Weaverly

Brocade & Rigid Heddle

This morning I warped up my little rigid heddle loom for some brocade experiments. I wanted to do brocade with special tie-down warps, Theo Moorman style. I chose the direct warping method, but the tangling behind the heddle was annoying; next time I will use the indirect warping method.

I used a pickup stick for one brocade shed, and string heddles for the second brocade shed.

Here's a closeup of the brocade motif. The ground warp & weft are 5/2 cotton at 12 epi. The tie-down warps are 20/2 green cotton @ 6 epi. The brocade weft is embroidery floss used double.

And now for no particular reason except that it makes me happy, here's a view from my back deck yesterday morning. At a certain point every morning, the sun casts a sword of light across the grass. This trick lasts about three minutes and then is gone. When seen through the deep bronze leaves of the redbud tree, the effect is magical.

Movers and Shakers

Saturday's studio sale went very well; thank you for asking. Lots of nice people came and bought things, and many of my tools, yarns, and woven items found excellent new homes. I couldn't have done it alone. Here's a shoutout to my strategic planners: Pat on my right and Patti on my left. You are the best!

As if that weren't enough excitement, here's what greeted me out front Monday morning:

Yes, road closed! After many years, the county has decided that today's the day to start repairing the damaged sewer next door. If they had started two days ago, the studio sale would have been (ahem!) a washout.

This project is expected to last about two weeks. 

Warm Colors

Today was a day for the warm side of the color wheel. First, an early morning appointment and a jacquard sighting:

Then on the way home a quick trip to the grocery store:

And this evening, just as the sun was setting, the redbud tree in the back yard blazed into life:

 

Welcome, Sweet Spring

On my walk today. This needs no words.

Now to the annals of the laundry room.  The most recent batch of samples has been washed, dried, and steam pressed. 16/2 cottolin, designed with the technique of amalgamation, a close cousin of network drafting. There's more information about amalgamation in my book Network Drafting: an Introduction (see sidebar).

Click on any of these to enlarge.

I hope Spring is beautiful where you are, or will be soon.

Something Spiky and Something Soft

Get your greens today! Here's some new green in my front yard, displaying a wonderful contrast with the old green. I love their spikiness, and the fact that they look like a hastily wrapped birthday present. Happy birthday, you-know-who.

Now down to the studio. My 8-shaft loom is finally reassembled after its move, and it's in perfect working order. I put on a new warp this week, cottolin, for some amalgamation samples. It looks like an underwater pattern, quintessential network drafting. Click to enlarge.

And come even closer:

Emerging

The third amalgamation warp is a wrap. Samples hemmed, washed, ironed, and laid out on my cutting board for a quick photo. These are from a 16-shaft draft. Click to enlarge.

I think the next amalgamation warp will be for my 8-shaft lobby loom, but I need a few more heddles for that loom. They're on order. At least I can wind a new warp in preparation. Now here's a picture of something that can't wait:

My daffodils are emerging! Even if we have a couple of frosts, I think most of them will make it. These gals are tough.

Blue & Gold

Bronson lace on the rigid heddle loom. Gearing up for January.

One space left in the class "Color and Texture on the Rigid Heddle Loom." See sidebar.

A last blast of color on my street.

Interleaved, Again

After I finished the most recent scarf on this warp, I had a computer failure. It was a very old laptop and in the words of my late mother-in-law, "it didn't owe me anything." Fortunately I had another old, but functional laptop waiting in the wings, and after some minor software skirmishes, I was back in business and weaving another scarf.

This warp, as you may remember is end-and-end yellow cotton and bright pink buttonhole silk, with an interleaved threading.

For the weft on this new scarf, I chose bright orange bamboo. The cloth shows incredible iridescence, so I am showing it to you here from several angles. 

Frankly, I was surprised that this particular combination worked so well. I still have a lot to learn about iridescence. 

In other color news, the gardenias at my side door are blooming madly. This New Jersey girl, even though she has lived in the South almost 50 years, still can't get used to bushes that bloom in October.  Bless her heart.

By Water and By Fire

The handspun yardage was cut off this morning, washed, and is hanging out to dry on the deck. 

It's all handspun wool and wool blends, both warp and weft. Plain weave.

That was the water part. Thursday we drove up to Asheville to celebrate an anniversary. 

Here are the rapeseed fields on the Biltmore estate. Rapeseed is the stuff they use to make canola oil, I learned. 

One of the gates near the main house.

Now for the fire part. We spent the evening viewing installations of Chihuly glass art on the Biltmore property. The strategically placed lighting enhanced the glass in a dramatic way, both outdoors and in. The next picture was just as the sun was going down.

Here's the only indoor installation.

My personal favorite was in one of the ponds, and the water added greatly to the effect with mysterious reflections.

Click here for more information about artist Dale Chihuly and for more information about Chihuly Nights at Biltmore, take a look here.

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Yesterday, at spinners' day out, Ruth and I chose to do our walking through Falls Park, and wound up at the new trail extension, the Cancer Survivors Park. There are trails, bridges, gazebos, waterfalls, and flowers galore. Here are Ruth and me on a lookout area, casting our shadows.

It was really hot, even in the morning, and we eventually found a shady bench in Falls Park for our spinning. In the afternoon, I continued weaving on the rigid heddle loom. This project is a result of stash-diving: a little bit of silk & cotton knitting leftovers, a few yards of handspun wool, and some fabric strips. I was practicing my leno moves so that I can teach them next week.

This morning I finished warping the dobby loom with some cotton for deflected double weave, a structure I have long admired but never tried for myself. It is addictive!

Sixteen shafts. It will be exciting to wash the sample and see them do their magic.