Peach of a Rose ~ Garden Shawls

 This post has been a while coming and the shawls shown here today mark the end of 16 years of  imagining, planning, weaving and finishing  scores of projects on my Spring Loom.   In all that time, she was never empty and always had something on the go.  A delight to weave on and frankly, hard to let go.   

Truth be told, it was time as my health has undergone some changes in the past 2 -3 years and it's time to weave less  and be under less pressure to keep two looms going and an Etsy shop full.  I don't know how weavers with multiple looms do it as there is only one weaver to keep all the balls in the air!

I still have my Megado and will still weave but my back tells me when its okay... when and how much.  Its Boss.   Simple as that...

So this first shawl has an undyed 10/2 tencel warp.  I bought some back when Webs used to carry it as it's a great staple to have on hand.   I used a 28 epi sett and my new 14 dent reed I got for Christmas in 2023 and it had patiently waited in its plastic sleeve.   

I find that setts where its 2 threads per dent show reed marks less. If you double or triple them up then it's going to show up.  Not all reed marks will wash out either.  So, an investment in a new reed was a good idea when I checked my stash and saw how much 10/2 cottons I have on hand 😳

The weft is a rose fiber yarn that I bought from Hilary at Crazy as a Loom (she may have more?)  Technically it's 'natural' but it does have a slight peachy hint of colour.  Neutral but something is going on there....   I like it!

The draft is an 8 shaft huck lace which always looks better with 'tone on tone' colours.   The tie up stayed in place and the looms new owner wove a scarf or two. It gave her time to get to know the loom before she had to tackle changing a CM tie up.   Which she did with her next project and quite well too. 

I wanted to try my hand at some fancy smancy borders and thought to give Danish Medallions a try.   I pulled them tight to for the ovals and didn't like what it did to the overall light-weight cloth. So I  just snugged them into place and they appear as an interesting feature as you can see from the picture above.  They are a slow hand manipulation  but very pretty and I'll try them again soon.  

Above you can see the drape and trust me, it's a light weave with a very soft touch.  Rose yarn is lovely to work with.   Below you can really see the peachy tint.  🍑 🌹

... and now for another garden extract..... Dandelion!  

When the time came to start the second shawl, I dug into the stash cupboard and found something interesting choices.  I had a cashmere blend but it was much too fine. Then I found mint fiber which was soft but while neutral, it still looked a greyed white.   I opted for a cone of dandelion fiber yarn instead as it had the right colour and silky look and feel to it I was looking for.  { I bought it at an Etsy shop called "YarnItaly" and they carry an ever changing inventory of exotic yarns }

Your can see the results as it looks like a white ivory and where there are weft floats there is a lovely sheen that catches the light.   I might keep this one for me.   Or maybe not since we need a new heat pump. 

Again lovely drape and you can see how light the fabric is. It would be like wearing a cloud!  ☁️

The border treatment this time was to mix up the huck treadling and create a band of pattern.   It was certainly faster than Danish Medallions. 

I tried taking the pictures outside but the huck lace vanished in the sunshine. Inside was much better but my flash unit wouldn't work so I had to brighten these on the computer.  Technology to the rescue...

So let me sow some seeds for thought:  You may be really keen to weave but please think about your overall posture at the loom, getting the right sized loom for you, and the right bench height.   Your elbow should be at a right angle and rest comfortably on the breast beam when you sit.  

Then think on time management: only fill 1-2 bobbins so you have to get up and move, stretch.   Take rest breaks. Don't weave if a body part is hurting. It's time to stop.  Maybe shift to another studio job instead.

One thing I have never done in all my 30 years of weaving, is to weave at night.  Daytime only.   I will use lights to brighten a dark day but never weave at night when your eyes are tired and straining.

Dark colours, such as all black are only woven on a bright summer day when you can see! 

Some years ago, on a dark winter day,  I wove a black on black lace table runner and couldn't see if I had made an error. I had to call out the treadling order verbally to myself thought out the 50-60 inches and only after it came off and was washed could I see if I got it right.  I did get it right fortunately as linen is too expensive to make that kind of mistake with!    

If you think all  these steps thoughtfully, then you will weave longer and be a healthier you.  💕

Leaning into Fall 🍁🍂

 Trees in our area are either showing signs of drought stress, or starting to turn early.   Since we had some generous rainfall, it must be the start of Fall. The sunlight comes in at an angle now and there's a golden glow, and the nights are cooler.  Having said all that, we are going into a few days of summer heat again. 

  Its all about change...

Speaking of which, there are a changing of seasons in my weaving room and I undertook the last tie up on my Spring.   I took my time and listened to my back and grateful it was only 8 shafts and 8 treadles ( and not the full 12!)

Then in keeping with the slower approach, I played with some Danish medallions.  Its been a while since I've done them so I'm slow, and the yarn is fine, and there 714 ends.... but the first two rows took me three hours! I told Hub that I wove an intense half inch today!  😳  Usually they are done in a heavier 'gimp' yarn but I wanted them to be more subtle and be an accent at the start of the shawl.   There may be seed beading added later.... I'm still deciding.  It will be a good test for my new glasses on order.

Finally, the main pattern is underway and what you see here is 3 repeats and this is where I stopped for the day yesterday.   Its rather pretty!

I'm also fringe twisting the two scarves that came off the Megado, and then washing and pressing. I hope to get some photos of them in that golden light outside this weekend.

I've done some spinning / plying so some skeins will be washed and hung outside to dry. 

Getting things done again and enjoying the process.    

Now..... Isn't that the whole  point?   Because......

Garden Path Shawls 🌹🌼

 Its a glorious day spring day here and I have the French doors in the studio open and a light warm breeze is coming in. You can smell the garden and we have some traditional spring blooms.

Some weeks ago, while it was still cold and dreary out,  I had spring in mind when I started my shawl project.  Sadly my back spasmed and so things sort of sat and waited.    The only tool that saw any action was my e-spinner and while it was fun, it wasn't weaving. 

So the goal for this shawl project was a delicate pink rose fiber yarn, paired with soft taupe or even a white or cream. Lovely for a spring day or summer gathering.   Where the pattern would be revealed by a play of light or in soft tones so it wouldn't be overpowering to the wearer.

So here's the first shawl underway on the Spring loom.  The draft is below and is from handweaving.net #74555   8 shaft advancing twill.   Looks complicated but the treadling was conveniently in 3 easy blocks.

In the picture above you can see my very high tech method of keeping track of where I am in the treadling.   I write out  logical  treadling runs, using my own shorthand, and the little alligator clip 'borrowed' from my hubby is slipped down line by line.     Oh, I've looked at Treadle Tempo but this system works, and costs me next to nothing, and I save those notes in my records to use again on another project.

The rose fiber came in large 2 pound cones, already dyed the pink. Other rose fiber I have seen is the usual white or off white.  Unfortunately the company that sold this yarn has sold off all their stock and I can't get any more, which is a great shame. Its lovely to work with and not a minutes problem and no fraying. Its a nice even 2 ply and I even love the tender pink shade. All that is missing is the rose scent!  🌹

Here's the shawl all set outside.  It was difficult to photograph either in the sunshine or over in the shade so I hope you can see the lovely drape and depth of the shawl, while replying 'on the loom pictures' above for the actual colours and pattern.

and in the shade...

The second shawl has an unusual weft yarn. Its an off white dandelion yarn.  Yes, you read that right.  I found it on Etsy at a shop called YarnItaly and bought a small cone of it to try.  Its very soft and very neutral in colour.   I just love all the new and interesting fiber yarns they are creating out of what is pretty much waste such as rose prunings and dandelions.  Things like pineapple, guava, nettles, milk, milk thistle and so many more.   I have some peppermint, green tea and modal.... even hemp.

This shawl is lovely and has the pattern revealed by a play of light, but it would have been even better if the weft yarn was a tad bit whiter, or have a bit more shine. Next time I guess!  

I like to record what I liked, what went wrong and what to try next time in my project notes.   I return to some of the drafts again after a few years and I certainly can't trust my memory!

These pictures really don't do it much justice.... its so much nicer in person. Soft and drapey.

I found that a friend of mine on line had recently purchased 500 pounds of yarn from the same company I bought the rose yarn from. Sadly, there's no pink rose yarn to be had but I have some interesting skeins of rose fiber and yak coming.   The skeins looked just like regular silk and I already have some ideas starting to bloom for a project with that!

🐝   🌷🌷🌷   🐝

Perfect Match 🌹

 I'm happy to report that my back is settling down and I feel much improved.   There's still more healing to do though, so I'm still not weaving so this can heal properly and not set me back. (pun intended) 

I'd like to thank some of you readers who have reached out to wish me well and say that it is much appreciated!  

One special thing that came my way this week was a photograph I received from a customer who's husband bought his wife one of my snowflake twill scarves.  It was a lovely surprise and I must say he chose just the right one for her!  

Some of you may recall my older post called Snow Roses 🌹    Take a minute to read it again and then you will see below why this was the perfect gift. 

🌹🌹🌹

New Years Day 2021: Annual Review

I think there is a collective  sigh of relief that 2020 is over and we'll take 2021 one day at a time for now, thank you very much!  No fooling us huh?  

Now to hunker down and stay safe at home until Spring and the vaccines come our way.  Its great that we will have so many available.  Our job is to simply stay out of harms way, wear a mask, and socially distance.   Not like we have to dodge bombs or dig trenches!

Our Christmas was very quiet, just like many others out there. We are so lucky in these times to have email, texts and things like Zoom and FaceTime to connect with family and friends. I can't imagine what it would have been like in times past with plagues and pandemics running amok and only the  'fence post' gossip and local weekly newspaper that gave you news many weeks out of date. On Christmas day, we had a wonderful FaceTime session with family and the grandkids opened their gifts from us and what a treasure it was to see their reactions on their faces. 

😷😷😷💉

So now its post holiday season and so its time to do more than watch Netflix et al, and news channels and actually do something creative. Making something is so satisfying and help you to take your mind off of Life and de-stress.   So knitters, quilters, spinners, and weavers (and everyone else in fibre pursuits) are  gearing up now for some quality time with their stashes!  One friend said that she had a 'low stash disorder' and so fixed it by buying an entire aisle of yarn and she feels so much better now. 😁  I think she was joking...

I have 8/2 cottons for towels on the Megado and another 8/2 off white warp for yet more towels all wound and standing by. It will be a 16 shaft point twill draft and the Megado's brain will change the pattern every so often so I can try out new patterns.  So the towels are like full sized samples.  There is also a colour gradient scarf waiting in the wings as well.

The Spring is currently being set up for some 10/2 cotton runners and I'm going to  use fine bamboos, or sea cell or peppermint yarns as weft. Still making up my mind....    The warp after that is a solid purple colour warp and I'm testing weft colours for some interesting colour play again. 

On the looms now

 

16 shaft point twill with (stash busting) stripes...

Here's the Spring loom, up on crates and a 12 shaft, 12 treadle tie up is in progress.  As you can see I mark the spot on the tie up sheet, the treadle being worked on and the position on the lamms. All these safe guards are from having made mistakes and goof up's in the past and now I'm trying to get things right the first time!   There's 144 cords to tie up so doing it once is tedious enough.  That's the 10/2 cotton for runners you can see waiting to be tied onto the front rod soon.

The past year would prove to be interesting in that there was no lack of time to weave, but there was a lack of will some days.  Talking to other weavers, they found it much the same.  Some went to their gardens instead or turned to other interests.  A friend who is a registered nurse said this is a common behaviour when dealing with stress factors such as the great unknowns of the past year.   Not every one goes into seclusion and creates a master piece, learns a new language or loses 40 pounds. 

So every year on this day I do a review of what I accomplished off my looms in the previous twelve months and tally it up.  I wove something for ten months of this year, with a two month break while we had our puppy experience.   That is still a very upsetting experience for us both and we still don't know if we'll try again with an adult dog or simply stay as we are. 

January 2020

Two scarves woven using a painted tencel warp by Carr Park Artisans called Pansy.  8 shaft twill, 24 epi. One sold quickly and now resides in Connecticut.

Ravelry Project notes

February 2020

Yet another painted tencel warp by Carr Park Artisans called Dazzle for two shawls with solid edges. 16 shaft twill with one being woven as an advancing twill and the other had a lovely feather pattern.   One shawl went to the UK.  There was a small table runner as well which went to Louisiana.

Ravelry Project notes

March 2020

Ravelry Project notes

Another two scarves in an old favourite pattern, snowflake twill. The warp was rose yarn and the weft was tencel for the first and a variegated silk weft for the second.  Sett 24 epi.   The rose yarn was nice to work with as warp. 

April 2020

Then the brain for my Megado up and died!   Ouch!  $$$ 😳  The old box had late 1990's technology and it was time to upgrade. Fortunately Louet had refurbished compu-dobbies from people to had recently bought new dobbies and then decided to upgrade to the latest model when it was released by Louet.   The loom doesn't move and is just a nice pile of lumber without one, so we are now back in action!

May 2020

Ravelry Project notes

I seem to be drawn to bright colours lately and this painted warp from Iridescent Fibers called "Across the Universe" was set up on the Spring and was a delight to weave up.  The pattern shifted through the warp colours and so weaving was fun.   8/2 tencel, sett 24 epi and an 8 shaft crackle weave.   One scarf went to Quadra Island and the other to the Vancouver area.  

June 2020

Ravelry Project notes 1

Ravelry Project notes  2

It looks like a very busy month, but it takes time to weave off ten yard warps and it seems a few projects were all completed at the same time.  First my old 20 year old serger up and quit on me.  So a new Janome arrived to serge and secure the raw edges of my new batch of towels.  Its an ivory 8/2 cotton warp that I wound at our last home just prior to our move in 2016 and the project notes got lost.  I had counted the ends and choose to weave up as many towels as I could and I got 7.  (There is one missing as I gifted it to our gardening lady before pictures were taken). I also got a nice long table runner as well!

and also in June 2020

Ravelry Project notes

I enjoyed simply weaving away on the long warp so I put another long one on again. Some lovely soft Egyptian cotton and I believe you can see the softness in the pictures!  A saucy little pattern of  16 shaft dancing boxes that I call Pandora's Boxes.  I got  9 towels, with one going to my daughter and the rest sold in record time.  People loved the bright colours!  🌈

July 2020

Ravelry Project notes

In July I combined a painted warp from Iridescent Fibers with a lovely 16 shaft draft by Ingrid Boesel and wove these two scarves.   Its simply a straight 16 shaft draw and then treadled as an advancing twill  and you get these lovely curves !   One looks like ripples on a shore line at sunset and the other the flames in a campfire.  The sunset ripples scarf now resides here in my home town, owned by another weaver 😊

August 2020

Ravelry Project notes

I needed some table runners for my Etsy shop, I wanted to use up some of my 10/2 cotton stash and I wanted to try this 12 shaft turned twill.  The sett was 28 epi. It resulted in two runners with black weft,  two runners woven with olive green and one runner woven with the deep purple weft.   Issues with loom tension meant I was cutting off after every one or two runners, so a neat two inch twisted fringe help to  recover warp lost to cutting off.  I had planned for turned hems but had to get creative.

September  - October 2020

So here we paused for a puppy break for two months.....

November & December 2020

Ravelry Project notes

I  threw myself back into colour and using four colours of solid tencel, my Fiberworks (Mac version) gave me this lovely gradient of blues and greens. I used delicate 16 shaft 'fans' or leaves pattern.    The blue version has five colours altogether and the sea green has four.   Such a delicate pattern and I know I'll weave it again.  Its very popular right now but I'm seen it being used for kitchen towels and baby wraps. I think I prefer the scarves.....

Ravelry Project notes

I wound on yet another painted warp from Carr Park Artisans called Thunderstorm.  I beamed this warp not really knowing what to do, not really feeling the love for it.... and came to like it in its own dark way.  They reminded me of storm clouds,  the pause after a deluge, and the silver of the clouds as they move away and they became a metaphor for all the crap of the 2020 year.  It became quite cathartic!   Now 2021 will no doubt start as  nasty as 2020 has been, but at least we have some encouraging signs of better times to come.... if we simply stay the course and hold on.  It, being the virus, will end one day.  The 1918 Pandemic had horrid numbers and nothing like the modern medicine we have now.... and they pushed beyond to better times with simply muslin masks.  There were anti maskers / anti quarantine folks even then so all the craziness is nothing new to this or  any crisis.

So be careful and make sure that you are there for all the good times and family gatherings to come in the near future.  Mask up! Socially distance.... and roll up your sleeve when your turn comes. 

The tally

Scarves: 12

Runners: 8

Shawls: 2

Towels: 16

Total of 38 items off my looms.

   🍾 🥂 Wishing you all a very Happy New Year from our home to yours....  🎉 🎈