One Step at a Time

While I'm embarrassed to say how long this project has been going on, I'm also happy to crow that it's finally  finished now!  Do you ever have a project that you are happy to start but it turns into the longest 'short' warp ever?

So what happened? Well, I love the big loom... my Woolhouse Tools countermarche, but she needs a full leg extension to treadle and that can aggravate a lower back problem. So what happens is that what ever is on the loom must wait until I can treadle again comfortably.

Then add my left knee into the mix and a right foot as well and it complicates the issue.  While I complain about health issues, I rarely go into much depth on this topic but this time I will explain what I do know. I need a left knee replacement and waiting to see a surgeon. Then after that is done and healed, my right foot needs a mid foot bone fusion.  That requires a full three months to heal properly with no weight on the foot.  I drew the short straw when it came to the family's arthritis gene pool! None of this will be happening for at least a year

I share this as I'm not producing as much finished weaving as I used to and so things here at the blog will naturally reflect that. I'm continuing to weave regardless, but just not that fast.  

Baby Boomers are getting older and with that comes health problems such as worn out joints. It makes good sense that loom builders consider some modifications to their looms or at least have them available as options.  The 20+ tie up assist on my Woolhouse was one of those adaptations  and its very name means "twenty plus more years of weaving". I added mine after my hip replacement in 2001. It sure made life easier not having to crawl under the loom for tie up's.

Enough of my woes and lets get on with the towel project...

The draft came from Handweaving.net and is threaded like a turned twill. Its the tie up that adds the twist! The draft above shows the two variations I used separated by a black stripe. More on them later.

I used 22/2  cottolin that I bought way back when from Nordic Studios when it still resided in Canada. (It was later sold and evolved into the Lone Star Loom Room ).  My sett was 24 epi and my warp was 8.06 yards for seven towels. (see what I mean about not that long??) The idea was six towels for sale and one for us. I like large towels and so they were 25"  in the reed and a total of 618 ends. I literally had enough cottolin left for one floating selvedge only and the second had to be 8/2 cotton. The two pound cone was barely enough for the warp. I haven't come quite this close before!

My weft was 8/2 cotton from Brassards that I have on hand so this project was helping with stash reduction. 

I found the treadling of simply going from treadle one to treadle twelve the easiest on my joints. The work was evenly shared by both legs and so after one towel woven  turned twill style, I went back to the simpler version and did the other six towels the same. I made each of them a different colour and once off the loom and edges secured by the serger they looked to be a happy bunch! (see the very top picture)

I enjoy hand sewing the hems. I also find there is no obvious stitch line like a sewing machine produces. It hangs smoothly with no buckling along the hem line. The sewing holds up nicely and I have a combination cottolin and cotton towel that was hand hemmed back in 1998 that is washed regularly and still looks great. Remember that sewing machines are a 'modern' invention and for many hundreds, if not thousands of years it was just the simple needle and thread.

They were washed and hung to dry out doors on my drying rack. I brought them in for ironing while still a touch damp.  The final measurements were 23" by 28" so generously large.

lime

cinnamon

peach

royal blue

bubblegum pink

moss green

plum

I also managed to get an additional square measuring 24" by 24" in plum which I'm turning into a table centre and crocheting an edging. I'll show you that when its all done. Then were even some samples for my records which is always nice.    This project was hard work but I took it one step, literally, at a time.... 

Be Careful What You Wish For!

This post will have a little bit of everything!

I found an old black dress that the 'dryer shrunk'  ;)  Its too small for me right now.

So I tried it on Madge Manikin and somehow she looks more complete. More put together. I could still use some arms though so I'm always scanning sale pages for a used manikin. A second one would come in handy sometimes! (No, its not your imagination, she's leaning a bit. I have to shim her 'feet' and straighten her up!)

I have a new warp on the Louet Spring for more men's scarves. Its silk yak blend at 36 epi so its quite fine. I was quite surprised by how much 'loft' the yarn has. Its very lush and springy but was not difficult to beam and behaved well.  I'm using a fine 30/2 black silk as my weft on this four shaft herringbone twill.  Its finer than I wanted but it seems I'm out of 20/2 black silk. Any way you cut it, its a lot of treadling ! 

Sorry for the mobile picture but I forgot to snap the plaid section that will be on either end of the scarf.

In between is a whole lot of....

One, two, three , four.... and repeat !   This is scarf one of three....

Meanwhile on the Woolhouse... I finally finished fiddling with the cords, did the tie up and made a start today. The back peg board told quite a story!

The top picture show all the cords that I worked on. There were two treadles on either side of the centre twelve that I left alone. (they have not been used so would not have stretched). The second picture is a closer view of the middle of the board. The blue ties are the ones that had shifted and needed remarking. Any red ones are the old ties and were fine. Tie up's are usually focused on the middle portion of the treadles and so receive more action.  Still think texsolv doesn't stretch?

This picture was taken on the far right of the board and these shaft/ treadle combinations were only lightly used. There are far more red ties from the original marking with just the odd blue one.  If I use more 12 treadle tie up's in the coming months, then the two outer shafts will need a tweak... that's not difficult to quickly do up.

So what finally showed up on the fun end of the loom?  Glad you asked!

A rather interesting twill. Its a twelve shaft draft, threaded like a turned twill.  White cottolin sett at 24 epi and the weft is 8/2 cotton in sage green. There is two distinct blocks (treadles 1 to 6, and, treadles 7 to 12) What you see above is a simple treadling of 1 through to 12 and repeated. Optically its a brain teaser! I really like it and looking forward to trying other treadlings on these seven kitchen towels.

Speaking of treadlings.... last post I grumbled about how short a run only four treadles were. They are very light to lift too.  Well, Karma is pretty quick as I'm lifting twelve shafts now and I'm going to have great thigh muscles by the time I'm done (even with all the pulleys). Its also a twelve treadle run and compared to the other loom, it seems I'm never done! There is always another treadle to hit.  So with two looms at these funny extremes... I'm having a  good laugh at myself. One loom is a rest and the other a work out.

As I mentioned previously I have been selling off stuff from the studio and then I ordered in some goodies. They are slow coming in but they are coming!

From Etsy shop "All the Pretty Fibers" some yummy 20/2 mulberry silk hand painted in a rich deep grape. They came from Rothenburg, Germany.  (If you are into spinning, check out her fiber.... its gorgeous!)

I'm looking forward to viewing this dvd on Block Weaves by Madelyn van der Hoogt soon. I can play it in my laptop and view it on the big screen TV... but its finding the time to view it! I'm sure that as supportive as Hubby is, it would be boring stuff for him. These discs are like having a workshop close to hand and a great refresher. 

 Off to Victoria tomorrow....they have cherry blossoms out and spring bulbs are up there.  Its supposed to be raining but I'll take it. It beats the heck out of what other parts of the country have been getting!

First Stirrings

Take heart those of you who are snow bound and cold.... spring *is* coming! And if you are from the southern hemisphere, the summer party is coming to an end (sorry).

The white hellebore lifting its head up from under the leaf mulch. All of an inch tall.

The pink hellebore is up one and a half inches...

The heather starting to bloom...

The magnolia buds are swelling

I know the second part of this plant's name is Japonicus....but it has flower buds forming!

This is that "weird" month of the year. When all the fuss of Christmas and New Years is over and normal routines seem blah. A little too mundane... The middle of winter and I have been counting up the extra four minutes of daylight we get each day. Since December 22?  As of today, that's 38 days and equals 152 minutes or 2.53 hours of daylight!   

So things are in limbo here as well.   I have an alpaca silk warp on the Louet for  two men's scarves. Its a four shaft twill in manly colours:

All the yarns were in skeins and so I have been winding endless skeins into cakes .... and then the next project I have in mind also has yarn that needs winding into cakes as well.  I sit and and spin it ten minutes at a time at a good clip and then move on.

silk yak waiting to be caked...

Meanwhile, I thought I would load up the Woolhouse with cottolin for 12 shaft turned twill towels. I had a BIG two pound cone cone of Nordic Studios cottolin from before it was sold and moved south to Texas.  No problem right?

At the very  section of warp to be wound, and the very last warp end.... this happened!

I ran out with one yard to go! Knowing this end would be loom waste, I tied on a section of 8/2 cotton and called it a day.

Now I'm looking at an endless sea of white heddles and white warp....

I print out the threading and then use post it notes to isolate the section I'm working on. I ended up with 12 ends left over so now I'm going back and double checking where I goofed.  *sigh*

Here's a table load of half finished / half started fun.... the black cone and grey in front are for the next men's scarf project (to be discussed at another time). The cotton cone pile is a recent yarn order and some of it is weft for the cottolin towels plus  the next towel project. I'm testing out colours together.... to see if they grow on me.

The cloth on the serger is the recent gothic runner.  You'll see a show and tell with it eventually. Right now, its cooling its jets for a spell. Well, that's what's left of the project...  Its a story that's ends sadly and involves scissors. The first runner went well  with a fine blue 16/2 cotton weft went just fine. It was planned to have a twisted fringe. The second runner I used a fine cream bamboo weft and I got about six inches woven and left it for the night. The next day the edge threads on the right hand side started breaking like crazy!  I couldn't find any reason for it. Then they simply loosened off . I was mending and repairing and finally about to sit and start weaving when the left hand side simply lost tension too!  Next thing I knew, scissors appeared in my hands and the problem went away. I reasoned my time was more important ... and ... It wasn't fun anymore. 

Its a good thing to keep in mind.... its all supposed to be fun!