Weaverly

Celebration in the Gazebo

Yesterday the spinners celebrated National Spinning & Weaving Week at the Gazebo in Travelers Rest. What a great time we had! The weather was perfect, and lots of folks stopped by to see what we were up to. The Gazebo is just adjacent to the Swamp Rabbit Trail, so there was plenty of bicycle traffic.

Orange, and More

New week, new warp. I wanted to weave more samples of the Tejido Huave technique described in this post. A little more spontaneous, this time. First a diamond.

What's better than a diamond? Three diamonds!

Then I tried something asymmetric, but graphed it out first. The challenge was to avoid any floats longer than 3. Done.

Winding onto the cloth beam.

A closeup. This might be the last warp I put on the rigid heddle loom before moving day. Maybe.

Jacquard sighting! This was while I waited for the elevator. Click to enlarge. 

Meanwhile, the outdoors beckons. On this morning's walk I spent a little extra time in the rose garden. 

And the waterfowl are always composing and recomposing themselves into elegant compositions. I thought this one looked better in black & white.

I love my daily walk around the lake. Now that it's a little cooler, I don't have to start out quite so early.

Now may I change the subject? Here's a bumper sticker I saw this morning: "Elect a clown, expect a circus." Yup.

Stiff As A Board

Nearing the end of my warp of Berroco Mykonos Stonewash, I was experiencing a loose selvedge on the left. As I'm still without my regular studio & familiar tools, I did the second best thing: dropped two spools of thread in a sock, and used this as a weight. It worked just fine and enabled me to finish weaving the warp.

Yesterday I cut it off, did the fringe thing, and washed the scarf. This morning it was dry and I tried it on. Stiff as a board! I should have known.  It feels heavenly while I'm wearing it, though. Very comfortable. I scrunched it up a bit and it softened somewhat. I may have to rethink my scarf aesthetic.

This closeup shows the unusual construction of the yarn: very fine linen and cotton fibers tightly wrapped around a viscose core.   

I used a pickup stick and some string heddles in the weaving, and produced this lacy effect, which only shows up when backlit.

Moving day is not far off. I may have time to do one more warp before packing up again. 

Morning & Evening

Because of car troubles, I haven't been going to the lake the past few days. My walks have been here on the property. But there's still plenty to see. Out quite early in order to beat the heat, I was rewarded with this gorgeous sight:

And then at the Swamp Rabbit Trail, I just happened to spot these old railroad ties under the trail bed. I knew it was a former railroad bed, but here's the proof:

Now let's fast forward to a brief evening walk, just before the mosquitos began attacking, and when I looked up, I saw this (you must look up once in a while):

And going back inside, on the elevator, I realized no day is complete without a weaving observation. Well, sort of. This padding was installed because someone moved out today. But to me it looks like a giant reverse twill. If I don't look too closely.

In the reading department, I just finished Russell Banks's Continental Drift. Oil burner repairman from New Hampshire meets Haitian migrant in a horrendous encounter in the Florida Keys. Wonderful book.

And I have just begun Dickens's Great Expectations, which somehow I'd never gotten around to reading before. I'm loving it. 

Observations, and a New Warp

Many of the areas around the lake are left rough to encourage local plants and wildlife. 

Leaves like this always tempt me to apply my old Photoshop techniques, even though my TC-1 is long gone. I'll just have to find other ways to weave them. More about this later.

This morning there was en entire bush covered with butterflies. It took my breath away. Here's a blurry snapshot of one of them with my phone.

I pass this field every morning. Yesterday the men's lacrosse team was practicing. The wildflowers run rampant along the edge of the field.

The past few weeks I have been noticing an interesting yarn at my LYS. It's linen & cotton wrapped tightly around a core. I couldn't resist touching it at every visit. I finally relented and bought a few skeins. My loom was empty at the moment, so I warped up and gave it a try. Surprisingly difficult to work with, has a mind of its own. At 12 epi it's a bit stiff. I'm hoping it softens up after washing. But I do love the look of it. It's intended to be a scarf. But there is always Plan B...

Three-Run Home Run

It was that kind of day. First there was a black swan who followed me part of the way around the lake this morning. 

Then this wonderful book arrived in my mailbox. It was actually stuck in the mailbox, and I had to exercise great restraint in prying it loose. No damage done. I have no idea how the mail person got it in there in the first place. 

I am sorry Erica de Ruiter is no longer with us. What genius! 

Many of these techniques will adapt easily to rigid heddle weaving. I can't wait to try some of them.

The third home run is that I finished weaving this scarf, cut it off, twisted the fringes, washed & dried it, and wore it to dinner this evening. Cotton & linen. Plain weave with a little bit of leno.

I probably could have made it longer, but at least it won't drag in my soup.

Cut Off and Tidied Up

Cut off day before yesterday and tidied up. You know the drill, snip off loose tails, twist the fringes, etc. Here's the whole Theo Moorman sample laid out on the bed. If I weren't so lazy, I'd have gone down three flights of stairs and photographed this on the grass, but...

As I can't stand to look at a naked loom, I warped this little fellow up again yesterday. I have a limited stock of colors with me now (you may have noticed), so I used the same yarns in a striped configuration, and went for a little leno this time. I tried setting it up with string heddles, but that was a dismal failure. So this is one twist at a time. Pretty fast, actually, once you get in the rhythm. 

After it's washed, I expect it will be a drapey little scarf. Cotton & linen.

Ducks and Mosquitos

How lucky I am to have this beautiful lake to encircle every day on my walk. It's almost two miles according to MapMyRide.

The scenery is ever changing, and there is plenty of wildlife.

Meanwhile, back at the loom, we now have mosquitos. Yes, that's what they're called. You can complete a mosquito in three picks (well, six picks including the ground weave). Click to enlarge.

And more than one mosquito equals a scourge. Other collective nouns I have found for mosquitoes are swarm and cloud. I believe I prefer scourge, actually. 

Check

Getting better at the diagonals. Check.

Speed Weaving – Not

In the afternoons, the window light here is wonderful. And there is a view of Paris Mountain, should I chance to look up from the loom. Here is today's progress on the brocade sampler. Theo Moorman, pick up stick, string heddles, design as you go, loving it all.

Click to enlarge.