Monk's Belt Magic!

Sampling can be a sensitive topic among weavers. Why, when it takes you so long to set up and weave a piece, would you subject yourself to dressing your loom "just for a sampler"? 
Believe it or not, as a newer weaver, those were my thoughts exactly. When I read or heard a teacher recommending sampling before beginning the actual project, I would secretly snicker to myself "yeh, right, as if that's ever going to happen, I just want to get to the REAL weaving!"

But if there is one thing that weaving has taught me over the years is patience! Oodles of patience. And, I've messed up enough times to know that, at least for some projects, sampling is a super good idea.

So, that brings us to my recent Monk's Belt sample. Monk's Belt is a very old weave structure and has been used in a variety of ways, according to time period and types of looms available. 

My sampler used 4 shafts and 6 treadles. The threading is quite simple, as you thread in blocks, which means there is plenty of repetition. My warp is 8/2 cotton, sett at 20 epi. The finished sampler measures 7 x 44". Tabby is used throughout.

Monk's belt designs are usually instantly recognisable, due to the bold, geometric shapes created by series of floats (these are where the block threading comes in). My aim in doing a relatively long sampler was to give myself plenty of time to experiment with treadling, but especially with yarns. I started out with yellow, mercerized cotton. I quickly found that this was not ideal, as it tends to sit quite straight as a float, rather than blooming and blending with itself. I also found that a single weft was not sufficient to make the pattern pop, so for each subsequent yarn type, the weft was doubled, to a much better effect.

The blue in the above photo is bamboo, which I found to be one of the most optimal yarns due to the thickness, sheen, softness and beautiful bloom.

The multicoloured weft above is hand dyed tencel, which gave a lovely effect, but like the mercerized cotton, doesn't quite stack up in the "bloom" department. 

Bamboo again, and you can really tell the difference, it's as though it was made for this! I had been following some standard treadling, but for this one I started branching into my own treadling, writing it down as I went.

I had been using single colours and decided to try 2 colours for the blue/green part above. I love the effect of 2 colours! Technically, I was using 3 colours if you include the purple (warp colour) I used for tabby.

Ah, silk! I combined orange and magenta 60/2 silk and my own treadling pattern for this one. Even though the silk is very fine, as a doubled weft it gave very good coverage. The blend of colours is also very eye catching.

For this one, I went back to my green bamboo for the pattern weft, but instead of using my purple 8/2 cotton for tabby as I had previously, I changed to my 2 strands of silk. This gives the effect of cute, luminous dots among the main pattern.

I have had some gold chenille sitting on my shelf for a while, and thought "aha!" Perfect time to try it, this will look brilliant. Except it doesn't! I had pictured something quite sophisticated looking, but instead got strange. furry caterpillars that look slightly "off" in colour.

Not that I mind, this is the beauty of sampling - now I know that I don't like chenille in a block weave!

The blue at the top is bamboo once again, but this time I swapped out the purple tabby for green bamboo. It gave an interesting effect but the green bamboo was a little too thick and kept my weft floats apart more than I would like. However, the texture is pretty cool and really changes the look of the weave.

The versatility of Monk's Belt is awesome. Because you are set up for plain weave (tabby) as well as the pattern, you can break them up and just use the pattern as a border if you wish. I think plain weave towels with a border such as the one above would be really striking.

More treadling and yarn experiments, there is just so much you can do!

The big test was how the fabric would feel after wet finishing. I suspected that it would be quite stiff and more suited to cushions, bags etc. But, happily, I was wrong. The fabric softened up wonderfully and has a lovely drape. It looks great on the back too. It struck me that a sampler like this, with a bit more length, would make an amazing scarf!

I hope you enjoyed this post. I have made a companion video just for my Weaving School members, where I go over this blog post in more detail. If you are a member already, you will find the video HERE.

If you wish to join up, I would love to have you! Monthly and Yearly memberships are available and include hundreds of hours of classes, access to a private Member's group on Facebook, giveaways, live videos and a wonderful community of weavers.

And, just before I finish up, I have a couple of book recommendations for you. These are affiliate links, meaning I get a small commission if you click through and purchase, but I do actually own and love these books.

The Handweaver's Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon.

Anne has a couple of pages on Monk's Belt, different threadings and treadling options, as well as excellent photos to show you how the weave looks.

A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite Davison

Marguerite has quite a few pages on Monk's belt with a lot of different drafts. The drafts in this book can be a little more difficult to read if you are not accustomed to reading older drafts.

Baby Blanket Project

I finished my baby blanket just in the nick of time, the day after my gorgeous new nephew was born. I already knew the baby was a boy and chose the colours accordingly. 

I told Nicky from Thread Collective what I wanted to weave and she recommended Venne Organic 8/2 cotton. I'm so glad I went with it, it may be a little more expensive, but for good reason! It is soft but I didn't have a single broken warp thread, it was strong and just lovely to weave with. 

I warped with the royal blue. I'm not sure why, but I started discovering errors from this point on. Too many distractions perhaps?

Error 1: I missed a part of the threading sequence in one spot. 

The fix: I had missed threading 3 heddles, so I made the missing heddles out of tapestry cotton and inserted them in place. Then, I measured out the missing warp threads, threaded through my string heddles, and weighted them over the back of the loom. Not ideal, but it worked!

The weighted threads.

Error 2: I re-sleyed the reed 3 times (yes, 3!!) because I kept missing a slot or doubling up. This was really frustrating as I just wanted to get weaving at this point. Even after the 3 re-sleys, I still ended up with one slot doubled up with threads. So, the blanket has a fault running through vertically. Rather than go back and re-sley again, I decided to just live with it!

 My idea for weaving was to experiment with the weft, initially I thought I would do one shot of turquoise and one of green. I didn't like the way that looked though. I experimented further (this is why it's always great to warp a little extra for sampling) and decided on 3.5 inch stripes of blue, alternating with 1 inch stripes of green. It has a nice balance.

Here you can really see the hearts, aren't they cute?! This is one side.

And this is the other side. Originally I had planned to back the blanket with flannelette once it was off the loom, but in the end I couldn't decide which side of blanket I liked better, so no backing. It will be a light blanket instead :) 

You can find a copy of this draft here. It is also pinned to my Weaving board on Pinterest. 

The weaving draft is very easy to follow, both the threading and treadling follow repetitive, simple to memorise sequences.

The dimensions of the finished blanket are:

Width - 27.5"

Length- 44"

The approximate cost of the project:

I used almost a whole 250 gram cone for warp. For the weft, I alternated between the turquoise and green cones, using less of the green. I estimated the total cost at around $55AUD, which covers the threads, postage cost on the threads, sewing supplies and label.

What I learned:

*I don't work well with deadlines. On one hand, needing to be finished by a certain date is a good motivating factor but on the other hand, rushing causes stress and mistakes. 

*I learned that I definitely want to work with Venne organic cotton again.

*I would also like to use this draft again and I think it could be adapted to all sorts of projects. 

*I already knew this, but this project reminded me that weaving with quality threads is expensive!

*Perhaps most importantly, I learned that, once again most mistakes or errors in weaving are totally fixable if you can just find or think of a work around.

If you are interested in floor loom weaving or are a newbie floor or table loom weaver, be sure to check out my Introduction to Floor Loom Weaving course to get you up and weaving!

This pattern draft is not from a book, but if you love to weave baby blanket's, I recommend 

Hand Woven Baby Blankets by Tom Knisely.

There is a huge selection of blankets, from 2 to 8 shafts and many different yarns and colours. It's a lovely and inspiring book. Please note, this is an affiliate link, meaning I get a small commission if you purchase through this link, but I do actually own and love this book.

Towels just for moi!

 I recently completed a project that I undertook just for me. Most of my weaving is for classes, patterns or customers, so to set aside the time to weave something for myself was pretty special!

As you may already know, I make bread for my family. I use kitchen towels to cover the rising dough and to cover the finished loaves as they cool. Perfect! Bread towels were what I needed!

I warped with 22/2 cottolin in natural with a red cotton stripe to accent.

Then I decided on M & W threading and some 2/2 twill variations.

I changed up the colour for each new towel so that some have bold patterns and others subtle.

For this one I changed both the colours and the treadling for a feature border.

To finish off, a little embroidery.

I am very happy with my new set of towels. Being hand woven with quality yarn, I know these will last many years in my kitchen.

How about you? Do you find that you're always weaving or making for someone other than yourself? Perhaps you want to follow my lead and put aside some time to make something special just for you!

Overshot uh-oh!

I tried overshot on 4 shafts for the first time. I put on a massive 8/2 cotton warp (my first mistake - too wide, too long!) thinking I would have a couple of table runners or plenty of baby blankets by the time I was done.

The threading was somewhat complicated, but I got through that and started weaving.

I don't know, maybe I just don't enjoy weaving overshot or maybe it's a bit of inexperience, but this project became a struggle.

Some threading errors became apparent and then the breaking warp threads started. My progress was slow, very slow!

The errors stick out like a sore thumb, but I still wanted to share these photos, firstly to share the disappointments and imperfections, but also in appreciation of the pattern, which is actually pretty cool. The above piece was woven with black bamboo for the pattern and white bamboo for the tabby.

The back of the same piece. 

This was my favourite piece, I used a hand dyed, variegated tencel for the pattern and a mercerised cotton for the tabby.

The back of the same piece.

And this piece I quite like also. I used a thicker hand dyed cotton (8ply) for the pattern and a white bamboo for the tabby.

So, what did I learn from this humbling experience? That I'm not as good as I thought I was? Definitely. That my slow progress on the floor loom is starting to frustrate me? Uh huh. That I want to do something about it? Yes!

So, I have found a great weaver with a great deal of experience who has a correspondence course. I have a terrible habit of trying to do everything myself, but I bit the bullet and enrolled in the first unit of her weaving course. I'm so glad I did. The first package arrived a couple of days ago and I'm learning new things already, the quality of content is excellent. Ultimately, I want to be the best weaver I can possibly be and I think this course will help me get there.

If you're interested in learning more about the course, Ursula can be found at BB Yarn Supply. She has a good range of yummy weaving yarns too, well worth checking out.

Project patience

I am working on the most beautiful shawl. After a run of towels I felt the need to weave something really beautiful. I love shawls, the drape, the practicality, the loveliness, so it wasn't a hard choice. I had this stunning tencel that I had hand dyed ages ago and wound into a warp ready for a scarf.

But, I changed my mind and decided I needed it for the shawl instead! Plenty of time and unwinding later, I was ready to wind a shawl warp instead. The warp went onto the loom like a dream, in fact tencel itself is rather dreamy.

The threading is the part that takes me the longest and I'm hoping my speed will increase eventually. After pusing myself to work late one night, I finally had the reed sleyed and the warp tied on. I was ready to weave!
Except I wasn't.
I had put the reed and beater on backwards. Yes, I actually did that! Untie the warp, unsley the reed, remove it, turn it around, re-sley the reed, re-tie the warp and presto, I really was ready to weave this time.

I chose another hand dyed tencel that I thought would contrast well and began. Uh oh. The tencel I had chosen for the weft was variegated. The pattern got lost in the busy-ness of the warp. I realised this was a possibility when I chose it as weft but decided to chance it anyway. It took me a couple of inches of weaving to realise it wasn't going to work. Enter un-weaving (not nearly as fun as weaving, trust me!)

So.... (this is starting to read a bit like a drama and it sure as heck started to feel like one!) I chose a lovely mercerised cotton in Peacock as the weft and away I went. Ah, much better.
Then I realised. Some selvedge warp threads had broken and fallen away from the reed. When had that happened? I had no idea, but it was definitely a problem! My selvedge on that side was looking quite un-perfect. 

Fortunately this was a fairly quick fix and I was back into the weaving. I'm about a quarter of the way through now, I wonder what other treats and surprises the next three quarters has in store for me!

Finished twill towels

Hooray, the towels are finished!

All on the same warp but each one a little different.

I'm quite taken with twill as a weave structure, I had the idea that it might be a little stiff, but it's beautifully soft and supple.

The range of variations is amazing!

You can read more about the making of the towels in my previous post.

Linking up with Ginny's Yarn along.

Weaving twill towels and a fluffy "assistant"

I've been having a bit of fun with some towels this week. I warped with a natural cotton and threaded for twill. This is just one twill variation.

Once you've threaded in twill, there are a lot of variations to try. This one is extended twill with a black weft.

Straight up twill with a blue weft.

And here we have extended twill with red weft.

This is what I came across this morning. Note the chewed thread in the mouth. I posted this on a weaving group on Facebook and set off a whole series of naughty kitty photos, it was very amusing. It seems that looms are a magnet for cats! Thankfully the cloth was not damaged, I just had to cut the affected thread and start a new one. Could have been a lot worse!

That awesome feeling!

Of finishing a project and finding that you love it! Remember this post? My, how things can change.

So, the blanket was woven on 4 shafts with my hand dyed Australian 4ply cotton. I used a twill variation for the pattern.

It's actually quite thick and heavy, so definitely better suited to cooler times than we are experiencing at the moment! (37 degrees today).

My little sweetheart was good enough to model it for me, even in the heat. 

This blanket will be in my Etsy shop in the near future, so look out for that if you like what you see :)