Meanderings of a Mermaid

Here I am with a used Leclerc Weavebird loom. I tidied up and painted a corner of my garage. I have it all ready to go! Well i do need to check on the shaft cable tension, lubricate, and also get some more teksolv heddles.   This image shows the counterweights that help with raising the shafts. It is 16 shafts and has a maximum weaving width of 45 inches.  It is a computer dobby and so the treadling and tie ups are done by computer.  I have room in the corner for a shelving unit and happen to have one available. Finally I have a suitable open wall to display that happy rug with the three girls .  To the left is the position for the bench where I will sit when weaving. This photo is from the dealer's store. We drove down there to pick it up. A 3156 km road trip. And here is what the front half of the loom looked like in the truck. The back half was disassembled and underneath. 

The above three photos are of a hair drying towel I wove from the remainder of the blanket warp.  The brown threads were a bit thicker than the rest, which explains the uneven surface.  I believe that my hair won't care.  The final three photos show the completed catalogne blanket.  It is draped over the loom used to create it.  

Today I sewed hems and darned in any ends.  Above is a towel I will use for my hair drying.   It still needs to be washed and pressed.   Here is a glimpse at the completed catalogne.  It is about 90 inches long by 52 wide.  It still needs wash, dry and press. And this puddles shot is to show that the fabric of the blanket has a lot of drape.  I was hoping it would.  That is why I inserted a lot of sections of thread weft.

This portion of the warp was excess and so I wove off a towel for my hair.  It still needs to be finished.   And here are three pictures of the Catalogne just off the loom.   I had about thirteen warp threads break and so those need to be darned in.   Also if and where there were knots in the rags, they need to be untied and dealt with.  Edges where rag strips startted and ended need doing.  Then a good wash and dry cycle. Stay tuned for the final shots. The weaving took less than eight hours.

Here are a few more random shots of the progress. I am past the halfway point and now trying to reverse the sequence of the striping.  If and when I run out of one type of rag, which is a good thing when you love to recycle, I am switching to something close in colour. This is definitely a fun weave.

Here are two images showing the start of my Catalogne.   This is my interpretation of a traditional Quebec blanket. In the top image there is green waste yarn at the first margin.  Then I even found Phentex a neighbour gave me and that will work as a hem.   Then we move on to the blanket proper. I started with white cotton threads and wove 3 cm. Then I went to some brown rag strips and wove three cm.  There is an alternation every three cm. I was told by a weaver experienced in making these blankets to alternate between rag sections and normal thread sections.  Otherwise the blanket could wind up too heavy and stiff. After the yellow and blue rag I chose a medium blue rag.  I am making this up as I go. But I may try for symmetry after the midpoint. Then I could reverse the stripe sequence.  I hope there is enough of everything for that to work. I am using up stash yarns given to me.  So there is a finite amount on hand. I am ...

Above are three images of the original pattern involved in this translation. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Three catalognes for the bed, pattern with large checks #A-M-4 The second image shows the tie up at top. One treadle is tied of shafts 2 and 4 and another treadle to 1 and 3. The treadling is shown beneath that, as alternating from the 1/3 treadle to the 2/4 treadle. Threading is shown in the third image.  Thread heddles in shafts 1,2, 3 and 4 repeatedly across the desired width. Reed: 12 dents per inch. 2 threads per dent. Warp: cotton 2/16 Weft: rag strips Pattern #1 Warp sequence: 120 threads pale green 24 threads white 120 threads medium rose 24 threads white. Repeat to get the size you want. Weft: rags pale green Rags white Rags pale rose. Weave in a manner to form checks. Pattern #2 Warp sequence: 144 threads yellow 24 threads white. Repeat to get the size you want. Weft: rags yellow Rags white. Weave in a manner to form checks . Pattern #...