Check that one off. Big feeling of accomplishment. There's a little surprise here, if you click to enlarge.
Only an hour and a half in line. This was a satellite voting location.
Meanwhile, back in the studio, I'm tying a new warp onto a dummy warp. Actually two new warps onto a dummy warp. It will be deflected double weave in wool/silk (natural) and unmercerized cotton (raspberry).
What do you do when your loom needs repairs and you are in quarantine? Spin, of course! There's never a shortage of wool around here. I found an unidentified undyed roving, grabbed my current favorite spindle, and watched an episode of The Great British Baking Show while spinning & plying a few ounces of yarn. Very satisfying.
The tablecloth, BTW, is a gorgeous linen jacquard from fabrics-store.com. It's been washed a few times and is softening up nicely. I've made several garments from the linens I purchased from these folks this year, and I highly recommend their products and service.
Thanks to Bruce for the photo.
It seems to be spinning weather. I enjoy sitting on the back porch with a spindle and some wool, and enjoying these beautiful October days.
At some point the wool will be used for deflected double weave, perhaps like this draft.
My aloe plant has taken off and seems to be thriving.
When I go outside and look up, I am rewarded with pattern (here with the color removed).
And in the Department of Books, I have just finished reading a novel penned by my neighbor, Joe Epley. It's about the Revolutionary war in the mountains of western North and South Carolina, and entitled "A Passel of Hate." A great read!
You've seen this woven pattern before, dear reader. Clockwise from lower left, 16/2 cottolin at 40 epi and ppi, then 8/2 and 6/2 cotton at 20 epi and ppi, and still on the loom and under tension, black 2-ply handspun wool and orange cotton at 16 epi. Deflected double weave. Each warp tied on to the previous one.
The orange and black cloth will shrink up quite a bit after cutting off and washing. Patience, patience.
Tonight after dinner this is what I saw out the back door. A nice reward for the day's craziness.
This has been a banner week for book arrivals here at the home place. I don't know where to start!
I just received the most beautiful shuttle from Ampstrike, the Etsy shop of Gunnar Karro in Estonia. Click to enlarge. I've included the glasses to indicate scale.
I pause now to enjoy it. A bright beacon in a crazy world.
This is a Sami shuttle, used by the nomadic people of Northern Europe. Its curved pointed shape is well suited to pickup patterning in band weaving.
The fabric from yesterday's post has been washed & tumbled dry. Here are scans of the face and reverse of the cloth. Click to enlarge. Very fun!
My word, did this ever shrink!!! Take-up and shrinkage in both directions was a whopping 25%. Beware.
The draft is on handweaving.net as 74557.
It is interesting to compare the scale differential of the deflected double weave at 40 epi (small sample) and 20 epi (large sample). Exactly the same draft. In fact, the larger sample was tied onto the warp of the smaller sample, after resleying the reed.
I may go yet a bit bigger yarnwise & settwise, in order to weave something that after shrinkage will be wide enough to be a placemat, instead of a wimpy washcloth.
Now, in other news, I'm saving my spent tealeaves & wrapping them up in white linen to stain them randomly for who knows what. Maybe some stitching.
And today we finally broke loose from confinement and ventured downtown to see the sights. What a gorgeous almost-fall day, clear and windy and cool. The few strolling folks we met were (mostly) masked, and we easily found parking. It was so good to have a change of scenery. Bruce did his click! click! click! thing, and I just looked around in amazement at all the changes. It was too windy to get the sketchbook out.
The wild boar gave his attention to the hand sanitizer kiosk.
The sign in the window of the Chocolate Moose Bakery is a Julia Child quote: A Party without cake is really just a meeting. All Zoomers take note.
Yes, it was great to get out. I must do it more often. Instead of sitting around the breakfast table taking selfies with a spoon.
What if the sley of the little deflected double weave sample were doubled, and fatter yarns were used? For one thing, the width of the warp in the reed would be twice as large!
All those spaces will close up after washing, as you know.
Tech stuff: warp, 6/2 unmercerized cotton, natural, and lt. brown 5/2 cotton, mercerized, 20 epi, 2 ends per dent in a 10 dent reed. Weft same, 20 ppi.
The healing power of weaving.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1933-2020
Shana Tova, for those of you who celebrate. May this year be better than the last. Greetings and my wishes for happiness and good health.
I scanned the little deflected double weave sample (40 epi of 16/2 cottolin) and blew it up for your entertainment. Click to enlarge, it's really fun! Enjoy, all you yarnies.
And, as promised, I've uploaded a couple of drafts to handweaving.net. The first is turned taqueté, aka jin. It's for the scarf pictured here. The draft is entitled "Swirls" and the draft number on handweaving.net is 74556. The second is deflected double weave, as pictured in today's post and elsewhere. It's entitled "Hugs and Kisses" and the draft number on handweaving.net is 74557. Both of these are for an 8-shaft table loom or dobby loom. Let me know what you make of them.
The turned taqueté scarf after washing, as promised:
The draft looks like this (and when I get around to it I will be uploading it to Handweaving.net):
Switching gears, I am doing some experiments with deflected double weave on eight shafts, reducing the color segments to two threads each instead of four:
Showing face and reverse of the first sample, click to embiggen:
And here are the same samples after machine washing and tumbling dry:
Tech stuff: 16/2 cottolin, warp and weft, purple and pale green, 40 epi/ppi, 4 ends per dent (2 purple & 2 pale green) in each dent of a 10-dent reed, 8 shafts.