Project 4-SHAFT
INSPIRATION IS A FUNNY THING. We’ve all experienced
it in one way or another. For me, some moments of inspiration
are clear as day in my memory, like the fi rst time I walked into
a gallery and stood in front of a Seurat... all those tiny dots!
Other sources of inspiration seem to have snuck into my
subconscious and created longer-lasting impact, such as
growing up in a home where weaving was the central focus for
my father, Tom Knisely. Weaving inspiration was not lacking in
our house, and of course, some rubbed off on me, but sadly,
not his passion for rugs. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a woman
who fi nds the beauty in utilitarian objects, but rugs oft en lack
the pizzazz I crave as a maker.
In 2006, I was fi nishing up my fi ne arts degree. During one
of my routine check-ins with home, I shared with my father
that I was spending the weekend researching for a new project
to cap off my semester of weaving. Feeling uninspired, I asked
if he had any suggestions to help me narrow down my research
to, at the very least, a weave structure I had never tried.
Fortunately for me, he had just fi nished writing a project
article for Handwoven on rep weave and was eager to share. As
I said, I was never really crazy about the rugs I saw passing
through our living room, but this one was diff erent. It was bold
with intense and concentrated colors... and I loved it! My dad
did what most parents would do during our 30-minute call; he
gave me the down and dirty, the best of what I needed to know
about the structure and its characteristics, and then sent me on
my way to create a fairly average fi rst project in rep weave.
My instructor loved the rep weave piece I wove. Crude
though it may have been with its simple blocks in black and
white, it planted a seed for me. Rep weave from that moment
became one of my favorite weave structures
and one I have returned to numerous
times. Th at rug woven by my dad
13 years ago now lives at my
weaving school. I am elated
to have an opportunity to
reimagine his rug in my
own voice.RESOURCES
wKnisely, Tom. “Getting
Started with Warp Rep.”
Handwoven, January/
February 2006, 56–58.STRUCTURE
Rep weave.
EQUIPMENT
4-shaft loom, 13" weaving width; 10-dent reed; 1 ski
shuttle; 1 boat shuttle; 1 bobbin.
YARNS
Warp: 5/2 pearl cotton (100% cotton; 2,100 yd/lb; UKI),
#79 Natural, 312 yd; #98 Mountain, 156 yd; #140 Safari,
#43 Beige, #75 Cobalt Blue, and #147 Quarry, 234 yd
each; #89 California Gold and #119 Hummingbird,
117 yd each.
Weft: Heavy: 8/16 mop cotton (100% cotton; 420 yd/lb;
Maurice Brassard), #415 Pale Gris (used doubled), 190 yd.
Fine: 5/2 pearl cotton, #79 Natural, 225 yd.
WARP LENGTH
504 ends 3¼ yd (allows 10" for take up, 25" for loom
waste).
SETTS
Warp: 40 epi (4/dent in a 10-dent reed).
Weft: 7 ppi in the runner body; 12 ppi in hems using only
thin weft.
DIMENSIONS
Width in the reed: 126 Š 10 ".
Woven length: (measured under tension on the loom) 82".
Finished size: (after wet-Ƃ nishing and hemming)
2 runners: diamond runner, 12½" x 37"; chevron runner,
12½" x 34½".1
Wind a warp of 504
ends 3¼ yd long follow-
ing the warp color order in
Figure 1. Warp the loom using your
preferred method following the draft in
Figure 2. Centering for a weaving width of 12^6 ⁄ 10 ", sley
4 per dent in a 10-dent reed.My Father’s Daughter: Rug to Runners
SARA BIXLER2
Wind a bobbin with the 5/2 pearl cotton in Natural and a
rug shuttle with 2 strands of mop cotton held together
as one. Spread your warp with scrap yarn.Diamond Chevron22 | HANDWOVEN http://www.interweave.com