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...

Silver Linings

Now, isn't that a sight to make your heart go 'pitty-pat' ? This parcel arrived just ahead of the weekend. Now I must add that this isn't all mine (unfortunately). This is a two weaver order from Yarns Plus. They sell tencel and chenille: some custom colourways in both and solid shades.

The Christmas sale at the gallery has gone well for me. I arrived there Saturday afternoon to work my shift to see two of my snowflake runners going to a new home and later the same day, the white lace shawl and two scarves were gone too. So not much will be coming home when it wraps up next Thursday.

Based on the previous sale of the 'Ode to Inge' shawl, I decided to splurge and buy some tencel and flesh out my colour range and get some of the other choices on their sample cards. Tencel takes dye so well and has such good depth of shade....its easy to love when you are wanting to put more colour into your weaving! Their rayon chenille is also beautiful and just as colourful and my friend is wanting to start her stash enhancement by getting some of both. Below is an overview of her yarns with both tencel and chenille:

Then the close up, featuring the colours terra cotta and cashmere chenille out in front, iris and royal in behind. I didn't get any chenille myself as I have a large selection. I haven't been inspired to weave chenille lately but handling these yummy cones may have done the trick.

Now here are my cones of 2/8 tencel and it would appear that I have been avoiding the blue end of the colour cards. Mauve and mineral green are in the front, with aqua and coral on the left hand side. Ngaire recently did a lovely project using the coral colour and I was quite impressed so add it to my order. At the far right is 2/10 in black. Don, at Yarns Plus, says that they are going out of the 2/10 yarn size ( all colours, including white and black) due to supply and dye concerns. Such a shame as I much prefer this size of yarn. The cloth is just as lovely but has a finer hand and not as much weight. I'll have to make sure that what ever the project is for my 2/10 is extra special.

I'm going to be able to do some great colour gradations now and more of the iridescent effects!

You could look at these all day and never get tired, only inspired! I did a post a few months ago about using colour cards and ordering yarns. Well, when I ordered my yarns I took a minute to inquire about what had been discontinued and what was new. I made the changes to my existing cards and had new chenille colour cards sent along so I'm up to date. Now with most companies, there is a small charge for these but sometimes when they come along with a big order, they are gifted...which is pretty darn nice! If you have weaving friends, why not try a group order from your favourite yarns store? You can share the postage costs and if they have a magic dollar level where you can then get the wholesale rate, then the savings really kick in! I know that at least three or four of the companies I like to order from do just that. Hard for one person to spend that much at once ( okay, maybe not... its the paying part that's tough!) but several weavers ordering makes it possible.

So it hasn't been all doom and gloom here. The waters are receding and the creek is back in its banks. It has been unseasonably warm and I went grocery shopping yesterday in shirt sleeves. I have only 2 gifts left to get and I'm done with Christmas shopping! In fact I may get more weaving done pre-Christmas than I have ever done before. Now, wouldn't that be sweet? ! It's a good thing too as my inventory box is almost empty. Now that's a problem I don't mind having......