Between weave-alongs, I offer the opportunity to gather on a weekly basis to talk about yarn as it relates to weaving. Each week we have a topic that I cover at the top of the hour. Below is a list of each week’s topic and the associated resources and other resources mentioned during the conversation.
www.crowdcast.io/e/yarn-study-group I’ll update the page after each session.
Study Guide: A Weaver’s Guide To Yarn
DECEMBER 11: ORIENTATION
Preference and Introduction of A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn for more information about how I approached writing this book.
Other Resources Mentioned
Evaluating Yarn for Warp (Yarnworker YouTube video)
Full On Coasters Pattern
December 2018 Newsletter that shows some Bin of Misconception projects. This was the “post” that eluded me. https://mailchi.mp/yarnworker/i723hsek70-1886357
The Leavings of Weaving, Winter 2017 Knitty column featuring the Thrums Buns
Raw Materials by Stephany Wilkes
Vanishing Fleece by Clara Parks
DECEMBER 17: DETERMINING A BALANCED PLAIN WEAVE SETT (SESSIONS ONE AND TWO)
See pages 10-13 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
General Resources
Meet the Sett Checker (blog post, explains the process of using wraps to determine sett)
Yarn Substitutions (blog post)
The Weaver’s Trifecta: Yarn, Sett, Beat (blog post)
Take-Up, Shrinkage, and Elasticity (blog post)
Getting Multiple Setts from a Rigid Heddle Reed (blog post)
Guesstimating Sett a Case Study and excerpt from Weaving 301 and Summer 2020 Design-Along. If you haven’t already done so, you can enroll for the design-along for free using this private link):
Other Resources Mentioned
The Xenakis Technique by David Xenakis available for free on the XRX website
Weaving With There Rigid Heddles by Rev, David B McKinney
Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle Loom by Betty Linn Davenport (referenced page 67)
Gift from the Hills: Miss Lucy Morgan’s story of her unique Penland School with LeGette Blythe
Winter Weave-Along Information www.yarnworker.com/doubleweave-colorwork-ruana/
JANUARY 15: SETT REFRESH + BEYOND A BALANCED PLAIN WEAVE
See page 13 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
General Resources
Many of the resources from our last session are relevant to today’s session.
Other Resources Mentioned
Sett’s Effects(blog post)
JANUARY 21: ABRASION RESISTANCE + PINCH AND PULL TEST
See page 15 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
General Resources
Evaluating Yarns for Warp (YouTube video)
Other Resources Mentioned
Take-Up, Shrinkage, and Elasticity (blog post)
Weaving for Wee Ones (Blog Post) I’d consider this advise light, not a particular deep dive into the subject.
MARCH 12: YARN CONTENT AND CONSTRUCTION
See page 16 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
Note: This is a general conversation about yarn content and considerations when selecting warp yarns. We will dive deeper into specific fibers and construction types at a later date.
General Resources
Woolen (upper left) and worsted (lower right) or as I like to call them fuzzy and smooth, are the classic yin and yang of the yarn world. Between these two extremes are many variations that we will explore more in the style chapter.
Yarns that are tightly plied and smooth are traditionally thought of as good weaving yarns. Tender, loosely plied, or softly spun yarns are often shunned. There is a trade-off between these two extremes. You want yarn that will be strong, but you may also want it to be pliable. Your choice depends on your end use. Shown here are a singles (left), low 2-ply twist (center), hight 3-ply twist (right).
Other Resources Mentioned
I posted this in an earlier session. It highlights how elasticity can affect your choices. Take-Up, Shrinkage, and Elasticity (blog post)
Knitty column that outlined my sampling approach before the Swatch Maker Looms appeared on the scene. How to Make Great Cloth, scroll down to the “Sampling” section.
Correction
During our design seminar last summer we looked at an excerpt from Weaving 301 that walked through setting a chainette yarn. (I incorrectly called it a “cabled” yarn, see below.) It highlights some of the ways a yarn’s style can play out. www.yarnworker.thinkific.com/courses/take/designing-cloth/lessons/13780692-sett-selection-excerpt-from-part-two-of-301
Cabled vs Chainette: A cabled yarn in handspinning terms is a yarn plied from two plied yarns. (From a yarn manufacturing perspective, they apply this same methodology in a very precise way to create a yarn that take on a more spiraled appearance. It is sometimes called a corded yarn for this reason.) Berroco Summer Silk is not this, it is a chainette construction which is a much more descriptive term a yarn that is machine knit in a tube-like form. I need to dust off my spinner’s speak!
MARCH 18: FRINGE TREATMENT
See page 16 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
General Resources
When To Use Which Finish (blog post)
Other Resources Mentioned
Packing Material (blog post)
March 26: Choosing Yarns For Weft
See page 17 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
Shown here from left to right: Same warp yarn sett at 12, 10, and 8 e.p.i. Each one is woven with a different yarn and beat to create three unique fabrics.
Other resources mentioned:
Geeking Out: Wool Yarn (blog post) includes some information on Superwash. Also see page 66 of A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn.
April 9: Color Vocabulary
See page 18-19 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
General Resources
Printable color wheel from page 18.
Here are a few color theory resources. Note the Amazon links are not affiliate links, I don’t get a kickback;) If you have a favorite independent book seller check to see if they have these books in stock.
Pages 19-20 of Weaving Made Easy show the way various hues, tints and tone to increase or decrease value contrast. (The originals are now in the Denver Museum of Art!)
The book I learned most of my color theory and application from Color and Fiber by Patricia Lambert, Barbara Staepelaere, and Mary G. Fry. It is out of print, but you can find used copies on the internet.
A seminal book on color theory is Interaction of Color by Josef Albers, the husband of Anni Albers the celebrated weaver.
Although geared toward the knitting, spinning dyer, Dyeing to Spin & Knit by Felicia Lo has an excellent chapter on understanding color complete with yarn wraps that you can envision as warps.
Perhaps the seminal modern color theory expert when it comes to weaving is Tien Chiu of Warp & Weave. Her classes while focused on the floor loom weaver and the use of fine yarns are easily applied to the rigid-heddle weaver.
Other Resources Mentioned
Weaving Iridescence by Bobbie Irwin
Gloria Carrico, who teaches weaving at Wester Kentucky University and is participant in the study group, sent me her shared her color slides to share with the group. They have some nice visuals that go along with the definitions A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn.
May 21: Color in Practice
See page 21-22 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
General Resources
“In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is—as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art.” –Josef Albers (Husand of Anni Albers), Interaction of Color
Swatches from right to left in same sized solid warp and variegated weft in a sett of 8, 10, and 12.
Same swatches fulled.
Other Resources Mentioned
Twill Be Done Weave-Along lesson on reading a weaving draft
Swatching Structures Other Than Plain Weave (blog post)
Warp and Weave Tien Chiu’s website
Warp & Weft A Conversation About Color with Cameron Taylor-Brown, a WEBS event
Amy D. McKnight just dropped a load of videos on 3 shed twills on her YouTube channel. Three-shed twill are in the air!
May 27: Weft Color Choices
This information isn’t in the guide, but I felt like before we left our discussion about color we should specifically talk about color considerations when selecting weft yarns.
These are the swatches from our Variegated Yarn Challenge. They are a good example of how color choices play out in the weft. Each swatch is woven using the same warp in a different sett using a weft of differing weights and values relative to the warp and each other.
From left to right: Warp yarn doubled in an 8-dent for a sett of 16, woven with a lace-weight, low value contrast weft; a sett of 10 woven with a fingering-weight, medium value contrast weft; a sett of 12 woven with a high contrast, lace-weight, high contrast weft.
All of these swatches have potential it is just a matter of how you want your yarn to read. High contrast tends to produce more drama, a medium contrast puts the focus on the warp yarns, and low contrast creates a more etherial color relationship.
Here are the same swatches with the saturation removed so you can see the value contrast a little better.
Here is how this plays out in a balanced weave. These are swatches from the Ruana Weave-Along
October 14: Decoding Yarn Information
See page 28-29 in A Weaver’s Guide to Yarn
This is a wrap up of the Selection chapter. I’ll talk briefly about deciphering information in a weaving pattern and yarn substitution.
Here is an example I’ll be talking about from page 55 of Handwoven Home. These are the yarn specs for the Linen and Lace Cafe Curtains.
Warp: 4-ply DK-weight, viscose-linen blend (1,409 yd [1,288 m]/lb: 882 yd [807 m]; indigo blue.
Shown in Classic Elite Firefly (75% viscose/25% linen; 155 yd [142m]/3 oz [50g] skein): #7793 Denim.
Resources:
Geeking Out: Yarn Substitutions
