Weaverly

Hemp and Linen

There are two cones that have been waiting on my yarn shelves for years. They are really annoying. "When are you going to use us already?" they call, pathetically. Today they caught me in a weak moment, as I was facing a naked loom.

The yarns are hemp 18/2 and cottolin 14/2, full of texture. I wanted to combine them in a warp for some towels in an amalgamated twill, but I wasn't sure if they would hold up as a warp. They are quite hairy. Sample time. I wound a short warp 6" wide, holding both yarns together in the cross. I picked the ends randomly as I threaded the heddles. The sley is at 36 epi in a 12 dent reed. I started weaving with red 16/2 cottolin. Click to enlarge.

By quitting time I hadn't yet experienced any broken warps, a good sign. The fabric is wonderfully scrunchy and rough, yet the pattern is not obliterated. I think I'll have to beat just a tad harder, as the pattern isn't weaving up square, then again there won't be as much draw-in on a wider warp. I'll wait on the final decision until I have an opportunity to wash a sample. 

 

Signs of the Times

Which way do we go? For all of us, new ways of thinking & hard choices.

No loom time the past few days, but always time for a few new drafts. Here's an amalgamation on 4 shafts. Adding color makes me think of restaurant tablecloths from when we used to go to restaurants. Click to enlarge.

It seems as if I am committed to making my own clothes this year. How did that happen? I don't remember. But I enjoy it.

Closing In

As walking out in public becomes more and more fraught, I find myself spending more hours at the loom and at the computer. That's not the best thing for my physical body, but I do enjoy the extra time with the threads. You know what I mean. I know you do.

I won't show you a picture of what's on the loom, because it hasn't changed much from the previous post. 

Then again, maybe I will! It's my blog. I can change my mind and I make the rules here.

So here's what's on my loom:

Shadow weave. I fiddled with the draft for so long, and when it was as good as I could get it, turns out it is almost exactly the same as one of Marion Powell's. This book is a treasure. My copy is old, well worn, and falling apart. 

Shadow weave makes me wonder about adding end-and-end color alternation to some of my amalgamation drafts, so here's an experiment from this morning (click to enlarge):

Compare it with the structure-only version of the same draft.

Well, I feel better already. Happy weaving, folks. Be kind to each other.

Happy Birthday, Charlotte Brontë

Happy Birthday, Charlotte Brontë. You have given me so much pleasure over the years. I wish you had had an easier life.

This morning's walk was another of those springtime gifts.

Goats and sheep, oh my.

A brief glimpse into another world.

Back at home I am scanning woven samples. Now I hope I can match up the correct drafts with these. I am a woeful record keeper.

A little less taxing: making bias tape.

 

A Cluster of Cairns

More walkers than bikers on the Trail this morning. The county workers are out mowing the grass verges. Scent of onions.

On a trailside bench, a man reading a book. A crutch is propped next to him. How did he get there? A runner alongside his small helmeted son on a bicycle. A mom pushing a stroller with an infant, her young daughter riding ahead on a pink bicycle. A gray-haired woman walker passes me. She's the same one I saw yesterday. Daily routines emerging here. A very tall guy in a beautiful yellow suede-like shirt. I longed to reach out and touch it, but I didn't. 

Some new cairns have sprung up overnight, or perhaps these are modifications to existing cairns. No matter. All messages welcome.

And here is a cluster of cairns! Or concatenation of cairns. Or a convergence of cairns. Or a community of cairns. Take your pick.

Of course there is more green than yesterday. A doubling of green. Every day there will be twice as much green as the day before. A better statistic than some others.

Back in the studio I continue to labor at the amalgamation project. I've had to scrap every word I wrote before my move. It's total c##p. Did a fresh new draft. Somewhat better. Now I have to decide what to do with the woven samples. I no longer have the photography setup with backdrop and lights. I will have to go with Plan B. The scanner perhaps.

And the drafts will have to be organized. Well, that's for another day. Click on this one to enlarge, it will look better.

Virtual wave. Here's lookin' at ya!

Amalgamation, Again

Trying not to watch too much news, by daylight I finished the red & green striped warp with this little sample...

...then cut it off and washed all the little bitty samples, then ironed them and photographed them by artificial light (so yellow!).

Front...

...and back.

Then made a new warp...

...and tied it on to the last one...

...and here it is almost ready to go.

A few inches woven before I turn to my evening reading:

And I leave you with this creature. Enjoy.

Yarn Choices

I am back into the amalgamation study at last. These samples are not so much about color as about yarn weights and sett. 

The red warp is 16/2 cotton, and the pale green is 16/2 cottolin. 

The 36 epi sett makes a very dense cloth. It would be good for placemats and such. For clothing or napkins I would prefer a more open sett.

And if your eye is craving yellow at this point, here is the inevitable daffodil picture. 

Or if you'd prefer a more sedate black and white, here are some swans. They are so ungainly out of the water, but trust me, when these guys go back into the lake they are gorgeous.

Sign of Spring

When you see a kite stuck in a tree where no kite was before, you know Spring is not far behind.

The amazing weavers in the rigid heddle class continue to push the envelope and are very comfortable with their string heddles. Click to enlarge.

In my own studio, I'm giving my fingers a rest and doing some more investigations of amalgamated drafts on the computer. Click to enlarge here too.

The last one reminds me of a game of snakes & ladders.

A Return to Amalgamation

It has been almost a year since I last worked on my amalgamation samples. In the interim I've made a major life change and moved to a new home. My studio has been reorganized, and all my work flow has changed as well. 

It's small wonder that getting back to amalgamation is a puzzle! Many of the concepts I thought were fixed rules have "slipped and slided" alarmingly. New combinations and variations have popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, and I am in a muddle!

But it's a good muddle and I welcome the new possibilities. How amusing that the major hurdle now is that both my multishaft looms already have long warps on them and I will have to finish these warps before I can test the new drafts. I foresee many happy hours of weaving ahead. The days are getting longer, and the added natural light is a bonus.

Click on the image below to "embiggen" it. No two of these amalgamated drafts are exactly alike, although some are similar. Oh, the joy of pixels!

 

A Departure and a New Beginning

The hemp/linen towels were washed, dried, and hemmed. Click to enlarge & see the pattern a little more clearly.

A few days later, the loom they were woven on found a new owner. 

The Octado is carried out to the waiting truck.

This dear loom has served me well over many years, and now is going to a good home with a new weaver. Happy weaving, Linda!