A Class Act

I'm weaving classy "classic Drall weave".... in between tax prep, yard work, window cleaning,  and catching up on Life.  One side effect of deteriorated joints and surgeries is that sets you on the sidelines and you watch other people doing things and going places.   Like you used to do.

Well, I'm feeling stronger and more myself again and I have some serious catching up to do! Some decisions to be made.

Like what colour weft to use with grape 20/2 silk?  How about mint fine bamboo?    These are going to be nice once washed and pressed up. You can see the silk's sheen coming through already as it turns the corner on the breast beam.

Next scarf? I'm staying with fine bamboo and either an old gold or ??   I'll show you what I decide next post.

I'm losing ground on the stock situation as my neighbour came over and bought two scarves for his mother and aunt both turning 90.  I'm very pleased he thought my scarves worthy of a special gift like that.   I'm going to have to keep plugging away and try to get my sales chest built back up again!

I need towels, runners and shawls  so check in from time to time and see what's being dreamed up and made real.  

That's what we do you know.... take an image from our mind and make it real.

With help from your friends of course....

Its only fair as I helped him at his job some years ago....

This is how I spent two weeks over Christmas 1984. The Via  passenger train.  The engineer, my husband Bruce,  sits on the right hand side. Everyone thought I was running the train and I was happy to let them keep thinking that!

... And Sometimes More is Better!

That last project was fun.... and I *loved* the results. So why not do it again?   Some changes to the project this time round:

• I increased the size of the 'boxes' width by four ends per box. The overall width went up by half and inch to 7.5 inches
• I added an extra black warp thread to the selvedges, so when it gets compacted its still the same size as the central dividers. Nit picky I know....
• I changed two colours to brighten things up, but left three as they still complimented the colour scheme.

I'm like this when I follow a cake or main dinner recipe too. I follow the rules and recipe faithfully the first time, then I make adjustments to suit me.   It works....

This was not a complicated weave to treadle but this one took time as I had hurt my new knee and so I had to be more careful and weave only in small timed sessions.  After months of pain and recovery, I do not want to mess it up!   Spring has also arrived here and so we have been tackling other jobs such as taxes, yard work,  spring cleaning in the house and our ever present "downsizing stuff".   Its an energetic time of year and the outdoors beckons again.  The calendar is also starting filling up with plans for trips,  house guests and summer events.   

Finally, the scarves were all done, the fringes twisted, hand washed and dried over night. A good hard pressing and fringe trimmed up neat.    I dragged Madge back outside again and she and I did some poses.  She's a rather wooden and stubborn model but the only one I have. Next gal will hopefully have arms!

Hanging straight to show over all length.

Then some flips and folds for flare....

... and in this one below, I turned the centre to show the opposite side. Its fully reversible.

Then I got my own private black  rain cloud and so we dashed back inside and shot a few more.  I used every light I own, a white back ground and a flash so sorry if these are a bit dark.

They do show how rich the colours are! Tencel is super for the rich deep shades they have, plus black does make the colours pop.

Here you can see the reversing twill more clearly. 

These two (above) show the finishing details: small neat hemstitching to secure the edge threads and tight twisting.   No beads this time as they are busy enough as they are.

So now what?  I have some 20/2 silk just beamed on the Spring loom and I'm two thirds through the threading for classic drall.    Here's my other studio helper, Bruce.  He's right there when ever a new warp needs beaming or loom needs lifting. That's the  drall silk in the picture.... a nice grape purple!

An upgrade in computers means the Megado is waiting for  reloading of USB to serial port drivers... again.   So that's on the 'to-do' list and will be done shortly.

I'm slowly working through more family photos and work on them at night as we watch the TV.  I'm somewhere in the range of 1500 scanned now and probably as much again to do.    "Eating the elephant one bite at a time"   I must state for the record that no elephants are harmed here and I personally like them.   🐘