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After the rain, the landscape reformed itself, with reflections and new colors.
Mostly a range of browns, but here and there a green.
In the kitchen, more green. Swiss chard added to the soup pot. Later there would be winter squash and green peas.
On the loom, a new warp of red, orange, gray, yellow, black.
And of course, weighty matters!
A few different twills working together. Four shafts.
Just finished reading Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry. Highly recommended.
This loom is working nicely now after a total retrofit of all its cords. In four years of almost constant use they had just plum worn out.
I've had time to weave a few inches on the new red & black warp. Fascinating to see the variety of color variations with yellow & blue weft, pick and pick. I'm seeing several shades of orange & brown, and a few light blues as well.
It's a rainy day, so I will continue weaving for a while, then pour myself a glass of wine and read a book.
The view from my back porch sets the mood. The moire pattern from the screens is a bonus!
In my monograph Amalgamation: Double Your Dobby I stated, incorrectly as it happens, that the Windows version of Fiberworks doesn't support amalgamation. Following are directions for performing an amalgamation operation in Fiberworks, Windows version. I am indebted to Muffy Young for making me aware of this method.
1. On the desired number of shafts (8 in this example), enter your threading. It can be straight lines, points, networking, etc.
Repeat the threading once.
Double the number of shafts (to 16 in this example) but leave the number of treadles as original (8 here). Select the second threading repeat, and shift this portion up into the upper rank of the threading (shafts 9—16 in this example). In the tieup, enter a straight line in the lower rank and a satin in the upper rank. In the treadling, enter a straight line.
2. Tools> Export to sketchpad.
3. Analysis> Make drawdown.
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If you have purchased the digital monograph before Jan. 25, 2924, duplicate this page and save it with your monograph. If you wish to purchase the monograph after today, you will receive the corrected version.
I've never tasted these before, but they're wonderful. Blood oranges. How can you resist that color?
There's a rather audacious warp going onto this loom, after the cords were all replaced.
Only one threading error, easily corrected. Ready to go.
I have a an amalgamation in mind for this warp. The red warp is in there, but it gets transmuted by all the other colors.
Just finished reading Sweetwater by Roxana Robinson.
The universe is telling me point twills.
So that is what I am doing.
And in between times, there are books to make.
And books to read. I have just finished The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.
Robyn Spady has just published the 41st edition of Heddlecraft and this time she is featuring crepe. Heddlecraft is a valuable digital publication and weavers of all levels will find a wealth of information here. Subscribe if you don't already!
And many thanks to Robyn for her shoutout to my own crepe publication, A Crepe is Not Just a Pancake. For those who have been trying to purchase this monograph and are having trouble with the links, please email me directly to aschlein at att dot net, and I will help you.
Just because I hate to write a post without a picture, here is my kitchen corner during yesterday's monster rainstorm (which, by the way, is now over).
Weave on!
Sunday morning at the loom. I didn't even know I was a target. He's sneaky that way.
The next day was a yellow day:
And finally the end of the warp hove into sight:
I cut off the whole mess (11 towels) and dumped it on the floor:
And then I cut them apart and basted the hems. Here they are ready for the sewing machine:
I've finished reading Day by Michael Cunningham.
Very tired of the black weft. It was inevitable.
Diving deep into what's left of my stash, I found a partial cone of gray 6/2 unmercerized cotton and wound a few bobbins.
I also took this opportunity to revisit my twill sampler, and came up with another treadling. Here is the result.
For the curious, here is a partial draft (structure only):
In the Department of Books, just finished reading Omega Farm by Martha McPhee.
The young son of a friend of mine has started carving these wonderful little trolls (largest one is just under 2' high), and I absolutely had to have a trio of them. They stand as a family in front of an illuminated Cape Cod house on my desk. Thanks, Thomas! The house was crafted by a couple of artists I found on Etsy several years ago. They are no longer online, as far as I can tell, and I don't have a record of their names. If anyone knows who they are, please let me know and I will give attribution.
This morning I was greeted by the sun making stripes on my living room window shade. How's that for a weaver's sunrise!
In loom territory I am switching to a black weft for the next towel on the Endless Warp. The treadling is a trifle different, too. I'm loving this one, especially what's going on in the selvedge area.
In the Department of Books, I have just read A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall.
The loveliness of a long warp. It carries you through to a new year and beyond. Here on this 4-shaft friend I am weaving towels.
The original goal was stash-busting, but I love the little rabbit holes I am getting into. Like how about just a simple point twill treadling with this pale blue cotton that refuses to get used up.
The blue yarn is too fine to use singly, so let's use the double shuttle, please.
I love it when the selvedges work out OK. That doesn't always happen.
In the Department of Books, I have just read Riverman by Ben McGrath and Day by Michael Cunningham.