First days of summer

This being officially summer now, and my goal being to paint and weave as many warps as possible before fall, I was happy today dawned sunny. We've had several rainy days lately, and more came in tonight, so, I laid out the plastic and dyed this morning. I started with a silvery blue 10/2 mercerized and used Fire Red, which should mute to a darker red, and Blue-Gray, in sections. I'm still trying to find that Winter Sunset combo. We'll see if this works.

I have thrown the last shot of the last shawl on my current painted warp project and only have to hem stitch the edge. Not a day too soon to get the next one painted!

I had a fun morning last week helping some friends tie up an old WPA 4 shaft counterbalance loom that has been handed down in their family. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, and best of all, the shed opened like magic after the tie-up was completed. Here's a photo of me under the loom tying treadles to lams. Thanks, guys, for letting me help with this lovely old loom. It's nice to know it's back in action.

Working on the painted warp

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted.  Actually, that's not true.  I can believe it.  I have been incredibly busy.   As always, spring means much more to do outside, and I've been busy building raised beds and planting them, mulching trees and hostas, weeding, etc.  Plus my first grandchild was born last month.  So, weaving has been sproradic at best.

I did get the Pendleton rug warp worked off and am now in process of winding warp for rag placemats and table runners.  I'm using a two tone green warp with a black accent thread every inch.

I am on my third shawl on the painted warp which was the subject of my last post. I've used a different color weft for each so far, which makes for unique and individual pieces.  The photo below isn't real accurate for colors.  They're much deeper than the photo shows.  I may try another take tomorrow to see if I can get the light right.  But, it's enough to give an idea of the colors coming out.

I have wound 10/2 mercerized in a silver color to try another painted warp.  I hope to get that washed and ready to dye next week.  I am still trying for "evening sunset in winter" colors.  We'll see what I get this time!  Always an adventure!

Washed warp on the line

I washed the excess dye out of the warp chains this afternoon - many washings through hot water and Syntrapol.  Here is a photo of the warp drying on the line.  The colors have changed somewhat - the yellows are not true yellow, but are now shades of chartreuse to green.  This will be an interesting warp to weave - lots of gem tones.  Looking at the background  of grass and spring trees, it's easy to see a correlation with the warp colors.

A good day for painting a warp

Since the forecast is for showers the next several days, I took advantage of the warmest day we've had in a week to paint a warp. I decided on a dusky blue to yellow colorway, which will give greens in the middle areas where the two colors meet. I have some photos posted below. The first is the plain white warp, wound into chains, and soaked in fixer, laid out on 12 yards of black plastic. On another day, I scoured these warp chains and line dried them, so they were ready and waiting for this sunny afternoon.



The second photo shows the warp after I painted the colors on, with the third photo being a close up to show the colors as they appear on the warp. Bear in mind that this warp is sopping wet with dye and fixer.





I have folded the black plastic over the warp chains and weighted it with boards. It will stay like that on the lawn for 48 hours, minimum, longer if it stays cloudy and rainy. The black plastic is good for soaking up solar rays.

After the warp has cured in the sun for several days, I'll wash the excess dye out with many baths in hot water and Synthropol, then line dry before heading to the loom. I'll try to post photos of the warp drying on the line. The difference in colors from today's product to the end product is pretty amazing sometimes. Each dye project is an experiment, and this part of the experiment requires patience. Patience!

Easter morning

For the third morning in a row, we had a killing frost. I had hostas up a foot, and a lot of trees were leafed out. Everything will come back out, but it is a little distressing to look at.

We built the raised bed, and built a wheelchair ramp on the front of the house and one on the back, too. Lots of work done by the Sister Crew. It was so much fun.

I got back to weaving this week. I worked off the small rug warp on the Hammett and have another wound, ready to put on. This will be the last warp for Pendleton rugs until next winter. I still have blue jean rugs to weave, and placemats and runners, too. I think I'll work on table items next.

I have two more tea towels on the Newcomb. I'm hoping to have a painted warp ready to go on it when the last tea towel comes off, but I haven't had pretty weather yet for dyeing the warp. It's all prepped, so that step is done. I've about made up my mind on my colorway, but will wait and see if that changes.

I saw an ancient loom last week. A 93 year old man has been weaving on it, and he got it used at an auction. It is handmade, from 4x4 walnut. It's a two harness, counterbalance, and it probably has a 6 ft. x 6 ft footprint. It has made a lot of rugs, evidenced by indentations worn into the back beam by so many yards of warp passing over it. And we're talking about walnut here. It stands true and square and the rugs he has woven are nice and straight.

It's good to see an old workhorse like this, still producing rugs. There are so many fancy looms, and even the basic looms are pretty pricey if you buy them new. This looms takes you right back to the essentials.

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!