Weaverly

Snow Day

On this snow day, a rarity around here, I saw this scene out the back door first thing in the morning. We had already been visited by the cat who includes our backyard in his daily tour.

I beamed a bamboo scarf warp on the dobby loom, but there's not much to look at yet. Instead I'll post a draft discovered buried in my hard drive. Long floats, but in wool with a little gentle felting, I think it will be nice. It's for straight draw on 40 shafts, and the lift plan is constructed following the principles in The Woven Pixel.

Further Attacks on the Stash

Burrowing through trunks of handwoven fabric I find all sorts of scraps. One solution to the burgeoning fabric population is to cut smaller pieces into manageable sized patches, face them with silk organza, and then trim the seam allowance to 1/4" and turn them to the right side and press them. I don't leave a turning gap in the machine sewn seam, but just make a slash in the organza (in the bias direction) for turning. The slash will be hidden when the patch is appliqueed, and doesn't have to be repaired. And just before pressing, I hand baste the patch flat. I sew them in batches, and the trimming, turning, and basting are pleasant mindless tasks for evenings. When I've accumulated enough of these patches, I'll arrange them on bags, pillows, or other works in progress and stitch them down (the organza won't show). How many is enough? Well, that's a good question… Meanwhile, here are some patches back and front, before and after pressing.

Movie Fabric Sighting

Today I watched National Velvet for the umpteenth time (it was only the second time for my granddaughter, for whom I was babysitting), and was impressed by the beautiful coat Elizabeth Taylor is wearing in this scene with Mickey Rooney:

The fabric is a beautiful block weave in multiple shades of warm brown, and I wish I could have found a color image to show you, but alas…So go rent the DVD and enjoy the movie again, and pay attention to the coat.

Metallic

I've never woven an entire project with metallic yarn, but there are a few small samples in my collection. Here is one of my favorites. It's a 40-shaft dobby project in 8-end satin, with a warp of black tencel and a weft of a bronze metallic knitting yarn. I no longer have the metallic yarn information, but it is amazingly soft and drapable. Each circle is about the size of a U.S. 25-cent piece.

Borders on 8

Looking at interesting threadings for border effects on an eight-shaft loom. This combination of straight threading on shafts 1-4 for the borders and point twill on shafts 5 - 8 for the body looks promising. I've done a whole folderful of possible liftplans in WeaveMaker for this project, and here is the threading

and a few of the drafts.

I keep the Float Histograms window open while I work on these designs, and make sure there are no floats longer than 5.

It's possible to make many quick changes this way, and only save the designs which don't violate the 5-float limit.

Two Dobby Samples

This morning while going through a box of dobby samples, I found these oldies. The first one is from a straight threading on 40 shafts with a mixed warp. The design was created with WeaveMaker software. The second sample is a networked draft on 8 shafts, treadled with a straight twill. I'm always amazed at the complexity you can tease out of 8 shafts. For more information on network drafting, check out my book.

Life Cycle Events

Back in 2000, for a very special wedding, I wove a Chuppah or wedding canopy. The central panel was woven on the TC-1 in natural and teal cotton, with images of rainbow trout, honeybees, and other symbols special to the bride and groom. The two side panels, woven on a dobby loom, were in the same yarns, but with a wavy, watery-looking pattern in network drafted satin. I wove much more of the dobby fabric than needed, so put the extra away for another day. That day has arrived - two of my friends are expecting new grandchildren, and I got the dobby yardage out of storage, cut it in half to make two baby blankets, and bound the edges with cotton fabric in a related color. This photo shows the binding process. The blankets are now finished and waiting for the arrival of the babies.

Wool, Wool, Beautiful Wool

Wool is truly a miracle fiber. It resists soiling, maintains its loft, is durable, and a joy to live with. This is a pillow I wove nearly 40 years ago, and during its lifetime it was used as a football, napped on by couch potatoes, slept on by a dog, and at the moment it serves as a seat pad on my spinning chair. The stuffing is nearly flat, but the pillow cover is just as vibrant and cheerful as the day it was woven. It will probably enjoy another 40 years of use by other family members. As David Reidy says in his wonderful knitting podcast, Sticks and String, "carpe lanam."