Today  I did a couple of things I have been putting off for a month or more. We had a shire potluck, and the feast gear and garb I brought there has been languishing in bags and basket since then. I finally emptied the feast gear, washed and dried it properly and put it away - as well as going over the garb I had used and folded everything clean and put it back up into their storage boxes. I even started a wash which Ed finished.

And then I finally decided to re-sley the silk satin sampler to 16 ends per cm, which is the sett that accords with the thread diameter. We'll see if that sett will make a useable satin. Indeed the sampler at 25 epc was much more like a fabric I was envisioning. Anyway - since I went for 16 epc I am having to sley the ends two at a time in my 80/10 reed, which means it takes longer. I might have tried 5 ends per dent in a 30/10 reed, but I think 15 epc may be too far. 
Photo over on pixelfed: https://pixelfed.social/p/lia.thornegge/814196186383471172
I got half the warp done before the working position became too uncomfortable to continue. More tomorrow. 

It turns out satin is still eluding me.

What I think I need is a bigger difference in warp and weft yarns. But I do not have that much of this yellow silk that I could produce any meaningful amount of fabric in the end.

I could absolutely warp up twice the amount of ends and cram them into heddles and go with the "single" strand for my weft - but I suspect that a bigger weft would be better, giving the shine along the grain rather than cross-grain.

Or do I just need to pack it even tighter? I have woven about 10 cm of 36 ends per cm (3 ends per dent in my new 120/10 reed) and about 15 cm with 25 epc (5 ends per dent in a 50/10 reed).

Maybe I should try 5 ends per dent in the 60 and 80 reeds for 30 and 40 epc respectively? But the 36 epc is already pretty sturdy - more canvas like than anything slinky.

In an attempt to see how the 25 epc did with a thicker weft I made up a bobbin of carpet warp to put in there, to further approach canvas... 

I tried putting in two wefts for each pick and it got a little better. But so tedious. I could probably also do with fixing my tie-up a little more on this sampler. I have a floating selvedge, but for some treadles it wants to hide from me. 

I tried some surface level searching on the 'net for the anatomy of satin, but I only get essays about thread counts on bed sheets from bedding marketers. 

Anyway, that's to say, I am fumbling around in the dark, I don't know how to get results approaching useable, and so inspiration wanes.

This morning I handwashed my two samplers (10 and 12 epc) of wool that I need to choose between. I used water as hot as my hands could handle, and squeezed and rolled the two little pieces by hand. 

They shrunk by about 10%, and both my little pieces feel heavenly. The thread is so soft and cuddly - especially the twill which moves a little more than the tabby when I handle it.

I could happily make a whole warp of both 12 and 10 epc and of either tabby or twill. But I have to decide which of the four options I'm going to do!

But it's so hard to choose.

Check out the Instagram post where I handle the pieces. 

two ends per dent in my 80/10 reed making the warp 16 ends per cm.

It did not produce a balanced cloth - I could barely get 12 picks per cm for the weft. But the fabric is gorgeous, and the experience of weaving with it is wonderful. I did break two more warp ends tieing on. But, I'm ok with that. Weaving a short sampler took no time at all, and I've already cut it down to re-sley in another reed.

Next up 2 ends per dent in my 60/10 reed. After that I'll evaluate and see if I want to try 15 ends per cm or no.