Perfect Match 🌹

 I'm happy to report that my back is settling down and I feel much improved.   There's still more healing to do though, so I'm still not weaving so this can heal properly and not set me back. (pun intended) 

I'd like to thank some of you readers who have reached out to wish me well and say that it is much appreciated!  

One special thing that came my way this week was a photograph I received from a customer who's husband bought his wife one of my snowflake twill scarves.  It was a lovely surprise and I must say he chose just the right one for her!  

Some of you may recall my older post called Snow Roses 🌹    Take a minute to read it again and then you will see below why this was the perfect gift. 

🌹🌹🌹

Life has Other Plans

 

Trust me when I say that I haven't willingly been avoiding my blog or  promised projects.  I have been laid low by a pinched nerve or crunched disc in my lower back and not able to do much at all.

Some days my major accomplishment is a shower!  🚿 🥺

I've been down this road before and I know the eventually it will settle down and I can get back to normal again, but in time. No rushing things. I want this to heal right and once.

So no bending unnecessarily and slow movements, lots of rest, ice packs and good drugs. I have been able to use my Hansen e-spinner which is a delight to use.

The picture below shows where I'm experiencing the bulk of my pain / muscle spasm and it still is in a good clench, but not quite like the original, not to be forgotten moment it decided to show me who is boss.

Hubby Bruce is taking good care of me and no doubt is keeping a tab for the future!  😊

Back soon.....  🩻🩺💊

A Life Well Lived

I got some sad news today 🥲

 

It is with regret that I must share the passing of Guild of Canadian Weavers Masterweaver Margaret Hahn on February 7th, 2023. She obtained her certificate in 1984, her thesis was on Opphampta. She also served as the GCW Test Mentor for many years.

I have posted her Obituary as published by her family below.

I was happy to call her a dear friend and weaving mentor and through her encouragement, had my feet firmly set on the weaving path, and my time and service in the GCW. Since I was a serving GCW president at the time of completeing my basic level, both Margaret Hahn as Mentor and Sandra Fearon as Test Administrator signed my certificate. The first and only so far I believe to not have a president’s signature. I’m fortunate to have some of her hand wovens and a couple of shuttles, but the best gift of all besides her encouragement, was her Megado loom which I use daily.

Margaret first came to weaving by using bed lap frames with her recovering patients in 1947 in her role as an occupational therapist. I met Margaret in 1995 as a new weaver and neighbour. She ‘inspected’ my first used loom and made sure of my posture and bench height to get me off to a good start right away. While I struggled with the learning curve, she picked up a shuttle and simply danced away on the treadles and it showed me what was possible! When I complained about my selvedges, she told me to ‘weave a mile’ and while it was said with a smile, she wasn’t joking. Of course she was right. I still recall her as mentor looking at an overshot tray cloth I had woven as part of my Basic level and she declared my circles as ovals and confiscated it and set it on her tea trolley and set a plant pot on it. She never did give it back!

Margaret inspired many weavers with her workshops and mentoring at both the local level or through her time mentoring with the Guild of Canadian Weavers. I know of several who started the testing program thanks to her encouragement.

After knowing her for many years I discovered that she wasn’t just Marg Hahn, friend and neighbour, but actually Baroness von Hahn. As you will see from her obituary, she lived a rich and full life outside of weaving.

The pictures of Margaret in a pink top are  from July 2012

This is her obituary and photo as placed by her family. Please click to enlarge to read.

🌹

The Ponderosa Guild of Kelowna, BC shard their memories of Margaret:

Margaret von Hahn

1928 - 2023

 

Marg Hahn, as the Ponderosa Guild knew her, died last week in Vernon BC. Marg joined us in the mid 1980's, after moving to Carr's Landing (Lake Country) from Winnipeg. Originally from Cornwall, England, she had completed her Occupational Therapist training at Oxford University, which included a vigorous weaving component.

 

Marg became an active Guild member, teaching various weaving classes, a term as President, and as newsletter Editor. All while completing her Master Weavers programme for the Guild of Canadian Weavers, with her 4th year thesis on Opphamta in 1994. John Low of Woolhouse Tools named his 'Margaret' draw loom after her.

 

She did take spinning and other classes, but preferred weaving. Dye classes at her house overlooking the lake was always great summer fun, as was attending ANWG conferences with her. Marg was always willing to share her knowledge with our members, in addition to test mentoring GCW members doing their Master Weavers programmes.

 

Marg was a wonderful weaver with great colour sense, excelling in silk tartan scarves and tartan blankets. Her Okanagan Tartan was accepted by the Lord Lyon of Scotland. Our Christmas sales certainly benefitted from her elegant work.

 

She stopped weaving about 2012, aged 84! When she moved from Lake Country to Armstrong in 2020, she very generously donated her many weaving books and magazines to the Guild.

 

We will continue to benefit from her legacy for years to come.

 

🌹

New Tricks

This was a fun box to receive last week! Its like Christmas all over again.   Now, not all of these are mine as some are for a friend who also weaves.

I have been weaving  all kinds of kitchen towels warps in the past few years and using only my stash yarns.   I still have lots but none of the "neat colours". I seem to have 8/2 cotton colours that really need something else to liven it up and nothing left for white or black. 

So I called in an order to Brassards and gave them my customer number and order. They called back to tell me that they have no record of me and that number belongs to someone else now.    Its been so long since I placed an order, they gave my number away!  That sure made me chuckle....

So now that I have a nice selection of colours to choose from I'm searching for a draft to do some more kitchen towels.   I'll make it a long one....

That book sitting on top is a brand new sample book as my old one is from 2013.   Its worth every penny too! Can you imagine sitting threading cards like these for hours on end? 

So what else is new?   Well, I have two completed shawls and three table runners all waiting for their glamour shots with the camera. Its been dark and stormy here and on the days the sun comes out, it almost blinds you!   So there's been  much going on and it will all be posted here in due course.  The shawls need to have natural light to show them to their best due to the colours of the warp and the weft.

The runners.....they can be hard to photograph decently and not look like blocks laying on a table and something more interesting is required.     But soon!

I discovered some new 3D printed brackets for the lease sticks on the Megado and ordered a pair along with their silicone bands to hold them in place.   They are printed rainbow style and shift from orange to aquamarine.   

 I just tried them out for the first time and apparently set them into the wrong spot but it seemed to work okay for the most part.  I'll try the proper spot next time on the next warp.  So here they are in use and a sneak peek at a new warp.

If I place them on the correct centre board mid way and turn the holders the other way, it may be too far a reach? I'll have to see next time. The lease sticks need to be trimmed down by half an inch as they fit too snugly between the sides of the loom.    I know they are a bit too low for threading where they are, but I love the whole idea that people (in this case the husband of a weaver) are thinking of new ways to do things and improve the process!

These lease stick holders are made with a Megado loom in mind  by https://www.gingerlockshandwovens.com  but there are other options out there for a few loom  make and models  at https://loftyfiber.com and they have one for Spring looms and a few other manufacturers.   Check them both out!

We have some valiant spring flowers starting to make their way up between rain squalls and gusty winds. They are much tougher than they look!   🌷

So I'll be keeping the camera near and watching for some sunshine (minus high winds!) and will be back soon.

This is our grandson Ethan who just won a gold and as silver medal at a recent jujitsu tournament.   For the readers who may recall me announcing his birth (which feels like yesterday) he's turning 10 in April. 

So me missing posting for the month of January is nothing to the decade that went by in a blink!  😳 🏆

2022: A Weaving Year in Review

Like many of you, I'm thinking about the past year and just how fast it went by! Another one 'done and dusted'   😳     We had a nice but very quiet Christmas and it could only be that way due to being inundated with snow and we couldn't get out!  We never got much of a fall and seem to go straight into winter with a dump of snow while the leaves were still on the trees and then it would melt and fall again etc. Then came the recent cold snap and more snow.  Winter has only just begun and we're sick of it already!     A pineapple express from Hawaiian waters came to the rescue and warmed us up and melted nearly all the snow away with heavy rains. Its a case of be careful what you ask for as now we have had some flooding, but not for us fortunately. 

New Years Eve was also quiet for us but we did stay up for the big moment and our neighbours set off fireworks and banged pots together.   🎉

Some years ago it became a 'thing' to photograph what is on your loom for New Year's Day and I changed it up to be a review of what I accomplished for the year in the studio instead.  I can say that I wasn't as active as in previous years, but I put more thought into each project and took my time enjoying each step. That's a good thing as Life is busy enough as it is and weaving is something I want to enjoy and have fun with.   Both my looms are engaged; the Spring has rose fibre shawls, and the Megado has table runners underway.

Thank you to Robyn Spady of Heddlecraft for this fun Bingo card for weavers!

I know that there are some regular readers out there and I thank you for your patience when the time between posts go long,   Blogger took away the email notification of when a new post is written so  I have to rely on you taking time to check in periodically.   Blogging seems to have fallen from favour with the trendy masses as they shift to the next new thing.   I can't keep up with it and don't want to.   So I am on social media at Instagram as @ThrumsTextiles, Face Book as Thrums Textiles, Etsy shop called Thrums Textiles, and my favourite weaver playground of Warped Weavers at Ravelry, as weever.    I will continue to post here; after starting this blog in 2008, I may as well carry on while I enjoy it. 

Now lets get to the review....  Click on pictures to enlarge.  Click on hilighted links to list the past post for details, possible draft and more pictures.

January 2022

I had some health issues for several months in 2021 with a reoccurring toe infection which makes treadling difficult and resulted in a minor surgical procedure in December.    That, and a shoulder muscle spasm meant I was healing in January, but I did get both looms full and busy and weaving was underway again.

February 2022

I had a ruby warp on the Megado and planned for two 16 shaft twill shawls. Some tension issues meant I cut the first one off and so this beauty was able to be finished and modelled. 

I finished these two scarves featuring a pretty little 16 shaft twill and a colour gradation. The top picture was recently featured on the cover of the Guild of Canadian Weavers "Bulletin" as they show cased their 75th anniversary online exhibition.    My first time as a cover girl! 😁

March 2022

Then there was three table runners woven on the Spring loom featuring pattern #246 from Carol Strickler's   The Weavers Book of 8 Shaft Patterns. The pattern when used in band of colours,  looks like straps interwoven, but I went for a more subtle look.   Some soft colours and its a play of light that reveals the interlacing bands.   A touch too subtle it seems as none have sold.   Its so darn hard to photograph white on white. I'm going to try again come spring and  with better lighting conditions.

The second shawl off the ruby warp was completed as well and shows some iridescence and our early spring garden.

April  2022

Nothing weaving related  to show in April but the looms were  busy, as was my e-spinner. I just love it!

May 2022

I was trying more of the 'interlacement' imagery when I wove these two silk and silk bamboo  scarves.   The treadling is done in little groups of three that you can enlarge in both threading and treadling to make bigger boxes. I thought this might make a colourful baby blanket in the future. Except later in the year when I wove a baby blanket I forgot to use it.  😬

June 2022

This month started with having a close call with our old car when the steering column started smoking as were about to start a trip. We got turned around and headed (slowly) to the dealership.   A shortage of parts, and of used cars thanks to the pandemic, but we did leave with a newer used car and feeler safer on the road, and a slave to car payments once again.   *sigh*   Hub went back to the dealership two days after we bought the car and discovered they had had a fire in the service bay and were half burnt down! No it wasn't our old car but it was the same make and model.   

Weaving is underway on longer warps of 8-9 + yards so they are all 'in progress' and I was also enjoying more spinning time sitting on our patio

July 2022

So finally one of the longer warps was completed and finished!  6 shaft herringbone twill kitchen towels that were fun to weave and a great way to use up some small part cones for the double shot of colour.  They have been a big hit and my local guild is possibly using the idea to weave a large 5 foot by 9 foot blanket for a local care home.

August 2023

I participated in an online towel exchange in honour of my late friend Padre Wayne Nicholson.   I received linen towels from  Cheryl in Georgia, USA and she received  one of the recent herringbone twill towels. 

September 2022

Our family Doctor announced she was expecting and I felt inspired to weave up a blanket  for her.   No idea if it was a girl or boy as she was going old fashioned and waiting to see.   So I started it a bit late so I could have it reflect a girl or a boy. Also, I was trying to use up stash... and I was shy on blue!  I forgot about the other draft I thought would make a good option, and went with  striped of twill and braided twill.    It was a little girl, so she got salmon pink hems.   The other two were more neutral green or plaid. 

These three scarves all have the same painted warp and with weft changes show three different faces.  The 16 shaft  straight draw pattern, by the late Ingrid Boesel, resembles ripples or twisted ribbons and the painted warp makes it look so much more complex. There is an 8 shaft version now at handweaving.net

October 2022

Continuing with the three theme, I was going to weave two shawls in the dramatic colours you see above but end up with three table runners instead.  Long story but the link will take you to the post where its all explained.  🍋

November 2022

The previous scarves I wove in the early spring with the olive to eggplant gradation had me wondering if it was possible to do closer shading, based on my existing stash. Web's tencel line has a great series of close blues into teal. So that's the reasoning behind these two 8 shaft twill scarves. I also thought that a careful choice in draft would also help to assist in the blending of colours, or at the least, make it less obvious.  

The first scarf I used fine 30/2 burgundy silk called Velvet Opera. It worked well with the blues and also the teals.    Then I dug around in my stash and found two small 50 gram skeins of dyed 20/2 silk that the dyer called 'vintage apricot'.  It was a peachy orange with a brownish undertone. I tested it and it looks fabulous.... and I had enough weft for one scarf! There are more pictures at the link above.  I really liked it, but I listed it anyway for sale at Etsy. In the morning I decided to keep it for myself and was going to take the listing down when I got notice it had sold overnight.  I also got another message from a disappointed potential customer who asked if I had another  as she wanted to buy it.    Oh, dear....

That begun the great peach silk hunt....  the original seller / dyer was not able to reproduce it for me, so had to go looking all over the internet.  Stay tuned.  😳  

I wanted to use more silk this year and had a lovely single scarf painted warp of 200 ends and added some solid plum dyed silk as borders.  Dark teal tencel was my weft and it was soft in the  colours and also the  touch.  It also sold right away.  

December 2022

I had fun winding the colour gradation, and so I wound another tencel colour gradation where the colour appears as a ripple across the warp.   See the colour changes in the fringe in the picture above.  Royal blue to greyed teal and back again twice.   I used the colour adobe as my weft and had fun weaving up these two scarves as my last project for the year.  Once again, they were snapped up over night and now they live in Maryland.

2022 Tally

scarves: 12   

shawls: 2

runners: 6

kitchen towels: 9

baby blankets: 3

A grand total of  32 finished items for 2022!

...... and I have also found the right coloured silk for weaving that special scarf again!   

I want to wish you all a very Happy, Healthy New Year with Smooth warps and Swift Shuttles!