Permission to Play

I'm back again... and fairly quick about it  too.  It's Easter weekend and I hope all of you who celebrate, have a nice time with family and friends.  🐣🐰

So do you recall this recent posted project?  It featured a painted warp by Loominaria, who are now sadly closed.  There was 25 ends of this painted warp  left over.    A smidgen.  Too little to do anything with, and too much to throw away.....    That started a nugget of thinking. A challenge even.  How to use that 25 ends to its best advantage.

So one end was reserved for any mishaps and the remaining 24 represented one inch in a warp.   How to maximize that one inch?   It's a series of plums, blues, bronze- brown and gold tones. Even some mossy green tones.   I decided to go with two shades of blue.   Greyed Blue and Azure.   

After mulling and playing around with various drafts, I fell back to my favourite.  I have it in 16 shafts and 8.... so I reworked it  to a 12 shaft (of draft #78116) to maximize the 24 ends.   With some gradient on either side as the blues shift from one side to the other.   Will it work?   I have no idea until we try....   The colours in the draft are NOT a good representation of the actual used.....

Here's the 8 shaft version #75578 (as a bonus 😊 )

Here it is being beamed on using the Helping Hands from Lofty Fiber, and below, I'm taking another try at using the paper holder from Gingerlocks Handwovens. This time with non skid matting underneath so they don't move and create torque in the paper.   It worked!

Closer look at the paper hangers below.

Gingerlocks Handwovens had slipped two of these 3D printed 'balls' in my order and you slip them on the (non removable) posts on the Megado.  They went from a hazard to a nifty hand up. 

Another new toy from Lofty Fibers is the sley assist and it's designed for Louet looms: Spring, David and Megado.  They also have a beater brace for the Spring and David but not yet for the Megado so you'll see I have used soft cords to tie off the beater to upright.   The assist is secured by a 'screw' that sits on the reed slot. The darker support shifts on a slot to accommodate any height reed.  You can have it angled (as shown) or lay it flat.   (I'm sure they are working on similar device for other loom brands)

Then you reach through and sley the ends through the reed.  I think next time I will tie off the beater so it leans backwards a bit and reduce the reach.

All done.... and time to shift it to an upright position and place the top of the beater back on. 

Here the reed is upright and is held in place by slots in the end of the sley assist brackets.  You loosen the light grey screw to shift it along in the reed track and snug it in tight to hold the reed in place.

Reed in the slot on the left..... and below, on the right. 

Once the top is back on and secured, the brackets can be loosened and removed.   I liked the process and will use it again for sure. I was reaching up and over the top of the beater to  sley the reed and this old body complained every time. 

So sometimes you just have to play with new toys, new ideas and  take a leap of faith.....  Next time, we'll see if my idea of how to save and use the painted warp ends plays out.....

🌷 🐣 🌷

Dressing Up Maeve

So this is part 2 of my new loom adventure.   It's about dressing up Maeve with her first warp. This is 10/2 cotton, kinda clingy and in softer 'neutral' colours.   Approx 7.5 yards for 6 towels and a sample.   At 28 epi, that's 684 ends!   Nice project in principle but that 684 times I must tussle with new heddles that are somewhat tangled.  Well, I'm that patient.... or stubborn, take your pick!

The warp wound on very well using the Helping Hands assist. (from Lofty Fibers)   The only issue I had was the holes in the ends of my new lease sticks is larger than the ones on the older 110's lease sticks.  So the little 3D printed pegs fell out!    So I used some painters tape at either end and carried on.    No binding of threads, no breakage despite the threads being clingy.   

  

Each section of warp had an S hook and a 3 pound weight and I would go back and forth advancing every 2 feet or so.    Not overly fast but it went well and that's the main thing.  I try not to rush any phase of this process as the beaming of the warp is important.   You can't weave properly on a badly beamed warp.

Finally, I was done and this was my view from the front. The beater assembly is lifted up onto support brackets from GingerlocksHandwovens.  They have a variety of 3D printed aids for looms. 

Here you can see the lease sticks and their end brackets have been dropped down to the lower position, at a good height for threading. There is texsolv cord on either side so you can adjust it to exactly where you need them. I generally as a rule leave the main Helping Hands parts on the loom. The lead stick brackets go into the nifty little bag they came with.

Then this was my view for a few hours every afternoon as I grappled with fresh tight heddles. It was very hot outside so I was okay with the AC on and some nice music playing. 

My high tech method of keeping track of where I am in the pattern.  I'm threading what is between the 2 post it notes.   Simple and effective.   Cheap too.

The threaded sections started to add up....

.... and finally it was all done!  Time to set the parts back on the loom for sleying the reed.

Except the 14 dent reed I need is being used on the other loom! So time to get busy over there.....

Back soon.   😉

2023: A Weaving Year in Review

 Happy New Year to you all..... where ever you may be!  🎉

It's become a custom here at my blog to do a weaving year in review. To see what I was able to accomplish in my studio. I will admit right now that my looms are very quiet.  The smaller Spring loom is waiting for me to resume threading on two huck lace shawls and two lovely painted warp scarves are just under way on the Megado.    

About mid December my left lower SI joint started to ache and I ignored it to my peril and now I have terrible back pain and hobbling through my day. Gel ice packs and pain meds are my main stay right now until this subsides.

In good news, this means I have much more time to use my Hansen e-spinner and have been enjoying the heck out of that. 

We were hit with an atmospheric river of rain, combined with high winds on Christmas Day night. The rain was literally coming in sideways. Late that night as we were heading to bed, we discovered one of our skylights was leaking.   So we put buckets under the drips and went to bed.   

I must have called every roofing company on our part of the island over the next two days and not one has called us back..... even to today as I write this.   We end up calling our house painter Glen who cheerfully came, went up and recaulked the skylight and said that come the better weather he'd reseal the other three skylights for us.   What a guy!    Both of us are under the weather right now so not able to do much of anything so his help was fabulous!

All the details and even drafts for some of these projects are in the archived months of 2023......

January

So this month was a bit of a bust as I was healing a muscle spasm in my right shoulder.   Apparently I'm not aging all that well.  I hope this doesn't get to be an annual thing! 😳

February

My dear friend Margaret passed away. She was instrumental in setting my feet firmly on the weaving path and then gifted me her loom. She's with me every day.

I placed a large 8/2 cotton order for the first time in 5 years.  How do I know it was 5 years? Because Brassards had given up on me reordering and gave my customer number to someone else.   So much of that was used in towel warps later in the year.    I also ordered some new 3D printed warping assist bits from Ginger Locks Handwovens to try out on the Megado.  I like to see if I can streamline the process and make it easier for me.   Out of this bunch of 3D printed parts, the beater lifter is great and the rest I will have to try again at some point and see.

March

Apparently this happened again.....sore back...  and no weaving.   Seems there is a pattern huh?

April

Finally some weaving! Three table runners in a fancy 16 shaft twill. 10/2 cotton, sett 28 epi.

I signed up for a towel exchange with two weavers and also started an intense search for some dusky peach silk. I had a very request by a client to reproduce a scarf and didn't have any of the weft yarn any longer. I eventually found it at Treenway Silks with owner Susan's help.  It's "spiced cognac" and almost a perfect match!

May

More gadgets:  3D printed Helping Hands warping assists from Lofty Fibers for my Spring loom. I have to say they work great and I have kept it up as part of my warping routine!   So I ordered a set for my Megado too.

I also completed two shawls that feature a soft pink Rose fiber warp and one shawl has tencel weft in taupe and the second has dandelion fiber weft yarn. The sett was 24 epi and featured an 8 shaft draft from Handweaving.net

My friend Hilary was selling off yarn from a very large stash she acquired and so I bought some silk / yak in an ivory colour.  I kept some for myself and sold about half of it and that paid for the entire purchase! Some of it will be used with the huck lace shawls currently now waiting for my cranky back to settle down again. 

June

I got (too) adventurous and tried incorporating a painted warp with solid shades and a 16 shaft diagonal pattern.   The black weft  one turned out okay but the second shows even I can get things wrong!  *sigh*  😳   I think parts of  the second purple scarf is destined to become greeting cards..... or ??

The commissioned scarf order was finally completed and delivered, so that's two more Abalone Shimmer scarves. These feature the 20/2 spiced cognac silk weft. I wove one for me too.  I have nothing to wear with it but I now have one too.

July

Finally, a chance to set up and warp using the new Helping Hands Megado version and I wrote three posts on the process. It's become easier each time I use them and it was a worthwhile purchase.  Of the other  parts I purchased first? I use the beater lifters all the time when threading.

Then there were two scarves woven after an initial cranky start.   I had a draft in mind and once I started to weave it up, I hated it.   So I cut out the weft, rolled the warp back and rethreaded, and resleyed..... but kept the same tie up  and got this unique  pattern. Thank heavens for Handweaving.net's special search features!  One scarf has a multi fleck, part alpaca, part silk weft.   The second is all tencel.  (*I always leave the lease sticks in place, pulled to the back of the loom and tied in place until I'm sure of no mistakes, and now additionally, that I like the draft.  I do remove them when everything is fine*)

At the very end of July, my younger sister passed away. She died on my parent's wedding anniversary and my father's birthday.    She was 58, so much too soon.   That's her with the bow in her hair, many years ago in New Zealand.    That's me as the eldest at the back.  I think I'm about 15 or 16 here. 

There was also another sad loss for me that day too and it's one I'm still coming to terms with. I'm not sure if that story will have a happy ending or not.  That's all I can say for now. 

August

The towels and small gift exchanges rolled in in August and helped to cheer me up.

 

My husband says our kitchen towel drawer is full to overflowing and we may need to cull some oldies to be able to close the drawer!   I think I'll sit the next annual Padre Wayne towel exchange out.....

Having said that, I have 5 towels warps planned, but there will be for Christmas thank you gifts and to sell in the Etsy shop.  The first batch of eight are based on 16 shaft point twill, 8/2 cotton warp and a variety of drafts from Handweaving.net

September

Second batch are the "Everything Everywhere"  towels and feature 10/2 cotton, sett 28 epi and turned twill.   I got six towels.

October

Next up was # 728 towels from Carol Strickler's "A Weavers Book of 8 Shaft Patterns". This was a modified version and featured blues, magenta and peacock 8/2 cottons from the Brassards yarn order earlier in the year. 

Then we discovered our roof was leaking above the garage attic. Eventually, some wider flashing and caulking fixed it but I learned all about insurance claims, adjusters and roofers.  Our roof is only 13 years old but it seems someone back when it was being replaced took a short cut and used a piece of flashing too small for the job, rather than go down and bring up a new one......   

November

The next towel batch was my "Kitchen elegance" towels.... and there were six towels and one table runner.  They are 10/2 cotton, 28 epi and a sixteen shaft twill.    I have a lot of 10/ cottons and decided this year to use it more.   It means more work winding, threading and weaving, but the cloth is so nice in the hand!

December

Last batch of towels was a repeat of the happy "Herringbone twill". They were such a hit last time I wove them and so this time I used natural cotton and another arrangement of doubled coloured ends.   This means you have many choices for wefts!  As you can see with the seven towels all stacked up here.

At the very end of November, my mother in law Lorraine passed away quietly in her sleep.  She was 100 1/2 years old so it wasn't unexpected, but sad none the less for her son and daughter. Bruce had many more years of conversations with her than most adult children get with their elderly parents.   She was an elegant lady, fierce Canucks hockey fan and loyal Blue Jays baseball fan.  She had jerseys for both teams. She celebrated all the events on the calendar, but her favourite holiday was Christmas and sadly she missed this one.

This is Lorraine as a two year old holding her doll while climbing up on the pilot of a steam locomotive 98 years ago.

So despite some back pains and heart aches I did manage to get some weaving done and the totals are"

towels 33

scarves 6

shawls 2 

runners 5

deaths 3

dental surgeries 2

roof leaks 2

towel exchanges 2

bad back spells  3

Sunrise at Willow Point, south of Campbell River, BC

Then a few hours later in full daylight.

I hope your coming year is healthy, happy and with smooth warps and swift shuttles!