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Saturday, August 13, 2011

A Yarn Infusion!


I was quite surprised when I reached for yarns for the last runner project and found that I had big gaps in my supply! Since there was a postal strike looming across Canada at that time, I was *forced* to rely on my reserves  and as a result went with the navy blue 16/2 cotton. It was a warp that needed daylight and an additional light source too. It seems my eyes aren't quite as young as they used to be.  My first choice was a white, or natural or flax coloured mercerized cotton and I was completely out!
So out came my colour charts for Brassards and I went shopping. I built a list and then let it sit over night, then I cut it back to a reasonable amount  :) I have plenty of 8/2 cottons and so decided to stick to just 16/2 cottons for this order.   All these colours are available in 16/2, 8/2, 4/8, 8/8 and even the mop cotton and a 8/2 boucle cotton. Its wonderful to have so many choices and colours... all with great service, and, happily for me, in Canada!

I ordered four cones of each of 16/2 mercerized cotton in white, natural and a colour called flax. They are smaller sized cones of 227 grams. These will be warp for things such as runners, guest towels where I want a better quality look and a bit of shine.


Then I ordered some basic white regular 16/2 cotton. As well as being warp of weft for 16/2 towels, I also use it as weft with some 8/2 projects to help reduce the over all weight of a cloth. These are half pound cones:


Okay! this is filling up my bare spot on the shelves, as those are some of my basics  Now for some colour as  I have a hankering to try more towels in 16/2 . The finer cloth feels nice to the hand, is still very absorbent and they sell well.

So I went with a soft lime green and hunter green, navy blue, brick, creamsicle orange and a colour called honey:


I tried to get a triad from the colour wheel. I have no set plan or draft right now but simple went for colours that appealed to me. I've done other colour arrangements in the past two years and it was time for something new!

So with my order all in place, I did allow myself one guilty indulgence! I saw from their sample cards that they have French linen and I was curious. I've seen Irish, and Eastern European and even Belgium linen....so I ordered two cones of 9/2 linen in natural, my preferred colour for linen.


I think you can see the lovely sheen to the cones here, but what you can't see is the nice even twist and then there is the way the yarn feels soft to the touch. Linen usually feels wiry and so this is is a nice feature! I'm looking forward to using this as weft to some of the new cotton I just bought.

So what's going on with the looms? Well, I'm winding an eleven yard warp for ten towels (plus samples) for my large Woolhouse Tools loom which seems to be constantly interrupted by 'Life' but is slowly making progress. More on this project at a later time!

I still have the 12 shaft tie up on my Louet and seem to have settled on an altered version of the bookmark draft. Here's a peek (taken with my cell phone camera). Details to come as its still under way right now. Its the lazy hazy dayz of Summer so nothing is happening quickly it seems!


I see that the local Fall Fairs are coming up soon and we are into the last weeks of summer before the kids go back to school.  It goes by so quickly huh?

Before I leave you for this this time, a small announcement: Treenway Silks has been sold and the business has been transferred to the new owners in Colorado! You can get all the details at the web site  here
Rather than come from the island just off shore from where I live, my silks will have to travel a bit further now...

6 comments:

dorothylochmaben said...

My word, you have had some fun planning that order ! The colours are just so natural and easy on the eye, can't wait to see what transpires !
The French Linen looks very nice and I like the sound of the even twist, should be nice to work with.

I thought you had been quite 'reserved' with your order !!! It could have been much worse !

Susan said...

I'm chuckling here as I only showed a few of each that I ordered. The entire parcel weighed 22 *pounds*. In my defense I was trying to make the best of the shipping charges and I did only buy 2 cones of the French linen.
That was restrained I think :)

Susan

Evelyn said...

So nice to have a selection to work with when planning projects. Looking forward to seeing what happens with the linen - one of my favourite fibres.

Linda said...

Oh what possibilities come from that order of cotton and linen. Vicarious fiber additions are the next best thing to placing an order oneself. Thanks for the fun. I know we will be seeing some gorgeous projects evolving from these cones. Have fun!

Lynnette said...

I had no idea that Treenway was going 'south'! I always try to buy in Canada if I can and losing another local supplier is sad and can pose problems at with currency exchange and border delays - crap!

Twenty-two pounds of possibilities-what a happy thought and what a wonderful start to the long winter 'weaving season'!

Susan said...

Lynnette... The Silk Tree is still in Vancouver and does mail orders. There is the selection for sale at Diane Sanderson's Silk Weaving Studio at Granville Island for that 'in person, got to touch it before buying' experience too!

:) Susan