2015: a Year in Review

Happy New Year!    

Start of a fresh brand new year!  I'm hoping that this one is brighter and colourful, and more productive than last year.  A nice clean slate.

Many weavers like to show what is on their loom on New Years Day, which is a great idea, but I like to show what was going on in the studio for the entire year. A review of sorts.

2015: Not a stellar year  production wise as I was slower at weaving due to recovering from hip replacement surgery, then dealing with pain while waiting for another surgery.... and the resulting recovery interval once more.  Some of you have told me that you wished I posted more often but trust me when I say there was nothing to really share with you!  I did manage to get some cloth off the looms and I made some big changes to the over all arrangement of the studio space.

January to March

There was a time delay getting things started due to recovering from hip replacement surgery but the first project came off the Spring loom during this time period.  I started weaving again slowly at six weeks post operative.  Sadly my father took ill again with mini strokes at this time too and was hospitalized.  (Looking back now, he never really went home again.)

The scarves below were on the loom before surgery and waiting to be woven off. They are all silk and in fact a variety of silks!  Bombyx, silk- yak, tussah, silk-cotton....some home dyed and some commercially dyed.  36 epi and an eight shaft draft.  Light and soft and very nice hand to them. It took a lot of 'tromping' to get them done with the weft so fine. I'm not sure I thought that through too carefully before hand!

March 10th saw our new grand daughter Madison Ava born. Even now her big brother Ethan is still trying to work out if he wants to share the centre stage with her. Fortunately she is a patient, happy baby and is growing like a weed.

Then we had the engagement and marriage of my daughter Carrie and her sweetheart Colin. Their wedding was March 13th. I must say they are very well suited to each other and we have gained a son. They are making their home in the Denver, Colorado area.

April and May

We had a couple of visits over to Vancouver to see my Dad who now was sporting a new pacemaker  but still hospitalized.  The doctors finally told us that there was nothing more they could do for him. The search for a hospice began...

Meanwhile, this project was perfect in its simplicity. Four shaft plain weave with three thread lace.  I got the draft from Handwoven's Design Collection 16 and must say that if you decide to weave this yourself, be prepared for a lot of draw in and beat the heck out of it. It all settles down in the wash and I do recommend a good *hard* pressing to set the pattern.  It would make a lovely table runner.

I acquired a new tool / toy for the studio! I found standing to wind warps on the traditional warping board hard on the new hip joint and equally hard on the old knee.  I found a sale at Woolhouse Tools and had it in my hands in three days. I was amazed how fast it arrived.  First warp on it was 8/2 cottons for some plaid towels. Again an easier project to treadle and I wove it as one continuous length and then cut apart for seven towels.  A large and bold pattern and I'll be making more tartan towels in 2016.  Next ones will be an authentic tartan...

I also tucked into working out and fixing what ever was wrong with the Megado loom. The meant looking into getting the software all worked out and remedying some hardware glitches with shafts and solenoids.   All fixed and doing fine now!

It was during this time period that I found out my friend Gudrun was battling cancer and not doing very well.  

June

I fell in love with some silk at a European based Etsy shop and soon was winding a warp of 20/2 equivalent hand dyed rich violet and a bronzed green silk.  I used an eight shaft draft from Handweaving.net  My sett was 28 epi. It produced this neat striped effect.

We were over to Vancouver again for a visit with Dad.... I knew when I left it was most likely the last time I would see him so the good bye was very hard.  

Shortly after we got home we heard from my cousin that my great aunt Bessie had died. Bessie was almost the same age as my Dad. She had come to Canada as  war bride and settled in northern Ontario.

My daughter and her new husband came from Colorado and she had a good visit with her grand father over two days and then they came over to the Island to stay with us.  The time flew by and it was so good to see them. (They promise to come back in 2016 to see us again.)

Then in late June, Gudrun died and I was unable to go to her service because my father died a few days later.    Then a few days after Dad passed away, the hospital called to give me my surgical date for my knee.  

An amazing friend and Master Weaver, Gudrun Weisinger. 1941 - 2015

July

My Dad, Frank Waterfield.  1930-2015

I spent lots of time in the studio alone weaving, making plans and getting ready to tidy up the studio ahead of my surgery. It was a good place to simply 'be' and I really needed that. 

 I placed an order for a flyshuttle for the Megado and was advised it would be mid September before it would arrive.  The one shown below is not mine but simply a demo model at the Louet web site.  {It did arrive in mid September but had some issues with sticking so it was shelved for the time being. I hope to set it back up and get it busy again soon. }

My Woolhouse Tools countermarch loom finally found a new home in Sooke, BC which is at the southern end of Vancouver Island. Jill was a happy new owner  and we have become weaving friends.  She had it all together and weaving away on it in record time!   Before they left with the loom in their truck, Jill and her husband helped Bruce to move the Megado to spot where the Woolhouse once stood.  

Now the Megado has 'pride of place' next to a window and patio door for good natural daylight.  It also camouflaged where the loom's big feet has stood!

August

After coming back from Dad's service in Vancouver, I completed getting the Megado all set with a towel warp. Bobbins  all wound; draft chosen and tested for errors.

I also decided to sell my Louet Jane table loom and stand. It wasn't being used and only ever had two warps on it.   It quickly found a new home over in the Vancouver area.

September ( and a very quiet October)

I wasn't actively looking for a loom to buy but had a notice come into my inbox about a loom for sale in the Lower Mainland (as we call the overall Vancouver area)  It was a 45" Leclerc Tissart tapestry loom. It was made in January 1967. Normally a loom that old would show its age but this one had only three owners in all that time, and the last two had basically just stored it.   Pictures showed it to be in very nice condition!   I could hear Gudrun telling me in my ear to "go ahead and buy it."  I had actually got into weaving with the purpose of doing tapestry and was sidelined by regular weaving for um, twenty years!  Gudrun managed to do both and maybe I can too. 

Bruce set sail on the ferry for Vancouver and delivered the Jane table loom over to its new owner and then picked up my 'new' old tapestry loom. We sure had fun putting that together! Took two days but we did it!  Most of it was guess work too.   There was only one bruise on the wood (front right side near the tray) and some furniture oil helped to have it blend in and be less noticeable.  Its coming up to being forty nine years old in January....its allowed to have some character marks. I know I sure do!

I also ordered some fine wools for tapestry to come and 8/2 cottons for towel warps for the future.  My colour selection was getting rather slim!

I finally wet finished and trimmed up three linen and cotton book marks featuring a small fancy twelve shaft twill with a sett of 50 epi. They are two inches wide. 

With time running short, I got the guest towel warp off the Louet Spring and prepped them for hand sewing the hems sometime in October. I also got a new warp onto the loom asap and made a brief start to see what it looked like.

More on these below!

Tencel in three shades done as a colour gradient

Then suddenly it was September 28th and my date with the surgeon!

My old knee

My view for a few weeks.

my new knee!

November 

Eventually I was able to focus again after  the anaesthetics and pain meds and actually enjoyed hand sewing the hems. These were  a 10/2 mercerized cotton warp, sett 24 epi and a fine bamboo weft and each towel has five rows of hem stitching for these huck lace towels.

December

I came into possession of my entire family's photographs and documents via my Dad's Estate and spent two to three weeks sorting and organizing them.  I had started to weave again but it was painful the day after so this diversion was helpful. It gave my knee time to heal some more and I did something productive with my time.   This will be ongoing for some time to come. There are hundreds of photographs as it covers my parents years together, also both sets of grandparents, my father's sister and her two marriages, plus my mother's older sister and also her identical twin.   

Yeah, it will take a while.... 

Next thing I knew it was Christmas!

So that makes a final tally of:

3 scarves

3 book marks

13 kitchen towels

12 guest towels

plus:

5 trips to Vancouver, 3 funerals, a wedding,  a new baby

... and a new knee. 

I'm hoping to have a much improved list next January 1st.   More weaving, less drama!

2016 is off to a good start with a fresh warp now on the Spring, and I plan to be weaving on the Megado today and see if we can move the towel warp along some.  

Now, in my previous post before this one, I announced a  blog anniversary draw due to be made January 8th.  All you have to do is write a comment and tell me what keeps you coming back to read my blog and it would be great if you could tell me briefly your level of interest in weaving. Please be clear with your name and a way to contact you.

The winner of the draw, made by collecting names from the last post and this one, and then drawn from a hat, will win a huck lace guest towel.  To be fair, I must tell you that its a 'second' and has a treadling error but is still pretty and functional. 

If you get this post via email subscription   you will have to come and visit the blog web address to enter the comment as its not possible via the email format.

Time is Ticking Away

 I was looking out a window down our driveway and saw  the back of a large gray cat sitting on the driveway.   It was a very big cat and I could clearly see the ears...... when all of a sudden its entire head turned around "exorcist style" and I found myself looking into a pair of very stern yellow eyes!

It was a very large owl.... a very large Great Horned Owl sitting in my driveway!

Later on, Bruce found him (or her?) sitting in a tree along the driveway and his presence didn't faze the bird at all. He managed to snap a few pictures.  They are also known as the cat owl as they are a sufficiently large enough bird to bring one home for dinner!  The neighbour's cats are on their own but I'm more concerned about our little resident rabbit!

The markings on its feather blend with the tree bark very well!

We have a week of rain ahead of us and that's okay by me. I have a lot to do to get ready in the studio ahead of my "adventure" at Victoria Royal Jubilee Hospital.....

.......but I just couldn't leave the tapestry loom in a pile of nice lumber on the floor!   

I cleaned each piece and buffed out some marks with a magic eraser  and only found one wood bruise. For a loom that's 48 years old, that's pretty darn good!   Then using a couple of clear, detailed pictures I found on line, Bruce and I worked hard all afternoon to basically get all the main parts assembled while it lay flat on the floor.  

 By days end we turned around and found two big parts we had missed!    We decided to call it a day and try again the next day...

So,  a fresh start again the next day.  We were able to loosen off some bolts and squeak in the parts and then tighten it all up again.  It would seem that 95% of the parts need to be set between the two main sides and then all tightened up together.  Its a two person job provided they have six pairs of hands to hold everything in place and tighten things up at the same time!

Bruce got the treadles and brake release into place....

It had been a tough two days fighting with parts!

Two full afternoons of  intense togetherness and no fighting or barking at each other.... cool huh?

There she is!   All done and a light polish applied and cords secured.  Bruce says that if we ever move, it can be well wrapped and go out the door as one large object!    Now the loom can sit and wait a while for me.... and for the  yarn to arrive.

Which  two days later,  a large and heavy box arrived on my doorstep!  I had placed an order with Brassards in Quebec for some wools, cotton seine cord and some 2/8 cottons.

It was a satisfying box load!

Two different gauges of cotton seine cord for warps on the Tissart.

These are the Blue Mountain wools.... 2100 yards per pound, in twenty eight colours. I need to get a storage bin for them right away. Its a finer wool that I will use doubled.  Replacements will be bought as two pound cones as I see what colours I tend to favour. 

These are the 2/8 cottons. I have a hodge podge of other colours so hopefully this will help expand the selection for project planning. I hope to do some more plaids and tartans eventually.

So I'll be  reading up on tapestry techniques and planning on a beginners sampler.   Ah, all that and reading up on how to beam a warp on the Tissart too. Fortunately there is a good post on line to  refer to.  I'll even check You Tube just in case.... they seem to have everything there!

Bruce helped me with beaming eleven and a half yards on 2/8 natural cotton onto the Megado.  (He's a real keeper huh?) I got 554 ends all threaded and sleyed.   Then, I fired up the computer and Fiberworks today and hope to make a start on my sixteen shaft draft and this happened:

 So today I will have to make some adjustments to the cords and, with luck, I'll be happily weaving soon.  The draft is from Handweaving.net

I'm working on the set up of this loom first as its the one that will be easiest for me to use at some point in my recovery. There is just the one treadle and its very light to move. I also bought some springs to attach to the loom to reduce the inertia required to treadle. They are for weavers with joint issues. A smart idea!  

See the black springs between the cup hooks? That the extra lift and you can set the tension by moving to another hook.

The computer program does all the decision making so I can focus on just throwing the shuttle and watching the pattern grow.    Also, at this point the new fly shuttle might just have to wait for its working debut. I'm running out of time and I still have another loom to get sorted out!

Weaving on the Spring loom has been slow as my knee dictates what I can do and for how long. I've been using my (soon to be replaced) left knee and leg as much as possible to treadle the huck lace by way of 'exercise' but by the end of a session, its tired and very sore.  I finished weaving my planned  towel number twelve yesterday and yet I can still see warp enough for another.  So I will get busy with my bonus towel with its five rows of hemstitching!  I would like to get this warp done and off and then prep the towels ready for hemming. I thought I could hand sew the hems while recovering.

I have a tencel scarf warp to beam on next (see the last post)  and it shouldn't take long to thread.  I won't be able to  maneuver too well so I'd like to get the loom up on her crates and get the tie up done ahead of time.

I have two weeks to go but there are several days where I'll be visiting Doctors and pre-admission clinics and doing personal errands to get ready.   In between I'll be in the studio!

Tick-tock, tick-tock!