I've Been Spinning

I have been doing a lot of spinning.  You know how you get into a craft and just work on it for a while.  I have been relaxing and spinning.  Remember the cashmere/silk/wool blend?  I got it finished and now I am trying to get a pattern for a shawl.

Fine Spun Cashmere/Silk/Wool

I have been trying to get the right needle size to knit the shawl from a pattern in Piecework May/June 2010.  It is an Orenburg honeycomb Lace Scarf.  But the pattern is not looking right on the sample that I tried.  I'm not sure if the pattern has an error or if it is the knitter.  I am also trying different sized needles to see which will work with this yarn.

I also got some painted roving from my LYS that was painted by a local spinner.  She sales her stuff on line too, look for Greenwood Fiber Works.  This one was a range of random colors (I think it is done with the left-over dye after a dye session) and I love it.

Isn't it a great color combination.  I have about eight ounces and I would love to knit a little bolero jacket sweater and then have a dress the color of the background on this picture.  I love the periwinkle color and It would look great with this yarn.

Another roving from Greenwood Fiber Works is used in the next skeins.  It is a color she calls "Copper Hills."

I love the colors and would like to use it in weaving.  Did you see the samples in the recent Handwoven magazine by Sharon Alderman?  I would love to use this as the floating yarns over the ground fabric like one of her samples, probably a rust brown color ground to look good with the yarn.  I am thinking of a heather type yarn.  It could make a great jacket.

The next yarn is for socks.  I purposefully made the two skeins slightly different so that each sock in the pair will be an individual.  

There was a great pattern that had a lace effect at the top of the cuff, but then I saw the ruffled cuff socks in the one skein wonder book and I think that is what I will be using.  With these wild colors, ruffled socks could be just the thing...but what do I need to have in the way of clothing to look good with ruffled sock?


The last yarn is for weaving a scarf.  It is a wool/silk blend and I got it at the Greenwood booth at the Great Basin Fiber Festival this year.  I will be using a deep sky blue silk/wool yarn and this yarn will be the accent stripes in it.  

The periwinkle background looks bad with this yarn, it really is a beautiful blue and green.  I made some scarves with hand spun silk several years ago.  I just had a twill ground and then the twill line changed directions where the hand spun stripe was.  The wool/silk yarn that I have looks great with this hand spun yarn...I will have to get you a better picture.

I also got a new loom!  I have been interested in Bergman loons for several years.  I don't know much about counter marche looms and I really should get some knowledge about them.  This loom came available and I had to have it.  

She is a twelve shaft and weaves 48" wide.  As you can see the loom is crammed in the kitchen now.  I really need to get a better place for her.  She will be in the living room and will replace the Baby Macomber...yeah I know a 48" loom replacing a 20" loom!!  I know that I have some moving around to do.  Also the loom is in pieces.  I am trying to decide if I should keep the wire tie-ups for the shafts and jacks or if I should replace them with texsolve.  Also the wood is very dry.

Here us a section that I put some Howard's  Feed and Wax on.  Yes, I need to use a fine steel wool or sand paper to smooth the surface and get it all waxed.  There are a couple of replacement parts that I would like, I'll have to see if I can get them made or find current loom parts that can work.  
Margaret Bergman (a Swedish immigrant) designed the loom in the 1930's and even had a patent on it.  I love the way the thing folds up.  Beams move (they even have a storage place on the loom) than the front and back fold in the make a small foot print.  But how much will I want to have it out and weaving and how much will be folded and out of the way??

My last picture is a bag that was brought from Thailand.  My niece was there working on her public health degree.  The village that she was in was a weaving village. 

The bag is in the shape that has been popular with weavers repeatedly over the time I have been weaving.  The width is shown in the strap.  In this one there is a center stripe and border strips.  It is folded in half for the strap and down the sides of the bag.  The center of the bag is the same width and has a great pick-up pattern on the top edge.  The interesting part is the yarn strings that the maker has added to the bag at the top.  It is a very interesting piece and I can always use another bag!  I have more projects that I have bags to put them in.

Oh and by the way, I got the tartan scarves off the loom.  They look great hanging up and drying after the first wet finishing.

It took seven hangers to get the yardage up and hanging.  This weekend I can start cutting them apart and finishing them to get the scarves ready for gift time.

De-Nile ain't just a River in Egypt

I've been working on a scarf from my current favorite designer, Susan Pandorf.  She has been designing some pieces inspired by the Lord of The Rings books/movie.  And as I love LOTR, I decided to do a couple of the designs...OK a bunch.

I am doing a little scarf that she had as a free pattern on her website (A Few Stitches Short).   It called for a yarn that I had been interested in...Rowen Purelife Revive.  This yarn is interesting to me because it is made from recycled, used garments of silk, cotton and viscose.  I like this because it used to be that we paid more money for "virgin" wool that had not been recycled.  Now we pay more for yarn that is made from recycled fiber.  Makes you go hummm...mm.

But that is not my denial, it was my attitude about the amount of yarn that I needed.  The pattern clearly said 2 skeins for a 60 inch scarf.  At the time, I thought this was a little short, but at $10 a skein, I decided that two would probably be long enough for my scarf.  I cast on and started knitting.  (Here was another sign that my secret self knew that it was not going to be enough;  I started to knit and worked to get the scarf done before the yarn went off the market and I could not get any more.)

But still the denial.  When I finished the first skein, I held up the scarf and thought this is a little short. And the next thought was:  there is still another skein, maybe it will be long enough.  I contnued to knit and was making my way though the second skein with that same refrain in my mind...There is still more yarn, maybe it will be long enough.

I finally realized accepted that this was not going to be long enough when there was about 12 inches of yarn left.  We all knew that was going to happen and of course it happened on Sunday before Labor Day.  So, after work Tuesday I made a dash to the shop to get the third skein.  I am now 2 inches into the third scarf and the tension has eased.  I know I will have enough yarn to make the scarf as long as I want.  

Isn't it a pretty lace pattern?  Just the design I wanted, simple to knit pattern and reversible, perfect for a scarf.  I love to have a nice relaxed knitting experience.

Some times I wish I would just accept the little voice in the back of my mind that really knows what is happening.

Slow Cloth and Watching it Grow

I have been thinking about the "Slow Cloth"/"Slow Food" discussion.  I agree with the thought that slow food as opposed to fast food is a big improvement.  I like the idea of spending the time to prepare food.  Although for some of the nights when it is my turn to cook, I rely on the pizza delivery man.  I would like to spend more time with the cooking, I have always enjoyed doing it, but I get caught up in doing other things...like weaving.

Slow cloth is not that it takes longer to do something, but that you are doing it with purpose.  That you want to spend time on it, at that time.  I also love to see the fabric grow.  

I even like to watch the fabric grow in the videos of the modern looms, where it grows inches in a second.  Have you watched the videos that weavers have made of their warping and weaving process?  The warping is interesting, but I like to watch the fabric grow.

When I weave there is that first pleasure of seeing that the pattern is working.  That I figured everything out right.  Then comes the weaving,... and watching it grow.

I use a measuring tape that is pined along the weaving so that I can tell how much is woven and how much I need to weave.

And with some patterns I have a straight pin that moves along to mark the blocks or the pattern repeats that have been done.

And there is the wonder that I am constructing an object out of raw materials, that I am making something that will please me, or someone else that gets it.

There is the joy in the making.   This to me is "Slow Cloth."

What is it that you do to get that joy?  I always love to go to events where I can see others that love what they do.  Going to a Renaissance Fair, I see people getting joy out of their choices.  I almost want to start doing that process too, just because I can see how much fun they are having.  (That is probably how I get involved in so many more projects that I can finish.)

The joy is in the doing, the making.  I look at my sisters and see the joy in sculpting a beautiful doll, making a fantastic costume with delicate detail, and painting a wonderful feeling to make it physical.  We, as sisters, dabble in each others craft and enjoy each others gifts.

We are able to find joy in the things that we do.  What have you found for yourself to do?  I keep thinking of the line from a poem that I read:

"It is the refrain chanted by the chorus of your accumulating years:  

"If not now, When?  If not here, Where?" 

And the only obedience that will set you free 

is surrender to the energy and fire congealed in your gifts."

I have felt it sad when I see people that have not found their gift, or have left it behind.  Me, I find more that I want to spend time with than I have time.  I need to focus on that thing and keep the joy.  We all need to find that enjoyable thing, and revel in it.

I just read this in a book of Sufi poetry that my daughter got from the library.  Isn't it beautiful...!

Hafiz

Wants you to know

Your life within God's arms,

Your dance within God's arms

Is already

Perfect!

 

Three versions of napkins

I just finished the center motif on the third tie-up and the variety is great.  I like all of them and will enjoy using them.

Center Motif for Tie-up One

 I like the way this one has the four cell diamond in the middle.  This center motif is the one that I altered the most.  I enlarged it and then added the middle element.  I'm not sure if it will be a better looking napkin with it is folded on the table or rolled in the storage display, but it is a great design laid out flat. 
On the overall pattern, I enlarged the corner motif a little, then the next two are the original, then the center is greatly altered with four blocks the size of the corner motif and new design added in the middle of the four blocks.  I will get a picture of the complete napkin when they are off the loom.  Today was just to compare the center motif variations.

Center Motif for Tie-up Two

Sorry I didn't get the color the same on the three pictures.  I think the color is more like the first picture, but you can see the pattern variation anyway.  Now instead of diamonds, the block is squares and the middle shows a five diamond unit...cool.  The outlining design adds well to the pattern.

Center Motif for Tie-up Three

 In this one the block is a square of tiny diamonds, a lot like the outer pattern on tie-up one.  The middle design is really changed to 4 outlined diamonds and a center tiny diamond.  The outer design is almost making the connected diamonds like tie-up one in the block.  I might like this one the best.  I like the way the middle unit makes a cross between the blocks.

Each tie-up is interesting, and it makes me want to sit at the computer with a weaving  program and check out other possibilities, even though I don't have enough warp to weave any others.  I can see how weavers get interested in the computer programs and do multiple designs and variations and then don't get around to weaving any.  Sometimes just the exploration is enough to satisfy the curiosity.

Weaving is progressing

I am managing to continue to get some weaving done.  I still haven't managed the "do it everyday", but I am working on it.  There has been a lot going on in the house:  Fridge repair, new washer, insulation in the attic, measuring for new windows (due end of September) and on going bathroom saga.  I hope more of these will reach a finish point soon.
On the finished items front, I have finished a couple of bookmarks with the lacework.  I am getting myself into a better "finger working" place so that I can work on some larger pieces.  (Maybe I can get myself back on the "learn Buckspoint better" trail.)  I have some threads and a couple of books to work on this.

I also did one with pink on the outer edge, but the picture didn't come out.

I am on number 3 of the current group of bookmarks, I have a bunch of old, fine crochet cotton that I am using.  I want to do a few bookmarks to have on hand for gifts.

The tartan warp is coming along great.  I am half way through number five and I hope to get two more off this warp.  (I already have another warp in the wings for this loom.)  I have build up quite a stack for finished scarves.  It is kind of neat to see that much weaving done. 

The napkins are also coming along well.  I decided to do a blue and a gold of each of three tie-ups.  All six of the napkins will be treadled "as drawn in" and I have decided to base all the tie-ups on a 3/2/1/2 twill.  This should give them a nice relationship.

O     O     O O     O     O O O O O     O     O     O     O O O O     O     O O O O O     O       O     O O O   O O     O     O   O O O     O   O     O O O     O O O     O         O O O     O     O O O     O   O O O     O   O     O O O       O O O     O       O O O     O   O     O O O   O O O     O     O     O O O         O     O O O O O     O     O   O     O O O   O     O     O O 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

I wonder what happened to the grid on the tie-ups when I copied them??...  Oh well, on the first tie-up you see the 3/2/1/2 on treadle 2, on the second tie-up it is on treadle 5 and I reversed the direction, and on tie-up three it is on treadle 7 and I liked the reversed direction so I used it again.
The picture of the blue napkin in the last entry is using tie-up one.  This picture of a gold napkin is using tie-up two.  I like the differences and the similarities.  

The motif has more of a diamond development in this tie-up.

I had to work Saturday this weekend, so I will not be getting as much done.  I know I should have done it on Thursday when I was given the day off...but for some reason I spent most of Thursday sleeping, I guess I needed it.  

I would like to finish the blue version of tie-up two and then start tie-up three to see the difference.  I will probably have time, especially if I can pawn off the dish washing and laundry and vacuuming and watering and....

Confessions of a Former *WEAVER*

That was going to be the title of my blog.   

Several years ago, I used to work at a weaving and yarn store.  I loved that job.  I worked part-time, helped people design and weave their projects, taught classes in the evening and wove every day.  That is when I considered myself a *WEAVER*.  

But things change, I had to find a full time job that payed better and had benefits.  So that first few years at the full time job, I wove infrequently.  It took about five years before I could get myself balanced and get weaving back into my life.

After a few more years, I was able to start teaching weaving again and doing more weaving.

The reason this all came to mind, is the napkins that I am working on.  I used to be able to get my warps on in hours, instead of days.  With the job, family, my age and the fact that I have broadened my focus instead of narrowed it, has made for longer amounts of time to finish projects.  I really don't mind the longer time, I enjoy the weaving and also the warping and threading.  I think of it as my "slow cloth".  Not because it takes more time, but because I can relax and enjoy the time it takes.

It also seems that lately I have been making more errors, and causing it to take even more time.  Here is where the napkins are causing me to think.  I had woven napkins for a guild exchange and now I want to use up the yarn and get some additional napkins.  (More napkins means washing napkins less often.)  

For the napkins, I decided to use a gebrochene twill from a workshop that I had taken.  I expanded the pattern block in several ways to get the number of repeats that I wanted on the napkin.  I had been thinking about this for some time, and I forced myself to work out the pattern on the weaving program I have on my computer.  (A good learning experience...)  It took some time, but I was pleased with my ability on the program and the new pattern that I got.  

I wound the warp...It took me a couple of days instead of hours.

 I have been thinking of trying some different methods of warping to see if I want to incorporate them into my process, but mostly I used my normal method.  Instead of chaining the warp, I layer it in a bag.

 I just use a grocery bag with handles, I like the plastic because the warp feeds out easily.











The handle ties work well to attach it to the loom while I am setting up.

I have been wondering about the "kite string" method, winding the warp on a stick to keep it under tension.  You know what Jim Ahren used to say, The only  thread that will not tangle is a thread under tension.  I have also been thinking about a warping "trapeze", but I haven't gotten far enough to make up one.

So for now I just do my usual.  I put a counting thread on my warps, counting the warp ends in 1/2" groups, because that is how many fit in the raddle.

Of course, when I got to the threading part, I was 5 threads short...

When I was about half way through the threading, I started to over think.  It looked like I had too much pattern and not enough threads.  Was the program wrong, did I make a mistake on the program and the thread count more than 600?  I counted the threads in each pattern and added everything up and found that I had too many threads.  (Or am I math challenged.)   A couple of days thinking, and  I redesigned the pattern to make it less threads.  Then I started to rethink, again.  I counted the warp ends left to thread and found that the original pattern was right.  (I guess I did the computer program right!) I was only the 5 threads short.  Again, I was looking and thinking a couple of days.

Another warping procedure question.  Is it a good idea to drag the warp ends through the lease?  I usually warp back to front, so I wind the warp onto the warp beam before threading.  I like to be able to watch the cross to see if anything is getting tangled.  Is the dragging hard on the threads, this is 10/2 pearl cotton, so this thread is strong enough to handle it.


So far this process has taken me more than a few days.  I know..., enjoy the process.


I was off work today, and I had the time to put into threading and getting it corrected, if there was a problem.  There wasn't...  I did have to move heddles after I started threading, the heddle count on the computer pattern seems to be off...  (I hate to move heddles after threading, I had already added heddles so that I had the amount listed on the computer program!!)


I sat at the loom threading and listened to the Grout Dr. in the bathroom.  (He had been spending two days, removing loose tiles, repairing the wall in back that had decomposed, sanding the grout out and making everything look new again.  It looks wonderful and new.)  I got my warp all threaded and it fit the original pattern that I had designed...I shouldn't try to over-think.  


I sleyed the reed and actually got the pattern going...at least one part went with no problems.  There were no threading errors!!

I think that I will enjoy these.  I will be weaving 3 in blue and 3 in gold.  I am not sure if I will change the tie-up with each one, or make several alike.

To expand on the Grout Dr. and the ongoing house repair:  We had problems with the ice maker in the fridge.  It was making ice, but it was a solid block in the bottom of the freezer, not nice little cubes in the ice maker, obviously a leak somewhere.  We turned off the water going to the refrigerator for several days so we did not get more ice in the bottom, and we got a repair man in to look at it.  Yes, a valve was damaged and of course, we need to replace the "unit."  So, not cheap.  
While the repair man was here, I was having trouble with the water not filling in the washing machine.  He checked it out and it is not repairable...  I have been having trouble with it not filling, but he said that I should worry about it just filling and continuing to fill until the basement floor is flooded.  Not a good situation, so we need to get:  new washing machine, new faucets on the bathtub, new doors on the bathtub.  I told DH that I want to take off the wallpaper in the bathroom and repair and repaint.  His answer was we need new windows first...Wahoo, we get new windows.  It looks like house repair is ongoing for a while.