New Year's Weave

Day 80: I hope that all my friends had a New Year's Weave as enjoyable as mine! I decided to experiment with a different warp set-up to see if it made working complex pickup patterns any easier on the bonker loom. Instructional materials for the bonker loom are few and far between, so I am drawing on my years of experience on different types of looms to improvise. Here, rather than running the pattern threads (magenta) through heddles as I've done in the past, I left them free-floating so that when either shed is opened, they form a third layer in the center of the web triangle. Picking of the active threads to bring them to the surface of the band is greatly simplified with this method. For the trial, I only warped a little over two yards, and I am happy to say that it worked out so successfully that I will be measuring new warp today for a longer project (likely a different pattern). Happy New Year!

Back Or Front

Day 79: Floats of some sort or another appear in all weaving except the most basic "over-and-under" of tabby. These are threads (warp or weft) which cross more than one thread (weft or warp, appropriately) at 90 degrees, and are what give textured weaves their character. Sometimes, floats create a distinctive "back side" or "front side" to the cloth, but in others such as this waffle weave, either side can be "up." In the insets, however, you will see that the floats appear in a different order on the top and bottom. In the left photo, the floating thread forms a cross in the center of the orange section. In the right photo, the float creates a border on the right side of each coloured section. This is a very important factor to consider when you are stitching together panels as I will be doing here. So which side is truly "up?" In the case of waffle, it doesn't matter as long as the panels match. And on that note, I will confess that I hoped to have the waffle throw done by New Year's Day, so I could start the year with a fresh warp, but I didn't make it. I had a couple of other projects which needed to be finished up sooner, and the waffles went on the back burner, so to speak. That said, by evening, I should be able to hang a new warp on the bonker loom. I have only a few inches to go on the current band, and have already measured out the warp for another one. I'll still be starting the New Year off with a new weaving, and my resolution will be to dedicate myself to finishing the waffles over the next few days.