How I Finish My Towels

I have not been getting much weaving done...January doldrums, classes starting, etc, but I did get one set of towels done.

Three and a half Towels

These towels were an interesting process, too many errors that could have been avoided.  I started with a few tubes of 10/2 unmercerized cotton.  Since I only had a finite amount of the yarn, I designed the repeat based on the yardage that I had.  Red was 1050 yards, white was 4200 yards and black was 3150 yards.  I divided the amounts down until I got the number for the pattern repeat,  5 of the red, 21 of the white and 15 of the black.  I played around with some plaid designs and looked at tartan books, I finally came up with 14 black, 8 white, 2 red, 4 white, 2 red and 8 white.  (Pretty close to the figured amounts above:  4 red, 20 white and 14 black!)

Since I could only wind a four yard warp with the amounts, I had hoped for four towels, and since there were so much color changes, I wound 8 yards, but only wound half of the color changes.  I then folded the warp in half and put both ends on the warp beam rod.  

First error, about half way though the warping I realized that I had left out 4 whites and 2 reds in two of the stripes...they only had one red stripe in them.  So I measured out the additional threads and added them to the warp beam rod...I missed two stripes so, since I folded it in half, I had to repair four stripes. 

The warp wound on quite well.  Due to the folded warp, I ended up with a cross to pull all the threads through, but they were strong and did not tangle up too much.  Threading went well,  I was using a four shaft twill, but I threaded on eight shafts because I had an eight shaft loom empty!  I decided to try Marge Coe's idea for basket weave on the selvedges...we will see how it wears.  

Second error, I had calculated the number of heddles needed at an early stage of the designing and I had added more to the stripes so as I got to the end of the threading I ran out of heddles...I hate to move heddles on a half threaded loom!

Third error, because of all the adding and messing around with the threads, they were very uneven at the front when I started to tie on to the front apron rod.  Hoping for the best, I lashed the knots on so I could get as much length as possible.

The towels wove great.  Changing colors for the plaid slowed me down a lot, but I love the look of the plaid!

Since I had four towels, supposedly, I decided to do two with the plaid and two with a solid color weft.  The white towel was so fast to weave and at the last minute I decided to make the fourth towel black weft.  

Fourth error, yes I ran out of warp and only got a square for the black towel instead of the 30 inches that I wanted.  It seems that I cut the warp length too close, there was enough yarn left over that I could have added another half yard or more to the length...oh well, sometimes it goes like that.

I will often miss a knot when I am weaving, sometimes I take it apart to repair it sometimes I mark it so I can repair it when they come off the loom.

It's not that hard to weave in a correction to repair the knot.  I have a few tools that help me. When we were clearing out my Dad's tools, I found some great over glasses magnifiers...I grabbed them before my sisters had a chance.  So with those great magnifiers and a tapestry needle, I can fix some of my errors.

With these on, I can see where I want the thread to go.

Between my towels, I weave the hem turn-under with sewing thread to eliminate the bulk.  

You can see the two shots of red that are my cut line and the fine white thread that I weave the hem turn-under.  I then sew the edges to get ready to cut them apart.

My machine has a serpentine stitch, if you don't have one, don't zig-zag, just use two rows of straight stitch, it holds better.  I cut the towels apart between the two colored threads and then wash them.

I try to wash them harder than they will be washed in real life.  So, hot water and regular agitation and throw them in the dryer.  Then I tell everyone I give them to that they should wash the towels in a delicate cycle, with warm water and then dry them flat...

I didn't add a hanging loop to these, although I did weave one on the inkle loom.  But they finished up nice.  I think they will wear well also, I sett them at 30 ends per inch and they feel sturdy.

The black "towel" will turn into a square mat to go on the table under a vase.  Since I am giving these towels to my son for his new house...I guess I had better buy a vase and some flowers, too.  

I started teaching a Rigid Heddle weaving class, and the shop is using Cricket Looms.  What a great little tool.   I have a Rigid Heddle loom and have woven on it off and on for years, but I had not woven on this new loom.  This is the scarf that I designed to test the loom.

 I threaded 2 strands of Rowan Pure Wool in brown and one strand of Mountain Colors Teton in gold.  I love the Mountain Colors yarns, yes they are pricey, but only one skein gave me this great scarf.

The scarf finished up soft and wonderful to have around your neck.  It makes me want to get more yarn and make another!

I plan to make some more Rigid Heddle projects, both for examples in the class and to try the new things that are coming out for them...have you seen the great direct warping method, it's great.

A New Year and a New Start

I had thought that my first entry of the year would be a great total of last year's weaving and sparkling new work started for this year...

It didn't work out that way.  I have not taken pictures of the looms for the new year (except for the Bergman which you saw decorated for Christmas and not set up for weaving) and I have not even been able to finish the two towel warps for a photo shoot.

I feel like my body has been wanting to hibernate.  I wake up at a good time...6 or 7 in the morning..I might even get up and do something, but I often end up going back to bed and sleeping for a couple more hours.   No...I am getting to bed at a normal time at 10:30 or 11 usually.  I can't believe that some nights I am sleeping around the clock!  Is it the cold and dark weather?  Will it improve if I get in the sun for a few hours?  What do I need to do to get back on track?

Christmas put away.  Lace and flowers are out.

I have been doing some weaving, getting ready for a couple of classes to start.  For my first two classes, I needed to empty two looms and put on a new warp for each of them.  The first one needs a doubleweave sampler,  for the students to see the techniques and the second one needs a rigid heddle project showing the starting header and weaving.  I had to weave off the overshot sampler to get the doubleweave on,  I finally gave up and just cut off the warp.  I wove 3 samplers to add to the overshot class, but I just didn't want to spend the time to weave the whole warp and I have to put the doubleweave sample on today for class tonight.  The rigid heddle loom had a finger manipulated lace warp that had been on for a couple of years.  Now that I am teaching a RH class, I need to do some more work on that loom.  I put on the second pillow from two I started years ago.  Of course I ran out of yarn, it is no longer available, so I had to find a substitute that I could use to finish the piece...so many times I buy yarns for a great idea, then I don't get to it or redesign it later and I am no longer able to get more of the yarn...  

I was late getting things done for this class, because the furnace went out in the studio, due to holidays off there was no one to get a repair man in.  I did spend one day working, but the temperature in the studio was 38 degrees so I was not working very fast.  I put a small space heater by where I was working, but the cold was in the floors and the treadles and it was not fun weaving, and I did not spend the time cleaning up for class that I needed to do.  So I was not ready for the first class, and to top it off the weather was bad and we only held a short class so we could all get home before the roads got icy.  (The furnace was back on before I had students in so at least we were warm in class.)  Now a week later we have had temperatures in the 40's and 50's so the snow is almost gone and the ice problems are also gone for a while.  (Climate change is giving us very weird weather...)

I am excited for the things I have on the looms, I enjoy weaving when I sit down and do it, but I feel lethargic...I know what my son would tell me..."get up and go to the gym, work it out of you" and I do agree with him, but I also look at the bed and it looks like a better idea!!...

The local weaver's guild had a great meeting.  We did a zig-zag braid on a kumi himo plate and the teacher showed several members how to warp their inkle looms.  We ended up with 5 to 7 inkle looms.  I brought mine, but just talked with friends instead of doing anything on it.
I did get a nice braid worked on with the plate, however.

Isn't the braid great?

I put a warp on the next day.

The cotton ribbon that I put on the inkle loom the next day will be the perfect hanging loop for the black and white towels.  I used the same yarn and a similar stripe pattern.  I did the shortest warp I could on my inkle, and I finished it the week after the meeting.  I haven't taken it off, but had fun weaving on that little loom.  Maybe I should do another ribbon out of the linen for the other set of towels!

End of the Year Projects

As the year comes to a close, I am finishing up some things and wishing I was having better luck with some of them.  

I joined a SAL/KAL (I showed you the roving here Nov 24), it has been fun and disappointing.  I really loved spinning the yarn.  I pre-drafted and spliced the roving to give short color changes at the first of the project where the knitting rows were short and long color changes where the rows were longer.  This worked, but as I was knitting, I wished I had spent more time getting a more consistent yarn.  

Nice striping and no pooling of color.

Actually after knitting, the variations are not that bad, just while you are knitting it is so close and you notice all the little loose or tight spots.
The lace pattern was ok, but I wondered about binding off with the large needle,  I tend to knit so loosely anyway.  Sure enough the edge ruffled and looked funny.

Even after blocking, the edge was still loose, but it looks much better.

You know how it is, sometimes the project is better than you imagined, sometimes it is just finished!

And there there is the unfinished.  I have a loom sitting in my living room that is waiting for me to sand, oil and get it working.  It has been that way for over a year...so what do you do with it???

Yes, you decorate it!

On the weaving front, there have been some little problems with the warps I have been working on.  I have two tea towel warps and both of them have been giving me grief.  The first is on a loom at the PCH studio.  I designed the plaid to use some yarns...more white, tiny amount of red.  After I designed the plaid, I wound it on the warp board...half way through I realized that I was only adding one red stripe in the block instead of two...actually half had one stripe and half had two (but not evenly).  So when the warp was in the raddle, I added warps to make all the blocks have two red stripes.  Problem number one corrected. 
After I had threaded and sleyed, I noticed 2 black threads hanging down and, sure enough, there was a black block with 11 threads instead of 13...so...rethread and resley.  (Fortunately, it was next to the last black stripe, so not so bad.)

Re-threading the warp

I wove a small start of the piece before I had to go home, and it looks like the twill is good.  I threaded a basket weave at the selvedges...not sure how I like that, we will see.

The other towel warp is on the Baby Wolf at home, I can work on this one this week while I'm home for the holiday.  I'm using #10 linen singles and although it worked fine for a narrow warp I wove earlier, this wider warp is having trouble shredding and breaking at the selvedge.  It started when I wound the warp twice as long and folded it to warp it on.  When I do this method, I end up with crosses on each end and so I pull the warp through lease sticks as I wind back to front.  With this singles, I think dry spun, yarn...I developed fuzz balls at the cross.

So I had to watch the cross carefully and clean out the fuzz balls when they developed.  

I have been thinking a lot about huck lace, so I designed a towel where I could put huck in the stripe, or alternate it in the squares.  This way I will have several related but different designs for the towels.  

I started weaving with a single color weft for the first towel.  With singles linen, I often wet the weft so that it makes a better selvedge, and after testing, this yarn needs to be wet for a better edge.  The problem is the the edge is fraying badly.  Maybe I should plan on a plyed yarn for the edges when I use a singles linen.  I will also try wetting the warp as I weave to strengthen the edge threads.

For this first towel, I am weaving the huck in the body, but not in the gold stripes.

Do you notice the reed stripes.  I have threaded this yarn 2 per dent in a 10 dent reed.  I hope the spacing is less noticeable after washing.  Maybe I should have done 1 per dent in a 20 dent reed.  

After I had woven some and was winding the warp on, I noticed one side go loose...I was afraid that I had done something wrong in the winding...bad tension or something....But it was the tie-on rod getting stuck, I was lucky this time.  We'll see how the tension at the end of the warp is with plain weave in some areas and huck in others...!!!

Tie-on rod getting struck on the side piece.

Speaking of loom things, do you tie the brake pedal on your Baby Wolf higher or lower than the treadles.

I tie mine lower.

After these two warp, I think...all I want for Christmas is a warp that goes on easily, no counting errors, weaves like a dream and gives me a WOW finished product.   Not too much to ask for, is it!!??

Almost Christmas

The year is drawing to a close, and we are in the middle of storms and snow here.  At least, the air is clearing out and we had some sun yesterday and probably some tomorrow.  

I did manage to get a tree up this year, but it was a close thing.  I put new garland on the shelves and almost let that go as the greenery for us this year.  For several years, I have missed having a hutch or cupboard in the kitchen to put greenery on.  I finally found some cabinets that I liked and this year I put the nutcrackers and greenery along the top.  I made so new bows to add color and painted some of the pine cones that I have had around.

My favorite nutcracker...the Linen seller

The new bookshelves in the living-room have new garlands.  I saw one at the store, came home and put it up then went back the next day for another one.

This is how the first one looked

After I got the second one, I also got some red ribbon and wound it though for some color.  Maybe next year I will make bows like I added to the nutcracker garland.   The pine cones on this garland don't show at all.  I will need to take them off next year and then re-position them for a better look.

I put up a few of my favorite decorations on the tree, and talked my DD and DS to put up some of theirs.  

I had to put up one of the funny little gnomes...They are probably 70 or 80 years old, they were on my great Aunt's tree years ago.  I have two left, although the red one needed repair this year and will not be on the tree.

I also put the plastic nativity...I remember putting these on our tree when I was little.  It is probably 40 or 50 years old.

This one is from a kit that we bought when we were first married to decorate our tree.  It is a metal frame and came with plastic beads to put in the spaces.  Then you heated them in the oven to melt the plastic.  These are only about 30 to 35 years old.

It is fun to get out the old decorations and relive the memories that they bring.  We never did get any old ornaments from my DH's family and the decoration he had as a child, so I like to have mine there.

I quite a number of sheep that I have collected over the years.  I only put a couple of them up this year...the tree is so small it did not need to be over-run by sheep!

So many little things to remember and enjoy this holiday season.  I hope you all enjoy the peace and wonder of the holidays.

December already

It finally seems like winter...Last week we still had flowers blooming and 60 degrees during the day.  This week 2 inches of snow, a high of 20 degrees, and more snow expected.  What a difference a week makes.  

I did get the first Christmas decoration up, my Advent Calendar.  I made it when my children were little, about 30 years ago, but I love seeing it every year.

Here's a picture of it several years ago.

Last year I actually put some nails in the wall to hang up some Christmas pictures.  I had not had them hanging for several years and it was fun to see them again.  I think I will get them up today.  I wanted to put new hanging wires on some other pictures to hang there during the rest of the year, but I did not get that done.  Oh well maybe after the holidays this year...

The color is a little off, but I did take a photo last year.

All of the pictures are stitchery, and all are about 25 years old.  The center white on white is done by my Mom using the candlewick technique.  The other four were a series that I did.  I like the variety of sentiments and the variety of techniques.  The Santa "Joy" is embroidery, the family "Tree" is counted cross, the snowman "Frosty" is needlepoint, and the baby Jesus "Nativity" is trapunto.  It was fun to put such a variety together.  The four 8" x 10" pieces hung for several Christmas seasons in a special place between our bookshelves.  When we got rid of those bookshelves, I had no place to put them.  It is fun to enjoy them again.

And I got the final shipment of my order out, I hope it reaches her in time for her show.  I know the first got there and she was very pleased with my work.  When I did the shawls this time, I used huck lace instead of Bronson lace.  I had just taught Huck lace in my class, so it was on my mind.  I have never done these in Huck and I really like them.

White on white shawl

Beige on white shawl

Here's a Bronson lace from the first shipment

I like the Huck better, maybe because it is the last warp I did!  I would not mind having a huck lace piece, I was thinking of cutting holes in it for my arms and wearing it like the lace "vest" that I saw Anita Meyer wearing.

I also did some ruanas, and ponchos for her.  The short poncho is a new design.  I like the versatility in wearing it.

Belted

Flipped over the shoulder

They really worked out well.  I just blended the colors of warp, then used two different wefts for them.  This is the 1800 yd/lb alpaca again, but this shipment had some colors to play with.

I also got a new loom yesterday, a very old, and needs some work, Schacht table loom.  I will probably use it in the classes.  It makes a great loom for beginning students and for rental.  It travels quite well.  But there are a couple of pieces missing and the wood really needs some TLC.  I would like to replace the apron cord with Texsolv, I hope I have enough left (I just replaced the apron cords on my Baby Wolf...scissor accident when I was cutting off one of the alpaca pieces.

I finally found the pattern and the yarn and the knitting for the socks I have been working on forever.  The pattern is slow knitting, cable work every row, and I only carried the part of the pattern I needed at the time.  So there was periods where I was looking for the pattern, then found the pattern and could not find where I put the half finished socks...anyway, I have all the components together and I want to get them finished.  I am really tired of this pattern.  That may be another reason it has taken so long, I knit for a while then put them away to do a less demanding design.

First sock at chevron cuff, the second sock is there now! Yeah!

And with the Alpaca work done for a while, I can get back to my yardage.  I am interested in seeing how far I get with the handspun yarn...I have more than I thought.  I may be able to have solid handspun in the whole body of the jacket instead of just stripes in the front and back.

I thought I had a picture of how it looks now that it is on the loom, but this is just a picture of the test.  The actual fabric is not that "stripey".  I think I will like it, even if it is MUCH brighter colors than I usually wear.

One Order Done

I am not very good at getting things done.  I seem to do it in my own time instead of in the time it should be done.  Anyway, I finally have the first shipment done.  

Box of nine pieces

I really enjoyed weaving these fabrics.  I liked the alpaca yarn, and I got to make some clothing pieces that I had not done before.  It took me a while to figure the "shrug."

I ended up with nine pieces; three shawls in Bronson lace, three ruanas in twill and three shrugs in point twill.  The shrug is an interesting piece, a cross between a jacket and a shawl.  It stays on your shoulders, but doesn't button up.

The shoulders are a little extreme on this manikin 

I like the way the piece fits and it seems to look good on a lot of body shapes.  My sisters seem to like it, so maybe I need to weave up some for me to give as gifts.  (I know I will hear from my sisters with that statement.)  The three fabrics were slightly different with the different wefts.

I really like the gray and beige on the right.

The shawls in Bronson lace are very light and airy.  Light enough to where in the summer and in cold air conditioned buildings.  I think I would like to try weaving some in Huck lace also.

I had several colors of natural alpaca to use on the pieces

Two of the shawls ended up white on white and one is tan on white.  Maybe I should have done a gray on white also.

The ruana took a lot of weaving.  I like my pieces with a lot of coverage.  I will have to make some short versions on the next batch.  

These are long enough and light weight enough to belt up.

I like the look of them belted up.  They have a seam down the center back, so it is not the pointed shawl back like on some versions.  

And they cover enough to be warm over a dress or jacket, but lightweight enough to wear on a summer's evening.

All three fabrics came out great.  

I like the shoulder stripe on the ruana, it brings you eye up to the face of the wearer.  

Anyway, these were a great series to.  I am now working on the second series using dyed yarns.  All of the yarns have been spun by a local mill...Spinderella.  They have a high quality yarn and I have enjoyed weaving it.


I have also got some things done for me...unfortunately not anything on my house.  But a shawl that I spun is finally photographed.

This started out as two hand dyed bumps from my LYS, before she closed and moved to fresh opportunities.  The yarn spun up easily and the color change is wonderful.  I call the piece "Rose Red."

I have knitted a version of this diagonal lace before and liked it.  With the color change here, the diagonal is really emphasized.  

I signed up to do a SAL/KAL on Ravelry using Greenwood rovings, and found a couple of them in my stash.  I have not been able to get started on them, due to my commitments, but at least I finally got a picture of the fiber to post.  After my second series of alpaca is done, I can get started on it.

Two rovings and pattern

The shawl pattern starts in the center back, I am trying to decide how to split the roving so that I will not have a pool of color at the start.  I want short sections of color at the first with the short rows and long sections of color at the last where the rows are long.  I should be able to figure something out...I think.

Finally, here I am at the castle in Napa Valley.  We had a great time on vacation last August; drinking wine, visiting San Francisco and seeing big trees...

The Long Lasting Cough

I have a history of a cough that lasts months.  When I was working full time I was on the phone all day.  So when I had a cough, there was really no time to get better, and I spent lots of days with cough drops and small humidifiers in my cubical.  (I also got walking pneumonia two years in a row for a January surprise.)  So now when I get a cold or cough, I panic. 

I am now teaching a couple of nights a week.  (Well, a week ago 4 nights, the cough came at the end of that week. Then the last week three nights of classes, and the cough just got worse.) Now I am working toward the end of the quarter of classes, so there are only two classes a week.  To help the cough and prevent others from getting it, I have stayed home and kept the talking down for a few days.  (I had invites to two family baby showers, people that I have not seen for a while.  So I felt bad missing them...but the chance of giving coughs to two pregnant girls sounded awful!)

I did ride over to see my DS's new house.  He bought a townhouse...he was tired of paying rent...great place.  He is really disappointed with the counter space in the kitchen.  It is a good sized room but not well designed for cooking.  No matter where you stand, you are working in your own shadow.  It will be fun to see what he does with it

After several days in bed, reading, watching video, I have to get to work.  It is one thing to be take years to finish my projects, but when I am doing projects of others, they need to get done.  I wove the first warp of ruana's, and got it off the loom.  They look good and I think I can check the fabric (cut any loose ends) and sew them this week.  

Last of three ruana's (six panels)

I tried fulling them on the felt roller and it worked very good.  It is fun to try something new.

I put on a second ruana warp and this time the color changes are random and mixed instead of striped.  

Here's that beautiful warp on the warp beam

I had some trouble with the color choices.  The yarn had been sitting on the Bergman and I would take down different cones and play musical cones with them to see how they looked together.  This warp is mostly in the mid-value range.  Now what color on the wefts...there are three ruanas so that means three different wefts.

Here we are all threaded and showing the first weft and pattern.  I like the diamonds and X's on the pattern, but it is a 16 shot repeat and during the cough medicine period, I could not keep track of the repeat and had to stop weaving!  It's awful when you are not able to count to 8 and back again.

Nice natural brown weft

Here is the row of cones that are left.  I will probably do a mid-range green for the next weft on the ruana, but I am not sure of the third one. 
I decided to use the light value yarns for some lace shawls and I think the black and dark value yarns for another warp of three shrugs.  Black is always a great color for clothing.

Beautiful row of dyed and natural colored yarns from Spinderella

My other project to finish is some felt.  I have had the felt roller of some time on loan, and it is now time for it to go back to the owner.  I was supposed to felt yardage and I did the first run and mailed it off.  Then the second run got felted and things sort of fell apart.  

Two weeks ago I went through boxes to see where I stand and what it would take to finish this order.  One box had four finished pieces, about 50" by  125", then two large boxes contained batts for four more pieces.  I managed to finish one piece before the cough got too bad, then I was our of commission for a few days.  Last weekend I finished another piece, a great white piece with a mauve pattern on it.  That bag turned out to have enough batts for two pieces so I am working on the second of those today.  I hope to have the fourth piece tomorrow...that would only be one more piece before they pick up the roller!!

Mauve 1 finished

When I was felting Mauve 1, I had the roll of felt start loosening on the roller.  I re-rolled it several times but it continued to loosen.  I finally realized that the piece was too wet.  I got a few cups of the water out and it rolled just fine after that.

Wetting out the alpaca is a test each time I do it.  I have started letting it soak for 30 minutes or so before I start the felting.

Mauve 2 wetted out

The white areas in the felt are either dry spots (not enough water) or air bubbles (not pressed down enough).  Either way those areas will not felt as well and the finished piece may have loose layers in those areas.  On Mauve 1, I added more water and I guess I ended up with too much.  This time I will be more careful to wet out well, smooth the wrinkles and get a good felt.