CCW 2012 Exchange
The Cross County Weaver's challenge for 2012 is "black, white + 1 color". I have been thinking about this challenge since July 2011, when I picked up some 16/2 cotton at the Mannings after the MAFA workshop weekend. A long time ago, I saw the draft for "Squares" (page 51) in Robin & Russ's 200 Patterns for Multiple Harness Looms and I thought this might be a good candidate for exploration. I started sampling that 8 shaft pattern on a table loom.
I really liked the first sample fabric, but I wanted to evolve it someplace new for this challenge. So the next step was increasing the stripes from 6 to 8 warp threads, and redrafting the pattern to get the stars in the B&W areas (instead of plain weave). This meant bumping up to 12 shafts, but the result was more dramatic and appealing to me. However, with the increased emphasis in the B&W areas, I felt the need to decrease the lime green areas for better balance. So I rethreaded and wove a third sample. Bingo!
With three samples in hand, I thought I was ready to thread up the big loom and weave yardage. But then yet another thought occurred to me! So I redrafted a 4th time, and now I am actually dressing the floor loom for the "real" yardage. Stay tuned for the "final reveal" ;- )
(FYI, it's due in March, so if I forget to update, someone please remind me!)
2/8/12 Update
I am weaving the first few inches, and SO happy I redrafted a final time to clean up the green intersections. Also, the B&W areas alternate in "twirl" direction on the final draft. The treadling is a bit complicated. I am using 12 of my treadles, but a modified tie up. 1-8 are like the Strickler book for the B&W areas, but 10-12 work in tandem with the 1-8 so the green stripes do what I want them to do, when I want them to do it! I have the last 4 treadles labeled A, B (= alternating green tabby), and GL (For green left) and GR (you guessed it.) My initial tie up didn't work to keep my body balanced on the bench, so I had to retie. Now it is working a lot better! I certainly hope I am as excited to weave the 7th yard as I am the first pattern repeat!
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2/9/12
I realized my tie up is not quite the same as Strickler, because I alternated the direction of the twirls in the draft and treadling. I also wanted to use two feet, to balance the load when lifting. And put the fewest warps on the farthest shafts. (This is on a jack loom.)
Tabby is 4+12, opposite 5+11
B&W pattern is 1+9, 2+9, 3+9, 4+9, 5+10, 6+10, 7+10, 8+10 = 8 pics per color x 7 stripes = 56 pics in ascending or descending order
Green Stripe 1 is 1+11, 1+12, 8+11, 8+12, 1+11, 1+12
Green Stripe 2 (not shown in draft) is 1+11, 1+12, 8+11, 8+12, 1+11, 1+12
The green stripe is the most difficult to treadle. Now that I have woven a bit, I am thinking to redo the tie up. Add shafts 11+12 to treadles 1-4, and shafts 9+10 to treadles 5-8. These treadles are in the center of the loom. I can then use 2 treadles on the far left and two on the far right, to tie up the 1+11, 1+12, and 8+11, 8+12 options to make treadling the green easier. (I like to leave an unused treadle between "treadling units" if I can, so my feet know when I have jumped to a different part of the treadling.)
Also, because the color change is very quick, I am weaving with 3 shuttles at the same time. It takes a bit of concentration to keep the selvedges neat while the unused weft runs up the edges. I came up with this idea to park the shuttles on the castle nose-up, so they are out of the way when weaving, but the weft is in proper position so I can capture it entering or exiting the shed as needed.
>Sigh< Yes! This will be tedious to weave. Anyone have a good audio book recommendation?
Vest #1
The yarns are from Vavstuga. The combination of cottolin and cotton boucle makes a very comfortable fabric. The buttons are made of polymer clay and the trim is kumihimo. The vest fits me perfectly because I worked with Daryl Lancaster to modify a vest pattern to get it to fit just right!
Grey Chenille Shawl
This plain weave shawl is one of two for a special order from the Hudson Valley Etsy Team’s pop up shop for the holidays in Pine Bush NY! So happy about this! Pics to come!
Winter Sea shawl
This was the result of a gift of a lovely handdyed alpaca/silk/cashmere. It was slightly tone-in-tone, so I decided to use plain weave and then luckily found a matching cashmere/wool to use for weft. The name of the colour was Winter Sea, so I used varied setts to give the impression of waves, and also added a few strands of silk, grey 30/2 and white 60/2 doubled, in a few places.
Hot Pink cuff wristband with snap rings
One of my cuff wristbadns. It is a fun way to add a little fiber flair to any outfit. I weave teh strips on my loom. Machine sew the ends adn then hand sew on recycled accents: hardware, button, beads, ect. I use metal snaps for easy closure. Enjoy!
Scarves
The green scarf was my first weaving project. The blue and mauve scarves experimented with changing the warp color but using the same weft in both projects. The difference in look is quite dramatic - more so in person than in the photo. My goals with these were to pracitce warping, figuring out warp yardage, and concentrating on pretty selvedges.
Bamboo Scarf
I didn't include length because I made two scarfs and a finger towel which was about 196". I was extreamly pleased with this scarf. It turned out soft, silky and delicate. I am now doing one in blue and cream.
Architect's scarf
This scarf was a special challenge for me: My male cousin asked me if I would weave him a scarf, and as the architect he is came up with very exact specifications after looking at my previous projects on Flickr: Just like the cashmere scarf( with close and open setts), black, 25 by 200 cm and then with an artistic touch of lime green, which he would leave up to "the artist" to place! He also especially liked the photo of the scarf before wash, which I took to mean that he wanted the individual threads to show, so I wove it at a very open sett. Two of the the photos show it before wash, only the close-up shows is after washing and fulling out to the real soft and nice cashmere quality. The cashmere was from colourmart, the lime green from BC Garn in Denmark.Being very fond of black and white and grey and normally very timid with loud colours, I had great difficulty getting that lime green into it, and now I am waiting and hoping that this is what he wants :-)
Rayon Chenille Scarves
This is a Jane Stafford pattern, woven on my Leclerc Fanny in plain weave. The same warp, with 2 different main weft colors. These have amazing drape after being hand washed and finished.
