So many things

...to show, just on the weaving front. Weaving like mad to get ready for my last summer show later this month, plus doing the regular things like seemingly non-stop lawn mowing. But enough of that. Here’s what you want to see. I hope. In chronological order.

A fellow Guild member is moving so had a sale at her house of some yarns, books, and equipment. I behaved myself, but did spend some money. And what I bought inspired me. I bought a cone of orange cotton yarn plied with electric blue metallic. Had to use that in some scarves!

I thought I wanted to do bumberet scarves, but after some planning and playing decided I’d do some random stripes and a simple straight twill instead, thinking it was a better use of the bling yarn. I used the random stripe generator at biscuitsandjam Once I had a stripe arrangement I liked, I set it up on my counterbalance loom. First I used a burgundy weft.

The second scarf had a medium blue weft. This is my personal favorite of the trio.

Finally I went with the knowledge that black intensifies color, so chose a black weft. I don’t really care for what it did; maybe someone else will. These 3 scarves are fringed and wet finished.

Another cone of yarn I bought was this really highly textured, undyed cotton. It spoke to me. I pulled out my 8/2 undyed cotton, alternating it with some yarn I’ve had for a long time, and bought who knows where from another weaver. The cone is ancient, and when I bought it I did the burn test and labelled it rayon. I did the burn test again last week and determined that it is not rayon, at least not today’s rayon. I’m going to mark the tag vintage synthetic.

Anyway, the vintage yarn is quite fine – about 5,000 yards per pound, and VERY shiny. So I thought it would make an interesting weave with unmercerized cotton. I wound them together and threaded them together – 1 strand cotton and 1 strand synthetic in each heddle. Here’s what it looked like while I was beaming it. Can you see the sheen of that yarn? Cool, huh?

I wound a warp for 2 shawls, and only had enough of that nubbly yarn to weave 1. I decided to use both the nubbly yarn and the synthetic in each pick. Here’s how that looked on the loom. I’m soooo happy with it. You can’t really see the undulating twill pattern, but that’s okay with me.

For the 2nd shawl I tried out a few different wefts. My favorite was to simply use the same yarns for weft as for warp. I am just in love with this, too.

In addition to looking great, these shawls have a wonderful hand. They are soft and drape beautiful, with enough weight to be luxurious. These shawls are also fringed and wet finished.

Next up I moved away from the new yarns, putting on a silk warp for a set of 3 complex twill scarves. First in black and white.

Next in royal purple.

I knew that I’d planned for this to be a long cowl, and subsequently decided I didn’t want that, so I had to make the fringe short o I’d run out of warp. So without enough length to make twisted fringe, I decided to add some beads, using both glass pearlized seed beads and small amethyst rounds.

I only had enough length for a short cowl, and chose red weft and a different treadling pattern. Obviously these are also all finished.

Then I wanted to make some more tencel scarves, so I measured out white tencel for more complex twill. First, again, black & white. This time squares.

Next up a sage green, with the squares elongated to rectangles.

For the third I changed the tie up, and wove with coral & white, back to squares.

I was sorely disappointed that I ran out of that coral yarn about 6′′ before I wanted to be done. This scarf will be a little shorter than my usual. These scarves are awaiting fringing and wet finishing.

Now I’m trying something new-to-me. A variegated cotton warp with a rayon chenille weft. I chose to only measure enough lenght for 1 piece, since I’m not sure if I’ll like it, even though that’s an inefficient way to weave. I’m going to sew this shawl into a moebius when it comes off the loom. We’ll see if my customers like that.

I don’t plan to weave other things before the show as I have other commitments. But I still have to label everything and make more bags. Plenty of time, she says.

August 15th, 2017 | 

Tencel painted warp

I’ve enjoyed taking close-up shots of my scarves on the loom lately. This one gives the impression of 3-dimensional hills and valleys. At least it does when it’s large, maybe not so much at a small size.

It’s the first scarf I wove on that hand painted tencel warp, and I used the weft I’d immersion-dyed for the warp a few weeks ago but decided not to use. It matched the darker blue of this warp very well. I liked it on the loom ok, but not so much in the finished scarf. Too dark for my tastes.

After that I had to cut and re-tie my warp. Not sure why I was having problems with it, but easier to do this than to fuss with it every pick for the rest of the length.

From my notes I knew I’d measured the warp to make 1 fringed scarf, 1 long cowl, and 1 short cowl. I knew I’d lose some length by the cutting and re-tying, so decided to do the short cowl next. Once I got this woven I’d simply use whatever length was left fo the long cowl. So I picked a commercially-dyed tencel that was almost exactly the same color as the medium blue in my warp and treadled for Ms and Ws.

I really like the way the colors play together in this piece, and find myself liking these short cowls. Yes, there are fewer options fo wear, but they are light and easy to toss on. Anyway, I do wish that the purple color had shown up again in the warp, but c’est la vie.

For the long cowl I picked a commercially-dyed red-violet that looked great when I held it next to each color in the warp. Interestingly, it turned almost burgundy as I wove it, using what I think of as my feathers treadling.

I’m happy with it, although I still like the colors best in the short cowl. We’ll see what my customers think at my next show...just a month away now.

July 26th, 2017 | 

RH to Mac

Earlier this month I blogged about some 10/2 tencel I had dyed and put on my rigid heddle loom for demonstration at a show.

After I took that photo of the 2 heddles threaded, I tied on to the front of the loom and did a few weaving experiments. I quickly learned that at a show was not the time to use the 2 heddles independently as too much thought was required. So I clamped them together to weave as 1, with double density of 22 ends per inch and off I set.

I started with 5 rows of Danish medallions. I’d never woven them before, but as usual, that didn’t stop me. The first motif got qui squished as I wound it on the front beam. Hmmmmmm, I wondered.

Then I simply wove plain weave. Because of the double density, it was actually more like basket weave, with 2 warp threads sid by side in each shed. I didn’t get much woven in the 3 days of the show because I was encouraging people to weave on the tapestry loom (more of that in an upcoming post), only about 10′′.

I hated it. It was clear to me that it would produce a sleazy fabric, one that would not stand up to regular use and that I would no be willing to sell.

So when I came home I put a set of lease sticks in the warp, unwound and unwove what I’d done, getting back to the beginning of the warp.

Then I untied, carried it over to the Macomber, and beamed it.

For the first scarf I used the pale blue I’d immersion dyed to match/coordinate. Although I only sett it at 24 ends per inch, the fabric was turning out fine. I can’t really explain this, I just accept it.

For the second scarf, which would be a cowl, I used a commercially dyed tencel. I really like the texture – actually the appearance of texture – in this shot.

This morning I fringed the scarf and sewed the cowl, subsequently washing, drying, and pressing them.

Although these colors are much lighter than my usual palette, I think they’re perfect for summer. So much so that I decided to use similar colors for my next project.

I measured out 4 bouts of 30/2 silk, 216 ends each, long enough for 2 shawls. I knew that this silk would need a really good scour, and it sure did; look how dirty the water was!

I mixed up some dyes, using some leftover blues from the scarf warp, went down to the basement at 5PM yesterday, and came back upstairs around 8 with my painting and clean up work complete. Look how much blue and green dye I had when I was don with the painting – NONE! Good thing I didn’t need more – although I could have come close with the greens as I’d measured that, I never could have matched the blues since I was using up leftovers.

After steaming, overnight batching, and rinsing, here is the dyed silk hanging on the line along with the tencel scarves. You’d think I’d planned that similarity or something! In reality, I’m not good enough to claim that – a happy accident.

Here’s what’s going on the loom today, from dyeing I did back in April. These are more my typical color values.

July 20th, 2017 | 

Lots of progress

Like anyone in business, I have to prioritize. What has the closest deadline? Do those things first. So here’s what I’ve accomplished since my last post...4 days ago. (You know that saying, if you want something done, give it to a busy person? Yep.)

Wash & dry a bunch of pillowcases and other fabric, then cut them into appropriate sizes, sew 31 bags, print and cut my bag tags, then thread the bags with ribbon and tie a bag tag on them. (no pix)
Do both the machine and hand sewing on those 8 bumberet towels, then wash and dry them. They still need the hard press, but that won’t take long. (no pix)

Thanks to my son, get the 2nd heddle kit installed on my rigid heddle loom.

Get the heddles and reed threaded, and the treadles tied up, for that custom baby wrap order.

Get a warp prepped, dyed, and threaded on that RH loom. This is a story in and of itself. Here’s another saying, this time a bit modified: If at first you don’t succeed, dye, dye again.

After measuring out a 10/2 tencel warp, I went down to my basement and hand painted it in cool blue and 2 greens, thinking the were perfect colors for summer at the lake, where my show will be next weekend.

I was happy with it. Until after it batched and was rinsed. The greens were ok, but the blue was WAY too pale. So after consultin with a great dyer I know, I laid the wet warp back out on the table, mixed some more concentrated dye with the soda ash so I could skip the pre-soak step, and painted over the blue. I also decided to eliminate the unpainted/white areas, since the colors were pale. Here it is in process.

Meanwhile, I wanted to dye the wefts to coordinate. So I measured out 2 small skeins, just under 2 ounces each, 1 for the weft for each scarf. I immersion dyed these wefts before I knew how the warp would turn out. Since the skeins were so small, the dishpans I usually use as vessels were too big to be practical. I searched around the house for smaller containers that I wouldn’ need again, and ended up at my neighbors, too. The end result? I was dyeing al Fresca. (Get it?)

After all the yarn was dry, I didn’t think the wefts were right for the warp, so I wound and dyed a third skein. Here’s how things proceeded...

I’m still not sure if I have the 2nd weft color yet, but won’t dye any more. I’ll have to use one of those colors or find something else in my stash.

Here’s what’s left to do by Wednesday evening:

Make a cake for my son’s birthday on Monday, and enjoy a family dinner tomorrow night;
Make something nice to bring to a dinner with friends on Tuesday to celebrate the 4th;
Tie on that RH warp so I can test out wefts and decide what to bring to the show;
Warp up my little tapestry loom, also to bring to the show, with a variety of yarns for people to do a bit of community weaving while I’m there – anything to bring people into my booth;

Hard press and label those towels;
Begin weaving that baby wrap – I made a time commitment to those women.

Think I can do it? I’m sure I can. It’s all about time management.

July 2nd, 2017 | 

Dye don'ts

Live and learn. And then learn some more. Repeat.

Some of what I learned on this go-round is new to me, some not so much, although a different context.

Back in April I hand painted some warps, one of which was based on a painting of a wood duck. (See it here.) I was looking forward to that warp, and wove it in May.

On the loom, I was happy. For a while.

Because I was inspired by the wood duck, I wanted to use a weave pattern that was reminiscent of feathers. And I knew I wanted to use a dark weft to create more of the look of the painting. Apparently I forgot to take a photo of the first scarf, using black weft while it was on the loom. Suffice it to say that after about a foot I knew it was going to be too dark. I should have simply stopped then, started with a new color weft, and not looked back, but I didn’t. I wove the whole thing with the black weft. Ugh.

So for the next weft I chose a brownish red. I liked how it was looking on the loom, enjoying both the colors and the weave structure.

I tried a few different wefts for scarf number 3, settling on a sage-y green. You can see here that the painted warp was a bit blotchy. Too many color changes that were too different – not smooth transitions.

That was my new learning with this warp. Think more about how and when the colors shift. I am not proud of this run of scarves and don’t expect them to sell well.

Nothing I can do about it now.

So in my desire to weave more scarves for my upcoming shows, I decided to adapt a pattern I’d looked at several times before from a Handwoven book, Best of Handwoven Scarves on Eight Shafts.

As my readers know, I usually warp my loom for 3 scarves, but this time I didn’t. I warped for only 1, because I only had enough of the yarn for the stripes for 1 scarf. Boy am I glad that’s what I did.

I wasn’t crazy about the pattern on the loom, but was hoping I’d like it better after wet finishing. Hah!

I was using some professionally hand painted yarns designed for cross stitch, which the web tells me is also used by quilters. Well, as soon as they hit the water those colors ran like mad. I might have been able to predict that, but these were, like I said, professionally dyed yarns – Watercolours by Caron – and I expected professional results. Nothing on the tag about running.

Look at the aura of dye around these yarns after the scarf had dried.

And if that weren’t bad enough, the two sides of the scarf apparently touched each other while they were drying, and one side got a big blotch of pink dye on the white area.

I’m holding off on ironing, as the heat will set those colors as is. I’m going to try another hand wash, this time using those magic Color Catcher sheets. I don’t know that they’ll help, but they sure won’t hurt. But this scarf may just be for the scrap bin.

June 15th, 2017 | 

9, 10, but no big fat hen

After my success with my handmade semi-rigid heddle, I thought I was set for the real thing. Yes, the yarns were slightly different, but that shouldn’t present a particular problem. So I measured out the warp I intended to use, beamed it, and threaded it through my new ‘equipment.’

Then the trouble started. I couldn’t get decent sheds. Every single time I was fussing with the threads to get them to separate. Then I realized what the problem was...yarn fuzz.

See the fuzz my arrow is pointing to? It was caused by the simple friction of the yarn, and it caused my string heddles to stick together. The yarns could not move up and down as needed, especially those that weren’t actually in the heddles but rather between them.

I pulled the fuzz out the best I could, but within a few passes of my shuttle they were all fuzzed up again. Clearly another fail. So cut out the small amount of weaving I’d done and removed that homemade heddle.

There was only one possibility left: clamp together 2 rigid heddles so my threads would be sett closer together. If this didn’t work I’d have to give up on the idea. I’ve only clamped 2 heddles together like this a few times before, and threading 2 rigid heddles i a bit tricky. Especially since for this weaving it isn’t a standard threading. But I went slowly and got it done.

Next was to weave up another logo.

I’d put painters tape on my front beam to keep the weaving at the width I believed I needed. But now since I was using 10/2 instead of 8/2 yarn, that 1.5′′ was too wide. You can see that I narrowed the width as I wove. That was on purpose to see if I could make it more narrow, and if so, if it would look good. I thought it would work, but wanted to make one good logo before I fully committed to this demo. Allow me to present logo #10.

FINALLY!!! Now I can get back to weaving things for my upcoming shows!

I did realize that there are some things you haven’t seen. So here are the finished pansies scarves. (Scroll down to see the pansies warp) First up is woven with fine dark purple weft, and I changed the direction of the curves at random along its length

Same weft for the second scarf, but the treadling is all advancing, no curves.

Last I used a black weft. I only had enough length left for a cowl, but it’s plenty long for that. I used a regular repeat for the curve on this one.

I am happy with them and have gotten compliments, but I wonder if I would have liked them better if I’d left them in stripes instead of doing parallel threading, so that the colors would have stood on their own more. What do you think?

June 6th, 2017 |

Colors pale and colors bright

 I’ve woven the 3 scarves with that last pastel silk warp. In the process of fringing, then will do bits of needed needle weaving an wet finishing. Still, I can show you some previews now. You already saw the lavender weft. About half way through I realized I had really long floats in one spot (9 threads!), but didn’t want to fix the tie up in midstream, so I hope that float doesn’t make for an unstable/unusable cloth.

Then I decided to go more for texture than color, and used a singles silk with a lot of texture to it. I fixed the tie up and changed the treadling pattern.

For the third scarf I used a thicker weft in a cotton-linen blend, and changed the treadling again. I really like how it looked on the loom.

Meanwhile I wanted to get back in the dye studio (aka my basement) while the weather forecast was for rain. So I planned and measured for 2 more warps. One was inspired by this great print of a mallard wood duck by Bob Ripley that I bought at Cazenovia Artisans. 

The colors aren’t exactly what I had in mind, but I can use black, blue, or white for weft to create more of the look I had intended Here’s that warp dried and chained.

For the other warp, I was truly inspired by Denise Kovnat‘s talk at Monday’s Weavers Guild evening meeting. The presentation was on paint 2, beam 1, a concept that hadn’t previously moved me, but it did after I heard her speak. The basics are paint 2 warps in complementary colorways, beam them together, use parallel threading, sett close and use a weft that is finer than the warp, achieve a warp-faced fabric. So I picked the colors of pansies, and here are my two warps chained and swirled together.

I think they look smashing. Hope they do after they are woven, too.

I have two more painted colorways in mind, but need to weave some more right now. Am currently working on another 6 bumberet towels in pinks and oranges. I sold 3 of the 6 in the blues and greens.

April 22nd, 2017 |