Chocolate 'n Cherries

Chocolate and cherries make a fine pairing for dessert. I still recall my first Black Forest cake when I was a kid.  My mother's Viennese born neighbour and best friend could make them like a pro! Then, in the 1960's  there was those large chocolates that were filled with a maraschino cherry called Cherry Blossoms.

So when I spotted a painted warp at Iridescent Fibers called Dark Chocolate, it appealed to me.

Now this wasn't in the range of my normal 'go to" colours and quite daring. After it arrived I liked it and then it hung with some other warps while I pondered what to do with it and ... what the heck would I use as a weft colour?? (That's a thought that should have run through my mind before I bought truthfully....)

Its black that works best.  I had nothing in my tencel or even silks that looked decent.  Black makes the colours really pop and somehow really intensifies them.  I framed the painted warp with black and a touch of olive green. Its the same draft as my previous scarf warp that were done in deep midnight shades.   So we are talking same 12 shaft point twill, same tie up, same 24 epi..... just a change in colours.   I get more from the same tie up and that is helpful since I have to lift my loom up to change it.  Here's the draft.... with an arbitrary colour in the centre to denote the painted warp portion.

We had a fine breeze blowing as I took these pictures!  I had to strike a balance between getting good light, but not bleaching out any of the colours, or being in the shade and having everything too dark. I settled for later afternoon natural light but not in direct sunshine.  I was pleased with the results and the colours (depending on your monitor) look fairly accurate.

The scarves are 9 1/2 inches wide by 76 inches long.

...and while I had no control over where the colour placements would be, it happened the cherry blush  occurred in roughly the middle where the extra loop around the neck would go.  Sweet!

Its quite a warm rosy glow and as you see below, the milk chocolate has a gentle run through.

In the picture below, you get a glimpse of the back side.... where the black is more dominant. I prefer the brighter colour side out...

Then there's the second dessert course....   🍒

As you can see a change in the treadling makes a big change in the pattern.  This is why I like playing with my Fiberworks program so you can see what will happen if you changed a few details. Check the float length, and view the back side etc.  Can you imagine trying this with expensive yarns and the time involved?  Well, it sure is more fun this way.

This portion of the warp had dark chocolate sections that were, well, darker! It still works as the pattern disappears and rises up out of the, well, darker section of the warp.   Geesh.   😳

These two are very alike except for the lighting..... and the real colour is somewhere in-between the two of them.

Here's a few that get closer to see the details better...

My model's name is Judy and she did a fine job in a stiff breeze. Very steady on her feet, never complained or needed a break. (She also doesn't mind partial nude shots either... )

The colour changes happen where they happen.... and it makes for some interesting fringe!

🍒

Couple of notes to share.

Its been just under two weeks since Calli died and we are feeling a bit better day by day. We still have our moments of course, like reaching for a box of her favourite cookies at Costco and then having a quiet cry in the back aisles before soldiering on.  We are adjusting to a very quiet house and the night sounds weren't Calli trying to remake her bed at 3 am but a raccoon on the roof instead.  

Calli, taken by F. Waterfield

 We have our name down to get a new dog... a terrier of course, and that will happen either later this fall or next spring. Depends on the litters, and the length of the line up ahead of us.    

This tangle is a young, goofy Irish terrier.... (not ours!)

and then there's hubby Bruce:   He had a standard CT scan to look for other potential tumours in parts of his urinary system the doctors didn't get to check at his procedure in May. Its called due diligence. The doctor who reported on the scan found a 'shadow' and so this meant going back in for another look to see if the cancer had started to grow back.  So for some weeks we have had this hanging over our heads yet again.  The recheck was done this past Tuesday and with many apologies from the doctor for the scare, he was declared free of anything new!    (now he still has to have rechecks periodically, but at further and further time intervals).   Kidney stones? well they are using fresh lemon juice 🍋 and a special medication taken daily to soften and dissolve the stones (based on their composition). That's far better than surgery!   So good news  and we can get back to enjoying our summer.

Midnight, in Clear Light.

Its difficult to photograph Midnight in broad daylight.   I'll just have to add that the colours in these scarves are deeper and richer than they show here.  In reality they are very jewel like and the pictures don't do them true justice.

 The loom was threaded for a 12 shaft point twill and when treadled as a run from treadle one to twelve  and back again, you get this nifty diamond pattern that reminds me somewhat of bird's eye twill (which everyone loves). This just has more complexity to it.

 The drape at 24 epi is just lovely and tencel has such a lovely sheen to it.   The centre portion is the painted warp from Iridescent Fibers (208 ends and 7.5 yards long). They make bright handprinted warps for the weavers at Loominaria.

 Now as I said, the colours are richer than they appear here in the sunlight..... and I took one indoors today and will post it next. Its of the same portion of scarf on Judy:

That's a better representation of the depth of colours .... and as you can see the colour shifts are beautifully done.  The edge sections were my choice from the stash to frame the warp.

outdoors above.... and indoors below.....

For the second scarf I tried auditioning several different colours but nothing really called to me.  The eggplant was dark enough to pick out the pattern  but somehow it was all muted down. Its different and lovely all by itself.

It had a unifying effect. I also changed the treadling to this twill progression that resembles feathers to me.  I had to be more attentive to where I was so no zoning out ! (also no phone calls, and no conversations etc).  Both scarves measure nine inches by seventy four inches.   When hand washed only a slight trace of dye came out so dyer Carrie really rinses well!

I also really enjoyed weaving them. It was fun to watch the colours shift from one to another.   I put another painted warp on after these and have checked to see which others I plan to buy next. Midnight is one for sure!

Here are some spring time shots of our back yard as of yesterday:

There was barely any buds on the chestnut tree last weekend and it has exploded in our current week of sunshine. There have been several visitors to the nest box which was dutifully cleaned and ready for new occupants.  By the time all the leaves have come in, the nest box is barely visible. The flowers on this chestnut are bright pink.

The two garden sheds fared better this past winter with new shingles! You can see the golf course beyond the pond. We are mid way on a 541 yard fairway.  They are still beavering away at the new course design and just seeded the greens with a special bent grass seed and filled the bunkers with new clean sand.  They plan to open the new driving range in July and the course in August.  That will have been almost two years of no golfers and carts on the course. Its been like our private back yard extension, except for all the trucks, back hoes, tree planting, hydroseeding, irrigations lines being laid etc etc

Here we have a hawthorn tree and beyond is an ornamental cherry.

 The neighbours magnolia is lovely and reminds me of our old one at the last house.   You will have noticed the interesting fence panel.... or lack there of!  We had some wicked wind storms and this panel blew down and spread parts all over the back lawn.   Bruce had to rig a way of supporting the fence and keeping Calli on this side.  She loves it... she sticks her big head through and watches them gardening.    Calli just turned 8 years old.   I bet some of you can recall when we first got her.....

Please bear in mind that Bruce has his surgery May 3rd so it will be a busy time for a while here. I will drop you a post to let you know how he's doing though....

Anemones Belong Under the Sea

Sorry if I alarmed some of you with a partial post.... I was away from home and tried writing a post "on the fly" and discovered I had hit publish when I meant draft.... and a quick scurry to fix it, well didn't!

I haven't stopped weaving or blogging.  Trust me, if that day ever comes, I will be honest and tell you that I'm stopping or taking a break.

You have to know that there is a private side to my life that you don't hear about but I have been overwhelmed recently with emotions and feelings that are hard to put into words and share.... especially share with the world.   After talking with my husband Bruce, he's given the all's clear to share.  We hope by telling the story of his diagnosis and coming treatment to help demystify the process.

When last I wrote,  Hub had a kidney stone 'missing' and assumed that it had passed into the bladder.  The Urologist wanted to scope and double check where it was for sure.   Sometimes they can get jammed up somewhere, cause no pain and the other kidney takes over all duties and that's not a good situation to be in.  

So three days after I last posted, Hub had the scope thing done.  The stone was not blocking anything, or even in the bladder. Where it went to, no one knows !  You'd think Hub would notice a 6 mm stone 'leaving' wouldn't you?

The first sign of trouble was the funny sea anemone that appeared on the monitor screen.  You are not supposed to have those in a bladder.  While Hub was trying to mentally work what it was out, a voice from beside him said "that my friend is a malignant tumour.... cancer".     We have been in some weird headspace ever since.   We did go over to visit friends directly after and had a cup of tea which helped immensely.  But the doctors  send you home with a "we'll be  in touch" and and nothing else, and then there's a big time period of nothingness.

While we waited for any information,  we talked things through and we have gone from full on pep rally mode to some deep dark places and back again. We have avoided googling things and instead saw our family doctor who gave us his best run through of the process.

Suddenly you become aware of the vagaries of Life....  a search for a missing  piece of crystal 'stone' turned up a silent visitor.  We are grateful that it was found early and so are optimistic.  Surgery is May 3rd  for cancer removal and lazering of stones ....and there will be many follow up medical appointments for some time to come.

So in the days and weeks while we have waited,  Bruce has a new estate model train collection to inventory and find buyers for which has kept him busy.   I have to say that having a warp on the loom was a life saver some days.  A twelve shaft point twill, a painted 8/2 tencel warp by Iridescent Fibers called Midnight and a simple treadling gave me a place to come to and just watch the colours change as the shuttle flew back and forth.

It slowly shifts from a blue violet to a grape and then it evolves into a magenta....

I added eggplant and old gold to the edges to frame it and used black as weft on this scarf.   The second scarf I used a twill progression that resembles feather (to my mind) and used eggplant weft.

I had to pay closer attention to treadling this scarf!  The eggplant is nice but black makes the colours really pop.  I did audition navy blue as well and it was just blah.

So they are woven, fringes twisted and washed / pressed and first sunny opportunity they will be photographed and I'll post them here.    So not too long a wait....

I have a second painted warp on I call Dark Chocolate Cherries.... and its quite unlike my usual colour range.   You can see a version of it at Iridescent Fibers link under 3.5 yard warp : "Dark Chocolate" I'm trying to be more inclusive of other colours on the wheel.... and in between.

Well, we're home again now and I have a pile of laundry to wade through today and since Hub's at a train show today, I can weave while I wait.    

So please don't worry.... we are optimistic about the coming operation and recovery.   We'll be staying close to home this summer   😎

More Than One Road to Walk

This blog post has lots of images and drafts to consider and think over. Grab a tea or coffee and settle in for a discussion on how to get more from your threading and tie up.   This draft in particular:

This is a twelve shaft twill threading and tie up that I used in the last post. Not very complicated......rather simple actually. This draft was also used to produce these scarves, these runners and these guest towels.    Everything I will talk  about here today will be based on this exact threading and tie up.  (except where noted)

Left: used draft for sample 2 (see below) ; Right: woven 'as threaded'

We are also going to lean a bit hard on my Fiberworks weaving software. I use the Silver Plus version as I have a Megado loom to run but the Bronze level will do just fine. It can also be any weaving program that you have to hand if you decide to play with a draft and tie up as we will today.  No program?  no problem!   I recommend downloading the Fiberworks Bronze and it will act as a free demo. You can do everything except save and print.  

Trying a free version of Fiberworks? Made a lovely design and want to save it?  On PC's: use a screen capture; on Mac's use "command-shift-4" and size your area to save as an image on the desk top. Drag to, and save in Photo and then print.    I did all those steps for  80% of the draft images here (and yes, I own my copy! 😊)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the summer of 1996 I bought my first loom and brought it home. It was a 'new to me' four shaft Leclerc Colonial jack loom.  (It could be either jack or counterbalance). My friend and weaving mentor Margaret lived nearby and came over to view the new baby.  She saw I had it threaded for an overshot pattern from Deborah Chandler's Learning to Weave and she sat down to throw the shuttle and see the looms action and shed.  I was a brand new weaver and very much a 'recipe' weaver at that stage of things.  I would take all aspects of the project right off the paper or magazine and follow the instructions closely. Understanding the draft and how the interlacement of the threads worked was a long ways off for me at that point in time! But I still recall watching Margaret joyfully throwing the shuttle and change treadlings on the fly.  Each new 'dance' produced such a different look, and this was my first clue that I had a lot to learn! She was dancing on the treadles and having such a grand time seeing what she could come up with, even laughing as she made a mistake and unwove...(heck, it had looked good  to me!) It created a lasting impression for me.

Margaret in July 2013

But back to now....

I had to get better at getting more from drafts and tie up's due to health reasons. I was unable to get under the loom to change tie up's without hurting my joints or lower back. After three joint replacement surgeries parts of me simply do not bend or move the way they used to anymore.  I shifted to lifting my Spring 90 loom up onto crates and sitting on a stool, which while much better, is still an effort.... especially a full twelve shaft tie up of 144 cords! So why not make it count?  Plan a series of scarves....then put on another warp and weave towels.... and then maybe some quick book marks as gifts?

The threading can remain the same (or change it if you like * more on this later) , the tie up is all done. Simply choose a different way to treadle it and get a new project with a new look. 

I had enough warp leftover after the three silk scarves were done and so I was able to weave more than just a basic sample for my records , but a few variations too.  Sample number one is at the bottom and number 4 is at the top. All are on the same threading and tie up as shown at the beginning of this post and the only thing that has changed is how I treadled it.

Not all drafts will be suitable for this method, but many are, such as twills. That's where the weaving software comes in handy and saves you much time and effort.  Add in your chosen threading and tie up and then play with different treadlings and see what you can come up with! 

If you own the software you can also check float lengths, view the back of the cloth to see if its reversible.  You can click 'save' on the threading and tie up and then add and erase treadlings without having to re-enter the basic data over and over.

The program will allow you to add tabby and remove tabby, weave as network, as drawn in, flip and reverse the sequence and so on and so on.

the entire woven sampler (woven straight, photographed crooked!)

sample 1

... and below is the draft showing the pattern above and you can see how the treadling was achieved. The section showing the treadling of twelve to seven and back again can be done as many times as you like. I wove thirteen repeats on the red scarf simply because that length looked good to me. You could weave it the entire length is you liked!

draft for sample one

Below is one of the recent table runners woven this way. 10/2 mercerized cotton warp and weft, sett 28 epi.

runner using sample one draft

Sample Two: similar to the last, but simply the reverse.  Treadling one to six and back again. Once more, this section can be any length you like.  Even the break between groups is reversed.   There's no reason why you couldn't include both versions in a project. Think of them as weaving 'blocks" and sample one is block one and this is block two.  That would look more diverse, more visual complexity....

sample 2

draft for sample two

runner woven using draft for sample two

I tried paring things down to one repeat of each motif and it produced a neat and tidy, almost tight, groupings. Nice... very ornate!

sample three

draft for sample three

Then I tried weaving it the classic way, "as threaded" (or the old fashioned 'tromp as writ').  It adds more depth, with the two motifs now of a similar size. You could even add in some treadlings of one to twelve and back again...... and twelve to one and back again at the right intervals for an even more expansion of this .... if you wanted to of course!   (Are you seeing the possibilities?)

sample four

draft for sample four

Now I have run out of woven samples to show you, but we still have our drafts to play with.  So the first one is our same trusty twelve shaft threading and tie up, but this time I used the classic twill progression used in many snowflake twill drafts.  Now we have some drama!  (Reverse the twill progression and it will look like an exaggerated large 'X'). Again, add some point twills or straight runs.... or both in between.  How would that change things?

twill progression treadling (snowflake style)

Hmm, point twill all by itself?   It looks like this...

point twill treadling

How about a (seemingly) endless twill run back and forth?  Now that's pretty.

elaborate twill run

Okay, I can hear some of you saying that this is all very well and nice, but you don't have a twelve shaft loom.   So I sat with my Fiberworks and essentially reduced the draft and tie up to something as close as I could get and so these below are the results..    ( and some of you with sixteen shafts will have to adjust upwards)

                                              These drafts below are 8 shaft drafts  

8 shaft: ' as threaded'

8 shaft: woven as per sample one

8 shaft: woven as per sample two

8 shaft: woven as a twill progression (snowflake style)

Now some of you might remember seeing an asterisk * further back in the post.... I'll forgive you if you missed it or forgot!   If you were to decide to try weaving a series of scarves, towels or runners using the same tie up and threading, but after a warp or two you decide you are getting bored, or its not for you, then consider leaving just the tie up in place and using an entirely different threading.  

If you completely weave off one warp and plan to beam on another using the same tie up....  you could take the opportunity to change up the threading at this time too.  Simply play with your weaving program and this time change the threading and treadling variations.   😳     Its a whole new deck of cards to play with!

If you'd like to make a change with an existing warp on the loom: make the best plain shed you can with the current threading and slide in lease sticks *behind the reed and shafts*.  Support in place with cords.  Cut off the cloth in front of the reed.  Pull the warp back from the reed, and heddles.   Re thread taking the warp ends in order as closely as you can from the lease sticks. Threads can be slightly out of sequence back here, but not from the heddles forward.  Sley the reed, tie on or lace on and you are back in business again. 

I hope I have given you something to consider, some inspiration to try something new while leaving something old in place.  It really doesn't matter how many shafts you have as switching up the draft can be done as part of the design and planning phase for any loom.  Perhaps this will also help you to become more comfortable with your existing weaving program.... or to try a free download as a demo and give this some computer play time.   

Oh, and be warned, its addictive!  You start hanging out at places like Handweaving.net cruising for drafts (and develop shaft envy.)  I have talked with some weavers who create a new draft and then say they like to weave about two inches on the loom to see what it will look like and they are ready to move on to the next design they can come up with!   

20/2 cotton and fine linen book marks, 48 epi.... and yes its our friend again, the same 12 shaft twill 

12 shaft draft for the left bookmarks

...yet another treadling variation!

If you made it this far, thank you for hanging in there.  If you like the possibilities playing creates, you can also see this older post from October 2011 where I wove three scarves, three different ways.