More ginkgos.......

Another warp of ginkgo scarves......and then today I put on a painted warp and wove another ginkgo scarf. I'm not sure why the painted warp was only for one scarf, I usually pull them for 3-4 scarves, go figure, it was dyed back a few months, I must have lost my mind that day. I'll post that picture tomorrow after it's washed.....

White 8/2 tencel warp with mint green 8/2 tencel weft....

.....with tan weft

......with lavender weft

......with silver gray weft

Tying on a time saver? not so sure.......

I don't usually tie on to a previous warp unless it's something like a rug or rag weaving warp with few ends per inch. Today I decided to tie onto the ginkgo warp I just finished. I thought I'd give it a try because it's a real reach back there threading harnesses 30 thru 40. Was it a time saver? I don't think so. I can thread heddles and the reed pretty fast, tying all those warp ends might take me a bit longer.....but I gave it another try.......after all it's been a long time since I've done it and I must have forgotten it's really not a time saver for me.  I would love to hear from others on how you do it quickly - maybe I'll change my mind if I change my process.

Here's where I'm tying on to the previous warp. I stuck the lease sticks in the old warp before I cut it off to hold the cross and keep all my warp ends in order. Then as I bring new warp to the loom I put it in another pair of lease sticks (on the left) to hold the cross and begin tying.

Here's a picture of the 11 yard warp after winding on the back beam. It is a bit more fiddly with having to straighten out warp ends a bit since they're all a little bit off from my knot tying not tied in the exact same place - I'm close but not perfect which makes it a bit fiddly winding on - not something I'm used to in my usual back to front warping.

Here's a few from the back of the loom, I'm ready to tie on the front beam and start sampling.

And here is my sampling......not as dramatic as the last warp but I want to do something very subtle and light this time with the ginkgos. I definitely like the silver gray, jury is out on the pink, you can't see the silver lavendar very well but it's pretty, the pale mint green is nice. I don't know if I'll like these light colors or not......will know after they're woven and washed. I'm feeling the need to weave something that makes me think spring will eventually come.

Ginkgo's again......

Here are the last 3 scarves on that ginkgo warp

Chartreuse weft with the sage warp

Black weft

Rust weft

Yum.....pizza.......

Today was spent in Medford doing the normally mundane errands but my friend Yvonne came along with me so it was fun. We started out at Cash & Carry, a restaurant supply store to pick up more containers for my felting kits and a few other small things. Then to Old Navy for t's I didn't need but the colors were so beautiful...it's Yvonne's fault since she wanted to go there. Then to Kaledioscope Pizza for a yummy lunch. I sure wish there were one of these in Grants Pass. We each got a small pizza which leaves plenty left over for lunch tomorrow. I got the whole wheat crust, they'll let you get half one kind of topping, half another so that's what I always do. Above left is The Roasted Garlic pizza with roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta, roasted garlic, fresh basil, mozzarella, provolone, garlic and olive oil - yum!  The right side is Thai Chicken which is spicy - roasted chicken, red onions, bean sprouts, carrot threads, cilantro, peanut sauce, mozzerella and provolone - double yum! A couple years ago I brought home a take-out menu so I can look at their toppings and make interesting pizzas on my own at home.  And I get to enjoy these two leftover pieces tomorrow for lunch. After lunch we went to Costco and Trader Joe's.

Hoping to get some time in the studio tomorrow - time to get another warp on the loom as I finished the gingko warp yesterday (pictures to follow). I'm considering weaving more gingko scarves in spring colors and comtemplating tying on to the current warp......something I'm not usually fond of unless it's not very many ends per inch, can almost thread it faster than tying knots.....will think on it overnight.

Life is good......

Not sure why but things are working today. Blogger is working again and I can post pictures the normal way - the 'browse' button is back.......maybe it was all the nasty posts Google was getting in the help forum........I posted to say thank you for fixing whatever the problem was. So, I have no new pictures to share so here's an old one of my 'fun' car in better weather, my 2006 Mustang. No, it's not really practical although it does have a huge trunk for a small car and the back seat folds down to make it even bigger. I love this car, it's what I drive 95% of the time, I only drive the van when I need more space.

The loom worked this morning too, I got one scarf woven before I ran to town for errands. Well, there's still an issue but I'm thinking that's a software bug and it didn't hamper my weaving once I got it going....will be checking with my AVL techie on that issue.

Now if we could lose the frozen fog and unseasonably cold temps for this area I'd really be happy.

Can't get a break......

I just can't seem to get a break with this AVL. I got one scarf woven the other day but was still having issues with occasionally pushing the pedal and no harnesses rising, would hit the pedal again and they'd go on rising as they should. Not a big deal but it shouldn't happen.  I was very excited today to weave while watching the inauguration - well no go for weaving. I turned everything on and now no harnesses rise when I press the pedal. To add to this when I close down the program it won't close, task manager won't get it closed and I end up having to do a hard shut down to the computer. Hoping my in house techie husband can help when he gets home from work later, if not I'll be contacting my AVL tech. It's very distressing that I have so many issues with this loom, it's always one thing or another. If anyone out there reading my blog has had these issues with the AVL V-Series and knows the fix please comment, I'd love to hear from you.

So instead of weaving I put together more felting kits for my etsy shop as I was out of one type and almost out of another. Am now trying to decide if I should just sit and knit in front of the fire with the dvd for the first few episodes of Downton Abbey season 2 or if I should go back to the studio and figure out a project to go on the other loom. That fire is calling me as we are still stuck in the frozen fog with freezing temps...........

Revised ginkgos........

I did get one scarf woven yesterday afternoon, took me forever to get to the loom. I revised my draft adding 4 additional rows of 3/1 twill in-between two rows of ginkgo leaves and like it much better. Fired up the AVL and shaft #40 did not raise again, composed myself, turned it off and back on again and it worked. Also once in a while (3 times yesterday) when hitting the pedal shafts did not change (some falling/some rising), would hit the pedal again and it was back working. I don't know enough about it but seems like a communication issue between something, maybe the e-lift and dobby, don't understand it enough to know, Sam will look at it again today before I resort to contact my tech person. It's not a huge problem but with the cost of this loom and being only a year old I shouldn't have all these small issues popping up each time I weave.

 

Still not sure what the blogger issue is - still can't upload pictures in the 'compose' mode - have to go to the 'html' mode to do it. Supposedly they're working on it but it's been over 2 weeks now, will have to check the chat forums and see what the update is.

Phew....the waiting is over.....

Phew, the waiting is over - two of my scarves were accepted into the WeGO (Weaving Guilds of Oregon) traveling exhibit - all pieces will travel the state for a year. One of my scarves is the one above - it's handspun merino/tencel warp and a commercial black bamboo weft and beaded accents on each edge in-between the twisted fringe ends.

 

The other, which was awarded the Complex Weavers Award (Complex Weavers organization) is my ginkgo scarf shown in a terrible picture in my post from yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't take a better picture of it, that is a small section a larger quick picture taken showing how it is to be displayed in the exhibit - it will hang over a clear plexiglass rod showing the front and back of the scarf. I was working on a deadline to get it finished and in on time so that's as good as it gets. 

 

Now off to the loom to work on finishing up that ginkgo scarf warp - will be using different wefts on at least 2 of the remaining scarves.

Sam the hero !!!

Sam is my hero tonight......well, he's my hero everyday but especially tonight. I turned on the AVL, he laid on the floor with a flashlight watching the solenoids fire, which they all did.  He studied and studied and finally figured out that harness #40 is so far back there that any tiny bit off and it won't catch to raise when it should. He said cables can stretch with time so he tightened up the cable leading to the e-lift box and all is well. Turned everything back on again and #40 is raising when it should now - whoo hoo.  Tomorrow I'm weaving !!!

What I have learned from this is that I should always have a warp on the Macomber too so if I'm dying to weave and the AVL is having an issue I can move over to the other loom. Will have to get a warp on there soon......will be thinking on it while I weave tomorrow.

Best laid plans......

It's been so long since I've woven, right before Christmas I got this ginkgo scarf woven, cut it off and left the remainder of the warp hanging there waiting to be tied back on and woven off (this pic shows front and back of the scarf). So today I finally had time to weave in-between running up and down the stairs doing laundry. This morning I got orders boxed up and mailed, laundry going and then finally to the loom. I wanted to tweak my draft a bit to add some more rows in-between the 2nd and 3rd row of ginkgos (looking from bottom to top on the right side of the photo above). I fired up the AVL, was spreading out my warp and I noticed harness #40 was not lifting - argh! I must have shut down everything and restarted 10 times over the period of a couple hours hoping it would work - no luck. I do have the issue when I start up and press the pedal for the first time harness #40 will lift, then come down and go into the pattern with no issue - this time it did that but then wouldn't lift for the pattern, I even pulled up another pattern to check that and no go. What a waste of my day fooling with this. When Sam gets home from work he'll look down into the dobby box when I start up the loom to make sure the solenoid is firing. If we can't figure it out I'll shoot off an email to my wonderful AVL remote tech Melody. So much for technology........hope you all have had a more productive day........

More spinning.........

Remember the ugly bright handspun I posted a few days back?  I wasn't thrilled with it so I pulled apart the rest at the color separations and spun each color on it's own. Here's what it looks like all spun up - I love this - wish I had done it with the entire lot. I love the almost solids. Not sure what this and the original handspun will become - they'll sit on the shelf and marinate for a while.

I'm usually not big on British shows although I loved Doc Martin, but that's because it was so quirky. I had been ignoring Downton Abbey thinking it wouln't be my thing but I was hooked part way through the first episode. This is why I got all this spinning done - I sat and watched all 7 episodes of the first season on Netflix the past two afternoons......so unlike me to sit in front of the tv during the day. Now I need to find season 2, I know I can rent it, I'm dvr'ing season 3 which is on PBS right now.

 

I'm still having trouble posting pictures on blogger, can't do it in the compose mode, only in the html mode. I checked the blogger forum yesterday and still no solution to the problem, weird thing is that the problem is only for those using Internet Explorer, but it doesn't affect everyone using it.

This and that........

Haven't been posting because I haven't been doing much lately - getting sidetracked from weaving - I think being in front of the fire during these cold freezing fog days and now snow today has been more inviting. I've been spinning, a little knitting. I want to weave - I just don't seem to get to the loom - that gingko leaf warp is still on the AVL waiting to be woven off after I wove the first scarf, cut it off, washed it and sent it off to be (hopefully) judged into a traveling exhibit.

I thought I'd share a few things I made for gifts since they are mostly delivered. Above is a pair of knit wrist warmers from The Woodsy Association pattern by Tiny Owl Knits - I bought the kit for all the critters thru Knit Picks. I also knit two more pair that I forgot to take pictures of - one pair with a buck on each one, one with raccoons. I have a lot of yarn from the kit so I'll eventually be making more of these. There was an option for this pattern to do intarsia or duplicate stitch - I started out doing intarsia and realized with so many stitches of one color here and there that it would be better to do duplicate stitch. They turned out great. I did need to wear reading glasses and use an Ott light to work on the dark backgrounds though.

These are some flour sack breadcloths I embroidered for the breadmakers and future breadmaker in my life - I made the skull/crossbones style for the guys. I still need to make my own.....maybe next week......

And after a many year hiatus inklings have made a return. This year it's "She Sells Sea Shells". If you go to my December 1, 2011 post you'll see a small tree filled with all the different inklings I've made over the years. I guess I just needed a break from them, no lack of ideas/themes.....who knows, maybe there will be another one next year. 

 

Now off to sit in front of the fire to spin some of that roving I divided up by colorway from my previous post. I've already got 2 of the 4 colorways spun and plied - love the way they look - will post a picture once all 4 are done.

Some plying to show....

Finally I have something to share and I haven't been able to upload pictures to the blog. I would leave and come back to it and still no luck, the browse button wouldn't come up to browse for a picture. Finally I navigated my way to the google help forum, not as easy as it should be, posed my question and saw many others using Internet Explorer were having the same issue and that pictures could be uploaded through the HTML button rather than the Compose button until the issue is remedied. Just pointing this out in case anyone else is having the same problem.

It's been so cold and raw here that I decided rather than weaving I'd spin in front of the fire. I finished spinning this beautiful Karaoke which is a blend of soy silk and merino. I'm not sure yet what it will become - I've got 540 yards of fingering weight yarn. This was out of my stash, something I bought from Janis Thompson of Dyelots in Eugene.

Then I moved on to plying this blue face leciester that I have not been happy spinning - it's a bit too clownish colorwise for me......so, why did I buy this colorway anyhow??? This is also from my stash and was dyed by Dicentra Designs. I've got 681 yard plyed so far, the same amount left to spin. It would make some wild sox.....will be giving it more thought.

In the meantime I decided not to spin the rest of it in the usual fashion. I pulled the painted roving apart at the color joins and came up with 4 piles of colorways, predominately yellow, blue, coral and purple. I'm going to spin and ply each pile separately to come up with a mostly solid color with bits of the adjoining colors - I've done this before and loved the results. Maybe these 4 mostly solids could be good accents to the above crazy yarn. Will probably work on this spinning in the evenings as I get back to weaving. I have a goal to spin a bit more this year, and not to always be tempted by my latest dyeing but to also spin up fiber from my stash that has been sitting for way too many years.

Happy New Year

2012 has come and gone, does time go by faster as we get older? Sure feels like it. It's now 2013, the start of a new year for us all. My wish is that's it's an incredible one for you all. No resolutions from me this year, if you have nothing better to do go read my post of Dec 31, 2011.....ditto what I said then......pretty much the sale old stuff.....good intentions......got side tracked along the way.....but I'm pretty much ok with it.......I did accomplish a lot, learned a lot and enjoyed the year.
 
The waves have been pretty big this past week, even more driftwood, really they're trees from up the Coquille River, on the beach than usual. Tides have been high, even around low tide the waves have been blocking much of the beach coming all the way up to the dunes.

Here is the foghorn we hear at the house

Bailey is saying do we really have to go back home now? Yeppers, time to get back to the every day, every day, orders to ship, scarves to get ready to ship for judging into an exhibit, Sam back to work. It's been a great week on the coast filled with a little rain, quite a bit of sun, reading, relaxing, playing games, a bit of knitting.

 

I have to mention in particular that on Sunday we took a ride up to Florence, it's a quaint little town 1 1 /2 hours north of us. It's always fun to go through the galleries and shops. We love to have lunch at Lovejoys Restaurant and English Tea Room but when I checked the website the night before I saw that they are closed Sunday & Monday. Oh well, what could we do, just find another place to eat, after all the town is filled with incredible restaurants. When we got into Old Town I told Sam we should go by Lovejoys just in case they decided to open since it's a holiday weekend - the flag was out, open sign on the door - whoo hoo. We had the Royal Tea, might as well go all out. If one wasn't interested in tea, scones, savories, sweets there are many other items on the menu, it's not just a tea house. The salmon bisque is worth the trip itself. If you're on the mid-Oregon coast be sure to stop in for lunch. The food is yummy, the owner's delightful. Next time up there we will have to check out the antique shops, a row of them on each side of US101.......and have lunch at Lovejoys.