Weaving a wool shawl

So I am working on my first non rug. I bought some beautiful hand painted wool from Brown Sheep Company in Mitchell. It is gray, blue, and purple. For the warp I bought some wool call blue fog. I'm not so sure about the warp though. Maybe it's just not as strong as the rug warp, because I keep breaking them. I have tied them back on and now I have adjusted the tension so that it is not so tight. Hopefully that will work. It's going to be too warm to wear it soon, but a least I can say I made a shawl.

Weaving with my Niece

My niece was here and she helped me do some weaving. She sat next to me on the bench and I would throw the shuttle from one side and she would catch it. Then she pushed the peddles and threw the shuttle back. It was quite fun and we laughed a lot. I can't wait for her to come out again and we can do some more weaving.

New rugs

I've been working really hard over the weekend on two rugs. I really wasn't sure I liked the pink and brown until I took it off the loom. The other is a multi-colored one of just leftover colors. Kind of a go anywhere rug.

Twisted Weft

There is a weft technique used a lot in old Shaker rugs. I have yet to try it, but I was reading about it in the "Rag Rug Handbook". It looks quite interesting. Take two contrasting colors and wind them on the shuttle. Put that through the shed and then twist in one direction. Then go to the next shed and twist in the same direction or opposite for a different effect. It gives a speckled effect and should be fun to try.

Rag Rug Handbook

Another great book I found is the Rag Rug Handbook by Janet Meany and Paula Pfaff. This is the greatest book ever!! It tells everything you need to know about rag rugs. How to prepare the material and what to use, how to put it together and all sorts of patterns. It has many patterns for two harness looms which is what I have. How to do all sorts of stripes both horizontal and vertical. 20 different rug projects and even a room sized rug. How to sew the whole thing together and make a 6 x 9 ft rug. There is even a great history of looms chapter. It tells about all the great old loom makers. This is an excellent book for anyone making rag rugs.

Cutting fabric for rag rugs

I found the absolute best way to cut fabric for my rugs. I was using scissors, but that took forever and made my hand hurt until I found the My-T-Fine cordless electronic cutter. Thanks to Christmas money from Mike and Julie, I purchased the cutter and it arrived yesterday. It is the greatest invention since sliced bread! It is 9 inches long and only weighs 8 oz, and just slides through the fabric like butter. It is cordless, has self- sharpening blades, and industrial strength motor. It is rechargeable and comes with the charger and everything. It has revolutionized the rag rug weaving business. Cuts my fabric cutting time by half. Amazing

Brown Sheep Company

Today I went to the Brown Sheep Company over by Mitchell. I was very impressed. Very friendly and they had so many beautiful colored yarns. Wool, mohair, silk and cotton. They had these wonderful hand dyed wools in all these variegated colors. It was started in 1980 by Harlan Brown and now they sell all over the US. And when you walk in there were several beautiful handwoven wool rugs. I bought a beautiful thick amethyst 100% wool yarn. I'm not quite sure what I am going to make out of it just yet. Check out their web page www.brownsheep.com

How to put strips together for rag rugs

I spent all this time sewing my strips together for my rag rugs. Which worked well, but of course I had to have a sewing machine. Found a new way to put them together in an old Handwoven magazine. Cut a slit in the end of two strips. I have been putting it horizontal to the length, but I might try putting it vertical and see how that works. Anyway, put one fabric strip inside the other through the slit, then loop the fabric through. It works pretty great because I can make a nice length anywhere. No sewing machine required.

Measuring on a Loom

I am weaving this large rug on my loom and trying to measure the length was really difficult until I read this great tip. The rug is wound on a bar so before I was using a measuring tape and wrapping it around and I was having difficulty. Now I measure 20 inches and mark it with a stick pin on the side then I know the length easily. So much better.

Weaving on a Union Loom No 36

My Union Loom came to me in peices. And it had been 1o years since I took weaving in college, so it was quite the challenge to get it together. I had no directions and only a small black and white picture to guide me. But after many many hours, I finally got it in working order.

After all that time spent, I found a woman on the internet that has a Loom Manual Library. She has all these old manuals and will send a copy for a small fee. Her website is http://www.weaversfriend.com/

Just an amazing amount of information on weaving and old looms.

It is a two harness loom and weaves 36 inches across. I am now in the process of warping it for the second time. It will be eight threads per inch which is 16 threads per section which means 304 threads at 30 yards each. If you do all that math then it is 9120 yards of cotton rug warp. That will be an estimate of 20 rugs that I can do on that much warp.

It takes a lot of time but once it is done, it will be really fast and easy to get the rugs done.