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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Slipper-y preparations

I've worn felted slippers for several years. The pattern used is made with a double strand of worsted and the slipper turns out quite substantial. Good for general wear, but too thick to weave in.

Then, last winter, my sister gave me a pair of felted slippers made in the style of ballet shoes, and made with one strand of worsted. I was delighted to find I could weave in them. This is a VERY IMPORTANT finding. While weaving overshot, or some twill that involves dancing across the treadles carefully, I am fine weaving barefoot. But with plain weave, or a twill pattern that involves using treadles side by side, i.e., treadles 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, I bruise my feet pretty badly. The treadles are close and I can get a good speed up with these patterns, so as I release, say, treadle 1, I'm quickly pressing down on treadle 2. Treadle 1, on the way back up, whacks my foot where the big toe joins. I have had 2" of pretty bad bruising there.

It's not good to continually bruise a certain place, I don't think, so when I wore a hole through the ballet type slippers, I knit some more. I have 3 pair now, (good to slip into a suitcase for travels. I felted these this morning:





Cute, huh? Now I'm working on a pair of the sturdy, double strand type for my son-in-law, at his request.

I have a sample warp on the loom. A friend gifted me some 24/2 wool, which I could never afford to buy, so I stuck on a sample warp of white. It's 10" in the reed, 30 epi and I'm weaving 10" samples of plain weave, single strand weft straight twill, and double strand weft straight twill. My plan is to have 3 sets of these. One will remain as cut off the loom, one set will be hand washed, one set will be machine washed and fulled. Then I'll see what I know.

I still want to get an overshot tea towel warp (sample warp for my next coverlet) on and woven before I go to Germany in November. I'll try some of this 24/2 wool on that, too, just for grins.

I really like coverlets made of all cotton because of the easy care. Throw it in the machines. Even though traditional coverlets are crossed with fine wool, it's never appealed to me because of the care aspect. So, I'll sample it with the tea towel warp, wet finish in different ways, and see if I could live with a coverlet crossed in wool.

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Now for a little prep work

The coverlet is done. I'll try to get a pic of it on a bed up soon - too late today. The rugs are done. I dug my sweet potatoes today after returning from Weaving Guild (which was delightful, as always).




I use raised beds, and these were grown in an 8'x4' bed. I dug them with a hand trowel and my fingers. I LOVE raised bed gardening.

So, sweet potatoes are off the list of urgent things to do. I have several things to do to the house and yard before cold weather hits, but I also need to wind warps for dyeing. A friend and I are going to have a dye day, bring the warps we have wound (or measured, depending on your nomenclature), and I have zero, count 'em, zero warps ready. I want to have at least 4 or 5, but mostly they'll be narrow, so that's not such a big deal. I'll be using 8/2 Tencel. The Tencel gods have decided there will be no more 10/2 in natural available, so 8/2 it is. I'll just have to sett it close enough that my 10/2 Tencel colors will give me the desired effect.

So, about this winding/measuring deal. When I take yarn from the cone and wind it on the warping board in 100-end bouts, I call that "winding." When I put it on the loom, I call that "beaming." However, not all weavers use these words. Some call the process of putting the warp on the warp beam "winding," and the warping board process "measuring." It would be nice if we all referred to it as the same thing... probably not going to happen.....

I still have a lot I'd like to accomplish before I head off on my winter trips. I hope to get another overshot tea towel warp at least beamed, and possibly woven, and the next coverlet warp on. I'm on a coverlet/blanket rampage, and I can't stop!

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Friday odds and ends

I work a part time job - a/k/a/ my day job - at KMST Public Radio in Rolla. I usually work 8 a.m. - noon. Since last Saturday, though, we've been in Drive Mode. Twice a year we go to our membership and ask for money, and as annoying as it may be, we cannot survive without it. So, last Saturday from 4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., Sunday noon - 5:00 p.m., and Mon. through Fri., from about 5:40 a.m. - 1, 2, 3 o'clock, depending on how much I felt up to, has been spent at the office. It's much easier to process pledges a day's worth at a time, but I must admit that I left today shortly after 1:00. I am, to quote an old neighbor, "wore to a frazzle." Very tired.
In the meantime, in my pastime of weaving, I've been weaving a rug for a young friend who's getting married.




This is Pendleton worm. I saved my neutrals/solids when I recently cleared my raw product of worms of all other colors. The background is light blue, the window squares dark blue. I warped enough for two rugs, and I'm glad I did. Though difficult to get a good read on until it's off the loom, it seems to be very............uhmmmm, blue. I don't think they have anything against blue, but still, it's really ..... blue.
I felt lucky to get this one completed working late afternoons and evenings this week. Today I sewed other colors together, and will weave another rug this weekend - hopefully less blue. I'm on a time constraint for this gift - no pressure!
I also hope to get the coverlet pieces machine stitched and hemmed this weekend. (I only work from 2:00 - 10:00 p.m. tomorrow, and have Sunday off.)
In other odd things this week, I learned by happenstance that my iPad2 does not actually send photos anywhere when you choose that option and put in an email address. Which means photos of my art entry, which I blithely sent from my iPad a couple weeks ago, never got there. Luckily, I had permission to be late with my entry, and sent photos off last night, using my dinosaur desktop. Note to self: when sending anything important, CC yourself so you know if it sent.
My refrigerator was bereft of food this evening, so I drove to the grocery and picked up supper:




Don't know if you can see, but that's freshly smoked pork steak, slaw and Shock Top. It's going to be great, and my dog is anxiously awaiting the leavings of the pork steak.
Hopefully,next week I'll have enough breathing room to start eating healthier than this week has been. Here's where I'll start: my garden:


But right now, it's take-out from the local grocery and no alarm tomorrow morning. Bon appetit!
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Beginning the finish

The coverlet pieces are off the loom, washed and dried. They've been sitting on my couch for most of this week, looking at me reproachfully as I hurried by them up the stairs to thread and beam the rug warp, as I finally finished the kitchen paint job, as I did a myriad of things that I'm sure were essential. But this evening I finally stood in front of the coverlet pieces and started our conversation.

I had already laid them out on the floor to see if they came close to matching, and they do, for the most part. I think there is actually a snowball's chance in hell of making this one work. I'm pretty determined to give it my best shot. This translates to sewing the pieces together by hand first, matching the pattern with each stitch, before I take it to the machine and make it permanent.

It's important the pieces stay as un-tensioned as possible, so I started out on my zafu and a pillow, so I can sit cross-legged for a period of time and still walk tomorrow, and the floor supports the bulk of the coverlet, so gravity doesn't pull on it. This was my workplace tonight.





Not saying I'm going to stay on the floor. I have it started now, and I know exactly where the needle has to go into the pattern (on both pieces) to make it match (I think). And I think I can keep the correct tension going even if I'm not sitting on the floor. Who knows, maybe I'll graduate to a chair! Whoo-ee! Party Down! (But the zafu is pretty comfortable, too.)

That's all tomorrow, though.

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A Little Overshot

Or, the title could be: A Lot of Overshot. I am weaving another coverlet. This time I put on an 11 yard sample warp and played with wefts and edges, rethreading, adding on more warp (which I weighted with jugs of water off the back beam), until I was satisfied with where the edge hit the repeat, and by that time, the 11 yard warp was done! And I had a few extra tea towels for family. These have too many mistakes to sell, so I sewed the hems on the machine, and will hand them out here and there.
Then I threaded a twelve yard warp (926 ends) and started on the coverlet. There are three panels, and the 12 yards should yield all 3 of those, plus the slightest bit of leeway.
I am trying to hit my goal of 6 repeats every day, and have, for the most part. I'm on the last panel, and hope to get the warp off the loom next week.




I am weaving it upsidedown, which I kind of like to do. Notice the adding machine tape? I use it to keep track of my beat. Each repeat is marked on the tape, and parts of the repeat are marked. This helps the three panels match (something I have not always had success with, so I'm hoping here). The tape is the full length of the panel. When I started with the first panel, the tape was blank. The first repeat I wove, trying to be very consistent with my beat, was then transferred to a small (5 inch) piece of tape. I used this only on the first panel, moving it up each time a repeat was finished. At the same time, each finished repeat was marked on the long tape.




The on-the-loom length of each panel is 118", so to keep the adding machine tape under control, I roll each end and secure with a paper clip. The clip on the leading edge is placed about 5" into "unwoven territory" and the weight of the clip holds it out of the way, but gives me enough slack to check my beat frequently.




In the meantime.............I have a wedding present to plan and make for the end of October. It will be a rug, but I want this one to be special, so those design ideas have been fluttering around in my head, and that warp will go on as soon as I get the coverlet off.
And, I have been asked again to contribute a piece of art to the Missouri Coalition for the Environment Art Show and Auction. They had a bad email address for me, so I only got this invitation last week. The show hangs Nov. 2 and they would like photos, etc. before then. SO, I'm working on that, too.
I have done this show a couple other times, and it's for a very good cause, and besides that, to be honest, I'm flattered they think my work is good enough. All I can say about the piece is it is nothing like my other pieces. I'll post a link when the online auction goes up.
Cabool Weaving Guild met last Monday. These are a VERY talented bunch of women and men. Hop on over to Ann's blog (she puts me to shame with her regular blogging) www.weavingforfun.blogspot.com to see some photos of the show and tell.
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Back at it

I'm back at the loom after 3 weeks in CA visiting kids and grandkids.  What a good time!  And, I managed to miss 3 weeks of ridiculously hot and dry weather here in Missouri.  Still have said weather going on, but just knowing I missed 3 weeks of it makes me happy-faced.

I did not finish the sample overshot warp before I left.  On purpose.  I left the weaving partway through the last sample (which will be serving as a tea towel), with my treadling notes, shuttles, etc. all exactly as if I were leaving for a bathroom break.  Even so, when I sat down at the loom again, it took me a repeat to feel like I was back on top of the pattern.

I finished out the warp, pulled those towels off, wet finished, and made some decisions on how where to stop the edges for best piecing.  I'll be putting three pieces together for this coverlet, and I want a small seam, but enough seam to match the pattern easily.   I think I have it, but we'll see.  That's why I wove a sample warp, and rethreaded the edges 3 times within that warp.

I'm onto threading the 921 threads for the coverlet.  I'm through the reed and about 1/4 through the threading.  I'm hoping to get it completely beamed by the end of the weekend.  It is still at least 100 degrees in the afternoons, and my loom room is upstairs.  I have a window AC unit I can put into that room, but it's still sitting on the floor.

I had Radiant Barrier put into my attic within the last couple years, and the difference in the heat in the house is amazing.  I use climate sense cooling, by which I mean I open the house at night to let the cool night air in, and close it up in the morning.  When I get home from work a little after noon, it's still cool in the house.  I like living in natural air, so it suits me fine.

Still need to wind some 8/2 tencel for painting this fall.  I need to make some project and warp decisions before I wind warp.  I figure it can wait until I get this coverlet beamed, though.