Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Winding On

The Queen Anne's lace is very slowly but surely being wound through the reed and the heddles on to the back beam of Deanie... my Mightly Wolf 8 shaft loom.  Inch by inch... I'll get there eventually.  The half way contrasting tie is in sight.
It's all coming back to me.  I'm beginning to remember the tricks and techniques that I was so comfortable with for years.  This warp is going so much more smoothly.  I skipped a peg as I was winding the warp on the warping board and didn't bump my knuckles this time.  I wound the 400 ends 4 at a time  (even numbers are easier to count.)  I wound 3 narrower bundles -- 2 of 5 inches and 1 that was almost too much with 10 inches.  I'm tying the new warp to the old warp to save time in threading, as I want to explore the reverse twill again.  I found 3 threading errors... eek.  I thought something didn't look quite right in a couple places... but it will be fixed this time around.  The 3 colors on my first warp helped me tie on so I didn't twist the warp that was 2 per dent in a 10 dent reed -- dark, medium, light.  I tied the back tie-on bar up behind the castle to the metal part of the heddle frames.  I tied the the lease sticks (one made out of a metre stick and one an actual lease stick) to the beater frame on each side and to the front beam.  It's all coming back... bit by bit.  Feels great!


The best part (or maybe the worst, I'm not exactly sure yet) of being "retired" is the lack of urgency.  I have time... and I don't have to hurry.  I've always  worked well with deadlines.  They push me to get something done in a certain timeframe.  But I really don't have any deadlines... at least yet.  Maybe I'll have to do some self imposed deadlines.  But the problem with those... like dieting... they can be put off to another day.  But really, sooooo what!

I haven't found the right idea yet for the summer top I'm going to make from my first warp.  It's coming... but I can't quite bring myself to cut into it yet.  Should I have darts or a loom shaped garment?  Should be sleeveless or cap or 3/4 length sleeves?  Decisions, decisions, decisions...  But... there's time!
Springtime in Savannah means azaleas!  The city is ablaze with massive azalea bushes;  some are trim and symmetrical while my favorite reach out covered in massive blooms in every shade of pink imaginable.  This photo of azaleas peeking through the Spanish moss in one of the downtown city squares is very "wabi sabi!"

Friday, March 20, 2009

Cotton Slubs

Texture, texture, texture...  I've just finished winding another warp to explore more of the 8 shaft reverse twill threading.  I'm hoping to tie this new slubby cotton warp onto my last warp. I left it threaded through the heddles and the reed, so it SHOULD work.  

I had 4 cones of Henry's Attic Queen Anne's Lace in my stash and decided with summer in the wings... and warmer temps... this might be something good to experiment on.  So we'll see...

Saturday, March 14, 2009

done... what's next?

WOW!  My first warp is complete!  I finished yesterday.  I have 4 different pieces using 4 different treadlings.  The first became a dish towel and is complete.  The other three pieces will be used to create a summer top.  I wove 3 yards of one treadling... and then a yard of another and about 20 inches at the end of the warp in a diamond design.  The yard length piece was purely experimental weaving 3 repeats of treadles 1-4 and 2 repeats of treadles 5-6.  It was similar to weaving on opposites creating blocks.  
Ah... having 8 shafts to play with is such fun!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

got the blues...


I'm not actually feelin' blue ... it's just that last night I finished my new handwoven dish towel.. my first 8 shaft project on Deanie.  It wove up very quickly after a rough start with a sticky 8th shaft.  (The solution thanks to a friend on Ravelry was silicone spray!)  I am not real excited with the bluey blue... but it makes a great dish towel.  I cut it off and handwashed it after zigzagging the ends.  Last night I fixed the many floats... actually I pulled them out because they were way too long! In my haste to get started I must have tied the treadles up incorrectly.  Fortunately, the weave structure doesn't seem to suffer from the pulled out floats. I hand hemmed the ends and its good to go!

I've re-tied the treadles and have started weaving yardage for a summer top.  I'm so much happier with the weft.  I'm using a variegated 5/2s cotton I bought at WEBS a couple years ago. It's beautiful and I am SO much happier with the look.  The yarn is dark blues and violets and light blues like the warp, but also has a great dark purple, dark green, teal and magenta.  It's yummy.  I also like the new pattern.  I'm really enjoying having Deanie around!



Monday, March 2, 2009

Let the search begin...

My new studio in our 3rd bedroom is beginning to come to life.  The corner bookshelves from Ikea finally arrived a couple weeks ago and my books and yarns and things have filled it already!  The most important art of the studio is my new-to-me 8 shaft Mighty Wolf loom called Deanie for the former owner. Deanie is now warped and I've started exploring a reverse twill.  

I've vowed to use up my stash, especially while I explore what the 8 shafts can do.  I threaded it with 10/2s cotton yarns in a light blue, medium violet and dark blue cotton.  The current tie up is actually for another pattern... but then I'm experimenting and I like the texture that is appearing.  I warped from the back and had to re-slay the reed as I was a violet yarn short.  Oh well.. it's all part of the adventure!  I'm in no hurry... which is a good thing.

Memories of beginning weaving over 31 years ago keep springing into my mind.  It is really similar as I had toddlers naptimes as my weaving time... and now my time is eeked out of naptime for our Portuguese water dog 5 month old puppy, Kizi.  Of course, I also make time for walks on the beach with my hubby and Spinning Group, yarn night at Wild Fibres, Fiber Guild meeting and road trips to explore area sights.  There's time -- no deadlines.

Since moving to Savannah, I've made several amulets (pockets) woven on cardboard looms.  I'll be teaching a workshop at Wild Fibres on March 14th.  It's such a great way to use left over yarns and everyone who weaves, spins, knits, crochets, etc... has lots of thrums!  Everyone can get cardboard for the loom and after learning the special way of warping... the possibilities are endless.  When the weaving is taken off the loom... the bottom, sides and top are all finished. You only need to weave in a couple ends... and then add the embellishments!  Using bits and pieces of old yarns full of memories -- how wabi sabi!!