Harder than I expected

Back when I lived in the sticks I didn’t need or have any curtains on my windows, a feature that disconcerted some visitors but that I really liked. All the light that was outside came right in.

My little house in the city came with blinds on all the windows. Based on what I see in my walks around the neighborhood and the stains on my window frames, I’m guessing that the prior owner had the blinds down most of the time. Not me. My blinds go up to their full heights every morning and go down in the evening when I have to turn the lights on. While the blinds work, the look is harsh for me. So I’ve been planning on weaving curtains.

I thought I’d start in with the bay window in the kitchen, but for a variety of reasons changed my plans and decided to start with the bedroom. And I’m very glad I did.

I love weaving lace. I’ve woven lots of it. I’m usually good at having my beat be consistent. But this time? After I’d woven the firs few lace blocks I was struck by how critical it is for the beat to be absolutely consistent this time. If the size of a lace block is a tiny bit different at one end of a scarf than at the other, it wouldn’t be noticed. But in curtains? When two panels will hang next to each other on the window? Especially when an accent color outlines each block? Any differences in the beat of those two panel would be immediately obvious, and would draw my eye, certainly not in a good way.

First I thought I’d simply pay more attention and get my beat consistent. But that wasn’t working well. Then I figured I’d measure a few squares and build up muscle memory for the beat. Even that wasn’t getting me the results that I wanted. I had to walk away from the loom and do something else for a while to figure out this puzzle, so I did the necessary planning to order the yarn for my next 2 warps of baby wraps.

That’s when I got the idea to build myself a little jig. Cut out of cardstock, I used the widths to make the outside of the square fit perfectly into the plain weave section and the inside square outline the lace section.

Then when I turn the jig sideways, and match up the lines, the motif will be perfectly square.

I wove that square for several motifs, and then a little light went off in my head. Uh oh. They’re square under the tension of the loom. But when I release that tension the length will ‘shrink’ and they won’t be square anymore. I need to weave just a tad bigge than the jig. That’s where I am now.

So what does all this mean? Since I’m already working on my 2nd panel, it means that the best I can hope for at this point is to have 2 panels on one window that match. The 2 panels on the other window won’t match, since that first panel has rectangles o different sizes as well as squares. The total length will be right, but the periwinkle lines won’t match up right.

Depending on how bad they look, I may end up having to buy some more yarn and weave another panel or two. But I won’t kno until I weave these off, wet finish, pin their hems, and see how they look in real life.

In case you’re wondering, this is a modification of the ‘mosquito net’ curtains in Laila Lundell’s Big Book of Swedish Weaving. I’m using 16/2 baby blue with periwinkle 8/2 doubled for the accents. I modified the draft for my 8-shaft Macomber, evening out the number of heddles to the extent possible so I didn’t have move lots from one shaft to another. This pattern requires only 3 treadles, so that’s incredibly easy. It’s all about the beat. If I could do all the weaving in one sitting it would be easier to be consistent, but of course I can’t do that. Not good for my body, plus my life has other obligations. I’ll do the best I can.

Note to self: when doing curtains for kitchen, use all 1 color yarn; then any inconsistencies will be much less obvious.

March 1st, 2016 | 

Some I love, some I hate

 Among my indoor accomplishments yesterday I finished measuring all the yarn for CT & TS’s baby wraps. Isn’t this section to di for? I just love these colors, especially when they’re together.

I also took photos of the six finished scarves made from my painted warps. Once again I took well over 45 pictures to get six tha worked. I tried them on the mannequin, on the loom, and hanging. The only thing that worked well was on the floor of the weaving studio.

So first the bad ones. These are the scarves with the rayon warp. I loved the warp in the dye studio, and wound as a chain, but didn’t work on the loom. I’d made the transitions between colors too far apart and the colors too similar. Then I used the undulating twill threading. First up is the first one I wove, with a rayon weft, sett at 21 ends per inch. That purple section looks lik a bruise. And I don’t think the weave structure is stable enough to function well, even after wet finishing.

Then I tried a lighter weft. REALLY bad!

As I planned to, I resleyed for 24 ends per inch for the last scarf, and used a cotton weft. I think this scarf is stable enough, but I really hate it.

Now for the good news. I love, love, LOVE the silk hand painted warp! I used shorter transitions and more change in the colors. This was actually the last warp I dyed, using colors left over from other dyers. Not my usual colors at all, but I’m so happy with them. This is a 30/2 silk sett at 36 ends per inch, threaded in a simple 3/1 vs. 1/3 twill. For the first scarf I used a rust 20/2 silk. I really like the treadling pattern in this scarf the best.

Next I used a 30/2 lilac cashmere-silk blend. (Actually, it’s 20/2 on the ends and 30/2 for the rest of the scarf.) The weight and hand is scrumptious. This is absolutely my favorite color combination. I have to say I don’t think I would have even considered using a lilac weft if I hadn’t taken the color workshop.

Last up is another 30/2 cashmere silk blend, this time in burgundy. Again I love the way it feels, and like the looks, too.

Now that I know more about how to achieve the results I want, I am definitely planning to take the dye workshop when it’s offere again in April. I’m trying to get my sister the quilter to take it with me.

February 14th, 2016 | 

It's not easy

Taking good photos of my finished work is not easy for me. I spent a long time, took almost 50 photos of five finished scarves, and ended up with five shots that are passable, but not great. I tried various props, lighting, and layouts. I tried with hanging and laying flat. Nothing wonderful happened....sigh. This is exactly why I have a professional photographer take my photos for jurying!

Anyway, for moderately successful amateur photographs of my last weaving, here goes, in order woven. 

Black & white point twill shadow weave.

Brown silk with embedded sequins.

Hunter tencel with light green tencel spots.

Hunter with azure tencel spots. I thought this would be my favorite of the three, but it’s actually the two greens above.

Hunter with several colors of tencel spots.

Cherry and spice tencel ‘clasped blocks.’

February 4th, 2016 | 

Faster than fast

The last 3 warps I wove were slow. First was the 8 harness shadow weave. Two colors in the weft = 2 shuttles = slow weaving

Next up was the brown silk, in which I had to hand insert sequins into every 56th pick for the length of the scarf.

Third was the little boxes on green. Again, 2 shuttles = slow.

So by the time I got to the red warp, I’d really forgotten how quickly weaving can go when it’s simple treadling, narrow width, 1 color weft. The colors are not at all realistic in the next shot, which looks very pink.

This is my interpretation of a draft in Sharon Alderman’s book, Mastering Weave Structures (p. 230). The color in this close up is much closer to real life.

I love the interplay of warp & weft threads. It reminds me very much of a well-used graphic of clasped hands – which of course I couldn’t find right now, but this photo gives you the idea.

I used cherry for the warp and spice for the weft – both tencel. I tried a few other colors for weft, but stuck with the spice for all three scarves (very unlike my usual practice). I got all three woven in one day!

I’ve now finished the fringe and wet finished these scarves, as well as pressing them, the little boxes, and the shadow weave. I’l try to get some decent pics of all today...we’ll see how it goes since I have company coming for dinner and have prep still to do

So next on the loom is the first of my painted warps! It was not fun to beam, only because I inserted 4 solid mini-bouts into the warp – so 5 bouts warped together – and things got a bit challenging in the process.

January 31st, 2016 | 

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 | 

Go around again!

When my kids were little we read a lot of picture story books. One of their favorite books (but not mine) was Go, Dog, Go. Like a easy readers, there are several recurring sentences. One I liked was, “Do you like my hat?” A favorite of my son was, “Go aroun again!” (I’m not going to try to explain the plot.) That latter sentiment has been the focus of many hours of my life in the last two days.

On Friday I’m registered for a 6-hour dyeing workshop. Led by Joyce Robards, one of two “Teacher’s of the Year” chosen by Handwoven Magazine and a long-time member of the Rochester Weaver’s Guild, this Dyer’s Choice workshop at the Weaving and Fiber Arts Center allows each of the 6 registrants to dye what we wish, as we wish. I’ve spoken with Joyce about what I want to do, and she assured me it was well within the realm of the day.

I’ve worked with lots of both machine variegated and hand painted yarns over the years, and I’m sure I’ll work with them again. As I’ve used these yarns I’ve tried various methods to get the colors to “pool” in the warp – that is to arrange the yarns so that I get whole sections of a single color in the yarn instead of the more common stripey effect. Planning, preparation, and then hand painting are required to achieve my desired result. Here’s an absolutely stunning handpainted shawl woven by artist Freya Willemoese-Wissing. I’m sure I can’t achieve anything like this without lots of attempts and lots more planning than I’m doing now!

So anyway I planned for a scarf made from 30/2 silk with more than 7,400 yards per pound of yarn. That means something on the order of 36 threads per inch in the warp and a similar number in weft. To prepare the yarn for dyeing I had to first ‘scour’ the skeins – wash it in the hottest water possible with a little bit of Dawn dish detergent. Then I had to let those skeins dry so I could measure & wind the warp. That meant 360 threads on the warping mill, with each thread requiring 3.5 complete rotations of my warping mill.

Then I wanted a shawl made from 8/2 rayon, with a mere 3,360 yards per pound. Because the rayon was on cones, not in skeins, I had to wind the warps first and scour second. There’s another 696 threads, again with 3.5 rotations of the mill for each length. Fortunately I could cut this number in half by winding 2 threads at once. That meant hours of standing, spinning, countin and tying, all in preparation for dyeing. I didn’t even think to take pictures of the activity, but they wouldn’t have been exciting anyway — all solid natural (undyed) yarn. Hopefully I’ll remember to take pictures on Friday, as well as whenever I’m able to get the warps on my looms.

When I wasn’t spinning the warping mill I was working on one of the warps I wound last weekend. (Yes, you read that right...I’d already wound two more warps over the weekend to weave a total of 6 scarves.) Since I’m between baby wraps at the moment, I’m able to do some weaving (and dyeing) that I’ve been wanting to get to. This is a pattern from Deb Strickland’s Book of 8 Sha Weaving Patterns. It reminds me of Morse Code. Or maybe Braille. But a language, for sure.

I’m using a dark green rayon warp and a light green rayon weft. It’s a two-shuttle weave, so it’s slow going. Here you can see both sides of it on the loom.

I’m working on the second scarf now, and thought I’d do a solid dusty rose, but then I got an idea...maybe I’d use sections of different colors.

To be honest, I’m not sure if I’ll like it when it’s all done. I’m definitely going to weave the third scarf in this warp using one color. At least I’ll know which color(s) I like best after this multi-colored scarf.

January 20th, 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 |