Weaverly

I don't have any new weaving projects to show you today, just lots of pixels. I've resurrected a draft from approx. 20 years ago, network drafting, no echoes or interleavings. It has provided me with an entire afternoon of play. Here are a couple of my favorite variations, and I might just be in the mood to weave them soon. Click to enlarge.

In the Department of Books, I have just finished reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Jane Gardam. It's The Queen of the Tambourine. If I had to describe it in four words, I would say epistolary, funny, surprising, dark. 

Taking Out The Garbage

Remember this warp? I called it a garbage warp, a term I learned in the 1970's to denote a mixture of odds & ends used hit & miss, in the service of stash reduction. I threaded it straight draw on a 16-shaft dobby loom and used a plain weave ground with a sprinkling of warp- and weft-floats in satin order. 

It repeats on 16 picks. If you click to enlarge, you can make out the draft in the lower left of the laptop screen.

I finally wove off all 6 yards a few days ago and cut it off and washed it. Surprisingly it lost about 20% in take-up & shrinkage. 

But what used to be a pretty boring project on the loom is now ~5 yards of delightfully squishy cloth which will some day (I hope) be something to wear.

Mostly cotton.

New Moon, New Warps

This was a couple of nights ago, just as we were locking up. The moon and Venus.

There's more and more color on the Trail.

But plenty of good monochrome, too.

Remember the red warp I was trying to rescue? There were several false starts, miscounted heddles, typical newbies' mistakes.

But at the end of the day it turned out OK. I am using a single shuttle for this multicolor "garbage warp", with a pink cotton flake yarn.

The threading is rosepath on 4 shafts, and the treadling is a simple point twill.

It will eventually make its way into something wearable. 

And on the Jane, there is this linen sampler just tied onto an older warp. Eight shafts.



Department of Books: Finished reading The Summer Book by Tove Jansson and Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller.

Zero Waste Weaving

The garbage warp from yesterday was tied on to the dummy warp (what terrible names for our beloved materials), the knots passed through the reed and heddles, and here you see the progress so far, from behind the heddles, on the way to the warp beam.

Meanwhile, in front of the loom, the warp chains are patiently waiting, and the weights have been attached.

After the beaming, the warp has been tamed and is waiting for the shuttle. If you click to enlarge, you can see what a variety of yarn types are included.

It's a straight threading, and here is my proposed draft. I'm not sure what you would call it. It's little spots of warp floats and weft floats, arranged in satin order. It has a family resemblance to huck, but some might call it a crepe. 

And here are the first few inches woven. 

Points of View

What an entertaining warp this has been! It looks different from every angle and changing lighting conditions. I find myself going to the studio just to get a glimpse of it at different times of day.

At night the lamplight makes it warmer.

Both sides are interesting, but you kind of have to turn into a pretzel to see them.

Unfortunately there's not enough warp left for a third scarf, but I wound up some orange bobbins and this will do for a table runner.

Another angle.

And another.

Up close. This one ought to finish nicely. Three colors of tencel in the warp, and a single cotton weft.

In the department of books, I just finished reading another wonderful Shirley Hazzard novel, The Great Fire, about the aftermath of WWII in Japan & Hong Kong. 

Fringe Benefits

The gray warp is all woven and cut off. This morning I sat on the back porch and tied fringes. 

The paperback I am using as a weight is the first one that came to hand, a weighty tome from my cookbook shelf. The New York Cookbook was recommended to me when I was researching the best recipes for a NY style Jewish rye bread, which some in the North call corn bread.

Apparently the term "corn bread" in this context is not the Southern style made with mostly corn meal, but a dense rye bread with a little corn meal, and a good sour flavor. 

In her introduction to the recipe, Molly O'Neill quotes Terry Kornick, " My mother learned to make this from her brother, Izzy, who immigrated to New York from Poland, where he had been in the shoe business." 

That's what I love about this cookbook. It's full of little personal gems. Out of print, you can still find plenty of used copies. 

And now a closer look at the scarf. 

And if that's just too much orange for you, here's a little purple from yesterday evening's jaunt to the lakeside to see the iris in bloom.

Mother's Day Around Here

A gift of flowers. It's hard to take a picture here without a loom photobombing. 

My favorite lunch (hey, I get to choose today!).

A visit from the grandkids. 

A walk around the lake.

An astonishing rhododendron bush.

This ingenious bridge is the work of Furman student Isaiah Ives. It's constructed using K'nex building toys.

Irises everywhere.

And back in the studio, I dug into my new supply of lyocell and started a piece on an interleaved threading draft. 

I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Revisions

The first scarf from the dobby warp has been cut off and washed, and it has a lovely hand. 

However, I do find the pattern to be way too elongated and the colors too restrained.

Revisions are in order. Here's the current screen in ProWeave.

And I did depart from stash-busting with a purchase of cayenne colored tencel yesterday. I'm using it as weft, and I've changed the design to interlocking circles. What a difference! 

The appearance of the cloth changes dramatically as you change viewing position. 

There's quite a bit of iridescence.

I'm having a good time with this one!

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.

Moving On. Spring and All That.

First of all a big Thank You to everyone who tuned in to Textiles & Tea. I loved your comments, and I love being part of this great big warm inclusive funny messy community. To those of you who posted comments on my blog requesting publications: Please email me privately (email link is in the sidebar to the left) and include your contact information. I can't process your requests without an email address! 

And now a brief report from the outdoors.

Yes, spring is here, with a vengeance.

The area of the trail that was cleared of fallen trees is slowly being tamed, so that I can get through it without mud up past my ankles. All of this debris will be covered eventually by new growth. 

This pile of old vines and branches gladdens a weaver's heart.

And here's a nod to all you Formula 1 fans out there. I didn't know there were so many of you! 

A new warp is being wound on to the dobby loom. It's wool and tencel, end and end.

What would we ever do without lease sticks?

Beaming on.

Now a few weft samples. 

I finally chose some peach colored soy silk from my stash. This fabric is oddly iridescent. It changes appearance as you walk around it.

I'm seeing people here! That's a surprise.