I am LOVING it!

This turned taquete blues warp is amazing! I like it with a solid color weft.

But I love, love LOVE it with a multi-colored weft.

I’m half way through my warp of 8 towels. The yarn arrived for the next pair of custom baby wraps, and as soon as I get the towels off the loom I’ll start winding the warp for that.

September 30th, 2014 | 

Making decisions

I think I mentioned that I have never before done any fall garden cleanup. Usually by now I’m too busy, too tired, too over-it-all. I changed that decision this year because my house is on the market & I think my gardens have to look at least somewhat presentable regardless of what month someone might stop by to look at it.

Never having done this before I wasn’t really sure how to go about it. I’ve got the weeding & mulching down pat, but what perennials should I cut back & what should I leave? I consulted some websites and a friend who’s a Master Gardener. Then I started working, and came up with a rule of thumb that works for me.

If it’s a plant that I actually do trim back in the spring or one that I should trim back, then I’d cut it back now. In the first category are things like my peonies and red hot pokers, in the second things like my Siberian iris and daylilies.

I think this rule of thumb makes sense. The things I’m purposely leaving standing include all woody/shrubby plants and anything that I really want to promote, things that I hope will spread their seeds over the fall and winter and reproduce themselves. And o course, the biennials like foxglove and the things that provide winter interest (grasses) or bird food (echinacea).

My yard is definitely looking much more presentable.

Gardening decisions, weaving decisions. I have to make decisions all the time. I wrote about all the decisions I had to make with those turned taquete towels, how many changes I went through. In the end I really like them and will start winding a new warp today. Although I know that others like to sett 8/2 yarn closer, for me 24 ends per inch is great for a thirsty towel. Here are the fiv good towels I got out of that troubled warp, washed, dried, & hemmed, but not yet pressed.

See that not great treadling decision in the left quarter of towel 1?

Towel 2 has variegated blues/greens/purples weft.

Towel 3 had a solid light blue weft.

Towel 4 has a solid dark green weft with varied treadling patterns. I’m liking those little areas...

...so I do more of that with towel 5 (solid dark blue weft). Hmmm...I actually like towel 4’s design better.

Here are the colors I’ll use for my new warp – 8 instead of the 4 I used for the first time around. This involved about a zillion decisions — blues or oranges? Which blues? In what order?

If I’m willing to change warp colors regularly – and I will for at least some of them – here’s how beautifully gem-like they’ll be.

Wait! Maybe I should make scarves like this!
No. Stick with your decision and start with the towels, Peg. You can make scarves later, but you need towels in your stash now.

September 29th, 2014 | 

New things

Let’s start with the loudest, and the cutest.

I was working at the Macomber late this afternoon, when all of a sudden there at my porch door was someone looking in at me and saying, “Hi! Let me in, please.” After a double-take, I realized I had a visitor.

I opened the door and she didn’t run – sort of trotted to the other end of the porch while Red did his, “Who the heck are you?” thing. I put Red back in the house and kitty came right to me for some pets. Sweet little thing. A medium-hair (not long, not short Siamese with lovely blue eyes.

So I came inside and got a little bowl and put a small handful of Red’s food in it (small dog = small bites dog food). She gobbled it up. I gave her another small handful. Gone. A third small handful – gone again.

I’d made myself some chicken vegetable soup for dinner, so I gave Red about 1/3 cup of it in a bowl in the house and kitty abou 1/3 cup of it in a bowl on the porch. She ate it all – green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, every bit.

I made a few phone calls to see if a neighbor knew where she lived. Nope.

I went back out on the porch, with Red this time, and they calmly said hello to each other. Not a hiss, an arched back, or a grow I brought out a towel and put it in the wooden box that lives on my porch and showed it to kitty. Not interested. But I noticed whe I picked her up that she weighs nothing. Looks healthy enough, but I’m guessing is young. She was happy to have me pet her, fine with me picking a burr-ish thing out of her tail. She was okay with me prodding her front feet to confirm my guess from watching her eat – she’s been declawed. I’m guessing she’s been spayed, too.

That tells me that it’s not likely that she was ‘dropped off.’ Has happened plenty of times in the past, usually with a very pregnan female. This little girl is not pregnant. I’m thinking something happened that she got lost.

I’m not going to let her in the house this evening, ‘cuz I’m betting she’s used to a litter box and I don’t have one. If she’s still here in the morning I know my friend M wants her. That’s fine with me. I’d probably keep her myself, but I’d much rather M have a pe than that I get a cat while I’m trying to sell my house.

After I got kitty fed and made her a bed I came back inside and put the sauce/salsa I’d had simmering for hours into jars for thei hot water bath.

I used a recipe from my neighbor. She calls it chili sauce, but I think it’s more like a salsa. In addition to the usual culprits – tomatoes, onions, peppers, sugar, vinegar – this recipe has fresh peaches & pears in it. Yum!

Oh, yeah. Remember up top I told you I was working at my Macomber? I’m making great progress on the custom shawl – a silk gebrochene.

Can you spot the treadling error? It’s in the third medallion from the top. I didn’t see it till I was at the computer with the photo, at which point I’d already woven much more than you see here. I’m calling it a design element.

I tried to get a good shot of the underside but didn’t succeed. I think I like that side even better than the ‘top.’ You’ll have to wait till it’s off the loom to see it.

September 16th, 2014 | 

Showing more shawls

I got the 5 shawls fringed, wet finished, pressed & labelled, ready for the show this weekend. If this show goes like my last 2, I’ll return home with fewer shawls than I left with, so here’s what may be your only view of them.

In order of weaving....first up is a silk shawl in a rather traditional snowflake twill. The warp for all 3 silk shawls is a natural, undyed silk; for this one I used a warm, light brown weft.

Then, as planned, I changed the treadling and used a twilight blue silk weft. I definitely prefer this treadling pattern, although I think I’ll change the threading before I use a snowflake again.

Finally, I used a 50-50 blend of cashmere & silk in a lovely, light lilac. Here it is in close up to show off the pattern — the same modified treadling as the twilight shawl. This is the first time I’ve used that cashmere-silk as weft only, and it won’t be the last. I really like it.

Next, as planned, I put on a cotton warp similar to my huckish shawls of a few years ago. I intended to make the warp a few inches wider, but miscalculated and ran out of the orange cotton. Here it is with a dark coral weft.

And here it is with a cherry red rayon weft. I have to say this is the photo with the least realistic color. Tried several times.

Then I did get the MY-JM baby wrap threaded through heddles and reed. I couldn’t go any farther because I had to spend TWO HOURS messing with my rigid heddle loom to prepare it. I’d put on a warp that was nothing but problems, for a variety of reasons that I caused myself, but I really liked it and wanted to use it. So I unwound from the back beam and on to the cloth beam, messing with tangles the entire length. Retied on the back beam and re-wound. Unwove the 12 or so inches I’d already woven. Untied & retied on the cloth beam. I THINK it will go smoothly for my demo this weekend, but if not, it’s all gonna go in the trash.

August 22nd, 2014 | 

Shawl heaven

My show last weekend at Chautauqua Institution was great! The weather was perfect, the location is marvelous, the crowds come and are respectful and pleasant.

And interested in buying.

Clearly this is the year of shawls. At the Roycroft show in June I sold 4 shawls – 1 rayon, 1 rayon chenille, and 2 silk (woven jus before the show). So before the Chautauqua show I wove 7 new shawls – 5 silk and 2 rayon.

I sold 7 shawls – 1 rayon, 1 rayon chenille, 1 cotton, and 4 of the 5 new silks. Plus a committed order for another silk shawl, exactly like the silver lilac silk & linen with the beaded fringe, and, if I can find the right color yarn, another silk shawl. One of my customers from this weekend has also expressed potential interest in the one silk shawl I have remaining.

Wow, wow, WOW!

So because I have another show in 2 weeks and the yarn for the next baby wraps isn’t here yet, I’m getting 3 more silk shawls o the loom now. I’m going to use that snowflake twill and do the 1 committed order in silver lilac (I’ll need to order more crystals fo the fringe), weave the second in twilight, and weave the third with a different treadling pattern.

At the top of this post is the draft I used last time and will use for the first 2 shawls in this run of 3. To be honest, I like snowflake twill better in computer draft form than in real life – the Xs disappear in the actual weave. So I want to modify the draft for the 3rd scarf. I played with Fiberworks, my weaving software, ultimately coming up with this draft. It still has the Xs, although they are smaller and rather broken up, while the stronger, more distinct elements take center stage.

I have to name the files in the computer to save them, so called this one playing with snowflakes. Initially it was just because that’s what I was doing – playing with the draft – but I like it as a final title, too. I wonder how it will look woven up.

I’m not sure if I’ll weave the 3rd in twilight or if I’ll use a winter blue I have in the silk-linen blend. We’ll see. I also need to weave bookmarks – I sold 20 of them this past weekend and only have a few left.
And I’d love to weave 2 of my cotton & rayon huckish shawls. Do you think I need to sleep?

August 12th, 2014 | 

Silken dreams

 Aside from my baby wraps, all of which are custom orders, I sell the overwhelming majority of my hand weaving at juried art & craft shows. So far this year I’ve only had one show, in East Aurora with my fellow Roycroft Artisans. Although I didn’t sell man pieces, those that I did sell were my pricier ones.

I have two shows in August so needed to replenish my stock. Weaving more silks and shawls seemed to be the thing to do.

Way back in early June I wove three silk scarves. When I set up for the June show I got a bit of a jolt when I realized those scarves weren’t with me. Where were they? I pictured my house—they weren’t where my recently-finished pieces usually were. What had I done with them?

Suddenly it struck me – I had put them in a bag and brought them to a Guild meeting to fringe, and then forgot about them. I knew where that bag was so wasn’t worried.

These scarves have a 30/2 silk warp – finer than the 20/2 I usually weave with. I used a gebrochene pattern, giving me the complexity I like. I wove the first one with 4 strands of ruby tram silk.

I wove the second with 4 strands of tram, too, this time in a burnt orange. The orange tram was quite a bit finer than the ruby, so this scarf weighs nothing. To my eye and hand it’s by far the best of the three – the color, the sheen, and the feel.

I wove the last in a 20/2 twilight silk. Usually I love the twilight, but this time, paired with the 30/2 warp, it created a scarf that’s nice to look at but ‘heavy’ compared to that lighter-than-air burnt orange.

After the show I moved to shawls...I’d sold 5 in June & needed to have more in my stash. I stuck with silk and with an 8-shaft pattern, this time in a ‘falling leaves’ weave pattern.

I had 4 complementary colors of silk that I wanted to use in weft. My plan was several inches of color one, then several inches o color 1 alternated with color 2, then solid color 2, then color 2 alternated with color 3....you get the idea.

I’m quite happy with how it turned out.

Then I decided to use those same colors, but instead of the 1-and-1 transition, I’d use the gradation plan I use for my baby wraps.

For the third shawl on the warp I used 3 blues and the gradations. I also changed the treadling, beat a bit harder, and decided to hem instead of fringe. (I often have helpful, or at least helpful-meaning, artists offer suggestions at shows; last year one snarky artist said, “I’d never wear something with fringe.” Initially hurt, I decided to give it a shot. I won’t do it again, at least not on a silk shawl.)

The two darker blues – twilight and pacific – although quite a bit different on the cone, are too similar for the gradation to work. C’est la vie. Also, the harder beating produced a shawl that doesn’t drape as nicely. I definitely prefer the first two.

I wove 2 more silk shawls, too – they just got cut off the loom and still need fringing, wet finishing, and pressing. You’ll see them eventually.

July 27th, 2014 | 

Mac & me

I’ve become friends with my Mac. It took time — time checking out other looms, time buying and then selling what I thought would be my ideal loom, and time weaving on Mac. I believe we’re there now.

I told you about that sample placemat I wove on the Mac. Well, not surprisingly, it wasn’t what my customer had in mind. The barber pole of the warp yarn created unpleasant eyeball effects – reminded me of 1970s doodles.

Instead we’re going to use a solid natural cotton for both warp & weft.

I didn’t want to waste all the warp I’d put on so decided to weave some towels. First I used the same natural weft, figuring someone would like it. Then I used the same barber pole yarn for weft. Interestingly, using this same yarn for both warp & weft had a dramatic effect, and that disturbing waviness of pattern was gone. I liked it well enough that I wove a runner after the towel.

Then I tried a variegated weft in earth tones. I liked this, too, and changed up the treadling to show the variegated yarn more. I liked the treadling enough that I figured I’d try with another variegated weft, this time in muted pastels. It’s okay but too subtle fo me.

Next came a mercerized cotton (everything up to now was unmercerized) in a bold variegation. I modified the treadling to make a bit easier – no counting how many rows of pattern I’d done. I finished out the warp with a solid medium blue. Although I would have chosen more colorful yarns if I’d been planning on making towels, I think someone will like these and they’ll sell, and it was better than wasting warp. Plus I learned some things about color and pattern and got more Mac weaving time, so it’s all good.

Next I wanted to try an effect I’d seen on Weavolution – creating rayon snake skins. Now I’m not a snake lover, although I will admit some are very beautiful. But the concept appealed to me. I spent a looooong time working out the pattern, threaded heddles and reed, and quickly discovered that the 18 ends per inch I’d planned was too loose for this pattern. So I rethreaded th reed to 21 EPI and it was perfect. However now the scarves would be narrower than planned, and I would have modified the sides of the pattern slightly had I known I could add more threads.

I wanted to use a gold warp but didn’t have enough gold yarn for 4 scarves, so decided on black instead. First I used a relatively bright orange weft. Does it look a bit snakey to you?

I liked it, but it was brighter than I had in mind so went with that gold I’d wanted to use for warp. I think this one best displayed th effect I had in mind.

Next I chose a deep red weft – a bit shiny in this photo, and there’s not enough contrast in the black & red yarns to show the pattern well.

I rounded the set out with a white warp. Although I didn’t expect it, I think this one is my favorite of the four.

Now I’m playing grandma for a week, caring for my sweet, little grandson while mama & papa take a mid-winter vacation. We’ve finished day 2 just fine. Five more to go — I’m sure we’ll be good. And closer than ever – YAY!!!

January 21st, 2013 | 

July Already?

July already?

Clearly my actions don’t match my intentions. On a regular basis at the end of the day I am clueless about what I actually did, about how things like balancing the checkbook and mowing the lawn could suddenly fill so much time. Somehow things do get crossed of my to-do list, although they’re not very exciting, and certainly not photo-worthy.

Someone in my BuyNothing group announced that her sour cherry tree was in fruit and offered anyone who was interested to pick. Isn’t it beautiful?! Last year the tree had much more fruit, but I did pick 3 scant quarts and made some jam.

I managed to get just one batch of towels woven in June.

Too much outdoor work to do, which called to me much more than the loom did. Like this...

This is an area of my front lawn...much of which is a hill. You’ve seen images of the corner garden before, sometimes just individual plants but I THINK occasionally the whole thing. When I started it, my plan was to expand it each year, to continually minimize the amount of hillside mowing I had to do.

This year I really dug into that goal (pun intended). This area is roughly 7′ x 7′. That’s a lot of grass that had to be dug up, the dir shaken off to the extent possible, amendments added, plants put in the ground, and the area mulched heavily. I added several more plants and a drip hose after I took this picture. It’ll still take a few years to fill up nicely, but it’s on its way.

Meanwhile, out back a calla lily I planted last year and chose not to dig and bring in, decided to return. Probably because it’s rig next to my foundation. Although that part of the foundation is just a crawl space, it surely is still better than being out in the open

Around the corner from the calla, I’ve had these 2 mallows for years. Often they get eaten by bunnies or otherwise barely survived and don’t bloom at all. This year I’m happy to see their beautiful flowers.

I find this light colored one particularly beautiful.

And here’s a lovely fragrant honeysuckle I put in a few years ago. I do love flowers with fragrance.

I also decided to try some new things with my sourdough starter. I made two batches each of bagels (no pix) and ciabatta rolls with 100% sourdough – no commercial yeast. I was happy with them both, despite their...rustic...appearance. Their taste and chewy-ness were right, at least in my opinion.

In May I showed you my embroidery for submission into an exhibit. The opening of that exhibit, in the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY, was Friday night. I was very impressed with the entries and tried to get pix of them all. Some just couldn’t be appreciated in the images I took, so I’m only sharing a few here.

A friend of mine knit a ballot box and created 3 little felted and embroidered issues going into the box.

I was really moved by this piece. I’ve heard this poem before, always powerful, and it stitched into the back of a very wearable denim jacket...wow.

Being a weaver, I was of course impressed by the work in this long vest, woven in rayon chenille.

This seemingly ‘simple’ piece spoke well to the fact that women still hold such as small percentage of seats in the U.S. House o Representatives (29%) and Senate (25%). So much lower than many other countries, so woeful, so in need of change.

Women’s health is in so much danger. I am fortunate that I live in NYS, but so many women, especially women in poverty, do no have access to comprehensive health care. Both maternal and infant mortality are rising as women are forced to carry pregnancies that are not viable and that threaten their lives.

Meanwhile, I continue to write postcards to get out the vote. The exact message varies from week to week, and is of course dependent on where those postcards are going. Although it’s certainly not everything, writing these cards is something. It’s something I can do. And who knows – maybe it’ll inspire me to do even more.

When I picked up my postcards on Friday there was a woman there selling necklaces she’d made. I made a spur of the momen decision to buy one, and I’ve since committed to wearing it constantly until November 5, election day.

I’ve seen a meme that I hesitate to post here, given my prior experience posting images that I do not own. But the sentiment is too good to not include. RBG is in the center of the frame, wearing her robe and one of her signature crocheted collars. The words are, “I want you to pivot your sadness and worry into numbers and strength.” Indeed, Justice Ginsberg. Indeed.

July 14th, 2024 | Tags: cotton, towels & linens | Category: Gardening, Life - As I See It, Weaving |