Starting May strong

It’s May 7th and I have 6 scarves woven, wet finished, and complete! First up, I started with some hand painted 20/2 silk. I dyed this yarn in late April, using a photo I found online from Blue Brick Dyeworks, as inspiration. They called it Prairie Storm, which works for me.

Here’s the yarn I ended up with from that inspiration image.

I chose a weave structure I’ve used many times and really like, and wove the first scarf with a 20/2 gold weft. Looks like that storm at dawn.

Then I used 2 strands of a textured green & white silk singles I’ve had for a long time. I also changed the treadling, turning the pattern into leaves. So different! The colors are more spring-like, and the texture adds a strong element.

Here’s a close up so you can see both weave structure and texture.

For the last scarf I wanted a strong color, so used 2 strands of 60/2 chocolate silk. Now that prairie storm is really threatening.

I went back to the treadling of the gold scarf, which you can’t really see there, but you can in this close up.

Then, sticking with my must-use-stash mantra, I pulled out a rayon seed yarn, something I’ve never used before. Sett at only 15 ends per inch, I had to remove my go-to 12-dent reed and go up to the attic to get my 6-dent to accommodate this ‘lumpy’ yarn. wasn’t at all sure how I’d like it. Turns out I love it! I used a different supplemental weft for each of the 3 scarves.

First is a wide ribbon with a gold metallic center. This one, like the other 2, has a regular old 8/2 rayon weft.

You can’t really appreciate that ribbon or the texture at that distance, so here’s a close up.

That wide ribbon didn’t look at all good on the loom, and I wasn’t at all sure how the whole thing would wet finish, so I cut it off and wet finished scarf number 1 before proceeding. Decided I didn’t want to use such a wide supplement, so re-threaded the reed for the next 2 scarves.

This one is uses a soy silk flat ribbon-like yarn in purples and pinks.

And the last one has a hand painted rayon yarn in greens and blues.

The only downside to these scarves is that there was no way I could twist that fringe, nor did I think they would make a nice hem So I tried a few different simple knotting techniques, but neither is as neat a look as I prefer.

Today I got the next scarf warp on the loom. This one is dominated by this interested rayon boucle yarn that has metallic interest Looking forward to seeing this one weave.

May 7th, 2019 | 

Telling more stories

I’m going to start this post without a story, just showing you a few pieces I forgot to post when I finished them in February. This is a mixed warp – cotton, bamboo, and rayon chenille. The weft is all rayon chenille. I particularly like this first piece, a long open vest with side slits, although it’s a tad small for me.

I intended this second piece to be a regular shawl with fringe. I twisted the fringe, and the combination of fibers turned into a rea mess during wet finishing. I untwisted and untied it all, and the piece sat there for a while waiting for me to decide if I would twist again, hem, or turn it into a mobi. Finally I decided to just hem it as is.

Okay, that turned into a story, but just a tiny one. Here’s a long one.

I wanted to do some dyeing, so went to my Pinterest page and looked at my Dyeing Inspiration board. Design Seeds is a marvelous place for color, and I was moved by their Color Spice combo.

I measured out 3 wide and 2 narrow bouts of 8/2 mercerized cotton and went down to the basement. The wide bouts were going to be the spicy colors, and the narrow a bit of turquoise to complement. I dyed the first wide bout, using a few new dyes I’d purchased, actual ‘professionally created’ colors instead of my own blended creations: golden oak, chocolate brown, and my ow terracotta blend.

I decided I needed more red in the mix, so added ‘some’ (not measured) red to my terracotta for the other 2 bouts. Then I dyed the skinny turquoise bouts. After batching and drying, it was clear that I’d been too stingy with the dyes – I had some undyed spots on my yarns. Nothing I can do about it now. So I beamed the lot.

As I was beaming I decided I wanted to use chocolate for weft for the first piece. Of course I didn’t have any yarn in anything faintly resembling that color, so I had to dye it. No sweat.

Except that in my ‘must use stash’ head I wanted to use some 8/3 mercerized cotton I’d picked up in a weaver’s sale. An odd size to be sure, but it looked nice and would work for weft. In winding it from cones to skeins for dyeing, problems arise. One of the cones looks okay, but is actually lots of shortish pieces. If I’d been planning to use it as warp I’d have thrown it away. However as weft, each of those short pieces was roughly the amount that would fit on a bobbin, so it made sense (at the time) t use it. I ended up with something like 25 mini skeins and 3 normal sized ones.

Mix up the dye bath, do the dyeing, and batching, get them out to dry. Uh oh. All those skeins ended up in a real mess! Granted don’t dye in skeins much and so probably didn’t tie them correctly, but I wanted to be sure I didn’t have white/undyed spots on this dark weft. It took me LOTS of time to untangle them and wind them into balls after everything was dry. But the color was just what I wanted.

Now to weave. Then machine sew. Then hand stitch. Here’s what I ended up with. I’m quite happy with all 3 pieces, and very pleased that I actually succeeded in creating pieces in the colors originally planned.

First up is an open front cardigan, using that chocolate weft 8/3 cotton weft. I didn’t make it as wide as my first two, and like the way this one hangs better on the body. (Neither Lady Jane nor the mannequin showed it as well as a real human does.) No nee to round the corners.

Next I used an 8/2 tencel in cayenne to weave a simple jacket. Really brightened up the look.

I finished off the warp with a sienna 8/2 tencel for a wide cowl.

Now I MUST get dressed and go walk Jack!

March 29th, 2019 | 

Bungees and dyeing

Bungee cords and dyeing are not related to each other. At least not in my life, not right now. In the future – who knows? Strange things have probably happened. To me.

Let’s start with the bungees. We had A LOT of wind earlier this week. A LOT. Like consistent 30-40 mph with 70 mph gusts. On Monday morning my little dog Jack woke me up at 4AM. Howling wind is not his favorite thing. So I decided to go lay down on the couch so he could be closer to me. Well. The wind was making the awning over my front door bang repeatedly, threatening rip off the house and surely cause damage in the process. So there I was at 4AM, in my pajamas and bathrobe, on a step stool on my tiny front porch, attaching bungee cords between the awning and the wrought iron railings. Two on each side. Adds some real class to my house, don’t you think? Anyway, this worked for the duration of the storm. I’ll have someone come and determine a permanent solution soon.

Weather related, in early February the temperatures were perfect for creating ice on the sidewalks. One morning I fell twice before I ever left the corner my house sits on. The very next morning I was walking on a nearby slanted piece of grass to avoid the icy sidewalk. Down I went, in the mud this time. Nothing beyond my pride was particularly hurt in any of those falls. A few days later I fell on the ice again. Again I wasn’t even bruised.

But a few days after that my right leg – the side I’d landed on each time – started hurting. I couldn’t figure out what it was, and didn’t connect it to the falls since it didn’t start immediately. So I continued to do my regular activities: daily walking and assorted gym classes at least 3 days/week.

When things were getting worse, not better, I decided I’d pulled a ligament behind my knee. All those activities were only aggravating the injury. And since I was walking and moving funny, I subsequently involved my sciatic nerve and piriformis muscle, and probably more. So weaving hasn’t been great on my leg. I have a chiropractor appointment on Tuesday, but meanwhile haven’t been able to weave much – only for short spurts and not a lot of those in one day. Instead I’ve been dyeing.

I started by dyeing some weft yarn to coordinate with warps I’d dyed and put on the loom.

The warp was handpainted, the weft was immersion dyed: some 8/2 tencel and some 10/2 cotton. I found it interesting that the tencel was noticeably darker in the dye bath. After drying the colors are almost identical..

Then, since we had a major snowfall, I figured I’d take advantage of the snow and did a bunch of snow dyeing. Socks and scarves, assuming I’ll get accepted into that show this summer where they will be appropriate. Here are process photos; I haven’t taken any of the finished pieces yet.

March 2nd, 2019 | 

Sticking with the color

When I painted the first warp bouts in living coral & turquoise, I had intended to combine them with the skeins I painted in the same colors. I later changed my mind, thinking it was just too much.

Then I found this great draft on handweaving.net – it’s draft #22076. If you’re not a member of handweaving.net, you should be it’s an amazing resource.

There’s no way to really look at how a draft will look with handpainted yarn, as the colors shift in ways the program can’t duplicate, but I did my best estimate, and decided I loved the way the colors interacted if I just added some black and white. Wit a black weft I got strong hits of zebra.

So I wove enough length to make another open front cardigan, planning for this to be one of my new jury photos. I’m quite happy with the overall look, and with the improvements I made from the first one, and will take it to the photographer either today or tomorrow.

Lady Jane shows more of the width nicely.

The second piece on the loom, a mobius, is probably my favorite because of the weft color. If I’d had enough of this sienna, I would have made the cardi with it. This combo strikes me as very southwest.

Finally, I had little warp length left, and used a bright blue to weave a wide, if short, cowl.

If you look at these photos, and those from the last post with similar warp colors, it’s pretty amazing how different the looks are isn’t it?!

So I still have the coral & turquoise painted skeins. You’d think I might weave with them next, wouldn’t you? But no. I painted some more skeins in new colors – they’re drying now. And while I wait I’m going to put another mixed warp on – cotton, rayon, and chenille – which I’ll weave with a chenille weft. Probably another open front cardigan and a mobius.

Unrelated, I think I forgot to show you this mobi. It’s a cotton warp – the end of the warp from that skirt (which I’m still working on) and tencel wefts. Not my fav, but I think it will float someone’s boat.

Still woefully behind.

February 14th, 2019 | 

3 finished scarves

I’ve had these three tencel scarves, woven with some of my handpainted yarn, finished for a while, but somehow still don’t have them tagged. Ditto with those towels I wove more than a month ago. I told myself I wouldn’t let this happen again, that I’d tag things immediately. Clearly I lie to myself all the time. Sigh.

Anyway, I showed them to you on the loom. Interesting how different some things look when they’re off the loom and you can se the whole piece at once.

I’m not fond of the scarf with the black weft, even though I usually love this weave structure. It’s just too dark overall.

Honestly, I can’t decide which of these two cowls I prefer. The shorter cowl with the sienna weft in a simple zig zag weave pattern...

...or the longer cowl in a diamond weave pattern, with an orange weft and a few bands of gold.

I have a few more things complete – or almost – for next time. I’ve also been working on that skirt I mentioned in an earlier post have so many ideas! If only I had as much time and energy a I had thoughts.

February 11th, 2019 |

My first cloak - and a question

Handwoven (November/December 2014) calls this a circle shawl. Another weaver who makes something similar calls hers cloaks. I don’t know what to call mine. UPDATE: My ever-brilliant daughter tells me that they are commonly called open front cardigans these days. That’s what I’ll call mine!

I used the directions in Handwoven only somewhat. I didn’t use their warping or weaving directions at all, modified the dimensions in their sewing directions, and added a lining to the armhole. And I’ll make more modifications next time.

I wish I’d been bolder with the colors, but there’s time enough to change that. I’m sure I will make more of these, whatever they’re called, for my summer show(s).

My daughter, who’s quite fashion-conscious, gave the thumbs up on the design. Yay!
Now for my question. I’m hoping that at least one of my readers will have some input for me.

I’ve been very busy so far this year – helping to paint the interior of a home, spending time with family & friends, and lately spending many hours shoveling. So I am VERY behind on meeting my monthly weaving goals. Now I know that my garments, things that have both more fabric and more hand work involved, will sell for more than a flat piece of fabric that’s a scarf or shaw so I’ll need fewer total items, but still...I need to have a certain amount of inventory to set up a booth at a show. I’d really like to apply to both of my good summer shows, one in July, one in August. But I can’t yet know if I can realistically produce enough for both shows.

When I moved 3-1/2 years ago, in August, I had to bail on the August show. They did accept me back when I applied the next year, but...

If I end up with not enough inventory, or sell way more than I anticipate at the July show, and have to back out of the August show again, will I be black balled? Or do shows expect a certain number of artists to back out each year?

January 23rd, 2019 | 

This and that

I asked for a specific things for Christmas, and my kids came through in spades. Most aren’t particularly photogenic, but these 2 are, both from LaBrise Stained Glass.

A cardinal pair in my front window...

...and a sweet chickadee in the studio.

On the weaving front, in a reply to a comment on that post about the weavies, it occurred to me that I didn’t know if a single weavie would reasonably suffice as a mug rug. Would the wool transfer moisture to the table/surface underneath it? I wanted to know, because I didn’t think I could sell any if I priced them high enough to account for the work involved in making 2 weavies, sewing them together, and stuffing them. So I did an experiment.

I got 3 different of my test weavies. From left to right they are a single strand of sock yarn, a double strand of sock yarn, and a single strand of worsted weight wool. I put a paper towel under the row of 3 and a glass of water with ice cubes on each. I figure I’d be able to more easily see if the paper towel got wet/damp than my table top.

I waited. The ice melted but nothing happened. The glasses didn’t sweat, which was needed for the test. So I dumped out most of the remaining water, and filled each glass up with ice. Now they’d sweat for sure.

The bottom line? The sock yarns, which are a fiber blend, transferred a tiny bit of moisture to the paper towel; the worsted wool transferred none. So I think I’ll make some to sell this summer and see what kind of interest I get. Weavies are a great thing to d in the evening while I’m watching TV.

Moving on, I did get those ‘beach’ towels from the last post woven and off the loom. I intended to do the hand hemming last nigh in front of the tube, but Jack decided he MUST have more attention, so that was the end of that.

While I was weaving the towels I tried to figure out what I wanted to weave for jury photos. I decided I’d try the circle shawl from the November/December 2014 issue of Handwoven.

I’ve looked at it several times since 2014, so now I was going to jump in. Of course I wanted my own interpretation, basically jus using their measurements for a finished piece.

I planned the whole thing out with some beautiful, thick-ish mercerized cotton. Then it was time for bed. By the next morning I realized I wouldn’t like the plan. Why? My warp would be in stripes because I didn’t have enough of any single color of the yarn, and those stripes would end up being horizontal in the finished piece. I don’t like wearing horizontal stripes, and figured others would feel the same. Hmmmmmm.....think again, Peg.

I didn’t really want a solid color warp. Using a variegated yarn in the weft has never pleased me; I really only like them in warp. How would I solve this problem?

Another lightbulb, and another pass through the stash and I found some beautiful bamboo-cotton yarn that I’ve had for a few years, hand painted by another fiber artist. I’ve now measured out that warp and plan to get it on the loom tomorrow.

While I was winding I realized I have 3 very cool options for some novelty yarn that would look smashing with this warp. But again, they’d be horizontal stripes. So I’m going to try to use them in the weft. We’ll see how that goes.

January 3rd, 2019 |