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Hard to believe, but the movers have taken all our stuff and put it into storage. This all happened on a day of drenching rain. But it's done. We are now in temporary quarters until the new place is finished.
The first thing I did was set up my computer. The second thing was to find a weaving spot. The spot is next to a window overlooking Paris Mountain. The light is good.
Then I wove a couple of inches.
Well, it's a start.
While dismantling a tapestry loom for temporary storage during my move, I unearthed a tapestry I wove a year ago but never cut off. I had left the warp on the loom because there was still enough for a second tapestry, which, as sometimes happens, I never got around to weaving. The tapestry was hidden inside the continuous warp loop, so really hadn't been viewed by human eyes for a whole year. Actually, its very existence had been forgotten.
So-o-o, cut off day arrived and this nice surprise emerged. To tell you the truth, I don't even remember having woven it. But it is my loom, and those are my handspun yarns, so I'll claim it as mine. Lassie come home, and all that.
This Baltic style band is now long enough so that I can undo it from the cloth take-up roller and use a bag clip to secure it to the breast beam. I find this a more flexible solution to the tension issue.
The reverse side of the band is different from the face, but also attractive.
The following picture is from under the loom:
In this weaving limbo I seem to be inhabiting, I have had the opportunity to do a lot of reading. Here are some recent reads:
An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System, by Matt Richtel; The Weight of Ink, by Rachel Kadish; and Somewhere Towards the End: A Memoir, by Diana Athill.
All interesting in their own way.
Last month I saw this beauty online and was intrigued by the technique of burning designs on wood by passing an electrical current through the wood. Long story short: I ordered this band loom from Chuck Jones on Etsy, and have been experimenting with warping and weaving methods since then. Ideally, using a rigid heddle for band looms should be done with a backstop setup, to give the warp some room to adjust from the wide sett at the heddle to the narrow width of the woven band. But I knew that good locations for backstop weaving were not in my future, so off I went on another tangent. So glad I did. I've been totally absorbed. Here's my second band.
A closer look at the band in progress. It's a Baltic style band, in cotton and wool, and I'm indebted to Susan Foulkes for her excellent publications and videos for my instruction. The pattern in this band is based on one of Susan's, but I have tweaked it a bit. I like the idea of weaving what looks like A's, which is my initial.
The heddle is a Sámi style heddle with long and short slots. This one is from Stoorstålka, and has seven pattern slots.
The Sámi heddle or "gehpa", also from Stoorstålka, has an interesting shape. It is used as yarn storage, beater, and pattern picker all in one.
Whatever it is, it is a luscious shade of green. I've used Gist's new Duet yarn (a custom linen-cotton blend) for the ground warp & weft of this new rigid heddle sampler, in the pear color. The tiedown warp is a lime green 20/2 cotton. The ground is 12 epi, and the tiedown warp 6 epi. I'm using various shades of blues for the inlay
Here's a closeup of the inlay. This particular accent yarn is cotton bouclé from Brassard, which I bought at LoftyFiber. Love having a local weaving shop!
I'm trying to keep the back neat, instead of leaving the ends dangling this time, so the beginning and ending tails are being tucked in the face of the cloth. Here's a shot underneath the loom. Click on the image to get a better idea of what's going on.
See? No inlay visible on the back.
It's done, and here's some outdoor love. The sampler was woven on a loom with one rigid heddle and a pickup stick. Instructional credit and most of the designs from Erica de Ruiter's excellent book Tejido Huave and Beyond, which I believe is currently out of print. Warp is Brassard's 4/8 cotton used double in a 12-dent heddle. Ground weft is same, used single. Brocade weft is black knitting yarn, approx. DK size.
Click to enlarge.
Now it's time to decide which loom (if any) I can take with me into temporary quarters until the new place is ready. I'm thinking a cricket, a drop spindle, & a wee bit of yarn & fiber. And of course a few books. And...
Here's one for the cat people, although I am not one myself.
But I do have a very fine grand-cat, who visits me once in a while. Here is Molli in my studio during her last visit.
And here she is later in the day, asking nicely for forgiveness.
She has very fine eyes, and they make for compelling subject matter. Or they did during the years I had my TC-1.
Is it a butterfly? A dragonfly? A moth?
Whatever it is, the wings seem to be very casually attached. I predict it won't fly far from home.
Just humor me, OK? These guys made me think of the children's game, "Duck, Duck, Goose," so I'm thinking, why not Goose, Goose, Snail?
I feel lucky these days that I can get even this much weaving done.