Butterfly Scarves 🦋

 You have been very patient and waited for some time.... so right at the top of this post is some 'eye-candy' 🍭

So if I'm down to one loom, and must weave in shorter time increments, then why not have fun with it and try out new ideas, colour blending, new drafts?    So I worked from my existing stash and found three tencel colours that are close in value (depth of shade intensity) and work well with each other.  Why tencel? Well, I have a lot of it and there are some lovely colours to work with.  I used the gradient program in Fiberworks for Mac and did a 3 colour gradation. Some minor tweaks to soften it out and then printed off the colour order.   

I wound the warp one thread or a few more at a time on my warping mill, inching little 'post it notes' across the colour guide.   The draft I had chosen was very open ended for where the colours landed. No points in the draft to hit the mark, so that is a good thing. 

Each of those bouts are hung with 3 pound weights on an 'S" hook. I shifted them every 2-3 feet or so. It was a lot of back and forth but so worth the nicely tensioned warp!

The colours flowed on nicely and looked wonderful! Dark Teal, Iris and Red-Purple

When I took this picture I didn't know that there were two threading errors lurking in that huddle of heddles! 😬

Sleying also had an issue with crossed threads behind the reed.   I was feeling like a real newbie and it seemed like this start was the slowest ever!

Then I finally started weaving and this is what I saw.... I'm weaving it upside down!   So I'm committed to weaving this one, this way at least. The weft is an old gold / bronze age gold (?) 20/2 silk  from Treenway Silks from the stash. 

I end up having some difficulty with the far right teal edge thread. No matter what I tried, it would fray and break.   Advance the warp more frequently, sit closer to the right on the bench, subtley shift the reed in the beater.  I checked for spurs on the dents.   Lifted the floating selvedge up at the end of a session so it doesn't unwind the plies.... and so on.   Eventually, I could see when it was starting to soften, and I would lift and pin the selvedge thread and start again. It was easier to  needle weave stronger ends in than wispy bits of nothing!

Here is the result of the first scarf.... and now you can see the right side.    Its more warp dominant one side, weft faced the other.... but you know, it works nicely to compliment the whole scarf.   The back side does have a ghosting of the pattern visible.  As you can see from the pictures.

So for scarf number two I had to audition some new colour choices....and there was no silk in something suitable unfortunately.   I found  this salmon shade in tencel. They've tried calling it other names such as red clay etc.  I called it the right colour !  I also wove this one upside down and decided that I liked the big reveal when it came off the loom and so would be a surprise. 

The salmon is rather powerful, but still melds all the colours with a blush of colour throughout. It's my favourite of the two scarves.

They measure 9 inches wide by 73 inches long, plus the  swishy fringe.  

This is the draft I used and you may notice somethings are missing.    This is not my draft, or come from a public source such as handweaving.net or other places.    Its not mine to share and credit must be given to the designer / author.

You will find this 16 shaft draft here in this book, on page 122, by Janna van Ledden who designed this and other drafts inside and authored the book.  It has drafts for 8 shaft to 32 shafts and is presented in both Dutch and English. I do recommend reading the section on how to use and read the drafts *first* and to also seriously bump up your heddles on shafts one and two. Or at the very least count them against the draft.  It's a twill and half basket weave as was related to me by Marion Stubenitsky.

There really aren't much for fresh inventive weaving books right now but this book and also Marion's (such as Echo and Iris)  are ones for your book shelf. 

🌷🌷🌷

Golden Fairy Garden

Some time late last year I bought a painted silk warp from Carr Park Artisan's similar to this one. It was 200 ends and 6 1/2 yards long.   Not really wide enough and not really long enough but I loved the colours!    Also, it's *silk* , the princess of natural fibres!

I knew the 16 shaft draft I wanted to use as it has the beautiful effect of playing with colour and make them appear to flow and shift.  Draft #78116 at Handweaving.net /  designed by Ingrid Boesel in the Thrilling Twills Collection.

Picture 'borrowed' from Carr Park Artisans  

I dug deep in the stash and found a silk bronze gold and a rich silk purple and these gave me nice borders and a width for the scarves I could feel good about.    At 28 epi, the 200 ends would have looked like a neck tie! Here's a peek at the warp on the loom and you can see the flow of the colors.

 I got it all set up in late November 2023 and made a start.... and then I hurt my back in early December.   It would be 7 months before I healed enough to be relatively pain free to weave again.  I also took some time to be depressed and think over my options.

At first I thought I might never be able to weave again.  We use our backs so much in the motions of everything we do at a loom.    Then an MRI showed that I have several disc issues and stenosis, plus my spine moved forward by 9 mm at L3-4 with the disc shifting out the back by 6 mm. Bending forward is a risky thing for me.    I raise up my Spring onto crates to do the tie-up and sit on a low stool. This involves bending / leaning forward and I'd rather not do this.  I love this loom and bought it new 16 years ago and have kept it full and busy all that time.  But with the Megado, there's no tie up to deal with at all.

Besides, there isn't any weaving I can't do on the Megado loom from 2 shafts to 16, and as I always said "there is only one bum for a bench"   😁     I have also acquired a LOT of tools, equipment and books over the last 28-30 years and its time to downsize voluntarily and not end up as one of those "dead weaver estate sales".  I have to say the extra money, space and reduction of stuff is liberating!    Once the Spring loom has moved onto a new home, I'm even thinking of getting a nice comfy chair so I can sit in the empty alcove and read. 

But the Spring is still has a warp being woven (slowly) off and that is all down the road for now.....

Meet Fairy Garden.... woven with olive 8/2 tencel and measures 11" wide by 80 inches long.  Yup, I lost count from weaving one session 7 months ago to more recent.  My notes vanished in the meantime.

The colours flow as I had imagined....

Yes, it's the same scarf but the sun washed out the colours. The true colour is the other photos.

For the second scarf I had to think hard about a warp colour.... and the best option was a 10/2 tencel in a pale gold.  I bought a 3 pound cone of it off of Ebay years ago and it never disappoints. Its also not available anymore sadly.

This is Fairy Gold.... and it's a much softer blending of the colours and it's a quieter beauty.

It's 11" by 72".... so a good length.  Seems the 6.5 yard warp was enough after all as I took my fringe length from the loom waste at either end.   I also didn't get my customary sample for my notes.

So finally some show and tell at long last.... thanks for waiting. 💝

Proof Of Life 😁

Some fresh pictures taken this afternoon...

 A little ‘proof of life’ in the studio….. sleying my new 14 dent reed that I got for last Christmas and haven’t used until now. Just a bit more to go and then we’ll be tackling the very last tie up on this loom.

This is this loom’s last project with me at the helm.

Meanwhile on the Megado…. a new beginning on scarf #2 and I’m using a pale gold to take a softer approach to this mix of colours. 

This is the last project with the older dobby and the new one is waiting patiently in its box.

I weave for short periods and see how my back feels and also slowly build up my muscles again!

It came with a bonus foot rest too! Now I have one for each side on the foot rail.

Act in Haste and Repent at Leisure

 Some of my regular readers will recall this scarf woven last year?  I wove them in the fall of 2022.  I used a gradation feature in Fiberworks for Mac and blended five colours of tencel.    The first scarf used a rich wine coloured 30/2 silk and the second (shown below) used a hand dyed 20/2 silk in a browny apricot. There was only one small skein and it made the warp spring to life.

I listed the two scarves for sale on Etsy and later that evening just before bedtime I decided to take the Abalone shimmer out of the shop in the morning and keep for myself.    You guessed it, in the morning it was sold to a lady in Maine.   

Next thing I know, I received a private message from another Etsy customer positively begging me to make her one. I explained that I don't have any more of that silk weft yarn. That didn't deter her and she kept on asking.

So I contacted the seller I had bought the original silk weft yarn from.... in 2014 no less!   She had just moved her home and there was no dye kitchen set up or likely to be for some time. No, she didn't have any of that silk / colour.

So I went to my favourite silk shop, TreenwaySilks.com  I have been shopping with them since they were on Saltspring Island and then owned by Karen and Terry Selk. Now in Colorado and owned by Susan Du Bois.   A few shopping trips at the web site brought orange / pumpkin / peachy toned skeins my way (um, and a few other unrelated silken skeins).  I mailed Susan a sample of the coloured silk I needed and we did a colour consult via phone.   Susan handling the skeins at her end and me peering at the online colour card at mine.  (Yes, we had a discussion about getting real colour sample cards and their complexity to set up.)

I ordered  two more colours:  Arbutus and Spiced Cognac and waited for the mail delivery.    Spiced Cognac was a perfect match!!     Now all this silk skein hunting took place over a month or so. It took some  time to find just the right shade. Mean while I wound another warp for two scarves.   One for the customer and one for ME.  😁

I used my previous notes and records from the first batch woven and it went very smoothly. The test was when I started to weave with the new weft yarn:

Big sigh of relief!   I got the first scarf woven and cut it off the loom.   That's when I got a nasty muscle spasm in my back earlier this year and couldn't weave for some time while it 'unclenched'. I did get the fringe twisted, then washed and pressed the scarf and mailed it to its new owner.   She was thrilled. 

My customer who nudged me to weave it again said:

It is BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT in every way!  
I simply could not be happier:)
Your exacting workmanship, artistic eye, and deep care is woven into every thread....so not only is it gorgeous, the feeling of it is delight-full when put around my neck. I cannot thank
you enough for carrying through with my longing to have this scarf, finding just the right shade of 'peach' to put in it....the subtlety of the blue changing to green....oh my....it is a artful wonder that keeps ongiving. I will treasure it and your kindness, always:)

So my scarf took some time to lace on and resume weaving again.... but it is done and is ready for me to wear (once I have gone clothes shopping to have something nice to go with it).

This is the second iteration ..... and now I can enjoy wearing this!

The spicy  peach tones brings out all the best in the warp colours. In fact it even makes colours appear that aren't there.... such as the green below.   There are teals and aquamarine.....see the warp pictures at the top.

See you again soon!

🐞🐞🐞

Mystique

 Its snowing here today..... and the wind is blowing it in sideways. ❄️💨   Definitely a good day to stay inside and keep warm.

Yesterday it was brilliantly sunny, and a lot greener outside then it is right now.  I took Judy out for an airing and took some pictures of a scarf I finished a few days ago.  I thought it might be my last chance for while and it seems I was right.

I bought a painted silk warp last month from another weaver. Its called 'Mystique" and was made by Christine of Carr Park Artisans  4.5 yards and 200 ends of 20/2 silk painted in soft shades of plum, mauve, teal and turquoise.    It sat on my desk for a time while I worked out what to do with it.

I went stash diving and found a purple -plum solid silk which I used for the borders.   I auditioned a few colours for weft but the 8/2 dark teal seem to work best and pull all the painted colours together, and add more shine.    I chose an 8 shaft point twill which is treadled in a fancy version of M's and W's (sort of).

It didn't take long to weave up being a single scarf ( and some long samples..... maybe for card inserts later?).  Its was pretty but needed a little something to jazz it up, so I dug into my bead stash and found crystal seed beads with hints of these colours and  added some between the fringe bouts.  It took me an entire afternoon, peering into a pick glass (linen tester) to see what I was doing!  It seems my eyesight isn't what it used to be .....  😳  

So below are some indoor and some outside pictures of the scarf:     The sett was 28 epi. It measures 8 inches by 72 inches. 

...and as a bonus to my regular viewers, here's the draft!