May is here. What happened to April? Cool Looking forward to seeing all the wonderful weaverliness from everyone. The projects and discussions so far this year have been very inspiring. Weave on!

Comments

Tue, 05/19/2015 - 14:57

theresasc

Tied-weaves with Robyn Spady, here I come.  This means I have to either finish the sample warp on the loom or cut it off.  I have kind of fallen off the MWS weave-along, I still have my twill samples and one waffle on the loom. 

On other weaving news, since I have the attention span of a gnat these days when it comes to weaving, I beamed a towel warp on the Cranbrook.  I showed some weaving friends how to beam back-to-front.  Did you ever notice how easy it is to do something until people are watching and you have to explain?  I felt like I had never put a warp on before.  I guess that means I am just no good at demonstrating, but the warp is on and they found it interesting.  Now to thread the thing, along with the shadow weave warp that is partially threaded on the other 8-shaft loom - like I said, attention span of a gnat - LOL.

Tue, 05/19/2015 - 15:48

Queezle

Its a difficult schedule for MWS, one chapter per month!  I have proposed (in the MWS study group thread) that we introduce some elasticity into the one chapter/month if that will help keep us as a group.  I am only now measuring my warp for my chapter 5 sample and I will be out of town for half of June.  It does sound like you are very busy as well!

Tue, 05/19/2015 - 19:13

laurafry

Warp is all ready to go - just have to weave a sample to check for ppi and adjust the auto cloth advance.  Then I can generate the treadling for an entire towel and away I go!

Tue, 05/19/2015 - 21:32

sally orgren

This is a workshop that has been rising on my radar. Lucky you! And we should all put our avatars on our nametags, so we can identify each other when at Millersville.

P.S. Weave it off! You've still got time!

Tue, 05/19/2015 - 23:02

Artistry

Sally, I'm not going but avatar's on name tags is brilliant! Thereasc - attention of a gnat - do we have the same horoscope? I have been weaving today ( and last night) very easy Huck . But I keep missing where I started then I have a row of warp floats after another warp floats ! Time to un weave! Think it's very hard to see, it has nothing to do with the HOCKEY games I'm watching, lol! I'm in love with my brand new BB honex End Feed Shuttle for small hands! It's so light, easy to throw, makes the AVL ones I have feel awkward.
Wed, 05/20/2015 - 02:16

endorph

fabric for a tote bag. The warp is nature spun sport - the weft will be hand spun BFLSorry for the poor photo. . .

Wed, 05/20/2015 - 08:25

Artistry

Beautiful Tina! Michigan today and off to another sett of samples8 shaft Huck Lace.
Wed, 05/20/2015 - 12:01

Missus T.

I'm the weaving slug, that is!  Am dawdling through an easy weave-off of a scarf.  Yesterday I managed about 10 inches of weaving before my attention drifted off.  The rest of the week looks like it is full of distractions -- the end of the school year for the kids, exams, helping the local Weaving Center to relocate to its new digs, yard work, BBQ's, swimming.... not to mention getting "roped in" to knitting a sweater that "jumped into my shopping cart" recently, spinning a little, dyeing, cleaning out the garage, culling a mountain of stuff....  Heck, stacked next to this pile of distractions, weaving looks like a simple, orderly affair!  Looking forward to my first linen warp (the tote bag project from Laila Lundell's Big Book of Weaving) when the summer humidity really fires up!  Cheers to all you friendly weavers!

Wed, 05/20/2015 - 19:16

bjr1957

I have a lot of stuff in my stash Sally.  It's just that at times, I don't have exacly what is needed so I do have to raid the mad money stash and order a cone of something.  Case in point.  The blue needed for the next set of bar towels for the grand opening of a brew pub is not in the stash.  Yarn Barn of Kansas to the rescue!

bjr

Wed, 05/20/2015 - 19:18

bjr1957

Design the bar towels for Maltose Express and think about how to dye the warp needed for area rug.  Got acorn nut meats for tannin solution.  Now....about the weft for the area rug....hmmmm.  Consult the stash.

More later...

bjr

Wed, 05/20/2015 - 21:44

ReedGuy

I can't keep up with you all. My eyes are getting heavy. Dead tired. :)

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:46

Artistry

ReedGuy,you must be working outside:) Today, are the calculations for the 8 shaft Huck lace samples 16/2 Bockens Lingarn ( easy peasy ) butter yellow. Hopefully, I'll get the warp wound today. I should. Great Hockey game 2 nights ago, 3 OT's, a dousey! Another tonight:) know I'm in Michigan, and it's against the law. But I've negotiated a deal that if I can get it on the I Pad and do the dishes I can watch it :)
Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:59

ReedGuy

Yep, out in the bush. Found a nest with 4 wood thrush eggs on my walk out to the truck. Nice time of year to hear all the summer resident birds in the woods. :)

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 10:51

ShawnC

Everything around here has slowed to a crawl. New grandchild, garden, etc. But I thought it serendipitous that Handwoven had a piece on woven origami (I knew I'd seen her work before in an older issue of Weaver's). Susie Taylor. http://weavingorigami.com/

Inspiring for sure.

 

Shawn

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 21:19

tien (not verified)

My weaverliness is quite startling and offbeat: I'm contemplating spinning and weaving a blanket!

I bought (on impulse) a Lincoln longwool fleece, about 6 pounds of lustrous white-gray-black beauty. I am a total sucker for longwool fleeces, especially the variegated ones. The curl! The luster! The wonderfully varied shades of silver! They're gorgeous, so I buy them even though I haven't the slightest idea what I'm going to do with them.

Anyway, it washed up into a gorgeous mass of variegated locks. I posted to Facebook asking people what they thought I should do with it, and the winning suggestion was a blanket. (People also suggested placemats, table runners, bags, or knitted lace.) So I'm going to buy some wool combs, comb it, and spin a fine worsted singles for weaving.

It will probably take me forever (a year or more) to spin that much yarn, but since I'm spinning while walking for exercise anyway, I don't really care how long it takes. The big thing is the exercise - the yarn is a bonus! I think it will be an interesting project.

Here's a pic of the fleece. Can you see why I fell in love with it? :-)

Lincoln longwool fleece (variegated)

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 21:58

laurafry

Gorgeous, Tien.  And I'm about to take delivery of my new-to-me Canadian Production Wheel so I'll be spinning, too.  Maybe!  ;)

cheers,

Laura

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 22:54

ReedGuy

If you were neighbors, I have two wheels, and one is a great wheel. The other is a regular wheel. They are mom's grand mother's from the 19thC. Since your both on the left coast there's nothing I can do for you I guess. :)

Sat, 05/23/2015 - 00:59

Artistry

Tien, That's gorgeous! I know you described walking and spinning with the drop spindle(?) before, but I think it's something I have to see. I am not a spinner, but that fleece makes me want to be! A perfect blanket it will make! Today was getting my light yellow warp done for Huck lace samples. These samples are proving to be a lot of fun! Resisting hockey tonight......beautiful sunset!
Sat, 05/23/2015 - 02:20

laurafry

Only four towels today because...life. Some of the day was spent doing prep for the beginning weaving workshop this weekend. Five people in the class. DH came with me to the guild room and helped re-arrange everything because the room is so full we have to put stuff not being used away for workshops. Maybe I need to start buying lottery tickets! The room doesn't have a/c so I hope it's not too hot this weekend! :) Cheers Laura
Sat, 05/23/2015 - 02:27

Queezle

Oh Tien, that is beautiful!  Maybe its just because I worked a 13+ hr day, maybe its the wine I'm sipping, or maybe I'm just channeling my dog, but looking at that beautiful wool made me just want to lay down and roll in it. 

Sat, 05/23/2015 - 03:10

MMs-and-OOs-Ha…

When you get enough spun I have the blanket project for you! Say you end up with a goodly amount of handspun around 500 ypd. That is your warp. Set it doublewide at 8 epi, 4 epi per layer. Weave it as 2/2 twill with a finer weft of your choice, like about 1200 ypd., weave away. No detectable fold line, symmetry, and a luxurious blanket. This is my go to project for handspun. I used weft with silk and wool doubled on the pirn. I've done these with my own dyed mohair and wool as throws. You cannot go wrong. I can get two of them warped and woven in a weekend, on and off the loom.
Sat, 05/23/2015 - 16:17

Dawn McCarthy

Beamed the linen warp and started threading the first harness of pattern threads on the drawloom.  The 2 ply linen likes to twist like crazy!  Threading 2 sets of shafts at 40 epi may take a while.

Sat, 05/23/2015 - 16:31

bjr1957

This time I actually checked my math to insure that I have enough warp for 4 bar towels!  Mr. Putney the floor loom is still down as I don't have money yet to get him up and running so, back to Ms. Kromski 32 inch for this project.  Using 3/2 cotton in turquoise and white, with a 12 dent reed.

bjr

Sat, 05/23/2015 - 16:39

tien (not verified)

That blanket project idea is brilliant! I'm going to have to do just that. (Though I might use a finer yarn...wool is quite warm, and California weather is pretty mild. We keep the house at about 65-70 year round!) Thanks so much for posting it!
Sat, 05/23/2015 - 16:39

bjr1957

Congrats Tien!!!

I have got 3 fleeces to spin this year.  One of them I got at the CT Sheep and Wool Festival in April of this year.  It is a shetland off white fleece and it is beautiful.  The other two are also shetlands, on is jet black the other is a moorit color.  I need to wash them and get them ready for my first Spinzilla in October of this year.

Once they are spun...on the loom they go for yardage as I want a wool dress for the winter!  Just gotta get Mr. Putney the floor loom out of mothballs.

bjr

Sun, 05/24/2015 - 08:24

Erica J

Dawn,

You must tell me what the trick is for weaving linen on a drawloom? Mine streched out like mad when I pulled tge pattern shafts. Did I not weight the pattern sgshafts enough?

Thanks in advance,

Erica 

Sun, 05/24/2015 - 11:10

bjr1957

Well here goes.  2nd set of towels!  It's hard for me to believe that I am really doing this.  One year ago, I never thought I could ever actually make anything like..towels and here I am on set number 2.  WOW!  202 ends in a 12 dent rigid heddle reed.  4.5 yards of 5/2 turqoise and white mercerized cotton.  16 inches in the reed.  Doubled the pics in the selveges so that I don't have to hem them.  4 towels for the brew pub and one for myself as I don't have any of my first towels.  Both of those went to my neice as a wedding gift.

Maltose Express Bar Towels

Sun, 05/24/2015 - 13:34

tien (not verified)

Wow, bjr1957, that is one beautiful warp! Lots of pix when you're done, I hope!

Yesterday I acquired a pair of wool combs and combed a test bit of my Lincoln fleece. It spun up into a beautifully lustrous wool yarn! But I can see that my combed top is going to have to go into a basket on my arm, rather than wrapping it around a wrist distaff. It's so light and airy that it just falls off the distaff. So off to the craft store today to look for a super lightweight basket.

I've also mysteriously acquired a few more spindles, with a few more on the way. I don't know what happened - the packages just showed up! :-) And two more are on their way. The two en route are both Golding ring spindles, my favorite kind of spindle. Different weights, one for spinning and one for plying.

I'm really, really looking forward to weaving up this yarn into a blanket. I'm separating the fleece out into eight different shades of white/gray/black, so it will have a color gradation of some sort - not sure what, yet.

Sun, 05/24/2015 - 19:56

Joanne Hall

Hi Erica,

The problem you describe is one I have heard from other weavers.  Most weavers can weave very well, even if they have not  beamed their warps very tightly.  But for drawloom weaving, it is a little different.  Take note that the warping trapeze (beaming with heavy weights to wind the warp on very tightly) was designed by a damask weaver for beaming warps on his drawloom.  That is important, as when you pull the handles on a drawloom, you are raising (pulling on) a portion of the warp.  That pulls just that portion of the warp, so it is possible for the warp to be pulled from the warp beam.  To prevent the problem, you need to wind the warp very tightly so that the pulled warps do not pull length from the warp beam.

So, that is all you need to do next time: beam the warp more tightly.

Joanne

Sun, 05/24/2015 - 20:06

Erica J

Thanks JoAnne, I can't remember if I had my valet up when I put on the linen warp or not I'll make sure to weight it as much as possible.

Today, I started waffle weave sample #2, I am doing my darndest to make it exactly balanced, that is going to take some practice! The first sample was too loose on the beat, thus far I've been too firm. We'll get there though! :)

Mon, 05/25/2015 - 14:15

Erica J

I saw a tip in the last few months on hiw to make a replacement heddle from 2 texsolv heddles. Now I need it and can't find it anywhere! Has anyone else seen this and know where to find the instructions. 

Mon, 05/25/2015 - 15:19

laurafry

The tip I saw was to link the two heddles together then loop the heddles around the bottom of the shaft and secure them at the top of the shaft. I just tie a repair heddle where needed... Cheers Laura
Mon, 05/25/2015 - 15:44

Erica J

Saturday I took my loom to teach a group of folks i terested in medieval textiles, the very timidly did a smidge each, but about 5 of them asked about coming to stay with me fir a weekend of weaving! Yesterday and today, I have been working on my second waffle weave sample!

 

Mon, 05/25/2015 - 15:57

Erica J

I think that's the one! Do you remember who posted it and where? I normally just tie too, but my tied heddles are not working with this find yarn, so I thought I'd give that one a try.

Thanks!

Mon, 05/25/2015 - 15:59

laurafry

No, sorry I don't remember. :( Hope you can get it fixed. Cheers Laura
Mon, 05/25/2015 - 16:13

Erica J

No worries, at the very least I have heddles that aren't cut apart from each other that I can use, if I don't find the tutorial. And now I know it's not on your blog!  ;)

Mon, 05/25/2015 - 16:29

sally orgren

Tien,

I saw a fantastic tailored and felted jacket at MS&W, that used locks like these as the trim around the collar and down the front. So if you don't need them all for a blanket, save some for garment trim if the raw state appealed so strongly to you!

Mon, 05/25/2015 - 16:53

Joanne Hall

Hi Erica,

I have it in my warping book.  Just take a string and tie two heddle together at the knot.  Put this under the lower heddle bar.  Then slip one end though the eye of the other and tie the two heddles together at the top, using another short piece of string.  If you have a narrow warp and you have Texsolv heddles, you can insert a new heddle into place by putting it on the bars from the side.  I have a diagram of  that in my book as well.  It does help to see this in a diagram rather than to try it from a text description.  I have even done this on a wide warp.

Joanne

Mon, 05/25/2015 - 20:56

endorph

after getting errands done this morning we have been dealing with power outages, massive rainfall, thunder, lightning, wicked wind, flash flood watches and tornado alerts for the past several hours and no end in sight. ON top of that they are doing massive water dumps from the reservoirs north of here which means the river will be ccoming up fast which puts my museum in danger of flooding. If the rain will let up I will need to go down to work to check on the river levels and see if we need to start putting artifacts from storage up onto tables for protection. Arrrrgh. No relaxing holiday weekend for me.

Tue, 05/26/2015 - 14:01

Artistry

Gee Tina I hope everything is going to be ok at the museum! I really hope nothing is lost. It sounds like a tremendous amount of work for you. I'm at a stand still too as the boys( our sons) and their girlfriends arrived for the weekend plus some more days. Not weaving days, but very happy days:)
Tue, 05/26/2015 - 16:22

endorph

the river is down a couple of feet this morning but more rain is in the forecast. Our biggest concern is that they will release water from the reservoirs north of us - that impacts the river level here. When they built the museum 40 years ago they didn't apparently think that putting collections storage on the river side of the building was a stupid idea! That side of the building is also about 3 feet lower than the rest of the museum. . . .  Duh?

Tue, 05/26/2015 - 19:06

fiberassociations

Tien- my issue of Handwoven just arrived- they were telepathic about your needs and there is an interesting article about origami.
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 21:06

laurafry

Just taking a quick break before I weave the *last* towel on this warp.  The next one (rose) is ready to be beamed, threading/treadling ready.  Full steam ahead?

cheers,

Laura

Wed, 05/27/2015 - 22:49

Artistry

Laura, Behind your lovely wheel, do I spy a gorgeous tapestry? I'd love to hear about it! Well today I discovered that I don't have a 8 dent reed for my 16 epi at the lake. I do have 1 reed for this loomup here, a 12. I know I can sley every other one double and come out fine. But with the linen I'm a little afraid it won't budge enough to not leave tracking. However, this is lace. And it is loose. So I'm going to try it anyways, cut a sample off, wash etc, see what happens, the worst that can happen is I bring up a diffent reed next time and re sley. In the meantime I have threading to do before I even get to the reed:) Big hockey game tonight, just say in'
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 00:11

laurafry

Cathie, it is a tapestry, a group project our guild started many moons ago and seem to have stalled on. :( Cheers Laura
Thu, 05/28/2015 - 07:54

ReedGuy

Cathie, based on some lace I did, while trying to incorporate some denser stripes, I found they washed out to blend with the rest of the warp. I had to go to a natural color for the stripes with a bleeched background. I beleive it will all wash out even. :)

Thu, 05/28/2015 - 18:05

Erica J

Laura and Cathie

The new wheel looks aweome! I relistened to your interview on Wevacast and the audio essay you did for it as well! Reat to hear yiur voice!

Cathue, a loom at the lake sounds completely decadent! 

Thu, 05/28/2015 - 18:38

bjr1957

1st of 5 almost done.  One for me and 4 for brew pub.  Slow going.  Got a garden to tend to, a spinning project to get underway, two pair of socks skeined, needled and waiting patiently for me to begin, a shawl to finish knitting, a floor loom to repair, and a Custom Fit cardigan to begin.  It sits in it's basket waiting..just like the socks!  Long list.  Short summer.  Laura Fry....I ENVY YOU!!!!  I have long wanted a Canadian Production Wheel!!  As it is, I have a Kromski Polonaise...for now it will have to do.One almost done

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