Here we are at the turn of another month - I swear it is still the first of July - don't know where the month went. Weave on everyone!

Comments

Sun, 08/14/2016 - 17:33

theresasc

My fiber interests have not been on the floor looms even having all 3 dressed with great projects.  Tapestry has grabbed me and is not letting go.  I did get 2 more colors for my current piece at Convergence along with the yarn for an idea that has been in the back of my mind since I moved into the home I am in now.  Here is where the tapestry is at with the addition of gold and brown:

current tapestry

I also picked up Rodrick Owen's newest book on Andean Sling braids when I was at Convergence.  Noone had any tama (bobbins for the braiding stand) so I ordered some this past week.  I also borrowed a Dremel tool and filed out a bowl in the center of the top of my braiding stand(now I can call it a marudai).  From what I read this will help with the structure of the braid as I braid.  So I have a start of a new braid on my marudai - it is a square braid, too cool!

marudai

I also picked up a fun looking fat quarter and made a drawstring bag for the weights in the center.  Fun stuff is happening at my home these days!

 

Sun, 08/14/2016 - 19:19

Queezle

If I could do such beautiful tapestry, I might not be interested in floor looms either!  Lovely!  And your braiding.  Fun stuff indeed.

Mon, 08/15/2016 - 01:43

Dawn McCarthy

Decided to tackle some towels that caught my eye years ago, I looked at the draft and thought "eh?" turns out I was correct, I found the errata sheet tucked into the back of the book.  Rep rug 3/4 done.

Dawn

 

Mon, 08/15/2016 - 07:15

10ashus

I would like to save this photo in My Favorites. I do not have that button except for when viewing Projects. Does anyone know how I might get it over there?

I saw it and a light bulb came on in my head. I understood that one more thing about using different colors in warp and weft. I have stared at photos of gamps. This photo put the concept in focus for me.

Waited until today to check the mail box. Surprises galore. My yarn order for the Tibetan Bag and the book, Inventive Weaving on Little Loom. Both were a delight.

I had got impatient and not ordered the color sample card for the bag project. Uh, oh. The yarn color was not what I thought. After a few hours. I looked again. It was actually better than the colors I planned. Waiting on one more color. The loom is resting while I search for yarn colors for several projects.

Mon, 08/15/2016 - 08:44

Erica J

10Ashus, glad your yarns and book have arrived. Under each comment there is a blue button that says Bookmark this comment. You can use that to bookmark the comment, then you can go to your profile later on and view your bookmarked comments.

I've started organizing my studio and we've just about put away all the things we had packed for our month away from home! I should be weaving again soon. Plus I have to wind my warp for my upcoming class with Rosalie Neilson!!

Wed, 08/17/2016 - 04:50

Queezle

First, though - ten - thank you so much for liking my weaving - very flattering. 

But I'm done!  Meaning I wet finished and sewed it up into an infinity scarf.  Trio of twil scarf, modeled by my daughter

Thu, 08/18/2016 - 05:09

10ashus

After hours of looking for yarn and not finding what I wanted, I listed my Want-to-Do Projects. Fiber decisions and shopping are hobbling me. I tend to picture an item then search for the yarn in that color. I have noticed many weavers get the yarn and then think about what they will make.

  1. Tibetan bag - yarn on back order
  2. Personal August challenge - a color-weave print designed with neutrals
  3. Items for the charity resale shop
  4. Color Challenge - hunt harder for 2-3 shades of sage green 
  5. Halloweave - something where I have to join pieces (strips for a rug) 
Thu, 08/18/2016 - 17:29

sally orgren

I thought after Convergence was over, I would be free to weave. But I am not finding I am returning to the looms as quick as I thought.

So making a list is a great idea.

Thu, 08/18/2016 - 17:41

theresasc

Your scarf came out great,  Queezle.  I am thinking of turning the scarf on my small 8-shaft into a cowl.  I am just worried that it might be too narrow.  I guess I will deal with that if & when I finish weaving it.

10ashus, there are pros and cons to buying yarns without a project in mind.  I used to buy quite a few pounds of yarn from Yarn Barn's mill end club and I now have a lot of yarn that either does not go with other yarns that I have or in colorways that I no longer enjoy.  About two years ago I decided to weave only out of my stash and I have hardly put a dent in what is there.  Of course,  I have had a few slip-ups when I have come across something I couldn't resist.  On the other hand, I have had projects that I was able to complete because I had a ridiculous amount of yarns and fabrics in the stash.

 

Thu, 08/18/2016 - 19:26

Queezle

I like your list, ten.  I keep a folder on my laptop with project plans.  I think I like planning almost more than any other step.  I used to feel listless between projects, the filed plans help me get a running start.

And yarn.  Oh how I hate to shop.  And I'm not good at really knowing the colors that will coordinate.  Much of my inspiration comes from putting on some music I love, and sitting on the floor with cones of yarn surrounding me.  Sometimes its the yucky color I happened into that turns a project into something unexpected (and sometimes even unexpectedly good).  And I really like checking out my options by sampling wefts at the beginning of a project.  Of course, dyeing your own yarn makes your colors essentially unlimited, but for me these days, it adds too much additional effort to a project.

I've been trying to study optimal scarf sizes.  8 inches wide is OK for a scarf, and many commercial infinity scarves are even narrower.  This newest one was about 50 inches long, and I wish it were about 60 or 70 - a third loop around the head would be amazing. There is still warp on the loom, and I'm at work on a second one, but using a more silvery colored weft (tencel). 

Sat, 08/20/2016 - 20:32

laurafry

And our town is no exception.  Our guild has a booth at the fair and there has been a lot of interest from children, as usual, but also adults.  We may have some new members next month.  :)

Mon, 08/22/2016 - 08:15

Thor (not verified)

I finished the Rayon Crinkle shawl I was doing for our employee charity. Turns out the black rayon was "thick & thin" so the end product reminds me of a printer with low toner...stripes that are very dark and others that aren't. The gracious receipient didn't mind but it irked me to no end. That's the problem with buying odd lots or mill ends as you get what you get!

I have switched gears and am giving some rayon chenille a go. My plan is to weave it with varying sets & wefts as a kind of "study" on what I can produce with it. I am even weaving samples and plan on creating a reference for myself. I am not normally much of a record keeper but I love the feel of the chenille and plan to do many projects with the stuff. 

A friend who I taught to weave has moved in with us for a while and he brought his looms. He is finally weaving on his 8 shaft table loom we found for him through Craigslist a couple years ago. It's a gorgeous loom and he has fallen in love with weaving on it. I am so excited for him. 

We've decided to win the lottery, buy up all the cottages on our lake and then host weaving retreats here. The very dream of it makes me very happy!

Mon, 08/22/2016 - 09:59

Queezle

Laura, your fiber fair looks great, and once Thor wins the lottery, all your new students will have additional places to go to weave!  Please hold a spot for your first weaving retreat, Thor - it sounds heavenly.

In thinking about the color challenge, my stash turned out to have a chenille that is almost a perfect match for one of my assigned colors.  Years ago when my kids were small, I tried to crank out some chenille scarves, but was very disappointed with the outcome - too much worming.  So, I've got a bit of trepidation about using the chenille.  Please do share your sampling, it will help me get over my chenillophobia.

Mon, 08/22/2016 - 12:17

theresasc

Hold a cottage for me!  I would love to weave on a lake, but which loom should go on the retreat?  Too many decisions for early morning - LOL.

On chenille and worming, you need to use a structure with very short floats such as plain weave or a 2/2 broken twill.  You also must twist the fringe otherwise the fringe will just fall apart.  There is not much that bothers me more than seeing a chenille scarf or shawl for sale at a fiber event and the weaver has not taken the time to finish it properly.  Also for sett and weft, it is based on the core size of the chenille.  Su Butler has a book out and a lot of knowledge about chenille and also has a long thread here on Weavo about chenille - a very good refrerence starting point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tue, 08/23/2016 - 18:49

sally orgren

Anyone see a table loom like this before?

Wed, 08/24/2016 - 18:04

loomyladi (not verified)

I had to get a bag full of Interlacements yarn at Convergence, at $50 for whatever you could get in a good size bag.......  So i picked out some lovely boucle for a project for the grands and some fall colored 5/2 merc cotton.  8 skeins of the 5/2 work together for one project and need to be converted to a usable form.  I decide that I am not going to let it get the best of me and I head into the basement to the far reaches of nowhere and click on the light.  There it is, "the beast".  Now I know that I am very fortunate that I have an industrial cone winder, but sometimes we don't get along.  I'm happy to report that 8 1,050 yard skeins are now beautiful cones!  We got along so well I dug out the various UFC (unfinished cones) that were lurking down there and did them as well.  Found a nice 8S draft called Falling Leaves, picked it up off-line, which took me to a pinterest which took me exactly no where, so I'm unsure where it originates.  It's a good start to some wonderful fall colors.

The bonus of my wind was digging around in the collection of stuff of a former weaver (I've talked about her stuff before) and finding more of her notebooks.  I'm thankful that she kept notes on EVERYTHING and even more thankful that her son kept almost everything (he sold the Handwovens!) after she passed in 2002.  He says he knew that he would find someone who would appreciate her items.

Wed, 08/24/2016 - 18:20

Queezle

Those cones of yarn are beautiful!  And of course I need to hear more about this interesting sounding draft.  Thanks for injecting a bit of color into my at-the-desk lunch on a stressful day.

Wed, 08/24/2016 - 19:01

10ashus

Scarf with bold patternThe loom and I are waiting for our yarns to arrive in the mail box. A longer wait than usual. Several of my colors were on back order. Today I added a fabric to my Pinterest for analysis. How did they weave that? How could I weave a similar design on my rigid heddle?

 

* * * * * * * * * *

Base fabric

  • Thread in 3 colors - color A dark, color A medium, white.
  • Use in warp and weft randomly.

Pattern design

  • Thread color with deep value, high contrast.
  • Thread in warp slots in region where you want it.
  • Use pick up stick to lift and lower pattern threads.

Is random threads in warp and weft how you would create the base fabric? Have you seen a textile recently that made you wonder how they did it?

 

 

Wed, 08/24/2016 - 18:56

[email protected]

Googled her name --found more wonderful things.  She lives in southwest Scotland and weaves on a 12 shaft Louet Spring (90cm) loom.  I don't know if she participates in Weavolution.

Wed, 08/24/2016 - 23:26

Queezle

So funny you mentioned pinterest - here is a sign of my loom lust, I started a pinterest page for bands woven on band looms, inkles, etc. 

But even more fascinating was Francine - maybe you did a reverse google search to find the weaver who produced that fabric?  Do tell!

Wed, 08/24/2016 - 23:47

[email protected]

My Pinterest feed has draft for Dorothy Stewart pattern tonight.  I just pinned it to my weaving board to make it easier to find again.

 

Thu, 08/25/2016 - 03:15

10ashus

Wow. Francine, do you have an ancestor named Sherlock Holmes? Fantastic research. Cannot believe that this morning I had a picture of a textile; tonight, I have a draft and the name of the weaver.

Came back and edited this post. Dorothy Stewart is here.

http://weavolution.com/weaver/dorothystewart

Thu, 08/25/2016 - 10:19

[email protected]

I often wish for the password protected type of membership list available in my medical specialty societies. I have had mixed results sending PM to great and famous weavers who are inactive members of Weavolution.  It is worth trying--also with e-mail address you find on line elsewhere.  

Thu, 08/25/2016 - 13:00

dorothystewart (not verified)

Many thanks for alerting me to this conversation !!

That scarf was woven several years ago. The draft was in a Swedish weaving book and involved a supplementary warp for the black design. It would be woven when I had my Louet Spring loom. I now have a 16 shaft Megado compudobby.Funnily enough I had another query about this design just the other day through my web site. Maybe I need to make some more although I'm not sure I still have the draft............

Thanks for looking me up ! Yes, I am in south west Scotland, not really active on here but I do have a FB page where I post most of my weaving photos and also on Instagram !

Thanks again

Dorothy

Thu, 08/25/2016 - 15:56

[email protected]

It is great to hear from you.  Your Spring loom weaving was faulous and I am sure your more recent weaving is also stunning.  Would be great to have you participate in Weavolution.  While we are waiting for the launch of the new software platform, project pages have become a very central part of the on-line dialog in which your work would be most welcome.  You inspire weavers all over the world. 

Thu, 08/25/2016 - 16:09

sally orgren

Dorothy,

I was in Scotland this spring for nearly 2 weeks. (Hiked the West Highland Way from Glencoe to Fort William.) It was wonderful, and I would have liked to have met more weavers while I was over there. I did the next best thing, I tried to visit all the mills possible. (No. There wasn't enough time.)

 

Thu, 08/25/2016 - 23:49

theresasc

front door today when I came home from work!My new marudai

It is my new marudai fresh from Fiber Artist Supply.  I had built one years ago and recently I had made a modification but it was still not quite right and it felt very flimsy with the heavy weight on my 70 gr tama.  I am plunging into braiding fairly seriously so I really wanted a quality marudai.  This one is a beauty and a bit larger than my old one so having many strands of yarn are not a problem.  I am really happy with it:-)  A new baby in the family in my quest to have it all - LOL!

 

 

Fri, 08/26/2016 - 05:07

Queezle

I am off on a trip for family business tomorrow - but I am really hoping that a meeting with Francine will work out!  I view this as an opportunity to do some planning for my next few projects, and perhaps even finally order that new end-delivery shuttle I promised myself months ago. 

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 01:39

theresasc

New fiber toys are just the cats meow:-)

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 01:56

laurafry

first day of class today.  we strayed from the topic somewhat and delved into other aspects of weaving rather than sticking just to lace weaves.  ;)

tomortow ow I will try to not talk so much!

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 01:59

laurafry

and for those on the east coast, we talked to college admin today and set dates to present the Olds College level one master weaving class at the Gaelic College in St. Ann's (Cape Breton), NS next June 5-9...

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 17:05

10ashus

This past month I have been asked by several persons if I would teach a weaving project for art therapy, a library art series, the senior's continuing education. I have been thinking about the possibility. Your input would be invaluable. What Discussion Group would be appropriate for this topic?

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 18:23

Cynthia

I woke up this morning to find that a friend had offered me the loan of an 8 shaft table loom.  I've never used more than four shafts.  What an opportunity!  I am torn between so many possibilities.  If this happened to you, what would you try first?

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 18:25

Cynthia

Sorry for duplicate posting.  I will edit it to add :  lately I've been weaving a lot of four-shaft twills, and I could explore that further.  Or maybe summer & winter?  Or ???

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 18:27

Erica J

Thank you all for sharing your fabulous activities!!!

I am having what I like to call a Warping Good Time!

This is my warp repp for the class I am taking next weekend with Rosalie Neilson!!

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 21:28

ReedGuy

Well today, I sent in my order for the newly revised "Rag Rug Handbook", along with a bunch of rag shuttles. Also an 18 dent reed and 16/2 wool tartan yarns to make some sample tartan cloth. Maybe it will turn into a vest as I also have been acquiring men's pattern making and tailoring books. One thing leads to another. Rolling eyes here.

Sat, 08/27/2016 - 23:12

laurafry

Sorry about the sideways photo...one end of the weaving studio at the Gaelic College.  7:20 pm.  Teacher is now chilling at the dorm with a cup of tea.  All by herself!   ;)

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 00:03

Queezle

Erica - that looks beautiful!  Rosalie Neilson gave a workshop to my guild last year - and sadly I was not able to attend - but the reports (and weavings they showed off) were fantastic.  I just know you will love it.  Repp is a good idea for something I should explore, I've made only 2 repp projects, one directly out of a handwoven and one of my own design - 25 yrs ago.  I look forward to hearing about your experience.

10 -- I am spending time this week with my 89-year old mother, and her capacity to understand conceptual information is really lagging, as is her stamina to stay through a full program, so you might try to set your sights on easy, and know that it will make them feel really good to accomplish something.  I was thinking about what I call "twig" weaving - which you can see all over the web - like this or like this - with very little expense everyone could make something.  And perhaps you could focus on how colors interact.  Just an idea... 

Cynthia - that is a difficult question!  Can you borrow someone's book of 8-shaft weaves (Strickler)?  My brain is having trouble answering the question "what can you ONLY make if you have more than a 4-shaft loom?"

 

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 03:02

theresasc

Erica - that is a wonderful looking warp.  How fun for you and for us when we hear and see all about the workshop.

Cynthia - Just pick a draft and have fun.  When my latest 2 8-shaft floor looms came to live with me, I had towel warps all ready wound and ready to go on the loom.  When my little cutie 10" 8-shaft table loom came home, I put a shadow weave sampler on.  It eas a really great 10-shaft draft that I reworked to 8-shafts.  

I have been following a thread about Glimakra band looms over on Ravelry and it finally got the best of me.  I got my Schacht inkle loom out and put on a warp to play with 3-color pick-up.  Holy band, Batman, its three color pick-up!  I am having way too much fin with this3 color pick up.

 

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 03:13

loomyladi (not verified)

It's so great to see what is going on around the globe, just by visiting one site!  In the past 10 minutes I've "been to" England, Canada, Scotland, and several places in the US.  I wonder if my great-grandfather ever contemplated what other weavers were doing while he sat at his barn frame loom?  How lucky are we!!!

Falling Leaves is on my 8S Gilmore, treadles tied up, samples woven, project started.  All in all a GREAT day!  Not to mention the demo and "work" in the Maker Space at the Farm today. 

Tomorrow I need to prep for a demo on Mon, attend an "Artist's Luncheon" and maybe (finger crossed) finish up the first Falling Leaves piece.

Have a great Sunday all!

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 06:18

Gone

I finally managed to get my Mac upstairs. Now to re-assemble it and get it warped up for a few towels. I want to try S&W to begin understanding block weaves.

 

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 15:52

Erica J

It looks like I will get about half way through threading for my warp repp class today. That leaves me only mornings and evenings Monday through Thursday to finish threading, sleigh the reed, and lash on, why do these things always come down to the wire for me?! Oh well I'm sure I'll get it done.

I have also prepared 3 more sets of colors to go out to color challenge participants tomorrow! I need to get to my color challenge and start brainstorming for another challenge for next year. This was just right for getting us stared with this type of thing, but I don't want to just keep using other guild's great ideas. :)

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 17:26

SusanBH

I've been toying with the idea of a repp weave project, but I have more research to do before I'm ready.  I look forward to seeing the progress you make with yours, Erica!

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 17:35

theresasc

is just loads of fun to do.  There are some very good printed resources available as well.  It seems that repp ends up on a loom at least once a year, and now with the countermarche it is even more fun to weave. 

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 18:24

theresasc

I feel that I was able to weave a better piece on the cm loom than on my jack looms because the cm holds high tension so much better, and the split shed that you get on a cm or a cb for that matter.  I never had problems on the jack looms, I just get a better end result on the cm.

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 20:05

ReedGuy

I've seen many videos of weaving rep on jack looms. With such high epi, I often see sticky sheds and swords or hands being used to separate warps. Slowing the weaving down a lot. On a CM loom the threads separate much easier as both halves move either up or down with higher tension it seems.

Sun, 08/28/2016 - 20:20

endorph

I am away from here a couple of days and this place went crazy. Had 25 new posts to read through this afternoon. Love seeing all this activity!

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