We have had torrential rain and thunder boomers overhead for hours this afternoon. Eddie has sequestered himself in the bathroom and even after the coast is clear, it's not clear for Eddie. We're reading: Me, Innocent by Scott Turow and Ian, Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd.
We got a substantial downpour and it was enough to make us wonder what to do in the next ten minutes if it didn't let up. Flash floods are real and not good.
It was an antsy day of air fire defenders, and I decided to ignore that all by cutting my new-found pants into panels and into strips. I sent Ian into the closet and rustled myself up even more pants.Any math folks care to help me here? I want to make a 10' rug but when I put on a 4 yard warp, I only got a six' rug. What am I doing wrong here? Honestly, I wish I had done my homework in grammar school.
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4 comments:
Um. Not putting on enough warp? Sorry! Couldn't resist! I'll leave the intelligent answer to someone with more experience in rug weaving, but I am taking note of this for future reference.
You know me, I never put on that small of a warp, but it has something to do with how the warp goes up and down over the weft that takes up more length. Remember the saying "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line"? The warp might look like that while it's on the loom but when the tension is off, it relaxes into a curvy line. Plus there's the waste on the ends.... I don't know how to decide how much "extra" you need, but on average, my rugs relax 1 inch for every 10 I weave. So I add one inch for every 10 inches I want. So if I want a 40 inch finished rug, I weave 44 inches on the loom. Maybe that will help?
Because the warp has to go around a bigger diameter when you use rags, vs. regular yarn that's roughly the same grist as the warp, it takes more warp to make the length.
In the box that I need to send to you is a Handwoven issue on Rag Rugs, and maybe a book... I promise I'll send them this week. They are likely to have some tips for estimating warp yardage.
I'm trying to remember what I allowed for "take up" when I wove rugs. Of course there was always a certain allowance for the tie-on and the wastage at the end.
Incidentally, my husband Ian and I are now in sync in reading the Martin Beck detective series. We have now both finished The Locked Room - he's reading in Dublin and I'm here in Seattle. Have you read any of those.
Janet
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