Transitions

I have one more hands-on jury piece to weave. I had 4 ideas: one I needed to order a cone of rayon to implement, two I thought would require a few tries to get it right, and one that I thought I could implement relatively quickly. So I ordered that cone of yarn and while I was waiting went ahead with the 4th idea.

I measured out a 3-color gradient rayon warp & set up the little counterbalance loom. I cut a stiff but not too thick piece of cardboard into a few free-form curves. I sat down at the loom, hemmed the edge as always when I’m going to fringe the piece, and started weaving. Awful! Not at all what I had in my mind. Ignoring color for the moment, I tried with a few different weights of yarn to see if that would provide the results. Nope.

Walk away. Think. What else could I do with this warp that might be good enough? How about beaded leno? Give it a shot.

This involves threading tiny beads on my weft thread, winding it by hand onto a shuttle, and slowly, painstakingly, push the beads back when I don’t want them and carefully place them when I do. These are my sample beads. They helped me decide that I needed to use the larger size bead. (Can you even see the tiny beads in the 2 top rows? They are exactly the right color, but not the right size.)

So I left space for a fringe and hemmed again. I didn’t have enough of the color beads I wanted, so went with a silver-lined clea bead. I wove about 15′′ – 8 rows of leno, 4 of them with the beads, 4 without. After all that tedious, time-consuming work, I decided this would not do. It was pretty impossible for me to keep my selvedges nice and straight, so a jury would be decidedly unimpressed.

Crap! Walk away from the loom for the night. The cone of yarn will arrive on Monday. Will I wait for that? The mail won’t get here till late afternoon, so I’d have to ‘waste’ two whole days. The yarn for my next baby wraps isn’t here yet either, and that’ll probab arrive the same day. I’ll feel really pressured to do the jury piece AND to do the baby wraps. I hate being in that position!

Still I spent a few hours in front of my weaving software playing with drafts to get what I thought would be a winning weave pattern. By then it was 11:30. Stop the madness and go to bed! I read for a bit to turn off the brain whirring and got to sleep.

I got up this morning, went for my walk, did my yoga, took a shower, made my Sunday morning phone call to my friend, and suddenly got a flash.

I bet I know why that wave didn’t work the first time! Two reasons: I was treadling in twill when I should treadle tabby, and I mad my curves too deep & too varied. Cut new ones in very gentle lines, went back to the loom and tried out the revised concept.

Yeah – that’ll work!
So I left space for a fringe and did hem #3. I started weaving and was happy with what I was producing.

How do I do this? S...L...O...W...L...Y. Here’s a shot of one of my cardboard ‘reeds’ in place.

The routine is throw the shuttle, leave the shed open, insert one of the handmade reeds, close the shed, beat it in. Every single time. As I go I have to decide when & where to shift the reed or switch to a different reed.

Here’s another shot of several inches.

As I was weaving it became clear that I wasn’t willing to risk the kind of thread shifting that might happen during a wet finishing process, even a gentle one. Or what would happen as a scarf like this was worn. Plus the selvedges were a little wavy because the weft wasn’t a consistent tension near the edges.

So I changed my plans only slightly. Instead of making this a wearable, I’ll frame a section of it. I might be able to use a panoramic frame, or I might have to have it custom framed. I’ll choose the section of weaving that I think looks best.

That assumes, of course, that it will still make me happy when it comes off the loom. I’ve woven about 50′′ so far. I’m going to keep going for at least another foot, then I’ll cut it off & see where I’m at. Keep your fingers crossed.

January 25th, 2015 | 

Scarf bling

Now why would I have these 2 tiny dishes of sequins on the stool next to my loom? Could it be I’m using them to add a little blin to a scarf?

I warped my loom with 6.5 yards of twilight silk, threading & treadling to insert sequins as I went. Hopefully one of these will wor for my jurying this year.

At the beginning and end of each scarf I’ve inserted 5 rows of 7 sequins each, then randomly inserting 2 sequins in each of the interim rows. I had to cut off the first scarf, twist the fringe, and gently wet finish it to see if it was going to work or if I needed to make modifications before I wove the second one.

Here’s how it looks on Dolly.

It worked well! I’m almost done weaving the second scarf. As you can imagine, it’s a s..l..o...w weave.

January 14th, 2015 | 

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 |