More on the secret project

 Another warp on the loom for my secret holiday project. I found this draft on handweaving.net - it's called Leaves or Feather Point Twill, Ann Frischkorn #79845. It's a 16H point twill.  This is a 10/2 perle cotton warp and weft.  I can see this being a beautiful scarf in tencel or silk - may have to add that to my to-do list for the future..........or a painted warp.  I think I even have a painted warp in the stash that's in autumn colors - hmm, something to think about........

Yet another warp......

It's good to have a weaving goal for the year with my secret project - it has gotten me back to doing what I love.  Once I stopped selling my handwovens my motivation went down........plus I was doing other crafts.  This warp went on the AVL yesterday. I just wove a few inches to make sure all was ok.  This is an original 32H draft based on Iranian tilework from centuries ago.  I designed it for a guild challenge where we picked a country's name out of a bag and had to weave something inspired by that country - I pulled Iran.  That was around 7 years ago, give or take.  I may weave today although I have a few other things to work on too so may not make it to the loom.

Thinking of guild challenges, our challenge for this year was pulling a National Park postcard from a pile of envelopes containing them. I pulled Isle Royale which is a Michigan island in Lake Superior very close to Canada. I had never heard of it.  A fellow guild member told me about author Nevada Barr who wrote a series of mystery books that take place in National Parks, the main character is a female park ranger.  The second book in the series took place on Isle Royale.  I have now read 3 books in the series, they're light and quick reads and I'm enjoying learning about more National Parks.....will soon get the next in the series from the library.  I have an idea for my challenge piece but am waiting for one supply I need - will share my plan when I get it on the loom. I decided in addition to a woven piece I'll also knit the hat out of the book Knitting the National Parks - I'm ready to start that any day now.  BTW - that book is a beautiful knitting book, love the hat patterns for each park. 

Onward with the day..........

 

More for the secret project......

More weaving done for the secret gift project.  This is a draft designed by Ivy DeHart - forgive me for forgetting if I got it from the Complex Weavers book, their website or handweaving.net.  I got it a number of years ago and didn't write down the source of the wif file.  The design was originally horizontal but for my previous scarf projects I wanted it vertical so turned the draft.  Once I turned it, it was 20H. This is woven in 10/2 perle cotton.  I originally wanted to use a seafoam for the weft which would have been perfect for a scarf or such but I needed a little more contrast so went with a light blue denim color. This morning it is awaiting washing.  

Yesterday was not without snafu's at the AVL when I started weaving.  Springs at the bottom of the harnesses sprung off a couple times, cable came undone from the top hooks and jumped out of the guide a couple times.  Very frustrating but eventually all was well, not sure what the problem was...........and then when I started to weave again I was getting a shed so small the shuttle wouldn't fit through.  I did what often needs to be done with techie things, turned everything off and on, more than once but eventually the shed was back to normal - phew.  The rest of the time weaving was uneventful. 

Next warp planned for the AVL.  It's an original design of mine. I may wind it today........or may get sidetracked and work on something else...........

Auditioning wefts......

I've got the first warp on the AVL since moving.......which means since taking it apart piece by piece, all 40 harnesses off, all 80 cables off, all 80 springs off in addition to all the wooden and steel parts. I had run it through a straight draw without anything on it just to make sure it still worked but hadn't woven on it yet. Although I'm not in the mood to weave scarves it seemed like a good time to do some to make sure all is well with the AVL. In threading heddles harness 18 stuck the first time it was raised, spring went flying off leaving the harness cock-eyed.....then harness 31 stuck.  I ran it through it's paces a few more times and continued to thread, all seemed ok. I had a bit of time this afternoon to tie on and really give it a test - all looks ok as I was auditioning wefts in this sample. I'm thinking I'll go with the lavender, 2nd color from the bottom, then the teal, 4th from the bottom and the rust right above the teal. Three scarves, three different colorways. Of course, I may change my mind before I start weaving.........

For those who may ask - this draft was originally horizontal ribbons by Amy Norris published in the Complex Weavers Compilation book, I think it was 20 shaft but I could be remembering wrong so don't hold me to that - I took the draft and turned it so I have vertical ribbons, it's now 32 shaft.

I'm going to get a towel warp on the Macomber this week too. But alas, I think my last statement is in the mail today so taxes loom on the horizon. Somehow I let myself get talked into buying Turbo Tax Home & Business once again.......all along I was thinking dropping them off at a local accountant's office was sounding much more 'fun' but I guess since we dropped $79 on TT at Costco I need to use it.......

First scarf woven

First scarf woven off the warp I put on the AVL last week.

Next up........

Next up on the AVL........wound on the back beam, heddles and reed threaded.......next up will be tying on the front beam and auditioning wefts for this 16H scarf warp........but I'll save that for another day as I'm getting used to cutting back on the business end of my fiber life and enjoying playing a bit more.........off to knit.......

Patina......again.......

 Here is one of he finished Vines & Leaves scarves. The photo doesn't do it justice. The combination of 3 colors of copper in the warp and dark teal in the weft creates the most incredible iridescence. I wasn't sure if I'd like them or not but I like them so much that I'm considering keeping one for myself. This one is now listed in my etsy shop.

 Yesterday I blocked the shawl I started back in May. It really looks more pink in person than in these photos. I'm not quite sure why I'm having trouble of late capturing accurate color.

Here is it worn around the front as I so often see shawls online and in magazines these days. Usually it's too much bulk......in my opinion......but this shawl is so light and airy that it feels great wearing it this way........yes, I did put it on to test it out.........

This afternoon after I finished twisting the fringe on the scarves and taking photos I looked over at my shelves of handspun and decided I need to get brutal about going through it. Much of it that has lingered is from when I first learned how to spin, and it is lovely, but it's mostly Romney wool from a former local sheep herder and just doesn't suit the type of projects I care to do now. There are some really lovely singles I had originally planned to use as pattern weft for overshot afghans.......but I no longer have those colors in my house so go they must. So, I pulled everything down and have piles sitting waiting for photographs so I can move the yarn on to someone else......and then other bags that I will give away. So, how come I'm moving out all this yarn and the shelves still look stuffed??? 

Tomorrow I'd like to wind a warp to get on the AVL but I could easily get sidetracked taking photos of this yarn.........I'll see how I feel come morning......

Patina

I just finished weaving a couple of tencel scarves in my 40H vine & leaves pattern. They're soaking in a sink right now. I used 3 different shades of rust/copper in the warp and used a dark teal in the weft. This photo doesn't do the color combo justice - it makes me think of copper patina. Do I like the way they turned out? Don't know until they're dry. There will be some iridescence in them.

This and that.........

I finally found some time to do more dreaded photography work, otherwise these scarves would get moved from hanging over the back beam of one loom to another to get them out of my way. Now they're photographed, tags attached and hung with other scarves listed in my etsy shop.

Here is the second echo weave scarf - this one has a red tencel weft. I've been wanting to weave something in echo weave but hadn't gotten to it, always put on the back burner. Our weaving guild challenge this year is to weave something new, the perfect opportunity to make time to try it out. I'll show my two scarves at the June guild meeting.

I put a warp on the AVL for my original Iranian Tilework draft. I love this draft I created and hadn't woven it in a couple years. The iridescence in these scarves is incredible. They all have a fuchsia warp, above a dark teal weft........

..........here a gold weft...........

.....and here a lavender weft.

I sewed a couple more baby quilts for donation via the American Sewing Guild group I joined in March. These are a part of our community sewing. I'm not sure what I had in mind when I bought the sheep fabric many years ago - so far I've made two baby quilts and there's enough to make two more. The polka dot flannel was from the ASG stash.

The train flannel fabric and navy polka dot was also from the ASG stash. I've got a third quilt in the works, a simple pieced top in red, white & blue, but I ran out of my leftover stash of batting so I'll have to finish that one up after I feel like going to JoAnn's with my discount coupon.

There are days when I just don't think I can stand to watch or read the news. It's something new each day with this administration, I use that in very loose terms. And the news is not good, it's disturbing, embarrassing to our country and downright scary. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 'he' totally implodes at some point but he's such a weasel he might 'do a little sidestep' and get out of it. Yes, that's from a song from the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, very fun movie, hmm, that would be much more fun to watch than the news..........

Pet peeve today - when people say 'you guyses'. Ok, when we moved to Oregon back in 1992 I noticed wait staff in restaurants would always address us as 'you guys'. Then it progressed to a plural  'you guyses'. I didn't realize guyses was a word, is it one of those new ones that I don't pay attention to???  Or is it an Oregonian word???  So, I'm used to hearing it these days in restaurants, store, coffee drive-thru but now I'm hearing it from our local newscasters........didn't they go to college??? didn't they take any English or writing classes???  Am I wrong? Is this really a word and I'm just behind the times?

Love/Hate relationship.........

I'm having a love/hate relationship with technology right now. My little inexpensive Brother sewing/embroidery machine that I bought only for embroidery is not wanting to do any embroidery, correctly, at the moment. I had taken it to a get together where others were using it (as a regular sewing machine) and lo and behold when Sam was working on it he found a pin (not one of mine) down near the bobbin case and a needle had broken off after it went through the bobbin case - argh.  He's worked on it and it's better but still not good enough. I haven't figured out what to do yet as the repair may cost as much as a new machine...........will be thinking on this for a while.  All I'm thinking is thank goodness I didn't bring my expensive Bernina for others to use............

Then my AVL was acting up.......but I did get the last scarf woven on the Iranian Tilework warp. They are soaking as I type. And my desktop keeps getting stuck in Explorer and I'm having to do hard shutdowns - it must have been last week's update, usually they come in on Tuesdays so hoping there's a patch for the issue. I'm thinking after 3 days of dealing with issues with computerized machines tomorrow I'm going to do something that's more 'old fashioned', no technology required.

A bit of weaving...........

The AVL was working much better today since I replaced the USB cable - at least that's what I'm assuming the issue was for it going wack-a-do. It worked fine all afternoon so hopefully that was it, those cables do go bad. There's still the issue with harnesses not raising occasionally but I've had that issue for 4 years. In March AVL admitted that was a problem and will fix it when I (and others) send back our dobby boxes for repair. I'll do that as soon as the loom is empty.

This is one of my original drafts - a 32 H twill based on Iranian Tilework. Next scarf on the warp will have a golden/mustard weft. Then the final one will have a pale lavender weft...........unless I change my mind before I have time to get back to the loom..........

In two days we have gone from winter to summer - what happened to spring???  Temps are supposed to come back down by the weekend, I'm hoping that forecast is right as I'm not ready for summer yet, I want some beautiful spring weather.

A view from the back..............

A view from the back of the looms - warping in process on two looms

Tencel echo weave warp - many ends alternating purple and teal in the lease sticks.......I did get the heddles threaded on this warp....this was one of those drafts I really had to pay attention to while threading........still need to sley the reed. I haven't woven echo weave before so this is a test to see if I like the feel and drapiness of it for a scarf or if it feels to heavy......I know I like the look of the weave structure.

Tencel warp in the raddle, going through the lease sticks awaiting threading of the heddles and sleying of the reed - these will be scarves using my original Iranian Tilework draft. This color is really fuchsia, for some reason came out looking more burgundy in the photo.

Finally........

 Finally a bit of time at the loom.  I put on a painted tencel warp, enough for 2 scarves. It's a 20 harness design, originally more harnesses from out of the Complex Weavers book but I turned the draft at which time it became 20.  Above I'm auditioning wefts. Definitely the dark teal for one scarf, still deciding between the lavender or light teal for the second scarf.

Here's the dark teal scarf. The painted warp is very subtle, on purpose, in pale shades of sea glass......well, not the colors of sea glass I find on the Oregon coast beaches but the colors I see in jewelry which is probably man made sea glass............

Another great day......

I've been having some good studio 'nesting' days lately. Today was another great day as I finally wove off a painted warp that's been sitting on the AVL for months. Obviously selling roving is getting in the way of my first love......weaving.

I found this draft on handweaving.net. I don't remember the name of it off hand and would have to walk down the stairs to the studio to get it.......and I've already gone up and down the stairs 3000 times today.......if someone is interested in knowing the name of it please leave a comment and I'll get it posted later - it is a 16 harness draft. Fuchsia weft here.

Here's the same fuchsia weft at the next color change on the warp. I forgot to take a picture at the final color change.......oh well........

Here's the start of the second scarf on the warp, rust weft here. Warp and wefts are 8/2 tencel.

This is the next painted warp to go on the loom. This will be woven in an 8 harness two block twill. I'm loving these colors I dyed........if one of the finished scarves speaks to me once woven I may have to keep it for myself. This is the next painted warp in the queue but might not be the next warp to go on the loom. I also want to get a shawl warp on the loom. But then there are the holiday cooking and get togethers so nothing will be happening right away.......

Missing in action......

Yes, I've been missing in action lately. It's taken a while to get over the 'county fair crud' respiratory infection most of us demonstrating spinning at the fair got. But Monday I could feel I was on the road to recovery - by Tuesday I was feeling almost normal. I can't remember the last time I got sick, as in what year it was. I'm paranoid about getting the flu after getting it around 15 years ago - I cannot get the flu shot as I'm allergic to eggs so I'm constantly washing my hands, using sanitizer wipes provided at stores for the carts, etc.  Who would have thought demo'ing at the county fair we'd all get zonked.  I lost the week at home demo'ing at the fair and then I lost a bit more than a week after the fair - I'm now trying to play catch up.

This week I'm trying to fit in warping 2 looms, it's hard as I've got many appointments outside the house. Yesterday morning I did get a painted tencel warp on the AVL. This warp is for 2 scarves, each one starts with a golden brown, goes to rust, a dark red and then very dark chocolate brown. It will be a gamble on what colors I choose to use for weft as I'll only be able to see what that weft looks like at the beginning of the scarf on the golden brown, not how it will look with the other colors.

Today I'm going to try and get started on winding a warp for the Macomber.  I have a deadline. Starting Friday we're into a bit over a week of painting - argh. Then I have cataract surgery (hurray) and with the lens I've picked that will give me a range of vision plus correct an astigmatism I have reading limits for a couple weeks so while I can weave, I won't be able to do close up work like threading the heddles and reed. I'll be limited in all close up work and reading.......although I can be on the computer as that's an arm's length away. So, the push is on to get warps on the looms. I could quickly get another painted warp on the Macomber today before I have to go out.......but I wanted to put on a long towel warp but that's taking a chance in getting it done. I need to make a decision shortly, like in the next 30 minutes. It really put a snafu in my schedule getting sick at the fair.......

On another note - we are still in fire season but it's starting to feel like fall - when I looked at the thermometer a bit ago it was only 42 out, the air is crisp, no smoke as it's all pushed to the west at the moment. The heat will return but fall weather is on the way.....rain can't come soon enough...........

Final gingko scarf

I finished up the final gingko scarf this morning, this time the weft was sage green. I have extra warp on the loom to still weave off - will be using a charcoal grey with hopes of including that woven piece in a purse. Temps today are to be over 100 - it was already getting too warm in the studio so I'm done weaving for the day.

Whoever designed this AVL V Series loom must be left handed - that little screwed on block of wood that will hold a couple pencils and scissors is on the left hand side of the castle - very awkward for a right handed person. I could move it to the right side but hate to leave holes in the wood.  Might have to check to see how much another simple little block of wood with a couple holes and slot in it costs so I can install a second one.....or I could work on being ambidextrous.....nah......too much work, easier to buy another one.

 

Taking a chance

I'm taking a chance here weaving purple gingkos - I really like it, very subtle. I was contacted by a prospective customer about purple when I mentioned I had a black warp on the loom and what colors I was considering for wefts. I don't know as if she'll be interested in buying once I've got it ready to sell but I'm taking a gamble that if she doesn't someone else will. One more scarf to go on the warp - maybe tomorrow.

I'm slowing down my weaving a bit to do other things and I'm enjoying it. I'm still really driven to produce so it's a challenge but I'm working on it.....trying to keep that nagging voice in the back of my head telling me I have to be productive all the time at bay. I'm also considering a big change in the selling of roving to free up even more time for creative ventures - sometime in the new year I may put that part of the business on sabbatical for a few months to see how it goes.........still in the thinking stages on this as it's a good portion of my income. I've had some ideas of drafts I want to create for the AVL for around 4 years but just run out of time to sit and design them - hoping to free up more time for that along with other fun creative tasks.

So, now instead of weaving on that last scarf I'll go paint my toe nails a bright hot pink.

My favorite leaf.....

I put a black warp on the AVL last month with plans of weaving more gingko leaf scarves. Today I finally got them started. I auditioned many weft colors, a small glimpse of that is on the bottom in this picture. First scarf up is a coppery brown weft. I think another scarf will be red, a sage one and possibly a purple one. Someone visiting my etsy shop asked about purple so I might give it a try and hope that someone buys it if she doesn't. It will be very subtle. I'm loving the coppery brown one above. Not sure when I'll get back to this warp - have another warp to wind and get on the Macomber and also have many warps to wind for future dyeing/painting.

A bit of this and that......

Today I got the fringe twisted on the recently woven handspun yarn shawl. For some reason I can't get a good representation of the colors - it's much prettier than my photo looks.....and so yummy feeling.

I moved on to stenciling on two ice dyed silk scarves. Very simple, understated. A dragonfly on each end.

A sand dollar and starfish on each end of this scarf. I used Shiva Paintstiks, which I love, but they need a week to cure, then the paint gets set further by ironing. This looks much prettier in person.

The AVL is now ready to tie on the front beam - more gingko scarves to come. When I thread the heddles on the 40 harnesses I let the loom raise the next shaft so there's never an error in threading..........but when I reached harness 39 & 40 it refused to raise them. I was hoping there wasn't a major issue.....as there are too many of those in life this month......I shut it all down and restarted it, worked just fine for the rest of the heddle threading job....phew.

And a big failure this morning. I silkscreened three black chenille scarves with discharge paste. Two with gingkos, one with abstract designs. After the discharge paste dried I got the iron out to steam  the silkscreening which will pull the dye out. Nothing happened, nada, absolutely nothing. Sometimes depending on how a fiber is dyed it may not be effective but this is the same Silk City chenille I've used before so I know it works. Then I started wondering if there's a shelf life to discharge paste - I've had this gallon for a long time, and I'm down to the last cup. I did have a newer container, although not terribly new but it's never been opened so I got a little bundle of the chenille yarn to give it a try. It discharged. So, at some point I'll be re-silkscreening those scarves with the new container of discharge paste. So, yes, it has a shelf life. When I get in the mood to tackle this again I'll post photos.

A novelty.....2 looms warped.......

 Yesterday I got a couple of warps wound.  This one is a 9 ply rayon, hand-dyed by someone else, it's lovely. It's the same type of rayon I've used in the white wedding shawls recently. For non-weavers this view is from the back of the loom after I've wound the warp on, awaiting threading the heddles and sleying the reed.

 Here's the same warp, view from the front of the loom all threaded and tied on. I'm auditioning wefts for 3 scarves. I love the coral/peach color. Am torn on the pale lavender, fuchsia and light pink........leaning toward the fuchsia but not sure about the others so I'll start weaving the first scarf using the coral/peach and think on the other 2 scarf wefts. It's looking like I'll end up with tencel wefts, one bamboo is too thin, the other too thick. This draft is from the Strickler book - I've used it many times, just love this undulating twill.

 I also got a warp on the AVL - it's all rayon, a random mix of 2 colors of yellow and two of peachy/tan.

This draft is using 32 of my 40 harnesses. After some lunch I'll either start weaving on the pink warp or I'll audition wefts for this 3 scarf warp.