I made this sampler about 18 months ago. It is on four shafts and I wanted to try different binding patterns. The warp is leftover cotton/linen 22/2, the weft is different leftover yarns. There are six different threading orders, one for each warp color. I treadled in different ways, changed tie-up often and got tried techniques like twill, laces, corduroy, monks belt and overshot.
Jeg likte denne prøvebiten spesielt godt, pga av den åpne strukturen. Det er en stramei, og det turkise innslaget er lintow 6. Jeg fikk veldig lyst å lage et sjal i denne teknikken, og bestemte meg for å prøve dette med ullgarn. Jeg satte opp en prøverenning med rester av HIFA tykt kamgarn. Jeg prøvde fire forskjellige tettheter mellom 50/10 1-1 og 90/10 1-1, og alle biter ble rett og slett for tykke til sjal, uansett skje. Men noen av kvalitetene hadde vært fine til pledd.
I liked this square especially well, the weft is linen tow 6 and the technique is a kind of lace (I have just ordered an American weaving book at the Interweave sale, so hopefully I will be able to name techniques correctly in English soon). Anyway, I decided to try to weave a woollen shawl in this technique. I chose a worsted yarn from Hillesvåg I also use for knitting and of which I had some leftovers. I tried four different reeds, but in all cases the result turned out to be too heavy for a shawl. On the other hand some of the qualities might be nice for blankets.
I decided to try again with a thinner worsted yarn, also leftovers. I tried three different reeds, and I also introduced some empty dents between the blocks. Square number three finally felt like I wanted it to: lacy and light, but warm. Now I will use some time to decide which colors to use, I waver between grey-brown, blue-green-grey and brown-red-yellow color shades.
The last days the temperature has actually been around 2o degrees, a fantastic feeling! The kids wanted to go the beach, and vi cycled to a place called Telegraph Bay, where there's also a Rockfestival in the beginning of July. The water holds about 10 degreees, so the kids waded a bit. The toughest kid even swam to metres, but for me this is far too cold!

Å, du frister meg så med denne vevinga di. Blir veldig spennende å se hvordan sjalet ditt blir. Syntes alle fargekombinasjoene hørtes flotte ut.
SvarSlettMorsomt med prøve av forskjellige kombinasjoner og teknikker. Knallfine farger i prøveremsa!
SvarSlettThanks for sharing your sampling process! I don't sample enough and it really helps me to see what kinds of things other people try when they sample so that I can learn to be better at that part of things!
SvarSlettThat beach does look like it would have cold water!!
Sue
Too cold for me also!!!!
SvarSlettI admire your dedication with the samplers. It's something I'm learning about artists - they can be quite scientific and methodical! I love seeing the combination of the creativity and the function!
Skal si du har lagt ned mye arbeide i den prøveremsa.Men så greit å ha ei sånn remse å se hvordan de forskjellige teknikkene ser ut.
SvarSlettHa ei fin helg.
I actually like sampling, but I guess I should look at the finished samplers more often and use them, they tend to just gather dust most of the time.
SvarSlettIf one does a project from a book or a magazine, test weaving is not necessary, because you know that the finished item will have the qualities you want it to (structure, thickness, ...). But when you change the yarn or the binding pattern, or when you do something completely new, weaving on a test warp is absolutely necessary. When I do this, I need almost always to change reeds and sometimes also binding pattern/tie-up, in order to get a textile I like.