Weaverly

Blending

A puddle of warps. Now there's a new collective noun for you!

I don't usually warp from the front (hardly ever, in fact), but I wanted to mix up all the colors in these five warp chains, so I sleyed them randomly in the reed, from the front, then threaded the heddles. I will drag the whole mess through the reed and heddles on its way to the warp beam. 

First I had to relocate the warp beam so that it would accommodate a nice fat warp, but now it is ready to roll on. 

This is the view from the back of the loom. 

Trouble is, I don't have the proper size of warp separator paper. That will arrive in a few days. Two steps forward, one step backward. Such is life.

Curves

It's curves today. This morning the pair of black swans was gliding lazily across the lake, pausing occasionally to snare some food. 

A quintet of warp chains I am readying for a mixed striped warp. Connect the dots.

Making a slow reduction in my stash of handspun. 

Happy Camper

First warp in the new house. Here's the beaming...

...and threading...

...seen from the front...

...and finally the weaving. This makes me so happy! Blessings on the movers, who took such good care of my loom and all my tools.

Not a single threading or denting error. That's a very good omen, I'm thinking.

Once Begun, Half Done

I started a new warp today. This is exactly half. The second half will be all orange, so the stripes will fall out asymmetrically. 

Straight draw on 16 shafts. I think I will weave it in various crepe weaves (see sidebar) & other goodies from handweaving.net.

It feels so good to be back at work!

 

 

We're There!

Whoopee! Patience rewarded. In the new house at last. After a week, we have Internet service. The unpacking proceeds at a snail's pace, but it does proceed. Here is my new studio, in part:

I assembled all the metal shelves without tying myself into knots. Pat, you were right, the cones tend to tumble over, but after putting down bamboo mats, everything's more stable (must order more bamboo mats).

Took a break this morning and did a long walk on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Very cold & windy, but the camellias are in full bloom. The camellias of South Carolina continue to amaze this New Jersey girl, even after all these years. 

My apologies to all who have asked how to subscribe to my blog. Short answer: I don't know! Typepad has been singularly unhelpful in solving this conundrum. Meanwhile, I ask that you just bookmark me. And please post comments, or send me emails! I love to hear from you, and I usually answer within a day or two. I've been blogging for over ten years, and my stats tell me that you are out there. Keep in touch. And happy weaving. 

 

Marking Time

Looks like we are still on schedule for move-in on Halloween. Meanwhile marking time with spinning. Just finished the pound of CVM I introduced in the last post, and gave the skeins a good washing.

Here they are all skeined up & tidy, ready for ??? Maybe a warp for some twill scarves. Soon, soon.

When not spinning, and when the weather's good, I am just a few steps away from the Swamp Rabbit Trail, and I love walking through the leafy green tunnels. I do have to keep a sharp ear out for the cyclists (the other spinners, you might say), as they come flying by at a great clip. "On your left, on your left!"

Slippage

There has been some slippage of the schedule. Our house is not complete, and stands in a sea of mud. Moving day was to be tomorrow, but has been forwarded to Halloween Day. Very funny.

Fortunately I have my spinning tools with me, and of course my trusty little rigid heddle loom. One more warp. This is another trial of Berroco Mykonos. Still pretty stiff at 10 epi, but I love it nevertheless. 

I finished spinning the roving I started at National Spinning & Weaving Week, and washed the skeins & hung them to dry.

Done. They started out as Malabrigo Nube.  

Next I tackled the pound or so of CVM I bought from a farmer in Maine a couple of years ago. This might keep me going until Halloween. Perfect. It will certainly be good spinning during the World Series.

 

Multitasking

No words required here, except that I look forward eagerly to moving day.

Just finished reading Great Expectations. It did not meet my expectations, but I did enjoy the delightful humor & satire, character development, and wonderful depictions of the marshes & London locations. Disappointed in the treacley ending. And Miss Havisham was a real piece of work. I did wonder how her garments could have lasted so long.

Did watch the first hour or so of the debates, and am no nearer to a decision.

Yarn? Thread?

I was bored the other day & went shopping (it always works). I picked up some embroidery floss, sewing thread, & a ball of baby yarn.

Here is a new sample on the orange warp. For the fine background weft I chose something really fine: lilac sewing thread; and for the brocade weft, I used the baby knitting yarn in mint green. 

Interestingly, the lilac thread reads as the same tonal value as the orange warp, and practically disappears in the cloth. The green, on the other hand, is a very much lighter tone than the warp, and the contrast is good. If you photograph these yarns in black & white, the tonal similarities and contrasts are more evident.

Here's a bit of weaving:

The reverse side is interesting. If you zoom in, you can just catch the little lavender ground wefts in the areas where the brocade wefts float on the face.

Conclusion: this is a good choice of weft yarns for this technique. You will recall that the warp is 8/4 cotton used double at 12 epi.

Something Fishy

First a couple of birds. 

Then I tried to make my own design. A fish. Or two.

Or three.

The problem is -- I think they look more like airplanes.

Whatever.