Here are my pics for The colours of November challenge from Sue at Life Looms Large. One thinks of November as pretty dull with grey skies and leaves fallen but there are lovely muted colours to be found. It was difficult to get the turkeys – they were moving pretty fast. Their tail feathers are an amazing irridescent copper but they didn’t drop any that day. Thanks Sue for the great idea of linking with many people.
(click on photo to enlarge)
So far I think this machine is totally jammed. The cylinder will not turn and I cannot remove it from the frame. So it has now been totally soaked in “Liquid Wrench” and I will have to wait until it hopefully releases what must be almost cement from dust and accumulated dirt. All other parts are being cleaned and oiled if necessary.
In helping move some weaver’s guild equipment from storage at a local museum we found an old circular sock knitting machine. I have taken on the project of putting it into working condition if possible and we hope it can be used for demonstrations at the museum. I know nothing about these machines, but am learning quickly with lots of help from the web.
So far in my examination it looks to be in good condition with all parts intact. It is an Auto Knitter, Made in Canada with an instruction book dated 1923, 19th Edition.
All I have done so far is carefully take the parts out of a box, and gently dust them to find the label. Now the fun begins in figuring out how to make it work.
There are lots more odds and ends – thread holders, guides, all sorts of extra needles, cone holders etc., the photo is showing the main part, the ribber and yarn carrier.
The underside of the ribber. The numbers mean something – I will figure that out eventually!
Update – today I decided with helpf from reading alot of articles, that it was time to begin cleaning. I backed off the two screws which are supposed to realease the inside workings – but they didn’t move. I guess the grunge has stuck it all together. So I have put some oil on it and will leave it overnight and hopefully it will come apart.
This is the same warp as the previous sample, but is stuffed with tussah silk noils between the layers. I wove more tabby picks between the pattern to make a space for the stuffing. The stuffing silk was in a rough roving form which I gently drafted and laid in and proceeded with the pattern picks. The fabric has been washed, though looks slightly flat from storage. Lots of stitching pattern possiblities depending on the end use of the fabric. This fabric is soft enough for a jacket or kimono.
The two faces of this cloth are subtly different, but it is reversible. The light layer in this sample is stiched to the blue layer. This little sample kimono is about 7 1/2 ” sleeve to sleeve and 81/2 ” long. I used the standard bog jacket type of pattern to assemble it.
I used 20/2 spun silk (Treenway) sett at 20 epi per layer, sleyed 2 per dent in a 10 dent reed and woven at 20 ppi per layer. There was a small shrinkage factor of about 5% overall after handwashing and pressing.
The draft begins with the treadling for the ground cloth, and is not shown with the pattern tie-up or treadling to show the pattern more clearly in the drawdown. To weave the cloth shafts 1 and 2 are added to the pattern treadling.
