weaving

Weaving Wednesday 14

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130910 Blue and White warpI went to the studio last night to thread the warp on one of the towels we are doing for our round robin.  This warp is cotton in alternating colors – 4 threads blue, 4 threads white.  Pam had wound the warp and beamed it (she did on all 11 looms, crazy woman).  The threading, slaying and tie off was up to each student participating.  She asked me to do this one.

The  warp was wound with the blue and white threads together so when I was threading I has to separate it into groups of 4 as I went along.  I posted a pic to FB as I was doing it because the beginning seemed like a tangled mess to me and it was difficult for me to get a rhythm going that would carry me through.

Just as an FYI this is the sort of thing that makes me just a little crazy.  I love order and symmetry and this seemed anything but.  The threads would tangle together – blue and white as I threaded them through the heddles.  I threaded them in groups of eight.  When the blues were threaded the whites were tangled but once I finished the whites it seemed to straighten out.  For a person with an OCD in order and symmetry this was pretty stressful.

It gets better.  Being the novice that I am I counted the heddles on the first shaft to make sure there were enough before I started – I figured I was good to go.  You guessed it – I was short on two shafts at the end.  DAMN IT!  I had to move heddles from one side of the harness to the other which was a struggle (that, my friends, is a wild understatement).

I had been looking forward to a quiet evening meditation with fiber.  I got a hot, frustrating 3 hours.

There are lessons learned here.  The most obvious to me is count your heddles – all of them, don’t assume anything.  The next is that I can fix my mistakes for the most part.  The most important one for me is learning to work through that OCD.  Yeah, yeah, it made me short of breath with an extreme headache but once it was done I relaxed and thought “that wasn’t THAT bad”.

Years ago, in my quilting days, I had a lot of trouble letting go of control of my projects.  The colors had to be just so, set in the right spots, the seams perfect, the points exact.  I met a woman whose work I greatly admired.  I worked with her on the CT Quilt Search Project for over 3 years where I saw scrap quilts that were stunning.  I couldn’t figure out how they decided what went where to have these textiles of scraps come together with such beauty.  We talked about it at one point and she said “Put all of your light pieces in one bag and your darks in another – as you’re sewing them together just pick random ones alternating from one bag to another”.  That was way, way out of my comfort zone.  I had no control but I forced myself to do it.

I ended up with a beautiful top, exactly what I was looking for made in probably half of the time because I forced myself to let go.   I need to remember those lessons every time I do something that I’m frantically trying to maintain control of – you just have to let it go.

 

Family Stories

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300623 Wedding Elmer and LenaLena and Elmer Alix – June 29, 1930 – both were working in mills at the time.

Every Wednesday I eat lunch with my Dad at the assisted living facility he lives in now.  It’s always interesting for one reason or another.  This week we talked weaving, which is one of my favorite subjects.  My father is one of the few people left that can tell me the stories of the woolen mills where almost his entire family worked for his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.

He’s been telling me these stories for my entire life, they are part of my being.  It wasn’t until this past year that I had a much greater understanding of what he was talking about.  He always tells me about the mechanics of the mill, how the looms worked, how the fiber was carded and spun, the kinds of fiber they were using.

When I began my weaving class my goals were twofold – I wanted to learn the process but I also wanted to better understand the stories – my family history.  I knew if I didn’t do this a good part of these stories would be lost.

Wednesday Dad talked about winding warps for the looms.  The looms they were using were 72 inches in width (that’s pretty big). Each warp thread came off of its own spool.  He didn’t know how long the warps were but he often has told me about my grandfather knotting the warp threads as they ran out while beaming the warp. He could tie the knots with one hand.  This must have been pretty amazing because Dad never looks more delighted than when he tells me that.

We talked about my grandfather’s weave books. Dad told me this was the book he was using at Charlton Woolen in the early 1930’s.  Today I took it out and realized that the length of the warp was decided by whatever the job was.  This book never ceases to amaze me.  He saw this in his head, he designed on paper and knew what it was going to do – wow.  I understand it but at this point I’m not able to visualized what the warp and weft are going to do without doing a draw down (and I struggle with that at times – it makes my head hurt from thinking too hard).

 

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The heddles were all threaded by hand – look at this page – 6 harnesses with 1800 ends. It would take me a month. Yikes!  Often there over a dozen harnesses, talk about making your head hurt.

Today I will finish weaving my scarf for the Eastern States Exposition (Big E).  I will take it off of the loom, fringe it, weave in any loose threads, then wash and block.  I think one of the reasons I enjoy weaving so much is it has helped me to understand the kind of thinking my ancestors did while doing what they did for a living.  This has been a great journey.

And Now for Something Completely Different

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Last week my weaving instructor put out an APB to her students that she needed help winding warps for the upcoming session.  Up until now most of the students were at different points in their weaving journey.  Each of us would work on samplers or projects that would teach us something in particular about weave structure and be something we wanted to make.  This session we are doing a round-robin of twills.  I can’t tell you how excited I am about this.

There will be eleven of us participating.  Pam is in the process of beaming the warps on eleven looms, some 4 shafts, some 8.  Each one of us has to go into the studio before the beginning of the fall session and thread and tie off one loom in the pattern that has been set up for that particular loom.  Once the session starts each we will be weaving a different twill pattern on a different loom each week.  By the end we will each have eleven different dish towels.  How fun is that?

I picked up a cone of 8/2 cotton at the studio and brought in home to wind.  I was a few yards short so I just brought my board to Brimfield to finish it.  Pam was beaming the warps when I got there.  She wanted the tension to be the same on all of the looms.  What a project (for her).  I will be going over sometime before the 17th of September to thread and will be waiting anxiously to get started.

Meanwhile I have four weaving days to finish that scarf for the Big E.  I’m almost there but am at a point where I’m wondering what was I thinking?

Heath Fair

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120817 Heath Fair Banner

The Fair started for me Thursday evening when I dropped off my blanket and rug at the exhibition hall.  There were helpers everywhere and you could feel the excitement building.  They have this fair down to a science.  I was given labels that were already printed with my name and category, I attached the labels to the corner of my goods with the name hidden and handed them off to one of the many workers with the checkered aprons walking around the hall.  Then the waiting began.

For me part of the anticipation is not knowing what your competition is.  How many people weave and put their work in a small country fair? I know many people hook rugs but are there any around here that do?  Are they willing to haul them to a fair for a ribbon and maximum premium of $3.00?

Sister Sue and I made our way over about 10 AM Saturday.  The fairgrounds were bustling with activity.  We toured the sheep barn and the poultry/rabbit building.

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We ran into our friend Russell who told me he only won second place on the rocking horse he had made for his grandson. (The only category it fit into was Craft Other – I’m glad I wasn’t judging that one). After catching up with them for a bit we went to the Exhibition Hall to see how I did.  It took me a minute to figure out where the textiles were.  I was also amazed at how many people brought things to the fair.

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Blue Ribbon for my rug but the only other competition on this was a really beautiful woven rag rug.  Again, another difficult judging situation.

130817 Heath Fair (6)Then a blue ribbon for the blanket – woohoo!  There was a lot of weaving in the fair this year which actually surprised me.  Who knew I was surrounded by weavers and didn’t know it?  There’s another reason to compete at the fair – you get to know the competition and they are just like you.

Once we left the exhibition hall we made our way down the food lane and picked up some fried dough with Maple Cream from Hager’s Farm for breakfast (it’s sort of like a pancake right?).  With food in hand we watched the herding exhibition – with ducks.

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Then it was on to the main reason I was at the fair so early – Horse Draw.  I always plan my fair visits around this event.  The animals are stunningly beautiful and you can watch them doing what they are trained to do.

130817 Heath Fair (7)You also get to see the teamsters in action.

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These horses are very similar to dogs (except in size).  They are bred to pull, they have a job.  It’s the trainers job to teach them how to do it.  There are a lot of differences in how these horse’s people work with them and that’s the difference in how well they pull.  Early on in the draw you have a sense of who will win just by how they are handled by their drivers.

The competition was light in the 3,000 pound category.  There were 5 teams competing, 3 of the teams were from the same farm. There were 2 other fairs this weekend with horse draw competitions.

Honestly, one of the best parts of this event is sitting in the stand with all of the other interested parties.  This is redneck farmers at its best.  Horse people are an interesting lot (and sometimes a little scary to look at).  They joked about small wagers on a particular team.  Arguments ensued over who knows what and people were generous in their knowledge of the sport.  One explained in detail how the draw was measured and how the timing of each pull was handled.

130817 Heath Fair (2)Then there were also teamsters helping out teamsters if someone was short for a particular pull (competitors, helping competitors).  It’s all about the horses you see (at least to them).  They apparently don’t know that we’ve figured out that it’s their work, their temperament that is really what makes their team perform at their best.

When the pull was over we went home.  I returned later with the family – they wanted fair food for supper.  We watched a little of the truck pull before calling it a day.  The crowd was enormous – a sea of camouflage and dirty ball caps.  For a people watcher this was gold.

For me the fair concluded last evening when I picked up my entries and winnings.  I’ve concluded that the only way to see the fair is to compete in it.  You have skin in the game and every one around you knows it.  Now to start working on next years entries.

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Weaving Wednesday 13

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130812 Weaving (2)

I managed to warp the loom this past Saturday and wove some on Sunday and a little on Monday.  After splitting wood I was less than enthusiastic, I really just wanted a nap.

This has a tencel warp with a verigated wool sock yarn for the weft.  It is really quite lovely – the tabby warp in tencel looks like little glass beads when the light hits it just right.  Speaking of warping and weaving I made another mistake threading – can you see it?  I didn’t until I’d woven about 6″ – and that was my point of no return.  It is what it is.  I don’t find it glaring and it wouldn’t stop me from wearing it.  Another exercise.

I have 10 days to finish this.  Barring any unforeseen crisis I shouldn’t have a problem doing it.  It’s nice to be weaving a more complicated draft.  I really love doing overshot.  It reminds me of knitting an Aran pattern in a way.  You have to knit many rows before the pattern appears, then it keeps you interested.  Once you’ve repeated the pattern 5 or 6 times the piece you’re knitting is done.  This does much the same thing, by the time you are in a rhythm with the treddling the piece is nearing completion.

When this is done I will probably weave another wool overshot throw, then I have a striped twill throw in mind.  Christmas is coming.

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Agricultural Fairs

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The Heath Fair is coming up and I decided to enter a few things in it this year.  The overshot coverlet is one of them.  When I was a kid I would enter the fair every year.  I loved going there and seeing my things on display and winning ribbons.  They have premiums as well and the amount has not changed since I was 10 years old.  First – $3.00, Second – $2.00, Third – $1.00.  It has never been about the money – it’s about the ribbon.  Heath is still one of the best agricultural fairs going in my opinion.  It is very small, it has all the best fair food, they have a horse draw (which is my favorite event – especially with my camera), and they have a good, but not overwhelming competition going for all of their crafts, canning and livestock.  I also enjoy visiting people I’ve know for a lifetime but only see now at the fair.

The interesting thing about the fair is that everything that is entered has to be made in the time between the end of the last fair and the beginning of this one.  When it comes to canning and pickling that puts a bit of a time crunch on the maker.  I made the pickles last week, it will be the only canned good that will go in.  The weaving obviously has been completed and I entered a small hooked rug.  The other thing I entered is “Category: # 18  “Best Confection or Baked Good made with Maple Syrup”.  I have NO idea what I’m making and that may be the one thing that falls by the wayside.  You see, with entering things in the fair you have to register well in advance – no registration, no entry.  Fortunately they do online registration now so I just picked some categories and entered.

The day after registering for the Heath Fair my weaving instructor sent out an email asking her students to consider entering some of their weaving in the Big E because weaving was a category that was in danger of being dropped due to a lack of participation.  This fair is HUGE.  It is the Eastern States Exposition, goes on for days and the competition is stiff, especially in livestock.  I was unsure if the quality of my weaving would even be up to standards for this fair, I didn’t want to be embarrassed.  I got an “are you KIDDING?!” when I expressed my doubts so I entered two items.  If you’re an entrant you receive two entrance tickets and a parking pass – can’t go wrong with that – parking alone can be a deterrent for me.

The thing is I entered a piece that isn’t even on the loom yet.  I warped it last weekend only to find out that I had threaded it wrong, after unweaving about 5 inches I discovered I hadn’t counted my warp threads correctly so I had to really start all over again.  Bummer.  Guess what I will be doing this weekend.  I see it as the ultimate challenge – a 72″ overshot scarf in tencel and wool done from beginning to end in 3 weeks (maybe a little less).

Challenge accepted.

Off of the Loom

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Sunday I finished weaving the throw in the morning, tied the fringe and washed it to full the wool.  I threw it over the empty loom to dry.  When I arrived in Rowe yesterday I immediately took it out to the garden to take a couple of photographs.  I’m only sorry you can’t feel how lovely this is.  There is nothing like wool.  I love the color play and it truly was a great experiment in color.

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I learned a lot in this project – there were problems I had to figure out myself.  Those are the solutions you remember, they may not have been the best solutions but the finished project worked and I will do things differently the next time I warp.

It’s getting to the point now where I have so many things I want to weave I don’t know what to do next.  I think I will do another overshot project, maybe with mixed fibers this time.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be learning about a whole new set of problems.

Gamp Progress

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I thought I’d post a couple of photos of the progression of the gamp I’m weaving.  This is in Harrisville wool.  The weather finally broke and we are back to tolerable temperatures.  I did a lot of weaving this past Sunday and a little on Wednesday.

I have to say that this project has taught me a lot more about weaving than color interaction.  I’ve had a couple of issues with the tension on my warp (which I’ve corrected) and I also broke a warp thread the other night.  That was a bit more of a challenge figuring out what would work and what wouldn’t.  It broke between the heddle and the reed.  I thought I could knot a new thread in – not.  So I just put a new thread from the back to the front and weighted it like I’ve done with a broken floating selvage.  It worked I’m happy to say.  The best part was the lack of panic on my part, I just figured out how I could make it work.  Six months ago that might have been a problem, I would have had a more difficult time figuring it out.

I hope to have this off of the loom this weekend.  As beautiful as it is I’d much rather be doing overshot, plain weave is just so boring.

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