beginnings

oh Joy! – signs of Spring

a new warp – on the backstrap loom

Sarah Swett mentioned linsey-woolsey in a post

(and look at her fantastic paper yarn cut from coffee filters)

linsey-woolsey is plain or twill weave using linen warp and wool weft

it was popular in colonial America before wool was plentiful

it must have been uncomfortable to wear – I want to see how it washes

both yarns are handspun, 2 ply – hemp warp and Icelandic/silk weft

it still took me a couple of hours to get the warp on and the tension even

 can you see the weaving problem already starting?

if you wiggle or move even an inch – to sneeze or reach the scissors, the coffee etc. the entire warp moves with you

and I’m not beating on a straight horizontal, hopefully I will improve

on the floor loom

bleached linen warp with a stripe of European hemp – it is a lovely silver colour

shifu/kami-ito weft

can you see the colour change at the bottom – weft starting with linen and changing to shifu

with an 11 harness twill pattern – and another 2 harnesses for a plain weave selvedge

I’m much better at this than the backstrap plain weave

it is going to keep me busy for some time