Because we're three days into September and nobody's started a new thread yet...I did!

My big news for the week is...I HAVE A PUBLISHER!!! I just got a contract from Schiffer Publishing for my book, now retitled "Dream It, Make It! Design Strategies for Crafting Masterpieces". I had just finished the revised proposal and sent it to them...didn't hear back for a week...was a bit worried and then yesterday, bam! a contract arrives on my doorstep.

I still need to discuss some items with them, but I'm super psyched.

And, in other news, I have now finished sleying all 2800 threads. I am now working on getting the two warps properly lined up and tied on, a process which promises to be both complicated and tedious. There are color changes that need to be lined up, plus the warp is not perfectly aligned coming off the warp beam, so I need to tie on, roll the warp forward to get to the place where it is coming off the warp beam evenly, and then roll it back. And then line up the two warps so the color changes line up correctly. I expect it will take me a few days to make that work.

And what are the rest of you up to?

Comments

Sat, 09/27/2014 - 17:18

sarahnopp (not verified)

Yeah, It will work well in my home. I have dark brown dining room and lots of goldy-yellows in that area. And if it is too autumnal, I will just make some other ones :)

Sat, 09/27/2014 - 16:54

endorph

my towel warp - got the treadles tied up and not I am ready to weave away - too bad hosework is getiing in the way of my fun and then this evening I have toa ttend a 50th anniversary party for the museum I work at. . . . . oh well. . . .

Sun, 09/28/2014 - 08:28

pammersw

Warped up the new-to-me Pendleton and wove about 1/4 of the final scarf in the scarf series. Gave my daughter and son-in-law theirs last week when they were visiting from Seattle. Figured it was time to get those finished!

I tried lashing on instead of the usual tying on the warp with a weavers knot, and I think I like it! Sure saves on warp! 

Sun, 09/28/2014 - 18:51

Erica J

This thread always reminds me we need to get like functionality running on the site. I love all the progress. Way to go everyone!

I am working on my taquete sample(r). I am using designs found on two pillows from a Roman/Egyptian burial in Antinoe. The pillows were dated to the 3rd C AD. There are 4 designs and I managed to get 2 of them woven this weekend. Well I started over, as you remember I wove the first last weekend, but wove it right side down.

I also got my 21" fabric warp spread in the raddle. Well TAJ will be waking up from his nap anytime, so I'm off to see what he'll get up to this afternoon!

Sun, 09/28/2014 - 15:39

Artistry

Erica, You always find the most interesting images to work with! I can't wait to see these ancient designs come alive! Weaving upside down: I wove upside down for years, with a jack loom ( rising shed) and Margurite Davison's book ( sinking shed) under my arm. I had two lessons. The rest self taught, I just thought this was how it was done,lol. When I moved to Cincinnati over 30 years ago I took some classes , , lo and behold, I was weaving right side up! We all had a good laugh, I thought it was it was a miracle ! Tien - lashing not only says warp, I find it's a fast way of tensioning. Can't get much done, when I move around a lot my ear whomps. All I need is a saxophone ,I'd have a band:) Tina, thanks!
Sun, 09/28/2014 - 16:01

theresasc

pammersw - how fun for you to be dressing your new loom, you will like those extra treadles, one of my 8-s looms has 12 also.  Great for things like plaited twills and those other treadle-hungry weaves.

Erica - looking forward to seeing more of your samples.

I finished some rag place mats yesterday and they are in the washing machine right now.  Starting to wind a warp for some holiday place mats, not rags this time!  I am still working only out of my stash.  I looked at the projects that I have posted on Weavo and everything except the inkle shoelaces have come from my stash, and those I only had to buy one more color.  I really should feel embarrassed about all the yarn that I have in my stash, but I don't:-)  Weave on!

Sun, 09/28/2014 - 21:35

endorph

we definitely need a like functionality on here!

Getting ready to wind bobbins and start weaving towels. These will be plain weave or a 2/2 twill so should weave up quickly.

Tue, 09/30/2014 - 14:30

sally orgren

I managed to get those 1,000 yards of JOY yarn detangled about midnight before leaving for the Coverlet College on Friday.

What a lovely conference!

It covered basic information for quilters (who run into coverlets at quilt auctions or are asked to appraise them), to serious collectors who know the weavers and census records, but not the actual process, to the "how" in how the old jacquard looms produced the patterns, and then we weavers learned about the difference between true and tied Beiderwand, thanks to Chris and Richard Jeryan, and got to see shuttle path diagrams of elaborate woven fringes from Gay McGreary. (So glad I took tied weaves with Su Butler @ MAFA last summer, too!) I understand Gay is heading to the Boston guild this week or next, those lucky dogs!

I was guessing between the museum and the collectors, all those in the room collectively owned more than 1,000 coverlets. The show and tell on Saturday night was pretty awesome. But I have to admit, even I hit my coverlet quotient about noon on Sunday. Ron and Kitty Belle's enthusiasm is infectious. And on a completely different topic, I learned about these very cool small, digital and portable microscopes, under $200! I have no idea how the National Museum of the American Coverlet is gonna top this one next year!

My head is filled! What to weave next!?!

Tue, 09/30/2014 - 01:11

sarahnopp (not verified)

Today was my first little steps into basket making. Yay. New tools to add to my burgeoning toolchests, new lingo to learn, new materials to acquire.

And then a first meeting for my guild's new tapestry study group. Today was productive. 

Most exciting find for me: velcro plant tape! It is a thin velcro which is sold in ribbons like green plant tape. SO MANY USES! I do love my gadgets LOL

Tue, 09/30/2014 - 15:06

tien (not verified)

Cathie - I love lashing on! Tying directly onto the apron rod, I cannot seem to get the tension right no matter how hard I try, but lashing on, I can just poke at the knots until the tension feels even.

Sorry to hear about the ear whomping (what a wonderfully expressive way to put it, though!). I hope you get better soon.

And me? We got the knitting machine motor repaired over the weekend, but now I need to re-sley the warp. I cut off on Sunday and started re-sleying, but have only gotten a few threads in. I want to remove the loom bench before continuing, as it will make re-sleying much easier. I plan to weave standing up, or else get a drafting chair to sit on.

But I really won't have much time this month for weaving! I have now conducted six interviews for my book and have eleven more coming up soon. It takes about four hours to complete each interview, between setting up the interview, researching the interviewee, conducting the interview, and then going through the transcript, annotating it, pulling the annotations into my reference organization software (Docear), and tagging the annotations correctly for later reference. Thank goodness Laura Fry is being nice enough to do the transcription for me! I could never do this without her help.

Anyway, if you do the math, four hours per interview times eleven interviews is forty-four hours of work. All coming up in the next two weeks, and I have a full-time job! And I plan to conduct another ten to twelve interviews this month. So I expect to be fairly focused on the book, less so on weaving.

But I am getting to chat with the most amazing people!

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