Christmas in July............

First off, why in the world do my pictures from my phone want to turn sideways when uploaded to the blog??? I took pictures holding the phone 2 different ways and the same happened with each. Many times at least one of them will be turned correctly.  And I save them to my computer and edit them turning them the correct way but when loaded to blogger they turn back. ACK.  I give up. 

Anyhow, got heddles threaded, reed sleyed yesterday on this warp. It's a combination weave from a workshop I took from Robyn Spady. the threading is based on the Periwinkle overshot pattern in the Davison book. The treadling is polychrome swivel. This makes a sturdy fabric but not suitable for anything where the back would show as there are very long floats - would be great upholostery fabric or for a project that is lined. I'll be using this for our holiday card inserts. So far it's been slow weaving only because I haven't gotten in a rhythm with the color changes and treadling. Maybe others wouldn't think it's slow weaving but for me it is.........but since I'm not weaving to sell anymore it really doesn't matter. 

I have another pair of socks started, will take a photo once I'm more than 2" into the knitting. I want some denim colored socks, only denim, not stripes or other patterns.  I'm still working on some black socks but can't take those places to work on because if the light isn't good I can't see well, especially if I drop a stitch. 

 

Not the traditional overshot

This baby blanket warp is not the traditional colonial overshot - the border is but using stripes in the warp is not. There will be this large border area on each end of the blanket. I love the look. This afternoon I got this warp tied on and started weaving, then it was just too danged hot to continue weaving, just got enough done to see how it will look.

One warp off, another to go on........

I finally got back to the loom to finish up that warp based on the name draft 'Sand and Sea'. I wove 4 placemats and a runner with green and tan for the weft, very subtle, then today I wove this runner using lavender and white for the weft. They are in the washer as I post. 

I pulled out a painted warp to put on the loom next, enough for 3 tencel scarves.....have decided on 8 harness turned twill blocks using a Fibonacci sequence for the warp blocks and will treadle random size blocks......will be fun to play. Not sure if I'll get it on the loom tomorrow but I'd like to think so.....sometimes life gets in the way........

Too much noise......

There's too much noise in my head right now, can't concentrate very well. I did rethread the heddles this morning without incident, sleyed the reed, tied on and started weaving.  I can't tell you how many times I took out some shots but now I'm doing ok. I just don't get it - I rarely make mistakes and never to this magnitude. I'm blaming it on the noise in my head, too much going on, some stressful things, some overwhelming things.....so I'm trying to quiet it by just sitting and weaving the fabric for our holiday card inserts.  Only the small motif will show through the window of the card, contemplating making it so it shows from both the front of the card and the inside......will do a sample to see if that works well. This is the Snowballs No.2 pattern out of the Josephine Estes miniatures monograph with the added border between the motifs for this project, normally those motifs are right next to each other.

Spring on my mind......

Spring is on my mind, not that I mind the winter rains but I love the spring flowers. Daffodils come up here, the ones the ground squirrels haven't eaten, since the deer leave them alone but I love tulips and miss them in my yard.....there are actually 6 of them planted by the former owner that as soon as they appear the deer snatch off their tasty tops. Yesterday I put on a 5/2 perle cotton warp to make some tulip table runners for a holiday table runner exchange. I'm calling them Easter runners since I always think of tulips at Easter but being a spring flower the runner could be used all spring long, not just for a holiday. This picture is from one I happen to have, new warp is on the loom but not tied on the front beam yet, weaving will commence soon. This draft comes from the mongraph by Nellie Burnham called Handwoven Overshot Figures on Eight Harnesses. I love this monograph, such fun designs but many of them would take many more pedals than I have on my loom so I use Tim's Treadle Reducer to quickly figure out the easiest way to treadle, usually pressing down on two treadles at a time in a few spots.