From start to not-quite-done

After the Elmwood show, at which I had a great time and swell sales, I went on a dyeing jag. I had intended to show you the process from dyeing to completion, but time’s passing by, so I decided to show you what I’ve accomplished so far. With just the first yarn I dyed. (I dyed yarn for 2 additional projects as well.)

The first thing I dyed was some 8/2 tencel. I wound warp lengths for 3 handpainted bouts of 132 ends each, then I wound skeins for 2 more similar-sized bouts, planning to return to my warp vs. skein concept. Here’s what the finished warp chains and skeins looked like. I’m definitely happy with the dyeing, even though they weren’t the colors I had initially envisioned.

Then I measured out those skeins and beamed the yarn, with some black tencel to divide the sections.

Once beamed I sat down at my computer to determine what weave structure and pattern I wanted to use for these two lengths, both planned to be mobi shawls. I decided on an extended Ms and Ws threading and treadling, and used black tencel as weft fo the first piece.

I wanted to change it up a bit for the second length, and after trying a few blues for weft, settled on a royal purple. I only had 20/ in this color, so doubled it for the weft.

At this point I really like both the black and the purple. We’ll see if I have a favorite when they are all done.

I may have some time tomorrow to sew the straight lines to secure the edges before wet finishing these two pieces. I doubt I’ll get much further than that in the process.

Oh yeah, I also made some yummy pear jam with some free pears, thanks to a generous person in my neighborhood. Never made pear jam before, and it is DELICIOUS! I brought a little half-pint jar to the person with the pear trees.

And I gave Jack a haircut with a pair of scissors. Some trimming/cleaning up has happened since this photo, but it’s still definite done with scissors, not a hair trimmer thingy.

September 12th, 2019 | 

Not like me

My regular readers will know I am not a sampler. I don’t put extra warp on the loom, weave a piece, cut it off, and wet finish it to learn things. I just go for it.

Why, then, did I feel a need to do some sample dyeing? I can’t really say. But I did it with the black and white to learn what strengths and techniques would work for my concept. And learn I did. So I did it again, with 6 mini-bouts of yarn. It was sort of a pain, measuring out those bouts, carefully marking them with threads so I’d know which was which later on, preparing them for hand painting, mixing the dyes, doing the work, and then waiting. But I did it. AND wrote everything down! What a crazy concept!

The reality is that I was using such tiny amounts of dye for these mini-bouts that I likely can’t match those color results exactly, but I can get closer to achieving an actual outcome of what’s in my head. I’m sure that I’ll often choose to go with serendipity, bu I had a concept I wanted to try out, in hopes that it’d be a great jury piece, and it would require actual planning.

After those dye samples I prepared two fairly large bouts – 248 threads each, 8+ yards long. I dyed one in terra cotta (remember my terra notta experiment of months ago?) and one in teal. The terra cotta is lighter than I wanted teal is actually turquoise and brighter than intended, but both will work for my purpose. I think.

I’ll be warping my loom with these yarns today. Keep your fingers crossed that I can achieve my vision.

So in addition to actually sampling, here are two other things that aren’t like me. A bit of politics on my blog. Although I have strong opinions, I won’t share them here. I will tell you that I think voting is a critical thing to do, and that there is a unique

opportunity in 2018. If you’re not already registered to vote, do it now! And then vote in November. And if you’re so inclined, run for office yourself. Stand up for what you believe in in whatever way(s) you can.

My last not-like-me is actually sort-of-like-me. My participation in the soul line dance group has reminded me just how much I always liked dancing, and how happy I am to re-introduce it in my life. I distinctly remember having a sweatshirt with this image and words when I was a kid. Not sure if it was black or navy blue, but I loved wearing it.

So when a friend told me about a silent disco being held here in Rochester, I was all over it. Sign me up! We went on Friday nig and met a few other friends there. I. HAD. A. BLAST!! Can’t wait for the next one, likely months away. (The photo is lame, as people were just starting to arrive, and none of the photos I took later in the evening turned out well.)

Parting shot: I was down with a cold/flu for 2 days this week. Jack was very patient with me, but was clearly extremely bored – even more than usual with my activity – or lack thereof. I always find it humorous when he uses this little bed as a pillow.

January 22nd, 2018 |

Dyeing to share

Upfront acknowledgement: long post with lots of pics.

We’ve been quite fortunate on the snow front. Didn’t get dumped on anything like some other people. About 8′′ in one day was our max, but on that day it came down fast and Jack’s short little legs had difficulty on our walks.

I had a great time in my dyeing workshop. I learned A LOT and got TONS accomplished. More than was reasonable, I think. I was working so hard I forgot to take pictures, but did manage to get one not-so-great image. In fact I barely stopped to each lunch. Here’s one of my four rayon warps, laid out on the table and painted with the dye. As soon as I snapped the photo I had t roll it up really tightly in the plastic wrap it’s laying on, keeping each the length separated from the ones next to it.

After rolling it tightly the long way it got coiled up like a cinnamon bun, then put in a steamer for at least 30 minutes. The Weaving and Fiber Arts Center keeps pots, steamers, utensils, and other tools separate just for dyeing, because you can’t als use them for food. I managed to get four of my five warps steamed during the workshop. We didn’t have time for me to do the last one, so I took it home and set it on my heating pad, turned on low and left overnight, to really set that color.

Here are the four rayon warps in their cinnamon bun state. One thing I learned was that the warps that had been steamed were MUCH more difficult to get out of that plastic wrap than the one that sat on my heating pad. You can see in the photo that it look sort of like it was shrink-wrapped on. Removing the plastic without damaging the warp was a real pain. And since I didn’t have gloves at home (didn’t know I’d need them), I also got lots of dye on my hands that I’m still trying to get off three days later. I’m betting it’ll take at least another 2 days.

And my one silk warp.

I had intended to use all four of the rayon warps in one width for shawls. I’m now pretty sure I won’t do that. To make it work the way I would have wanted it to, I would have had to do much more careful planning with my colors. But I’m fine with that. I’ll mak 4 different warps, adding solid color rayon as needed for scarves (or maybe even shawls with the wider bouts). With each warp long enough to weave three pieces, instead of 3 shawls I’ll have 12 scarves!

After I uncoiled each warp and rinsed it, it sat overnight in my bathtub to get more of the excess dye out. Meanwhile the last war sat on my heating pad.

Then I hung them over the drying rack in my tub, while the fifth wrap did its overnight soak.

After all five warps were dry, I ‘snapped’ them in sections to straighten out the yarn and get rid of most of that crinkly look. Here they are, all dry, showing their beauty in my studio.

Then I chained each of the warps to keep it organized until I can get it on my loom. Here are the four rayon warps.

And the one silk warp.

I am really looking forward to using these warps! None of them will be up next on the loom though. I have a red warp I prepared when I did the green one that’s on the loom now, and it should go much more quickly than that green one since it’s a one-shuttle weave. By the time I get that red warp off the loom I may have yarn here for more baby wraps.

Good thing I love weaving, huh?

January 25th, 2016 | 

Fool the eye

I’ve always been a fan of trompe l’oeil — art that fools the eye into seeing things that aren’t there. Or not seeing things that are. Shadow weave can do some of that.

I’ve had this weaving draft on the Weaving Inspiration board of my Pinterest page for some months, and now I had time to do i Initially a potential for chair cushions, I’m weaving it out of rayon for scarves. I warped for three, and like all two-shuttle weaves, it’s slow going, but I’m really liking the outcome. A more distance view can give you an appreciation for the way threads seem to rise up or sink down in this flat piece of fabric.

Although you haven’t asked, I’ll give you a mini Jack update. I learned today that the poor fellow has hookworm. This has probably been a historical problem for the little guy based on his history, and the Heartgard was successfully dealing with it. I stopped giving Heartgard at the end of November, carrying its benefits till the end of December. Given that Jack is a poop eater, with bunny poop being a particular delicacy but other poop not out of the question (YUCK! but I’m guessing it was a common behavior in his hoarding home and it will be a lifelong thing with Jack), he will get treated for the hookworm now and will need to get the Heartgard year-round. Probably for life. Not a big deal for either of us. I’ve put it into my smartphone calendar as a recurring event to remind me.

January 6th, 2016 | 

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 |