Weaving Techniques

Weaving Techniques || Twining Wool Roving

Steps on twisting and weaving wool roving to look like fluffy rope!I’ve covered the technique of twining before. It’s the process of weaving and twisting two threads around your warp threads and it creates a twisted rope-like look that stands out from your warp threads.

This week I tried twining with some wool roving and I really like how it looks. Roving can be hard to work with because it easily pulls apart and the more you mess with it the more it’s fibers will stick out and look messy.


Because of this I first warped my loom and then I worked in the roving. Later I will add rows of yarn to my weave. Working in this order lets me have the most flexibility with the roving. I can easily pull my warp threads up to create a big shed space to pass the roving through, whereas if I were to weave my yarn first then the yarn would limit the amount of shed I could create for my roving. The roving would then rub against the warp threads more and cause the fibers to pull out making the roving look messy.Steps on twisting and weaving wool roving to look like fluffy rope!

So once my loom was warped, these are the steps I followed:

Steps on twisting and weaving wool roving to look like fluffy rope!step 1| separate or cut two long pieces of roving. The pieces should be the same length. Make the length of the roving about 4 inches longer then what you need. This leaves you with ends that you can tuck in later when finishing your weave.

step 2| put one piece of roving under the first two warp threads. We’re going to put it under two warp threads, because the roving is so bulky and we want to give it room on the loom. Take the second piece of roving and place it over the first four warp threads and under the fifth and sixth warp threads. Again we are skipping over so many warp threads because of the roving’s bulk, we want the roving to have enough space to fill and not force it into a small area.

Steps on twisting and weaving wool roving to look like fluffy rope!step 3| next twist the two threads around each other by pulling roving piece #1 down over roving piece #2. Put roving #1 over the next two warp threads and then under two warp threads.

step 4| repeat this pattern by twisting roving piece #2 down over roving piece #1 and then put roving #2 over two warp threads then under two warp threads. Continue twisting and weaving your roving until you have reached the point where you want to stop.

Steps on twisting and weaving wool roving to look like fluffy rope!For my weave I kept my twining going and pushed it around my loom until I had some shapes. Next I’ll fill in the warp threads with yarn. This will lock in the roving that I wove and in the end I’ll have a solid weave.

If you’re looking for tips on how to finish wool roving by tucking in the ends, I wrote about it here.

I really like the twisted look with the roving, it’s makes for a really fluffy look. Do you use wool roving a lot in your weaves? If so do you have any tips for working with it? I often cut my roving to lengths that I want. I know it can be pulled apart, but when I try that it gets messier then I’d like. Although, there might be a trick to the pulling apart that I’m missing so it’s always nice to hear from other’s experiences.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

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  • Lucy
    July 29, 2017 at 7:21 am

    Hi Kate! I want to ask your advice on using wool yarn for both warp and weft when weaving cloth. I want to use Irish yarn and most Irish wool brands specify an ‘NM’ thickness for their yarns, usually from 1.6 – 3.8 but stretching to 9.6 NM. I don’t understand this code and can’t find a good explanation – would you be able to direct me to a good resource? I am a beginner so naturally want to use a stronger more forgiving weight. I am also unsure if I should use a cotton warp with a wool weft as it complicates washing! Thank you so much in advance for you help on this. Lucy

    • Kate
      September 20, 2017 at 1:38 pm

      This is such an interesting question. I’ve never heard of this before, but I found this explanation from http://www.weaversbazaar.com/knowledge-zone/glossary/

      Yarn counts are the measure of the ‘grist’ or thickness of a yarn and relate to the length of yarn required to achieve a certain weight. … Most EU yarn millers now use the standard ‘new metric’ or NM count in which a count of 1 is a single strand of yarn (un-plied) that is 1000m long and weighs 1kg.

      I think it would be ok for you to use wool for the warp and weft, but my recommendation when using wool as the warp is to just lay the thread and don’t pull too tightly. This is because wool stretches a lot and if you stretch it across your loom, your weave will shrink when taken off the loom. I hope this helps!

  • Susan
    August 10, 2017 at 7:58 am

    Kate – just wanted to let you know that I think your blog is AWESOME! There is sooo much great content that is explained so clearly with great visuals and written instructions. I’ve learned a lot and it’s been super support to me learning how to weave.

    • Kate
      September 29, 2017 at 5:02 pm

      Thank you so much for your kind words, it makes me so happy to hear my blog is helpful!