Preparing for another show

My second, and final, show of the year happens this weekend at John Burroughs School in LaDue, in the vicinity of St. Louis. It's called the Unique Boutique and is billed as an art show/high end craft show. This being my first time there, I don't really know what to expect. I will be taking rugs, and also quite a few painted warp shawls.

Amazingly, next weekend is Thanksgiving. Time is running, running, running, and so am I. It's been a busy year, and getting busier.

I haven't continued to paint warps ahead as I had planned. I had all I could do to paint warps as I needed them. I'll have to see how the winter goes after the holidays. I may opt to weave some bigger projects for family.

Thinking time and Gallery update

I finally got around to inventory, of sorts, on my remaining stock and it looks pretty good.  I don't feel I need to immediately rush to the loom and make more rugs before the Unique Boutique show the weekend before Thanksgiving. I do have my new Peaceful Oceans warp on and am looking forward to seeing how that turns out in all its different planes of weft.

We have wonderful fall weather - cool, crisp, breezy days and cooler nights.  I love it.  Autumn always makes me thoughtful and is a good reassessment time for me.  Since my personal life duties are gaining ground all the time, the time I have for weaving gets shortened.   So, I'm going to section warp the Hammett with 50 or 60 yards of rug warp and work it off as I can this winter.  I like having long warps on that loom.  I'll be weaving Pendleton rugs (5 doubled ends per inch) and blue jean rugs (10 single ends per inch).  I will just re-sley the reed when I want to change rug type.  Of course, I will wait until I have a cloth beam full of rugs to cut off.  I will lose maybe a foot of warp doing that, but much time-lier than rewarping completely.

I have also updated my rug gallery.  These are not all the rugs I have.  I will be taking more photos and putting them up as I can.

Back from Best of Missouri Market

Got back Sunday night - unloaded Monday morning.  I have to go through my stock, take inventory, and take photos of the rugs I have left to put in my galleries.  SO, at this point, the rug gallery is NOT accurate.  I'll try to get photos of available rugs up in a week or so.

I did get the rest of my new painted warp beamed today.  Things are very slow right now. I'm still tired from the show.  It was a good show, though.   Hot in the afternoons, but lots of people and everyone was in very good humor.  Sold lots of rugs.

On the gardening scene I dug my sweet  potatoes this afternoon.  Below is a photo of the crop, plus I confess I dug a few hills last week that aren't included in the photo.  Not bad for a 5 ft. x 5 ft. 12" deep raised bed.  More than a bushel, and that will be plenty for us!

Counting Down

Big show coming up next weekend at Best of Missouri Market, which is held at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, MO. I have looked this computer over in vain for a photo of last year's booth. Can't find it, so I'll try to get one up after the show. Right now, I have a few last things to tag and inventory. I also have a "Master List for Shows" and need to hunt and gather for that. In between, I'm tying on a painted warp, and I have about 300 ends tied. Just 420 left to go! I don't think it's a time saver to tie on a warp when you have this many ends, but it will save a little length and that will be nice.
I'm weaving plain weave napkins - for us! - on the Hammett. Some are plaid and some are striped. Nice color combo, if I say so myself. It's been a while since I wove something for me, and my napkin and tea towel drawer contents are looking boring to me. Besides that, I am finally deciding that some of the 10 and 12 year old tea towels can go to the rag pile. You know, that's not too dang bad - 10-12 years of pretty much constant use for a tea towel. Which is why I always encourage people to USE my tea towels. Some folks still like to just decorate with them, which is fine, but they make such dandy things for dishes and hands!  Here's a photo of one.  This was warped in stripes:  solid red, red and yellow alternated in the heddles, solid yellow.  This one is crossed with red.  Notice how the color differences in the stripes appear as texture differences.  Interesting!

Fall shows

I have two shows on schedule this fall.  The first is Best of Missouri Market at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri,  on October 6 and 7.  The second one is the Unique Boutique at John Burroughs School in LaDue, Missouri, on November 17 and 18.
I am well on my way to preparedness for both shows.  I've really worked hard this year to get stock made.  Last summer I was moving, so the fall shows left me with not much left over.  A good thing about that is I have LOTS of new colors and designs.  And, I'm continuing to make items.

If you're in St. Louis during these weekends, come by and say hi!

Day lily pinks warp

I just finished my day lily pinks painted warp.  I'm now threading on a beige and maroons painted warp.  It is surprisingly pretty.  Can't wait to get it up and running.  I also have a placemat warp on the Hammett, but am concentrating on getting the 720 threads of the painted warp through the reed and heddles and wound on!  THEN, I'll let myself work on the placemat warp.  Small goals and rules I set for myself seem crazy when I stand back and look at them, but ... they work.

Webs (www.yarn.com)  has 10/2 mercerized cotton on sale, and I bought four colors to use for painted warps.  I'm most of the way through winding the first color.  I'd like to get all 4 wound and painted before winter.

With the heat wave and drought we're in, the yard work is down to watering the tomatoes and hostas a couple times a week, so I'm getting some good quality weaving time in - and, the loom room has an AC.  Whoo-ee.  I have arrived.

Below is a photo of one of the day lily pinks shawls on the loom.

Section-ally

So, I wove about 36 yards of placemat warp, and am now ready to section warp for some double binding rugs. I've made these before, but it must have been on the Newcomb, because when I counted heddles needed, the Hammett fell 200 short. So, last night I made a jig and tied 200 heddles. Put them on this morning, set the spool rack up for winding on and am ready to go.

I'm on the last full shawl on the Winter Sunset Warp. I've been doing lots of other weaving related tasks besides finishing that warp off. I dyed a Pinks warp, but am having a hard time finding the right colored Tencel to cross it with. I think I now have 3 colors either on hand or in the mail. This warp is VERY bright and I'm hoping to tone it down a little with the wefts.

I also wound and dyed another warp and this one is a problem child. I was trying for Grand Canyon colors, and wanted to dye the base coat a light sand color. But, no. It came out an ugly brown. Also, I used up the last of my natural 10/2 cottons and some of it was mercerized and some not, so those two took the dye differently. I knew that was going to happen, and was looking forward to yet another variation to show up in the finished product. But, you know, when you have one ugly color, the variation is ugly, too

So, yesterday, I overdyed the warp. I put it in a Forest Green bath of about 1/2 intensity. It did help some. I'm now considering what colors I can paint on that will jump out there and outshine the background. We'll see. As I say, problem child.

I have more 10/2 mercerized ordered, and will continue to wind and paint warps as much as I can this summer. Have to have time to weave, too! And, label all my product. Lots to do!

Here's a a pic of the Pinks warp.

Yes!! Winter Sunset Painted Warp!

Finally, after a couple tries that resulted in very beautiful but different painted warps, I have a warp I am comfortable calling Winter Sunset.  It is gray blues, silver blues, reds, and a little coral.  I crossed the first shawl with a silver blue tencel, the second with a burgundy tencel and the third I am starting now with a greyed blue tencel.  The greyed blue is taking some fortitude to go ahead and weave it.  It looks so different from the other colors.  I'm hoping after the whole shawl is done, the grays and purple blues will come out nicely.

I'm also winding more warp for another paint job.  This one is 10/2 unmercerized in natural.  I'll underdye a base coat first.  I'm not sure of my colorways yet - will just see what happens.

On the Hammett I have rag placemats.  This warp is a blue with small yellow stripes every 1-1/2 inches.  I am crossing it with a yellow cotton sheeting right now.  I did a teal blue weft for a set of mats, too.  I'll probably weave another placemat warp before calling it done on placemats and going on to Log Cabin rugs.

Lots going on in the weaving room!

First days of summer

This being officially summer now, and my goal being to paint and weave as many warps as possible before fall, I was happy today dawned sunny. We've had several rainy days lately, and more came in tonight, so, I laid out the plastic and dyed this morning. I started with a silvery blue 10/2 mercerized and used Fire Red, which should mute to a darker red, and Blue-Gray, in sections. I'm still trying to find that Winter Sunset combo. We'll see if this works.

I have thrown the last shot of the last shawl on my current painted warp project and only have to hem stitch the edge. Not a day too soon to get the next one painted!

I had a fun morning last week helping some friends tie up an old WPA 4 shaft counterbalance loom that has been handed down in their family. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and best of all, the shed opened like magic after the tie-up was completed. Here's a photo of me under the loom tying treadles to lams. Thanks, guys, for letting me help with this lovely old loom. It's nice to know it's back in action.

Working on the painted warp

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted.  Actually, that's not true.  I can believe it.  I have been incredibly busy.   As always, spring means much more to do outside, and I've been busy building raised beds and planting them, mulching trees and hostas, weeding, etc.  Plus my first grandchild was born last month.  So, weaving has been sproradic at best.

I did get the Pendleton rug warp worked off and am now in process of winding warp for rag placemats and table runners.  I'm using a two tone green warp with a black accent thread every inch.

I am on my third shawl on the painted warp which was the subject of my last post. I've used a different color weft for each so far, which makes for unique and individual pieces.  The photo below isn't real accurate for colors.  They're much deeper than the photo shows.  I may try another take tomorrow to see if I can get the light right.  But, it's enough to give an idea of the colors coming out.

I have wound 10/2 mercerized in a silver color to try another painted warp.  I hope to get that washed and ready to dye next week.  I am still trying for "evening sunset in winter" colors.  We'll see what I get this time!  Always an adventure!

Washed warp on the line

I washed the excess dye out of the warp chains this afternoon - many washings through hot water and Syntrapol.  Here is a photo of the warp drying on the line.  The colors have changed somewhat - the yellows are not true yellow, but are now shades of chartreuse to green.  This will be an interesting warp to weave - lots of gem tones.  Looking at the background  of grass and spring trees, it's easy to see a correlation with the warp colors.

A good day for painting a warp

Since the forecast is for showers the next several days, I took advantage of the warmest day we've had in a week to paint a warp. I decided on a dusky blue to yellow colorway, which will give greens in the middle areas where the two colors meet. I have some photos posted below. The first is the plain white warp, wound into chains, and soaked in fixer, laid out on 12 yards of black plastic. On another day, I scoured these warp chains and line dried them, so they were ready and waiting for this sunny afternoon.



The second photo shows the warp after I painted the colors on, with the third photo being a close up to show the colors as they appear on the warp. Bear in mind that this warp is sopping wet with dye and fixer.





I have folded the black plastic over the warp chains and weighted it with boards. It will stay like that on the lawn for 48 hours, minimum, longer if it stays cloudy and rainy. The black plastic is good for soaking up solar rays.

After the warp has cured in the sun for several days, I'll wash the excess dye out with many baths in hot water and Synthropol, then line dry before heading to the loom. I'll try to post photos of the warp drying on the line. The difference in colors from today's product to the end product is pretty amazing sometimes. Each dye project is an experiment, and this part of the experiment requires patience. Patience!

Easter morning

For the third morning in a row, we had a killing frost. I had hostas up a foot, and a lot of trees were leafed out. Everything will come back out, but it is a little distressing to look at.

We built the raised bed, and built a wheelchair ramp on the front of the house and one on the back, too. Lots of work done by the Sister Crew. It was so much fun.

I got back to weaving this week. I worked off the small rug warp on the Hammett and have another wound, ready to put on. This will be the last warp for Pendleton rugs until next winter. I still have blue jean rugs to weave, and placemats and runners, too. I think I'll work on table items next.

I have two more tea towels on the Newcomb. I'm hoping to have a painted warp ready to go on it when the last tea towel comes off, but I haven't had pretty weather yet for dyeing the warp. It's all prepped, so that step is done. I've about made up my mind on my colorway, but will wait and see if that changes.

I saw an ancient loom last week. A 93 year old man has been weaving on it, and he got it used at an auction. It is handmade, from 4x4 walnut. It's a two harness, counterbalance, and it probably has a 6 ft. x 6 ft footprint. It has made a lot of rugs, evidenced by indentations worn into the back beam by so many yards of warp passing over it. And we're talking about walnut here. It stands true and square and the rugs he has woven are nice and straight.

It's good to see an old workhorse like this, still producing rugs. There are so many fancy looms, and even the basic looms are pretty pricey if you buy them new. This looms takes you right back to the essentials.

Break time

My sister is visiting, so I'm taking a break from weaving to do outside projects and visit with her. We hauled in 9 railroad ties yesterday to make a raised bed. Those things are really heavy. We got them off the trailer with the help of a rock breaker bar, but haven't built the bed yet. That's another day - next week.

Then this morning we drove down the road a couple miles and hauled back a trailer load of horse manure. It's still on the trailer, which is unhitched, and covered with a tarp. Good thing to do, to keep the nutrients from washing out of the manure in case of rain, or would you believe, snow? It snowed to beat the band all morning. It's one of those spring snows that won't last long, but the ground is white now.

I have another 4 or 5 tea towels on the Newcomb warp, and I am at the end of the small rug warp on the Hammett. Will have to wind another warp for it. I also have all the ends wound for a painted warp. The first sunny, warm day we have, I'll scour it. Then it will be ready to paint. I still haven't decided on a color way. I haven't had much time to sit and noodle about it. Noodling time is really important for weaving design, I think. I work out most of my design ideas in a "noodling" state of mind.

Tea Towel Stripes

After the blanket warp, I was ready for some different colors. I don't have another painted warp ready yet, so I went to my stash, pulled out some colors and warped up for tea towels in plain weave. I like making tea towels. It's an excellent way to sample and see how colors or weave structures work and make useful items, too. Tea towels always sell out quickly for me.

For this warp, I'm mixing weights of fiber. I am using 12/2 Cottolin (mix of cotton and linen) at 24 epi, 10/2 Pearl Cotton in blue and deep yellow at 24 epi, 10/2 red at 24 epi, and some 8/2 cotton in light yellow at 20 epi. That means I had to mind my knittin' while threading through the reed, but it went on just fine. And for the record, the yellows are about 15% of total colors used.  The deep yellow is only used between the stripes to set off each stripe.
I am making sets of towels and should end up with 6 sets. Each set will be different. I crossed the first one with the Pearl blue, the second I am using the red, and putting a stripe on each end of the towel. It's fun to see what difference the various weft colors make.

Here are a couple pics. First is a photo of the warp as it is wound on, before being crossed with anything. These are the true colors of the warp. The second is a towel in progress, being crossed with red. And that's my new Bluster Bay end feed shuttle!

blanket finis

Well, I have the blanket warp off and the blanket sewn together and on my bed. So, that's as done as it gets. After much thought, I am posting a photo of the finished item. I really don't like this piece very much, and wasn't going to post a photo, but I am, for a couple reasons. 1) It's hard for me to get beyond the "I don't like it, so, nobody will like it" mentality. Different people have different tastes, and 2) My public (heh, heh) deserves to see the not-so-good pieces.

One reason this piece doesn't send me is the colors I used, and, thus, I learn the lesson again (how many times do I have to go through this?) to use colors I like and in the values I like. The yellows and brick reds and oranges are all pretty colors, but I typically don't go for those colors used in a value of more than 15%, say. By value, I mean how much of the color I use compared to the whole piece. I think the end result is quite garish, and I'm generally not a garish type person.
Another reason and another lesson learned is that the painted warp doesn't lend itself well to panels that are sewn together side by side. I need to stick to single panel pieces or use larger solid areas between panels.
On the good side, now that I've picked the whole thing apart, it is a wonderful weight and quite warm. I like the way the 3/1 twill worked because the two sides are very different. One is warp faced and this is the side with lots of color, and the weft faced side is very muted. It's my favorite side ;-)

I'll try to post a photo of both sides.

Spring-y motivation

It's hard to believe what a few days of warm weather can do to my mood and motivation.  I've been spending some of each day outside.  Today I raked sticks into piles in the yard.  This may sound like an obsessive-compulsive thing, but believe me it's not.  The ice storm damage is in a huge pile waiting to be burned or chipped, but the smaller branches were still on the ground and in some cases, thrust into the ground as deep as a foot.  That's the stuff I raked into piles this morning.  Then it was up to the weaving room for an hour, then back outside to load the lawnmower up and take it to the repair shop for it's getting-ready-to-mow-grass checkup.  That project fought me the whole way, from a flat tire on the trailer to a pinched finger, but it was accompished.  A friend came over after lunch and we pruned the Concord grape vines.  By the looks of them, it had been several years since a pruning, and they look bare but happy now.  Back to the weaving room to work on a rug, with an evening break to load the trailer again, this time with a utility vehicle.  I did get the rug finished after supper!

I have about a yard and  half left to weave on the blanket, and am anxious to get that  finished and off the loom.  The end feed shuttle is  now my favorite friend.  I went back to the standard shuttle for one, yes, only one, bobbin worth of thread this week.  It was quickly clear that the end feed shuttle is much easier to use.  I'm starting to get some speed up on it, too, which is nice.

The current rug warp is light gray stripes with smaller red stripes throughout.  I'm weaving mostly Pendleton worms on it.  Every one of them is beautiful.  I love seeing the design develop as I weave.  I'm sewing worms together in the evening for the next day's rug(s).  Every time I go to the pile of worms and selvege, I see a new combo.  I love this stuff!
We're due for some rain and cooler (not cold) weather this weekend.  That will be fine.  This week, with temps in the low 60s, has been wonderful, but cooler seasonal weather will be nice, too.

T

New shuttle

My new end feed shuttle is in and works well.  I like the weight of it, and it really does feed the yarn at a nice even pace.  I am still learning the rhythm of it, and it will take me a bit to get my speed back up, but I like it.  I'm halfway through my weft thread for the blanket, so I hope I'm at least halfway through the warp, and won't have to order more thread.  The blanket colors are really nice.

I've been rolling out the rugs, too.  I'm ready to put another warp on tomorrow.  I'm averaging about 6 rugs every 8 days.  Not bad for part-time.  I've been weaving worms lately,and as much as I put off starting on them, they are making beautiful rugs.  Once I get into the swing of designing, then sewing them together at the machine, and weaving, it goes pretty quickly.  I'll have to post a photo soon - as soon as we get a nice sunny day with enough warmth to be out with a camera!  It's up to 30 degrees tonight after another few days of zero and below zero wind chill.  30 feels great, even with the wind.

I've also been winding warp for my next painted warp.  It should be warm enough in a couple weeks to paint one.  I'm not sure yet what colors I'll use.  I've been looking through my seed catalogs at flower photos for inspiration - the color gradations in blooms is just amazing - and some of the veggie photos are pretty nice, too.  A set of mixed summer squash caught my eye with it's greens and yellows.  I know this next warp will be interesting and fun!

Of blankets and rugs

My new 8/2 weft is in and is looking fine in the blanket.  It's showing the painted colors in a nicely toned down way.  I'm enjoying having it to work on.  Today I ordered an end feed shuttle, which is supposed to make weaving on a wider piece much easier, and make the selveges look nicer, too.  It's fairly pricey, so I'm definitely hoping it lives up to its reputation.

I just finished a warp on the rug loom and wound more tonight.  I'll put that on tomorrow, and keep whittling down my pile of Pendleton.  I made a worm runner on the last warp that's really pretty, and I think I'll plan another one into this set of rugs, too.

Yesterday it warmed up to the low 60s and spring didn't seem so far away.  Then it fell to 12 overnight and today barely reached 30 with a wicked north wind.  I carried in more wood, a daily chore when the temps are so low, and kept the wood stove stoked.

Sample results

I wove a full length sample today for the painted blanket warp. I used some 8/2 cotton, and also did a few inches of 10/2, doubled on the bobbin. Then I cut it off, zigzagged the edges, measured carefully and wrote down the measurements (experience talking here), then washed the sample in very hot water and dried in a very hot dryer. When I re-measured after it was completely dry, I was able to find my shrinkage percent (18 warp-wise, about 10 weft wise). I also have a piece of fabric that I can feel and see how the warp colors are going to interact with this weave structure. I like the weight of the sample fabric. I will use an 8/2 instead of doubled 10/2, since the 8/2 makes a more compact structure. I like the weave. It makes little puffs of fabric once washed and dried, and should make a nice warm blanket with all those tiny places for air.

What I don't like is the color of my 8/2 weft, so, what better excuse to order some more thread? I've ordered two pounds of 8/2 cotton in Alabaster from Webs. This is a light yellow. I decided to keep the weft light. There are a lot of yellow shades in this warp, and I think the Alabaster will tie everything together nicely.

It will probably take a week to get here, so I'll concentrate on rugs. I wound more warp for the Hammett today and have it through the reed and heddles, tied on the back beam and ready to wind on tomorrow. Warping for rugs is so much quicker!

Almost warped

Finally, I have the painted warp beamed on the Newcomb.  Whew!  That was a job.  Here's an in-process photo. 

It's all nicely wound on now, and I'll tie onto the front apron tomorrow.  I'm not in love with these colors, and it's going to be a challenge to find the right weft.  If I use one of the darker colors for weft, it will intensify the piece, and if I use a lighter color, it will dilute it.  We'll see.  I'll try several colors of 8/2 that I have in stock, but will probably end up ordering a specific color for this project.

Beaming this 10/2 cotton for this many ends took me some hours last week and lots of hours this weekend.  It tangles easily and had to be put on front to back because of how it was wound and painted.  A couple things helped a lot to keep my sanity and keep from breaking threads.

After the warp was threaded through the reed and the heddles, I moved the cross to the back, behind the heddles.  To do this, I took the lease sticks out of the cross where it was, in the front, and, holding tension on the warp chains, stepped on the 1/3 treadle, inserted a stick behind the heddles, and then stepped on the 2/4 treadle and inserted the other stick.  I then tied the sticks together and tied them to the castle so they hung at the same height as the heddle eyes.  Another good tip is I lifted and tied the 1/3 treadles so the threads were separated as they went the reed.  This helped keep the threads from gobbing up together and breaking.

It was still a very slow and tedious process.  I listened to radio shows and also to Walter Mosely's book, The Man In My Basement.  I liked this book a lot.  It is multi-leveled, and in a disarming way.

Tomorrow I will tie this warp to the apron and see what I have.  I also am at the end of my rug warp on the Hammett and I'll be winding more warp for that loom.

Change

The striped warp I had on the Newcomb just wasn't catching my interest.  A few days of making myself work on it, under protest, so to speak, and I started planning another warp.  The time I get to weave is too short for working on a piece that doesn't have a future.  So, I chained that warp off and laid it aside.  Who knows what it will eventually show up as?  I am now threading a painted warp in yellows and rust browns through the reed and plan to make a cotton blanket out of it.  This will be for me.   I can too easily put off projects for me until "someday."  I'll continue making rugs for my show stock, with time for my blanket woven in. Heh, heh.
The blanket warp is 10/2 cotton, set at 24 epi.  I am threading it in a Rose Path. I'll have to try out wefts, but am thinking I'll use an 8/2 cotton to give it a little more heft.  I will have to make three widths and seam them together, since my loom isn't wide enough for a queen size blanket, and I'm glad it isn't!  My arms get enough stretch throwing the shuttle as it is.

Molly's closet

I realized I was missing some colors of Pendleton selvege, and thought to look in my loom room closet. There it was - another 30 lbs to add to the pile on the bed, which had been decreasing as more rugs came off the loom.

I'll be putting some worm selvege with the fuzzy selvege in this next batch of rugs, so I started fluffing the worms in the dryer to remove as much lint as possible. It's quite a linty, and lenghthy, operation. I'll have to finish tomorrow. Lovely worms, though - some very nice colors in this shipment.
I also got a couple bibs almost complete. I have to get some velcro for the closures. They're cute and look very serviceable, always a requisite for me.

It's still quite cold outside, but it was toasty inside. I had a nice time winding warp on the Hammett tonight and listening to my friend, Jean Ponzi's, radio show: Earthworms on KDHX. Time just flew.

Ice storm cometh

I've always paid attention to weather.  I love the outdoors and try to get out for a walk several times a week, so I notice nuances of wind and moisture.  Sometimes, though, nature takes front seat and demands more of your attention and energy.

We had a doozy of an ice storm, and now are in the deep freeze.  This means more attention on keeping the wood stove full and wood brought in, thinking ahead to heat water and warm up food on the wood stove because we were without power for over a day.

Thankfully, the power is back on.  I wove off the last of the rug warp on the Hammett and am in the process of re-warping it for more rugs.  I have the Newcomb warped up with the painted warp and wool stripes.  I ran a sample of different wefts, and I'm not sure I'm going to get much collapse, drat it, but it should be pretty nonetheless.

Tomorrow I hope to finish a bib, and see how that project pans out.

Here's a photo of our ice storm.  I took a walk through a field, well away from crashing tree limbs and power lines.

On to the new

Yippee! The bib fabric is done, off the loom, and washed. It has a nice bib-y feel to it. Now I just need to get some bias tape and cut and sew.

I decided to use my blues and purples painted cotton warp for the next project.



I've already used about half of this warp for scarves, so I had 244 threads left in 7 yd. length. I decided to try a collapse weave. I'm threading it in a basket weave threading and using some wool singles with it: 10 threads of cotton, 4 of wool. This is a natural stripe threading and hopefully, the wool will shrink nicely and give me a collapse, or pleated, perhaps, weave. The cotton shouldn't shrink any more since it's been finished in extremely hot water several times during the dye process.

Good thing it's only about 15 inches wide in the reed, since I threaded in the wrong sequence for the whole thing before I caught it. I got to do that part twice today! Tomorrow I'll start through the heddles and possibly get it wound on. It will be a little touchy since the wool singles are fairly weak compared to the 10/2 cotton.

I wove a rug this evening. It helps to feel like I completed one thing today.

New gallery photos

I added some new rug photos to the rug gallery today, and also some photos into the scarves gallery. I'll be posting more photos as I can.
I painted several warps this last year and hope to paint more. It's time-consuming and mind-consuming. When I'm choosing colors and preparing to paint, I go to the color wheel and to my stock of dyes, then to my visual memories of nature's palette that I'm using for inspiration. The fact that the dyes have a mind of their own and mix and mingle sometimes quite differently than I thought adds to the fun. For this warp, I underdyed the warp chains a deep yellow, then painted on blue, which turned to green when it mixed with the yellow, and red, which I thought was going to turn orange. Well, it did have some orange overtones, but mostly stayed red. This first piece was crossed with yellow, the second with red.

Robe finished - on to other projects

I finished the robe today. Two days of intense sewing - not too bad. It's always easier the second or third time through a pattern.

I did get another length woven on the bib material yesterday. I intend to spend some quality time with that warp this next week. It's threatening to become a dog on the loom, and the best way I know to prevent this awful occurence is to weave it up quickly!

I'm starting to consider my next warp on the Newcomb (after the bibs). Some of the ideas I'm kicking around are: a painted warp shawl. I still have some lovely blues and purples, and I might be able to make it into a collapsed weave if my light purple wool will coordinate. That would be interesting. I also have a painted warp in yellows, golds, and rust browns. It was also going to be shawls, but now I'm wondering if I have enough length (12 yd.) to make a double bed spread. It would certainly be bright and cheery. I have made one coverlet -and swore it would be the last - but who knows? I also would like to make a catalogne. I'm probably spelling it wrong, but it's a bed cover made with very thinly cut rags, so it comes out heavier than a coverlet of wool and cotton, but much lighter than a rag rug. This planning and deciding is one of my favorite parts of the weaving process. So many choices! Below is a photo of the coverlet I wove several years ago.

Log cabin lesson

This morning I laid out 8 yards of terry cloth on the kitchen table and cut out the robe for my brother. Eight yards seems like an incredible amount of material for a robe, but he's extra-tall. I ended up with maybe 6 inches full width left, so it was just right! This evening I have marked the pieces and hope to take them to the machine to zigzag all around each piece yet tonight.

Recently, I finished off a log cabin warp on the Hammett. I had put this warp on just before moving this summer. At the time, I kept thinking it was a crazy thing to do whilst boxes awaited packing, but it gave me a weaving focus in the middle of that mayhem. I put on a 30 inch wide warp in sections, with each 2 inch section changing colors across the warp to the middle, and repeating color changes backward to the other side. In this way, I thought, I'll use up small amounts of color left in my warp stash, and it will be perfect for using up most of that big blue tote of blue jeans.

However, I found out with the first blue jean weft that the lovely log cabin colors didn't show up too well. So, to my fabric pile I went, searching for colors to bring out the warp colors. Following are two photos: the first is the blue jean warp. Still a nice rug, but see how the warp colors jump out on the second rug. That warp produced 12 rugs, and as testy as it was to keep my edge sequence straight, I think I'll do it again in the spring - this time with shades of blues and who knows what? to bring out the denim colors in that big blue tote - still full of blue jeans.

Pendleton - it grows on you

Today I piled my complete stash of Pendleton selveges on a bed, arranged somewhat by color, so I can more easily mix and match. I've been making rugs from this pile, using one color of selvege for the whole rug, but I'm getting a little bored with that. With the stash separated in boxes and totes, it was hard to see exactly what I had that would go together. It's much easier now! I made an aqua/teal green mixture today.

I'll be working on these for a while. I'll also be fluffing a 30 lb box of worm selvege, small amounts at a time, in the dryer to remove most of the lint before sewing them together for worm rugs. On the Newcomb, I have yellow Ms and Os crossed in another shade of yellow for baby bibs - a couple newcomers expected in the family soon, and I can always sell the extra.

For the next few days, I'll also be factoring in time to cut and sew a robe for my brother. He designed and made my booth, so it's a trade. I think I'm getting the bigger end of the stick in this one, though!