Student Weaves S&W

I forgot to show you what Shirley brought to Guild on Monday. This was a summer and winter draft I made up, but I never got around to weaving. So I was really excited to see that Shirley ran with this and came up with some really cool towels. This was one of the eight shaft examples I had for them at the summer and winter workshop I gave in October 2012.

More Weaving Friends

    

Watercolor of Bo knitting

Weaving plaid



Cocoon



 

Summer and Winter

It's always exciting to see what everyone has been up to. We don't meet in December, so we had lots of things to get caught up on.

I personally was very please to see that some of the members had brought some of the summer and winter things they had made  I felt like a proud mom! I had given a workshop in October 2012 on summer and winter, and they were having fun with what they had learned.

Weaving Friends

Cotton Blanket

Speaking of weaving friends, I had one of those guild meetings I told you about yesterday.

Wow, what exciting stuff they are doing.

Here is a peek! More tomorrow!!

Placemat and napkins

Double weave knitting needle holder

Wool blanket

Hand painted Tencel scarf

Heddles, Books, and Weaving Friends

Got a little threading of the heddles done. I am working on the Weaver Rose draft "Ladey Washington".

For the most part, I have been reading my new book. What an awesome organization. Makes you want to move to Boston and get involved with the guild there.

I belong to two weaving guilds in my general area. I drive an hour to one of the meetings and about 15 minutes to the other, both meet once a month. One guild is mostly four and eight shaft weavers, the other has some sixteen shaft weavers there. Always exiting to see what other weavers are doing. Both guilds have programs given by guild members. And sometimes we bring someone in to do a workshop.

New Weaving Book Review

One of my fellow guild members pointed me to a new book out there in the weaving world. It's called: Interlaced, The Weavers' Guild of Boston Celebrates 90 Years of Friendship and Education.

Everything from plain weave to 32 shaft Samitum to shaft switching to lampas, dimity, S&W and lots of other weave structures in-between. 

Wonderful pictures, guild information, and drafts with notes from the authors. Not so much a pattern book, but just enough info you could recreate their projects if you wanted to. Looks to be a treasure.

The web sight is: http://weaversguildofboston.org

Anyone for Left-over Socks?

Look what I found!!

I cannot believe I haven't finished these. I usually knit on socks while I am in a waiting room somewhere, but the last couple of months have been waiting-room free. A very good thing!! Good for me and my family members, not so good for my sock knitting.

I will put these on the back burner and continue with my MidWest Weavers knitting project. I am a little over half done with that project. I will unveil it in June.

So the socks will be waiting in the wings for when I need to do some sock knitting. Sometimes you just need to knit on socks!  And besides you never know when you will be stuck in a traffic jam on Highway 63 in rural Missouri. 

One time we waited about thirty minutes while they cleaned up a truck that had overturned that was carrying cows!! I got some quality knitting done that time because I had socks on the  needles!! Good for me, bad for the cows.

(I continue to thread the heddles on Ladey Washington!!)

Threading the Heddles

Now onto threading the heddles.

I will sit at the back of my loom when I do this. This is the part where you want to really pay attention. I like to take my time with this part and not do too much at a time. It keeps the mistakes down.

I usually tie bundles of 15 ends together when I am doing 30 epi. It's another way to try and keep the heddle threading in check. If I were doing 20 epi, I would tie bundles of 10. This will also help me when I tie onto the back beam because it is a sectional beam and the slots are one inch slots.

(I am sure they are not called 'slots', but that is what I call them.) If you know the correct word, please let me know.

Reed Work Done

 

OK, now I have the reed threaded, 30 epi in a 15 dent reed.
It's time to count out the heddles.

 

 I am using paper clips to hold back the heddles that I do not need. Can you see that my loom has been well used and well loved.

Overshot Game Plan



Here is the paper work I have done for this next warp. I will be weaving this in two panels. I will add a floating selvage to the right side and a twill edge to the other. The right side will be the edges that will I will sew together. See how I will cut and turn and try to match the design.

I will be need to be very careful and keep a steady beat so that the weaving motifs will match when I sew them together.

At least this is the plan..................

            

More Sleying

I am telling you, sleying the reed is so Zin. Take two, pull them through. Take two, pull them through. I once had to sley 2-2-3 and it took me a week.

I almost always dress my loom front to back (F to B). I have done back to front but thought it was way too much trouble. I have the spool rack and all the other toys, but for me, F to B is way faster.




I am a little over half done with this part of Ladey Washington.

 ;-)

A Little Sleying

Not like yesterday, where I was laid back and lazy, today there was some progress on the Weaver Rose "Ladey Washington" coverlet draft.

I am using a 15 dent reed and denting 30 epi, or two per dent. This part of the process is when I can let my mind wander and think about what the finished project might look like. When it comes time to thread the heddles, I will have to start thinking again. Sometimes a very hard task for me!

Wow, I looked and yesterday was my 100th post about OVERSHOT. I guess that is one of my favorite weave structures. I think I like it because I "get it". I like the looks of crackle and summer and winter on more than four, but don't truly understand them. YET! I am sure as the year progresses, I will do more exploring with Crackle and S&W and more...............

No Weaving Today!

  As you can see by the expression on my friends face, I didn't do much weaving, threading, winding, or much of anything today except reading  The Weaving Roses of Rhode Island book. (Isadora M. Safner - Interweave Press)

What an interesting life he and his sister led. I think he especially loved to weave and didn't think of it as a job. You can feel some of this in his letters. Anyone who loves overshot will love this book even if they never intend to weave his drafts.

Starting on Ladey Washington

Have a few more yards to wind, but will go ahead and start sleying the reed. The cross holder I use works the best on this loom. I can just sley a few threads, go for cake, then return without loosing my cross.

 

 

I use the orange loopers to help secure the warp chain to the breast beam. The yellow rubber band on the cross holder is to hold it onto the breast beam. Maybe I need something to hold me onto the loom bench so I get some threads threaded!

 



Weaver Rose and Ladey Washigton

I am thinking that this might be the way to go with this draft. I will use one color when I tread on treadles one and two and the other color when I tread on treadles three and four. And for the tabbies, I will use the same as the warp.

Some of the treadling repeats are a bit long, so will have to wait and see how it goes when I actually weave it.

I have thought that Weaver Rose was spelling 'lady' (girl) but maybe he was calling this 'lad-y' (small boy)???? I just know that the only two colors I have to use is red and blue with this white warp. Any other colors and I will have to order. Maybe I should quit thinking and finish winding the warp!

Weaver Rose #156

Weaver Rose #156 is washed.

Remember I used the 5/2 cotton as weft. I think this was  a good choice for the 10/2 warp. Now I need to iron. It may want to sit on my shelf for a while until it decides what it really wants to be.

I am still thinking that a small lap robe would be good. But time will tell!

Weaver Rose Washed

Here are a couple of photo's of the Weaver Rose draft #156 where I was trying out 5/2 and 10/2 for the weft. I have washed in the washer on warm/cool water and on medium heat in the dryer. I forgot to measure the off loom width, but looks like it did shrink some. Have not pressed yet.

 

Look at the difference of the size of the all blue and the two color samples. It was the 5/2 cotton weft-for the all blue. It is longer because I put  four repeats in there instead of three, so it looks elongated. The two color one used 10/2 for both. Not really that much difference in the grand scheme of things.

I like this on the best. But didn't have enough of both colors to weave my project.

Thinking Heddles

OK, it's a good thing I thought about all the heddle moving and/or joggling... I think it would be 'way better' to just use the Macomber. I have lots of heddles on shafts one through four. I even need to move some off to the side out of the way. Whew! I wasn't looking forward to all that moving or joggling or thinking...

I only have 320 more ends to wind before I can start threading the "Ladey Washington" draft. Don't you just love how Weaver Rose has spelled 'ladey'? He and I must have gone to the same Spelling School.

Winding Warp

Winding a six hundred plus warp will take a little time. I only have the one cone of yarn and I don't mind winding one tread at a time. It gives me time to see each thread and know I have my cross correct. And using the colorful nylon loopers as choke ties helps the job be fun.

 

I use a kite stick to keep my threads in order and under tension. I have told about this before, so if interested, click on 'kite stick' on my subject list. 

 

Getting Ready for Another One

Weaver Rose continues...............

Here is the draft I am going to do next. I have taped two of the drafts side by side so I can see what the center seam will look like. If all goes well, maybe I will have a lap robe.

I don't have enough heddles on my first four shafts, so I will need to work on that. I can't decide if I want to shift the heddles, or since I have an eight shaft loom, just use the heddles on the other shafts.

I need 33 extra heddles on shaft one. So I can 'pretend' and use 33 from shaft five and then when I do my tie-up, I will tie shafts one and five as if they were shaft one. But shaft two need some too, so I may just move the heddles onto shafts one and two. May be less confusing. But moving heddles isn't one of my favorite things.

There is a lot of thinking and preparing before I can begin winding a warp. Maybe tomorrow I can get that started. The winding..... not the thinking! I hope to finish thinking today!!

Hand Woven Treasures

I have begun to wind a warp for another Weaver Rose draft. But, since it calls for over 600 ends, I will try to catch up on a few UFP's (un-finished projects) between winding. And yes, I am winding one thread at a time! My choice. It's a Zen thing!!

I was fixing breakfast and thought how, as a weaver, I have lots of items for my home. And several items are from my weaving friends. Here is just a very small sample of some hand woven items that make my world a little brighter. Thanks girls!!!!!!

Becky and Barbara kitchen towels.

Placemat from Gayle.

Pillow from Tomi.

Woven felted pot holder from Dawn.

A look Back

Looking back to 2012   

 

Was a very good fiber year! I had fun, learned a lot from my fellow guild members, taught a summer and winter workshop, attended guild meetings and dye workshops, and used up some of the stash. Had some great project work out and some -not so much. All in all, a good time was had by me!

                                        

                                                               

                                                                                                  

 

       

Learning about Supplementary Warp

 

Guild Meeting:
Marilynn tackles Supplementary Warp, aka-Warp Brocade. Here she explaining the technique and giving pointers on some of the do's and don'ts. Very interesting.   

The show and tell was so awesome I forgot to take photos. Let me just tell you that there was some beautiful stuff. And someone needs to ask Marty about that vest!