Having fun, making progress

 Although I’ve been feeling stressed about being behind in my weaving goals, months ago I’d made plans to visit another weave the lovely Hilary at Crazy as a Loom, and I wasn’t going to cancel it.

Hilary is talented, funny, gracious, and inspiring, eager to share some ideas about boosting sales and upping my weaving game She and hubby, along with their sweet dog and cat, welcomed me with open arms, and cooked, too! The visit was short, but totally enjoyable.

I came home and got to it! I’d finished weaving a warp before I left, but hadn’t finished either piece yet, so did that first off. Both were going to dramatically benefit from having a human model for the photos, so I took them to the pop up shop on Saturday, i hopes that a customer would be willing to model for me. That didn’t happen, but I did sell a piece, before I even had it tagged! S I took photos on a mannequin, the best I could do.

It’s a large cowl, roughly 24′′ wide and 32′′ around. When worn around the neck, it’s soooo luxurious! There’s plenty of fabric there to pick it up and put it over your head for a loose hood.

Then on Sunday I took a class at the Weaving Center. I’m not a felter, and not interested in becoming one, but wanted to support the teacher, who is a friend, especially since it was her first time teaching at the Center. I made a felted vessel, which to me, is reminiscent of the human circulatory system.

The particularly interesting thing about this class is that the whole point was to take a failed felting project, rip it apart, and turn it into something new. Very fun and creative.

After class was over I got my friend to model my latest garment, a rayon chenille jacket. I am very proud of this piece, and it definitely doesn’t show off on a hanger. Unfortunately in this first photo I caught her with her eyes closed.

I would have tossed this photo, but you can see that the front drapes (although I could have done better at setting her up). Then she was willing to mug for the camera to show it to advantage.

I wish this sweet young woman lived next to me and would pose for all my photos!

Almost as an aside, I finished a piece of rayon chenille I’ve had sitting for months, turning it into a neck cuff/collar with a bit of crochet and some buttons.

Now I’ve got another warp on the loom, planned for another jacket and a mobi.

This warp is a combination of bamboo and cotton. I really like the way the colors change from all silver at one end to all gold at the other. The interesting thing is that I used several sizes of yarn, from 10/2 to 3/2, so had to think about how I would sett it. If my loom was wider I would have sett the 10/2 at 18 or 21EPI and the 3/2 & 5/2 at 15EPI, but that wouldn’t have fit on my loom. So I sett them at 24 and 15EPI, respectively. Hoping it drapes well.

October 29th, 2018 |

Bookmarks & briliance

 I was reminded just how much slower it is to use levers on a table loom than treadles on a floor loom while I wove these 22 bookmarks on my Missouri loom at the pop up shop.

I think they look rather like a fanciful turkey tail here.

After I finally finished these I brought in a rayon chenille warp AND the setup to connect the treadles for this loom. SOOOO muc more efficient!

Meanwhile at home I finally finished the warp painted vs. skein painted pieces. It was interesting...while I was weaving them I alternately loved and hated them. That’s unusual for me. So I had to reserve judgement till I got all 3 off the loom, finished, and hung. Now I like them all. So, in the order woven and finished...

This shawl has a black tencel 8/2 weft. Although the picture has a bright side where the light is and a dark side with shadow, I feel that the colors are accurate, so didn’t try to make any ‘improvements.’

Next up, I think some of my customers wouldn’t like the brightness of the above colors, so decided to tone them down with a natural weft. I used 3 strands of 16/2 unbleached cotton held and wound together on the bobbin.

For the last piece, I intended to sew a 30-minute jacket with it, so wanted a cotton weft. I chose a really dark 8/2 navy unmercerized cotton. I like the interplay of the shiny tencel and the matte finish cotton.

After it was all woven, washed, and dried, and I sat down to do the sewing. Oops! Don’t know what I was thinking...I need half- again as much length for that as I had planned for and woven, so it, too, turned into a mobi.

I don’t know if I prefer the light or the dark. I do know I like the concept of using both warp painted and skein painted yarns in the same piece and will do that again.

I also know that I’m getting anxious about my weaving output. Between dyeing, towels, socks, onesies, and slow-woven bookmarks, I am nowhere near meeting my monthly goals. That means I either need to significantly over-produce in November and December — hard to do with the holidays — or resign myself to cutting out one of the great shows I do in the summer. The applications for both are due early in 2019, and I need to be confident I can build my stock sufficiently to be ready for both. Not sure how this will turn out.

October 22nd, 2018 | 

Brilliant or bad-early on

Here’s the ‘brilliant or bad idea’ piece early on in the weaving. I am loving it. However I know from experience that what I love on the loom isn’t always what I love once it comes off, is finished, and I can see the whole of it from a distance. In this particular case, I think I’ll weave the second piece with a natural/white weft, maybe in cotton, to tone the colors down a bit,...may be too intense for some folks.

With the black weft, I kept trying to think of what it reminded me of: stained glass windows? Wrong color schemes. Kaleidoscopes? Not enough shifting of colors. This afternoon I think I got it. Although I’ve never seen them in person, it reminds me of photographs and videos I’ve seen of the northern lights. To those of you who have actually seen the northern lights, does give you that impression or no?

Regardless of what they remind me or you of, I will say, I will say that so far, this concept seems brilliant to me, and I plan to do this again. Time will still tell.

I’m now thinking I’ll make one shawl, one wrap, and one other sewn piece – a 30-minute jacket. Trust me when I tell you this site doesn’t do it justice. I’ve got one pinned with a cotton warp and weft, and it’s pretty great.

October 4th, 2018 | 

Brilliant or bad idea?

My friend had lent me her dyes to shibori those socks, and while they were here I decided to use a little more of them. I got my color inspiration from somewhere on the web, and if I knew where I’d be happy to credit them, but you know how it is...you scro around and click on this and that, and then the phone rings and you close windows and have no idea where you were.

Before I measured our my 8/2 tencel warp chains, I had a brainstorm. Or maybe a bad idea. Only time will tell. I wound 3 warp chains on the mill as usual, but wound the amount needed for 2 more chains into skeins. I hand painted the 3 warp chains and the 2 skeins with the same colors, using boysenberry, chartreuse, and ice blue dyes.

After they batched, steamed, rinsed, and dried I measured out the 2 skeins on my mill as usual. Here’s what the results look like.

My plan is to wind and thread the loom as follows: warp painted, narrow dark strip, skein painted, narrow dark strip, warp painted, narrow dark strip, skein painted, narrow dark strip, warp painted.

I’m not saying it hasn’t been done before, but I personally haven’t seen this done before. So maybe it’s brilliant, and maybe it’s a bad idea. We’ll learn together.

October 1st, 2018 |