Weaverly

Reds & Blues…& Greens

No work gets done on Sundays until after the Grand Prix (in season, of course). Yesterday's race was held in Hungary.

Then I started a second version of the lampas project. This time I varied the sizes of the blocks, and tried a variegated handspun wool as the pattern weft.

I'm not too sure of the wisdom of my color choices in this one, but it's still too early to tell.

A beautiful gift of 2 ounces of Qiviut is drying on my back porch after a warm bath to remove some dust & dirt. It has expanded into quite a large volume. I'll be combining it with brown Shetland wool for spinning. 

In the department of books, I have just finished reading The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty: A Novel by Vendela Vida. If I had to describe it in four words, I'd say clever, funny, intense, and dark. Recommended.

New Beginnings

"New beginnings" is too many words, or, as Bruce suggests, superfluous, or again, redundant. Just plain "beginnings" would be better. But Typepad doesn't charge me extra for too many words. So I"ll leave it for now.

My favorite story of the week: Fernando Alonso, at age 41, has just signed with Aston Martin in Formula 1 racing, and achieved a podium position in Sunday's race in Bahrain. It's never too late to begin again! 

Bridges can take you somewhere new. Here are two of my favorites.

I saw this fellow from the bridge. Think circles. More to come.

Back at the studio, another beginning. A new warp. A collection of 10/2 cottons from my ever-dwindling stash

My adaptation of "Conestoga," a traditional overshot draft. Four shafts. Tabby weft is brown 16/2 cotton. Pattern weft is handspun 2-ply Icelandic wool from my stash.

Circles. I never get tired of the surprise of being able to produce circles from a 4-shaft loom. Click to enlarge. The Icelandic yarn is poufing out nicely. Click to enlarge,

Complete change of topic. In the Department of Books, I just finished reading The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland.

On a weaving break. But daily life continues, especially out in the gardens. We find an almost perfect color wheel triad here...

...as well as on the breakfast table.

Company for lunch. We are at the midpoint of their bike ride. Catalina's braces are finally off. Look at that smile!

My eSpinner made another cross-country trip, but the source of the malfunction has been found and corrected. I am so happy to have it back and working. It's the perfect companion for watching baseball on TV.

Finished reading Maggie Shipstead's short story collection You Have a Friend in 10A, and her novel Seating Arrangements. Also read Ottessa Moshfeg's My Year of Rest and Relaxation.

Blanket Finished

Yes, I finally finished the blanket. For those who haven't been following this saga, I'll recap: four strips of plain weave, handspun warp & weft, joined together at the selvedges with a triple stitch, and the cut edges bound in linen. It's huge, king size I think. I tried weighing it this morning, and it comes to over six pounds. Here's a view of the zig-zag stitch (AKA triple stitch, Bolivian stitch, Andean stitch, and maybe some others).

I had to set up a card table in the living room to accommodate the yards of fabric for the binding stage, as my usual sewing area is too small. The good thing about this new setup is that I could watch operas on TV while sewing. 

A close-up of the binding application:

The binding was turned to the wrong side and stitched down by hand. Another opportunity for viewing opera.

The final step: a label. Who knows where this will wind up 100 years from now? 2022 you say? Now what was going on in 2022? 

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Department of Books. Just finished reading There's Nothing For You Here by Fiona Hill.

Processing

A few process pictures of the current warp. You may spot a picture of Peter Collingwood on the wall behind my warping reel. That's for good luck.

Tied and ready to be chained.

Skipping ahead a few steps. The warp chains have been beamed and I'm threading heddles. This is a shared living space. The other occupant watches football while I thread heddles.

The following day, after breakfast. The reed is sleyed.

And here's a start. The draft is an odd experiment. Is it possible to amalgamate a four-shaft draft? Apparently it is.

But the result is a surprise. It's something of a cross between M's & O's and crepe weave. 

Never mind, I'll take it.

In the library dept., I just finished reading "The Paper Palace" by Miranda Cowley Heller. Did you know she's the granddaughter of Malcolm Cowley? Fact. She was also senior VP at HBO and head of drama series such as The Sopranos. 

New Beginnings

Out with the old, in with the new. The knots rose over the horizon, signaling that it would soon be time to cut off.

Five yards of jin (AKA turned taqueté) cut off and washed.

Then there was this (Hallelujah!).

in between moments of watching the screen, transfixed, I did wind a new warp. Shades of blue.

And tied it onto the old warp, straight threading on 16 shafts.

Did some playing with drafts. How about imagining a pointed threading on 9 shafts, and then weaving some of the samples on the straight 16-shaft threading? Think about it.

Wove all ten of these samples. When the parade was over, I cut the samples from the loom and washed them. 

After washing & ironing, some were awful, some pretty good, and this one was a definite keeper.

So I'll be weaving off the rest of the warp in that draft, with a lavender weft. Warp and weft are 10/2 cotton, 24 epi and ppi. Click to enlarge.

I slept very well last night. 

Did you?

Cut Off

Here's the lampas diary just after cutoff. I spread it out in the back yard for a quick photo. It'll be around 5 feet tall after hemming, and I think it will fit in an exhibition space somewhere. I have another one from 2010, and they will make a good pair. 

Meanwhile, on a rigid heddle loom, I'm weaving leno samples for a class I will be teaching this summer. It's at least 25 years since I've done leno, and it's just as relaxing as I remembered.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood the dogwoods have popped out. I used to have dogwood, but no longer. I miss them.

In the Department of Spinning, I've been finishing a batch of Corriedale/yak/rose fiber while watching basketball on TV. This gorgeous fiber comes from Hilltop Cloud, in Wales. 

Related articles

Weaverly: Interleaved

Weaverly: Holiday

Weaverly: Catching Up

Trouble Trouble

It seems that several of my recent posts have gotten swallowed up in the ether. Some of them trivial, some not so. I'll just dump a bunch of pictures here and we'll call it a truce.

Yes, the daffodils are out all over the neighborhood. There must be a hundred different varieties, just on my street.

This is the view from my kitchen window. It's a camellia tree! Seems like a tree, anyway. It was here when we moved in, over 40 years ago. Never required a minute's care. 

I've spun up all the roving designated as tapestry fodder weft. Now I've got to work on the cartoon.

Then there's the BFL roving I spun up while watching the ice skating finals. It's almost dry.

We had to remove a dead pine tree from the back yard. The arborists and tree removers were here yesterday. Very noisy business. I added the experience to my lampas diary.

And then there's today's entry. 

 

 

 

Backlit

Last night while watching the Olympics and spinning, with a very bright reading lamp in a very dark room, I noticed how this green wool roving was looking other-worldly with backlighting. 

And today we drove up the mountain to see the Tapestry Weavers South show at the Folk Art Center. Don't miss it! If you're anywhere within driving distance of Asheville NC, it's a must see. After looking at tapestries for an hour we walked in the woods. Picnic lunch. A lovely break in the weather. 

Then home to work on my own tapestry for a while, newly inspired. I will definitely be revisiting this show several times during its run (Jan. 22 through April 29).

Snow Day and Other Matters

Yes, it's snowing in South Carolina. Missed my walk to day. Too slippery. 

But that means it's a good weaving day. I'm working on the lampas piece derived from scans of ginkgo leaves. It's jacquard with handspun Herdwick wool and yellow lyocel for pattern wefts.

Just for comparison, here's a tapestry sampler I finished the other day, with a few oak leaves. Totally different feel. At 8 epi, the detail is quite coarse. But it's a very hands-on experience to weave. Right brain vs left brain. I love both. Tilt your head sideways for this one.

In the Department of Useful Information, my local sports consultant (who has been watching the Olympic channel) tells me that curling stones were originally borrowed from the weights used to tension handlooms. In Scotland. Who knew?