Weaverly

Blue. Not The Blues, just blue.

It's funny looking up at the sky. A skyscape, unlike a landscape, has no horizon. 

If you look down instead of up, it's easier to orient yourself. It's also easier to keep your balance.

Going indoors now. Here's the most recent lampas, cut off and roughly hemmed. 

And now by artificial light. But it's all lampas, with handspun wool (and sparkles) pattern weft. 

Now starting another lampas on the same warp. This one with two different pattern wefts in a (more or less) orderly sequence.

The brown is handspun Corriedale, and the gray is a combination of merino and Qiviut. 

In the Department of Books:

 

I've just finished reading Thunderclap: A memoir of art and life & sudden death by Laura Cumming. 

 

Conestoga Again

We'll put aside the circles dilemma on the Dobby loom for a while, and return to a different circle, the Conestoga overshot pattern for four shafts.

For this runner (wallhanging? pillow top?) I changed things up a bit, and instead of treadling as drawn in, overshot style, I took a previously invented overshot and used it as a treadling. So this is a hybrid, and I haven't named it yet. This has been washed. Pattern weft is handspun wool & lotus.

And a peek at the reverse:

Now, if you're still with me...

The next piece on the Conestoga threading, this time in classical as-drawn-in style. The weft this time is a combination of handspun wool/silk/rayon (for the wheels) and dk brown Harrisville shetland (the tables). I wove and unwoven this three times today until I got it just the way I wanted. I think this will be the final version. There's just enough warp left for a sizable runner. 

But wait, there's more! 

Here's my lovely Mother's Day supper. Thank you!

And a magazine sighting at the checkout line. Would you have guessed there's an entire magazine devoted to Avocado? I sure didn't.

My favorite critter on my morning walks. This fellow is totally tame and I am convinced he actually poses for photographers. This was a couple of days ago.

Department of Books

I just finished reading William Maxwell's So Long, See You Tomorrow. This book is so good that I don't have words for it. Just read it. 

Circles Down the Middle

Thanks, everyone, for weighing in on the circles question (see previous post). Responses, both here and via email, are about 60/40 in favor of Down the Middle. As that's where I was heading myself, that's the way I'm going. Although, if the score had come out the other way, I might still have chosen the middle route. My contrarian streak sometimes makes itself known.

No weaving content today, but here's a picture of this morning's activity, cleaning two of my fountain pens. I guess this is related to the circles theme.

I've just finished reading Willard Spiegelman's Senior Moments: Looking Back, Looking Ahead. Don't be turned off by the unfortunate title. I say unfortunate because the term "senior moment" is a euphemism around here for those times when the brain's gatekeeper goes on coffee break. The book is a wonderful collection of essays by a poetry critic and academic. Recommended. 

 

A Dilemma

Here's the problem. It's a scarf warp. I'll be rethreading an existing warp (gasp!) and I have exactly the right number of ends for this pattern (plus an additional funny business for selvedges). But I have to decide on which version I want to use. Same threading, different starting place. Do I want two circles side by side...

...or do I want a circle in the center and a half circle on either side?

We're talking about commitment here. I might be with this threading for a long time. What do you think? 

Play It Again

After the silk adventures with four-shaft weaves, I put on another, similar, warp in linen this time. This is 30/2 linen at 28 epi and 28(?) ppi. Color plays a role now, and these high-texture weaves will change radically in the wet finishing. Probably too early to compare.

I am using four of the eight treadles on my Louet Jane loom. There are two different threadings, crossed by two treadlings, making a total of four weave structures. This takes some close attention in the setup, and also in the treadling. I don't think I would have attempted this without TempoTreadle. Click to get a closer view of the weaves.

Here's a structure only drawdown of the draft. Selvedges are included. Click to enlarge.

Now just for fun - a snapshot of my weaving studio in its current state of organization/disorganization. On the wall are some old jacquard pieces. On the shelves: some WIPs, some UFOs, and a few GOKs

More Spring, a Towel, and a Heddle Vista

Ruth introduced me to a delightful place for a woodland walk just up the road. It's the Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve, and as the name implies it contains a trove of Bunched Arrowhead. The BA's do not appear to be out just yet, but I hugely enjoyed the walk through fields, woods, and swampy parts. Spring!

I cut the first hemp towel off the Nilus warp, gave it a good washing & drying, and took it out on the porch for a photo. The cloth was quite stiff on the loom, but after its bath it feels soft and squishy, a perfect towel!

It's very vain, and wants you to see a few more pictures.

And a close-up, of course.

I usually don't like to cut off the projects one at a time, but I couldn't wait to see the finished towel. There's really not too much loom waste here, just a couple of inches lost to the re-tying. Now it's ready for a second towel, for which I have just enough hemp left in my stash.

On the dobby loom, meanwhile, I just noticed the intriguing arrangement of heddles as seen behind the reed. It's a kind of echo of the threading arrangement, and in certain times of day it looks just like the organ pipes on a large chapel organ. Or so it seems to me.

A Printing Obsession

For some reason I seem to have caught the gel printing bug. It's been around for years now, and I'm a little late to the party. Never mind.

Perhaps it's the immediacy of the medium. You can be set up in minutes and start pulling prints right away. Very different from weaving, where you can spend days designing, then preparing the loom, winding bobbins, etc., before you throw the first pick. And then you've only just begun.

Or perhaps the wildflowers on my morning walk have stimulated the area of my brain that longs for lots of crazy color.

Well, whatever it is, I'm having fun. Eventually I'll use some of these papers in bookmaking.

And for a change-up, I'm still plugging away at the pink warp. Here's the morning sun throwing it in high relief.

Low Tech

It takes some getting used to a loom without a computer interface of some sort, if your weaving life has been computer-centric for so long. This morning I found myself sitting at the loom and looking for the on/off button. 

Although my very first weaving experience was overshot on a Structo at age eleven or so, I hadn't done much overshot since then. Until now. I chose a draft with wheels and tables, an oldie called "Conestoga". I found it in Davison, page 138.

The warp is striped in yellow and olive green, with a blip of red. The first sample, above, has a light gray tabby weft. I played around with the treadling to alter the proportions of the wheels, and changed the tabby weft to dark red for the second sample.

I love the gentle whooshing sound this loom makes. I leave the doors open and I can hear the birds while I weave.

 

And This Just In

It has finally arrived, and at last I have a loom with rear-hinged treadles, suitable for my particular idiosyncrasies. 

It will also allow me to weave wider pieces than before. I've left the back four shafts unused, and warped it up with a straight draw on four shafts. I'm using up bits of yarn from my stash for warp & weft.

No electronics, no computer. Plain weave only, so far, just to put the loom through its paces. 

Here's a lovely bit of handspun cotton rescued from a dark corner:

And mustn't ignore what's going on outside. Spring is just bursting out.

I was worried that the newly planted Japanese maple in my backyard was a goner, but yesterday it just sprang to life and I think it's going to be fine.

And to round things off, here's a snapshot taken while I was stopped at a traffic light. Those panels of cracked paint on the rear doors caught my attention. 

Here's one of them cropped and turned on its side. There must be something one can do with that.

In Praise of Mittens

This past weekend a lovely gift came our way. Perched in a place of honor, among old family pictures, is a charming replica of you-know-who.

This little fellow is the creation of Liz, who crocheted him, with some of her own modifications, following this pattern. How can you not smile. It's all about the mittens.