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Monday, September 3, 2012

Its the Start of a New Weaving Season!

That noise you heard was the door closing on summer with the ending of the Labor Day Weekend!  Oh, there's three weeks left till the autumn equinox  but it's clearly over. Birds are suddenly absent, with flocks of geese flying over head. The gardens look tired no matter how much you primp them and fertilize. The bracken ferns are turning that beautiful bronze colour.

We are starting on fall clean up earlier this year as Hub is having a knee operation early October. The big thing coming up is the taking down of the large fir tree that died earlier this spring and having the hedges trimmed up neat (the better to withstand snow falls in the winter).

Here's a studio shot from today. Some days I wish one of you could come and join me for company!



I have been managing to get more time in the studio but I haven't been pushing myself very hard. The Megado is sitting waiting its turn and I really must review the program manuals once more before my next session on it.

I did weave quite a bit on the Woolhouse and waffle weave towels today. I'll share more on the towels later on but most likely once they are woven off and hemmed. Its just the same view foot after foot, with yards to go right now so not much to show you.  I've decided to just weave all the yardage as one continuous length using royal blue as weft and cut apart towel lengths later. It means I can just sit and weave away! Podcasts, music or the radio.... and a 'no brainer' for treadling!  Just hit treadle one through to eight and repeat. Yes, I do mentally count as sometimes your foot thinks treadle seven is the end... and its not.   :)

That just leaves the Spring to account for!  I'm happy to report the Drall scarves are all woven off, plus I even squeaked out three small samples. They are all rolled up and waiting to be finished. That means serging the samples and pinning out the scarves for fringe twisting.  There are no lack of places to sit and work and so they wait their turn. The full reveal will come soon.


Seeing that the end of the scarves was coming up, I got busy and planned another towel project.  That's the new warp in the picture above. I have no towels at all in my meager inventory so another batch will help.  I have no plans to do the sales this fall season so I can weave away at what I like with no pressure. (There will be a brief break as I work as Nurse Ratchett for hubby in October.)

The Drall scarves were an eight shaft turned twill and so the tie up is still in place and can be re-used for this project. That's a great back saver right there! These turned twill towels are 8/2 cotton in soft muted shades of burnt peach, sage green and plum. My sett is 24 epi and I have enough warp for nine towels. That's eight for the inventory plus one for my kitchen.



The warp wound on quickly and I was able to beam the warp and thread all 600 +/- warps ends ( I forget the count right now)  in one afternoon.  Today, I sleyed the reed and tied onto the front beam and threw the shuttle! No errors thankfully.  It really peeves me when I have to go back in and fix a mess-up before I can get busy.

Now to test the theory that this turned twill draft can be used with another tie-up plan:




Looks good to me! The camera flash makes the weft look like a lighter colour but its the same as the warp.
Be back soon with another update.... in the mean time, good luck with getting the kids back to school, and back to 'normal' routines!

7 comments:

  1. Well it's busy busy in that studio and yes, I wish I could just come on over and weave with you ! Mind you I'd have to have the Spring !
    Love the soft colours in the towels and funny to see the drill draft in something other than a scarf !!
    Take it easy, there's a long winter ahead !
    D

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  2. What a wonderful combination of color and pattern with these towels, Susan! They're fabulous. I love seeing all of your 'girls' lined up at the ready...what more could a girl possibly need? Enjoy the time you have before your nursing call of duty happens. I suspect you will have a patient and appreciative patient, so some weaving will be possible as well. Always fun to see what is on your looms!

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  3. I will be happy to come and weave with you in your studio anytime you will have me. Love the drall towels the colors are very pretty together.

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  4. I'm another one who would love to come visit and weave with you. I've been a somewhat solitary weaver for a while and miss the social aspects of it from before my LYS closed. Thanks to your blog, and a few others that I've found, I'm learning so much and enjoying the implied camaraderie.
    If I may ask, how do you decide which loom to work at when you have so many from which to choose?

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  5. Its great to get comments after writing a post. I know it takes an extra effort and I thank you all!

    I have two spare looms here so Dorothy and Martha, who ever gets here first, gets first dibs!

    SpinZen: how do I choose? I've been chuckling since reading your comment. My first reaction was 'guilt' which loom has been waiting the longest? :)

    To a small degree, that is true but I also decide based on which project do I need off the loom first, or how my cranky back is feeling. I have an arthritic lumbar and so when its acting up I tend to avoid the Woolhouse loom and use the Spring. It also depends on the project too. Also, which one appeals to me more right now? I just finished weaving turned twill scarves and so a break will be nice so I headed to the waffle weave for a change.

    The Megado and I are new to each other and I'd be the first to admit that I'm doing an 'avoidance dance' around it right now. When my head space is right, I'll tuck the bench under my bum and get busy!

    I know that I'm very lucky to have the equipment I have here and don't take it for granted. The best way to thank my Hub is to make sure they are well used and keep them loaded (no matter which one I sit at on any given day)

    ... and variety is the spice of life :)

    Susan

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  6. Hi Susan - Nice to see things are happening in your studio - love the colors of the new towels! Good luck to Bruce with his knee surgery (knee replacement????). I wish him well and a speedy recovery. We are having our first "real" rain in what seems like months, we really need it here on P.E.I. I finished a small scarf warp this morning (2/16 cotton warp, fine weft), and plan on putting on some tea towels .... Weaverly yours .... Barbara

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  7. Hi Barbara
    No, not a knee replacement (although it will eventually head that way) He's having the op where they go in with probes and they clean out the knee and have a good look see at what's going on in there. It will be his third or fourth time for this and somehow he takes longer to recover ... which may be related to his getting older!

    I have to be 'nice' to him as he heals as at some point in the future I will be having my right foot operated on and it will be his turn to look after me!

    We've only had one day of real rain in two months...everything is so dry here now. But the rainy season will be back.... we're not called the Wet Coast for nothing!

    Susan

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Thank you for visiting... I love to hear from you! Sorry about the comment moderation but I will post them quickly. This is necessary to screen out some nasty spam. If you can't read the numbers in the little box, then click on the "circle with an arrow" and it will give you another. Keep trying until you get one you can read okay? If you wish a reply back from me then either check back here, or leave someway for me to contact you. My email address is available in my profile. Thanks for reading my blog, Susan