Handspun, handwoven

In case you didn't already think I was over the edge about spinning

2008-12-30T14:25:00.000-08:00

My daughter got a tattoo machine as a present, and look what she did for me! I sketched it out, and she did the rest. It's on the right inner lower calf. A drop spindle, for those of you who don't spin.

New crop

2008-12-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

This is the newest crop of scarves, 18 (probably can't see them all) completed from start (blending colors and spinning) to finish (weaving) between Nov 11 and Dec 5. Whew. Half of them are gone already (good thing--now I can make more)

Only 6 months behind....

2008-12-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

This blanket was woven from commercial yarn dyed with natural dyes. All of the yellows and greens were done at Penland over the summer, using plants in the areas. As a general rule, the yellows are from alum mordants, the greens are the same dye baths with an iron mordant afterwards. The blue is indigo I did at home, and the orange is madder I also did at home on a marathon dye weekend when the hubby was away. The colors are randomly arranged. I separated them loosely into "dark" and "light" and picked without looking from those piles, trying to alternate in no particular order. As always with fiber, it looks better in person. The blue ribbon is first place in the plain weave blanket competition at the Maryland Sheep and Wool.

Redemption

2008-07-06T17:58:00.000-07:00

The Fabric From H*ll has redeemed itself. I managed to have enough to make this really cute "jacket"--almost a vest--from the singles fabric that tormented me so. I added beaded ties because I didn't want a button to claim the focus of the garment (and because I like playing with beads). It won First Place in the Handspun Garment category at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and will be in the gallery at Spin Off Autumn Retreat, if you are going. Seeing as how it's summer and 90 degrees outside, I haven't worn it yet, but am looking forward to fall!

Persistence or stupidity?

2007-07-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

Waaayyy back when The Lord of the Rings was a big movie sensation, several articles came out in Handwoven and/or Spin Off about how the magic cloaks were woven of Gotland fleece. It sounded so wonderful, I ordered one from New Zealand. The description was of a charcoal grey/light grey fleece. It was beautiful. I washed it and was surprised to find that was really a description of the color of the New Zealand dirt. The actual fleece was a very pale grey. (see above). I decided to spin and weave with singles. I carefully calculated the amount of yardage I would need, and spun and spun. I constructed a PVC pipe niddy-noddy so the yarn would be kink-free and easy to warp. In the past, some single yarns have formed little Shirley Temple ringlets as I threaded. I was determined it would not happen this time. So, the spun skeins hung around for a couple of years as I determined that they were really pretty boring, and I didn't think I'd want to weave yardage that dull. Then last summer I went to Penland and learned to paint pretty yarns.. Problem solved.

You'll note that even a nice unkinked steamed yarn reverts to its curly self when wet.

I painted, using the same colorway as the red-ribbon winning scarf. Then I tied on to a previous warp, so as not to waste as much handspun. Then I started weaving.

See all the little threads? Broken and repaired warp threads, dozens of them. It turns out that Gotland is sticky, like mohair. All the constant combing and beating to separate the warp threads (double-sleyed, 20 epi) makes them break, especially if there is a poor join. So I tried hair spray to control the frizz and strengthen the warp.

What can I say. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn't. At this point I couldn't try painting the warp with gelatin, because the back of the loom looked like this:

I know. Makes you want to cry, huh. It is such a mess. Instead of a quick weekend project, this has been going on since April. I can only weave a few inches per hour, instead of a yard per hour. I'm nearing the end, though. I can't quit now. Or the terrorists win.

Red is nice, too

2007-07-19T18:48:00.001-07:00

This was a nice grey coopworth, handspun and handpainted in purples, greens and golds. I think this one is prettier than the blue ribbon winner. And here are some shots of a whole bunch of scarves--some handspun, some just handpainted commercially spun. All are handwoven.

Lots of yummy colors. Hard to part with, but, I can always make more.

Blue is my favorite color

2007-07-19T18:33:00.001-07:00

Blue ribbon, not blue bedspread. This is (was) white handspun corriedale, handpainted and handwoven. The colors are not true on my monitor; they are more autumnal in person. The ribbon was from the Fall Fiber Festival in Montpelier, VA. Last October.

Almost a year

2007-07-19T18:21:00.001-07:00

So I'm lazy. Computer lazy. I've been working like a dog. I have lots of images to load, but will divide them into several posts. They load sooooo slooooowwwwlllllyyyyyy it is driving me nuts.

got handspun?

2006-08-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a sampling of scarves made from some of the handspun yarn I designed at Penland. First up: This was alpaca roving, one grey and one white, both painted the same colors. When it was dry I stripped each roving very thin and held the 2 together to spin a singles yarn for the weft. The warp is a laceweight yarn that I chained on the warping board, tied really well, and painted the using the same colors as for the alpaca. This was highly sucessful, and especially nice since the warp was already measured out and just had to be threaded on the loom. I think the colors are kind of anemic, but the scarf is nice and soft. This one has singles (blended colors) weft, and a painted roving handspun 2 ply warp that I had spun for another project. It matched the singles so well, I just had to use it.
This is a 2 ply corriedale white handspun, painted with reds, golds, and accented with greens. I wish you could see the REAL colors-they are stunning. It is a rich autumnal orangey-red.
This was the most nerve-wracking. I used singles for weft AND warp. I only had 2 broken warp threads, so I was thrilled. I had bits and pieces of yarn, so I chose the largest amount to be the warp, and divided up the rest into 1/4 ounce balls and wove it in large color bands. I will be using singles again for warp.
And the last one is 2 ply light grey Coopworth handspun and then painted with greens, golds, and purples. The color on this one is a rich green/brown reminding me of the forest. Coopworth has a lovely sheen to it too.
And that's all I have spun up. I have lots of little bits, but not enough to make anything. I have lots of spinning to do, but due to a lot of life stuff won't be getting to it until the end of September. See you then!

Penland

2006-08-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

I can't think of a clever title. Penland was absolutely extraordinary. If you love working with your art/craft, please do yourself a favor and take a class here if they offer something that interests you. And it better interest you A LOT because you spend 8-12 hours a day at it. Actual class time is probably 6 or 7 hours a day, but the studios are open 24/7 and believe me, you will want to be there "working". I say "working" because it was so much fun. We decided we were either 1) in some time-warp continuum, because time went by so fast (lunchtime! didn't we just have breakfast? No, wait, that was 4 hours ago) or 2) dead and in heaven. We had a discussion about this prior to one field trip, and decided that if we couldn't leave the campus, like we were on some mobius road that kept bringing us back to Penland, then we were dead. This was my view coming into the back of the textiles building every morning. I love this picture. I may have to dig out my watercolors. Note the open door. No AC anywhere. This will become significant as the week rolls on. I took a yarn design class from Deb Menz. We spent the first week painting commercial yarn, and unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that. The second week was color blending of commercially dyed top, and then spinning a yarn. She brought 70 colors.
More fiber. I was at Penland when the East Coast was baking in 105 degree heat. We probably only got up to 95 or so. We kept telling ourselves, "at least we're not in glass" or "at lease we're not in iron" . We were only on the 3rd floor in the dye kitchen. Remember, no AC. It did cool down enough at night so you needed a sheet and very thin bedspread.
Here is a miniscule portion of Deb's samples. She has boxes and boxes of yummy yarn.
Here is my painted yarn. I still have a lot of spinning to do for the blended yarn. You can see a few balls of roving to the right.
Penland has a lot of outdoor art work. This is a retaining wall, decorated with ceramic work. Iron railings were graceful and decorated with scrollwork, leaves, hands, etc. It was all lovely. William Morris would have been proud.

There are other smaller works, too. Mrs. Felt Troll visits the castle.
Naptime for baby.
Mr. Troll says thanks for stopping by.Come back to Penland real soon!

Ellen does shibori*

2006-08-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

Remember back during Convergence, when I was talking about overdyeing a shawl, but it was not cured yet so you couldn't see it? Sure you do. Here's what I did. First I dyed a cotton shawl in fustic (alum & tannin mordants). Then, I used these automotive clamps that Michelle had to clamp the fabric. I folded and then tried to apply the clamps in a regular pattern. I don't know what these clamps are used for, automotively speaking, but they have square plastic clampy parts with a nice grid pattern on them. They are not the same type of clamps that you would use to jump your battery. They come in several sizes. I think I used 28 clamps. This was dubbed "the caterpillar" by the class. It was awkward to fit into the dye pot, but I circled it up and it just fit under the surface of the liquid. This is the shawl after curing for a month or so, washed in the washing machine with regular detergent. Some of the folded edges didn't get as exposed to the indigo as I would have liked.
And here are the beads I got for the fringe. It'll be another month or so before I get around to that.

*title suggested by Gail from Penland, who thinks I can also play the lute (I can't).

A reality show I could REALLY watch

2006-07-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

So we were eating dinner late, just the 2 of us, and he says, let's watch in front of the TV. Sure, says I, unawares. Well. "So you think you can dance?" Hmmm. I propose to you, ladies and gentlemen, a REAL reality show : "So you think you can weave?" (followed by its spin off (har har) "so you think you can spin.") See weavers locked in a house with hideous yarn! Who can make the prettiest item the fastest! Vote, America! Who can figure out the mistake in the pattern first? Vote, vote. Who can wind the tidiest warp? Who can warp on front to back fastest? Shall we pit front to back vs back to front? And what about finishing techniques? I see a hit on our hands!
So who do I call about this?

Backstrap weaving, the next generation

2006-07-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

Another picture-heavy post. You probably have time to run to the store. So I signed up for this backstrap weaving class, and I was expecting, you know, backstrap weaving. Narrow, kind of primitive, but pretty pieces. Then I walked into the classroom and saw this: And this
and I looked at this one (below) for 3 days, only seeing the butterflies and flowers until someone pointed out the MC Escher-esque birds
ignore the black lines: it was hanging on a grid (see the birds?)
This is the Puma pattern
(as near as I can figure, 2 eyes and a nose)
See the face? Next to the brown wedge? This is a Huari (or Wari) design. This is a rug, approx 4x6 ft, and MINE. I bought it, and I'm not going to tell you what I paid for it, because you will be weeping and gnashing your teeth because it was SO INEXPENSIVE. We were all afraid to ask how much these pieces were, and when the interpreter told us, we said "you're kidding" and she said, "why, is that too much?" and WE said, NO, he should TRIPLE his prices. The cost of living in Ayacucho must be very low (and it is: the best hotel in town is $20/night, a B&B is about $2, and a full meal with drink, soup, meat & veg is about $1.25---anybody want to go?)

So much stuff, and by the end of the 3 days he had 2 pieces left. People were calling friends and spouses to COME AND LOOK AT THIS AMAZING STUFF. He is going to apply to be at MDSW next year! Bring money!! The interpreter said they never expected to sell anything to the class. He was supposed to take these works to the Textile Museum. This was his most expensive work, another rug, about 4x6 ft, less than $500. The blues come from a blueberry-like shrub called the tonka or tanka(spelling in question!--I don't speak Spanish)

All the colors in this (below) except for the blues are derived from the masicopa plant (again, questionable spelling) Blues from the tonka
Alex Gallardo is a 4th generation weaver in Ayacucho, Peru. Our interpreter, Barbara Wolff met him in the museum in Ayacucho. She was excavating a site that the developers were going to build on. She found some items that might possibly be weaving implements, and was at the museum researching them. He was there looking at the prehistoric textiles. He only speaks Spanish at this point, but knows a little English (he knows more English than I know Spanish)
Alex's family collect all their own dye plants. He showed a little DVD about his family and their business. They go to the wool market to buy their wool and alpaca. His mother fluffs open the locks before handspinning on a drop spindle. All the wool is spun by his mother or aunt on drop spindles. They spin singles. They have never seen a spinning wheel, and Alex saw this first one at Springwater Fiber Workshop. After the wool is spun and skeined, it is washed in large washtubs: the women stomp on it much like stomping on grapes. Then they beat it against the stone wall to "spin dry" most of the water out of it. (the subtitle here actually says "spin dry") Dyeing is done by the men on the patio in large cauldrons over a wood fire. The warping of the backstrap looms was shown in a slide show on a CD.
First I will show you the parts of the backstrap loom and then I'll describe how it was set up. Alex and his cousin prepared these for us: it took them 6-8 hours per loom. This shows the strap that would go around your hips. Alex was much concerned that the strap would cause us pain, forgetting how well cushioned we Americans are (he is very thin). The stick is used both to form the shed to pass the yarn through, and to beat with. The black strings are the heddles, looped around every other string.

Another look at the heddles
This stick is behind the heddles. Note the brown rope. It contains all the threads that do not have a heddle. Note also at the top of the picture, how overspun the yarn is,

This shows how the warp threads are attached to the loom: they are "sewn" on. If you look carefully against the wood, you can see a little bit of brown rope next to the white rope. The brown rope is placed inside the warp threads and it is actually what gets sewn on, otherwise you'd have to sew every thread on. close-up of the rope
close-up of the heddles. They are "figure-8'd" around every other thread and the top wooden bar. The 2 bars are lashed together to keep the heddles in place.
showing the sewing at the other end
To warp a loom: they had 2 vertical poles set in cement in the ground. The warp thread is passed from one end to the other, with a figure 8 in the middle to keep the cross. The colored threads are warped on in the proper place (i.e.: in the order needed) A rope is placed inside the warped yarn, and this rope is stitched to the loom, as above. It looks like one pass around the loom stick every 1/4-1/2 inch. This is done at both ends. Then the heddles are threaded. (This was not shown) Some way must be utilized to keep the heddle threads separate from the other threads, because the other threads are enclosed by the brown rope. I would guess that a shed stick is used, and every thread that has a heddle around it is on the top of the stick, and the un-heddled threads, if you will, are on the bottom. It would then be simple to enclose the unheddled threads with a rope. Now let's look at how the loom works.

You can see Alex pulling down on the rope encasing the unheddled threads while lifting the wooden bars that have the heddles attached.

Here he is looking to see if he has a clear shed to pass the stick through. You don't want any crossed threads, or they'll break

Here he is picking up the design. This was my big surprise. I thought backstrap weaving was an INLAY technique, when it is a PICKUP technique. I had a great deal of difficulty with this. The 2 colors, light brown and dark brown, were very close in value, and in the less than ideal light I couldn't see them very well. In addition, the threads were very thin. You need fingernails (or a tweezers!) The next day I rigged up a light and brought my magnifier that I use for Cross Stitch, and I could see much better. Most of us in the class had "visual issues" in that we're not Spring Chickens any longer, and need brighter light, and either larger threads, or a magnifying glass (my son has to read me instructions off of over the counter meds--the print is too small)
The shed stick is below the heddles (toward the weaver). At this point, you need to "strum" or "fluff" the threads so they separate easily and don't break when you use the beater stick. The motion is like plucking harp threads (I'm sure you've all plucked harp threads, right?)

If you look closely, you can see the crossed threads right above Alex's left hand What you don't see before this picture: putting the warp thread through, and then pulling towards you with the stick to seat the thread. It won't actually be encased until you change sheds, as below: lift the rope, and insert the stick.
Strum the threads until you can place the stick in the shed on the other side of the heddles, beat in the previous weft thread tightly, and then run the weft thread through, beat again. Change sheds by pulling the rope down and heddles up.....repeat. This is just for plain weave. For pickup, after you make a nice shed but before you run the weft through, you have to pick up your design. Sigh. I got REAL GOOD at unweaving. Enough said. It's much harder than I thought, and I have infinite respect for the artists who still do this. Alex uses a 2 harness loom that uses some of the backstrap loom and some of the floor loom. It is set at an angle, so instead of looking down at a flat weaving surface, it looks more like a drafting table at a 30-45 degree angle.

Recommendation: for the first project, use 5/2 or 3/2 mercerized cotton. We had wool, and it was very sticky trying to get a clear shed. Perfect your technique before using your handspun!

Dyes, next bit.

To dye for

2006-07-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Cochineal tutorial: I forgot to take pictures of the bugs. We ground them up with a mortar & pestle like Alex does at home, and boiled for 30 minutes or so. Alex is showing us how the dye bath changes color with the addition of citric acid. And another color with alum
With cochineal he uses copper sulfate, alum and citric acid. If they don't have citric acid at home he uses a lemon, quartered in the dye pot. The copper and alum are found near his home as crystals in the earth. He also finds iron there too. He uses just a pinch (maybe 1/8 tsp). He adds the yarn in dry, unmordanted.
Colors in the basin: he gets the different depths of color by the length of time in the dye pot. They have been "dipped" twice: once without mordant, and then the mordant is added to the pot and the skeins dipped a minute or less to set the color. Then he plunges them into COLD water--no concern about shocking the wool. He WRINGS it dry. The next dyepot is with the seed pods of tarak (tarok--I googled both spellings but couldn't find any dye info) These are the pods. They resemble locust beans. Shred up the pods. (This photo looks like severed fingers) And place into boiling water for 30 minutes

Add your mordant and watch the water turn blue as if by magic He uses iron sulfate and alum and blends them with his high tech equipment
This yarn is added wet. The color here is not true--it was more purple than that--very much resembled the colors you get with logwood.
The last bath was from masicopa, which is a root similar to madder. His family hikes up into the mountains to harvest it. The mordant here is ash from 2 trees that don't grow here, one a type of pepperberry tree. The wool is added dry. At home, they keep the bath overnight and redip in the morning. This slowly reacts with air, similar to the way indigo does, to deepen the color.
Dye pot is orange-red

Here you can see bits of root sticking to the yarn. In all the baths, he did not strain out the vegetable matter
Between dips. The second dip was in walnut leaf water. In Peru there is a plant he calls "nogalo" (quotes are because I don't know how to spell it!). In English, he was calling it walnut. Now, we are all familiar with using black walnut shells/husks for brown dye, but he uses "walnut" leaves as a tannin source. One of the women in the class had a walnut tree, so they (he and the interpreter) went over to her house to collect leaves. He says it is not the same--they smell different! And when we boiled it, the water was a paler yellow than he is used to with his walnut. However, when the yarn was dipped into the walnut water, the color darkened! He says the color is guaranteed for 2000 years.
Again, the different shades are from different lengths of time in the bath.
I was fascinated by how different his instructions were from most everything else I had read, or had heard in other classes. He was very specific about the volume of water; I have always read/heard that the volume did not matter; it was the amount of dyestuff and amount of fiber. We have been told to make sure our yarn is thoroughly wet; he adds his dry, and unmordanted. We measure mordant by weight of goods, he uses a pinch. And, apparently, both ways work. I'm now convinced there is NO WAY to screw up natural dyeing.
And last but not least, we each got a handmade Andean spindle and a ball of alpaca to spin.

Aaahhh....fun times

More fun times ahead--I'm on the way to Penland School of Craft for a 2 1/2 wk class with Deb Menz on designing yarn. Post in about a month!

and all the rest

2006-07-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Wednesday through Saturday: I was in a lecture by Inge Dam on weaving tablet borders simultaneously on the loom. The pieces below show the borders woven on the edges, with different edge treatments (tassles, beads, fringe).
The rest of the pictures show the borders woven into the cloth. The cards are placed back where the heddles are, and the warps are divided into 4 groups and weighted with soda bottles filled with water for tension. As you weave, you occasionally have to do extra cloth wefts to make up for the fact that the tablet weaving grows faster.

I also had lectures on clothing of the 18 & 19th century, but since I have done a bit of reenacting I didn't pick up a lot of new information. Saturday was spent listening to woad dyeing and spinning for wrinkle resistance. Both very informative. I took a class in dyeing with shaving cream. J & D were in the class with me. The supply list should have listed a biohazard suit. It was the biggest mess. Blue hands for days. When we washed out the excess dye in the bathtub, it looked like a slaughterhouse. Out of 25-30 pieces, only 1 turned out well. No pics on these. Next up: a 3-day workshop on backstrap weaving and natural dyes from Peru. Si habla Espanol? You can probably guess I don't.

Color Me Convergence

2006-07-14T06:09:00.000-07:00

Days 1-3: picture heavy post. Go take a shower while it loads. Days 1-3: I took a wonderful class from Michele Wipplinger entitled "The Color of Culture". We covered mud cloth from Mali, cochineal, lac and madder from both the Old and New World, and indigo from different cultures. First, the mud cloth. She brought in some examples to inspire us. These are made by the women, with mud + other ingredients, and painted on the handspun, handwoven cloth with a stick. The cloth was premordanted with alum, and we painted on some tannin. The women use the traditional method of making the design using the negative space (white part). The men do quicker versions using the dark areas of the cloth for design, for sale to tourists. The symbols all have meaning, but Michele said some of the meanings are secret, so if they tell you the meaning of a symbol, you don't know if that's really the meaning or not.
The shirt below is embellished with snips of tin from a tin can, hammered flat.
Here are some examples from our class
Another one from class
This one's mine (below). In looking at the examples of cloth she brought, if there are borders on the cloth, they are not the same side. Some border designs are for wearing close to the body, and others are for wearing away from the body. In a couple of weeks I have to brush off the mud and repaint. And repeat. And maybe repeat again. My mud is not very dark, so it will take several applications to stain the fabric.
Onward to color. These are silk skeins, all dyed with natural dyes.
Various reds, from madder, lac, and cochineal. Cochineal gives red towards the violet side, madder towards the orange side, and lac is the truest red. None of these are our samples, but we did sample skeins of all 3 colors in both silk and cotton.

Blues and related colors (greens). We did an indigo bath on the last day. None of these are our samples, but we did blues and greens. I did a shibori shawl which is still curing. When it's ready I'll show the process.
Indigo dyed cloth

I went to Convergence with my sister J and my friend D. We asked for a rollaway bed. They sure are different in Michigan than in the south. Thank goodness for the strap.

Sure was hard to turn over, though.
This is what we looked like by the end of Convergence. Completely drained.
And more than just a little punchy.

Other days to follow.

Guild project

2006-06-18T05:07:00.000-07:00

I am a member of the Potomac Craftmen Fiber Guild, study Group G. We weave. For our study project this year, we decided to work with color. We each picked 5 colors from the Color Aid Kit, which apparently has Every Color In The World. Then, as a challenge, since it would be TOO EASY to use colors we actually LIKED, the person to our left picked a color out of our hands and mixed it in with hers, kind of like Old Maid. We went around the circle, and then we picked a color from the person to our right. We ended up with 3 colors we originally picked, and 2 colors we didn't. Then we had to find fiber to match as best we could, and weave towels for an exchange. We had to use all 5 colors. We could add ONE color if we wanted. We had to use some sort of twill pattern. I know you can't tell from the monitor, but I ended up with a screaming electric yellow, an insipid pale washed out green, purple, red, and green. I wrapped some cards to try out different stripe combinations. They look nice next to each other, but when you start to weave, whatever warp color you use will dilute the colors, so the stripes would not be as vibrant. I like my colors bright. I would have to go with some sort of twill squares.
I chose none of my stripe combinations. I used a block twill pattern from "The Weavers Book of 8 Shaft Patterns" by Carol Strickler, page 61, pattern # 248. It uses alternating light and dark warps and weft, and you get these really neat blocks of color. If you use only 2 colors. I had 5. I alternated my colors kind of into light and dark: yellow, purple, light green, red, green. It was at this point I realized I was working with 2 complementary color combos (yellow & purple, red & green) plus the insipid pale green. What can I say--I'm slow on the uptake. Here it is on the loom

Here's the page I did for the group G members, except after I did the photo I realized I forgot to put the weaving instructions on it. Instructions: Sett 24 epi, 8 harness loom, 12 dent reed. 546 ends, 22.75 inches in the reed. Warp length for 3 towels: 4 yd. Towel hemmed off loom, not washed: 21 x 28 inches. Washed: 19.5 x 24 inches. I used Cottolin 22/2 from Halcyon Yarn.

Here's the finished towel. Despite not liking the colors, I actually like the towels. I think they look very festive & summery. I left the warp ends on the loom so I could tie on & pull through for 3 more towels. I think I could randomly pick any 5 colors off my shelf and make it work. Kind of liberating, that.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of all the towels at our exchange. No one used the same twill pattern. All the colors were different. It was quite amazing. I got pages with pictures and instructions from everyone, so I can try their patterns too.

always have a back-up plan

2006-04-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

So here I've finished the nice stroller blanket that you've already seen. It occurs to me that the stroller blankets are the same pattern I use for the baby blankets. The baby blankets are 18 repeats wide, and here I have 10 repeats already threaded. I could save myself a couple of hours if I could add on some heddles and just thread the additional 8 repeats, right? Well, anyone who has had to add heddles to the inner harnesses (2& 3) can tell you it's a pain. And I'd have to add112 to harness #3. Then, (many days later-OK, a week later--I'm the tortoise in the World of Weaving) it occurs to me, that in the "olden days" professional weavers used to have sets of harnesses and reeds prethreaded, hanging on the wall, waiting for a customer to order that pattern. He'd take down that pattern set, place it on the loom, tie on, and go. If only I had some extra harnesses and reeds... Well, wait a minute! Why couldn't I take out my harnesses and reed and add my heddles that way! By george! A brilliant idea! So I did:
Here's the loom after cutting off the stroller blankets.

I don't want to rethread the reed (lazy me) so I'll take it along. I tied bundles of threads in knots so they don't slip out.
I'm undoing the larks head in the back that the bundles are tyed to. This is a sectional beam, and I don't use paper between the layers of thread. And, no I don't have trouble with tension if I'm careful with the wind-on.
The reed has been taken out of the beater and is laying flat on top of the harnesses. On this loom the harnesses lift straight up and out without having to unfasten anything. I will carry the bundle of harnesses and reed into the living room.
So here's the harnesses and reed (flat, in front of the harnesses) on the sofa. I can add heddles to each harness, and then flip it down towards me to rest on the sofa as I work on the next one.
When I take heddles off the harnesses at the end of a project, I batch them in groups of 25, 50 and 100 to make it easier to add them back on for another project. These flat ones are not my favorite, but they tape together in a flat bundle that is easy to slide onto the harnesses. My favorite ones have the large open eye.
I write the number of heddles on each harness, so when I get ready for my next project, I don't have to count all over again. Sometimes all I need to do is switch out the harnesses. I'm done adding heddles, so I carry everything back to the loom and put it all back where it belongs. It turns out this is much harder than removing it. There are slots to get the harnesses into, while balancing the other ones and the reed, which keeps diving towards the floor.
So, now I'm ready to measure my warp, and I get my yarn out, and this is all I have. I need about 6000 yards just for warp, and this is maybe 3500 yards. Rats. Now what?
I'll have to order more on Monday, and if it turns out it will be on backorder, I'll unthread what's there, and play with this instead:
This is about 4 pounds of handspun, hand-dyed corriedale and coopworth. It's dyed with chochineal and logwood, and the "real" colors are a bit darker, more burgundy and plum. I have enough for a double-sized blanket or a couple of throws, and I haven't decided which way to go on that. Nice back-up plan, huh?

Yellow is for spring

2006-04-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

It's not spring until these arrive:
This is a shot of the daffodils in my front garden bed. We're the house on the left. You can see daffodils in front of the house and off to the side through the arch. You can also see the tulip leaves in front of the daffodils. If it stays cool enough long enough the daffodils are still blooming when the tulips open. It's really gorgeous. Last year one couple took a picture of their toddler in front of the flower bed!

Yes, those are flamingos in the daffodils. They belonged to my daughter, but now they live in that flower bed. They're especially colorful in the winter with snow up to their necks.
Handspun yarn from my painted roving, closeups below.

The flash washed this out; it's really bright orange, red & yellow

blankies

2006-03-31T16:47:00.000-08:00

OK, Blogger, why are you SO SLOW??? Don't you know the Nationals are playing the Orioles and I'm missing it???
Since this is March 31, I decided I'd better get the finished Project Spectrum item on here pronto! The unfinished Jaywalker sock is up to the heel flap. Yes, the first sock. No, I don't have a problem with second sock syndrome. I like to wear my socks, and I need two socks to do that. Yes, I'm exceptionally slow.
If you recall from yesterday, I had a blanket in progress on the loom. Here's a close up of the pattern.
Here's a close-up of the pattern (above)

This is the finished blanket. I love the circles in this pattern. It still amazes me that you can weave circles on threads that intersect at 90 degree angles. This is the most popular pattern for blankies. Only when it is sold out do people choose the other patterns, so I decided to stop weaving the other patterns altogether.

Here's a picture of the 4 different kinds. I did 2 variations on the red/yellow/navy to see which one I liked best.
Hopefully, yellow pictures tomorrow! (These blankies don't count)

Spectrum colors of the month (finally)

2006-03-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

I joined the Project Spectrum, and here's my report for March, so far. March colors are pink and red. I keep forgetting that the pictures load on top of each other (at least the way I do it) in the first example, the yarn is shown below the item woven with it. I didn't show the yarn spun from the fleece samples---some of it hasn't been spun yet. Stroller blanket in progress. Stroller blankets are narrower than regular sized baby blankets. The baby blankets are also a softer pink or blue. Finished ones are in the washer. Yarn shown below. I did pink, blue, and red/yellow/navy for "don't know yets".
HOT PINK (and blue) cotton yarn for baby blankets
Jaywalker socks (sorry, I haven't figured out links yet, but you can google it), in a pink Opal yarn (the band fell off). I sound pretty pathetic here.
Roving I dyed myself. On the right, I was trying for yellow/red/orange, but the yellow kinda disappeared into the orange. Better luck next time.
little nests of roving that I dyed myself in bright primary colors . This dyeing was painted roving. The red/orange above was submersion dyeing. I think the painted roving has better, brighter color definition.
Cross stitch picture for my SIL's birthday (in July). Hopefully I'll be done by then! Pink for the watermelon.

Next month the colors are yellow and orange. Fortunately, my fiber guild (Potomac Craftsman) project for this year incorporates at least one of these colors. More to follow!

fun with beads

2006-01-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

This is Danish Medallion lace, from Handwoven Jan/Feb 2001, used to attach beads to weaving. There was a more recent article, but I can't find it right now. It was a cute little girl's top with beads on it. I'm using it on a table runner. First, I decide on the spacing for the beads. I just lay them out until I decide how many I want, then I divide the space evenly. For this runner, I have 24 ends at both edges, then 2.25 inches between, and 2.5 between the middle one and the 2 at both sides of it. If you look closely, you can see a thicker line just below the beads that are already attached. This is the "outline" pick, formed by running the weft thread 2 or 3 times across, just catching the floating selvage. Then weave above it, just the length of the beads you will be attaching. Open your shed.
Bring the shuttle through the open shed and exit at the point marked by the pin.
Sorry this one is so blurry--I was shooting with one hand while holding the hook with the other. Use a crochet hook to bring the thread up through the weaving just above the outline pick. The shuttle is resting on the weaving, but has been brought throught the shed at the space you see above, and the weft thread is loose so I can draw it up through the cloth.
Using a needle, bent piece of fishing line, or piece of quilting thread, thread the beads on the loop. I find the fishing line is easier to get the looped weft thread through the tiny bead holes. Bend the fishing line or thread into a "V", and hook the V through the looped weft. Make sure your beads will be oriented the same way at both ends of the runner. Since I do mine in bits and pieces over a week or so, I write down the order of bead color, and which color is closest to the edge of the weaving.
Pull the shuttle through the loop created at the top of the beads. Be sure to feel underneath so there are no loose threads on the backside. Pull on the thread coming off the shuttle to tighten the beads flat to the cloth. Repeat across the weaving by opening the shed and exiting at the next pin point. At the end of the bead row, I usually weave a few rows with the little shuttle before changing over to my normal sized one.

Ta Da! I will weave another 5 inches for the border, and then handsew a 1.5 to 2 inch hem. The pattern is Johann Schleelein's No. 123 from A Handweaver's Pattern Book by M. Davidson.

Pics at last!

2006-01-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

Here's my first handspun, handwoven blanket. Corriedale wool, hand dyed with cochineal, 8 epi, double weave, so it's big enough for a double mattress.

Slowly, slowly

2006-01-05T18:02:00.000-08:00

Well, our wireless connection disappeared. We called the Computer Guy, who walked us through a bunch of stuff, and it came down to: unplug the desktop from the back for 20 minutes to let it "rest". OK. It worked! Unfortunately, this cut into my weaving time, so no fun stuff tonight. My resolution for this year, to work 15 minutes per work night in the loom room, has not been going to well. Didn't get in there last night either. Sigh.

Still haven't forgotten about pictures....just don't have any yet.

step 1

2005-12-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

Ta Da!! Thanks to our terrific computer guy, I have a working and not-to-slow computer. The dropped one was fixed, AND I now have a wireless connection. Too cool. Step 2 will be figuring out the camera (the one we already have) and if it a) doesn't work with this computer or b)the pics are lousy, I'll get a new one. Give me a couple of weeks. After the holidays. See ya!

My daughter made me do it.

2005-11-21T19:05:00.000-08:00

I came back from SOAR, full of ideas and reports of all these wonderful bloggers who were there, and I mentioned that I was reading all these blogs, but that they were knitters. I am a weaver and handspinner. Well, handspinner and weaver because the spinning came first. She said I should start a weaving blog, so here I am. I have no digital camera. I'm on my husband's ancient computer, which is so slow that the typing appears much later than when I type it, so when I erase, I'm not sure how far back to go. My husband bought a digital camera, but his computer is SO ancient that it doesn't work with it.

To do:
1) buy a new computer for myself. I had a lovely laptop but my son dropped it and I never got around to replacing it.
2) buy a digital camera, because for me, the fun and inspiring part about a blog is seeing what everyone's working on.
3) Spin
4)Weave

Not necessarily in that order.

Fortunately Christmas is coming....