Lusekofte

 Lusekofte What's that?   Well, its pronounced "Loose-coff-ta" or so the  online audio Norwegian translator told me.   If I'm wrong about that, please let me know ....  They also said it means cardigan in Norwegian.  I've also seen the term Mariusgenser and also Selburose So why are we discussing foreign words and meanings?  Because I saw the most amazing Nordic sweater in a movie one night and I was driven to learn more about them!   

You may have seen them on skiers and other people enjoying a frosty winter.  Stunning knit sweaters, some with sliver clasp closures, some with zippers, some are pullovers and some are cardigan style. All speak to the craftsmanship of the knitters and their designers.  They also indicate a proud tradition among Scandinavian countries.

Now, despite my mother's best efforts, I am not a knitter. Oh, I play at simple patterns but all the fun comes to an end when I drop a stitch.   I am a weaver and so this is my medium to express creativity.  So with a quickly jotted down pattern and colour arrangement on a scrap of paper, I went looking on line and found these two images. They are close but not the stunning sweater I saw (and sadly I can't even recall the movie's name now)

(I'm not crazy about the orange or green accents, so ignore those!)

This one is lovely but not enough red.

Eventually I rediscovered an old draft I found years ago at handweaving.net.  A twelve shaft Gbrochene hind und under that I modified to fit my shawl and concept.    So far, so good.

I went through my tencel stash and found the black, and undyed tencel which is just off a pure white. I had four reds to choose from: fuchsia , ruby, burgundy and a newer colour called new red.  Fuchsia was too pink, burgundy too plumy, and I found the new red unappealing.   Ruby conjures up that deep gem stone richness. This ruby red has a slight orange undertone when seen against other reds, but paired with the black and white, it has a warmth to the bright tone.  It was perfect!

So I worked out my project details and started to wind my 700+/- ends on the warping mill and soon they were hanging about waiting their turn on the loom.

Then after the table runners had had their debut, this warp was beamed and during threading I discovered that was short a few ends (oops). Even allowing for two black floating selvedges, I still needed two more blacks and two more reds.  Not entirely sure how that happened but it made for some interesting  stretch breaks.  Rolling up the paper, unrolling canisters, weave and then do it all again.

Below is one full repeat of the pattern before starting again. I used a 15 inch Schacht end delivery shuttle with great reach across and bobbins hold a good portion of weft yarn.

....and here's a six inch ruler to give some perspective of size.

In this picture (please enlarge) and you'll see the intricate pattern work that reminds of the pattern in the sweaters.

The weaving went along just fine and after eleven repeats, plus a portion to balance the pattern, it was done.  The wet finishing was done in the bathtub allow some wriggle room. I generally keep the fringe off to one quiet corner and out of any agitation.   After a good rinsing, I spun it out in the washing machine.   I laid it to dry over a towel on a drying rack.

The next day I brought out the steam press and warmed it up.  It won't do the entire job but it would get 95% of it pressed and my arthritic hands would be very grateful.  The only spot I have where I can use it is on the kitchen counter, which got a thorough cleaning beforehand!

It takes a big of planning and finagling, but you can get a long shawl in behind and onto the pad, and not burn your fingers! Its the top part that heats up. It would be easier if it opened up more vertically.

I had it laid over the left hand side and gently pull it across and onto the pad.   I couldn't do near the fringes and you inevitably get a pressing lines.

So out came the ironing board and my handy T-Fal steam iron.  This flattened and produced the deep sheen I was looking for and I'm able to work the iron from the centre to the edges and generally improve the over all appearance.  I hand sewed on my label and trimmed up the fringe tassels.

Madge wears it well!

The finished dimensions are 22 inches by 86 inches; the fringe is finer and 8 inches long

Here's a close up of the pattern area, after wet finishing and pressing. Its much clearer now.

....and don't ask me why, but I wove two of them! so this is the other one hanging around.

I'm back weaving yet another shawl but this one is a special commission and for now, secret!

Well, That Didn't Go According to Plan

So things were going well and then Bruce came down sick with a cold and cough.  Three days later, I got a sniffle.... then a sore throat and the cough came on.  There were two weeks where I coughed my way from day to day.  I sat up in a chair to sleep some nights and other nights Bruce slept in the chair to escape my coughing (where I sounded like a barking seal.)

There was a third week where we felt well enough to be functional but very tired.  We actually took naps  sometime planned.... and some others just snuck up on us when we took a break.  I've never had that happen before!   I'm still coughing but not as much.   It just doesn't want to leave me....

There is an additional problem for me.  The week before the cold and cough hit me, I got a tooth ache and took antibiotics for an abscess and booked a time for a root canal with a new dentist.   Well, you can't do one of those for two hours and have a bad cough..... so the appointment was moved to April.
 That was okay until this past Friday when the tooth woke up again and so now I'm back on the antibiotics again.

There was NO weaving for at least three weeks. I had zero interest and we found that we both were too tired to focus on things.   Eventually, we have slowly come back to life and some lovely sunny days really helped cheer us up.  We have made plans for the garden tidy up, what needs pruning, replacing and maybe even new patio furniture?    Now the rains have returned but it was sunshine enough to know its spring and we'll be back in the sunshine again soon.

Life has gone on around us and very nicely left us alone while we were sick.  I have been weaving two concept shawls  (both the same) and have one finished but not pressed and the other is just as it came off the loom. So they need to be completed and photographed for show and tell.  This is all I can give you for now.

Just as I completed the first shawl, I received a request to weave a special shawl for a client who has three weddings in May. So I got busy winding a warp and here we have 700 ends  of 10/2 tencel being beamed this past week.  Weft will be ivory silk.

So sleying is well under way and then a 12 shaft tie up to be done...therefore nothing to show you there yet.    I sold two of the four recent table runners, and two kitchen towels to one weaver, and also a silk scarf to another weaver!  This must the kindest compliment a weaver can get.  😊   Then I got another commission to weave two silk scarves for Christmas 2017 gifts (so no great hurry)!  So I had better shake off my cough and fix this %$#&  tooth  and get BUSY!

Other fibre news:    I bought some 30/2 silk in what I thought was a clear red or a little to the blue side.   Nope!   Its a rich red with an orange undertone and I will use it. Its a lesson in not trusting pictures on computer screens.    So this....

..... was actually this upon arrival :

The picture doesn't do the depth of shade justice.... its lovely, but not what the client wants for a red. 

The next  bit of news is one of those "special person",  and a "special moment" kind of thing. I frequent (mainly lurk) at some Ravelry weaving groups and follow along. One is a page where people reveal their finished projects and do some show and tell. One weaver, also named Susan, posted about her newly finished  turned taquette towels and I was quite struck by them.  I cheekily suggested she could mail one to me and asked if she would like my new address?   Susan said YES!   I said I was only kidding and she said she wasn't.    Oh, my!

So  big thank you to Susan in Staunton, Virgina!  Its not going to be used as a towel of course and will be in my studio. Fully reversible and impeccably woven on her Glimakra.... and with hand sewn hems!

I was caught a bit short of full sized towels to do an exchange but I did have one guest towel left in the huck lace diamond pattern from this older post and she liked it very much!  I wish you could feel how soft this towel is. Susan used 10/2 American Maid cotton from Lunatic Fringe.   If the dollar ever goes to par again, I would order some and give it a try myself.

Birthdays came and went....  Bruce turned his odometer one more turn, but we were both too sick to do much other than to write a rain check for a better time for his birthday dinner and cake.  

I must say that he did a fine job of  celebrating my recent birthday with me and I had a lovely day and received many calls from family and friends.   But we both agree that the numbers are starting to pile up and there are moments when when you find yourself wondering "where the heck all the time went!!"  I thought it would take far longer to get old. 

Another birthday at the opposite side of the age spectrum is this little cutie patootie, our grand daughter Madison who just turned two. 

I love phone calls with her as she says "hi Nana"..... and then tells me all about everything!

Ethan will be five in April and is very much an active boy and into all the boy toys. Here he is last week helping Dad at a pin ball conference. He's pretty good at it!   That's also the most stationary I have seen him as he's usually a blur!

Well, this post is a mixed bag of news and such and hopefully I will have things back on track for more show and tell and weaving related.   I'm hoping to show you my birthday present to myself as well.  I have a new traveling spinning wheel on order and on its way to me.

I have a lovely Majacraft wheel at home but its heavy and a bit bulky for taking to spinning days at the guild. I also worry about it getting bumped and banged around being lugged around so haven't bothered with it except at home.   So I researched my light weight travel options, took a look at my well made Louet looms and went with the 6.5 pound  Louet Victoria wheel (and carry bag)

It comes in either beech (shown) or oak and I won't know until it gets here! 

Blues Review

I left you waiting for the big reveal on the runners! I got the hand hemming done just before this past weekend and then I had to leave the wet finishing part until we got back from some days away in Vancouver. We had gone over to visit with family again and spend some time in the "Big Smoke". I guess I'm a small town girl now as I found the sheer number of cars and people rather unnerving! Its just way too busy for me and the city noise doesn't stop at any time of day or night.  Sorry no pictures as I forgot my camera!

Calli went into a kennel for the first time and she had great fun playing with her new inmates. She went straight from the kennel to a groomer for a bath and a haircut!

I decided to hand wash the runners and used a normal washing detergent and squeezed out by hand after soaking for 15 minutes.  I rolled them into towels to absorb excess water and then hung to dry over night.
They pressed up nicely with a steam iron. Its been difficult to take good pictures of them as two are a solid blue shade and one is 'busy' looking, but I have given it my best shot (pun intended!)

There are three runners; the first has  40/2 linen weft in a natural colour: (click to enlarge)

Here's a close up:

The second runner is all blue with (approx) 8/2 orlec as weft. (Orlec is like a skinny cousin size wise to 8/2 cotton)

The orlec is crease resistant and more easy care.  A closer image:

Orlec has such a deep shine, coupled with the mercerized cotton warp, it makes getting a decent picture of the pattern a bit tricky.

Finally  the third runner has 10/2 mercerized cotton in blue as the weft:

I would say that the weight and hand of the all cotton runner is my favourite of the three. They were all woven to 50 inches or  bit more, all were ladder hemstitched and are fully reversible.  They all go into the box for the coming sales in the fall. More complete details on the draft and such can be found at this older post  and this one as well .

My little assistant is a hand twisted fencing wire gecko with glass beads. He's a flashy  little fellow and originally comes from South Africa. He and his friend, a chameleon, sit on my kitchen window ledge when not modelling in photo shoots.

Next time... book marks.

Making Choices

I haven't fallen off the planet! I had a week where I nursed a twitchy low back back to something less painful. After spending three months healing from the last bad back episode, I listen when it tells me to slow down or stop!

My sister came for a visit and so not much else was done during that time also. Just a whole lot of talking! Its always memorable when my sister comes to stay.   :)  Since she left, I have been trying to catch up on chores and  life.

Let's talking some weaving !  I have woven three scarves in the Gebrochene / Hind und Under pattern and you can get the details here and on the blue runners here. I had left the loom tied up and planned a second project. It is a 12 shaft / 12 treadle tie up and quite time consuming on a countermarche loom, especially so when you have back issues. So I'm trying to get more out of the time spent on my tie up's by planning at least a second project.  The second project is a set of three table runners with the sales this fall in mind.  I left you last time weaving my second runner using navy blue orlec and one last runner to do. *Insert bad back week here*  When I finally sat back at the loom, I decided to go with another blue on blue and used 10/2 mercerised cotton for a finer cloth. It took longer to weave up due to the dark colours, complicated treadling and my sister's arrival.  *Insert chaos here*  :)

The good news? the runners are done and off the loom. The bad news? they are waiting for hand sewing the hems.  I'll be starting them after I post  and show them next time.

I did get another warp wound and onto the Louet Spring right away. I'm participating in a weaving exchange with the Guild of Canadian Weavers and the deadline to hostess Lynnette is October 1st. I thought it might be nice to be early this year and start on them now.  Its not a big deal: four book marks. That's it.   Somehow I have made it a big deal! 12 shafts, 12 treadles, 47 epi with a fine linen and 20/2 cotton.  Oh, and I put on three yards to make extra. Its a point twill designed by my friend Gudrun Weisinger and is treadled "network style". No distractions while working on this one!

This is one repeat and its only three inches long. Like I said, I made it into a big deal! But I love fancy twills....

Well, it will keep me busy for some time! I also want to do a second project off this tie up so now mulling over ideas in my head. So there should be some show and tell in the next post for you.  Hope your summer is going well!

PS We took our house off the market and staying put for now. That means I can plan a warp for my big loom now that it won't be dismantled. Life is getting back to normal.

Making Blue

The tie up on a countermarche loom is fully double that of a jack loom but oh, so worth it! The large shed and easy treadling is a delight. For a twelve shaft /12 treadle project, that's 144 ties. Even a healthy back may have an issue or three by the time you waded through that! So, I decided to make the most of my projects by leaving a tie up in place and reworking the project and loading on another warp. First project was three scarves and this project will be three table runners, all woven in the gebrochene hind und under pattern.

I was inspired by Dorothy's runner (also shown at the link above) that she sent me for my birthday and so went looking for a fine 16/2 mercerised cotton in cream. I was more than a little stunned to find that I have none! How did that happen? In fact it always makes me laugh that I have a stash the size I do and still need to buy more. So I decided to see what I did have that would work and found a mercerised deep midnight blue 16/2 that might do. So I wound a 6 1/2 yard warp of 537 ends, for a width of 14.92" in the reed. I plan to sett the project at 36 epi, using a 12 dent reed.

Beaming a warp on the Louet Spring is a breeze and it goes quickly. Here's a review of the process. Here's the current project ready to load on the loom:

The bubble wrap stops the ends from slipping into the raddle slots on top! After a bit of work slipping the ends through the rod and lacing on, and filling the raddle, you have this:

Slip in the brown paper and wind on, tweaking the threads at the raddle every so often. The warp didn't give me any trouble winding on but it was another matter when it came to threading! Mercerised cottons have been treated to be smooth and shiny... right? They should behave.... right?  Well, no!

Every single warp thread did this (above) as I tried to thread. They clung to each other like they were mohair!

I like to pull my heddles across in an easy pattern, in this case one through four and then take four warp ends slotted between my fingers and then reach through with a hook to thread. 

Some times the thread pulled free of its clingy siblings and other times, they knotted. I kept a needle handy to open snarls. This meant the threading took far longer to do and my patience ran thin at times. Air got a little 'blue'  :)

I also took many breaks as it meant being hunched over far longer than I planned on. I wanted to use a natural beige 40/2 linen and so wound six pirns tightly and then dampened a clean new dishcloth and rolled the pirns into it, then slipped it all into a zip loc bag and placed in the fridge. In 24 hours they should be evenly damp and easier to weave with over the dry wirey linen straight off the cone. {but once you start a project with damp linen, you must continue till you finish and not switch to dry weft. This may mean winding  new pirns and having to wait till the next day to finish. } Its also best to allow the new cloth to dry before being curled up on the cloth roll.  If you are not able to weave with the damp pirns, store in the fridge. If you can't get to weaving for a few days, then slip the pirns into the freezer. Why all this fuss? Linen is susceptible to mildew if left damp and warp. Defrosting pirns only takes 15 to 20 minutes ahead of resuming your project. I just leave mine in a spot of sunshine and its ready in no time.

This is the first runner underway and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Its a busy pattern and that's why I was looking for softer shades of cream to play the greyed beige linen off. I thought it wouldn't hurt to complete it as someone would love it and buy it for their home or as a gift.  Its never failed to amaze me how something I have woven that I didn't like becomes someone's absolute favourite!

These two pictures are of my second runner in a 'tone on tone' approach to use a play of light to show the pattern to a good advantage.  Click to enlarge and you'll notice that there are 2 shades of blue: the lighter shade is the 16/2 cotton warp and my weft is an approx 'skinny' 8/2 orlec. Yup, a synthetic yarn. For one, it was a gorgeous shade of deep navy blue and it also means the runner will be more hard wearing and easier to iron.  {Orlec comes in 90+ colours and is super for day to day table linens such as placemats, napkins and such as today's households can't fuss with specialized laundry. I have alternated end for end with a good quality cotton as well and the table cloth turned out great!}

Runner number three is due to start and I have no idea what the weft will be! It will be from the stash though as Canada has a nation wide postal strike going on right now. Can you imagine it? Being cut off from yarn orders like this?

Oh, the horror!

Worth the Wait

A friend in Scotland surprised me in the extreme with a lovely gift! I had sent her a kitchen towel for her birthday this past November, so when I got a 'soft' package, I assumed she had sent something similar... but no....

It's this stunning 12 shaft table runner with cotton warp and soft pearly natural linen weft. Beautiful selvedges, and lovely trellis hemstitching...  its beautifully woven! I was gobsmacked!

Here's a close-up of the hemstitching and hem. This is now gracing my dining room table and already some realtors have commented on it. (More on realtors later...)

Does this pattern look a little familiar? I sent Dorothy some 12 shaft drafts so she could have some to hand to chose from for her first time using all her new shafts and treadles. I started my scarves before her runners but she finished sooner. I lost time to back pain and sciatica and waiting for a new weaving chair. But slow and steady does eventually cross the finish line!

Ta Da!  Manikin Madge is wearing the scarf that is tencel 10/2 warp and 30/2 black silk, sett 28 epi. By using black along both selvedges it throws the emphasis to the centre of the scarf. There is no doubt about it, its a busy pattern and I think the 'tone on tone' as in Dorothy's runner works nicely and having solid edges in my scarves also  takes it down a notch. Here are some 'work in progress' shots:

Here I have two of the three scarves pinned out on my foam board for fringe twisting. This was the first time I had been able to put my new twister from Leclerc to work and I must say that having a quad did make things go much faster. The fringer squeaks and sometimes binds but once you get the knack, it goes quick!

Next up, beading! I found some real nice sparkly Swarovsky beads in black, silver and a smoky gray. Each scarf was beaded at either black side with an accent in the centre. 

Click on any picture to enlarge. The hand of the two all tencel scarves was quite thick and dense, with the silk weft scarf being half their weight. All are now soft as butter after wet finishing and a good pressing. If you are new to my blog then you can find links to my older posts on fringe twisting and beading in the side bar under the heading of 'Topic Shopping'.

12 shaft gebrochene / hind und under

There are other posts related to this project but it seemed simpler to post the draft again for you. I found this draft at Handweaving.net as I quite often cruise there looking for 12 shaft drafts or something I can play with and reduce down or increase up. Great web site and a wonderful resource for weavers! 

I'm still having to be very careful with my back as at my days end, it aches. So weaving is still important but I can't weave for hours or even every day. I am also looking for ways to maximize my efforts so I had planned to wind up a warp for runners and use the same threading and tie up again. With Dorothy's runner now on my table, I can see how they will look once done! In the mean time, I have started weaving the towel warp on my big Woolhouse loom. My legs must depress down further and so pulls on lower back muscles. So short 10-15 minute periods of weaving. Hey! its all good... I'm still weaving which beats the heck out of not!

On the personal front we have been having showings of our home every other day and three in two days this past weekend. Seems the market is very active! Sadly, the offer we had on another house fell through. There were some issues that could not be seen with a casual walk through and only the house inspector could find.

So we're back to looking once more. Its a tough job as we are looking for some very specific things in a home and in a certain price range...but I'm sure there's one out there for us. So if I seem to go a little long between posts, my apologies but life is pretty darn hectic here! I'll try and post shorter notes and more often.

So Calli has been here two months now. Wonder if she likes it here?

Bruce was lucky enough to capture the tail action with his cell phone camera!