wool

Weaving Wednesday 10

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130616 Orange Peel ScarfI finished the cotton towels I was weaving in Rowe on Saturday and was desperate to warp a new project. I decided on an overshot scarf in the Orange Peel pattern.  The warp is fairly short and only has 146 ends.  I was not ready to do a huge warp for another throw just yet so I made a little trip to Metaphor Yarns in Shelburne. They have some really beautiful yarn – really beautiful.  I was looking at a draft before I left that used tencel as the warp with sock yarn as the weft.  After poking around the store I found some fingering weight alpaca blend and figured I would change the sett if I had to (pretending I actually understand what I’m doing well enough to do that).  The warp color is called potting soil and it’s lovely.  I chose a red alpaca worsted for the weft.

Sunday morning I was on fire – I warped that loom in record time and am proud to say not one mistake – woohoo!  I like the way this overshot pattern is going.  The scarf will be 70″ in length with a twisted fringe on either end (since I know how to do that now).  The fabric is fine and will have a nice drape.  Best of all , it will be warm!

This is when I truly am thankful for the lessons learned this past year in my weaving class at Firewatch Weavers.  I am able to plan out my project. I know how much fiber and of what weight I will need to create what I have envisioned in my head.  I know how to read the draft no matter how it’s written because truth be told not all drafts are created equal.

It is amazing to me that I can follow these steps – by myself – and have results like this.  The problem I have now is this is what I spend my days dreaming about – sitting at that loom and throwing a shuttle (or two).

 

Maltese Cross Finished

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130609 Throw (2)

I finished the Maltese Cross overshot throw this past weekend.  I don’t know when I’ve felt more proud of a project.  So many different steps go into something like this, it’s the perfect foil for someone who bores easily.

After taking it off of the loom I took out the sewing machine and sewed the edges along the weft before the start of the fringe.  I then put it into a sink full of cold water and shampoo (just a touch).  I had a minor freak out when the water turn red with fugitive dye.  Eeeeekkk!  I rinsed and rinsed.  Whew.  Then I added a little conditioner and rinsed again.

After air drying overnight I cut the tabs off of each end to release the fringe and twisted and knotted it with a total of 8 strands in each ply.  What a nice finish that is.

It is so soft, so beautiful, I can’t stop looking at it – and touching it.

Now I’m planning the next one.  It has given more urgency to finish weaving the cotton towels now on the loom.  I just need more hours in the day!

Dreaming of Possibilities

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130606 Overshot

Last night I finished my overshot throw and took it off of the loom.  I’m amazed at how quickly the weaving went.  I will post a photograph of it once it’s finished.  I still have to sew, wash and do the fringe (twisted I think).  It’s quite beautiful and I’m pleased with the way it looks.  This was a lot of fun along with the frustration.

Taking this project off of the loom in class marked the end of weaving lessons until the fall.  After we took it off the loom Pam spread it out and said “Well, it’s beautiful, now you’ll just have to come to weave for fun because there is nothing else I can teach you.”  Yeah, right.  I have to say I have never taken a class where I learned so much in such a short period of time.  I’m excited at the prospect of the many, many new weaving projects ahead.  Every time I take something off of a loom the next project is rolling around in my head.  I haven’t really got the Maltese Cross out of my system yet so I will probably make another one on the loom at home in another color.  I’m also looking at other overshot drafts.  I figure since I’ve done one design it shouldn’t be a problem doing another, just read the draft.

I have a 40 minute drive to and from weaving class.  It always seems like it takes forever to get there in anticipation of what new thing I’m going to learn.  The drive home seems like it takes much less time.  I go over and over what I’ve done in the last 3 to 4 hours.  I think about the structure, the colors, the process.  I think that’s the sign of a good fit in craft – you dream of the possibilities.

Weaving Wednesday 9

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130528 Weaving (1)My weaving instructor rethreaded the mistake in my warp over the weekend – have I mentioned just how awesome she is?  I began to weave this throw in earnest last night.  It’s a lot of fun.  I love a complicated pattern and overshot really fills that bill.  The draft is hanging from the castle of the loom at the top of the photo (well part of it is).  I was able to get through 3 1/2 repeats and probably wove 15 inches or so.

I’m still a little bit in awe of the whole process.  It amazes me that something that looks this incredibly complicated can be quite simple if you break it into small steps, sort of like life’s problems.  Weaving could really be used as a metaphor for life with all of its steps in process, problems to be figured out, moving through it with some mundane work interspersed with possible broken threads or mistakes.

As you weave you become intimate with the pattern, you know every jog and curve.  The draw down on the draft tells me exactly where I have left off in the treadling.  It’s a good thing because I have to rewind the bobbin with the red yarn about a third of the way through each repeat.  I’m always coming back to my bench and thinking, “Hmmmm, where was I?”  I’m happy to report that it became much easier to figure out the third time through.  I think the best part about this pattern is by the time I’m sick of weaving the repeats I’ll be done!  Win, win.

130528 Weaving (2)

 

Weaving Wednesday 8 – Maltese Cross

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130521 Maltese Cross (2)I finished warping last night and began weaving a dry run to see if there were any mistakes with some different yarn than I have to weave the throw.  Pretty cool isn’t it?  Well, not as cool as you might think because there WAS a threading error and we narrowed it down to the 15 or 20 threads.  Now it has to be fixed.  This is always amazing to me – you thread four harnesses in a certain way, weave with your treadling a certain way and this is what happens.  All I can say is WOW.  I am sooo hooked.

 

Weaving Wednesday 7

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130514 Weaving (1)

Pam, our instructor, lashing a warp for a Navajo rug.

I left early yesterday thinking that with an extra hour I would be able to finish threading it and possibly sley the reed.  Ahhhh, the best laid plans.  Last week when I started threading my warp I was on fire.  Everything went in order, no mistakes, perfection.  I only had time to thread the first half so with the extra time I figured this should be easy.  I threaded, rethreaded and threaded again the last half of that warp.  Three hours into it I had 25 to 30 threads left over at the end.  Count, count, count, rethread, count, count count, thread again, still wrong, ugh.  Sometimes your head is in the game, sometimes it’s not, last night it definitely was not.  I got there at 5:00 and by 8:30 I had the reed on ready to start that but really didn’t have enough time so it will be waiting for me next week.  Bummer.

When I first arrived at the studio I went around and took a few photographs of the other weaving projects going on.  It’s all fascinating to me and there is just so much you can do (although the just gives me weaving ADD).  Since my loom looks almost exactly the way it did last week I’ll share some of the other weaving – without description since I’m not sure of the proper terminology.

130514 Weaving (4)

I have my class on Tuesday evenings so there are only a couple of other women that I actually weave with.

130514 Weaving (3)

We do have weaving “theory” classes once a month where all of Pam’s students get together to learn about drafting, structure and color. Now I can put the names and projects with the faces.

130514 Weaving (2)

It has been an amazing experience playing with these women who are all at different places in their weaving education.

130514 Weaving (5)

All of the weavers that I have met are very generous people.  They are open, honest and giving.  It’s like going to therapy every week.  We are all around the same age with wildly diverse backgrounds but we come together to create beautiful things.  You see everyone’s tastes are so different in their color choices or even their projects.  Pam steers people in the direction of their capabilities and gives direction when needed.  She encourages each of us to work on our own so when we leave we can go home, warp our own looms and weave without her assistance. It’s nice to know that she’s only a phone call away though, I’m not all grown up yet.

130514 Weaving (6) The photo above is of a double weave rug (I know this much).  It is one of the most stunning things I have ever seen.  Makes me think a rug is in my future.

 

Weaving Wednesday 6

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IMAG0543-1

 

Last night at class I started by winding the warp onto the warp beam for the Maltese Cross throw that I’m making.  The warp is JaggerSpun Maine Line 2/8 wool yarn (it’s yummy).  This is my first foray into wool and it behaves a little differently than cotton – it’s “sticky” so extra care was taken as the threads came through the lease sticks.  The warp is 36″ wide so it’s just fitting on the loom.  This loom is the same loom that I have in Rowe.  I’m seeing many wool projects in my future, mainly because I just love the feel of the yarn.  Somehow loving the feel of it makes every part of the process that much more enjoyable.

IMAG0544These are the chained warp threads from the front of the loom as they are being wound onto the beam.  I warp from the back to the front.

IMAG0550This is the view from my seat as I was threading the heddles.  You can see a little piece of the draft hung on the castle of the loom, that’s my instructions, it shows what thread goes into what heddle in order.  There are a total of 432 threads in this particular warp, I had half of them threaded by the time I left last night.  Next week I will be finishing up the threading and sleying the reed.

It seems like such a production when you try to describe it to someone but I find all of it to be very relaxing.  I need to concentrate to make sure threads are in the right order, and they aren’t crossed.  The perfectionist in me tries to make sure everything is in order so when I throw my shuttle the first few times I’m not looking at it in disgust trying to figure out how many mistakes I have to fix before I can weave.  This is where I think the perfectionist trait pays off, weaving is very unforgiving.  If it’s wrong, it’s wrong.  Of course some of those errors quite possibly are only things that I would see – but I would see them from across the room.

 

Weaving Wednesday 5

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130414 LoomThis past weekend I finished putting the warp on the loom in Rowe and began to weave.  I love having it there so I can just weave any time I want.  I’d like to make short work of these towels (the same ones I had made in class). They are beautiful when they are finished but they are seriously boring to weave.  That’s the craft ADD talking.   I’m currently warping a 36″ loom for class with 2/8 Jaggerspun Maine Line wool yarn.  This is my first venture into wool weaving.  It will be an overshot throw in a Maltese Cross pattern.  I’m looking for some really nice colored wool for the weft, it needs to be a heavy worsted.  I love, love, love the feel of wool so winding this warp has been a pleasure.  Next week it goes onto the loom.  My thought is to finish the towels then warp the Rowe loom the same way and make throws for  Christmas presents.

130414 Summer & Winter FinishedThis is the Summer and Winter runner hemmed and washed.  The wool fulled beautifully and it was so soft once it dried.  Brought it down to sister Sue.  Maybe I can get her into weaving one of these days!

Weaving Wednesday 4

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Today should really be textile Wednesday.  On Saturday THIS was delivered to the house.

130407 Hale WheelI am excited beyond words.  This wheel is amazing, so well balanced.  It probably took me all of 10 minutes to adjust and then I just was spinning away.  This is truly a beauty. The funniest part about getting this wheel was how much Bill complained when I told him I was getting it.  He whined about another large piece of equipment coming into the house and where the heck were we going to put it?  He was with Russell gathering sap when it arrived so he didn’t see it until it was all set up and going.  His reaction when he saw it was “Wow, that’s awesome, it looks like it belongs here!”  So instead of it being relegated to another room it may have a home right where it is (unless we have a fire).

Pam drove to Rowe to go through my loom and make some minor adjustments so I could actually weave on it.  I started dressing it on Sunday but didn’t have enough time to finish, possibly tonight I will be able to throw a shuttle and see how it all goes.  I do love putting on a warp though, I love the counting and focus it requires.  It relaxes me. The bonus is how beautiful it is every step of the way.

130407 Dressing LoomThis is an extra warp I wound in class for the twill towels.  I may play with this a bit rather than making just four more towels (although these towels would probably have fewer mistakes).  Perfectionism is such a curse. I love the twill stripes on these and the cotton has such a nice sheen.

130409 End of Summer & WinterI went to weaving an hour early last night and was able to finish my summer and winter experiment.  I ended up weaving a little over 30 inches in the green and white.  I’ll post a photo of it finished once it is.  It really is quite beautiful.  The photograph just doesn’t do it justice, it’s such a wonderful moss green.  Next week I will be warping a 36″ loom for an overshot throw in wool – very excited about this one.  Now to shop for just the perfect yarn and color!

 

Dyeing for Dragons

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DyeIt always amazes me how one craft leads to another, then to another.  A few months ago I wrote about a dragon rug that I wanted to hook.  The design has been enlarged, next I will transfer it to the backing.  The problem with this project (and the fact that I am kind of a control freak) is the only way I can hook this the way I envision it is to dye my own wool.  I’m not saying that’s a bad thing because it’s something I’ve had a passing interest in.  This project just gave me the push to do it.

I’m not unrealistic in thinking that somehow this will magically be an easy thing to do but really the whole thing seems like a lot of fun to me.  Mixing colors, measuring, the accuracy of it all – I love that sort of thing so it will just add another dimension to my crafting abilities.  You can never know how to do too many things, right?

Yesterday I mixed up my basic colors, this coming weekend (or before) I will start with a simple recipe so I can get a feel for what it does – then it’s off to the races!

The dragon rug I envision is so much more than hand dyed wool – it’s hooked with sparkle and surface design and topped with a hand blown glass eye.  Visualizing this project has been more fun than any I’ve done in a while.  I want to do Mer’s drawing justice.

121202 Rug (3)I wonder if she visualized this in color as she drew it?