Painted Warps II

I painted the two 12-yard mercerized cotton warps today. 700 something ends in each. I had previously underdyed them -one a light blue and one a light purple. I figured I may as well go ahead and get them dyed. They are wrapped up in their plastic now, sitting in a dog-free area of the yard where the sun can hit them. I'll wait a few days to wash them out, mainly because my knuckles are still swollen from yesterday's washing out of the Tencel. As much as I love working with painted warps, I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to rationalize the physical effects. So, nice to have a few to go into this winter with!

I also got my new overshot tea towel warp beamed this weekend and wove a little on it this evening.






I'm in love again. This is Waldenweave from Bertha Gray Hayes. I was looking for a pattern that has a little larger repeat size. The last couple coverlets I've made have been with a pretty small repeat pattern (that's why they call them miniature patterns, right?) There are a couple in Ms. Hayes pattern book that are a little larger and this is one of them.

Getting to know a new overshot pattern is a little like starting a relationship. Am I going to like you? Are you going to be problematic? Exactly how does your treadling work line by line? Then, after a few repeats, and I can't see any threading errors, we get down to establishing our working relationship. How can I manipulate the treadling pattern so I can see quickly if I have an error? Do I really like you well enough to weave 12 yards of you?

As I said, I'm in love, so the answers are yes, yes, yes!

warp: 10/2 cotton at 24 epi
pattern weft: 10/2 cotton
tabby weft: 20/2 cotton

I have lots of colors of 10/2 and 20/2. Fun!

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Painted Warps

I spent a windy Thursday with my friend, Vicki, and I cannot say how thankful I am she has a large, well lit garage space. After my Press n' Seal blew off the table and unrolled about a third of it over the yard, and we were just doing prep work, we moved it inside the garage.

We each dyed six warps. It took ALL afternoon. I was exhausted when I got home. Friday was blustery, cold, spitting rain, an all around ugly day, and the warps needed to set for 24 hours anyhow, (I know you don't have to technically let them set, but I like to - I think it deepens the colors). So I washed warps this morning.

I haven't painted warps in a couple years. I used to do quite a bit of it, but times and life change. It's quite a process, not something you can do on a whim when you have a couple hours. First, I wind the warps (these are 8/2 Tencel), then wash and dry them, paint them on dye day, then wash the excess dyes out, dry them again (line drying, of course) and some day this winter, when it's cold and miserable out, I'll be weaving gorgeous scarves and stoles.

So, here's some close-ups of the individual warps. This is the first time I've had black to play with, thanks to my son-in-law, Brian, letting me use his left over dyes from tie-dyeing. It's amazing what a little black does to different colors. I had no idea it's the secret ingredient to a lot of color variation.





These are blues and purples, and a pretty heavy color saturation of both.





Grays and a rose.





Mauve, purple, blue, all of it slightly grayed.





Grays, blues, a very light dusty rose.





This one's a real mix, yellow to green, so you have all shades of yellow in there, plus some reddish, some blue, some purply red. I think this is going to be pretty.





Blues and greens.

They're drying now. Yes, my fingers are sore from washing out. Yes, I will probably do this again. No, I did not get my two 12-yard cotton warps dyed Thursday. What was I thinking? But, tomorrow's another day. I'd like to get these done before winter, and when I come back in November, it may well be winter.



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And the seasons,

they go round and round (Joni Mitchell). After a summer from the Mojave, we got rain in August, and fairly steadily since then, but not, everyone thought, enough to make a difference in fall color. I mean EVERYONE thought we were done, burnt toast, no way. But the amazing fact is, it's been the prettiest fall we've had in years.





Taken at a Conservation Area near my house - my favorite walking site when the ticks, chiggers and snakes head for their dens, die out, or whatever.

There are some color combos to think about in the woods right now. Orange is not one of my favorite colors to wear, but..... It works for some people, and it sure works in nature.

As it happens, I'll be dyeing some Tencel warps tomorrow with a weaving buddy. We'll see what colors I end up with. I like to go into a dye day with some basic ideas, but sometimes they just don't work out. That first swab, on the very end of the warp that won't be used anyhow, sometimes screams ugly things at me. After not listening to it and ending up with a couple warps that I hated from the get go, and weaving cloth that I hated from the get go, I decided life is too short.

I have my car packed - everything from a table to my color wheel, the six Tencel warps are soaking in the soda ash solution, along with a special tye dye project, and I have two 12 yard, 700+ends warps in bags to go into the soda ash as there's room, in case I get completely froggy about this tomorrow.

Dyeing warps is a bit like having a baby - you know, forgetting how much labor actually hurts? I always forget how much it hurts my hands to rinse out the warps, so this time, I over-dyed some shawls in a dyepot a couple days ago, as a reminder, and even after the aches of rinsing those out, I still have the extra warps packed. Glutton for punishment.

I am in a bit of a time crunch with this (and my other projects - more on that later) as I'm headed to Germany for two weeks starting Nov. 1, and I have multiple lists and piles of things to pack, finish, etc. all over the living room, BUT, I hope I can remember that all those warps don't have to be washed out in the SAME DAY. That's hard for me to do - not just work like a mad woman until it's done. We'll see.

So, other projects: I would dearly love to get a batch of soap made before I go, so it can be curing and ready by Christmas either as is, or remilled, again, depending on time. I have a pair of socks to finish for a friend. I want those done by Saturday and hope I get my way on this one.



I'm making myself sit and knit some each evening, which is fine, and would be no problem except last week I also started a knitted purse to be felted. I have the bottom done, ready to go up the sides, and I'm itching to be knitting on it. But the socks come first.

I have the overshot tea towel warp threaded and tied to the back beam, hopefully to be beamed and woven on at least a little before I go.

Several other small trips are in the plans before I go overseas, but that's just life, isn't it?

We had a lovely thunderstorm roll through this evening, and the temperature has dropped about 30 degrees. Beautiful clouds and sky colors. Should be a clear afternoon tomorrow for dyeing.

While walking yesterday, I also found this wildflower. I'm such a nut for purple.




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A look back

A look back at the week, that is. Despite not a lot to show for it, I was quite busy this week. I finished weaving the wool samples. They are cut off the loom and waiting for me to stack sweet potatoes in boxes so I can get to the sewing machine and secure the ends before wet finishing. On the list for this week.

I finished rendering lard for soap. Hopefully, I'll get a batch made in the next couple weeks. Rendering lard inside, in the oven, is not a thing like rendering it outside, in a kettle over a fire. It smells kind of good when done outside, but in the house, it starts feeling like you're breathing grease. I'm glad that job is done and marked off my list.

I nearly have my son-in-law's slippers ready for felting. That's going to be a bit of a crap shoot since his feet are in Germany and I'm here. I'll try to leave them a little large, and hopefully we can finish them once they are united with his feet. I would leave the whole process until then, but they have only a front loading machine - actually, I'm not sure they have any top loaders there - and it's not openable once started. So, most of the felting here, then hand felting in the sink to finish it.

He wears a 13, and the slippers, of course, in their unfelted state, are huge.





That's my felted slipper beside his (different pattern).

I went for my first fall walk in the woods today. It was wonderful, a bright, crisp morning (40 deg.), and my dog and I were the only ones on the trail.

We're supposed to have frost tonight, so I pulled my two houseplants inside this afternoon. Frost means the garden will need clearing, at least the tomatoes and eggplant. The lettuce, chard and kale should be blissful with the cooler weather.

And, I wound warps.





The shiny ones on the back of the couch are 8/2 tencel. There are six scarf/stole warps there. I'll wash them this week, and hopefully, be able to dye them the next week. My friend, Vicki, and I will be dyeing together.

The lower, ochre colored warp chains are 10/2 cotton natural for the next overshot tea towel warp. You can really see the difference in color, huh? I was hoping to get started on at least sleying it this weekend, but it was not to be. Friday was a long and late day at work for our Membership Picnic (moved indoors due to weather) and I was feeling tired, low energy, tired, a bit head-achey, and did I mention tired? on Saturday. Plus it was a cold, drizzly day, which didn't help me feel any better. I knit, wound warps, and read.



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