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Somehow this entry got gobbled by gremlins. I'm reblogging it. Another version of the tree image, with a purple tow linen for one of the pattern wefts.
The other pattern weft is handspun wool, dye painted in the roving stage. I expected more variation in the colors, but there is only an occasional pink showing, as here in a detail picture:
The book project was on pause, but not forgotten. Yesterday I gave it some serious attention and here is the result, after locating two perfect buttons in my stash. First a front view:
Working title is Treelovers Journal, as the image was from a tree photograph, converted to lampas, with two handspun wefts. The pages are recycled grocery bags, thereby saving a few more trees.
I brushed gesso over some of the preprinted images, as a good surface for writing and/or drawing on, but some of the images were just too good to hide, and the journaler will (I hope) incorporate these in her work.
Following is the back of the book, in some ways more interesting than the front, as the fabric shows here uninterrupted:
And my favorite part, the spine:
The sewing is doubled in the holes, as space is at a premium, but I was actually able to accommodate twelve signatures, a nice fat book:
This piece is destined for a miniatures show (6"x6" max), and after that, ??.
I close with a wonderful picture Willy sent me from Addis Ababa. This is his morning macchiato. Thanks, Willy!
My spinning wheel has taken up residence in a dark corner of the living room, but at this time of year a low shaft of sunlight hits it around 4 pm, and that is the magic hour. I like to spend that time spinning and listening to music. The peculiar sidelight picks out the halo of little fibers that are invisible at other times, and the yarn seems to sparkle on the bobbin. This is Bluefaced Leicester, dye painted while in roving form (not by me). It will eventually be plied, and after finishing will be roughly equivalent to a sport weight knitting yarn. Click to enlarge—this one is really fun.
A few more textile sightings. On my walk this morning, I saw this new fence in a neighbor's breezeway. I don't know if he had twill in mind, but that's exactly what I saw. a twill combination threading, woven as point twill for a tidy warpwise stripe.
A couple of days ago at a reception, there was this fabulous orange tablecloth with satin damask circles. The school colors of orange and purple were the featured scheme, in case you're wondering. And I'm really sure that was fish, but my companion insists it was chicken.
Hope this doesn't give you vertigo. The camera was positioned on the castle, facing from the back toward the weaver's position. It's the same warp, different liftplan (still a networked draft on 8 shafts), with a weft of two shades of green wound together on the bobbin.
Amid multiple interruptions, I put in a marathon day of threading & sleying, and vowed that I wouldn't hit the bed until this loom was fully dressed. Done. My personal best. No gold medal, but I am happy.
The warp is 10/2 Tencel red and pink alternating @ 24 epi and the weft is 2 strands of 20/2 black cotton wound together on the bobbin. The cotton was from a batch meant for warp, but I quickly found that it wasn't strong enough, and have saved it for weft. Its day has come.
The 8-shaft networked threading is a very long non-repeating design, echoed 2 shafts away, and the structure is 1/3 straight twill combined with 3/1 straight twill. I wanted an interesting lengthwise stripe with many variations across the cloth, and I think I've got it. The actual cloth looks much darker in real life, but the room lights reflect strongly off the shiny Tencel; I've kept the photo, as it shows the structure whereas a more realistic color rendering would not have shown that.
Over the weekend I caught the last of the melting snow.
A bit of Gaussian blur, then indexing to 3 colors…
Two colors of Tencel, end-and-end. This has made serious inroads into my remaining Tencel stash. That was my goal. Now I am thinking I will reorder…
As of last night, most of the snow had melted, and I settled down for an evening of watching figure skating from Sochi. All of a sudden—boom! Sounded like a tree branch landing on the roof. A result of the freezing precipitation, perhaps. But a few minutes later, this banner scrolled by on the screen: Breaking News: SC Earthquake.
It was only a 4.1, something my California relatives would turn up their noses at, but an Event Worth Noting in these parts. It has been reported that near Edgefield, the epicenter, a grandfather clock moved across the room. I would love to have seen that.
Incredible but true. Every time I type the letters "nd" on my iPhone, it substitutes the words "Network Drafting." Isn't that amazing? Siri, is that you? I'm so excited.
This is the first scarf of February, washed & dried, posing for a snapshot on the kitchen counter, while I am watching the bean soup on the stove. Network drafting on eight shafts. Tencel warp, silk weft.