Weaverly

Second Scarf

The second scarf on the handspun wool warp features a handspun weft, a mixture of natural wool and light blue dyed bamboo fiber. The weave structure is the same as scarf #1, blocks of 3/1 and 1/3 broken twill.

Now let's shift gears. This morning, too cold and gray for a walk, a friend and I went to the Sigal Music Museum and enjoyed looking at the fine collection of historic pianos & harpsichords. The detail of craftsmanship on these instruments is remarkable. I took the following snapshot of the upper section of an Adam and William Geib pipe organ, c. 1825. The pleated cloth in starburst effect is a cheery note on a gray day.

All In a Summer's Day

Still in limbo. This is not the time to warp a dobby loom. But a rigid heddle loom is a friend one can pull out and warp at a moment's notice. It is pleasant to sit downstairs and weave while looking out at the garden.

Here's a closeup. Warp is wool, cotton, silk and the weft is my handspun wool/bamboo. It's plain weave with a bit of pickup thrown in.

It was raining last night. I watched the fireworks on the Mall from the comfort of my living room. 

It was interesting to note that all over the country, orchestras were playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture during the fireworks displays, celebrating our All-American holiday with music by a Russian composer, containing Russian hymns. And that many of our favorite American show tunes are the creations of immigrants to this country. Pause to reflect.

Hope you all have a good holiday weekend, and that you save some time for weaving. Or for whatever else makes you happy.

Project for an Autumn Day–Just in Time

Spinning on the deck, listening to Pipe Dreams on NPR, then Thistle & Shamrock. What could be better?

Still miles to go on the Herdwick wool. This is the first time I've ever spun & woven in tandem: spin a few hours, wash & block the yarn, then weave a few days with yesterday's spun wool. I guess you'd call it just in time production. It's a little scary.

But so far I'm keeping up.

A Hodgepodge

The spinning of the Herdwick wool proceeds apace. The bottleneck seems to be the blocking: after spinning I wind the singles on a pvc niddy-noddy, wash them in the sink, and leave the niddy on the back deck to dry. This leaves the yarn kink-free and ready for weaving. Unfortunately I spin yarn faster than it can dry. Solution: spin less, or get another niddy (Argh! The damn spell checker wants to write giddy when I want to write niddy. It seems to be untrainable. Least of my problems.).

Last night we attended a remarkable performance of J.S. Bach's Die Kunst der Fuga (The Art of the Fugue) by Daniel Pyle on the harpsichord at Furman's Daniel Recital Hall. It was part of a series sponsored by S.C. Bach. Here is a photo, taken during intermission, of the two-manual harpsichord played by Dr. Pyle.

Inevitably, the interweaving of the threadings of weave drafts, in techniques loosely grouped under the umbrella of Echo Weave, came to my mind during the concert. How closely music, mathematics, and weaving are intertwined (pun intended).

I told you this post is a hodgepodge. Bear with me. This morning on my walk I was greeted by the sun in very dramatic fashion. Sometimes we get lucky!

Finally, here is a book recommendation for you: Ron Rash's The Cove.

 

Green

When I'm throwing the shuttle and the loom is behaving, my mind is free to wander. Sometimes I sing to myself in time to the thump of the beater.Today's section suggested tunes about green.

Green, green, It's green they say, On the far side of the hill. Green, green, I'm going away to where the grass is greener still.

Green grow the lilacs, all sparkling with dew. I'm lonely, my darling, since parting with you.

Greensleeves was all my joy, Greensleeves was my delight.

And so on.

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And then it was time to cut off the section and retie. Ordinarily I just keep on weaving, but it seemed that it would be a good idea to even out some tension irregularities. After retying, I wove a few inches of mostly white warp on top, for a change. There's plenty of warp, so I'm not worried about this small detour.

And now back to work.

 

 

A Day in the Country

Well, a few days, actually. We drove up to visit Elizabeth & company at Airy Knoll, near Middlebrook, Virginia. The cornflowers spread their blue everywhere.

We walked.

Checked out the spring.

We celebrated Elizabeth's birthday.

Visited her studio in the barn.

In another barn we saw some baby barn owls. Met new people and enjoyed conversation with old friends. Heard some talented young string players performing at the Heifetz Institute.

And now back to a heatwave at home, but still remembering our day in the country.

 

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Strings

Before the start of the second concert in the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival on Monday, I took a closer look at the piano waiting on stage. The underside of the lid was highly polished and reflected the piano strings in a way not seen from the audience except in unusual lighting conditions.

A visit from Karl, who is very much into tying his own trout flies, meant a trip to the outdoor store on Tuesday. The specialty items for fishermen look somewhat familiar to a weaver.

Then of course there are plain old strings: home territory for me.

 

Voilà: a Viola!

Last Monday I attended the first in a series of five concerts in the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival series at the Greenville Fine Arts Center. Just as last year, which was its first season at the Greenville venue, this was a feast of the finest in chamber music. This particular concert featured the Tesla String Quartet and Inessa Zaretsky, piano (and festival organizer); I especially enjoyed the hearfelt and spirited playing of the violist. And I've been thinking about violas a lot recently, for another reason.

In my perusings through blogland—and I do enjoy reading blogs, especially the ones in which artists give instructions in making things, such as a beautiful crackle weave blanket on four shafts, a handbound book with a new stitch, or a killer pizza—I have noticed that bloggers frequently add a flourish, with the word "voilà" at the end, to indicate "ta-da, we are successful".

Now, that's all well and good, and the fancy flourish of a French word is permissible. We all do it. It expresses our enthusiasm on completing a task. But I should tell you here that I was a French major, and I feel the spirits of Mme Hoffman and Professor Collignon hovering over me even now. And when I see the way people toss around versions of the word voilà, it causes me a headache, un vrai mal de tête.

Some use the wrong accent, as in voilá. Non, non, non! Others leave the accent off entirely, as in voila. That I can forgive. Some of them use an English transliteration, sidestepping the accent issue entirely, as in wah la! That rings oddly on my francophile ears. But the one that leaves me crying mon Dieu is viola! My friends, this is a viola:

Voilà: a viola!

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Band Concert

Tuesday night's band concert was quite good. The music was well chosen: interesting for the audience and challenging for the musicians, but not too challenging, so that the kids were able to have a real feeling of success. Here are the kids warming up.

Once the actual program began, the audience paid rapt (mostly) attention. But during warmup, I counted the number of cell phones in use in the audience, and it appeared that there were 1.5 phones for every two persons. Or thereabouts.

In all fairness, I should say that some of them switched over from checking their email to documenting the performance.

Some of them were getting their daily fix of Pinterest.

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Music on Sunday

Pianist Marta Felcman acknowledging the audience's appreciation after yesterday's concert at Temple of Israel's Music on Sunday series.

Scarlatti, Mozart, Nikolai Medtner, & Robert Schumann. An afternoon to remember. Thank you, Marta.