February TotM update - trying a different supplentary warp

Since this is a supplementary warp, I didn't beam it with the linen.  In fact I didn't beam it at all; it's just weighted off the back of the loom, over the second back beam.  This keeps the cotton warp from hanging directly on the linen and changing its tension.  (I've had problems with this when doing my sprang-and-weaving work in which I weight the sprang sections.)  If you don't have a second beam and want to weight the supplementary warp, you might devise a way to keep the weighted  warp up off the beamed warp, or spread the beamed warp a little to make a place for the weighted warp to rest.

The cotton I'm using seems a little thick for this ground.  I'm wondering if that's why I'm having problems with my weft not beating down to a balanced weave no matter how hard I beat.  I'm only getting about 24 weft shots or picks per inch (ppi), whereas the warp is sett at 30 ends per inch (epi).  Consequently, my hearts are coming out tall and skinny.  They still look like hearts, but I'd like them to be plumper (is that a word?), and the plain weave fabric to not be so sleazy.


So I'm taking advantage of the fact that I beamed
this separately, and I'm swapping in a red 10/2 cotton for the second towel.  This time I'm beaming the warp, though, on my second warp beam, because I was having trouble with the supplementary warp bubbling up when I beat (probably because I was beating so hard).

Instead of attaching the warp to the fabric like you do when putting in a repair warp, I'm weighting the other end of the supplementary section off the front beam while I start the weaving.

Changing to a thinner supplementary warp helped, a little.  I'm now getting about 27 ppi.

Weave along and get a chance to win the Towel of the Month!  You do not have to weave every month, just the towels that interest you.  If you are weaving along, please leave a comment to let us all know.  Put a link or url in the comment to a photo (on your Flickr, Picasaweb, Photobucket, your blog etc.) of your work in progress. Deadline to post you r comment is midnight GMT Feb 28, 2014.