New blankets

The blanket above is a little overshot pattern from Bertha Gray Hayes.  It's Queen Anne's Lace, (I think).  Since it's such a small repeat I didn't keep careful track of the repeat sizes, thinking it would all match up, but nooooooooo.  It didn't match very well at all.  After a few days of stewing over it, I put it away for a few days, thinking I now had yardage for some future project.  I finally decided to get over myself, set it together and use it, unmatched though it is.  And I'm really glad I did.  It's a lovely piece and looks nice on the bed.  Next time I do a small overshot, I'll keep careful track of repeat sizes, though.  Lesson learned.



The photo above shows the 3/1 twill I just finished.  You can see the drastic difference between the two sides.  3/1 twill basically makes a cloth that is very weft faced on one side and warp faced on the other.  This was fun to do, but I'll think twice before threading 20/2 used doubled for warp for a 48 inch wide piece. 


This photo shows the 3/1 twill on the bed, warp faced side up. 

I have a couple towels finished on the blue striped warp (10/2 cotton) I just put on.  I like making something like tea towels after I finish a big project.  They fly off the loom, they're pretty, and they're functional.

I find myself thumbing through the overshot patterns, though.  I'm not sure how many blankets my family can use, but I sure like making them. 

Trying out an app

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Please forgive the crappy photo.  I've spent a good hour learning how to use this new BlogPress app, and I feel like any photo, at this point, is a success.

One of the problems I saw right away with my Ipad2 is the difficulty posting photos.  I got a free photo app for Facebook, but that one wouldn't let me post to my blog.  So, I finally coughed up five bucks for this app, and glory be, it appears to work.  So, future photos will be better, I promise.

The blanket is off the loom.  I wet finished it in the washer and dryer on hot (both of them) to get maximum shrinkage.  The edges, though, were a bit curled here and there, as they will do with a 3/1 twill.  However, also since it's a 3/1 twill, when I ironed an edge, it put a wave in it, because I was flattening down the pillow-y effect, but not over the entire piece, just the edge. 

I took it to the cleaner yesterday for pressing.  I know it may seem odd that I will wait two months to spend $5.00  on an app so I can use a nifty Ipad, which makes photos on my blog so easy,  but right away haul the blanket yardage to the cleaners.  I can't explain it other than to say the thought of hard pressing the entirety of those 3 blanket pieces didn't even rate an argument.  I'll pick those up tomorrow, and hopefully get them sewn together over the weekend sometime.

Here I am at summer's door, with plans to paint the kitchen, at least, this summer.  This is not a simple job.  It has that nasty popcorn finish on it, which has to be wet down with a garden sprayer and then scraped off, carefully.  Last summer's experience with the bathroom wasn't good. (A pox on the person who invented it).  I found a tool on Amazon that is SUPPOSED to make the job a lot easier.  It had only good reviews, so I ordered one.  That will be summer home improvement project one, and there are several on the list.

So, I opted for a tea towel warp for the next weaving project.   See photo above ;-)   I designed using wraps on a piece of mini-blind, and wound my colors accordingly.  I love to weave tea towels, people like to buy them, and they're a reasonable price.   These are plain weave - good to have on the loom when I may have only 30 minutes here and there to weave. 

A new development is I think I broke a tooth on a popcorn kernel last night and have a dental appt. tomorrow.  NOT in the plan.

May is good for planning

After a month of visiting with my kids, all got back to normal last week.  In between work and yardwork, I wound warp for the side portions of the blanket I'm working on.  I finished tying it on and got it beamed this weekend - and actually got about a foot woven this evening.  The 20/2 used double makes a really nice soft piece, which is what I want for this blanket, but tying on and beaming was a bit tedious.  Got it done, though, and that's what counts.

Now that there is just the weaving and finish work left to do, I'm starting to think about my next warp(s).  I never thought I'd say it, but I'm feeling like I have some warp painting ahead of me this summer.  I'd like to do a complete tencel shawl in painted warp, and maybe a couple scarf warps, too.  So, that means I need to order the Tencel, and start thinking hard about dye colors. 

Color work is difficult for me.  I have a hard time visualizing how colors will meld and work together.  So, I get out my dye color chart, and my color wheel, and we have sit-down discussions.   It will take several before I'm certain enough to order.

I also found a couple 10/2 cotton warps which I had base dyed in preparation for painting, so those can be worked into the dye schedule, too.

And, a new rug project is cycling through my brain.  I need to start gathering for that, too. 

Lots to think about!  Lots to look forward to.  And in the meantime, I have 9 yards of blanket side pieces to work off.