Napkins!

These just came off the loom a few days ago. They go with the placemats, which were the first project on this little LeClerc. They are 8/2 cotton, Bird's Eye, varied treadlings.







Lexi picked out the colors. I like the weight and absorbency. It should mop up little boys table wipings admirably. I machine stitched the hems. I wanted Durable.

I bought another couple cones of the 8/2 in different colors and will warp some tea towels out of that, but first...

I hope to use various mercerized cottons in bright colors and make some pot holders. I brought this yarn with me thinking I might get desperate enough for weaving to buy an inkle loom, but this little LeClerc changed that plan, so I have a limited amount of mercerized. Most of it is 5/2. I think one color is 3/2.



The instigator, or shall we say, creative kernel, for this project was when I dropped a pan of quiche in the floor last Monday. Broke the ceramic quiche dish, huge mess to clean up, and of course, the loss of a good quiche. So, I bought another quiche dish (one with a small lip around the edge this time - the first one had none) and determined that I will do something about potholders. Right now there is only silicon or an old oven mitt that burns your hand. The silicon doesn't burn, but it's also hard to grip anything with it - hence the dropped dish.

Usually I would balk at warping with the intention of weaving hotpads. I have so many scraps and remnants that would be great for hotpads - at home. But not here. So, I'm going to hope I have enough mercerized to get the outside covering of several hotpads. I can pad it with several layers of old denim to make it thick enough. They should be colorful and useful.

I do know I can buy hotpads. All that I have found, though, are either really stiff or too thin. And what else do I have to do, right? The tea towels will just have to take a number.



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First project on the New Nilus

I have the first project on this new loom. It's rag placemats. Not fancy, quite basic, a good project to use for troubleshooting and.....sorely needed. My son's family has one set of placemats and napkins which I blogged about, but amazingly enough those placemats and napkins get dirty pretty darned quick. Small kids + food = messy. Just the way it is.

I started this post and took this photo a few days ago. Then the new OS for iPad got really hinky with my blog app. So here's a photo in progress:




They're not really this blue - more gray in there.

Today I wove off the last of the planned placemats. Not exactly sure how much warp is left, but not much. I may do something with that, or not. We'll have to see.

Good news is the little loom is performing well, especially for a jack loom and rag weaving. Pretty tight warp and still room for the rag shuttle. Good true beat - no variance left to right on take-up, and I have 9 rag placemats on the cloth beam and not out of room. So, all is good.

My crystal ball says I will be winding warp for napkins very soon!

Old friends and new

Becky, an old friend, emailed me that her sister-in-law had a loom in her basement (near Seattle) that she would like to get rid of. Would I like to have it? My friend would be visiting said sister-in-law and would get it shipped to me if I wanted it. The only sane answer to a question like that is "yes!" and hope it's small enough to fit into the space my daughter-in-law has for such an item.

Yippee!

Well, yesterday, this was delivered to the house:





Yippee!

Leclerc Nilus, 23" weaving width, 8 shaft, 12 treadle, foldable loom. My (our) new friend! I have it mostly cleaned up. The reed is not the regulation and doesn't fit terribly well, but good enough. I will have to make a couple cotter-pin-type hooks that you use to tie the lams to the treadles, and probably will have to buy another couple hundred heddles. No big deal. Perfect size for the space.

Yippee!

It was warped with a very old chenille scarf, which I cut off, but it looks completely functional. The brake stick has the end broken off, but there's still enough to use. If I had my saw, etc., I could make a replacement, but will probably just make do with this.

Yippee!

My daughter-in-law is excited to have a loom to learn weaving on, and I am excited to have one to work and teach on. We're picking out yarns. First planned project: more rag placemats, and some matching napkins.

Thank you, Becky, and welcome, little loom.

Yippee! (Jumps in air, clicks heels together).









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Weaving and questions

I volunteered at Ardenwood Historic Farm today. They had a nice crowd there and I was pretty busy answering questions/demonstrating, etc. I was working on the table loom outside on the porch, as well as preparing rag weft for the rug on the loom inside and weaving on the rug inside.

Of course, I get questions, which I welcome. I like people to show their interest. Twice today, though, I was asked if I wouldn't like to mount a TV on the wall right above the loom. At that point, I realize they really don't get how much concentration is required to weave. I tell them I can't even listen to books on tape while weaving.

But at least they're asking questions.

I did a little sewing project with my grandsons. They each sewed on a button and then made a little pouch. Nothing fancy, but their concentration was admirable.





Also, my oldest grandson has been doing origami like crazy the last few weeks. His mother does origami, and he picks it up from her and from some cute little books he has.





He made all these different colored birds, and his mom hung them up on a string. Very cute. Here is a closer photo of them below.




Summer continues along. School starts soon.


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Weaving in Costume

I am volunteering at a Regional Park near my son's house. This is a Historic Farm park and it's basically a working farm circa 1900. They had a loom that wasn't being used.....enter Katie from stage right. It's a LeClerc Nilus 4 shaft 45 inch jack loom. I generally volunteer one day a weekend for a few hours. The loom had not been used for 5 or 6 years. June was spent getting the warping materials (they had to order a warping board) and warping. This month I've been cutting weft strips and finally got to weave some this past weekend.






Here's a shot of the loom itself:






It's in a building with not much by way of light - only two regular-sized doors that can be opened and overhead lights. So, when I'm preparing weft, I sit out on the porch, and that way I can interact with people coming by and entice them into coming in to see the loom.

Weaving in costume (long dress, apron) isn't a big deal, although I'm just naturally not as comfortable in a costume, but the weather here is usually mid 70s. I don't want to think about demonstrating in costume in the middle of Missouri summer. No.

So, a few observations:

This is a jack loom, so not the best for rug weaving. Small shed, (smaller than my old jack, even) pushing the shuttle through. Slow.

Weaving for demonstration is a whole different ball of wax than weaving in my loom room. I knew that, of course, but this really drives it home. Still nice to actually work with a loom, though.

I miss my rotary cutter for preparing weft. I have to use period tools, so scissors it is for cutting weft.

I'm putting the strips together with a slit instead of the sewing machine I would use at home. It's slow.

It's all slow, but it's a rhythm and it's enjoyable. I'm glad I have this to do.

Also, they have wild blackberries growing in the park and since I'm a volunteer, I can go pick. Wonderful, huge, sweet blackberries. And NO ticks, chiggers, copperheads, rattlesnakes. I feel like I'm cheating!

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Finding Weaving

Kind of like finding Nemo, but not quite. In between helping with household chores and child care, and going along to gym class and back and forth to school, there's been a small garden project (2 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 2 basil), a major puzzle project, clothesline that keeps breaking and is on the weekend list for replacement, vehicle repairs. You know, life, in all it's wonderful complications, and, though I've said this before, in a constant state of busy with two little boys in the mix.

Finding weaving in all this just kind of happens here and there. This time it happened with a book I checked out for the boys on silkworms. I think it is called "The Story of the Silkworm" but wouldn't swear to it. It has great photos, and yesterday Calvin told me they have two silkworm cocoons in their classroom, along with several butterfly cocoons and are watching them hatch out, which is very cool.

The photo in the book of a woman weaving silk, though, caught my attention.





Do you see how she has her warp secured? Not wrapped around the back beam at all, it's been brought up over a high cross beam at the back, and tied onto a high cross beam in the front. And would you look at the length of it in that bag? Jimminy Christmas! And I have to be so careful winding on a few yards to be sure my tension is even. And I'll keep being so careful - I know what happens when I'm not.

But still, her mastery of tension leaves me humbled. I think each time she advances the warp, she has to untie, advance, re-tension, re-tie. And I bet she does it in a jiffy, while thinking what she's going to make for supper.

I'm such a novice.

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A beginning

I will be away from my loom for the next year, while I'm helping family out with some medical issues. Before I left home, though, I did get the Swedish Lace woven off. I knew better than to leave a project midway for a year and hope to have any idea where I was when I get back.

This was to be blouse fabric - natural 20/2 crossed in red 20/2- and, of course, once it was off, I cannot imagine it in a blouse. Here are the two sides of the fabric:
This shows the weft as the horizontal stripes in the blocks:





This shows the warp as the vertical stripes in the blocks:





I like the warp in the vertical stripes best, but still, blouse? Can't see it. I don't any any idea what I'll do with this fabric, but I have about 5 yards of it.

I crossed the remainder of the warp with 20/2 natural, thinking I could make some curtains out of it.

Here are two shots:
First, with horizontal stripes:





And then, the opposite side, showing vertical stripes:





It wet finished beautifully, with the full value of the fabric coming out in the hard press and both pieces have a lovely, light and airy hand. I like this fabric a lot.

I may make curtains out of the second piece. It would be pretty for something wearable (probably not a blouse), but not sure what. It's really more suited to table linens/curtains usage, I think.

I did tie the threading so I can come back and throw on another 20/2 warp in this pattern if I decide I want to. Good to keep your options open.

I have weaving books with me, and am transposing threadings and treadlings to number charts. And, of course, there are patterns and weaving all over the place if I but look for them.

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In-Between

I have this thing called a ganglion cyst on my left foot. I had surgery. It didn't work. The danged thing came back. So, in an attempt to extend time between draining it (gross, don't ask), I keep it wrapped in vet wrap.






Just for information purposes, they sell this stuff at farm stores about half price of what you will pay at a drugstore. It comes in all kinds of colors, plus camo and other designs. In case you want to camouflage your injury, or your horse's injury, I guess.

Anyhow, if I don't wear a sock on that foot, the wrap wads up and makes it uncomfortable to walk, not to mention not doing it's job of putting pressure on the cyst area. This is not a problem in the winter, because I'm wearing socks anyhow, but I wear FitFlops in the summer. FitFlops is a brand of shoe that doesn't hurt my plantar fasciitis. (Foot problems run in my family).

Since I'm away from my loom right now, and have lots of knitting time, I decided to make some socks for FitFlops.




Good things: I can get a pair out of a 50 gram ball. Wool doesn't make your feet hot in the summer. They're uber quick.

Next pair I will use the Kitchener stitch for the toe cap instead of a 3 needle bind-off.

But, all in all, success. I figured out the divided toe, which is a major accomplishment for this knitter. I realize the toe areas don't match, and I don't mind that. Match, smatch. How, I ask myself, can I be so obsessive about pattern balance, which is really matching, in my weaving and not care a whit if my socks match?

Still pondering questions of the universe here in sunny, windy, California.

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The Fine Art of Re-purposing

So, the last Guild meeting I went to, my friend, Dawn, was showing fancy hemstitiching. She brought a table loom, and several shuttles. One of the shuttles was a Little Man shuttle. I really liked it for a several reasons: It has an extra large bobbin area, the opening for the bobbin thread runs nearly the length of the shuttle, and it felt nice in my hand. When I got home and looked it up on www.villagespinweave.com, I liked it again because of the reasonable cost. So, I ordered one.
Since it has such a large bobbin area, the regular length bobbins don't really work. The size I got will take an inch bobbin (really just slightly longer) or two 4 inch bobbins. I had the 4 inch bobbins but wasn't really happy with using them for single threads. It will probably work well for doubled, (using the thread off both bobbins at once). Haven't tried that yet. Dawn had used the paper bottom from a coat hanger for a makeshift bobbin, and that works okay, but I really wanted something stronger.
I've always been one for wandering around hardware stores, poking into drawers, etc. just to see what I can find, but Lowes stumps me. It's just big. I decided to crowd-source my problem. I took a 4 inch plastic bobbin to work, and I must admit, I went to the engineer first. This is a re-purposing project, I said.
Chuck came out to my desk later that morning with the plastic bobbin in hand and said, "Solid fuel line." Buy it at the auto parts store. So, I stopped by the parts store on the way home. They told me they had no such thing, they didn't deal in solid fuel, and asked if my vehicle was fuel injected. Not too many minutes later, they understood that they had an odd one on their hands, they did not need engine size information, and decided what I needed was rigid brake line. I bought one in 12 inch size, since I needed nearly 9 inches.




I went by my mechanic's on the way home, he cut it off to size, took the brass nuts off, and flared the end. It works like a charm. The flare is not very wide, maybe 1/8 inch, but it's enough to keep the yarn from slipping off, and allows me to wind the shuttle easily.




I bought another the next day. It holds a ton of yarn, especially this 20/2 I'm working with now. The Little Man has a nice blunt end, the better to fly through the shed with, my dear, and when, on occasion I miss the catch, I can say, "Come back here, Little Man!"
I'm away from my loom for a while now, but Little Man and Bertha (the loom) will be waiting for me when I get back. Here's what I'm doing until then! Grandkids!



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Sample

I wove a sample of the Swedish Lace to check shrinkage and drape.








I have 15% shrinkage each way, which is about what I had figured. The end width of the piece is still wide enough for my blouse pattern. I'll have to piece the back instead of putting it on the fold, but that's expected.

The drape, as you can see from the second photo, is really nice. That's just held in my hand. It's quite light, and right out of the dryer there are no wrinkles. So, good, good, and good.

The selvedges are a mess. Since this is yardage, though, I'm not going to put a lot of energy into fixes. A floating selvedge would work, but for yardage .... not worth the time and trouble, in my opinion.

I'm using red for the weft in the cloth. Wasn't sure I had enough of the blue. I am measuring weight of weft used, though, for my records. If I had that already, I could weigh the blue and see if I have enough. I'm not courageous enough, though, to chance getting to the last yard and running out.

I think I may have enough on this warp to weave the cloth for the blouse and then cross the last few yards with white to make some curtains for my bathroom. As long as I don't stand next to my bathroom window a lot, I should be okay ;-)


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Progress

I haven't had a lot of free time the last couple days, but I did get the threading completed this evening and started beaming the warp. I hope to get that finished tomorrow morning and maybe, maybe, I can get started weaving on Sunday.
The 20/2 has a lot of twist and I measured it out by twos, so I tried to be very careful when threading to go back to the lease sticks and separate each thread within it's couplet so there was as little twisting around each other as possible. So far, so good. I have lease sticks in the back and in the front, and that helps keep it all nice and straight, too.
It's been a while since I've sewn anything for myself from my handwoven fabric. It's not really much different sewing with handwoven than with anything else as long as the fabric hand is what you want. However, I have been stuck forever, it seems, in the conundrum of wanting to sew something but not really having occasion to wear a fancy handwoven whatever. I don't dress up often, (that's the understatement of the year), and don't want to put the time and effort into something that hangs in the closet.
Then I started thinking about my ancestors. Their everyday clothes were made from handwovens, and talk about taking a licking and keeping on ticking. Those women got a lot of use out of their garments.
So I'm thinking a cotton blouse, or top, for summer wear. Something airy and light. I have threaded this warp in Swedish Lace, and am hoping the 20/2 threads will give enough air flow in the lace areas for comfort, but also give enough coverage for a summer blouse.

Here's what I have in my pattern stash. It will need to be one of these, because it appears decent patterns have gone the way of the rotary dial phone.




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Onward

780 ends. 20/2 unmercerized cotton. 30 epi. 120 through the heddles so far. Challenging.



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Decisions on sleep deprived brain - not good idea

This has been a very stressful week at work. I work at a Public Radio station and it's our Spring Fund Drive - early mornings, long hours. It just helps me to at least think about weaving some every day, even if I can't do much of it this week.

So, I have been mulling and muddling around all week with this painted warp:




It's 10/2 mercerized cotton, 716 ends, 12 yd. long. It is just wide enough for a twin blanket, if I weave the entire length, and seam it in thirds. I've made both my grandkids twin blankets already. Not sure they need another. Don't know anyone else with a twin bed.

I toyed with putting a couple threads of solid evenly throughout to widen it. I worked up an overshot pattern that would work with the # of ends, then talked myself out of doing that. Not before I wound 350 ends of solid, though. I thought about alternating painted warp with solid warp in stripes for overshot - even tried this idea out on some left over painted warp. Which means I wound some other threads of solid, tied it onto the overshot pattern I just finished and wove a couple repeats.






Meh. Don't really like it.

So, I have placed the painted warp and the coordinating solid warp, all of it washed and ready to go, back in the bag. Some day I'll find a use for it.

I'm not sure I've learned anything from all this. It was worthwhile to piddle around with the loom and patterns. I'm absolutely no further ahead tonight than I was Monday.

I've decided that now, in my low brain energy state, is good time to knit.

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When things don't feel right....

they're usually not right. This morning, I finished the tea towel I had started last night, and it just kept fretting at me. I had carefully written down the treadling sequence and made a little cheat sheet, which I tape so I can see it easily when weaving, and I checked it 4 or 5 times with the treadling indicated in the pattern, but it just didn't feel right.

For one thing, there were an uneven number of shots in a full repeat. The threading pattern is for a 70 end repeat, but the treadling showed a 69 end repeat. Hmmmm. What that means, to my small brain, is it takes two full repeats of the treadling to end up on the side I started on. Seriously, that's how I see things. Very basic. This is a muscle memory problem. As I learn the treadling, it sinks into my subconsious which side I am supposed to end up on at certain points in the pattern, and if I get off, things start feeling hinky. This was not lending itself to learning that muscle memory at all.

Overshot patterns start out, work to a mid point, and work backwards to the finish. The first part of the pattern mirrors the second part. So I started looking, and found a treadling error. Here's the treadling from the book, with the offending area marked:




It may be difficult to see, but the right leg of the bracket shows three shots on what we'll call Treadle 1. The bottom leg shows only two shots on Treadle 1. The entire part bracketed is actually the very center of the pattern. So these shots on Treadle 1 should be exactly the same: 3 shots in each place.

Here's the first tea towel, with the offending area marked. The arrow is actually pointing exactly at the problem. You can see there are two shots. Scan down the pattern and you'll see the three shots on the other side of that center-piece-looking-thingy.



And here's the towel I wove with the treadling error fixed.


Interestingly enough, the incorrect sequence didn't really make a difference on the diagonal, since it was not a single shot. There were two shots there instead of three, but still enough to drag that diagonal along.

With the fix, the treadling sequence mirrors itself perfectly, my shuttles are on the correct sides at the right times, and it feels so. nicely. balanced.

I started another tea towel, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I worked out in the yard this afternoon, pruning for a couple hours, and I be tired. And tomorrow is a long day at work. Maybe I'll get to weave a bit in the evening.



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Curiosity becomes a search

I threaded my new overshot pattern "Flowers of Cromaine" (BGH) yesterday and beamed the warp today, which means I was able to weave a couple repeats:




It's a pretty pattern, and I'm looking forward to making some progress on the warp.

But I started thinking about the origin of the name of the pattern. Ms. Hayes put some interesting names on her patterns, like "Gastric Ulcer" and "Bomber Flight" to name a couple, and I was pretty sure "Cromaine" meant something.

This is where I love the internet. What would have taken days at a city library took me a few minutes on the internet.

It turns out that Cromaine Crafts was a part of the Hartland Area Project in Hartland, Michigan. It was one of those social experiment communities popular in the first part of the 1900s. Handcrafts was a big part of their "project" and they built a loom named the Cromaine Crafts Loom.

Here's a link to what Janet Meany has to say about it:

http://www.oocities.org/rugtalk/CromaineCraftsLoom.html

which is quite interesting. I had no idea when I chose this pattern that it was connected to what is The Mannings today! Wow! History is so cool! No telling what the connection was between Bertha Gray Hayes and the Cromaine Craft Project, but I'm pretty sure there was a connection.

I'm very glad I have this warp on the loom and ready to go. Sanity is a warped loom.

Know your weaknesses

I'll just say at the beginning here (at the risk of sounding like I'm at an AA meeting), that I have had a difficult relationship with knitting patterns all my life. To me, a perfectly fine and obtainable pattern is knit 2, pearl 2. I'm good at socks, as long as the patterns is k2, p2.

I knew when I made the cowl at Christmas that the pattern said I should get 5 repeats, minimum, out of a 100 g ball of sock yarn, and I got three, barely. What I didn't know until my sister pointed it out was that I did the yarn overs completely wrong, using twice as much yarn, and causing them to not really look like yo's. They look okay, and I wear the cowl, but still.

So, a friend gave me another pattern for a cowl that has yo's that makes a wave pattern. I repeated the pattern 3 times before I cottoned on to the fact that I was increasing by a lot of stitches when I shouldn't be - like ending up with 401 stitches when I should have 234. (You say seems like I would have noticed it sooner? Shut. Up. ) So, rip out time. I'm back to the first inch of knitting and am forging ahead, but.........I did find my error! And that's really huge for me.

On weaving, at which I'm much more competent, I wound 516 ends this week and have them through the reed. I'm hoping to get this warp through the heddles and beamed before the end of the weekend. I'm getting ready to head into a couple weeks of work hell and having something "shuttle ready" when I come home.....that's important.

I'm warping Flowers of Cromaine. Flowers! Valentine's Day! Spring! Flowers!


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Second opinion

I'm about 2/3 through the Foursquare warp. I've been weaving with either 10/2 pattern weft and 20/2 tabby, or 10/2 pattern weft and 10/2 tabby. Both are okay. These are all cotton wefts, and I don't mind a little more heft when I'm making tea towels.

However, I have some 18/2 wool (I'm guessing here, but think I'm pretty close) and I've been wanting to sample it on an overshot warp. So, today I wove about 30 inches using the 18/2 wool as pattern weft and 20/2 cotton for tabby. Wow! What a difference! It's made me look at the pattern in a more likeable light, for one thing. I really wasn't liking this pattern much, but it blossoms with the finer pattern weft. Can't wait to see how this wet finishes.





And here's a close-up:




The tabby I'm using is a very light beige and the wool is a nice muted green. You can see the beige in this close-up. And look how the little center motif looks so dainty and, dare I say it, flower-like? The finer weft reduces the repeat length about 10%, which means more shuttle throws, but that's always the case when you go finer with weft.

It will be really interesting to see what kind of weight the finished fabric has. And I think I'll try a similar weight in cotton for the pattern weft on the last couple towels. Always fun to explore.

But I'm still warping flowers next.

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Little side trip

I've been keeping my sister's dog for the last month while she and her husband lolled on the beach in Florida. Bonnie is the dog's name and she's half border collie/half collie. My dog is Maggie, and she's 3/4 border collie/1/4 beagle.




Bonnie, as you can see, is twice as big as Maggie, but that makes no difference. These girls have become such good friends this past month. Maggie is going to be one lonely puppy when Bonnie goes home.

And Bonnie goes home this morning. I'm driving to Cape Girardeau with the two dogs, and Maggie and I will return tomorrow.

I'm making progress on the Foursquare warp. I've made a couple towels crossed in maroon and am working on the second crossed in the dual-toned blue - don't have much left after Ray's blanket, so will use that for tea towels.

Verdict on the Foursquare, at this point, anyhow, is ......... it's okay. I'm not just in love with it, and since overshot and I have this fickle love relationship wherein I ditch the last true love of my heart design and go right into the arms of the next pattern - me saying Foursquare is "okay" is significant. It's the first pattern from Bertha Gray Hayes' book that I'm feeling "meh" about.

Well, I put 12 yards on, and I'll weave that off. It doesn't take that long and people always want tea towels. Besides, I found out years ago - NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!!! Other people like different colors/patterns than I do. Things I was sure would never sell in a million years would go to someone who'd been looking for those colors. So, I'll weave it off.

But it does make me wonder. Why don't I like it much? And I think the answer has to do with gardening and flowers.This is very much a block/squares pattern. And I think I just like the ones that look like I'm creating a bouquet of flowers as I weave. Oh well. Good to know. And it doesn't mean I'll never weave another pattern of squares. But I think I'll do flower-y next.




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One more way to use thrums

I read lots of really interesting ideas for using thrums (the loom waste threads left over after a warp is done). There are fiber uses and there are non-fiber uses - tying up a package or gift, anything that needs tying really, but I found a new use tonight.
We are finally getting some rain, so when I came home this evening (after dark), I went to the front door to let the dog in, and found water on the floor, coming from the upper door frame. The door opens onto a porch and there's a balcony right above. So I let the dog in, wiped up the water with a towel and left a towel in place, then went up to the balcony. Sure enough, the roof gutter makes a turn at that inside corner, and the caulking on those two pieces of gutter was gone, and water was streaming down onto the balcony, then on down the wall to the porch and door frame.
I drug out my flashlight and step stool and made sure the gutter was clear, which it was, mostly. Then I cast about looking for something to stick in that gutter crack. A plastic shopping bag did nothing. This room opens on to the loom room, so that's where I was looking for inspiration, and happened to see some wool thrums hanging up, just waiting for such an opportunity. I took my little Leatherman tool and the wool thrums back to the step stool on the porch and started poking. I got it stopped for the most part, down to a drip, anyhow. Just for good measure, I tromped out in the yard and dug out a piece of old guttering and propped it up under the drip to work as a funnel. Guess I'll be getting the caulk gun out the first clear day - as well as figuring out why that cleared gutter isn't draining like it should. Gutter work is not my favorite, but has to be done.
I also took the first tea towel off the loom today. This is the Foursquare pattern. I ran a zig zag on the ends and washed and dried it.
Here's Side 1:




Here's Side 2:




It's really difficult for me to see how this is not Summer and Winter. It looks like opposites to me and a dark side and a light side. Maybe someone smart in these things (like Ann) can explain it. But, whatever it is, it's pretty.
I just added another 4 threads to each side in a straight twill for an edge but the edges of the pattern are different enough that the sides are different.




(I stuck a white envelope under the edges so you can see.) So, tomorrow, I'll monkey with those until I like them before going forward! And tonight, I get to sleep to the sound of rain!
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Most of the way

I did get the Foursquare warp completely beamed, but it was accomplished between Saturday and Sunday, which is fine. I still haven't thrown that first shuttle, but it's sitting there ready to go.

I have Weaving Guild today! It's my favorite day of the month. Can't wait to see what everyone has been doing.


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Next up - more overshot

I have the placemats off and finished. The napkins are done. I picked the blanket up from the cleaners Thursday and it's finished and ready to go.

I decided on another tea towel warp in overshot, so I wound warp, threaded it through the reed yesterday, through the heddles this morning and took the afternoon off from weaving related tasks to walk, visit with weaving friends (I guess that's weaving related but certainly not a task!), general housekeeping junk, etc. This evening I hope to beam the warp while listening to bluegrass music from KMST.

I have a lunch date tomorrow with an elderly aunt, but who knows, I might get a shuttle thrown, too.

The pattern is Four Square from Bertha Gray Hayes' book "Miniature Overshot Patterns."

It looks a lot like Summer and Winter, but isn't threaded like Summer and Winter or woven like it. It will be interesting to see how this comes out and the differences front to back. It's the top one.






I ordered some 20/2 cotton unmercerized for the tabby. Also ordered some more 8/2 Tencel and will start winding warps for summer dyeing when it gets in.




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Its Cowl weather!

Took this off the needles and blocked it last night. Wore it all day today. This is Willow Cowl, a free Ravelry download. It's made from one skein of sock yarn.





It's really cozy and we are having just the weather for it.

The blanket is at the cleaners for pressing. Placemats are off the loom and finished.





Not too bad matching placemat fabric with the napkins.

And I'm drinking hot tea and looking at overshot designs for my next warp. I don't like having a naked loom.



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More blanket saga

I'm going to have to start thinking of better names for blanket posts, lest they all run together.

I took Ray's blanket off the loom yesterday, sewed the ends of the panels and washed and dried on hot. Today, I laid them out on the floor, matched up stripes, basted by hand and then machine. I will take them in for a professional pressing before I do the hems. I don't mind pressing big pieces of plain weave, but twill kind of crawls up into itself during wet finishing and some of that will press back out. And, yes, I could do it with my little hand iron, but it's a real pain to get it all just right. And I REALLY don't like the hours it takes to do it well. So, I'll take it to the cleaners. Just call me lazy.

I like the blanket. It's a nice weight. It's soft. The stripes match up. There is, though, on little fly in the ointment. Here's the blanket, before the panels were sewn.





See that darker stripe toward the left of the panel? Yeah. Me, too. Right away. Actually, I saw it while I was weaving, but there was nothing to be done about it. Wall of Troy is one of those patterns that when I'm weaving it, I have to kind of keep my eyes focused on the overall pattern. If I start looking at diamonds and squares it will drive me nuts and before I know it, I'm off, or think I am, and am taking rows out. But, I did see it. And I know what caused it.

Calculations being what they are for yardage, etc. this warp should not have taken as much yardage as it did. And I have no idea why. But, it became apparent that I'd be lucky to have enough of the dual colored yarn for the whole thing, even "going to the stash shelves and finding a cone I bought a while back to finish it up." And there's the catch. A little difference in color, which, if I'd know about it before I put the warp on, I could have interspersed it evenly throughout the warp. Heck, if I'd known it was different, I could have used that whole bout in the MIDDLE of the panel. But, no. It didn't show up until I started weaving, and there was no way I was going to back that whole fuzzy, lint-pill creating warp off, re-thread reed AND heddles and fight it back on.

So, yet another blanket joins the not-quite-right group. I know Ray will never care, and he'll love it, and treasure it because Nai-Nai made it, and he'll have one like Ge Ge (older brother). It will have his name and the year I made it embroidered on it, and it will always be his. And that's really what matters.

But, in case I ever start making blankets for sale, I now have new name/slogan options. Katie's Blankets: Guaranteed Mistake in Every One. Perfection Schmecktion: Blankets for the Non-Picky. Blankets for Error-one: What, You Think You're Perfect?

Sighs. Rolls eyes. Goes up to thread a placemat warp.


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Baby, it's cold out there!

High for today was 21 at my house. Add the thin sheet of ice we got last night and it's good day to stay inside as much as possible. And the coziest place in my house when it's really cold outside is the loom room. Lucky, huh? It's upstairs, for one thing, and with the door closed, the auxiliary heater does a nice job.

I come downstairs for breaks - food, drink, etc., watch the birds flocking to the feeder, check email, and then back to it. And the time has paid off. I wove about 2 yards on Ray's blanket. Two down, eight to go. And it's coming along nicely.





Can't really tell, but the warp is a denim and a navy thread twisted together and the weft, for the most part is lighter blue. It will have a stripe at the bottom and top. The first stripe is already wound on so you can't see it. The stripe is a couple inches of navy, inch of white and another couple inches of navy.

I like it. It's Wall of Troy and that's a nice, rhythmic weave that doesn't require too much thinking.

You may recall that Ray requested a blue and red blanket and you notice there is no red in it. Try as I might, there is no way to mix red and blue and not get purple and the reds I happen to have were making the mix rather pink. This is a reduce-the-stash project and if what I have on the shelf doesn't work, I use something else. So, it's blue. Poetic license.

Time to feed dogs, then get back to the loom room for a few more inches before I call it a night.


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Back to LOL

That would stand for Land of Living. I've been sick with first a chest congestion and then a bad cold since New Year's Eve and today, (knock on wood, etc) I finally felt somewhat normal. I didn't do a lot, but did not end up on the couch once. Looking forward to an even better day tomorrow.
I did get the remainder of the blanket warp wound into bouts and threaded it through the reed. It's 810 ends, 10/2 cotton. It's a very soft yarn and should make a yummy blanket.




The heddles will have to wait until tomorrow. This is for Ray. I sent a question to him through his parents about what color blanket he would like and he said blue and red. That is what it shall be.
This is a denim/navy blue mix for the warp. I have a couple reds to try out for weft. The design is still in the making on this one.
When my youngest son was little, my step-mother asked what color he would like the crocheted afghan she would make him and he said "Po-Po" and purple it was and he loved it. So, I'm happy to use Ray's color choices.
My oldest grandson, Calvin, likes his blanket, though he didn't get to choose a color. I was making a larger blanket and ran out of weft thread, so he ended up with the two-panel result. It's nice enough and he likes it, sleeps under it every night. Maybe someday I'll make another one for him in "his" colors.
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Flying off the loom

I cut these 10 napkins off the loom today, ran a machine stitch on the ends and washed in hot, dried in hot.




They are now waiting for hemming. I crossed pairs in different colors, but all came out pretty, as well as usable, and I'm now weaving the rest of it off in tea towels.

I should have this warp done sometime this weekend, and I'm thinking ahead to the next project. I think it will be a blanket for my youngest grandson. The older one loves his blanket made by Nai Nai, and the younger will be happy to have one, too, I think. I'll be winding warp for that in the next couple days. I'm thinking Wall of Troy. It's a twill so it makes a nice thick, durable fabric out of 10/2 warp, and since it's twill it has a nice drape.

I'm not feeling any better. It's now progressed to upper respiratory as well as a little chest congestion hanging on. I'm wondering if it's two things, caught back to back. I'm at my job until I hit the wall of tiredness, then come home, rest, weave, rest, weave. Drink tea, water, tea, make and eat soup, read Facebook and email, repeat. I'll be very glad when I start seeing improvement.

My times at the loom are shorter than usual, and I needed something to do that's less energetic, so I cast on another Willow Cowl. It's a free pattern from Ravelry, made with a 100 g. skein of sock yarn (of which I have plenty.) I made one while I was in CA but didn't like the colors for me, so gave it to my youngest son.

If you look the pattern up, and think, "What? Her son" believe me when I say you just have to know him. He's quite the individual.

Here's the one I just started:



My DIL will probably think I'm nuts to cast another one on, after the grouching and agonizingly long hours spent on the first one, but I really do like the way it cascades down on itself, and I have enough socks. We'll see if I get it done this winter.



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Bang! And the year begins!

I finished warping the cotton napkins today. I took a few photos during the process, so here's a little snapshot into my warping procedure.
To begin with, I came perilously close on the orange yarn.




But, just enough is still enough. And I could still do a repair if I break a thread. This orange yarn has flecks of brown, green, and yellow, almost a flocked look, and this comes through in the weaving.
So, after being threaded through the reed and the heddles, I tied onto the back apron:




I like to transfer my cross to the rear of the loom when I beam a warp. It makes the tension lovely.
So, I treadled a plain weave shed, and stuck my lease sticks in each shed:




Note that they are tied on the ends and they are also tied to the castle.
I clip the ends of the knots to about 2 inches. Then, going to the front of the loom, you can see my milk jugs, about half full, hanging from S hooks to tension the warp. I tie an overhand loop in the group of warp threads, and the S hook goes into the loop and into the jug handle The jugs are put in place before the cross is transferred to make opening the shed possible.




Some people use a warping trapeze, which gives you more yardage before you have to reposition the jugs. My loom is quite large, directly under a ceiling fan, and the ceiling is low enough for me to touch. Someday I may have a studio where I can use a warping trapeze.
Here you can see that I have wound on enough warp that the knots are back to the top, just getting ready to be wound over by the next layer of warp. If I leave these knots as they are, threads will go between and on top of the knots and create an uneven warp.




This cannot be. It will create major problems down the way. So, I cover the knots with a piece of smooth, light but sturdy, wood. This is from Lowes, in their precut pieces selection:




This piece of wood could be narrower and work as well, but this is the width they had. My loom has a nice tray under the warp beam where I keep extra wood pieces.
Meanwhile, at the front of the loom, once the jugs are to the breastbeam and cannot go any more, I take them off, straighten out and brush (with a bristle hairbrush)about a yard of warp, and retie the jugs near the floor, as the one on the right shows.




I use a bristle hair brush because I'm going after the lint on the warp. (I know, I know, you're never supposed to brush the warp.) If I used more expensive warp, I wouldn't have to, but my budget doesn't allow that. Mill ends, and unmercerized, which I like the best, have a lot of lint, and the lint will bind two threads together before the reed, or heddle, and then break the thread when you wind on. Brushing works, so I do it.
The lease sticks at the back of the loom are doing their job. These are tied so they won't go over the back beam, and the threads slide over and under on their way to the warp beam.




Here's the board I put in over the knots. See how it keeps all the threads even?




After winding on a few yards, I put small, flat sticks (I think these are called "screen molding") on every flat edge of the warp beam - all the way around it once. So as I wind on, I'm placing these sticks. When the sticks are all in, it's like you're starting over with a completely flat warp beam. Some people use brown paper to separate the layers, but I like the sticks. Peter Collingwood's "Techniques of Rug Weaving" was the first weaving book I read, and this was his recommendation. I will repeat this procedure once more in this 12 yard warp.




And here is the warp completely beamed. I have removed the lease sticks. Some people keep them in while they weave. I don't.




I don't have to worry about uneven warping. I can just weave.
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