Winter Showers 🌷 I'm Thinking of Spring Flowers!

We just came through a very cold week to ten days, complete with snow and high winds.  Darn right nasty weather. Then it warmed up, with more snow falling before it finally turned to rain and lots of it.  That melted the snow and so we now have water everywhere.  Ah, the joys of a west coast winter!

The daylight is lengthening and you can feel the light slowly increasing and by early February it will be very obvious.... that Spring is returning.

Vancouver Island is well known for its annual flower count while many other places are still buried in snow.  We're a little north of the mid island point but we enjoy an early spring compared to others in Canada.

I have always loved pansies and violets. In the language of flowers, pansies represent "free thinking". There is a whole world of  meaning in flowers and my mother taught me some of it as a child, but its forgotten now.  A gentle lady could say much more with a small posy or bouquet than she could with a hand written note.

Pansies, Johnny Jump up's and violets are such sweet flowers. They have always been a garden staple in our family.  I was a bit dismayed to see pansies with no central pattern or 'face' in the garden shops one year and thought them sad looking. Real pansies must have a face!

I bought a 8/2 tencel painted warp, shown below,  from Carr Park Artisans on Etsy that has the same colours as in the pansies above. (Christine called it "grape expectations" if you go looking for it.)

I paired it up with 8/2 tencel in  amethyst, almond blossom (now discontinued) and a few threads of gold bamboo.  The almond blossom shows quite pink in the cone, but the rich purples sort of bleached it out.  As I has no other alternatives, I went with it anyhow.

After I wove the first scarf, I decided to change things up and change the gold bamboo for olive green tencel.  So it meant nipping off four threads on either side and pinning in place the replacements.  I went from two weighted film canisters to ten.   Then I found I had accidentally snipped a pale pink  and so make that eleven now.  Its amazing that I have that many old film canisters to use, plus weights!  It was crazy advancing the warp and unwinding every canister. I finally sat a stool at the back of the loom so I could be comfortable while working.  I took a picture to show you my loom's 'wind chimes' but it didn't turn out too well. 

Then they were woven off and all the finishing complete but we had a run of nasty weather where you had to turn the lights on in the middle of the day and so taking pictures really would be an exercise in futility. Well, it is for me not being a camera buff. 

So here is the first scarf: 12 shaft twill from Handweaving.net  #55858. Its has the gold bamboo threads on either side of the pink. It all looked so good on the warping mill and it has backed into obscurity in the cloth. Oh, well!

The transitions in the painted warp look like ripples in the cloth.

The width is 10 3/4 inches so generously wide, and 71 inches in length. So plenty of cloth to make a turn around the neck or work a fancy draping. It can be folded in half if desired and it is completely reversible. One side is a bit brighter, the other a bit darker depending on your mood and occasion.

The second scarf has the olive green threads to replace the gold, and a new treadling variation which really emphasizes the ripple effect.  Its my favourite of the two.

This picture shows a close up of the pattern and colour shifts.

So, take heart... spring will come!  In the mean time, enjoying the winter weaving time. 

⚜️ I would also like to give a warm welcome to new Vancouver Islander's  The Duke and Duchess of Sussex!   They are living about three hours drive south of me near Victoria.  They are enjoying the same quirky weather, beautiful ocean scenery and island life.  In time they may explore their new home and come up our way.  Lots of places here for a private home near the water.

This English Nana will have the kettle will be on for tea.  ☕️    Definitely no 🚫 papparazzi allowed here.....

Fire Iris Shawls

Earlier this summer I spotted this beautiful bearded iris in bloom and marvelled at the colour combination.  This may well be a flower designed to be this way by careful cross pollination but even so the colours still amaze me. Purple lilac to peach to bronze and even a touch of yellow, red and burgundy.   I found out its called a Fire Iris.  

Sometime later when I was looking for a new project to add to the line up, I recalled the iris when I saw this painted warp hanging in my stash cupboard.  Add a dash more purple but this is close to what I had.   This picture is of the painted warp called Desert Vista by Iridescent Fibers.

I pulled out more than a few cones to play around with, even consulted with hubby over some,  and finally decided to use red-purple, black and a colour called Pompeii from Web's 8/2  Valley tencel line. The red-purple is a deep shade of the softer purple in the painted warp and the Pompeii is a copper bronze and on the orangey side to 'talk to' the bronze and coral orange tones in the painted warp.  It also worked nicely with the softer bronze  spots.   The black was best to pull everything together, and as weft, it makes the colour really pop and project!

Here it all is together being wound on and prepped for threading. Its the brightest warp I have ever done. I was worried it would be a flop and 7 yards is a lot of expensive flop!

Now, pattern?  I wanted something fancy and intricate, so all 12 shafts on the Spring, and also completely reversible. This makes the shawl much more functional. One side is usually a tad bit brighter, another darker.... and you get to choose!

I found this draft at Handweaving.net and played around with it. I altered it a bit to reduce some float lengths, but loved the complexity of the design.  I wound a pirn of 8/2 black tencel for my weft but found that it still seemed to have larger floats around the border and edges that I didn't like the look of.  So I switched to 10/2 tencel in black (I have a small stash that I generally hoard) and the smaller grist weft yarn made a huge difference to the float size.  It became acceptable to me and also helped to tighten up the pattern as you wove over all.  Despite the increase in pics, the drape was still wonderful later on!

You can see the "X" in the draft and the woven piece below. I wasn't sure how to represent a painted warp in the middle so sort of winged it with alternating colours.

The three pictures below show how soft and subtle the colour transitions are and I found myself wanting to weave more so I could see the next shift!  The colours got quite intense.

Look how intense the coral becomes! The red-purple really pairs nicely with its depth of shade.

Soon they were off the loom and rolled out all 7.5 yards for hubby to see.  The picture is a bit dark sorry.  The end piece is a generous sample as you have  to have a piece to admire down the road!

Fringe twisting got to be something of a long marathon session. Even with a quad fringe twister, its still hard on the hands. I also don't like to rush it and have the fringe look cheesy  after going to all that effort and expense.

Soon that job was done and the shawl was laid in a nice sudsy bath, while I fringe twisted its companion.   Drying was done flat on a drying rack outdoors, out of the sunlight.  It dried very quickly this time of year.

I gave the shawls a firm steam press with my Singer press, then a final touch up with a steam hand iron, to get those spots you can't get to with the press, and really bring out the shine.  One shawl measures 20.5 inches wide by 80 inches long and the second is the same width but 84 inches long.  Both shawls fringes are 7 inches plus tassel.

good representation of colour saturation!

I draped up Judy and took her outside and the bright intense sunlight bleached out the colours. I placed her out of direct sunlight and it was too dark.   Use the flash, and get bright hotspots on the cloth.  Then we had company for a week and I tried all over again after they left with no success.  So I photographed them indoors with better success, but still its not quite on for colour.

by the front door 

By the little sitting room

In the studio... where I stayed. Tired of humping Judy around the house and yard! 

Close up of the coral section below

Nice sheen from the tencel! Pattern is clear but doesn't obscure the colours.

Then I tried different automatic camera settings  and got more light but it washes out the colour intensity.

But you get the general idea! Its turned out way better than I hope for. Next up a pair of Royal blue scarves and they are rolling along nicely....   After that? I have another pair of shawls to weave (warp is pre-wound) and I'm waiting on a Web's order for a shawl commission where we re-visit something old again.  Time to get some ideas bouncing around so I can plan projects and get the warping mill spinning.

The end of the summer is almost here, and maybe this year it can't come soon enough with the extreme heat and fires burning everywhere. We are currently socked in with forest fire smoke and have over 600 fires burning in BC, including here on Vancouver Island.

I'll leave you with this shot that hubby Bruce took as we were heading into Costco, in Courtenay, the day before yesterday. They never barked and patiently waited.  They've done this many times before and know they will be back. 

In a Blink of an Eye

Things were ticking along.  Days getting longer, brighter and even warmer.... I was making plans,  winding future projects.  Finally getting my weaving groove back....

Then I was awakened at 1:30 am one night to find my Hubby in pain and before too long, called an ambulance for him.    That was the start of two to three weeks of  hospital ER visits, medical appointments and diagnostic testing and specialist appointments as he struggled to pass kidney stones.  The one currently trying to vacate is 8 millimetres  (that's this long: ------- ).   After a week something passed but tests show that both kidneys are full of large stones  and one is 2 centimetres! They want to get that one asap.   Then just over a week ago he woke to find he couldn't walk on his right foot and it was exceedingly painful.    Another week of rest and foot elevation before he could even get to the Dr and its gout.  It makes sense given his ability to make rocks.   There's a medicine for that and he's on the right side of that experience and now armed with glasses of water and a new diet.

Its a rather rough  start to the new year: a funeral and then all this...   We have been just dealing with things around here one day at a time.

So long story short, I have been nurse, cook, dishwasher, housekeeper, banker, laundress, and driver to appointments.  Not a lot of weaving going on and all of this was hardly anything you'd want an accounting of....   so no blogging for the past month.

All that being said, I do have some show and tell for you now.....

The warp is 20/2 silk in a lovely champagne colour from Treenway Silks. Its a pale pink at first appearance but then you notice a slight peach to it as well.  It was difficult to find a weft colour that didn't swamp the champagne but this slate grey 8/2 tencel from Webs has a soft way of picking out the pattern.

The draft is a 12 shaft twill from Handweaving.net #55861and modified by me to allow for borders.

It has a definite front and back side and while much darker, its quite attractive as well.

I knew that the scarves needed a little something extra and that possibly could have been beads.... but then the the zig zag of the pattern made me think of this fringe technique.  I think it goes quite nicely!

 For the second scarf I auditioned a few weft colours but none of them seemed to work with out dominating the silk.    Then my helpful Hub dug around in the stash and suggested this olive green 8/2 tencel.

It seems to work well with the champagne  and is a fresh spring like scarf!  Being green, it does tend to bring out more of the peach tone of the silk.  Its quite the chameleon.

Again, there is a definite front and back side to the scarf.

 I also used the same fringe technique on this scarf too and it seems to get first notice before the pattern, the colours....    Amazing how something so simple can grab the eye!

All yarns used came from my stash which was a nice treat.   I do have another warp just beamed and all yarns are also from the stash.   There's no danger of running out any time soon...  😊

 So its going to be a busy month ahead with ongoing medical stuff but the specialist is onto this and moving quickly.    Spring is definitely here and all the neighbours are out tidying up their yards, pruning and planting.  One neighbour has already mowed but its more of a move to clean the lawn than to cut the grass.    I'm drawing up a mental list of outdoor things to do like hose off the house and then clean windows.   Not just yet though......   first I'm going to see about throwing a shuttle for while.

Hellebore that bloomed in early January (Victoria, BC)

Its About Time

The signs are clearly starting to show.... summer is "done and dusted" and autumn is officially here.   As of October 1st we will have been here in our new home one year.  A year that flew by!   We have no regrets about our move to this home and simply love it.  We spent last winter looking at what needs to be done here and this summer we got busy and replaced some sealed window units, re-roofed the sheds (we had a leak),  checked our perimeter drains around the house (we get a lot of rain in the winter!), we're getting leaf guard protection on the gutters (no more cleaning clogged gutters and climbing ladders) and in a couple of weeks time we're getting some rooms painted to freshen them up. We already have a list started for some jobs for next year :  new kitchen sink and faucet, get one of two runs of side fencing replaced (a joint effort with the neighbours) and possibly more interior painting.  There's always something that needs tweaking!

After we recently went to Vancouver and saw the grand kids and returned home, I found my feet very painful again with arthritis and it hurt to walk, let alone treadle. So I took a rest and wound warps instead and wove when I could for short periods of time.   I'm waiting on  seeing a surgeon about my right foot, but the left is painful now too. Getting old(er) sucks!  So the studio has not been as busy as it normally is.

It seems I wasn't quite done with the last draft and tie up on the loom. I inherited a couple of 'seconds' over the years as table runners for our bedroom furniture but our night tables remained bare. This seemed to be a logical time to fix that and weave some up for our home.  I had the same warp and weft yarns on hand, the draft in hand and tie up all done.   They may not have been very long runners but they still had all the hemstitching!  In fact, it seemed like all hemstitching interspersed with a short run of weaving.  The day they were washed it was raining outside and so the rack was set up in the house to dry.

Tails were snipped, and then a hot time on the steam press and ironing board  and they were ready for some pictures.   There is also one longer runner that's 15.5 by 40 inches in length.  The warp is 10/2 mercerized cotton (colour: shell) , sett 28 epi and this runner was woven up with 8/2 tencel  (colour: taupe)

I wove two smaller cloths with the same shell mercerized cotton warp but used cream or off white 8/2 bamboo. This way they would match the existing runners in the room

Naked no longer!

close up detail of the pattern

Bruce has a couple of small little end tables in his den that needed a little something too, so I wove these small little covers for them.  I find it rather ironic that I weave miles of cloth, but it took so long to do these small pieces.  "The Cobbler's children have no shoes".

As you can see I reduced the pattern motif to fit the smaller table top.   The LED bulbs in the lamp are a rather warm white so I did my best to reduce the yellow in the computer. Now he can put down the cold beverage while he watches his Blue Jays baseball games.

The older table runners are up high on a tall dresser and an armoire..... so the treadling error isn't on full display but do their job well.   Yes, that's me at about age two or three with my mother.... a long time ago now. 

I held the camera up high and snapped these....  but you can see the new runners have good company.

We're all "matchy-matchy" now!

Some good news:   Two years ago today, I got a whole new left knee and while it was a tough recovery, its made a huge difference in my life! 🎉🎈 I have a 'birthday' for each one of my three artificial joints as each in turn resolved some painful issue  and gave me a new lease on life and, my main goal,  kept me weaving.