Weaverly

More Samples, and an Interesting Book

The most recent doubleweave sample is interesting to watch on the loom, when you can see both sides, as in this view.

The piece is now off the loom, hemmed, washed, dried, and ironed. Here's what I'm calling the right side, or face...

...and here's the reverse side. Actually either side could be called the face, but once you decide, that determines which way you sew the hem.

The sample is 10/2 cotton @ 32 epi and ppi. Warp dark blue and pink, weft turquoise and gold. Now I'm going to try it in 30/2 linen, in other colors. Tying on, the usual bird's nest.

But all comes out OK in the end.

Is this a cosmic message?

Time for a walk around the lake. I don't usually see all the black swans in one place, but here they are. Three out of four, anyway. Number three in diving for food.

At the farm, they are setting out cauliflower plants. 

And back in the studio, I am enjoying this brand new book, which arrived from the U.K. a few days ago: The Draught Book by Jeremiah Fielding, edited by Foster, Dunbar, and Harper. It's an excellent study of an 18th century Lancashire weaver and his drafts, set out in original notation as well as modern format, with photos of woven samples. The historical section is fascinating reading, and the mostly monochromatic utilitarian fabrics are clearly depicted. Highly recommended.

Changing Colors

I've tried a new weft sequence on the previous warp, to explore new colorways. Here's today's sample underway. 

And at Swan Lake, the bell tower suddenly appeared in the fork of this tree. I never saw that before! The question is, have they moved the tree? Or have they moved the bell tower?

One more doodle before I settle down to an afternoon at the loom:

 

Studio Time

A late night in the studio. Sometimes you just can't go to sleep unless you beam the warp and get it out of harm's way.

The next morning, I got this far.

And a day later, some weaving is actually happening. 

This is an interleaved threading, based on an original overshot draft and woven as doubleweave on eight shafts. 

Kinda fun! 

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In the Department of Books, I just finished reading The Girls, by Emma Cline. Very noir, and very good. This is not one to cheer you up, be warned.

My Weaving Life So Far

Open to the public: my virtual lecture to the Weavers Guild of Boston on Wednesday, September 15, entitled "My Weaving Life So Far," a personal inventory of friends, books, and inspirations encountered along the journey in 57+ years of weaving. The lecture is part of the Guild's September meeting, which is scheduled to start at 12 noon. My lecture will begin around 1 pm, and will last for approximately 1 hour, followed by 30 minutes of Q&A. Registration will close Sept. 12. Hope to see many of you there!

At Sixes and Sevens

I admit it, sometimes I have a hard time coming up with titles. 

For today we have two cats, two swans, and two weaving drafts, total six. The cats and the swans I saw on my walk this morning. It's actually the same cat twice, with a bit of photoshopping the second time around.

The swans are the usual suspects, hoping for a handout, swanning around on Swan Lake.

The drafts. Now that's another story. I was doing some lazy drafting on the computer (swanning?) and came up with an 8-shaft doubleweave based on a 4-shaft overshot. Two repeats are shown, warpwise and weftwise, and I may or may not weave it. Face and reverse are shown. Click to enlarge.

But I digress. Back to my morning walk. It started to rain, but a gentle rain. I kept on.

At the koi pond, the circles made by the raindrops showed up nicely. The koi appeared to like the rain.They were more active than usual.

At the Trail entrance, a remnant of last week's torrential rain and wind. More circles.

At the farm, the remnants of the tomato crop.

And on campus, the students have arrived! They erupted from this building as I rounded the bend before the dam. I was too far away to see if any wore masks. It's going to be an interesting year.

Okay, were you waiting for the sevens part of the title? Voilà, a conference bike. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw it going down the path with four cyclists pedaling furiously. Here it is, later in the parking lot. Up to seven cyclists can ride this thing at once. A study in cooperation. 

And in the Department of Books, I just finished reading Wayward by Dana Spiotta. Will be looking for more books by this author. Have you read her yet?

Choices

A lakeside view from yesterday. 

Today was a different matter, with torrential rains and tornado warnings.

In the studio, the linen double weave runner is cut off, washed, dried, and steam pressed.

Here's a view up close:

I tied a new linen warp onto the remains of the previous, this one blue and gold end-and-end. I'm weaving it as a type of Jin, with one shuttle.

And now a break for yoga class (masked and distanced). A community jokester has added signs at the water fountains (click to enlarge):

Which one would you choose?

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Finished reading: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi, Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman, Monkey Boy by Francisco Goldman.

Catching Up

Hello all! It's been a while, and now I'm catching up. Here's a miscellany from the past week and a half.

On the Jane loom, various linen doubleweave samples to determine sett and color. The samples below, all 30/2 linen, were woven at 28 epi, 30 epi, and 32 epi, respectively. I've finally determined on 32 epi, balanced weave, and will go with it. Eight shafts.

So here's the latest warp tied on and just begun. 

Out in the world, suitably masked, I find joy in unexpected places. 

The red vibe is following me. Back at home the late afternoon sun catches the cottolin warp in the great room and lights it up like a beacon. 

Yes, there are looms all over the house now. You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?

Rolling with the Punches

Saturday early bird. Sunrise. It's a much cooler time to take a walk.

In the studio, the doubleweave on 8 shafts has been cut off and washed.

Now I am tying some 30/2 linen onto the remains of the warp, in three different color areas, to do some color sampling (I first replayed to 28 epi in an 8 dent reed).

I really wanted to use a temple, but the prickly ones do not play nicely with my loom, so I have gone to the homemade variety with tarp clips and weights. It's working great. Here is the left selvedge:

And the right selvedge:

Another walk. This time a surprise! Well, life will throw you some curves. Let's see where this one leads.

Backpack, water bottles, and cell phones left under this tree. No one else is in sight. There must be a story here. 

At the Sustainability Center the zinnias run rampant, even though the wildflower field has been mown down.

Hibiscus buds hoist against the sky.

 

Getting My Ducks in a Row

After spending two solid days preparing the green and black warp, I discovered three threading errors. They were not the kind for which you can throw in a few repair heddles and forge ahead. A total cutoff and rethreading was necessary. 

Then I wove a few inches on the corrected threading, and discovered two new denting errors! Oy vay.

Time to get my ducks in a row.

No more sleeping on the job.

So yesterday I was busy as a bee.

No rest for the weary.

I think I've finally got things in order.

Never Say Never

I'll never thread another black warp, she said. Never say never.

I absolutely wanted this warp, black and olive green, end and end, so I ignored my previous prohibition and wound it anyway. It went on the beam very smoothly, and here it is ready for threading.

Lo and behold, it was not that difficult. Something about the haptics of selecting the threads from the cross. Maybe it was muscle memory. Whatever it was, the threading and denting went quickly

Yesterday, after a few technical issues with TempoTreadle, which were quickly ironed out by the good folks at LoftyFiber, I was ready to go. It's a parallel or interleaved threading, aka echo weave, woven as doubleweave on 8 shafts.

Taking a break from the studio, I walked around the lake in spite of the drizzle. It was quite refreshing.

At the Sustainability Center the little black & white cat was as friendly as ever. She appears to be quite interested in tomatoes. 

Stopping for groceries on the way home I was stopped in my tracks at the bakery display, where a new batch of cakes had just been put in the refrigerated case. I didn't buy any of these, but I was sorely tempted by that chocolate ganache in the bottom row.