Ready, Steady, GO!

Goals for this next three months:

January:

1. Make and update the pattern for my "Test Vest"

2. Come up with a design for a primarily wool fabric for my vest. Planned structure is twill, but I can vary yarn diameters, etc, to make it more interesting.

3. Weave a selvedge rug for the studio (and possibly another for elsewhere)

February

1. Sample setts as well as finishing methods for the vest fabric. Try at least *two* different warps.

2. Dye yarn and sample for a krokbragd rug for the studio

March

1. Dye and weave the krokbragd rug for the studio. Possibly a second for elsewhere.

2. Weave the fabric and sew my first vest. Figure out what I liked and what I didn't like about both garment and cloth.

3. Goals for Q2.

How's that? It feels doable and I like having a goal on a month-by-month basis. Smaller bites to eat the elephant.

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm going to have some champagne and cake.

Time to Get Serious

It's time to stop dithering around and commit to goals.  I just finished the white wool warp that's been sitting on my loom for the past month, so I am free and clear for new warps!

These are my goals for the first three months of 2013:

1. Weave the wedding present table runner.  This includes a separate sample of warp rep, just so I understand the weave structure.
2. Two already-planned projects: A)  the Icelandic/alpaca twill shawl (like the one I made for Jesh, but a different twill or twills), and B)  the rest of the red cotton/silk yardage I sampled for earlier in 2012.
3. 4 exploratory warps.  These are just to play, to sample, to learn.  They can be short and narrow, or long and wide, cotton or wool, one color or hand-painted, whatever.  I'd like to explore weave structures that push the yarn out of straight lines, within the flat plane of the fabric - honeycomb weaves, in particular.
4. Finish painting and furnishing the second bedroom into a fiber room.
5. Start a proper sample notebook (with copies for all of you) and fill it with samples of all the warps, if possible.

That ought to keep me busy enough, you think?  That's seven warps in 13 weeks, which seems doable to me, if I stay focused.

I'm really looking forward to this, as you can tell by the detritus on my dining room table!

Sampling some sampling

I really do want to embrace sampling. And what better way than with a fabric structure that I truly know nothing about - but has incredible possibilities.

Overshot.

After finding a number of coverlet books in Jeane's "Dead Weaver Stash", I was overcome by Sarah's "white hot enthusiasm" and really, really started itching to give it a try. I'd no idea whether I'd be able to find a suitable use for the fabric (other than coverlets) so that meant sampling would be a good idea! Looking around for actual samplers didn't turn up much - there were even complaints that overshot didn't lend itself to sampling other than pattern wefts since the threading/treadling was so complicated. More fuel for the fire.

Fortunately, I have a copy of Fiberworks (best money I've spent in a long time) and that would let me play around with things a bit just to see if I could put something together. The "Namedraft" function lets the user enter a phrase (8 - 40 characters) and generates a threading/treadling based on one of seven (!) alphabets. There are also four tie-ups from which to choose - Rose, Star, Transposed Rose, Transposed Star - so there are just a ton of patterns that can be generated. That got me to thinking about taking a more traditional overshot pattern and playing with both treadling and tie-ups to see if I could make a sampler. That was yesterday.

Anne Dixon's Handweaver's Pattern Directory has a few overshot patterns that include a few treadling suggestions - and I settled on "Star and Rose", page 108. A little further research on Ravelry helped me choose yarn (10/2 cotton for warp and tabby weft, 8/2 wool for pattern weft) from stash and then I did a quick threading plan. 204 ends, 4-ish yard warp, sett at 20 epi. Boom.

Today I beamed and threaded, tied on and started weaving to check threading and to see if this sett/weft would give me square squares. I'm not getting hung up at all on colors. I'm just weaving. I'll do a set with this tie-up, then I'll do some of the two other treadlings in the book, change the tie-up, later, rinse, repeat.

I'll likely also use some 5/2 cotton as weft - just to see the difference in fabric. Strictly traditional overshot is cotton and wool, but depending on the end use, maybe this will be better. And, understanding this might help me figure out a garment use for the resulting fabric. But the real goal is just to sample.

So, Lynn - are you proud of me? I sure am. :-)

Another crazy idea

This past weekend, Jeane and I were talking about sampling. Both why it's important and why I, personally, have such trouble doing it.

When working on the shirt last year, the benefit of sampling was absolutely clear. I'd never have come up with the final fabric had I skipped that step, and I ended up with a garment that pleases me to no end. Keeping that in mind, why do I still struggle with sampling? After thinking hard about it, I settled on the fact that it's really, really time consuming. And it means a lot of time and effort to get, well, a scrap of cloth. That's a tiny bit less appealing than going straight to a project - or minimizing the amount of sampling that I do.

That realization hatched another Crazy Idea for this coming year. Lynn, you are also a bit responsible for this. Your thought of working toward, and building, a sample book got me to wonder if we can't all work together on this sampling thing. As each of us works on a garment, or project, I'd like to toss out the idea that we *all* sample for it and then exchange what we've got. For example, if I want to do something in wool, but don't know about sett, I could hand off two sample setts while I do the third. I'd even be willing to wind/send a warp if that'd make the process go more quickly. Then we'd each weave off our portion, cut and finish and send to the other two. That way, we'd get a wide variety of samples, at different setts, and help to build out our respective sample books. Jeane even said that she'd be up for joining in.

So there's my next crazy idea. And, I'm totally in for helping you two with sampling as well.

Thoughts?

As time allows

I'm going to continue to take advantage of the few days I have down here with Jeane to write a bit more about what we've accomplished and how it's continuing to refine the plans for next year.

Yesterday, we did a quick draft/muslin for what will, hopefully, become the basis for the four vests. It's drafted from my sloper and it's deceptively simple. As is so often true, the devil will be in the details. We talked about construction, finishing and the other small steps that will make a big difference in the final result. And, between now and month-end, I'll set aside the equivalent of a day to make a full vest from commercial fabric. JoAnn will be more than happy to sell me something and that'll give me a much better idea of whether or not the pattern will work as I'd like. And, if not, I know how to make it better. Learning is happening!

Best of all, I gave notice yesterday. It was time and more than time for me to go. I had no interest in going back full time, and unless I did so, I wasn't going to be able to drive the change I think is sorely needed. So, I am doing so in an amicable way. Boss is sad but understanding. Colleagues don't know yet, but that'll happen next week. And, with that burden lifted, I feel ready to take on this challenge and really make things happen. Solstice is coming. The year is turning. I can feel it.

Prep and more prep

Every day I get more comfortable with the notion of being focused next year - and my plan of four vests still feels good. This weekend, I'm spending time with Jeane again (and she's going to come and play with us here, too!) and we talked about The Plan, The Vests and ways to narrow it down even more.

I'm now thinking about a single pattern. Each vest will be cut and constructed in the same manner and that allows for another bit of learning - experiencing how each fabric has it's own requirements when becoming a garment. Ease, finishing, etc. are all driven in some part by the fabric; these four vests will help me to get my head around that part of the process.

Tomorrow morning we'll draft the vest pattern and my homework between now and January 1 will be to cut and sew the toile, and possibly a finished piece from commercial fabric, so that I have my "control". It will be a simple waistcoat - fronts lined, the back either the lining fabric or something else (I could do otherwise, if I chose), v-neck. A perfect canvas for experimenting.

We're also talking a bit about starting to narrow the experiment further and I think that I'll start with one that is wool, one that is linen. The first one because it's comfortable and I feel confident about being able to sort it and the second because I'm nervous and it's almost totally new. That should bracket things nicely. It's also an excuse to get out the dyes.

It feels like the plan is coming together nicely. And thinking about this focused, directed weaving was so wonderful that I ran an extra mile today. Because I missed my turn. Because I was happy at the thought of doing the work.

Thanks for the kick in the butt, Lynn.

Because Reasons

Well, I wish I had sold more scarves at the craft sale yesterday, but I didn't.  So, I've been dissecting my reaction to that fact today, and therefore thinking about why I weave.

So do I weave to sell?  Well, no.  I don't really need the money, although it feels like "free" money that I can spend on more weaving toys.  I didn't like the pressure this year to produce salable scarves, so I don't really want to weave the same commercially acceptable things over and over.  I don't really want to bother with an Etsy shop or anything like that, because it's a lot of non-weaving bother.  On the other hand, do I really want bins and bins of stuff I've woven cluttering up the house (did you see the video of the Dutch woman who had knit 500 sweaters in the past 65 years - 500 sweaters that had never been worn?)?

OK, so do I weave for the recognition?  You know - oh, Lynn, you weave beautiful scarves! and all that.  Well...yeah, that's part of it.  I'm always a little starved for attention, alas, a result, I think, of being one of five kids (in nine years, yikes).

So, why weave, when I could do something else that's more likely to bring attention?  Well, I've always liked the interaction between color and pattern, particularly small bits of each.  And fabric/fiber/yarn.  So of course, I've finally found my way to weaving.  I love plotting out a project.  I love dressing the loom.  I love taking a finished piece of cloth off the loom and dancing around with it - and then you get to wash it and gasp in amazement at how much better it is than when it came off the loom.  I love putting cones of yarn together and squinting to imagine how they'd weave up together.  I love reading weaving books and books about ethnic textiles.  I love the interaction between the intellectually challenging parts of weaving - grasping how a weave structure works, calculating the yardage, sett, etc. - and the tactile and visual parts of making cloth.

There are no doubt more aspects to why I weave, but this gets to the heart of it, I think, and thus I think I can fairly quickly move past the disappointment of not selling more scarves.

However, this mental exercise makes me think that in 2013, I ought to weave mostly for the sake of exploration.  Just wander through sample after sample, trying out color interactions, different yarns, loom-controlled weave structures along with handwork, and so on.  Play, in other words.

But grown-up play, to a certain extent.  One of the books I bought recently is Virginia West's Swatch Book.  It's a spiral-bound book with 20 swatches of actual fabric, woven by Ms. West, plus instructions for weaving and comments on possible uses.  Here are a couple of photos, to give you an idea:

 

 

 I'm thinking it would be a useful exercise to make a swatch book for myself this coming year, with copies for you all, if you want.  Making such a notebook will help discipline my explorations.  Whether I make nine projects a quarter or only one, keeping organized samples seems like a good idea for many reasons.

What do you think?

Running On a Bit

I find that I do some of my best thinking when I'm doing something else. In this case, running is absolutely a time when my mind starts to wander toward problem solving. The problems to be solved seem endless - How do I get colleagues/customers to do what I need them to do? Where should I start cleaning the house (hint: the upstairs bathroom)? how much more is that guest house going to cost? You get the drift. Fortunately, today I let my mind start trying to solve the "What to do in 2013" problem that we've been discussing. I managed to get a good hour of contemplation in while jumping over fallen trees, avoiding mud puddles and spying a bobcat. I didn't even trip/fall. Win!

So, Lynn - you talked about scarves. I thought a lot about scarves, but I also know that I rarely wear them. I like the idea of them. I like making them. But, I don't wear them, so they're not really a finished product for me. I could talk myself into them being samples, but that's still not going to be satisfying. I also thought about bags - but I have *one* bag that I love and use all the time. Those lovely friends that have multiple purses and change the purse with the outfit? Unfathomable. And not going to happen. They'd be pieces that would sit around and not get used. Though, I could see them as repurposed scarves! :-)

I finally landed on vests. I *like* vests. I have two three handknit vests - one handspun - and I wear them often. And the fabric commitment is small enough that I could easily make sufficient fabric for a vest within a short period of time. Also, vests are supposed to be "eclectic", right? Like a jacket but not something you put on/take off all day. Plus? Buttons. What more can I say?

Next weekend is another Palm Springs weekend - but this time just Jeane and me. It's too close to the holidays for Suzanne (she'll be there *this* weekend to get "caught up") and Barbara's out of vacation days so it's just the two of us. Slopers, muslins and maybe starting a joint article for Handwoven. I'm going to bring up this idea when I'm down there and see what she thinks. If I decided to go that route, then we can start making a pattern for a vest. I like the idea of having a "Control" - which would be the pattern - and using that to decide how I like fabrics, colors, etc. And it'd also tell me where I need to be in terms of cloth width, yardage, etc. There's also opportunity for embellishment with embroidery, inkle- or tablet-woven bands, the whole nine yards. Lots of cloth structures would be fun - Monk's Belt, Overshot, Twill. Lots of fabrics - wool, silk, linen, cotton. I don't think that one a month is reasonable (and that'd be a LOT of vests!) but one a quarter, I think, would be doable. And that would mean a drawing, then a sample, then a finished garment.

Separately, there are specific home-front projects that I want to do and that includes a rug for the studio, curtains for same, and some blankets. The Big Bag of Columbia/Mohair worsted 2-ply may become blanket and rug yarn, we'll see.

So - what do you all think about vests? Also, the fabric and sewing learning from the cloth should help be step left-ward to a jacket, right-ward to a shirt/tunic. Or even to a coat/skirt/etc.

Yup, it already feels good. Maybe I can get one done before the holidays ...

Another Thought

Here's another thought I want to record, brought to the surface by buying a bonanza of used weaving books today:

• Sift through the weaving books and magazines I have, and select a few drafts/projects/inspirations that I'd like to follow up.  I often re-read all of my old Handwoven magazines every winter, so this would be way to choose the patterns I like and then prioritize among them to choose the three most appealing ones to try in January, February, and March.  Then I'd repeat the exercise for the next three months.  I'm thinking I could use the printed pattern as something to sample and then to build on.

A Few Thoughts, to Begin

It's December 1st.  I'm rarin' to go to plan out some projects for 2013, but I hab a code that is affecting mostly my brain power, so I'm just going to jot down some notes today, and I'll flesh them out later.

There are several general ideas running around in my head as for what I'd like to do in the first few months of 2013.  I don't really want to commit to specific goals beyond March just yet, because I'd like to leave room for responding to the first things I weave and quite possibly going off in new directions, following my interests.  So, here are three possible paths I'd like to consider following, on the continuum from Should to Want:

1. I have a lot of yarn and fiber.  I'd like to use up what I've got.  This is clearly on the Should end of the scale, and so may very well be too confining, if virtuous.  On the other hand, I've often found that setting some outside parameters at the beginning of a project can be freeing, in the sense that some decisions are already made and I can use my brain to push harder on other parts of a project.
2. I have some weaving projects planned out that I haven't gotten around it, and I'd like to weave them off in 2013.  Some examples:  A) I wove Jesh a really lovely shawl of silver Icelandic two-ply and medium-gray alpaca; I have enough yarn left to weave a similar shawl for myself.  B) After working with Sara back in July, I wove a two-yard sample of red silk, cotton, and rayon.  The sample turned out great, so I'd like to weave 6 or more yards of it and make myself a jacket.  C)  I spun 3 pounds or so of Rovings Polwarth, Briar Rose BFL, etc., to weave jacket fabric from.  And so on - there's a rug warp already wound, the warps I painted with Sara, who knows what else tucked away in various bins.  There aren't all that many such projects planned out, but I'd really like to weave them.
3. On the Want end of the continuum, there's the idea I keep coming back to of working in a series.  Start with samples - maybe a gamp? - weave a scarf or jacket or runner or whatever, look at it hard, and do it again, better.  And then better again.  By better, I don't mean just technically better, but more better-conveyance-of-idea, instead.  If the colors of a blue jay against white snow and dark green spruce boughs inspires me to weave a shawl, I suspect the first such shawl I weave won't quite measure up to what I see in my head, probably because I am lazy and I won't put enough time into the kind of complexity I want to see in such a shawl.  I know I need to practice keeping up enthusiasm and momentum over long, complex projects.

Three ideas, not mutually exclusive.  What do you think? Could I do one from each path in each month, January through March.  That would be nine projects altogether, which seems reasonably do-able.

Year-end Prep

Now that we've started talking about how we'll approach the coming months, I feel like I want to do prep-work. And, since structure and color are both of interest to me, it's time to get off my duff and accomplish something I've been meaning to do for two years. I'm going to make Janet Phillip's twill gamp from Designing Woven Fabrics.

Please look past the Master Class portion of the website (I'm weeping as I read this, BTW, and hoping that Chris gets posted to Europe for two years sooner rather than later) and note the book on the right. I purchased it some time ago, full of "white hot excitement" and then put it aside as I simply wasn't ready. I'm absolutely ready now. And, I even have the yarns to prove it.

The book calls for 2/6 cotton - I'm substituting 2/5 cotton so that I can use the 2/10 for the wide sett portion. I'm also going to use the Baby Wolf since the tie-ups are so easy to change. It's going to need every last centimeter of that 26" weaving width but that's just fine. It'll be fabulous. And today's the day to wind the warp, beam and hopefully thread.

Yarns: Valley Fibers "Valley Cottons"

Warp: 5/2 Mercerized Perle Cotton (2100 ypp) in White and Light Blue, 10/2 Mercerized Perle Cotton (4200 ypp) in White

Weft: 5/2 Mercerized Perle Cotton (2100 ypp) in Dark Blue and Light Blue

494 ends plus 18 selvedge on each side, for 530 ends overall. Sett is 20 epi, except the 10/2 section which is at 40 epi

And bless her soul, she even gives heddle counts, by shaft. Thank goodness.

Off to wind. Can't wait.

Where did summer go?

I've noticed that it's stone dark now by 8p, and that can only mean one thing. Summer is nearly over. On the other hand, the weather has been so wonderful the last few weeks that I'm starting to realize that September and October are the best time of year out here. The fog isn't as heavy and, with the inversion, it's a nearly constant 73F outside. Granted, we were 30F cooler this morning (hello FOG!), but it'd mostly pulled back by 9a and was already warming up. Too bad I had to go to the office because this is still sitting on my worktable:

From Garment Class

Yup, after another weekend down with Barbara, Suzanne and Jeane, my shirt fabric is cut, overlocked, interfaced, stay-stitched and ready to assemble. It was a lot of work to get here, and it's worth noting where I started.

The goal for last weekend, for me, was to learn how to modify a commercial pattern in order to make a shirt. There are benefits to doing this - in particular, having arms, cuffs, collar, and other fiddly pieces already addressed seemed like a real benefit when we were working on the jacket. Plus, it's a good skill to have. So, prior to the previous class, I hit JoAnn and found some likely contenders. I settled on this:

I liked the fitted look of the front and the non-traditional collar. Plus, I was pretty sure I had enough fabric! So we laid out the pattern and got to work. Once again I don't have pictures of the whole process because we work pretty fast and furious. But, it essentially went like this:

• 1. Open the pattern and check front/back for fit against the sloper. Move the shoulder seam accordingly, increase the Front-to-waist, move darts. Leave all other parts the same and make a muslin.
• 2. Try on muslin, confirm "good enough" and then attach collar and sleeves. Move dart points (again), change armhole curve, reshape sleeve, try on again, realize I need another full muslin.
• 3. Make second muslin, try on and confirm WTF!?!? on where we moved the darts, slash/open sleeve cap to add more ease, make another round of sleeves, try on again, and then come up with final dart placement and agree that sleeves are "good enough."

It's now mid-afternoon on Sunday and I need to get back that night. It's a 7h drive, so we sat down and talked through the details of the finer points of sewing up the shirt (collar attachment, cuff easing, button bands, etc.) and then I jumped in the car and headed home. I had notes on what needed modifying one last time on the tissue paper pattern so I felt confident when it was time to get going.

The next weekend, I picked up woven interfacing and the other things I'd need to sew up the shirt and then spent the day on Sunday doing cutting and prep. I made it a point not to fuss. The stripes aren't perfectly vertical/horizontal. The unfinished edges may still end up a bit wonky, but they're overlocked so they won't move. I've interfaced where the fabric needs it and even preshrunk the interfacing before putting it on.

It's just sewing now and I'm feeling confident. The classes have shown me so much about the process that none of it seems intimidating. And, this being the third bit of fabric that I've cut up, I think I'm over it. I've also picked up some really, really good books on tailoring that will remind me of the steps I went through with Jeane, so I think it'll all be just fine.

The other thing we learned was that it's probably easier to just make the pattern from our slopers rather than trying to modify a commercial one. My homework is going to be drafting a shirt pattern based on my sloper between now and our next meeting in December. In December, we'll make arm slopers and then we'll transfer that to my shirt pattern. Perfect.

And Chris is even up for me taking all his measurements because I'm feeling confident enough to start sewing for him. He'll get a shirt for sure, hopefully a jacket as well in the near future. And it'll look great over a knitted vest.

I'll make a mental note to take more pictures as I'm sewing stuff. And hey, there's that tapestry thing we're doing, too.

So, Lynn - how's that blanket coming? And Sarah, what this I hear about cotton singles for tablet weaving?

I know I'm not the only one who's been productive.

The Benefits of Fit and Help

Sorry, Lynn, this isn't about tapestry, cut pile or card weaving. I did two of the three of those last week, and hoped to do the third, but this past weekend was really all about pattern drafting, pattern layout and sewing.

Installment three of the "Fit and Style" class I've been taking in Palm Springs was just Barbara and I - our other two classmates ended up having conflicts. Rather than trying to reschedule, Jeanne was kind enough to go ahead anyway and the session ended up going in a very different direction. We both had fabric ready to be cut and sewn, so after we drafted, tested and finalized our skirt basics (that went fast, BTW), the three of us started talking about what we really wanted to do. Barbara was hell-bent on making her skirt as she'd never really warmed up to making the shirt, plus that fabric wasn't woven off, so her choice was easy and small enough to be finished before heading home on Tuesday. I was also having second thoughts about the simple shirt now that my production fabric was done. I wanted something a little, well, MORE from that fabric, so we decided to use the Horoscope Shawl and companion fabric to make a casual jacket.

As a reminder, here are the two fabrics I used:

The warp yarn is the same in both - Webs 14/2 Alpaca/Silk. I started with the light grey (the light warp yarn in the left-hand fabric) and dyed in 12 colors to match Bonnie's warping plan. For the original shawl, I put a stripe in between each major section of the plan using the dark grey and wove it off with the same. For the companion piece, I used the leftover dyed warp, threaded in some-what random stripes and filled in the gaps with the undyed light grey. I wove this off with some single, tweedy, navy blue wool. They both went into the washer but the shawl received a brushing to soften the fabric and raise the nap. Sett was 24epi for both, plain weave.

After having made one kimono, without any special sleeve treatment, I knew that I wanted something just a bit more fitted and without as much bulk in the sleeves. I'd also come armed with four yards of muslin so Jeanne had me draft a simple jacket starting with my basic so that we could try it on and see where we could make simple modifications to give it a bit of fit and shape but still finish it before the weekend was over. I drafted the body, incorporating my shoulder slopes, and attached a simple rectangular sleeve. Neither of us liked that, so we went straight for a modified-T sleeve.

Again, a simple modification, so I attached that to the muslin on the other side, sewed the whole thing together and we looked again. The last modification before diving into drafting the final pattern was to taper the sleeve rather than having a simple rectangle. Overall length would be driven by how much fabric was there and that didn't need to be done until the body was sewn. We pinned the muslin to get the sleeve shape in the ballpark and then used that to draft a paper pattern.

So, pattern pieces in hand and a test-fit out of muslin and it was time to go. We did some calculations for the button band and decided do a separate facing piece for the collar. Bottom hem would be addressed when we got there - either self-facing or with scraps from around the studio. Time to cut.

I don't have pictures of the cutting/assembling process as we were moving really, REALLY quickly. I was up against it in that Sunday was cut and sew and we were still doing a bit of winging on the pattern. Jeanne was ever at hand to help me think through both the cutting and the piecing. I learned how to do the button band properly (something that absolutely eluded me when making the first kimono), we prevented mistakes by talking things through, figured out why the muslin was behaving oddly in the sleeve corner in front (my front is 1/2" longer than my back due to shoulder curve) and just generally talking about how garments worked. While this was a "simple" pattern, it was nearly at the extreme of my ability. Given my pace, she offered up part of Tuesday morning to finish things up to where I'd be confident to complete it at home and that spurred me on enough to get the body sewn, button bands and collar facing attached, and the sleeves cut and attached before going to bed. That left closing the side seams/sleeves and addressing cuff and hem facing in the morning.

Next morning, we started bright and early at 7:30a and, by 10a, I had a finished jacket. Button bands, cuffs, collar facing and hems needed to be hand stitched down, but the rest was done. Button holes could be done on my own time. I jumped in the car, had a long and heavily delayed drive home (accident on I-5). I unloaded, had dinner, turned on the Tivo and started hemming. By 11p it was done, ironed and placed on a hanger. Today, I woke to this:

Honestly, I love it. It still has the overall fullness and shape of the kimono, but the bulk under the arms and on the body are gone. The jewel neck gives it a wonderful finished look and doesn't disturb the overall vertical feel of the jacket. The two fabrics are absolutely different, but work together in a subtle and pleasing way. I've one minor issue with a seam under the left arm, but I can address that at my leisure. It's totally wearable as is and I expect I'll be wearing it a lot.

Detail of the set-in sleeve:

There are a lot of seams coming together here, and once we incorporated the difference in front/back length, it all worked out. Symmetry point of the sleeve is NOT where the shoulder seam hit - we had to bias it toward the back by 1/2" and then all was well. I also learned about releasing this seam so that the fabric could lie flat.

Button band/hem facing:

The button band has interfacing to help stabilize as well. Sewn at the top and bottom, right sides together, before turning inside-out to give the sharp corner. Bottom hem facing was simply tucked inside the button band before tacking down. Facings all came from the companion fabric where possible, and are symmetric where possible.

Stripe sort-of matching:

When deciding how to cut the sleeves, I chose to mirror the overall colors of the horoscope shawl in an effort to disguise the set-in cuts as well as give a flow to the garment. I'm really happy how it worked out and looks deliberate - because it was! I also took pains to ensure that stripes matched at the shoulder seams as a misalignment would drive me absolutely batty. It wasn't hard at all and I'm glad we did it.

So there you go. A busy weekend, lots of fun and learning, and I now have a pattern that I am confident I'll use again and again. I need to raise that armhole opening by half an inch to better match the sleeve as I had a lot of easing to do, but I'll do that when I make another one and then I'll transfer to tag board. And, I'm already thinking of another one. And, AND! I feel confident enough that I could alter it a bit further to even take out more of that sleeve bulk. Yeah, this has been so worth it. Just fabulous.

And now I need to go dye some yarn. What did you guys do this weekend?

OK, You Two, Cough It Up

I know you're out there and I know you're weaving, because you're dropping tantalizing hints on FOAY.  So, please post here, in more detail than on FOAY, because all this inkle/card/tablet/backstrap weaving is fascinating to me.

In the meantime, I shall be twisting the fringe on that gradient scarf.  And trying to enjoy the process, so I don't fall asleep doing it.

Reflecting

I confess that I do have a habit of whinging about things that are really rather trivial. "It's too cold outside." "I miss my husband." "I messed up this project and now I have to undo it." In reality, I am an extremely fortunate person. I have a beautiful home, food on the table, a husband that truly loves and appreciates me, a group of friends that will tell me when my fly is open, and the ability to make choices about how I spend my day. I also know that I was not given any of these things; they came as a result of hard work, compromise, and occasional profound sorrow. Why am I getting all wistful, you might ask? Well, I'm just at a point where I have a moment to reflect on the fact that I *AM* lucky. And that I make my own happiness - despite weather, proximity of loved ones or fibery fallout.

Yesterday, our fellow Raveler, Gloria19, showed another picture of her "Daily Tapestry." Tapestry has been flying about in my head of late - I dwell on pictures and textures and have woven miles of it while running. But I keep putting up barriers to actually just getting something out and doing it. Seeing Gloria's project again really pushed me toward the notion of a fiber diary. Something random-ish, something small, something that will help me reflect on the day. Be it morning, noon or night. And, in the way of a marathon, it starts with a single inch and will eventually be a Finished Piece. I've never been good with written journals and the notion of making Art with fiber appeals quite strongly. This might be just what I need.

So, while dealing with Life and all that comes with it this week, I am also letting myself dream about a Daily Tapestry and thinking about how I will start with that. I will allow myself to mix styles (soumak, tapestry, cut pile, twill!) and just let this be a piece of pure creating. A pilot light, if you will, to ensure that the larger spark doesn't go out. I'm not ready to commit to a start date yet, but setting one will be part of my first goal. Size, start date, palette. I think that's something I can get my head around this week. And perhaps this little daily nudge will help me be thankful for the truly wonderful life I have - and for all those who are a part of it.

Oh, and it's a bit too humid here in Wisconsin. :-)

Finally Underway

After lots of interruptions and other projects, the production fabric is finally on the loom and underway. I wanted to try weaving something nearly full-width on the Gilmore, mainly to get a feel for what it's like to throw a shuttle that far. I needed to do some rigging to get a wider raddle in to place, but here's the process:

I put all the sectional warp pegs back in and, again, used no packing material as I wound on. The warp is a mix of 10/2 and 20/2 cotton along with an end of 10/1 silk noil (as previous). I held all six strands together while winding the warp and threaded randomly. Oh, and Lynn? 864 ends is a lot of ends. A lot. The warp is 36" wide and 24 epi. This was slow going.

Weaving is underway; I've got about the first 9" done. It feels very open, but I remember that it was like this before and I simply can't fret about it. The cotton shrinks mightily and that'll make the Spot Bronson pop. I like the shots of somewhat darker stripes. I hope it translates well to the final garment, but we'll see.

Now, for those with a sharp eye, you might ask, "What's that dark stuff down there?" That, my friends, is the header row. Again with the tweedy wool single of which I have TONS. Here ... look again ...

I gotta say, I *really* like the look of that fabric. Depending on how much I'm able to weave off, I'll try and save some at the end to get a big enough chunk to truly evaluate it. I think that'll be back. It'd be trivial to warp up something narrow and just bang that off in plain weave. The contrast is just so striking. But that's for later.

Here's hoping I can make a big dent in this today as I don't know when I'll get back to it. Lots more rolling about in my brain. I'm hoping throwing a shuttle will help quiet things down.

It Rained

And therefore the scarf is done.  Well, it's off the loom, at least; fringe-twisting can wait till next week.

I like this.



I hope it softens up a little when I wash it, but it's got a great texture now.  As I was weaving it last night, I was thinking to myself, "Remember to press this after it's washed and before it's completely dry, as Sara said." but now that it's off the loom, the twill is very three-dimensional and I like that, so I think I won't press it.  The warp stands up in bold relief from the weft.  Interesting, as I thought the strong-minded Wensleydale weft would lord it over the BFL warp.  I was wrong.

A couple of close-ups:






I debated trying other wefts, but found myself dawdling over the choices and finally decided to just plunge ahead and weave this off. As always, I wish I were a better photographer, so I could show you the subtle differences in gleam between the BFL and the Wensleydale, and how the green-to-blue of the weft does interesting things to the green-violet-pink of the warp.

And I'm very pleased with how well the handspun yarns held up - not a broken end to be seen!

Another step forward

Still thinking about how to wind stripes for the wool warp, in between various other mostly work-related tasks.


To refresh your memory, the colour options:

I ruled out the blue ('teal') in favour of the burgundy. Yesterday a patch of lighter skies coincided with lunch; after I cut the grass, I wound my first-ever wraps to investigate how these stripes might work. Based on the premise that I'm not fond of wide stripes, I decided to work logically and think of the 15" warp as 10x1.5" repeats. So each wrap is 1.5". I worked out colour proportions based on how much yarn I have and how much I like the colours. Lots of dark purple, then :-) I know that everything will be knocked back about 50% by the dark silk weft, but I'm having a little trouble imagining that. I might go and troll the internet for pictures of handwoven stripes.

Totally unnerved by the wide yellow stripe, I tried Diane's suggestion and wound the purple, violet and yellow together randomly.

I have to say that this did so little for me that I didn't continue. I can sort of see it woven and it's interesting, but not something I would wear,

So I broke all the stripes into much narrower units. And got suiting, or something related to it. I liked this while I was wrapping it, but after I set it on the warp and watched it for a while, it became busy. So today I try wider stripes. I will try a 5" repeat, and I will try to devise a set of rules that creates semi-random wider stripes across the entire width of the warp. I might try the teal instead of the burgundy, too - I'm wondering whether I'd be happier with colder tones. 


I have a hunch my waffling is driving Lynn mad :-) But I've never worked with colour before in this way, and I've never even thought about stripes. I need to have some basic understanding before I start so I can avoid the easiest, most lethal mistakes, like choosing colours I don't like. I'll be making enough of the more difficult ones late.




In a similar vein, the next knitting project:

An Interruption

We interrupt your regularly scheduled weaving program to bring you...

SPRING!!

 

Weaving will resume when as soon as I'm exhausted.

Pink or Green or ?

I dressed the loom today.  The warp yarn is about 30 wpi, so I sett a twill at 24 epi.  A bit over 9 inches in the reed, with floating selvedges.  I threaded the heddles in a straight twill, but I reversed direction occasionally, following my whims.

First sample weft is a rosy alpaca blend I spun from Gnomespun fiber.  This yarn is a bit heavier than the warp (no, I don't know the wpi, offhand).

I think the pink weft overwhelms the warp, so I tried a greenish weft, Wensleydale, again from Gnomespun.  This yarn shifts from the green shown here to a blue of about the same value and back again, once or twice.  It's about the same weight as the warp yarn.

I like the subtlety of this better (it's not quite as subtle in real life as it is in this photo).  I'm going to go find another weft to try, and I'm going to sleep on this, so I get daylight on it tomorrow.  In the meanwhile, what do you think?

She's Alive!

OK, I'm starting to weave again.  Not rugs (sorry, Diane), but a scarf.  Do you remember the Spunky Eclectic BFL gradient I spun during last year's Tour de Fleece?  I can't imagine why you'd remember, but anyhow, hless' recent blog post about a gradient scarf she spun and wove after finishing her book reminded me that I had always meant to weave a scarf from this yarn.

So, I wound a warp tonight - here's a close-up:

 

That's the warping board on the right. I have several handspun yarns that are possibilities for the weft, but I don't know which one - if any of them - will work well, so I'm going to have to sample (oh, the horror!  I never sample!).  This will be a twill weave, so the weft will matter a good bit.

I'll post again this weekend as I move along through this.  Talking, so to speak, to you three is helping me get moving.  Also, I'm realizing that moving somewhere, anywhere, is better than standing still and wondering where to go, at least to my mind.

I should have known

Well I did know, in a way. When I asked about sizing the cotton singles warp and someone said "size the chained warp", I did have reservations. Something in the back of my head was saying "Danger! Danger Will Robinson! it should be under tension when it dries, it really should" but I couldn't come up with a precise reason - the chained warp was twisting a little but not much, as the twist was semi-dormant - and anyway, I tend to believe apparent authority. If someone who seems to know what they're doing tells me to do something, I tend to do it.

So I made a batch of flour size from the recipe in the BBoH and soaked the warp in it. I stretched it over a radiator to dry: not under tension, but as straight as I could manage. Every hour or so I separated the threads, trying to stop them drying in clumps stuck together by, basically, wallpaper paste. When it was fully dry I stretched it a bit, tentatively, and took it to the loom.

It didn't look too bad in places. The raddle cross in particular was almost good, in fact. But when I looked closely, there were problems.

Patiently and carefully I started separating the strands that are stuck together. Regardless of the outcome I will say right now, loudly, that I am proud of my cotton spinning. Those threads are well and truly glued together, but in 90 minutes of tugging and pulling and generally messing them about, only three snapped. I think I can spin cotton warp. It's reassuring. Because I may have to spin more, as I can't find the other ends of two of those broken threads. At the moment it doesn't matter, as nothing is going to pull out/unwind, it's stuck together in too many places. 
But even if I unstick all of it - I can do that, it's not impossible - I don't think this will weave well.

See the little corkscrews? They're actually set with with size. If I pull hard enough to straighten them all, bad things will happen because too many threads are catching. I think worse things would happen if I threaded the warp and tried to tension it: the little voice says it will be difficult or impossible to get even tension on this as it is, and I am learning to listen to it. So I'm waiting for some dry weather. I'll put the warp to soak in cold water for a couple of days with a view to rinsing out a lot of the size, and then I will rig something to dry it under some kind of tension. And I'll see how that works. Sooner or later I WILL weave my handspun cotton singles, because I WANT TO. And I'm discovering that, while I've always thought A. is a stubborn so-and-so, I can be even worse.


But i confess I'd really like the next weaving project to go well, which is why I'm doing the math and thinking it through.

After all, even the semi-failures aren't all that bad. I'm sort of looking forward to an outright success! The tea towels in their native habitat. Slightly peculiar shapes, but perfectly functional. The 24epi is a little bit stiff, the 22.5 is about right, but I'm guessing the hand will change over time. I'd hoped some of the samples could be used to clean our eyeglasses, but they shed too much lint. I'm guessing that's a function of the cotton and how it's spun, another reason to spin and weave my own. Also dye it. That's on the list of things to do. Lynn, I could farm all sorts of projects out to you!

Well. So. And now what?

As you've noticed, the Karmic Goose finally found its way home.  As with most big projects, I feel both proud and a bit bereft.  A little deflated.

And the shawl I wove for Sara's new book is off in Colorado, awaiting photographing or whatever.

So, I don't have any major weaving project in the forefront of my anxious mind.  Yes, I want to spin and weave a Shetland-wool blanket for my friend Isabelle to take off to college, but that's ... five months off?  Plenty of time!  (Not, but let's ignore that.)  And I don't know what I want to do next.

Apparently, I need a commitment to someone else to kickstart my creativity.  Abby, Sara, Isabelle, probably others further in the past.  And that's an issue, as I see it - what do I want to weave because I want to weave it?  What do I want to explore?  What matters to me?

I don't know. 

Transformation

Point: Knitted fabric is not like woven fabric. Knitted fabric, unless one is planning to full it, is effectively done as soon as it's knitted. It gets a wash, it gets blocked, but the transformation is not normally something dramatic (lace aside - but that's a blocking thing, so not quite the same). This week, I added another tool to my weaving toolbox.

I think you all might remember my Horoscope Shawl that I brought along to SOAR last year. I dyed the colors myself and the yarn is a 14/2 Alpaca/Silk blend from WEBS. I did the shawl in plain weave - and the sett was aimed toward a balanced cloth. I wanted something that was warm and that would drape. When it came off the loom, I washed it by hand, let it dry and then gave it a good press. Here's a reminder:

And then the disappointment set in. It was itchy. I had a harsh feel to it. And, as if to mock me further, the unwoven yarn that was dangling as fringe was as soft and lovely as it could be. Grump.

I showed to Sara and also mentioned that I had more yarn. Her advice was to wind another warp, sett it more tightly and then weave it off with something fine. You know, like silk. (shocker!) Also, wash the original cloth in the washer and really give it the what-for. I filed that away for future reference and started plotting my next move.

Fast forward to a month (or so) ago and my first weekend in Palm Springs. We all brought samples of things that we had woven and I threw in the shawl as an example of a failed piece. I brought it out, explained what it was and what I'd done, added in Sara's recommendations for follow-on work and then asked what others thought. Jeane promptly took it out of my hands and stuck it in the washer. We put it through a cycle and then hung it to dry. That softened it up a bit, but it was still a bit harsh. And, then I promptly forgot it at Jeane's place.

I was down there again last weekend and we pulled it out. Next thought was to give it a brushing to see if that would raise the halo of the alpaca. So, into the washer it went again, we spun it out and then we gave it a good, firm brushing. I'd not done this before so the thought never occurred to me. That said, once the brushing was done, we gave it another firm steam press and - WOW. It's still not what I'd call buttery soft, but it's absolutely a different fabric. Again. It's supple, it drapes and the halo on it is incredible. Amazingly, I now actually *like* it! We then started talking about what do to with it, since I really didn't like it as a shawl, and we started plotting about garments. "If only you had a few more yards, we could make a jacket." said Jeane. Somewhat coincidentally, I'd taken the leftover yarn and wound it into a warp before heading down. I added a counting thread as if to sett more densely and that would have yielded something around 13" wide after finishing. Yes!

It's not a horoscope this time; rather, it's a collection of stripes that let me use nearly every scrap of what was left. I added some spacing with some more of the leftover yarn that I used for dyeing, which is a lighter gray than the previous piece. I also decided to sett it the same as the original as Jeane found a cone of some tweedy wool (though it feels like there's silk in there as well) in a navy blue color that is a similar weight as the alpaca/silk. I threw the whole thing on the Gilmore (yay for getting something on that loom! and that's a whole separate post) yesterday and started to weave it off. You know? I love it!

There are some really interesting stripes in there. The copper and blue one, just to the right of center really catches my eye:

The red/green/olive one in the middle is also quite dramatic, but I just can't get a good picture. You'll just have to wait to see it in person. The weaving is all done; I'll be cutting it off the loom today and putting it in the wash. If I can find the scrubbing brush, I'll get Chris to help me brush it as well. Or, I may leave it - as a contrast. It depends on how that weft reacts to the washing.

So, I'm well on my way to having something for a jacket. The garment will be slightly structured, but still casual and perfect for just throwing on and knocking about in. I should have just over four yards of 15" wide fabric by the time it's done, so I think I can manage it. We can piece the sleeves and other bits and it'll be another good exercise in the pattern drafting department. This will most assuredly be ready for SOAR (not for CNCH, but I'll bring the fabric along!). It can't go in the gallery as none of it is handspun, but it'll be worth talking about regardless.

I must admit, it's been great to have an opportunity, on a regular basis, to sit with other weavers/knitters and really brainstorm and think about possibilities. This group has been full of surprises - each of us learning from the other.

Inspiration for weaving design

I'm new to weaving, so this is all subject to change without notice (although I might post about it).

I seem to have two three different classes of inspiration.

First and perhaps obvious is an existing fabric, such as those produced by the Ardlanish weavers. The hand is lovely, the use of natural colours is lovely, and I'm lucky enough to have a couple of small swatches to remind me of how they've achieved some of the effects, for example using the hair from a double-coat Hebridean as an accent against the darker wool.

The second is equally obvious, at least for a handspinner: the yarn itself, such as the cashmere/silk blend in my last post. I spun it as a knitter, but as a baby weaver it seems to me that weaving will do far more to show the subtle variation in colour - such a fine yarn could only have been used for lace knitting, where the contrast generated by the large holes would camouflage the variegation. And combining it with something else will make that yardage go further! Now I idle away the time waiting for Pshop to save big files by running through possibilities for weaving it; if not the possibly-too-harsh wool, what yarn should that be? In my head I dug through the Habu stash and found some bamboo laceweight with incredible sheen - and a cone of stainless steel wire covered with rusty-brown silk.

Thinking about how I could use those with the cash/silk lace took me straight back to Inspiration No. 1, reminding me of a fabric I saw briefly in the Decopur Linen film a couple of years ago; toward the end there's brief mention of a cashmere/linen blend. Now, I understand how difficult it would be to care for such a fabric... and yet it intrigues me. The softness of fine cashmere combined with the crispness of linen. Cashmere that would take and hold a crisp edge? A sheet of softness that would retain a crumpled appearance rather than drape? It could be really, really interesting. I'm not thinking in terms of garments, just of something that might be Cool Fabric. Combining the stainless and bamboo with the cash/silk would be a chance to play with the concept. So I'm doing some thought experiments. How 1" stripes of steel alternating with cash/silk in the warp, similar but alternating with bamboo in the weft would work, as opposed to perhaps alternating steel with the other yarns to create something that wouldn't hold the creases quite so strongly as if the steel alone were used. I need to check the yardage of bamboo and of steel, as that will probably determine how I use it.

The third is perhaps a result of my background, and might not work for you. For a long, long time, as I look at something I am thinking about how I could render it in paint or ink. How could I convert that landscape to watercolour, that bone to pen & ink. Something seen in full colour, 3-dimensional, in my head becomes flat, the 3-dimensionality a matter of selecting the right colours to invoke dimension in the brain of the viewer. I was intrigued to discover that now my brain is starting to convert things to woven fabric.

I drive past this hill on the way back from the gym. The soil is paler than that, in parts almost natural cotton-colour; in my hand the chalk in it almost feels like cotton, or more like cotton than wool! Can I design a fabric that would be that landscape to me? Maybe a textured cotton weave, warp-dominant, or with some other patterning that emphasises one direction over the other. Should there be stripes of darker colour as lines of the plough? How could I bring the sky in? Stripes of sky blue?

Semi-regular organic patterning such as this hedge make me think of twills. A warp of browns, pale and very dark, with green noils for the budding leaves. Weft could be as striped as the view, or I could choose just one of those colours... I like the chalky soil best.

Here's another:

Twill diamonds will refer to the leaves, framed by sky-blue silk (thank you, Diane!). I have the wools and silk noils to blend for the leaf yarn, but have yet to decide how to pattern it; a scarf or stole could be a gradient from dark green to flame-red and yellow. A piece of fabric could include the colours as distinct stripes, or as random patches/flashes in an overall darker green. Lots to think about.


So basically there's a big chunk of my brain that still wants or needs to paint, and is happy to use woven fabric to show others the world as I see it.

As I promised

I promised I would post photos of the Thunderstorm Shawl once I finished it - here you go!

I give this a good solid grade of B. Structurally, it's fine, although I'd like it a little longer and a little more drapey. It softened up some after washing, but not a lot. I wove 72" on the loom (or maybe a little less; I didn't keep good notes, bad me) and it's 67" plus fringe now after washing. I don't wear shawls well, mostly for lack of practice, but I'm not sure how to deal with this one. I think I'll take it to spinning at SpindleRose's this afternoon and see if people have any suggestions.

As for the color, I'm happy, but not perfectly happy. I think the dark purple stripes are a little measly; I'd like them to be thicker. Also, on the left side of the upper photo, do you see that pale blue stripe just inside the dark purple stripes? I wish that wasn't quite so wide a pale blue stripe and I wish it weren't next to the dark purple stripes. I'm surprised I got that pale stripe; I spun two quite different lots of the colorway and then wound an end from each lot together as I measured the warp, so it's odd all the pale blue ended up in one spot. I'll try to remember to LOOK at a warp once I've sleyed it, and not just plunge onward in a frenzy of excitement.

Now, don't get me wrong - I like this project a great deal and I'm not slighting my work and my talents one bit. I'm just setting my sights even higher, and I think you understand exactly what I mean.

Not my colours

So yesterday I decided I'd had enough plain weave and cut what I'd woven off the loom. Only two towels-worth, but still: the longest, widest bit of cloth I've ever made, and I sort of like it now. It's still not my colours

 But it might suit the kitchen:

The colours are most accurate in the mirror; in the kitchen they look as I thought they'd look. Maybe some mud is called for... or perhaps the dregs of a bottle of red wine?

I re-sleyed to 25epi as the recommended set for this as twill is 24... and guess what? it's horrible.
I discovered halfway through the towel that I'd misread the colours when making the warp, missing out what they call 'dark purple' and I thought was black until the sun reappeared in February. Plan was to weave the twill with the dark purple, but not only is it horribly open at 25epi, the dark is Too Much.

I wove an inch of plain weave to start and now I'm eyeing - and feeling - it thoughtfully. I've found a double beat of the reed forces the weft down nicely for a balanced or nearly balanced weave. The band was a mistake if I was to weave twill, as it's forced the first bit of the fabric to be too wide. Which i knew from theory, but now I've seen it. At 25epi the fabric is significantly stiffer than it was at 22.5epi, but I sort of like it. I think it might soften with use and wear well. So I'll just weave the rest of the warp off like that. I'm guessing you're probably tired of this warp, but I'm not - I'm still having fun learning stuff.

In case you are aren't bored, here's something very similar to something you've seen before:

I went to the local Guild meeting on Saturday primarily to visit the Weaver's Bazaar stall and see the wool colours in person, because no matter how I arranged it, the set of wools I had was lacking something. I found it: the plum red. Now I can plan how to do this. I'm slightly surprised by how very particular my colour sense is when I put it to the test. When I have time I will work out a wrap.

I bought a colour card and a few balls of colours I thought I'd need for reference. I also took along a skein of handspun cash/silk, a Spirit Trail one-off. I've been thinking of making a scarf from it, but had to find the right companion. The stash was not helpful: silver silk is too bright, dark merino/silk is too dark. I may have found an answer even if I don't use the wool. I'm not sure it's soft enough to partner the cash/silk, but on the other hand, the cash/silk will make it soft so perhaps that doesn't matter? Thoughts?

I know, it's bland. Taupe, to be precise. But every colour I tried was too strong for the subtle shades in the handspun. Black is striking ... too striking, cream is worth further consideration (maybe I should spin some merino for it in my copious spare time), but every colour shines against that neutral. Or so it seems to me.