Mini Workshops in February

I’m not travelling to teach during the month of February, so I’m taking that time to offer some “mini” workshops for very modest (bargain-basement even!) fees.  Since I’ve been playing lately with some knitting ideas, most of these workshops are about knitting.  The first two, however, also include spinning.

If you are interested in attending, contact me by email, atyler@centurytel.net, or by phone, 231-640-4424.

All mini workshops are at my house in Lake Ann, Michigan.  Please note the day and time of workshops vary.  The fee for each is a stunningly low $10.  A minimum of 2 folks will be needed for each workshop to “go”.  The maximum is 6.  For those workshops that are presented in parts, the parts are fairly independent of each other, so you can take any one part or all parts.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

      1:00 – 3:00pm

      Spinning & Knitting Energized Singles, Part 1:  Yarns that are not “balanced” can create biasing fabric when knitted.  In this mini workshop we will explore how twist in singles yarns influences stockinette stitch, reverse stockinette stitch, garter stitch, and seed stitch.  We will cover twist direction, twist magnitude, and knitting needle size.

      Bring your spinning wheel, 2 bobbins, some fiber to spin (or I can provide, $3 per ounce), and knitting needles in a few different sizes.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013 (yes, the same day as Part 1)

      3:00 – 5:00pm

      Spinning & Knitting Energized Singles, Part 2:  In part 2 of this workshop, we will explore how energized singles behave when you combine different stitch patterns.  Resulting knit fabrics will display a delightful variety of textures, some 2-dimensional, and some 3-dimensional.

      Bring your spinning wheel, 2 bobbins, some fiber to spin (or I can provide, $3 per ounce), and knitting needles in a few different sizes.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

      1:00 – 3:00pm

      Shaping With Stitch Patterns, Part 1:  Many knitted pieces, such as a sweater, require shaping.  Most often, that shaping is accomplished by increasing and decreasing the number of stitches you are using.  In this workshop, we will cover how to shape the structure of a knitted piece by selecting the right stitch patterns.  In part 1, we will cover how ribs, welts, and pleats pull in and pull up fabric.  In the process, we will discuss the importance of both stitch gauge and row gauge, and techniques of blocking your knitting.

      Bring 100-200 yards of yarn, knitting needles appropriate for the yarn.  I suggest sport to worsted weight wool yarn in a solid, light color.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

      1:00 – 3:00pm (maybe a bit longer)

      Seams to Be:  In this workshop we will practice a variety of ways to seam knitted pieces together for the best results.  We will explore side and shoulder seams, invisible and decorative seams, and seams that are flat and tidy on both sides of the knitted fabric.  In the process, we will also cover strategies for creating knitted edges that make seaming easier and more refined.

      Bring 2 swatches using the same yarn, both 20 sts wide and 40 rows long in st st, leaving the last row live and placed on stitch holders.  100-200 additional yards of the yarn, knitting needles appropriate for the yarn, and a darning needle.  I suggest using a solid, light colored yarn so that the stitches are easier to see.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

      1:00 – 3:00pm

      Shaping With Stitch Patterns, Part 2:  In part 2 of this workshop, we will explore stitch patterns that not only influence stitch and row gauge, but also influence the elasticity of knitted fabrics.

      Bring 100-200 yards of yarn, knitting needles appropriate for the yarn, and a cable needle.  I suggest sport to worsted weight wool yarn in a solid, light color.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

      2:30 – 4:30pm

      Shaping With Stitch Patterns, Part 3:  In part 3 of this workshop, we will explore stitch patterns that bias and stitch patterns that curl in a diagonal direction.  We will discuss why they behave this way, and how to use them as a design feature.

      Bring 100-200 yards of yarn, knitting needles appropriate for the yarn.  I suggest sport to worsted weight wool yarn in a solid, light color.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

      2:30 – 4:30pm

      Surprising Knit Maneuvers:  In this workshop, we will swatch some stitch patterns that you’ve likely never seen before.  They involve lengthy-to-describe yet easy-to-perform maneuvers with your needles.  And they result in intriguing fabrics that will inspire!

      Bring 100-200 yards of yarn, knitting needles appropriate for the yarn.  I suggest sport to worsted weight wool yarn in a solid, light color.

The Puzzle of Bias

I have a vintage treasure:  an old knitting magazine that I got from some long ago rummage sale. The cover of the magazine is missing. There is no indication of publication date, but I suspect from the designs that it was published in the 1940’s. I nearly gave this magazine away in a fit of shelf cleaning, but then I noticed the section in the back containing a dozen or so stitch patterns. After a quick perusal I realized that this small collection contained several unusual stitch patterns that I’d never seen before.

In 2011, I used one of the patterns, “Cayce”, for the edges and collar of my Tattoo jacket. 

Last month, I swatched a number of other patterns from this collection.  One was “Cross Stitch Mesh”.

Cross Stitch Mesh

(multiples of 3 sts)

Row 1 (RS):  k2, * yo, k3, pass first k st over 2 k sts, rep from * end k1.

Row 2:  p

Row 3:  k1, * yo, k3, pass first k st over 2 k sts, rep from * end k2.

Row 4:  p

Here’s a picture of the swatch.

See how it biases upward and to the right? I’d experienced something similar several years ago in a shawl I’d designed with a very similar stitch pattern. I wanted to know why these patterns biased. So, I went on a theme-and-variation swatch-a-thon.

After several variations, I was convinced that it was the “pass stitch over” maneuver that caused the bias. To test this hypothesis, I knitted up a few other stitch patterns that included a “pass stitch over”.  Here are three:

Camulo (also from the vintage magazine)

(multiples of 9 sts plus 3)

Row 1 (RS):  p3, * yo, k3, sl the yo over the 3 sts, k3, p3, rep from * across row.

Rows 2, 4, 6, 8:  k3, *p6, k3, rep from * across row.

Row 3:  p3, * k1, yo, k3, slip the yo over the 3 sts, k2, p3, rep from * across row.

Row 5:  p3, * k2, yo, k3, slip the yo over the 3 sts, k1, p3, rep from * across row.

Row 7:  p3, * k3, yo, k3, slip the yo over the 3 sts, p3, rep from * across row.

Here’s a picture of the swatch:

A cool pattern I expect to use in the future.  But it did NOT bias.

I found two similar and interesting patterns in an old knitting booklet on my shelf (Nomis Knitting Primer, published in 1988 by the Nomis Yarn Co, Stoughton, MA)

Nomis Booklet, Pattern #12

(multiples of 2 sts)

Row 1 (RS):  k1, * yo, k2, pass the yo over the k2, rep from *, end k1.

Row 2:  p

Here’s the swatch, with no bias.

Nomis Booklet, Pattern # 90

(multiples of 2 sts)

Row 1 (RS):  k1, * sl1, k1, yo, pass sl st over the k1 and yo, rep from *, end k1.

Row 2:  p

Row 3:  k2, * sl1, k1, yo, pass sl st over the k1 and yo, rep from *, end k2.

Row 4:  p

And here’s this swatch. No bias here either.

So, I concluded the “pass stitch over” was not responsible for the biasing effect.  And it didn’t seem to be the number of stitches that were passed over.  So, I tried more variations of Cross Stitch Mesh to find out the real reason.

I noticed that in the patterns that did not bias, the yo was incorporated into the pass stitch over, while in the patterns that did bias, the yo was separate from the pass st over. I got to thinking that perhaps the biasing was just due to the distance between the increase (yo) and the decrease (pass stitch over).

After swatching several more variations, it was clear to me that the separation of the yo and the pass stitch over was indeed responsible for the bias. Think of it this way: if you want to create a biasing fabric, you put an increase on one edge and a decrease on the other. That’s what’s happening with the CSM pattern.

Here’s some of the “evidence”. For CSM Variation #9, I reversed the order of the yo and the pass stitch over, expecting to see the fabric bias in the opposite direction.

Cross Stitch Mesh, Variation #9

(multiples of 3 plus 2)

Row 1 (RS):  k1, * sl1, k2, pass the sl st over the k2, yo, rep from *, end k1.

Row 2:  p

Yup! It biased upward and to the left.

More evidence:

Cross Stitch Mesh, Variation #10:  it seemed that it was really only the far right increase and the far left decrease that caused the bias, so I tried a swatch that was mostly st st, but with one patt repeat.

(any number of sts more than 5)

Row 1 (RS):  k1, yo, k to 4 sts from end, sl1, k2, pass sl st over the k2, k1.

Row 2:  p

This swatch, with only one repeat of the stitch pattern, still biases upward and to the right.

For the last in the series of swatches, I wanted to verify that the specific stitch decrease you use doesn’t change the biasing. I used a SSK instead of the pass stitch over.

Cross Stitch Mesh Variation #12.

(multiples of 3 sts plus 2)

Row 1 (RS):  k1, * yo, k1, ssk, rep from *, end k1.

Row 2:  p

The swatch still biased.

I had (and still have) the urge to swatch more variations, but I stopped at 12 variations. I did play with needle size on some other swatches of CSM, only to find that needle size had essentially no effect on the magnitude (angle of slant) of the bias.

This was a compelling series for me. And I do plan to re-knit the biasing shawl that I’d made several years ago. I have been “encouraged” to have that pattern ready by May. I’ll do my best.

One other thing: when you see pictures of these biasing patterns in stitch pattern collections, they do not show you that the stitch biases! It was an interesting lesson for me to learn.

Welts Wave Too!

I’ve been asked to design an afghan/blanket for Chris Roosien of Briar Rose Fibers . I love working with her yarns; her color work is lovely and quite distinctively her own. I had a couple ideas that played upon some of my recent swatching adventures.

I was leaning toward a rib and welt sampler, something with just knit and purl stitches. So, yesterday I grabbed a few stitch pattern books off the shelf. This time, but for no particular reason, I chose the Harmony Guide books (the older publications).

Most stitch pattern books have a section at the beginning of the book on knit and purl patterns. This is where I focused my attention.

With my mind on ribs and welts lately, I was especially looking for stitch patterns that incorporated one or the other or both. I found a good handful of patterns with potential for the blanket.

But what smacked me across the face was a pattern called “Purl Triangles” in the first Harmony Guide. It’s an ordinary-looking pattern of triangles I’m sure my eyes had previously passed over innumerable times. This time I was looking at it in the context of my recent examination of pleating patterns. With a brain flash, I recognized this pattern as a horizontal version of Pennant Pleating.

Welt pleats! What a concept! The pattern as written wasn’t really taking advantage of the pleating effect, so I modified it and this morning I knitted up a small swatch to make sure it actually waved. It did.

To get horizontal pleats, it’s important to remember purl stitches come to the fore in welts, so you need to have a wave of purls that crash over knit stitches. In this pattern the wave crashes downward. You could reverse the order of rows to get the wave to crash upward.

Amy’s Welt Waves (or maybe Dr. Tyler’s Welt Waves)

(multiples of 12 sts plus 1)

Row 1:  *p6, k1, p5; rep from *, end p1.

Row 2:  k1, *k4, p3, k5; rep from *.

Row 3:  *p4, k5, p3; rep from *, end p1.

Row 4:  k1, *k2, p7, k3; rep from *.

Row 5:  *p2, k9, p1; rep from *, end p1.

Row 6:  k1, *p11, k1; rep from *.

Row 7:  k

Row 8:  p

Row 9:  p

Row 10:  k

Here’s the chart (patt repeat between thick vertical lines):

Of course, I want to spend the rest of the day knitting variations on this horizontal pleating.  I’ll do that eventually; just not today.

Rib Cousins Break Like Waves

As part of my preparation for my recent workshop, Shaping With Stitch Patterns, I did a bit of examination of pleating patterns: stitch patterns that create vertical folds.

They’re rather like cousins to rib patterns. Pleats share the elastic nature of ribs. Indeed, many of these patterns are just uneven ribs. In rib patterns, the knit stitches come to the fore and the purl stitches recede. To get the pleat – or fold – effect, it’s necessary that there be a gradation of knit and purl stitches so that the knit stitches build up and act like a wave breaking over the purl stitches.

I shared the Knife Pleating pattern earlier. Pennant Pleating is another wonderful example.

Pennant Pleating

(multiples of 10 sts)

Row 1 (RS):  * k2, p2, k6, rep from *.

Row 2:  * p5, k3, p2, rep from *.

Row 3:  *k2, p4, k4, rep from *.

Row 4:  *p3, k5, p2, rep from *.

Row 5:  *k2, p6, k2, rep from *.

Row 6:  *p1, k7, p2, rep from *.

Row 7:  *k2, p8, rep from *.

Row 8:  *p1, k7, p2, rep from *.

Row 9:  *k2, p6, k2, rep from *.

Row 10:  *p3, k5, p2, rep from *.

Row 11:  *k2, p4, k4, rep from *.

Row 12:  *p5, k3, p2, rep from *.

The gradation of knits and purls is easy to see when the pattern is charted:

The result here is a “wave” of knits that builds up and folds to the left over purl stitches.

If you want the wave to break to the right, simply reverse the order (L to R) of the knit and purl stitches.

When you see these patterns in stitch collections, the pictured example is usually strongly blocked so that you do not see the pleating effect.  To get the pleats, you need to let the fabric relax. And, to get the best pleats, you need to be judicious in your choice of yarn. The curliness of the pleating is dramatically influenced by the yarn you use. Wool yarns are more likely to highlight the pleating effect, especially if you use very elastic wools (e.g., Cormo, Targhee, Babydoll Southdown).  Yarns that are from non-elastic fibers will show the stitch pattern more than the pleating pattern.  I knitted several swatches of Pennant Pleating, using different yarns.  The most pleat-like was from a handspun yarn from Ile de France wool (the swatch above).  There were several swatches that showed no pleating at all:  brushed mohair, cotton, bamboo, silk (swatch below), some wool blends. So, if the pleats are an important design element, then you need to also consider the yarn you use.

Although I did not do a systematic analysis, I suspect that needle size also influences the magnitude of the pleating. My hypothesis is that smaller needles (tighter gauge) will produce more dramatic pleats, and larger needles will show off the stitch pattern more than the pleats. Yippee! Another reason to knit more swatches!

Welts: Up-and-Down Elasticity

 Welts are the horizontal analogue of the vertical rib stitches: welts are delightfully elastic in the up-and-down direction.

Welts are created by putting knit stitches and purl stitches in horizontal arrangement. A 1X1 welt is none other that the humble-yet-amazing garter stitch.

Welts cause fabrics that pull in top-to-bottom; they shorten. And they shorten more as the width of the welt is increased. The swatches below (all 40 sts wide, 42 rows long) are, from top down: 1X1 welt (aka garter stitch), 2X2 welt, 3X3 welt and 4X4 welt.

Notice that in welts, the purl stitches come to the fore (convex) and the knit stitches recede (concave).

As with ribs, you can get similar elastic effects with uneven or broken welts.  I showed one of my favorite broken welts the other day, the Escalator Pattern.  Here are the instructions:

Escalator Pattern

(multiples of 32)

Row 1 (RS):  * k5, p11, rep from *.

Row 2:  * k11, p5, rep from *.

Row 3:  * k5, p11, rep from *.

Row 4:  p

Row 5:  k

Row 6:  p

Row 7:  p4, *k5, p11, rep from *, end k5, p7.

Row 8:  k7, * p5, k11, rep from *, end p5, k4.

Row 9:  p4, *k5, p11, rep from *, end k5, p7.

Row 10:  p

Row 11:  k

Row 12:  p

Row 13:  p8, *k5, p11, rep from *, end k5.

Row 14:  k3, * p5, k11, rep from *, end p5, k8.

Row 15:  p8, *k5, p11, rep from *, end k5.

Row 16:  p

Row 17:  k

Row 18:  p

Row 19:  k1, p11, * k5, p11, rep from *, end k4.

Row 20:  p4, *k11, p5, rep from *, end k11, p1.

Row 21:  k1, p11, * k5, p11, rep from *, end k4.

Row 22:  p

Row 23:  k

Row 24:  p

And here’s an uneven welt pattern that is actually a game: Wager Welt. I found it in one of my favorite knitting books, Mary Thomas’s Book of Knitting Patterns.

“…the game being to wager that no one will guess the number of rows to be purled in the receipt.” (Mary Thomas)

This is an 8-row repeat. How many rows are purled? The answer: one.

Wager Welt

(any number of sts)

Row 1 (RS):  k

Row 2:  p

Row 3-8:  k

(If you don’t already have Mary Thomas’s book, go out and get it. Now.)

Now, I like elastic fabrics. I like the elasticity of ribs. I like the elasticity of welts. And I especially like the elasticity of fabrics in which ribs and welts are combined.  Take the Double Basket Pattern for example.

Double Basket Pattern

(multiples of 18 sts plus 10)

Rows 1 & 5 (RS):  * k11, p2, k2, p2, k1, rep from *, end k10.

Rows 2 & 6:  p1, k8, p1, * p1, k2, p2, k2, p2, k8, p1, rep from *.

Rows 3 & 7:  * k1, p8, k2, p2, k2, p2, k1, rep from *, end k1, p8, k1.

Rows 4 & 8:  p10, * p1, k2, p2, k2, p11, rep from *.

Row 9:  k

Rows 10 & 14:  p2, k2, p2, k2, p2, * p10, k2, p2, k2, p2, rep from *.

Rows 11 & 15:  * k2, p2, k2, p2, k2, p8, rep from *, end k2, p2, k2, p2, k2.

Rows 12 & 16:  p2, k2, p2, k2, p2, * k8, p2, k2, p2, k2, p2, rep from *.

Rows 13 & 17:  * k2, p2, k2, p2, k10, rep from *, end k2, p2, k2, p2, k2.

Row 18:  p

This stitch pattern is perfect for a blanket. And it is one of those patterns best left unblocked; let the ribs and welts do their thing.

Ribs: Side-to-Side Elasticity

I got home Monday afternoon from The Soo. It was a delightful trip. The sponsoring guild, Country Spinners& Bridge Shuttlers , did a great job, and the teaching space at Gloria Larke’s store, Gloria’sHappy Hooker, was just fantastic.

I taught the knitting workshop, Shaping With Stitch Patterns, on Sunday. I was so excited to share some of my recent knitting thoughts.  As I prepared for the workshop, knitting all those swatches and deciding what to say, I came to realize that swatches are not only good for checking your stitches-per-inch and your rows-per-inch gauges. Swatches also give you important information about the drape of the knitted fabric and the elasticity of the knitted fabric.

Elasticity of knit stitch patterns became a major theme of the workshop.

We started out the workshop by examining stockinette stitch. Then we examined the effects of ribbing and welting (both quite elastic). Here are a few thought on the nature of rib stitch patterns.

Rib patterns are created by putting knit stitches and purl stitches in vertical arrangements. Compared to stockinette stitch, rib stitch patterns cause the fabric to pull in sideways.

The amount of pulling in increases as the rib width increases. The swatches below are all 40 stitches wide and 42 rows long. In order from the top, the swatches are: 1X1 rib, 2X2 rib, 3X3 rib, and 4X4 rib. I hope you can see that the 4X4 rib looks narrower than the 1X1 rib. In other words, the stitches-per-inch gauge increases as the rib width increases (when the swatch is measured not under tension).

Although these patterns pull the fabric in sideways, they all have a great deal of lateral elasticity: it’s easy to stretch the fabric out sideways. This phenomenon can be used to great advantage in sweater design: you can put these stitches in places that you want to be narrow looking while still having expanding ability.

You may also notice that when knits and purls are organized in vertical lines, the knits come to the fore (convex), and the purl stitches recede (concave).

The rib stitch patterns above all have knit and purl columns of equal width. The elastic effects of these stitches also occur in patterns where the rib columns are of unequal width or when the rib pattern is “broken”. Here are two wonderful expamples:

Knife Pleating (multiples of 13 sts)

Row 1 (RS):  * k4, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p3, rep from *.

Row 2:  *k3, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p4, rep from *.

Deep Chevron Pattern (multiples of 18 sts)

Rows 1 & 3 (RS):  * k1, (p2, k2) twice, p1, (k2, p2) twice, rep from *.

Rows 2 & 4:  * (k2, p2) twice, k1, (p2, k2) twice, p1, rep from *.

Rows 5 & 7:  * (p2, k2) twice, p3, k2, p2, k2, p1, rep from *.

Rows 6 & 8:  * k1, p2, k2, p2, k3, (2p, k2) twice, rep from *.

Rows 9 & 11:  * p1, (k2, p2) twice, p1, (k2, P2) twice, k1, rep from *.

Rows 10 & 12:  * (p2, k2) twice, p1, (k2, p2) twice, k1, rep from *.

Rows 13 & 15:  * (k2, p2) twice, k3, p2, k2, p2, k1, rep from *.

Rows 14 & 16:  * p1, k2, p2, k2, p3, (k2, p2) twice, rep from *.

Next time, I’ll point out some interesting effects of welts. Oh boy!

53

I am driving to “The Soo” (Sault Ste Marie), Michigan on Friday for 2 days of teaching.  This makes me happy!  I’m teaching “Spinning With Commercial Yarns” on Saturday, and “Shaping With Stitch Patterns” on Sunday.

The latter of those two workshops is a new one for me.  To prepare, I started knitting swatches in November.  And I couldn’t stop.  Well, I could stop, and I did stop, but only after I’d knitted 53 swatches.  Here’s what that looks like (yes, I'm still using the crappy camera, not the new one):

In the process of knitting all those swatches, I immersed myself in the nature of knitted fabrics.  I played with several stitch patterns that I’d previously not tried, and I systematically explored stitch patterns that I’d used but not really understood.  It was a fantastic journey into knitting.

I prepared 15 pages of notes for workshop participants.  That’s a lot.  I included a number of stitch patterns and pictures of some of my swatches.  For those pictures, I used my flat bed scanner.  It works reasonably well, although I typically needed to lighten the jpgs so they would show up reasonably well in b/w print.  Here is a picture of what is called “Escalator Pattern” in Mary Thomas’s Book of Knitting Patterns.  It’s a charming broken welt pattern that is very easy to knit, yet creates an attention-getting effect.

In future blogs, I plan to share some of the “ah-ha!” moments that came to me in the knitting of 53.  Stay tuned.

What a Difference a Day Makes

I’d like to report that it’s sunny today.  But it’s not.  (I did see a tiny patch of blue at one point.)

However!  Just a few hours after I posted yesterday’s blog entry, I received a package in the mail.  It was from my brother, John.  And it was . . . A CAMERA!

He sent me one of his older digital SLR cameras.  I’ve wanted one ever since I stopped using my faithful old Pentax Spotmatic (manual SLR) a few years ago.  John had a spare sitting around, and so he sent it to me.  Thank you, John!!!!

This camera is a Pentax too.  An “ist DS”.  He also sent along a 18-55mm zoom lens, a couple of memory cards, and some batteries.

There are a few glitches that I need to work out:  I had to download an owners operating manual for the camera.  And I can’t seem to get the software for photo downloading to work.  Never the less, I am very excited about this new-to-me camera.  I hope it doesn’t take too terribly long to learn how to use it.

I can’t believe I get control over depth of field again!

Here’s a related, small-town story:  My brother sent the camera USPS, insured and needing receipt confirmation.  I signed all the little cards to prove that the package had arrived at its intended destination.  A few hours later, the Lake Ann postmistress, Amy Carmien, called me.  She is a friend of my roommate, Joanna.  Joanna had recently given Amy C my cell phone number when Amy lost power due to a winter storm.  Joanna had offered to let Amy come over to use the shower.

Anyway . . . it turned out that John had forgotten to put his mailing address on the delivery confirmation card.  Amy had called me to see if I could provide a return address for whomever had sent me the package.  How many of you would get such a personal call from your local post office?

How to Start the New Year Out Wrong

I had every intention of writing bog entries frequently in December, and even more frequently in 2013.  But I’ve let a few minor issues stymie me.

Mostly, I’m having trouble taking good pictures of the things I want to write about.  I have a crappy camera that really only takes good pictures with lots of natural light.  And at this time of year, the sky is grey grey grey.  And the house where I currently live is an old house, built around 1900.  It’s a charming house, but it gets very little light.

So, I’ve been waiting for the sun to come out.  That could be awhile…..

(In addition to the lighting issue, I’ve been spending rather a lot of my time lately cooking and baking.  Delicious, but not part of my fiber work.)

Excuses, excuses.  My friend, Sylvia VM, finally called me up yesterday and told me she was sick of seeing that picture of the broken bowl on my blog.  And she called me this morning too to further chastise me for not blogging.

So I swore to her that I would write today.  And I took pictures.  They are not good, but they’re the best I can do for now.  Here goes.

A few days ago, I got the urge to finish a project that had been lingering on my rigid heddle loom for months.  I had started making “mug rugs”.  I put a 4-inch wide warp (linen thread) on my loom at 10 dents per inch.  Since this was my first try at weft-faced fabric, I used a rather short warp, only enough length for 2 or 3 mug rugs.  I used a wool-linen blend yarn for the weft.

I got inspired to try this technique by Jane Patrick’s book, The Weavers Idea Book.  I can always use more mug rugs.

I’d finished the first 2 mug rugs a few months ago.  How nice, I thought, to finish this project as the old year ends and a new year begins!  How nice, indeed….

While weaving the 3^rd and final mug rug, as I beat the weft into place, there was a sharp snap and the warp went flying.  The rear warp stick – to which the warp threads were tied – cracked in half!  I broke my loom!  Not an auspicious beginning to the new year.

Here’s the break:

And here are the 2 mug rugs I actually finished.  I like them, but at what cost?

I will try to glue the piece together.  If that doesn’t work, I’ll try to get a replacement piece.  And, I will likely never try to weave weft-faced fabric on this loom again.