Weaverly

Marking Time

Looks like we are still on schedule for move-in on Halloween. Meanwhile marking time with spinning. Just finished the pound of CVM I introduced in the last post, and gave the skeins a good washing.

Here they are all skeined up & tidy, ready for ??? Maybe a warp for some twill scarves. Soon, soon.

When not spinning, and when the weather's good, I am just a few steps away from the Swamp Rabbit Trail, and I love walking through the leafy green tunnels. I do have to keep a sharp ear out for the cyclists (the other spinners, you might say), as they come flying by at a great clip. "On your left, on your left!"

Slippage

There has been some slippage of the schedule. Our house is not complete, and stands in a sea of mud. Moving day was to be tomorrow, but has been forwarded to Halloween Day. Very funny.

Fortunately I have my spinning tools with me, and of course my trusty little rigid heddle loom. One more warp. This is another trial of Berroco Mykonos. Still pretty stiff at 10 epi, but I love it nevertheless. 

I finished spinning the roving I started at National Spinning & Weaving Week, and washed the skeins & hung them to dry.

Done. They started out as Malabrigo Nube.  

Next I tackled the pound or so of CVM I bought from a farmer in Maine a couple of years ago. This might keep me going until Halloween. Perfect. It will certainly be good spinning during the World Series.

 

Multitasking

No words required here, except that I look forward eagerly to moving day.

Just finished reading Great Expectations. It did not meet my expectations, but I did enjoy the delightful humor & satire, character development, and wonderful depictions of the marshes & London locations. Disappointed in the treacley ending. And Miss Havisham was a real piece of work. I did wonder how her garments could have lasted so long.

Did watch the first hour or so of the debates, and am no nearer to a decision.

Yarn? Thread?

I was bored the other day & went shopping (it always works). I picked up some embroidery floss, sewing thread, & a ball of baby yarn.

Here is a new sample on the orange warp. For the fine background weft I chose something really fine: lilac sewing thread; and for the brocade weft, I used the baby knitting yarn in mint green. 

Interestingly, the lilac thread reads as the same tonal value as the orange warp, and practically disappears in the cloth. The green, on the other hand, is a very much lighter tone than the warp, and the contrast is good. If you photograph these yarns in black & white, the tonal similarities and contrasts are more evident.

Here's a bit of weaving:

The reverse side is interesting. If you zoom in, you can just catch the little lavender ground wefts in the areas where the brocade wefts float on the face.

Conclusion: this is a good choice of weft yarns for this technique. You will recall that the warp is 8/4 cotton used double at 12 epi.

Something Fishy

First a couple of birds. 

Then I tried to make my own design. A fish. Or two.

Or three.

The problem is -- I think they look more like airplanes.

Whatever.

Celebration in the Gazebo

Yesterday the spinners celebrated National Spinning & Weaving Week at the Gazebo in Travelers Rest. What a great time we had! The weather was perfect, and lots of folks stopped by to see what we were up to. The Gazebo is just adjacent to the Swamp Rabbit Trail, so there was plenty of bicycle traffic.

Orange, and More

New week, new warp. I wanted to weave more samples of the Tejido Huave technique described in this post. A little more spontaneous, this time. First a diamond.

What's better than a diamond? Three diamonds!

Then I tried something asymmetric, but graphed it out first. The challenge was to avoid any floats longer than 3. Done.

Winding onto the cloth beam.

A closeup. This might be the last warp I put on the rigid heddle loom before moving day. Maybe.

Jacquard sighting! This was while I waited for the elevator. Click to enlarge. 

Meanwhile, the outdoors beckons. On this morning's walk I spent a little extra time in the rose garden. 

And the waterfowl are always composing and recomposing themselves into elegant compositions. I thought this one looked better in black & white.

I love my daily walk around the lake. Now that it's a little cooler, I don't have to start out quite so early.

Now may I change the subject? Here's a bumper sticker I saw this morning: "Elect a clown, expect a circus." Yup.

Stiff As A Board

Nearing the end of my warp of Berroco Mykonos Stonewash, I was experiencing a loose selvedge on the left. As I'm still without my regular studio & familiar tools, I did the second best thing: dropped two spools of thread in a sock, and used this as a weight. It worked just fine and enabled me to finish weaving the warp.

Yesterday I cut it off, did the fringe thing, and washed the scarf. This morning it was dry and I tried it on. Stiff as a board! I should have known.  It feels heavenly while I'm wearing it, though. Very comfortable. I scrunched it up a bit and it softened somewhat. I may have to rethink my scarf aesthetic.

This closeup shows the unusual construction of the yarn: very fine linen and cotton fibers tightly wrapped around a viscose core.   

I used a pickup stick and some string heddles in the weaving, and produced this lacy effect, which only shows up when backlit.

Moving day is not far off. I may have time to do one more warp before packing up again. 

Morning & Evening

Because of car troubles, I haven't been going to the lake the past few days. My walks have been here on the property. But there's still plenty to see. Out quite early in order to beat the heat, I was rewarded with this gorgeous sight:

And then at the Swamp Rabbit Trail, I just happened to spot these old railroad ties under the trail bed. I knew it was a former railroad bed, but here's the proof:

Now let's fast forward to a brief evening walk, just before the mosquitos began attacking, and when I looked up, I saw this (you must look up once in a while):

And going back inside, on the elevator, I realized no day is complete without a weaving observation. Well, sort of. This padding was installed because someone moved out today. But to me it looks like a giant reverse twill. If I don't look too closely.

In the reading department, I just finished Russell Banks's Continental Drift. Oil burner repairman from New Hampshire meets Haitian migrant in a horrendous encounter in the Florida Keys. Wonderful book.

And I have just begun Dickens's Great Expectations, which somehow I'd never gotten around to reading before. I'm loving it.