Weaverly

Extending Horizons

Walking north on the trail instead of of my usual south has its rewards. I saw a cairn this morning, and welcomed the virtual hello from some unknown walker. Hello! Enjoy this spring day! Be safe!

A little further on, the Bird House. Does this mean the Birds live at the end of this path? Or that the birds, lower case, are the occupants of the little houses? Some day I'll find out. But not today.

 

I got as far as Rabbit Roost. That's a pretty long walk for me. Time to turn around and head home.

In the Department of Yarn, working on this knitting project while listening to Governor Cuomo. A voice of sanity.

Willy just sent me this. It was painted on a gate in his neighborhood.

Just wondering: when this is all over, will someone ring a bell and announce "It's OK to hug your grandchildren now"?

New Vistas

I didn't think it was possible, but they have put the lake on lockdown. How can you lock down a lake? Goodbye swans. Goodbye ducks. Goodbye blue egret. 

I know it's the smart thing to do. And I still have a place to walk. It's just that I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to the turtles. Here they were two days ago. Hundreds and hundreds of them, sunning themselves on the artificial islands.

And the trees that were just starting to bud. I thought I would be able to observe their daily progress. Not to be. Not this year.

And so back to the studio. I've found a new enthusiasm: downloadable patterns. As long as the printer paper, ink, and scotch tape hold out, I'll be OK. 

Department of books: I just finished reading Lily King's "Writers & Lovers." Highly recommended.

On Lockdown

My activities while we're on lockdown are the same as usual, only more so. That translates to increased weaving time. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

You may recall that the fabric being woven here will eventually become a bias-cut pullover. I will be using this pattern by Sarah. I've used her patterns before, and find her to be a very dependable guide to sewing garments from narrow handwoven fabrics.

But first I had to make a muslin, to check the fit. I had no muslin on hand and a trip to the fabric store is a no-no right now. I did, however, have an old bedsheet. It's an incredible cotton/linen jacquard, too good to get rid of after its useful life was done. Over the last couple of days I made my dummy garment out of this, and it fits perfectly. In fact, it's so nice that I will be wearing the muslin, even after the handwoven version is done.

I've also been finishing up the teaching warp on my rigid heddle loom. I may want to put another warp on this loom soon, and have to be ready for action when the mood strikes.

Then there is always the daily walk. As you can see, I am maintaining social distancing.

So are they.

Be careful out there, y'all. Be mindful, be kind, and be grateful for the work of your hands.

Monochromatic

There was enough warp on this loom for at least 6 yards of cloth, which was the original goal. It's going to be a garment, eventually. The idea is to have as much variety in weaves as possible, with plenty of changes in the weft colors, too. A real stash buster. It's slow going, as this is a table loom. But the weaving process itself is pleasant, and quite soothing. I was surprised this morning, when I took measurements, to find that over 3 yards have been woven so far. Past the halfway point! Bring out the champagne.

It's a cloudy day, and the little bits of color are especially welcome. Spring is coming, no matter what!

The crane was hiding in the weeds. He almost looked like a weed himself, at first glance. I stopped and enjoyed this scene for quite a while. 

Then I went back to my loom.

Amalgamation, Again

Trying not to watch too much news, by daylight I finished the red & green striped warp with this little sample...

...then cut it off and washed all the little bitty samples, then ironed them and photographed them by artificial light (so yellow!).

Front...

...and back.

Then made a new warp...

...and tied it on to the last one...

...and here it is almost ready to go.

A few inches woven before I turn to my evening reading:

And I leave you with this creature. Enjoy.

Yarn Choices

I am back into the amalgamation study at last. These samples are not so much about color as about yarn weights and sett. 

The red warp is 16/2 cotton, and the pale green is 16/2 cottolin. 

The 36 epi sett makes a very dense cloth. It would be good for placemats and such. For clothing or napkins I would prefer a more open sett.

And if your eye is craving yellow at this point, here is the inevitable daffodil picture. 

Or if you'd prefer a more sedate black and white, here are some swans. They are so ungainly out of the water, but trust me, when these guys go back into the lake they are gorgeous.

Done and Done

An end of warp situation. This warp was tied onto four times. It's time to bring it to an end. The following two views are behind the heddles.

After cutting off the red warp, there was fabric for 2 bento bags and six smallish table napkins (I guess they're called luncheon napkins, although what luncheon means any more is up for grabs). I took the napkins immediately to the sewing machine and did up the hems.

Then I washed them and ironed them. I am now ready for my next luncheon.

The bento samplers are a little more interesting, a hodgepodge of weave structures and scraps of yarn from partially emptied bobbins. The were such fun to weave. Here they are after washing & ironing. The sewing will come later.

At OLLI we had our final rigid heddle class. So sorry to see it end! What a congenial group of weavers. At times we were the noisiest group in the building, and at other times you could have heard a pin drop, so focused were we on our work. Weaving does that to you.

Back home in the Weaverly studio, I am preparing for a sewing project. I've thrown away all my old paper tracings, because I'm not the same shape as I used to be (gravity is at fault), so I've starting making new ones. There's not a lot of worktable space, but in a pinch the floor will do.

In the department of fowl, around the lake this morning there was this:

And out in the larger world, Brian Stauffer has really nailed it on the cover of this week's New Yorker:    

Super Monday

This morning I noticed that preparations for Spring are advancing. In the rose garden most of the bushes have been pruned way back.

In the experimental garden the rows of kale and other greens are being readied for a new planting.

Here's a hedge recently pruned. I couldn't resist some Photoshop shenanigans

The forsythia hedge has sprung into bloom, seemingly overnight.

In the studio, steady progress on the slow warp. A few inches each day. It is very calming, especially if I don't turn on the radio.

Sign of Spring

When you see a kite stuck in a tree where no kite was before, you know Spring is not far behind.

The amazing weavers in the rigid heddle class continue to push the envelope and are very comfortable with their string heddles. Click to enlarge.

In my own studio, I'm giving my fingers a rest and doing some more investigations of amalgamated drafts on the computer. Click to enlarge here too.

The last one reminds me of a game of snakes & ladders.

A Return to Amalgamation

It has been almost a year since I last worked on my amalgamation samples. In the interim I've made a major life change and moved to a new home. My studio has been reorganized, and all my work flow has changed as well. 

It's small wonder that getting back to amalgamation is a puzzle! Many of the concepts I thought were fixed rules have "slipped and slided" alarmingly. New combinations and variations have popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, and I am in a muddle!

But it's a good muddle and I welcome the new possibilities. How amusing that the major hurdle now is that both my multishaft looms already have long warps on them and I will have to finish these warps before I can test the new drafts. I foresee many happy hours of weaving ahead. The days are getting longer, and the added natural light is a bonus.

Click on the image below to "embiggen" it. No two of these amalgamated drafts are exactly alike, although some are similar. Oh, the joy of pixels!