Designing in the Raddle

My talk about the Fudge Factor has come back to bite me. I am working on a Woven Words project for Paula (who sent me 10 cashmere sweaters). Her selected words are LAUGH OFTEN, LOVE MUCH, LIVE WELL. Since she wanted her weaving to be 18" wide, I knew that I would need 5" of ikat to make up the difference.

When I say ikat, I am using my Turned Weft Ikat technique but using commerical space dyed Bambu 12 doubled and sett at 24 epi.
I wound all of the words and the ikat sections separately and put them in the raddle and dropped the bar to the ground, so I could see the warp design (for the first time)

I have to say I was not thrilled with look at all, not the least of which the fact that the ikat sections didn't line up.

I decided to sleep on it, and when I woke up I had a plan. I objected to the 1" ikat stripe between each word, but felt that there should be something to separate LOVE and MUCH. I took out 20 of the 24 ends and created an ikat border. Then I pulled the crooked ikat stripes so they would line up.
The whole process took about a half hour, and made all the difference. I love it now!
Now to wind back. This will be tricky because the bouts have been split and moved around. Stay tuned for the next step.

Best Effort

I am calling this good. Bear and blanket will get shipped off tomorrow. Gary is waving goodbye. (for now)

Tomorrow I will present was is going on Gary the loom, who has not been idle for a minute.

Getting Cl;oser

Just a few tweaks, and I think I'll have a picture I will be happy with.


In this one, I altered the color and contrast a bit, but I don't know if it really is an improvement. Irene, of Cotton Clouds suggested I straighten Gary's bow tie. It's funny the things you don't notice when you're focused on fringe.

Gary Visits Gary

The Great Gary Grr Bear has flown up from Arizona to do a photo shoot. Before I could turn around, Gary the Bear had leaped up on Gary the Loom. I decided to wait until daylight to attempt to take some enticing pictures.

The picture below is NOT one of those pictures, but it is a good example of The Fudge Factor. (and it makes me smile) Notice how the blanket hangs. (not flat). Since the blanket will not be hanging on a wall, I don't fret about such things.
This was my best effort for the day, although I don't think this is the best I can do. I will give it another try tomorrow. Now that I look at it, I think I will chop off the bottom inch.

I don't think I see enough of the blanket in this one, and the white border is very distracting.

The Fudge Factor

I have always believed there are an infinite number of mistakes to be made in weaving. I also believe there is no mistake you cannot fix (if you will take the time). Plus, there is something I like to call "The Fudge Factor". Simply defined, some "mistakes" you can fudge and some you just can't. The trick is knowing which you can fudge and which have to be laboriously repaired.

After 50 years of weaving, I just made a mistake I have NEVER made before! I was so stunned I laughed. This is what I did. I don't know why I decided to begin sleying the reed in the first dent, but I did. Once I was through the reed and had adjusted the tension, I went to add the floating selvedge only to discover I forgotten to leave a couple of extra dents. (duh)


Do I completely un-thread and move the whole 36" warp to the left 2 dents? I don't think so! Employing the Fudge Factor, I pulled out 4 warp ends causing the borders widths to not quite match.

Below is a mistake I make far too often. I forget to center the metal rod I tie the warp onto. Then as I weave, it sticks out too far on one side to advance as I weave. I was lucky this time. I had just enough clearance, so I didn't have to re-tie the warp.

This always happens to me. I pull in a little bit in those first couple of inches before I even out. I used to go crazy about this, but I finally discovered, it really doesn't make enough of a difference for me to try to make it any better. It is true that when you take the finished baby blanket and line up both edges---there is a one inch difference.


I usually don't talk about the fudge factor and how much I use it in every step of my weaving. (and in every weaving)

I have weavers complement me all the time on how perfect my weaving is. If you only knew, oops, now you do (grin)

Mistakes I always fix:
Threading errors in heddles and reed.
Knots in warp
A missed pick

Warps I will cut off the loom: (I haven't had to do that for many years now, but I can tell you that I have done it more than twice.)
Warp threads that break every inch of weaving. (I can take about a foot of that!)
Warp threads that stick so I can't make a shed.
Mixed warp threads that have different tensions.

Bear Hunt

Now that the baby blanket is all ready to ship to Cotton Clouds (except for creating an enticing picture of blanket with teddy bear). Who has a teddy bear? It turns out that my neighbor down the hall has one, although this adorable bear just isn't right. The perfect bear is flying up from Arizona, however, so further photo shoots will be put on hold.


Bear is posing with my new pastel rainbow palette. Over the weekend I will be working out the yardage needed more exactly, So when you purchase a Bonnie Tarses Astrological Baby Blanket Kit from Cotton Clouds, you will be sure to get the right amount of yarn for your project.

Warp width: 36" Sett 20 epi
Warp length: 3 yds

Blanket dimensions: Before laundering 35 1/4" x 72"
After laundering (warm, medium wash---medium temp dry) 31" x 62"

Another Great Place to Be

More to follow...