When to Throw in the Towel

Blogger is turning things sideways again... sorry 'bout that. Do you recall this one? I posted about it here, with a further link in that post back to Nov 15th! Wow, now that's some time ago! I managed to ignore it quite well huh? That's because I had trouble with crummy edges and nothing seemed to work to fix it. I doubled the floating selvedges and added extra weight... nope! I tried many other wefts and they all looked the same. Lynnette suggested rethreading the edges and I tried various combos and .... all looked crappy. So, I got busy elsewhere and ignored it. I had plenty of legitimate reasons to 'be busy' but in a recently posted blog picture I saw my Lilibet Louet with a sheet over her and realized it had gone far enough. I don't normally do warp avoidance so this was unusual so its time to get this puppy off the loom! I'm not cutting it off but rethinking the project and reworking it. I now have a 10 inch long sample and I'm left with 8 yards of 2/30 silk.

I slid a lease stick up and under the warp and then used a smaller stick to push down on the warp and pull the ends out of the heddles and lay nicely. I can reach for a few ends at a time and keep a fairly orderly sequence.

Okay, that's done. Now what pattern to use? Given the edge issues, I thought something with plain weave for at least half an inch on either side. The warp appears shiny in this picture but in reality, not so much. Its also fine and subject to static and clings to every little bit of roughness on my fingers. I flipped through all my sample binders to review what I have done before and from my weaver friends....but nothing spoke to me. I have a love of complex twills and suddenly I recalled my iridescence scarves. Why not try that draft with the silk and some interesting silk blend mixes?

I went slowly through the threading but apparently I did make some silly mistakes so after three tries, I finally got them all corrected. Then I accidentally snipped a warp thread with my new super sharp embroidery scissors and had now had to place a repair end. What is going on? so many darn mistakes? Oh, well... take a deep breath and carry on.

I sure hope this works!

So what do you think?

The weft is a pewter coloured silk yak blend. The back side shows the pattern as black. I tried to get a picture of it but perhaps later when its heading to the cloth beam. Here's a close up:

I'll leave extra length for fringes and longer scarves... and get two off this warp, plus samples.

This is a compromise I can live with! It was good to change horses in mid stream. :)

Reno News:

Well, it was a relatively quiet past week. We now have matching trim around the dishwasher and microwave. We have also made a choice of stain for the wood parts for the island this past weekend. That red tone radiating up from the walnut floor confused things, so we are holding our breath to see what will happen next!

Our new painter Shawn has been here and repainted the skylights so they are the same colour as the new cupboards. Looks way nicer! The 'green faux wall of shame' in the stairwell is now properly painted and a thing of the past. Now the paneling of the lower portions can go ahead soon, as well as the new stair skirting.

The paint job (done by the other painters) in the kitchen must be redone as it has gazillions of fibre bits from a (cheap?) roller that stick up everywhere! This can't be done until the new patio doors go in and that's happening today and will be a day long event. There's three patio doors and two entry doors, plus a new door for the garden shed. Then they must all be trimmed out and then painting can recommence. We have decided to go ahead and paint the living room as well as the existing paint is tired looking. We may as well just get it done now as its no extra difficulty. The house is already a total mess and I'm sure that later won't happen. Once this place is back to normal, I don't want to see another can of paint or brush for a long time!

Having said that.... a reality check.... and now back to the laundry room! (which suffered the most damage from the old dishwasher overflow last November) is close to be worked on! The plumber came yesterday and again this morning to reposition some pipes and move the laundry tub. When done the restoration company has the green light to come in and get busy! A new ceiling will be going in and then re-stippling... followed by patches/ repairs and paint. They won't be trooping through the house but coming and going by the back door directly into the room so that's a huge relief. They will even do the clean up!

Slowly but surely we're inching our way back. What a winter this has been!