Tartan Weight

[Riverkilt]

Thanks guys,

Is this a great board or what!!??

Talk about a free education....

Ron

[Barb T]

That's interesting. Maybe someone could explain this twist to the wool in a little more detail

The weaving process itself can't possibly add a twist to the thread. The only thing I can think of is how the warp is wound in the first place. If, when you wind the warp in the first place, you pull the thread off the top of the cone, the implications for twisting each thread is different than if you spin the cone as you pull the thread off the cone. Whether it twists the thread tighter or not in either case depends entirely on how the thread was wound onto the cone in the first place. Whether Lochcarron takes this into account when they wind their warps isn't something that I can confirm, though. I have no idea what they actually do.

[Bugbear]

Thanks Barb. I don't know much about the looms and weaving.

Also, I added the underapron and first pleat hems to my kilt, and I noticed the selvedge is a little more difficult to fold like you were saying. My kilt is not a 16 Oz Strome, , but I can see what you were talking about in your hem thread. Thanks.

[Pleater]

Confused by weft and warp? No need at all, for you war-up your loom and then weave weft and wight to make your cloth - easy to remember if you just ask Elmer Fudd to describe the process.

Anne the Pleater

[Carolina Kiltman]

When I would teach weaving to kids in summer camps, I would tell them that the weft goes weft and wite. . . Thanks to Elmer Fudd.

[Bugbear]

Confused by weft and warp? No need at all, for you war-up your loom and then weave weft and wight to make your cloth - easy to remember if you just ask Elmer Fudd to describe the process.

Anne the Pleater

Elmer Fudd scares me...

I have used a hand loom, I guess that would be what it is called, for making rugs back when I was a little kid. It was a homemade loom., so it probably doesn't really count. I can kind of understand how these things work from the discriptions, though.

[Barb T]

Whether it twists the thread tighter or not in either case depends entirely on how the thread was wound onto the cone in the first place.

If you're trying to visualize this, just take an ordinary spool of sewing thread and try two different things. First, hold the spool loosely between thumb and forefinger, and pull a length of thread by letting the spool spin between your fingers. Then, pull a second length by holding the spool stationary and pulling the thread off one end of the spool. The two lengths have very different twists.

If the spool was originally loaded by spinning the spool, you won't get any extra twist by the first method but you will either tighten or loosen the twist by the second method.

If the spool was originally loaded by winding around a stationary spool, you'll get different results from the two methods of pulling thread off.

[Bugbear]

If you're trying to visualize this, just take an ordinary spool of sewing thread and try two different things. First, hold the spool loosely between thumb and forefinger, and pull a length of thread by letting the spool spin between your fingers. Then, pull a second length by holding the spool stationary and pulling the thread off one end of the spool. The two lengths have very different twists.

If the spool was originally loaded by spinning the spool, you won't get any extra twist by the first method but you will either tighten or loosen the twist by the second method.

If the spool was originally loaded by winding around a stationary spool, you'll get different results from the two methods of pulling thread off.

I see what you're talking about now!
I usually pull thread off a spool from the side, and let the spool turn as I do it, instead of pulling it off the top. It seems to want to tangle up from that twist in the thread when coming off the end.

And you know, I do the same thing with the long hoses and drip system tubing I use. A lot of times I have to cary the big roll of hose with me and turn it as I walk because pulling it off the end twists the hose and ends up crimping it.

I guess the thread could be loaded on the stationary spool with a twist already in it.

I'm not understanding whether that twist to the yarn is good or bad in the weaving, though. My gut feeling is that it would cause all kinds of problems having the twist in the thread.

[Barb T]

I'm not understanding whether that twist to the yarn is good or bad in the weaving, though. My gut feeling is that it would cause all kinds of problems having the twist in the thread.

Dunno - I don't even know if the story about Lochcarron is correct or not.

[Bugbear]

Dunno - I don't even know if the story about Lochcarron is correct or not.

Thanks Barb. I will stop worrying about it then. But thanks for explaining the spool thread twist thing.