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!