days straightening and pulling out each and every kink with a straight pin! Talk about patience: I didn’t have the luxury to be impatient; It became meditative handwork.

I needed to bring this one home from the studio to prepare a proper hanging device. (This photo was in my previous post.)

Again, my piece became snarled and I’ve been working out the kinks a few hours at a time for days. Now, it’s ready to hang—I surely will be carefully keeping it on tension as much as possible while lifting it to hang it on the wall!

How “That” Warp Turned Out

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This post is about “that” warp I thought about giving up on in my last post. I got 3 pieces out of that 5-yard warp so far and am working on the final one still. They are pinned on the wall for now. You can see I’ve tried to use up the warp in all 3 pieces. Use this link to see the last post. HERE

For this three-some I wanted dark, medium, and light squares and I wanted to use the grey for the medium. I spent a lot of time trying different lights and darks that would work.

Funny, but I thought it would be easy to pick a white, but white didn’t suit. Hence, this odd but lovely fine thread was the right color.

The grey is a fine, hairy yarn I’ve had for over 25 years probably and I’ve tried many times but could never find a place where I could use it. I got it from my mentor, Helen Pope and had lots of fond memories while weaving with it.

The black took some searching, too, but finally I found something fine enough and by weaving a twill, the weft threads would pack in to completely cover the warp. I had been thinking I wanted the warp to be invisible except where there wasn’t any weaving.

This piece was woven with Japanese account book paper. I like this a lot, maybe the best piece I’ve made with this paper weft.

Here is a close up of the account book paper woven.

This is how the twisted silks section turned out on its side. I want to weave more of this idea for the last piece on the warp. It really is like the first pieces were samples. From them I decided what I could do for the end of the warp. I would say this happens a lot to me. I don’t know where I’m headed at first and this 5-yard warp was not going to be easy to weave—thus I did know that there would be areas of no weaving.

Ever Thought of Giving Up on a Warp? I have– many times so far on this warp.

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A few years ago I wove ruffles out of fine threads. This summer I decided to make another warp using those threads again. Here is my saga.

I’m trying to show how fine the threads I’m working with are. Here is a thread on a sheet of regular notebook paper. I got several spools from Lillian Whipple, a well-known weaver of fine threads. Long ago I wove my ruffles with it so I thought recently, “I can do this.”

However, I also thought, “What if I try using a trapeze instead of my warping drum?” That was a big mistake. When these threads are not strictly on tension, they squiggle up on themselves and also their neighbors.

Besides, I don’t know what I was thinking, but I put 12 threads in a raddle group, using 6 spools on my warping reel. (My reel does act like a paddle so that I had a true threading cross). But 12 threads together in the raddle then trying to make a thread by thread cross after that was crazy. I threatened to throw out the warp after I finally got it beamed.

My idea then was to pull the warps from the raddle (not threaded) and use them as bundles of threads…somehow. But the bundles would have been skinny and not at all like Sheila Hicks’    lovely bundles of silk with colored threads wrapped beautifully on them.

I let it marinate for about a month, then decided to try to thread it and try to weave what I had planned. I wanted the warp to be invisible.

If I dared pull even slightly on a thread as in threading the heddles, it flew into a twisted mess with itself and neighbors. I used a straight pin to undo many of the knots that the tangles made.  Again, I thought probably I should cut it off and start over again.

I did thread the loom and sleyed the reed at 2 per dent for 24 epi. It is a sparce warp of fine threads.

I decided lacing on was the only option. I clearly couldn’t  tie those wild threads to the apron rod. The lacing went wonderfully well—I followed the directions and especially the tricks in two of my books. (The directions and tricks are in both, Weaving for Beginners” and “Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps”).

Here is the beginning of the weaving. I’m experimenting with spinning “threads” out of silk fabrics I dyed during the pandemic. These were dyed with avocado pits. I temporarily wove in the fine yellow threads to hold the wefts in place at the end of the day’s weaving. I will take out the yellow threads before continuing weaving with my “cloth threads”. By the way, the warp threads started out vibrant colors but the dyes were fugitive, so we don’t see any color anymore. Except for the yellow thread that stayed yellow!

A close up. Now I’m getting more ideas and maybe the 5-yard warp isn’t way too long after all!

Summer Sale: 30% OFF – My Red Books Are Packed with Information NOT in the Beginning Book

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I wrote these 3 red books to pass on the production weaving techniques I learned in a Production Weaving class at Pacific Basin School of Textiles in the 1970’s. Jim Ahrens was the teacher. At the time he was also teaching John Violet how he built his production looms. That was the beginning of AVL looms.

I reminded myself that there is a lot of information in my 3 red books when I went looking for shuttle information in Book #3: Weaving & Drafting Your own Cloth. I was having shuttle trouble while weaving  the cloth for my vest woven with  the Sunday Comics.

I wrote the first book Winding a Warp & Using a Paddle with one of my production weaving students, Carol Hillestad. We lived in New York City and passed drafts across the subway platform gates. I visited her in her office in one of the World Trade Towers! I gave her the info, then she wrote it for the text. We decided if it couldn’t be said in writing, we would need an illustration. I published it in 1992.  In the subsequent editions a lot more illustrations were added! See below for some illustrations in Book #1.

Summer Sale Book 1 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE

Why use a paddle?
“More than two ends will inevitably braid up on each other, as you know all too well if you have ever tried knitting with three or more colors. By the end of the row, you have a tangle of yarns to untwine.”

There is a whole chapter on sett including 14 pages of Sett Charts with entries for upholstery, production weaving, clothing, woolens, and delicate fabrics. Collapse weaving uses the “delicate” sett in general.

A warp comb can be made to order to use as a raddle for fine threads. “A commercially made warp comb, or drawing in comb, is another form of raddle and looks just like a reed, except that it’s only about two inches tall and the top comes off. These are available from companies that manufacture reeds.

Book #2, Warping Your Loom & Tying On New Warps was first published in 1995.
I always envisioned a big book like the Collingwood book, but was afraid it would never get done. That’s why I wrote one book at a time. There is so much in it because I was really afraid that it would be my last book. Sharon Alderman, one of the editors told me , “There is stuff in the book that doesn’t belong there.” See below some of the illustrations from Book #2.

Summer Sale Book 2 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE

Photo 8 of 8
Book #3, Weaving & Drafting Your Own Cloth was published in 2005.
I put in them all that I knew that I’d learned from Jim Ahrens and probably some of what I learned from my teaching. See below some of the illustrations in Book #3.

Summer Sale Book 3 – 30% off. Discount applied in cart – Order HERE

How I Solved My Boat Shuttle Problem of Over Spinning

by

My Problem:
When I was weaving the cloth for my vest with the comic paper thread the problem happened when I threw the tabby wefts. Everytime I threw the shuttle the bobbin kept over-spinning and tangling on the shuttle rod. I had to stop, unwind the over spun thread and guide the weft thread back onto the bobbin. It happens every time! I knew something had to be done.

The Cause:

It was an inertia problem. I thought I knew all about this from my  technical book, “Weaving  Drafting Your Own Cloth”. This is the third of my little red books (New Guide to Weaving).

From page 62: How to throw the shuttle:
1. Don’t try to weave too fast.

2. Throw the shuttle gently. If the shuttle is thrown harder than necessary it goes into the receiving hand with the bobbin still spinning: extra yarn is unwound, creating a snarl with backlash. Throw the shuttle with just enough force to carry it across. The shuttle and its bobbin both slow to a stop as they reach the other side.

3. As you catch the shuttle, if your shuttle is open on the top, put your thumb or a finger on the bobbin to stop it from continuing to spin to prevent backlash. If your shuttle is open on its bottom, your fingers can touch the bobbin easily. (Figures 97 and 98).

4. Put the bobbin into the shuttle with the yarn coming out from the underneath the bobbin—to cut down on backlash (Figure 99).
6. Remember, the exit hole should be on the side of the shuttle facing you.


The Solution:
What I learned from my book:  Also from page 62:
”I’ve seen professional weavers draw out a length of weft from the shuttle before entering it into the shed…”
I learned that the reason they do that is to prevent the backlash from over spinning.