Project source: Mitchell, Syne. "Elegant Bookmarks," Handwoven, March/April 2007, 28:2, p.36-38.
Warp source: Lunatic Fringe; Weft sources: Lunatic Fringe and JoAnn's
8/8/09: Finished tyeing warp to cloth beam. Hope the tension is OK -- silk is slippery! The last time I hemstitched was 10 years ago, and I don't remember how. Consulted several sources. Did it upside down twice. Can't count weft picks --silk is small! Will get ahold of a magnifying glass and try again tomorrow.
8/9/09: Hemstitching accomplished! Thank you Finishing Touches for the Handweaver by Virgina West AND my grandfather's large magnifying glass. Now winding bobbins with incredibly fine thread. I'm considering buying a lighted magnifying glass, which can only help as my middle-aged eyes wend their way to ever more blurriness. Later. This is very satisfying! I'm enjoying the weaving, and watching the pattern develop. Tension on the right side was a little slack, but things seem to have evened out. Back to the library tomorrow, with hope that I'll have enough energy left by day's end to weave some more. Also discovered that there's really no point to winding the Sulky onto a bobbin as the spool is just as wide as the shuttle. May as well use the spool as shuttle. (My second weft info has disappeared from the weft yarn section above. Not sure what's up.)
8/16/09: Wove another repeat of the pattern and unwove about half of it. The tension on the right selvege is still loose, so I hung a few metal heddles off it. Still getting loops in the tabby wefts on that side (hence the unweaving). I'd been trying to stick with a pattern of weaving the tabby pics -- over the pattern weft on the 1,3 (left side), under on the 2,4 (right side). Finally started going over the pattern weft on both sides, which seems to have solved the loop problem.
8/23/09: Finished first bookmark! It took 14 pattern repeats to make 7.5 inches. Pattern weft was Sulky metallic. The result is ... subtle, as the design is visible in certain slants of light. I would like a few that are more obvious, however. I think I'll try doubling or tripling the Sulky, or combining it with red silk. Hemstitiching was unnatural again. I can only hope it will feel better as I go on. I pulled too tightly on the last bundle and broke the weft. I rigged a fix, and hope it holds.
8/29/09 - 8/30/09: Started and finished bookmark 2, this one with gold thread and red silk. Weaving to Outlander is very, very nice.
10/20/09: Long delay. I cut one of the bookmarks off to give to my father for his 80th birthday, and will probably give the other away as well. Life has gotten in the way of weaving in a big way, but I hope to re-tie the warp and get going again in the next few weeks. The Southwest Fiber Festival is coming up on the 23rd and 24th. The goal here is not to buy anything else.
11/7/09: Starting on #3, finally, with the same weft combination as #3. Dismal time hemstitching -- my eyesight is getting worse, I think, and the silk kept breaking. If the border holds together, I'll be surprised and very, very happy. Listening to Sting's "If On a Winter's Night" and reading A.S. Byatt's "The Children's Book."
11/22/09: These are going to be ready in time for Christmas, right? I finished #3, complete with my own, erratic take on hemstitching, and began #4. I like this one. The weft is white 60/2 silk from Webs, combined with a multi-tone green Sulky. The color combination reminds me of the ocean. Still listening to Sting, Assemble Gallilei, and Anonymous 4. Currently reading The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany. 8 repeats make 7 inches.
Later: #5 same as #4 (Sandy, Peter). #6: multi-tone yellow with white silk (Mom). Lovely! #7: metallic purple with white silk (Grace). #8: red silk, multi-tone yellow, white silk "wave" pattern. #9 would have been another wave with multi-tone green, metallic silver, and white silk, but I bailed when too many warp threads broke.
12/18/09: Finished! Eight bookmarks in total.