On My Loom Now 📸

 When I start something new, I usually weave some towels to get use to the changes. New dobby on the loom, so more towels.  

This is a 16 shaft twill and basket weave, most likely from Handweaving.net but I seem to have misplaced the number. It drove me crazy looking for threading errors! So I have declared there were none....

8 yard warp of Venne cotton and all wefts used for the 7 towels will be linen. This is 9/2 French linen from Brassards. The reverse side is darker....a mirror image.

It’s good to be weaving again, even if for short periods. If my back starts to make its presence known, I stop or move onto something else. 

The draft is nifty and I have had it in my ‘to-do’ file for a long time. There was a post it note attached with the handweaving.net number and it dropped off. I checked my copy on Fiberworks as I usually keep the number under the ‘notes and records’ and I didn’t add it….. but this would have been years ago so I’ll just have to look around on the website.

I’m also enjoying the weaving and looking at it from the view point of where to add colour in the warp next time I weave it up again. How to make the celtic knot work more ‘out there.' 

Garden Walkabout

Today, I grabbed the camera and went for a walk round the garden and snapped some of this years spring blossoms.... (click to enlarge !)

The first thing I saw (that made me go back in and get my camera!) was this lovely Columbine

Blue Bells ....

Can you see the bright green of this years growth?  

This little fella decided to really go for it this year!

(and growing through rock too!)

Then I walked around to the front yard ...

My three matching hanging baskets this year are a delight!  The past few years I wasn't happy with my more expensive choices but this year my cheapy $13.00 Costco specials are stunning!  They love their location and a drink of 20-20-20 fertilizer really brought out their blooms.

I hope this red mini petunia looks okay on your screen. My Mac hates reds and does weird things to red on my screen

Our late blooming rhododendron by the front door looks sad due to its age, and we have considered removing it a couple of times. The rich red blooms are the reason why we don't!  I throw down fertilizer under the shrub every spring for the next years flower bud sets.

I'm not sure what this plant is called but it was originally in the rock garden in the back yard and climbed using runners all over the place!  Bruce moved some to this big pot last year and it loves it there, especially with the hanging basket above it dripping second hand water and the occasional  fertilizer 'buzz' too. Its sending out runners and trailing over the pot and making dash for freedom.

All the orchard trees had lots of blossoms this year and so we hope for a good crop of fruit.   I'm afraid that I'm quite useless this year as far as yard work is concerned due to my knee and hip joint issues. So big thank you to hubby Bruce and Colin for their efforts!

Some fibre content for you...

Mother's Day was not too long ago and it was  a quiet one this time round.  So, I decided to treat myself to a new tool for the studio!   A custom made wrought bronze sleying hook.

No two are alike!  

They come in either bronze or silver. I have acidic skin and so not kind to silver ( and bronze was less expensive). The hooks are nicely weighted and feel good. The hand fits well on the handle and the back 'bump' is a nice wedge against  the last finger.  I'm right handed but its hard to take pictures of your right hand with the left!  I'm using it to sley the latest warp on the Louet and its *very nice* to work with.

Here's the info that came with it and be sure to check out Celtic Swan Forge web site!  They make a lot of beautiful things such as crochet hooks, knitting needles, shawl pins......

We had a day trip to Victoria  for me to visit my rheumatologist. My visits there are usually very fast (so fast it isn't worth paying for the parking spot!)  ... so we had a day to ourselves in Victoria.  We drove further south out towards Ross Bay and stopped by Knotty by Nature yarn store.   I picked up some black 9/2 linen.... and admired a soft yellow. There is also a new colour in the bamboo range too. So I was happy with the black linen and when I got to the till, Bruce had bought all three for me as a belated Mother's Day gift.

I'm not sure what the orange bamboo will become in the future but I see more huck lace runners in jet black for sure. The soft yellow will make a nice set too.  Additions to the stash are always nice!

Then we drove out round Ogden Point (click on the links!) This is where cruise ships dock in Victoria.

We just followed the road round..... then next thing we were  next to the BC Legislature buildings and in the heart of downtown Victoria. 

The harbour come right into the heart of downtown and there's a lovely sea walk down by the water.  

There's nothing like being a tourist in your own back yard!  This is the Fairmont Empress Hotel where they serve a delightful afternoon high tea.    The ivy is the front door.... and the habour is the back view.

High tea is on my to-do list for this summer!

It All Comes Out in the Wash...

I belong to a couple of weaving groups on Facebook and 'lurk' for the most part. One smart voice there is Margaret Coe  who ably stick handles questions from newbie weavers. Some months ago Margaret recommended a neat trick for when you start a new warp off. There it is shown in the picture above and some of my more regular readers will have noticed I have been using it for the past few projects.  Its the Two Stick Start. It the best tip I have tried in a long, long time! It just works. 

The warp above is 9/2 linen, for a 8 shaft huck lace that I have tied an overhand knot every sixteen ends and then laced on. I laid in three shots of a similar sized 'scrap' yarn which in this case is regular 8/2 cotton. I beat to close the gap and then laid in three more weft shots and beat again. It closed it but there is a slight gap. There can also be tension issues until the weaving progresses further. So I placed a short lease stick into one of the plain weave sheds, changed to the other plain weave shed and placed the second stick. I carried the cotton weft up behind the sticks on the right and started weaving plain weave and you can see how quickly it came together! The sticks provide a nice firm, flat base and from the knots to the top of the gold yarn is four inches! You are off to a real good start almost right away. { ...but it didn't spare me from a denting error and I had to redo some sleying two to three inches on the far right side as I had doubled my ends in one slot.  Geesh!}

When I wound my pirns I ran the weft yarn through a clean damp cloth as I wound them. This tames the wirey linen and you can get a nice tightly wound pirn. The cloth is damp, and not overly wet so the yarn dries quickly. Once you use this on one pirn, all weft for the project must be done the same way or there will be changes in the cloth and the way it weaves up.

I wove six inches of plain weave for my hem allowance and then ladder hemstitched every four ends. I used a slippery synthetic cord doubled as my spacer.  It slips out quite nicely with a gentle tug. Next was one inch of plain weave to frame the lace, then the lace dance begins!

Last time I wove this pattern I used red 9/2 linen and used a sett of 22 epi. It was well balanced when all finished and pressed but I wanted it a smidge tighter so this time I set it 24 epi. Between the coarse linen, the reed marks and the lace five end groupings, the new cloth on the loom has streaks and lines all over the place. You can only hold your breath and hope it all comes out in the wash! (more on this line of thought later...)

I wove two runners using the same natural grayed / beige linen as weft. The runners were woven to roughly sixty inches from the end of one hemstitching to the next at the other end.  There is a small plain weave border down both selvedges and by the time you get to the end of a runner you begin to see the start of some troubled times to come. The plain weave and the lace areas take up differently as the lace centre is more textured and the plain weave is flat.  By the end of the runner you can see the plain weave edges pull down more and then curve upwards to the lace. I didn't experience this effect with the red linen runners. I checked a cone of the red today and it has a much softer touch to it. Perhaps as a result of the dyeing process?  This natural grayed beige linen has a much firmer feel to it... more wirey.  I decided to cut off the runners after each one was woven and retie back on. So the Two Stick Start got a good work out!

The third runner was understandably a bit shorter but I skipped weaving samples this time round and so that twelve inches helped out a lot. I used a snowy white 9/2 linen as my weft and it looked great! There is a nice colour separation on the lace floats so they frame the diamonds. White in one direction and beige in the other.  This type of two colour lace where the colours are more subtle appeals to me. Traditionally lace is woven in one solid colour warp and weft and usually the same yarn as warp and weft. {Beige projects are difficult and boring to photograph and if I used a lighting correction in the tweaking of the pictures, it turned all the colours really weird... so please bear up with the darker shots. I did use the camera flash and had lights on everywhere!}

I decided against using the serger on the raw edges as the serging line can be a tad bit lumpy. I didn't want that ridged line  with a flat hem. I used my sewing machine instead and did a stitched zig zag  which I think you can faintly make out on the raw edge in the picture above.  I steam pressed and measured the hem allowance. I'm going to turn it over by thirds.

The beauty of doing this with linen is that it takes a nice fold with just the fingers pressing. You can double check the measurement. I steam pressed it when I'm happy...then fold up to the hemstitching and press and pin.

As you can see by the close up above, a raised ridge line from the serger would have shown through and I wanted it flat, flat, flat!  The hand sewing was done by a running blind stitch and the three runners were an evenings work by the television.

Things started to get interesting the next morning when I filled the laundry tub to handwash the runners. The first to go in was the shorter white beige blend. I lay the runner on top of the suds and let it absorb the water. I came back a few minutes later and started to squeeze it out. I thought I could see a distinct line warp wise in the wet cloth! Oh crap....   I had used a full cone and part of another to wind the warp, but I had checked the batch numbers and they were both the same! Had someone somewhere made a mistake? I laid it to one side and then 'floated' the next runner on the surface of the water.

Look what happened below.... the side of the runner absorbed water at a much faster rate!

Even when wet there is still a colour difference between the two areas. I gently squeezed water through the cloth but did not wring it out. That would set creases into the cloth, especially the thicker hem allowance. After rinsing, I let it drain well and  rolled into a large towel to absorb the excess water. Once they were all into large towels and resting I sat and did some thinking on the situation. Two cones and two different  reactions.  I had a theory worked out.  Well, there was only one thing left to do and that was to see what happened when they were damp / dry and firmly pressed.

Here they are .... and first up is the white beige runner:

I could see no sign of any colour change! It looked completely even across the runner. This is a blend of beige and white so perhaps it obscures the issue? This one measures 12.5 inches by 55 inches finished.

So here are the all beige runners and both measure 12.5 inches by 61 inches finished.

Again, no sign of any variation in colour! Great!  So what was it?  I think the two cones, while the same batch number, there was a difference in the linen used. It would seem there was almost like a coating on the surface of two thirds of the yarn used.... and not so much on the new cone. It came down to the way the linen was processed.  I hope the washing process took care of this detail for the future. If not, there's no sign of it when dry thankfully. All the reed marks disappeared with wet finishing  and I would have to say the change in sett also worked very well. I would use this sett of 24 epi with this yarn again next time.

So now my Louet Spring is empty and I'm trying to work out what goes on next. Do you ever run out of inspiration from time to time? I know that there is a  ton of different weaves out there to try and so I just need to find one that appeals to me.  I have to clear off the Woolhouse loom and get a shorter towel sampling warp on there so there's lots of housekeeping details in the studio to take care of.   

My left knee has been troubling me and so weaving has been considerably slowed.... hence the long time periods between posts. Sorry about that but it can't be helped. I'm just happy to be able to be able to still weave!

Hubby Bruce hasn't received a surgery date as yet and as of our last check, they are now booking well into March (which is definitely not the promised January). This may end up placing his surgery and mine on a collision course later this late spring or early summer. Apparently there is a shortage of anesthesiologists.   Meanwhile my Dad is still in hospital and the news is he could be there for another week or two before being released.

I'm hoping this will all come out in the wash as well!

A Yarn Infusion!

I was quite surprised when I reached for yarns for the last runner project and found that I had big gaps in my supply! Since there was a postal strike looming across Canada at that time, I was *forced* to rely on my reserves  and as a result went with the navy blue 16/2 cotton. It was a warp that needed daylight and an additional light source too. It seems my eyes aren't quite as young as they used to be.  My first choice was a white, or natural or flax coloured mercerized cotton and I was completely out!
So out came my colour charts for Brassards and I went shopping. I built a list and then let it sit over night, then I cut it back to a reasonable amount  :) I have plenty of 8/2 cottons and so decided to stick to just 16/2 cottons for this order.   All these colours are available in 16/2, 8/2, 4/8, 8/8 and even the mop cotton and a 8/2 boucle cotton. Its wonderful to have so many choices and colours... all with great service, and, happily for me, in Canada!

I ordered four cones of each of 16/2 mercerized cotton in white, natural and a colour called flax. They are smaller sized cones of 227 grams. These will be warp for things such as runners, guest towels where I want a better quality look and a bit of shine.

Then I ordered some basic white regular 16/2 cotton. As well as being warp of weft for 16/2 towels, I also use it as weft with some 8/2 projects to help reduce the over all weight of a cloth. These are half pound cones:

Okay! this is filling up my bare spot on the shelves, as those are some of my basics  Now for some colour as  I have a hankering to try more towels in 16/2 . The finer cloth feels nice to the hand, is still very absorbent and they sell well.

So I went with a soft lime green and hunter green, navy blue, brick, creamsicle orange and a colour called honey:

I tried to get a triad from the colour wheel. I have no set plan or draft right now but simple went for colours that appealed to me. I've done other colour arrangements in the past two years and it was time for something new!

So with my order all in place, I did allow myself one guilty indulgence! I saw from their sample cards that they have French linen and I was curious. I've seen Irish, and Eastern European and even Belgium linen....so I ordered two cones of 9/2 linen in natural, my preferred colour for linen.

I think you can see the lovely sheen to the cones here, but what you can't see is the nice even twist and then there is the way the yarn feels soft to the touch. Linen usually feels wiry and so this is is a nice feature! I'm looking forward to using this as weft to some of the new cotton I just bought.

So what's going on with the looms? Well, I'm winding an eleven yard warp for ten towels (plus samples) for my large Woolhouse Tools loom which seems to be constantly interrupted by 'Life' but is slowly making progress. More on this project at a later time!

I still have the 12 shaft tie up on my Louet and seem to have settled on an altered version of the bookmark draft. Here's a peek (taken with my cell phone camera). Details to come as its still under way right now. Its the lazy hazy dayz of Summer so nothing is happening quickly it seems!

I see that the local Fall Fairs are coming up soon and we are into the last weeks of summer before the kids go back to school.  It goes by so quickly huh?

Before I leave you for this this time, a small announcement: Treenway Silks has been sold and the business has been transferred to the new owners in Colorado! You can get all the details at the web site  here
Rather than come from the island just off shore from where I live, my silks will have to travel a bit further now...

Making Promises

A great  promise?  that Spring is coming... take heart!

I forget the full name of this hardy worker in the garden but its second name is Japonicus. It just doesn't quit! Blossoms, new red leaves all spring and again in the fall well into the frosts.

Early days yet, but that is the first primula blossom and a cluster of new buds forming, with a crocus nudging its way up.

There is a purple magnolia bloom in here. There's also the start of a new shoot at the base too!

The pink hellebore is almost ready!  Tough little plant and was the first to have fresh shoots up even in sub zero weather.

My personal favourite: heather which blooms from November to May, even through the snows.
So I guess you could call this the "Colours of February" on the west coast of Canada and these are all for Lynnette. I promised her I would....

Okay, back to indoor pursuits!
The chair situation in the studio was experiencing a delay.  Turns out the eight inch riser model was just a single solid pole and that simply won't work. So the ten inch hydraulic gas cylinder is the only other choice and then I found out the lowest setting is twenty four inches! I need twenty two and a half inches.  Since it can't be returned for a refund I had to mull it over some more and be really sure. The guy from the store actually came over to our house, looked at the benches and looms and we talked it through. (nice guy!) Seems when you sit down on the current regular chair, your body weight  depresses the chair down, therefore when I sit on the lowest setting of twenty four inches, it would also depress down and we deduced by at least one and a half to two inches so I'm placing the order this week. It makes sense that they would have one base meet and take over from the standard height and not leave a gap!  Phew...  it will take three to four weeks to come in.    *fingers crossed!*

I ran the gauntlet last week and went to the Government of Canada offices to get my first ever, bonafide passport. I absolutely hate the picture. I look like I'm attending a funeral or something but they liked it which is what matters most.  All around me were people grumbling about the long wait, having to get new pictures, more documents, that it was their third time back in line etc. I sat and waited my turn and it all went through first try and I was out of there in 30 minutes.  Now, Hubby promises I'll get to use it but as he pointed out, it is good for five years!

So after that grueling experience, I needed some retail therapy and so went to a yarn store "Knotty by Nature" ( in downtown Victoria, BC. which was just voted the most romantic city in Canada)
 I bought some additional shades of the finer bamboo in navy blue, black and a mid range magenta (which looks more pink here than anything):

While there was so much to love in the store, I was being mindful of my stash at home, counting my pennies... and that Hubby was waiting to carry my bag for me (oops!) I did buy this linen just for the colour!

Greens are so energizing aren't they?  I see the promise of leaves, grass.... and some nice huck lace runners!

So am I weaving again? yes, as a matter of fact I am, but only for short periods of time and not every day.  I do NOT want to go through another set back so I'm taking my time. I have a nine yard warp for three scarves and  I'm fifty four inches into my first scarf. So show and tell will be a while yet. A promise I'm happy that I can make again!