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. 

🌷🌷🌷

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!

🐞🐞🐞

Opal Stars and Waves

The last finished project for the year is now all done and photographed.  One loom is empty now (gasp!) and the other has a runner project about mid way.   Not to worry about the loom being naked as a warp is being wound and is half way completed.

I used to have new warps all wound and waiting ahead of time, but now seem to take more time considering the next project and being more choosy. 

All to the good I think. There's far too much rushing about nowadays.   Between Christmas preparations and making up for lost covid time.... I'm quite happy to take things at a slower pace. 

I'm very pleased with how this project turned out and I'll say that both scarves sold within hours of being listed on Etsy.   That was the fastest part as everything else was slow and measured (literally).   I used my Fiberworks (Mac version) and created a colour gradation using four 8/2 tencel solid colours: royal, grey blue, greyed teal and aquamarine. I had the program create it in quarters and then flipped the centre  so it reversed to the opposite side. The colours are very close so I had to create a second copy with bizarre colours so I could see the colour order better.  Old eyes and glasses that slip all the time can make for a miserable time of it.  I think I spend as much time planning and selecting yarns and colours as I do the actual physical weaving...

So the threads were wound one at a time according to the chart on my warping mill, cut and tied each end.  I actually enjoy the process and have nice music on. Its relaxing to me.  I also like to watch the colours shift and grow on the mill:

The draft is one I found on Pinterest, with no accreditation unfortunately.  If you know who designed this please leave a comment.   This draft creates the 'waves'.

I played around with some treadling variations and when the pattern is reversed, you get stars and long ovals:

That's the beauty, the fun of a weaving program is that you can try all these things out and see a great deal before you commit time and yarn.   You can see the back view, check how long your floats are etc.  There's also an almost infinite selection of colour! 🌈

So, its been too cold or even too sunny to get decent pictures out doors so I'm doing my best inside the house. This is the Opal stars and ovals scarf.   I used the 8/2 tencel colour adobe as weft. The scarf is 10 inches by 72 inches, with a 5 inch fringe.

Below you can see the shift in colours and it would seem that aquamarine (turquoise) is much like yellow, in that a little goes a long way! It does seem to boss the other colours around a bit.

Then there is the Opal wave scarf. A bit shorter at 62 inches by 10 inches wide, but very pretty! Again I used adobe for the weft. It just pulled all the other colours together nicely. Green or blue.

So I listed them just before dinner and when I woke the next morning they were sold.  They are on their way to Maryland! 

We are on the verge of yet another snow event which is to arrive late today or over night.  We have an Arctic cold front to boot, so we'll be staying close to home and keeping warm.     I have done some online shopping and have some dandelion yarn and also green tea yarn coming. Some silk fell into the cart at Treenway too.    Merry Christmas to me!  🎁

In time I plan to show you my new 3D printed lease stick holder for the Megado loom.   A weaver's husband in the States look at her set up and thought: "I can make something better" and he did! I'm looking forward to trying them out next warp.

I would like to take this time to thank my regular readers who patiently wait for me to write.  Wishing you all the joy of the Holidays, how ever you celebrate!

I will be writing my usual annual weaving year in review post on January 1st.  

Abalone Shimmer

 Winter hit here in a hurry.   We were enjoying a regular fall day and the next morning we woke to snow and rather cold temperatures.   It was a shock to us but more so to the trees and garden who were still wearing leaves and in some cases, flowers!    I cut these little rose buds the night before to enjoy in the house and good thing I did or they'd be frozen stiff the next morning.

The snow is gone now thankfully but now we are wrapped in fog and its been here for several days now.  I couldn't see my neighbour's house last night. Its eery and quiet.     It also means there have been delays to getting some pictures taken for you.  

Eventually, it brightened up enough to try my hand at fog photography.   Too much direct sunlight saps the colours out of the subject and so I thought this might just work.... 

This scarf warp was a blending of five colours of solid 8/2 tencel shades: Ming Blue, Aquamarine, Grey Blue, Greyed Teal and Dark Teal.   I used the gradation feature in Fiberworks (for Mac) and after some tweaking, I wound the warp one thread at a time.   I find it relaxing and quite enjoy the process. Seeing the changes build on the warping mill is a treat for the eyes.   This picture from its early start on the loom shows the warp colours best.

The weft is 30/2 silk from Treenway, dyed in a colour called "#42-Velvet Opera".  It was left over from this project.  Its pretty fine stuff so its a slower weave working through repeat after repeat.

But the results are lovely. Its a fine cloth, with a very soft touch.... its as light as a feather!   As you can see, the base warp colours still manage to make their presence known.   The burgundy /wine colour works with the blues on one side and also the teal greens on the other.  This scarf is called Summer Wine.  🍷🍇

Subtle iridescence ?  😊

This picture is my favourite of this bunch.   I guess they could be brighter but sunshine would have drained the colours away.

So.... what to choose for weft for scarf number two?   I had some criteria set: it had to be silk, it had to come from my stash again, and it hand to shake hands with all the colours in the warp.     So I checked my Itten Color Star for a nudge in the right direction. Then I got digging through my silk bins....    I found an antiqued apricot 20/2 silk I bought from Etsy shop "Sericin" some time ago. I think they may even be naturally dyed.    I wound some up and did some test weaving..... and liked what I saw!

I had one weaver who saw this picture and she described it as abalone..... and so its called Abalone Shimmer. As you can see from the pirn in the picture, the silk weft is also not dyed to one base colour but it varies in tone, which adds so much more depth to the overall affect.    It also seems to help in blending the warp colours better so they seem to flow.   Its thread magic!  

And the final scarf?   Well, you can see for yourself..... and like a favourite child, I took more pictures of this one than the last.     (oops)

The pattern is an 8 shaft twill progression and uses only 8 treadles. To get this length of repeat is a lot of dancing on the treadles in twill runs to and fro, progressively in one direction, then another. 

Someone thought it was a 16 shaft twill so all the dancing was worth it! 

My husband took some picture of the scarves too and he took the one below which I really like.  Its shows all the nuances of colour.  I told him I was going to try my hand at photography in the fog and I think he didn't want to be left out of the experiment.

So what's happening in the studio now?

I have a single scarf in silk and tencel again on the Spring and more table runners on the Megado loom that have a 348 repeat or 15 inches.  😳    Three repeats gives you a whole runner!  Plus my legs are getting quite the work out.   They, the runners that is,  are coming along well.

I'm about to wind another colour gradation  as I really like the effect and its using what I have on hand which is a good thing.   

I have succumbed to more yarn and have some dandelion yarn coming.... and also green tea.   This new use of other plant fibres just fascinates me.    Now to come up with a project for that.   I'll decide when it arrives and I have it in hand.

Stay warm.... and keep your shuttles moving!