The Crackle Concludes...

... on sample warp #1, at any rate. Got another five samples done today but I think that's going to be it for this warp since I've got to get Joey undressed for my first Scarf a Day warp tomorrow morning.

First thing I did was to check the treadling for the third Zielinksi sample I did the other day. Sure enough, I had it slightly wrong. The tabby was supposed to be ABAB in even blocks and BABA in odd blocks, with a connecting two shots between blocks. I was out of the 4/8 green that I used in the first three samples, but I found some of the same colour in 2/8 and used that to repeat the sample with the correct treadling:



Here's a comparison of the original sample and the new one. You should be able to see that the pairs of shots in what I'm thinking of as the half-tone regions are separated in the left sample and packed more closely together in the right one (click the image to look at it larger):


Another thing I noticed is that the tabby lift I was calling A was actually the one Zielinski calls B, so I switched those around too. This meant treadling my tabby backwards (throwing the shuttle from right to left while treadling the left tabby) which was very confusing for me - amazing how muscle memory takes over when you do something physically repetitive, like weaving! Finally I got down under the loom and switched the tie up on those two treadles so that I could weave as I'm used to and things went much more smoothly.

Still, I did not love weaving these samples, no sirree. I managed to grit my teeth and get through the obligatory Zielinski samples but once I'd done #3 the correct way I was So Done with two shuttle weaving for a while. The next thing I did was to try treadling #3 with a single shuttle, this time using 4/8 yellow:


The treadling here is exactly the same as in the first picture above. I don't love this colour combo, but I did like the single shuttle fabric about as much as the two shuttle one and actually enjoyed weaving it, so needless to say I won't be doing a lot of two shuttle crackle! I think the fabric could be quite attractive without the block-wise stripes in the warp and with a contrasting but complimentary weft.

Next I repeated sample #1 with the same treatment: 4/8 yellow for both tabby and pattern. Alas, I forgot to take a picture of it, since it came and went so fast that I was beyond it before I thought to get out the camera.

After that, I repeated sample #2, this time with a 2/8 blue for both tabby and pattern:


This is the only sample where I didn't follow the same block progression. This one is 432123414321234 rather than the 123412341 I'd been doing. You can just about make out the diamonds in the picture but they're obscured by the stripes in the warp.

I enjoyed weaving the last three samples since, without having to mess about with the two shuttles, I could really get into the rhythm and pattern of the structure and "feel" it as I was weaving. My autopilot could take over without making mistakes and I could take pleasure in the process rather than just being frustrated all the time. What a relief!

Then I cut those samples off and measured them - a little less than two yards, and I'd put on six. I hate to waste the warp, so I thought I might try weaving a scarf right on the crackle warp. I started in using a natural rayon slub and the same treadling sequence as the last sample, but I'm not loving it.


For one thing, I don't like the colour combo. For another, I'm not crazy about the syncopated colour and treadling stripes for a scarf. For a third, my selvages look Pretty Bad. I don't really want to start Scarf A Day off with a scarf that I don't love, so I'm thinking I might just call it sample #8 and Move On. Might also stop with the rayon and try a cotton chenille since I'm curious how that would look, and then Move On. In either event, Moving On will be happening very soon!

Parenthetically, I hit the wrong button in Picasa while editing these photos and wound up with this:


I think this is a really neat fabric, so I might explore some monochrome stripes.

The Crackle Continues

Got the third Zielinski sample woven this evening, using the same threads and block progression as the first two:


For some reason this structure didn't beat in as much as the other two - not sure if I'm just beating more gently today or if it's something structural. Could be either one, or both.


So far, I think I like this one best, although I have a nagging worry that I got the treadling wrong somehow. It doesn't look as neat and tidy as Zielinski's drawdowns but I find that I rather like the variety of structures in the different blocks in this one more so than the others. There's a lot going on in this cloth structurally speaking, not to mention the colour changes.

I know it's hard to see the structures very well in these on-loom pics. I'll scan all the samples when they're off the loom so that they're really big and clear, but for the time being here's a side by side comparison:

Sample #1 is on the left. Sample #3 is on the right. Sample #2 was too blurry and went home. You can very clearly see the difference in the way the samples beat up -- there are the same number of blocks in both. If you squint and hold your mouth just right, you should also be able to make out the same block progression in the two samples. (The embedded picture is still Very Small - you can see the threads much more clearly if you click on the picture to see it full size.)

And now for an Artist's Way tangent:

I'd hoped to get more than one sample woven today but I finally went on my first Artist Date - I'd been thinking about it for about a week but somehow hadn't actually gone out and done it. I finally bit the bullet, grabbed my digital camera and headed out into the relatively balmy -13 degree sunshine to tromp about the yard and take some pictures. And by "some" I mean over 300. Had a great time doing that and also the editing and cropping and weeding out afterwards. Here is the result.

A friend and fellow guild member is going to come over in the morning and have a go at these samples - I'm really looking forward to it! No one but my dear ol' mum has ever come to my home and and woven on my looms.¹ I'll have to find some other pattern weft for her to use since the 4/8 green is nearly used up. Just as well - no sense her weaving samples exactly like mine!

I'd really better get a move on with these samples myself, since I've got a lot to do unweaving-wise over the next two days. I really want to get this warp off by the end of the day on Saturday, 'cause Sunday is Feb 1, and you know what that means...²

1. Come to think of it, I don't think even Mom has ever woven on Mabel. Good ol' Mabes, she's a monogamous kinda gal. Makes me feel a bit guilty, actually, seeing as how I've been stepping out on her with Joey all this time, not to mention all those trysts with looms in the classroom and even a one night stand or two with Mom's looms... Poor Mabes!

2. Feb 1 is the first day of Scarf a Day, of course! Gah! and also Woo! I must say, I am feeling some trepidatious³ excitement about the prospect.

3. Is that a word? That should totally be a word... holy Hannah, it IS a word, at least according to wiktionary. I really didn't expect that. ... Ah, but I see that my New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Thumb Index Edition (in two volumes - big thumbs?!) does not concur. Instead, it offers up "trepidatory (adj.) of, or pertaining to, or characterized by trepidation."

I think I prefer trepidatious since it 1) sounds like it really shouldn't be a word even though you want it to be one, and 2) sounds like something out Mary Poppins.

The Crackle Begins

Finally got the crackle tied on this morning, tied up the treadles after my spin-in this afternoon and got down to brass tacks this evening. As anxious as I am to try non-traditional crackle like the lovely stuff on Peg's blog and this kimono I found on Fiberarts, I was a good girl and started with the standard tie up and the first two treadlings in Zielinski.

This is Zielinski's first treadling, the overshot style. I started with block D instead of A, and treadled DCBADCBA (and then another D to balance, but that's not shown in the picture).


Hard to tell from the pic, but the green pattern thread is heavier than the blue tabby - the first is about a 4/8 and the latter a 2/8. They're both colours that are also in the warp, just some of the stuff I have in my ridiculously large stash.

It reminds me a bit of log cabin and also of rep weave - although that's because I associate this kind of two colour warp and weft striping and block progression with rep weave, not because the fabric resembles rep at all.

I found the left selvage a bit fiddly when weaving block A but for the most part it went smoothly once I got into the rhythm of it - as much as I can "get into the rhythm" with a two shuttle weave. I have to say that, although I like the fabric, I did not love weaving this for the same reason I don't like overshot - two shuttle weaves are S L O W.

I like a weave structure that I don't have to concentrate too vigorously on, because weaving for me is a sort of moving meditation. The shuttle goes and my body moves along with it, but my mind is a thousand miles away, planning the next project, processing stuff that's happening in my life, dreaming up new things to try, whatever. When I have to keep my attention focused on changing shuttles and picking one up from under the other on this block and from over the other on that one, I don't enjoy the process as much.

Needless to say, I'm anxious to try weaving it with a single shuttle and also turned crackle. Even so, I want to try the traditional sorts too, at least once, so after treadling #1 I did treadling #2, the summer and winter style, using the same block progression:



I can't decide which I like the look of better but I did enjoy weaving the second one more. Whether that's because I'd gotten more used to the rhythm and so found I had to concentrate less or because something about not repeating the same treadle over and over with my left foot was more pleasant, I'm not sure. Funny how such a little thing can make a difference, isn't it?

So that's #1 and #2. I'll do #3 in the morning and then I want to repeat a couple of them again using a single shuttle, first with the heavier thread and then with the finer, to see what difference that makes. And THEN I'll try the stuff that tempted me in the first place.

And now it's time for dessert! Mmmm, apple pie!

Yay for the hinter brain!

Super quickie as I'm just dashing out the door to my weekly Fibre Friday gathering. Here's a sneak peak at the crackle sample that's going on the little loom.


I chose the colour rotation on a whim, used the four blocks three times and then repeated the first one to "balance". I used a point block threading (ABCDCBABCDBCA) which by pure luck requires just that many blocks. Maybe my hinter brain knew this when I started out, but I didn't know it was going to happen until it did. Yay for hinter brains that are smarter than we are!

Am anxious to tie on and start exploring but first I've got a library date with some baby blanket edging, a pair of socks, and a bunch of friends!

Scarf and a half

So it turns out there was only half a scarf left on Joey, which means I now have about 40" of narrow sample fabric to turn into ... something, and 6 yards of crackle warp on the loom!

Since I'm thinking of using crackle for the rocking chair fabric, I figured I might as well make some samples that will give me an idea of what that'd be like. I chose four colours that are reminiscent of the colours in our drapes (natural, blue, green and yellow) and rotated them through the warp stripes: NB, BG, GY, YN. I'll change threading blocks at the colour boundaries but will rotate through them in a way that will keep the same colours from appearing in the same blocks every time. Or something - I'm making this up as I go along.

Still trying to decide whether to stick to a 4 shaft threading to begin with or try an 8 shaft threading. Will probably go with the 4 and try some of the traditional tie ups and treadlings (overshot, summer & winter) as well as the style I'm thinking of for the chair - the point of the exercise is to learn about crackle in all (well, many) of its permutations. I can always do an 8 shaft threading on the next warp.

Ooo, the dryer's buzzing. Time to go see how my scarf and a half turned out!

A Cracklin' Good Time

That, my friends, is a leetle bit of crackle weave, woven in 1979(!!!) by some nameless member of the Guild of Canadian Weavers and included in their February newsletter from that year. Why have I shared this little darlin' with you? Because I have Crackle on the brain, that's why!

A bit of back story is in order. Last month at our Christmas party, I suggested to my weavers' guild that we start a study topics program to combat our recent bout of lethargy. The idea is that we'll take turns coming up with topics that we're interested in and then every couple months we'll start in on a new one. The weaver who proposed that month's topic will kick things off, maybe with a related draft, maybe with a bibliography and then we'll all go home and read up on the topic du jour and hopefully weave samples to bring back and share with the others. Since it was my idea, I offered to get things rolling and for my topic I chose crackle.

Why crackle, you ask? Because I know next to nothing about it. Years ago, when I first started weaving, a then-member of the guild told me that she preferred crackle to overshot. I probably had a vague idea of what overshot was by then but crackle was a completely unknown quantity. Years later I know a fair sight more about overshot, including the fact that I don't much care to weave it. Don't much care for it in general, in fact. This is practically heretical around here in overshot country but there it is: I Do Not Like Overshot. And so, although I still know hardly anything about crackle, it has always tantalized me as being a reasonable alternative to the other.

So anyway, we had our January guild meeting tonight and I did my little crackle song and dance, complete with bibliography and handouts. One of the other weavers also brought in her GCW newsletter from 1979 with attached sample to share with the rest of us. Everyone seemed to approve and some even seemed kinda excited, which was pretty groovy and exciting for me as well. Lethargy is bad, m'kay?

Incidentally, if anyone else out there is interested in crackle, you should hurry hurry hurry over to Peg from South Carolina's Talking About Weaving blog, which has tons of inspiring and informative stuff on it, and perhaps also read Ralph Griswold's monographs on designing with crackle and crackle tie ups and treadlings.

Now I've just got to weave off the scarf warp still on the small loom so I can dress it with one of the many, many crackle drafts I scrounged up and find out if I like crackle any better than That Other One!