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?