A Second Opportunity

You may recall a fairly recent project where I had a 4.5 yard and so I wove one shorter scarf and then had three  treadling errors in the second scarf?   Well, it was overly generous to call that a scarf as it fell quite short of the length I prefer to weave.  It was  a short length of woven cloth and it wasn't long enough or wide enough to do much with.  (Some one, a bit too late sadly, reminded me of little drawstring bags, so perhaps next time?)

I recalled that I had some tri-fold card stock tucked away somewhere and could make some (blank) greeting cards.  A hunt ensued and I finally found them and but they had been bent and creased.  This was disappointing as I had used them before with great success.

  So I did a search on line and I found card blanks.com  I placed an order, thinking it was coming from Vancouver, but it actually came from Victoria south of us on Vancouver Island!   I placed my online order on Sunday night, and they arrived in my mailbox Tuesday morning.   That was fast!

I got tri-fold card stock with 3 inch square windows in both cream and white, plus a 3 x 4 windows also in cream and white. They have a mailing envelope each as well.  The bonus feature?  They come pre-set with double sided tape!   You simply cut and position your cloth, or other craft / artistic feature and then remove the cover from the tape and gently fold over to seal.  {note: the circular window does not come pre-taped}

So, out came the rotary cutter and mat with convenient grid lines and I got to work.   It was good fun and quite addictive!

So here are a variety of cards and inserts made from the  second weaving. I must add that these cards are quite difficult to photograph as the lighter card stock messes with the  white balance settings of the camera.  I have chosen to play using the computer settings to show the insert to its best version of colour reality and so this may make the card stock look like its a bit over bright.   

There was a variety of colours in the warp and some suited the cream card stock better such as the one above..... which incidentally has one of the treadling errors.  In this context, it just adds interest instead of angst!

Depending on the cuts, I could even get some of the edging border and use either sized window depending on the cloth size.  I got approximately 10 to 12 cards made.

Then I recalled a short piece of silk where I had hand painted the warp and dyed the weft. It was woven up years ago and was sitting in a drawer as a large sized sample.   The deep maroon red and turquoise suited the white card stock and I got 7 cards with the 3 x 4 window.     Now this is fun!

So I dug out my sample binders with all my project notes and cloth samples and went on the hunt!

If you are a regular reader, then these two should look fairly familiar.  I took a full width scarf sample and simply cut it in half.  Nice sample for the note book.... and also a card.

So I now have a variety of cards made using samples from past projects such the one below.  I won't trot them all out here but you get the idea. I had also bought a small 100 batch of the clear re-sealable bags so they all get slipped into their own  protective sleeve.

Now I have a unique selection of cards for giving or gifting that are special and a real keepsake*.  It was fun to do and once I had my samples all lined up, it went quite quickly. It was a nice way to spend a couple of afternoons. 

I almost used up the supply of card stock I had ordered, so I placed a second order.  It came equally as quick...

* keepsakes:  I have a card selection of many Christmases and some birthdays where friends and weavers over the years have gifted me with hand made cards. There are woven cloth, some quilting, origami, woven ribbons and even water colours. You can see a few of them in this older post from Christmas 2008

Currently in the studio:  I'm busy chipping away at an 8 yard warp of cotton in the Stewart Dress tartan.  I somehow pulled a muscle in my right upper arm so its been slow going and slower still with all the colour changes.  Its okay as it gives me time to watch the falling snow outside!

Good Things Happen in Threes

This is as close as I can come to a spectacular finish to a year of blogging and the start of another!  I like to do an annual draw by way of thanking my faithful readers.   I know you are out there and sometimes you do a quick dash in and out.... sometimes, you settle in for a good read of past posts.

I have 'met' some of you via email and correspondence and shared in your successes and helped with some weaving problems.    Weavers everywhere seem to be a great bunch of resourceful friendly people, no matter where in the world we live!

Today its snowing at a steady pace and starting to add up.   No sunshine for some of these pictures to come so my apologies for the darker pictures. I tried to brighten them up on the computer.

I sat and read through each and every comment on the last two blog posts and wrote down everyone's name, or in the case of a few 'unknowns' I also added a bit of their comment so I could separate them. One weaver wrote twice and there's only one entry per weaver, and another commenter is a friend who is not a weaver, so the samples would not be of much use to her.

That brings the count to 47 names in the draw. They were folded in half and placed in a basket and shaken up well.....

I decided since I had eighteen samples to divide them into three lots of six .....

Then I placed them into three brown envelopes and had Bruce randomly number them.   Then we shook the basket once more and pulled three slips and tucked them under the number tag as drawn

Drum roll please!

Billie Weaver lives in the "Australian Capital Territory" of Canberra.   She also refers to it as the "Black weaving hole of the Universe".  I will leave it to Billie to explain that one....

Second slip drawn is for Karen Moore, a Canadian weaver in Ontario.

Third draw is for Capt. Dave and I have no idea where in the world Dave lives.... but he's clearly a weaver!

Congratulations to you all and please contact me via emmatrude at gmail dot com with your addresses and I will mail your sample prizes off to you sometime this week (after the snow stops)

I would like to take a moment to thank you for taking time to read my blog and following along as I get through my daily shenanigans and try to weave in between.  I never thought this electronic journaling would last this long but here we are at nine years and counting!

All the best for the coming year, Susan 

All in Good Time

 The new studio reveal.  Its been a long time coming! First for me and then for you...

We lived at our last home for nine years and despite the renovations and such, I was never truly at home there. It always felt 'temporary'.  Suffice to say its a long story which I won't go into here. We did try to sell at one point but after some months on the market, autumn arrived and we took it off. The market was too soft in our area and so we had to wait for a shift in the trends.

Then health issues arose and a couple of surgeries / recoveries later and it was spring 2016 and I told Bruce that I felt we should go for it either this year or next, and that this year would be better. The rest they say is history.... and I've covered off the house sale and our move in older posts.

What you (and me) have been waiting for is to have things finally straightened around and get things sorted back into a working studio again. 

So as of October 1st or just after... my space looked like this. Boxes crammed everywhere and even the closets were full, with more in the garage labeled 'studio'.  I had to haul everything out, open all cartons and see what was what and get rid of as much packing paper as possible.  I think one day I simply sat in the middle of my chaos and just thought things through.... figuring where things might fit best.   I have shifted things a few times and probably will do that still but its as good as it can be for now.

So from the mess above to the arrangement below:

This is opposite view towards the studio entry door. The red wall at the end houses the yarn closet and the dark doorway is the ensuite bathroom. Yup, this is supposed to be the master bedroom.

The closet: crammed full with additional shelving to maximize all available storage space.

The 'facilities' at the other end. Bonus tub after a gruelling  weaving session! It took some getting used to.  😄

Below is the Tissart tapestry loom in the only good spot for it. Thankfully its a vertical loom. I will be warping this loom up for its first time  soon. I have to study instructions on how to do it correctly  and then I can do some practise projects to build my tapestry skills.

Down at the far end of the room is a narrow space I call the alcove with windows on two of three walls. So lots of good light.  The spring loom is tucked in here and I must admit its a tight fit. I have a small folding table with my serger and sewing machine set up. Now, I prefer to keep them out and ready to use. I like to do my finishing right away after each project.  I also lack a place to store them if I was to remove the table and free up more room.

I suspect this situation will be the first in the room that will get changed in some way. (in fact, since I took the picture, I have had to add a printer and a scanner to the table today, so its not going anywhere for the time being. I'll just have to be careful with my dainty derriere!)

I'm also on the look out for a new desk. Something a bit smaller and emphasis on more functional (with maybe room for the printer and scanner?). We have found a great store in town with wonderful used and antique furniture and we'll be checking there from time to time.

This view shows the double French doors which will be lovely to have open in better weather to come.  I'm hoping to  sit outside and spin or even take the spring loom outside. Its certainly light enough to carry a few steps with help.

Directly outside the doors looks like this in summer (I saw the house in July but this picture is from the listing photos, so not our patio furniture.)

Then autumn after we moved in....

Then more recently, a true winter scene....

So that just leaves spring to come and now that we've passed the winter solstice, its on the way!

Changing subjects....

As of January 8th, 2017 I will be celebrating nine years (that's a 9 !) of keeping this blog, my Thrums Journal.  I traditionally have a little give-away to celebrate.   I have a selection of weaving samples from some of my past projects that you will recognize from past posts. 

So... weavers: please leave a comment, with an email address, on this post AND/ OR the next NY's Day post, and you will be entered to win (only one entry per weaver).   Some visitors say they have difficulty leaving messages:   click on the word 'comment' at the bottom of the post and then follow the instructions.  There is a delay seeing your message as I have enabled comment moderation to eliminate some nasty spam (which you really don't want to see!).  If this somehow doesn't work for you, click on my email address at my profile and send me a note with your message, name and address and I'll add you in later.

The draw will be held on January 8th, 2017 and the winner will be posted here. So check back to see if you won!   Its not done high tech... literally names written on slips of paper, shaken up and then one drawn.   There will be a  handwoven sample from  projects of anything from 4 shafts to 16 shafts plus project notes.     Good luck!     

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

I haven't forgotten you. In fact I have been madly looking around for what I can share with you and very conscious of  how long its been since the last post. There's no project ready for a big reveal. In fact it seems that everything is "in between" and no matter how much time I spend weaving, there's nothing to show you. So I thought I'll show you what I do have...

There's a satisfying inch and a half on the cloth roll on the Louet Spring.  I'm on towel number seven of nine and doing plaid turned twill.  I'm calling this 'Drall Style' treadling... (my invented phrase) and its a slower slog now that I'm constantly changing colours.

I'm mindful that the end is eventually coming to this apparently never ending warp and so have a project planned and dug out some likely yarns for winding the warp...  silks!

Looks like I have a whole lotta ball winding to do first!

The Woolhouse loom has the snowflake twill scarves on it and nothing has changed there.... and its keeping nicely.

The Megado has seen action. I cut the old warp off and had to get something on it right away. I wanted to be able to have a learning warp, use more shafts, practise the program and weaving action, be able to have something useful and not be worried if I had to start over...... so, book marks fit that that list!

Another linen and cotton combo, sett 50 epi and a draft that I made up one evening playing on Fiberworks PCW. This is treadled as threaded and its two inches wide. I already had one bookmark go south on me and so I simply moved the warp and started again. Perfect! I'm having trouble learning how to 'unweave' when a mistake or float is detected as I have to go into the program and scroll through and click unweave. In a long treadling sequence, if I miss the right pick I have to work out how to get back etc.  Its  a lot slower than simply going backwards on the other "Luddite" looms.  Perhaps once I learn how to do it right the first time, I won't have to go through quite so much effort!

Want to see something silly?

Yup, a two inch wide warp on a 45 inch loom.

I also started knitting last spring and stopped when the weather got too warm. It felt icky in my hands and too hot on my lap. So here's my first effort!  

Its not washed or blocked as yet, which I'm told will improve the overall appearance. Its soft like a cloud and it is for me. There are a few 'questionable' places but bunched up around my neck this winter, it will look just fine. The yarn was Louet's Kidlin and its a softly plied (barely plied) yarn and I had difficulty with the plies and so it was slow going. The entire scarf used one skein which I think was 50 grams. Knitting and weaving use very different terminology and such. Another learning curve!

So I'm making another....same pattern.

Its a merino wool and the feel is quite different. It keeps my hands busy at night (and keeps me from aimlessly wandering the internet.)

I also have been reorganizing my samples..... here's one of two binders for my personal samples:

You can get a fair amount into one binder!

Here are a couple of pages from recent projects you might recognize...  I use the heavy duty non glare protective sleeves (don't let the flash fool you!)

So, in addition to my two full binders, I have these six more filled with samples from individual weavers and guilds:

Now bear in mind that I have been slowly collecting samples from guilds and friends since 1996. Two friends have their own dedicated binders!

This one alone is Dorothy's  and its full. Time for a new one. (Happy Birthday Dorothy by the way!  :)   When you are stuck for ideas and inspiration, nothing beats sitting down and looking at a real sample.  So, its starts with a little 12 inches extra on your next warp!

So that's about it for news. Its our usual winter rains and very blah. Halloween tonight but no one ever comes for treats as we're the creepy house at the end of a long driveway in the trees. But we have to have some candy in the house just in case you know!

Bye for now