Take A Shuttle

Day 217: A friend recently sent me a meme showing the original Star Trek's Enterprise with the caption, "Warp drive is for distance. Weft drive is for going back & forth. It's good for shuttles." I'd seen it before (several times, actually), but as a weaver, it made me chuckle nevertheless. Small wonder that I'm a huge Star Trek fan! I have enough shuttles to launch a fleet of my own. There are many different types, and some of them are interchangeable depending on the weaver's preference and budget, but others are fairly much dedicated to a specific style of weaving. Rag shuttles are a good example. While they could be used to hold finer threads, they are large enough to accommodate strips of fabric for weaving rugs. Others have a "knife-edge" on one side. These help beat the weft in place when using an inkle or backstrap loom. I tend to prefer stick shuttles for most of my weaving. They're relatively inexpensive and come in a wide range of sizes. The shuttle I use with the bonker loom is the shorty in the middle (wound with blue thread). It is easier than a traditional quill to manipulate and holds more thread. One thing is certain: I'll take a shuttle (or two or three or four) when I'm headed to the Loom Room at warp speed.

Take The Shuttle

Day 118: A weaver has a wide assortment of options when they want to take the shuttle, and each one has its points both pro and con. Personally, I prefer stick shuttles (center) because I'm a cheapskate. They're relatively inexpensive when compared to boat shuttles (not shown because I don't own any). Boat shuttles, as you might infer from the name, look something like a boat, specifically a canoe or kayak (often without a bottom). They feed the thread out more evenly than other types of shuttle by means of a bobbin which fits lengthwise in the hollow space. The walls of the shuttle protect the thread from excessive abrasion against the warp. However, boat shuttles are pricey and a pain in the neck to wind unless you own a winder (an additional expense), so no, I won't be shuttling by boat any time soon.

Stick shuttles are usually made of wood. I've never seen plastic ones, but I see no reason plastic wouldn't work. In a pinch...let's say all your shuttles are wound with thread already and you don't really want to unwind it in order to free one up (a common problem among weavers)...in a pinch, an old yardstick or a piece of cardboard can be used instead. Closely related to stick shuttles are belt-weaving shuttles. The difference is that a belt-weaving shuttle has one or both edges pared down to a narrow edge. This allows the shuttle to be used as a beater when backstrap weaving, tablet-weaving or inkle weaving. My favourite style is the one wound with green thread in the photo on the right and also second from the left in the same image. Both edges are thin, and the shuttle is flat on one side and gently curved on the other. Nevertheless, the disadvantage to stick shuttles is that they like to dispense either too much or too little thread with each throw, often leaving the weaver in a tangle reminiscent of a cat with a ball of yarn.

Sometimes the selected weft is too heavy to wind onto a stick shuttle in any quantity. If you're using bulky yarn or strips of fabric, you'll want to wind them onto a rag shuttle (left), so named because they are widely employed when weaving rag rugs. Mine are vintage, a gift from one of my sisters-of-the-heart. For the record, let me say that no weaver ever has enough shuttles. Not ever.

International Tatting Day

Day 171: Who would have thought that there was such a thing as "International Tatting Day?" I didn't know it until I called to order more materials from my favourite supplier and was told that in honour of the day, I would receive a free ball of thread for every four I selected. Since I already had seven balls on my list, the offer was a no-brainer. Known also as "frivolite" in French and "chiacchierino" in Italian (the two countries famed for their development and execution of the art), tatting looks complicated but in fact is nothing more than a series of rings and chains made up of clove hitches or half hitches made over a core thread. It can be made with a shuttle or with a special needle. It can be very delicate when made with 80-weight thread or finer, or it can resemble macramé if done with heavy cord. Its lacy appearance is influenced by picots (loops of a single thread) placed between the knots. Surprisingly versatile in the manner in which its elements can be joined and combined, tatting is less popular among needleworkers than crochet or knitting, yet it is easy to learn and very portable. I am happy to say it seems to be experiencing a resurgence of interest, as evidenced by the fact that in the late 1990s, it was accorded its own international day, April 1.

Reed And Shuttles

Day 114: My collection of weaving accoutrements is growing, and now includes two antique rag bobbins, a gift from sister-of-my-heart Mousie. They belonged to her oldest friend's mother and grandmother, and I feel very privileged that she managed to convince the friend to part with them on my behalf. I have been wanting to do some rag-woven rugs, but had no shuttles large enough to hold more than just a few yards of prepared fabric. On the other hand, the 15-dent reed behind them is brand-new and will be used for finer pieces similar to the table runners I'm presently making. The runners are warped at 15 dents using a 4.5" high reed from my table loom. My floor loom takes a 5" reed, so I had to be inventive. I started off by padding the channel with foam and cardboard. I did a test run and the reed stayed in place. However, after working about a foot and a half of the actual cloth, the reed jumped out of its track and was left dangling by the warp! I reinstalled it with only a minor amount of profanity, but for additional security, I wired it in. As a stop-gap measure, it works, but I realized that since most of my weaving is done with 8/2 cotton, I really needed a 15-dent reed which was made to fit the loom. Old or new, a weaver needs the proper tools.

Sticks And Strings

Day 87: A few days ago, a friend asked me what type of shuttle I use for weaving, and included a link to an article describing how tuberculosis was spread throughout the weaving trade by the practice of sucking the thread through the pirn (core) to start the winding process. These days, we have health and safety regulations which prohibit methods which might transfer diseases, but such was not always the case. In any event, I use stick shuttles for a variety of reasons. First of all, they're much cheaper than boat shuttles and second, you can wind a lot more thread on them. The drawbacks to them are that they have to be wound by hand and when the weaver is nearing the end of the thread, the tips have a tendency to catch in the warp threads and may result in a broken strand. That said, if I was working on a loom wider than four feet, I would invest in a couple of boat shuttles because they "sail" across the supporting threads much more easily. However, I seldom work the full width of the loom, so sticks suffice quite nicely.

Weaver's Web

Day 90: Any time a fiber artist uses a new yarn or thread, there are bound to be surprises in the way it performs. Occasionally, this means rethinking the entire project, but sometimes unexpected results can lead to a better finished product than envisioned. Such was the case when I began weaving today with Bernat's "Blanket," a bulky chenille-type yarn. I had threaded the loom in a traditional birdseye, expecting the black warp to appear as a subtle pattern; instead, the fluffy chenille completely concealed it, packing densely into a soft but sturdy cloth as the weft was beaten into place. Since the birdseye pattern was not apparent, I reverted to a simple tabby weave. Backed with a non-skid material, these rugs will be durable and attractive. That said, I think this cloth would also make an excellent upholstery fabric.

Off The Loom

Day 75: The project I began at Christmastime 2013 is off the loom at last! I am now engaged in tying 756 bundles of fringe and then the fabric will be ready for fulling.

Woven in traditional birdseye and tabby using natural 6/2 and colored 8/2 cotton on 27' of warp and 210 ends, these pieces will finish at approximately 14" x 21" (allowing for shrinkage). They make excellent fingertip/kitchen towels, but are also heavy enough to serve as placemats on the table.

And of course hindsight is always clearer than foresight. I wish now that I had used a heavier warp or a lighter weft so the birdseye patterns would have been more obvious. However, weaving threads are not as easily obtainable as they once were, and my favourite supplier closed his shop for health reasons years ago. I do not like to purchase fiberart supplies without being able to finger the goods, limiting me to one shop in Seattle (a major expedition, by my standards). Alternately, I could have warped at 15 dents per inch instead of 12, but that would have resulted in a harder fabric which would have been unsuitable as towels. That said, I am pleased with these, and subtle woven textures have their own appeal.