Charkha Spin

 

 

Charkha Chair

I carried a chair from the upstairs Craft Room to live downstairs in the Family Room.

Next to the chair I placed an Ott Light Floor Lamp; a well-lit chair for reading or ....

 

Tada - the perfect spot - for spinning cotton on the Bosworth Book Charka.

 

Empty Spindles

Spinning nightly on the Bosworth Book Charkha eventually filled up all the Charkha spindles. I had five that were ready to wind off to storage bobbins. In fact, it had become a nightly mantra as I spun, "I need to wind off spindles, I need to wind off spindles ...."

 

 

Today I emptied all five spindles and practiced two new techniques.

First, I was able to combine several spindles onto a single storage bobbin with nice strong joins.

 

Another new technique for me was winding off with the spindle held in my hand. It made the whole process quicker, that's for sure. Kate Larson demonstrates it so nicely.

 

When I was done I made sure to tie off the tail so it wouldn't become buried (ask me how I know this tip).

Making Punis

Almost every night I spin on the Book Charkha for about 15 - 20 minutes.

My prepped fiber supply of Acadian Brown Cotton was getting a little low so I spent a few hours today making cotton punis.

 

 

 

 

 

I have tried using regular-sized Cotton Hand Cards but I find them awkward and heavy for my hands so instead I use a blending board and Clemes & Clemes Student-sized Cotton Cards.

 

 

 

 

On the Line

 Care Instructions: Regular wash cycle, hot water. Dryer spin, no heat. Line dry.

 

I changed the weft to Palo Verde for a 20" section in the middle of the warp.

The natural-colored cotton - brown and green - will deepen with repeated washings.

 

Weft: Pima Cotton (top), Palo Verde (bottom)

It was an enjoyable Spin to Weave project. The fabric is soft and drapey. Not sure what it wants to be yet.

Cutting Cloth

It was a beautiful day to be outside and I got a lot of weaving done.

 

 

While I was carrying the loom to a shadier spot I dropped the boat shuttle on the driveway. The asphalt made a few rough dings to the maple wood. Fine grit sandpaper and wood conditioner (Howards Feed & Wax) smoothed the dings nicely but I need to be more careful with my tools.

 

This evening I finished the weaving on the 3-yard warp. When I couldn't weave anymore I cut the warp off from the back apron rod,

 

 

and untied the cloth from the front apron rod.

 

Warp Repair

 Repaired the broken warp thread. Cool beans, it worked.

 

Soft Pigtails

What a glorious day it was. Sunny skies with a breeze and warming up to the mid-70's. Perfect weaving weather.

I took the Cricket loom outside to weave and learned something about spinning.

I have often heard it said that a person could be a better Spinner if they used their handspun. That they could gain skills and insight by simply knitting, crocheting, or weaving with their handspun yarn.

I'm not that person. I like making yarn, I like learning about the process, the fiber, the sheep. For me the yarn is the goal. I didn't feel like I had to do something with it. The yarn I made was it.

But now that I'm weaving with my handspun Pima cotton I'm becoming aware of a few things.

As I'm weaving I notice the sections of the yarn that have too much twist are also a challenge to manage. The high-twist makes kinks, and curliques, and pigtails in the yarn which requires manipulation to try to keep it straight while weaving. (In hindsight, I will say, "I should have cut those sections out".)

This is not fresh spun yarn they have been "rested" and rewound onto storage bobbins and then rewound again onto weaving bobbins. This high-twist, over-twist, is my spinning technique.

 

 

On the other hand, the sections that are balanced have a nice soft pigtail. The yarn spirals and twists in a luxurious playful slow motion.

Who knew? Well, apparently, those smart Spinners who use their handspun knew.

 

 

I'm glad I learned this and I will be aiming for softer pigtails.

Especially now that  I am getting acquainted with my new-to-me Bosworth Book Charkha.

 

Broken Thread

Continuing on with the Cricket project, actual weaving has begun, but first I had to finish dressing the loom.

Yesterday I fixed the color errors in the warp and proceeded to wind on to the back beam. 

 

As I slowly wound on I felt a thread snap. I'm not sure what it had gotten caught on but I managed to find the broken ends.

I've never had to deal with a broken thread before so I guess that's another lesson to learn with this project. For now I put a little clip on the broken thread and let it hang off the back.

Next slots and holes were threaded.

 

(By the way, I enjoyed the Indirect Warping Method using my pre-wound warp.)

Next the warp was tied on to the front apron rod including the replacement warp thread. I'll deal with the other broken end after I start weaving.

 

 

I noticed the temperature outside was warmer than inside the house so I took the loom outside and finished tying on to the front apron rod.

 

 

I wove a header with waste yarn (Navy 8/2), threw a few picks of the Pima single, and hemstitched.

 

 

 

Mulling It Over

Finally putting a warp on the 15" Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom. I made a wee swatch in March and I've been thinking about it ever since. Not hard to do since it's laying smack dab in the middle of the coffee table.

I pick it up, look closely at it, roll it between my fingers, put it down.

 

I wove the sample with Sally Fox's 10/2 natural-colored brown cotton and 10/2 white organic cotton held together. I'm guesstimating that the two yarns together is  ~ 5/2.  This is the first time I'll be weaving with two yarns held together as one.

This will also be a first for using the Pima cotton I spun on the Lendrum spinning wheel. It's a single (not plied) and will be used for weft.

Another new technique was indirect warping the Cricket loom. First, I watched a YouTube video called, "Warping a Rigid Heddle with a Pre-Wound Warp" made by the Woolery.

It looked doable so I calculated a simple 3-yard warp and went to the warping board.

 

 

 

So far, so good. I found a couple of mistakes in the color count so I'll fix that tomorrow and continue dressing the loom.

Feet Memory

I've been regularly spinning cotton on the Lendrum spinning wheel. It had been easy-peasy spinning till yesterday.

The yarn I was making was over-spun and over-twisted. And worse, I could not control the wheel it wanted to spin backwards (counter-clockwise). After half an hour I walked away from the wheel, it was 30 minutes of frustration.

I couldn't figure out what was going on. Nothing had changed from the day before - same wheel, same time of day, same fiber. Yet. I was clearly doing something wrong, something different.

 

 

This morning I started by taking out the excess twist from yesterday's singles and tried again. Aargh, same thing, too much twist and the wheel was out of control again.

I took off my socks, I repositioned the space between my chair and the wheel, I turned the radio down. What the heck was going on? Why couldn't I control the spin direction of the wheel?

Oh. Wait. What?

My feet forgot how to treadle. For some inexplicable reason I was pushing down on the treadles instead of the usual heel to toe movement.

Once I realized the problem was the way I was treadling, my spinning improved as well as my control. I was once again able to start and stop, slow down or speed up with just using my feet.

How weird is that?

Q and A

A new-to-me fiber tool is heading my way. It was offered 'For Sale' on Ravelry eleven days ago and I've looked at it every day. Sometimes several times a day.

The question I kept asking myself: Do I really need another fiber tool? Another spinning wheel?

The answer apparently was, "Well, yes, I guess I do."

 

 

Credit: Photo taken by Peggi.

Tossing Cotton Again

Today I cleaned more cotton fiber. It was too breezy outside so I'm using the work table in the garage.

Right out of the bag ~

 

Willowing, look at all the debris under the wire mesh ~

 

Ready for the hand carders ~

 

Spinning punis on the EEW Nano 2.