Satin/Sateen Reading List

Here is the reading list I put together for my study of Satin and Sateen:

Books:
More Than Four, by Mary Elizabeth Laughlin, Chapter 13, “Satin…or Sateen”
Mastering Weave Structures, by Sharon Alderman, Chapter 3, “Satin”
The Weaver’s Book of Fabric Design, by Janet Phillips, Chapter 9, “Satin and Sateen Weaves”
A Handbook of Weaves by G.H. Oelsner, Chapter “The Satin Weave”

Magazines:
Handwoven Mar/April 2004, “Satin and Tencel for a shimmering scarf,” Patricia Townsend, pg 52
Weaver’s #15 “Step up to Satins” by Donna Sullivan, pg 15 and “Satin and Silk on four or five shafts” by Donna Sullivan, pg 21
Weaver’s #28, “Vibrato” pg 38
Weaver’s #30, “For 8-Shaft Weavers,” by Alice Schlein, pg 47, describes drafting a satin weave.
Weavers #40, “Get Sett for Satin Simulation,” by Doramay Keasbey, pg 6

Online references:
Satin Weave and Damask, Swatch Page http://www.handweaving.net/DAItemDetail.aspx?ItemID=7709
Handweavers Net http://www.handweaving.net/Home.aspx search on “satin” lots of articles come up plus many, many drafts

Future Reads:
The Structure of Weaving, by Ann Sutter, pgs 120-128
The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers, by Marilyn van der Hoogt
Contemporary Satins - Shuttle Craft Monograph Seven by Harriet Tidball

Satin/Sateen Experiments

I've started my own one-weaver study group of satin/sateen weave structure.  I like the fact that the fabric is reversible and very different on both side; the satin side is warp-faced and the sateen side is weft faced.  I've been digging through all the books and magazine in my library and found about a 1/2 dozen chapters and articles on satin.

I put on a warp of 8/2 Tencel in multiple colors -- think sunset on a rainy day colors on the warp side and a sunset at Monument Valley, NM on the weft side. The warp side is a little brighter with more colors but color is good!

Here's the warp:

And here's how it looks so far -- first photo is from the right side and the second photo is from the left.  You can see that I am having problems with the edges curling.  I read ahead of time that this could happen with a satin weave and the suggestion was to packed the dents at the edge (before the floating selvedge) with extra threads.  So I did that, but apparently not enough. Hopefully the edges with flatten out when I wet finish and hard press it. I also read that the sett should a little closer to get good coverage on the warp side so I used a sett of 30 EPI, but next time I think will try a set of 32 or 34 with 8/2 tencel.  I started this as a scarf but now I'm considering making a mobius so that both sides will show.  And I put on a long warp and will have enough two do a second mobius with a different weft thread and to do some sampling.

And now, it back to the loom!

Rain, Rain and More Rain...

At the end of April we went off to the sunny East Coast to visit family, friends and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  The festival was first on the list of stops.  This was our third time at the festival and each year it just gets bigger and bigger.  The first time we went was in the late 90s, then again 2006 (I think). 

We left the hotel early and arrived just 2 miles for the fairgrounds at 9am -- that's when we hit the traffic backup.  The next 2 miles took 40 minutes and the regular parking lot (huge, huge grassy field) was nearly full when we pulled in.  The crowds were massive.  I headed to the big barn first, hoping the crowds would be slow in getting there...oh, how wrong I was.  There was just no getting away from the crowds.  Lots and lots of wonderful vendors but many of the booths were too crowded to get into and had long check out lines.  And that pretty much describes my whole experience at the festival.

I did have an awesome lamb burger and I bought one book and two skeins of yarn from Dancing Leaf Farm...didn't need that extra bag I had packed. I talked to vendors that I know from other shows and nobody drove their baby stroller of my feet. Did I mention it was hot?  By 2 I was ready to quite and my pack pony (Ralph) was ready to.  The traffic back up to get into the parking lot was even longer...I heard that it was 6 miles long out on the Interstate and I believe it. 

My advice if you are thinking about going -- plan to get to the fairgrounds by 8:30.  Even though it isn't suppose to start until 10, the vendors were already selling.  One vendor told me he sold the most between 8 and 10am on Saturday morning (actually almost sold out).  Take your own water.  We picked up a cheap cooler at Costco the day before and had plenty of cold water at the car (which required a hike back to the car).  Take a pack pony, errr...husband, who can stand in line to pay while you shop on.  Be prepared for massive crowds, print the vendor list off ahead of time and map out your shopping plan.  Be patient!

From there we headed east to Ohio to visit dear friends and see a new baby.  We spent lots of time admiring the baby, visiting the Clevelanad Art Museum (nice) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Went to a flea market and found a big box of double pointed knitting needles for $4. Oh, did I mention the chocolate facotry?  Yum!

After 4 days in Ohio, we went south to Southwest Virginia to visit Ralph family.  I arrived with strep throat...got meds and spent most of the VA stay eating ice cream, hanging out in the motel room and knitting three baby hats.  Ralph had a great visit with his brothers and old friends, unencumbered by a wife.  We stayed in Abingdon, which is a nice small town, lots and lots of antique shops and a good yarn shop (I had to drag myself over there every few days for more baby hat yarn).

Back home, it's been raining.  In fact I think it has rained just about everyday since we got home! Right now its coming down in buckets.  I know we live in the PNW -- but enough already!  Even this morning Daisey had second thought about leaving the covered part of the patio -- she just sat there looking at the wet grass. I know she was thinking "Really -- you want me to go out in this?"

I have gotten some weaving done -- two scarves and have new warps on both Fanny and Zooey. Ripped off a warp on Zooey that just wasn't working out.  I finish my Pics to Picks project and will posted the photos and process later this week.  The scarves I finished both used knitting yarns from my stash.  The warp on Fanny now is random yarns from knitting projects in the '90s.  The warp on Zooey is an experiment with Satin weaves -- more on that later.

And now some photos.  In the wee stack are three car seat/stroller blankets for that new baby in Ohio and the other photos are the two scarves.  The little blankets have a cotton warp and washable wool wefts. They are about 20-18" wide and 28" long.

In April I took a really great class on weaving back to front, so I will have to blog about that later.  It was taught by Sue Willingham, a Vashon Island, WA weaver/teacher.  She is an amazing instructor.

Book: Textile Arts from Southern Appalachia

A few weeks ago I ordered "Textile Arts from Southern Appalachia," by Kathleen Curtis Wilson from InterLibrary loan.  It's a wonderful book about women who wove overshot coverlets and lived in the Southwest Virgina, East Tennessee and North Carolina area in the 1800s. 

Today I picked the book up at the library and was flipping through it when I discovered a coverlet woven by one of any ancestors!  Plus there was a little history about the weaving tradition in my family -- news to me.   The coverlet from my family was woven by Eliza Kimball Greever, around 1830, near Tazewell, VA.  You can see a closeup photo of her coverlet here.  Each coverlet in the book has a brief history about the person who wove it and even some genealogy information. The book is a wonderful addition to any weaver's library.

Got Tree Photos...

I like trees.  I always say the two main reasons we moved to the Pacific Northwest are 1) Nordstroms and 2) trees.  I took my first tree photo when I was about 12 and won a blue ribbon for the photo at the county fair.  I've been hooked on tree photos ever since. 

I don't have any weaving photos to share even tho I have finished a few things.  Next time.  Meanwhile here are some tree photos from the Grand Canyon.  If you want to see more you can find my collection of tree photos from Northern Arizona here.

Rhodie Season In Our Yard Begins

How to decide....

that a scarf is long enough.  That's always a question I struggle with.  It has nothing to do with the actual length of the scarf, but rather with my boredom.  When I hit 60 inches I am really ready to be done.  Today I was at  65+ inches and ready to stop.  But I thought, I'll take a short break and come back and do a few more inches.  And off to check email I went...moments later I heard that all so familar sound that all cat owners know -- the hair ball coming out sound.  So I zip back to the dining room, where I park my table loom, to find Alice depositing her hair ball on the back beam of the table loom.  Okay, that scarf is done!

No damage to the loom, her deposit was held in place by the warp and I have covered the table with heavy plastic.  And no damage to Alice, who gave me "well, get busy and clean it up" look and then went on her way.  She's only yawning here but I thought it was an appropriate photo of the little devil.