Weaverly

Circular Reasoning

My thoughts have been running to smaller and smaller numbers of shafts these days, with interesting results. For those of you who don't know me, in addition to my jacquard work I have woven on looms of four, eight, sixteen, twenty-four and forty shafts. My current stable features 16 and 8 only, although that is always subject to change. :-)

OK, here's an original overshot threading. 

I've taken the threading, copied & pasted it into the threading beside the original threading. I've selected the duplicate and wrapped it up one shaft. Then I've selected the wrapped version & pasted it, and wrapped the new one up one shaft. I've repeated until all four iterations are side by side in the threading. Then I put in a twill tie-up and treadled as drawn in, overshot style. Tabby hasn't been added yet, but the tabby treadles are visible in the tie-up. Click to enlarge.

The result is four distinctly different versions of the overshot circle motif, and they all play nicely together. I will definitely weave this some day. Stay tuned.

BTW, if any of you try this draft, please let me see pictures of your results. If you have trouble copying it from the picture above, let me know and I'll upload the draft to handweaving.net. I'm calling it, not surprisingly, "Four Circles."

Another Amalgamation Adventure

The starting point for this little experiment is a broken twill on 8 shafts. First there is a straight threading on 4 shafts, then a reverse of same on shafts 5—8, except that the starting point for the reverse is shaft 7, not shaft 8, in order to preserve the odd-even alternation, which I like to do. With me so far? I repeated this 8-end motif four times. Then I performed an amalgamation to obtain the second part of the threading. Finally, I tromped as writ and applied a twill tieup. 

I was astonished to discover that the weaves produced are very different when you wrap the tieup. Here are eight possible variations of this wrapping. Click to enlarge.

For more information about amalgamation, see the link in the sidebar, under Monographs.

Now a bit of entertainment. May I present my granddog, Maggie, who is observing correct visiting protocols. She's sitting in the lap of Willy, who is taking a break from boatbuilding.

A Day for Quiet

The changeable weather is imparting a closed-in feeling and I don't have the energy for a very long walk today. Second best is to check on my houseplants. This one does stripes, and she is very good at it. She doesn't ask very much of me, either. 

A surprisingly pleasant indoor activity is mending. I never used to do much of that, except on sheets and pillowcases, and those I tended to mend with the sewing machine. But my favorite linen blouse, many years old and survivor of numerous washings, developed a hole and I thought, this is the time to learn proper mending. You know, the kind that's like weaving. The trick is to anchor your warp and weft on the margins of the hole, and do your weaving in the middle. I don't think this mend would get any prizes at the county fair, but I plan to improve.

Designing amalgamated drafts is a little like doodling. I may get around to weaving this one. Or maybe not.

In the book department, I read two really good ones this week, very different from each other but both about strong women: The Sheep Stell, by Janet White, and Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons. 

Afternoon at Connemara

Yesterday afternoon we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and drove up to Connemara, the home of Carl Sandburg in Flat Rock, North Carolina.

We circled the lower lake.

I took a detour and walked up to the house to enjoy the view. I was rewarded by this magnificent magnolia just coming into blossom.

Back at the lakeside trail, I spied this I spied this blue thing nestled in a bed of moss. What on earth? A lost jewel? Turns out it was a glass button someone had left in that perfect setting. When I got up closer, I saw that it reflected the trees and sky in perfect miniature. Click to enlarge. 

Home at teatime. Warning: Monstera report follows. The new leaves are now fully unfurled, and are a much lighter green than the older leaves. I don't know if they will stay that way, but the contrast is pleasing. I love this plant.

 

In the studio, bookmaking is top dog this week. I have just completed an online class with the inimitable Ali Manning. What a wonderful teacher! I've done coptic bindings before, but not in this twin-needle fashion. Very helpful. Her cover structure is particularly interesting - just laminated paper, no boards to cut. 

On the Trail

Yes, I did stop and read this. But so far they haven't started renovations, and I continue to walk the trail with no interruptions from heavy machinery. Yesterday I was shocked (but not surprised) to see an entire camellia bush in bloom along the side.


And a tree just bursting into bloom near the baseball stadium. Tomorrow it will certainly be covered with blossoms.

At another part of the trail, this time nearer to Travelers Rest, was this curious ghost bicycle. Click to enlarge. Cycling is a risky business around here. So is being a pedestrian. One must be mindful. No cel phones!

And if you're looking for weaving content, no worries. Here's an odd little 8-shaft draft with amalgamation. I may even try to weave this one. But not quite yet.

Max float 4. Four repeats shown.

More Crackle Samples

Sampling crackle on four shafts is endlessly entertaining. 

Here's what the previous sample looks like after washing. 

And a few more post-wash samples, with various wefts.

No block changes for this one, just one block repeated endlessly. It makes a great stripe pattern.

When the blue and white warp was finished, I tied on another 2-color warp, using some fibers of unknown provenance from my stash. I think they were tencel and bamboo, but there might have been some soy silk in there too (???). The two warp colors are dark blue and pumpkin. The weft is purple, also unknown fiber. I wove 72" with hemstitching, and cut it off and washed it and ironed it. About 15% shrinkage, and now it has a lovely drape. The selvedges are a bit problematic. In spite of floating selvedges, the best I can say about them is that they are consistent.

Well, that was fun. I have an increasing respect for crackle. So simple yet so complex. With the warp that is left, I am using some more stash yarn, a pale gray cotton, machine spun but strongly resembling a thick and thin handspun. Same block liftplan as the previous. 

This piece will not be long enough for a scarf, but I'll put it aside with my other strip weaves and eventually it will make its way into a combo garment.