Look who I found in the herb patch! He (or she?) sat very still while I went bonkers taking pictures and even the flash didn't phase him. Then I sat the camera down at ground level and got the one above. Click and enlarge... I'll wait for you...
Its a magic world at ground level.... all that is missing are the faeries and a hobbit or two.
Our new well is a two foot high pipe (sealed of course) and we are waiting on the next company to come and assess the situation and do the hook up to the house. No doubt there will be a waiting list to get the work done but we do hope to have it done before the weather turns nasty. While we wait for the second part of the water fix, we got word that our septic field needs repairs but a trusted 'expert' assures us it can wait till spring and we should practice water conservation in the mean time. For those of you who have been following me for awhile you must be wondering what else can go wrong here! So with that in mind, Hub (who used to sell roofing among other renovation goods) assure me the roof is fine for ten years or more....
So we are waiting and a bit on edge as it were. My weaving friends have all left on vacations or quick excursions and I have been spending my time weaving most afternoons. I have fine 10/2 tencel scarves in red and black on the Louet and using 30/2 black silk as my weft so the weaving was slow. It was just two scarves but the treadling repeat is long and tedious and quite frankly, I was getting bored with it. The weaving gremlins decided to have fun with me though. There were no problems with scarf number one but on scarf two as boredom was setting in, the floating selvedge on the right hand side (only) repeatedly broke or frayed through every four to six inches for the entire seventy two inches woven! I did try to work out why and fussed with cures but nothing I did improved it and it kept on breaking. So after a while I would keep an eye on the floating selvedge and when it appeared fuzzy, I would lift and pull it forward and set a T pin into place to hold the new section and carry on weaving! No point fighting it and I tried to work with it and go with the flow. The treadling sequence was enough for me to manage!
After the scarves came off the loom, I took a fine needle and ran the ends up and down along the edge...
Apart from a small 'tail' every 6 inches .... the results look smooth and like nothing happened! The scarves are on the fringing board and I'm working my way through the twisting. So no 'show and tell' just yet but very soon. So about the breakages, I have a theory: so why one side and not the other? I think it has to do with the twist in the yarn which when dangled off the back in a little weighted film canister unwinds slowly. It untwists and so makes the thread weaker and more susceptible to fraying and breakage. The other side is also hanging but its twisted with the direction it wants to turn and so is fine. Its always the simplest of answers I think….I’m not going to fight the earth’s rotational pull!
The Louet is sitting empty for now.... and my new student will beam the next warp sometime in October when she comes for weaving time here. So we'll be sharing our learning time with you as we go....
I'll leave you with these characters just hanging around relaxing...
They are Pacific Tree Frogs and we have no less than three outside the kitchen window. Every morning, while the coffee is brewing, we play 'find the frogs'. This morning the third was elsewhere. Its even smaller than these two.....maybe visiting that other frog?
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteI've been converted to beaming my floating selvedges with the warp. They won't untwist when held by the warp beam. If they loosen up over a long warp, I'll add a bit of weight to them behind the back beam. If I must add floaters seperately, I'll use two strands (finer thread if possible) so they twist around each other and don't weaken.
From the snippet you show, I can tell the scarves are lovely!
Pretty pics; I love the toadstool one-it would look great enlarged and hanging on your kitchen wall!
ReplyDeleteHi Carol...
ReplyDeleteI have tried beaming my FS in with the warp in the past with limited success.
In weaving no thread ever takes a straight line and whether warp or weft it climbs up, down, over and under the opposing threads. I found that my FS got tighter and tighter as I wove and finally snapped. It seems easier to simply hang them and so the take up is adjusted as it needs to.
The trouble is the fraying and breakage but that seems to occur (for me at any rate) with the tencel and just the one side. Happily it doesn't happen with every warp but often enough to be really annoying!
:) Susan
Hi there - unlike you to have broken edge threads ! that is usually my trick ! I wonder if you had a bad batch of tencel like I think I had ? I also wondered about the twisting or untwisting effect and I actually tried reversing the offending side so that in theory it should have twisted the other way. I didn't find that was the answer. My home made temple seemed to help and I beat with my feet off the treadles and those two things seemed to make the difference.
ReplyDeleteNeat repair solution though and looking forward to show and tell !
Dorothy
I love the frogs! I'm one of those who find these delighful fellows worth all the effort needed to photograph them. You made my day!
ReplyDeleteYour weaving as always is beautiful and I can't wait to see the finished scarf.
Reading your post made me long for next week when I'll be back in Canada - vacations are lovely, but coming home is magic!