Quietly Busy

 After finishing the shawls and trying not to look too often to the empty spot where the Spring used to sit, I decided to get busy and just weave. So I put on an 8 yard warp of 8/2 Venne cotton and dug into the stash for my linen as wefts.

It went well until I hurt my shoulder so I had to stop for a while and rest it.   I seem to be constantly dealing with one issue or another!  Okay, weave slower, take my time and quit for the day sooner.   I also take an Advil after weaving to deal with any inflammation due to repetitious motion.

I used an 'ivory' French 9/2 linen from Brassards (Quebec) and got 2 towels and one short table runner.   It's lovely linen to work with. 

The towels, and a peekaboo view on the reverse. Hems are hand stitched.

Then there was one towel with 30/3 Belgium linen.  It's the classic greyed beige. 

Then I used 9/2 French linen in 'natural' which has a lovely hand.  Soft and not scratchy at all.

 Same yarn again but this time in a medium blue.  The pattern is now getting busy and this was as much colour as I could deal with as I prefer the more subtle look of muted tones.  Funnily enough, it was the first one that sold, so go figure!  😊

The last one of the seven off the warp is this moss green linen I've had in my stash for years. It's 5/2 and is made from tow linen (the shorter fibres) and it made for a heavier cloth. Hub snatched this one up for his den as a small side table cloth. 

There were a couple where for some unknown reason the compu-dobby would miss a pick. If I spotted it, I would go back and reweave it but some got away on me. Those have gone into my "less than perfect' spot in the store at a reduced price.  I turned hems so that the less revealing side is on top.   Once in place, no one would even notice and if they do.... well, don't ask them back!

March 13th :  I found some extra pictures of the 'raw' yardage and how much it all weighed. Thought I'd add them here.  😊

That's 2 pounds and 7 1/2 ounces!   Chubby pile just off the loom.

🌷🌷🌷

We have snowdrops and primulas up and blooming and my hay fever has started for yet another season. We love the increased daylight and it sure lifts the spirits.   There are a lot of awful things going on in the world right now and there's a feeling of sliding into chaos.  So something simple as watching flowers grow as usual in the cycle of life is a comfort.    Besides when you weave or spin, you have to fully focus on the work at hand and that is a great stress reducer!

A Tale of Two Shawls : part 1

 Last  autumn I had an order of  six cones of various yarn from Webb's arrive and when I opened the box there were seven cones. It seems I inadvertently ordered two cones of fuchsia 8/2 tencel. Oops!     I thought I might as well jump right in and do something special with it then. 

Two shawls, all with fuchsia as warp.

The 16 shaft draft below really appealed to me as you can have a decorative border all four sides.  It's also reversible which makes it ideal for shawl or scarf wearing, or even a nice table runner. 

The first shawl was woven using amethyst tencel as weft and I wasn't too sure if it was the right choice but I kept on with it.   Then Hub wandered in and saw it and said "its kind of blah" and I immediately jumped to its defence and said not everyone wants to strut around like a peacock. Besides, fuchsia is not exactly a quiet colour!   Quietly elegant is what I had in mind.

This picture taken while still on the loom shows the leading border. The centre of the whole draft is goose eye twill diamonds and so I settled into some steady weaving. Except for some  abrasion issues with my floating selvedge on the right hand side. I had to do some repairs on the fly.   The next issue was some softening of the tension in a spot or two. I kept going but had decided to cut off the first shawl and then re-tie back on and hopefully eliminate my tension problems. 

In these two pictures I was preparing the fringe allowance and getting ready to twist the fringe. The cloth hasn't been washed and just as it came of the loom and you could see the potential already! These two pictures were taken by Hub and he had revised his opinion already.

So after a good wash by hand and a night drying on the rack, it was given two pressings. The first with the steam press, and a second by hand iron to smooth and bring out the shine.  The steam press helps me a great deal as I have arthritis in my hands  and I'd rather save them for shuttle throwing!   You pick your battles as you get older. 

The sun finally reappeared and it sure does feel like spring on a day like this. I've seen a few robins, and a whole flock of red wing blackbirds this morning, and there are some shoots coming up for the start of a new growing season.    

Below you can see the borders.

The drape is just lovely.

I was trying all angles to get the best view. When viewed inside the house, the pattern sort of blends into the background and is not as obvious until the light hits it.

The second shawl is under way and the tension is much better. I'm also using a temple this time and so the tempo is a bit slower.   No one is going to call this one blah..... here's a sneak peek!

Brighter Days to Come 🌱

Well, January is just about done and February is nearly here.    It was quite the month. 

We had some serious snowfalls, and also serious cold snaps.... then freezing rain and it quickly warmed up and we had a road full of water and neighbours all busy digging in snow banks to find the catch basins!  You have to love those 'lean on the shovel' conversations as you catch up on news with the neighbours.

I'm happy to report that I got my booster shot, and my toe infection is all but a bad memory and I've resumed weaving and actually have some new items, but due to dark gloomy days in the house, there are no pictures to share right now. So soon all will be revealed.  It amazes us that a house with these many windows and we find ourselves snapping lights on.     I've a couple scarves all ready,  some table runners and I'm currently twisting fringe on a shawl, so the wait will be worth it. 

The days are now noticeably longer and our snow is all gone and we are eyeing our spring yard clean up. (Apologies to those still in the throes of snow and cold..... or extreme heat waves down under).

For North Americans February1st is Ground hog day..... but for those who follow older traditions, Feb 1st to 2nd is Imbolc.

Imbolc is a holiday celebrated from February 1 through sundown February 2. Based on a Celtic tradition, Imbolc was meant to mark the halfway point between winter solstice and the spring equinox.

So from that time going forward, the daylight is actually increasing at a faster pace.   So brighter times ahead. 

So spring flowers and more weaving posts to come soon.   🌷

Royal Stewart Scarves

A couple of months ago I did a trade with a weaver in Georgia, USA where I sent her some AVL shuttles I have been acquiring for years and she sent me Schacht end delivery shuttles. She had tried them and didn't like the feel. I love them and they are all I use.    So it worked out well for both of us.  Just for the cost of postage.    

I knew that I was itching to do another tartan warp and this swap meant I didn't have to change out bobbins constantly.   I had my little trolley next to the loom and  lined them up like soldiers.   The darker ones are my old ones and are 'experienced' and the blondies are the new kids. 

They were hard at work on Royal Stewart tartan scarves.   Its one of my favourites from my youngest days. I have posted before on Tartans which you might find interesting.

I had to make some changes to the draft to have it fit  for a scarf, so this meant a reduction in the red section midway.  It end up being 12 inches in the reed.   I used 8/2 tencel and the sett is 24 epi  and a standard 2/2 twill tie up.  Aim for a 45 degree twill line.... or be consistent with your beat.    I was able to get some momentum in the 3 1/2 inch red section, but the colour section was much more carefully done.  Lots of colour changes and it was important to get the edges as smooth as possible. So lots of shuttle work and neat tucks. I also carried some colours up the side if it was only 2 picks or 4.

So on the loom: 12 inches in the reed and woven to 74 inches or ten repeats of the colour sections and a final red.      Finished: 10 1/2 inches by 71 inches, plus 5 inches for fringe.

I was going to do the usual scarf wrap around the neck but decided it looked far better like this. There was a light breeze and the flow of the cloth was beautiful.   Lovely hand to it. 

So I have two of them right now all finished. I'm still not done with tartan or plaids though. I'll be weaving another tartan sometime soon. I love them!   

My back has improved now so I can resume weaving that shawl on the Megado and *finally* get that done.   There has been lots of 'adulting' going on as well as we tackle various things on our to-do list, that pandemic or no, must be done. 

Lots of spring colour outside in the yard and also a bright spot in the house. This little  face greeted me a few days ago when I got up.  Then out in our front yard is this beauty!    The chestnut tree will be next and its gorgeous in full bloom. 

Caribbean Beach

It was either a television show featuring far off golden beaches and turquoise waters, or a travel ad luring you to the Caribbean for a 'sun-cation', but the nugget of inspiration for this project was conceived on a cold, dark night in early January.   The driving wind and rain, or the cold sleet and snow, combined with the short days getting dark so early had me thinking of warmer, brighter times to come!   

The image I saw on the telly was much like this one below. This is a beach on the Coromandel Peninsula on the north island of New Zealand.  It best demonstrates my design concept with its curving arrays of waves on a golden shore.   My mind mentally ran through my stash and I realized I had the colours on hand!   

Now the search for the right draft started. Over a few days I spent much time cruising through drafts on Pinterest and Handweaving.net and scrolled through scores of drafts. I went through all five of my sample binders, and various books.  I went back to Handweaving.net and eventually found this draft there.  Now, I must 'fess up and say that I either didn't record the draft number or lost it.  I don't have it , so sorry about that.... but you do have the three screens of the draft below.  This is what I call an extended twill progression.  The twill progresses along but there are many repeats at any given point, in this case four and then it transitions to the next, creeping up or down the run. There's 349 steps to one repeat, which in the case of my 8/2 tencel measured 14 inches on the loom.  Five repeats  equals 70 inches.  Scarf done!  Okay, so the in-between part is mind boggling but works okay  with no interruptions (of any kind) and a well caffeinated mind.  Its a good work out for the head, arms and legs.

I had used my Fiberworks program (for Mac) and played with the gradation feature. I tightened up some of the gradation but the draft is as it was as I found it at the website.   I was able to print off the threading by itself and then use little mini post it notes to isolate the sequence and so work my way across four colours and reverse again on the warping mill.  With the post it notes left in place, it meant I always knew where I was in the sequence and so could leave it for a break and a stretch.

I used 8/2 tencel from Web's  in dark teal, greyed teal, straw and finally 'tussah' coloured tencel from Textura Trading. It has been in my stash for a few years now and was perfect for the centre colour. It wasn't until I was starting to wind the straw colour and needing to add the lighter tussah that I found the tussah was actually 10/2 and not 8/2 like the others. I had put it on the wrong shelf in the storage closet!  I thought about it for a few minutes and decided to go ahead and use it anyway and keep my sett the same at 24 epi. *fingers crossed*  😳

I could see right away this was going to be special...

The colours worked so well together and the shift from one to another was  great.

As luck would have it my  scrap  filler yarn to use at the start was a medium purple and it suited the warp so well. I  decided to try amethyst as weft for the second scarf and I liked it a lot.  Think "twilight time at the beach".

It also picks out the pattern more clearly than the dark teal and so has a whole different feel.

After several days of rain and cloudy skies, the sun came out this past weekend and I got busy with the camera.  This one shows the 'wave' effect I was going for nicely....

The colours in this photo more closely resemble the real colours used..... (pardon the fold lines! I did get out there quickly to snap the pictures). It clouded over and started raining again shortly after I finished.

This one below shows a full repeat of the pattern. The scarf was woven to 70 inches on the loom and was 66 inches when all wet finished and pressed.  Four inches lost seemed a lot to me....
The final width is 9 inches.

Then there's what I call the Twilight version, with amethyst weft:

 This time the pattern takes centre stage.

One full repeat again.... plus a close up shot for you to enlarge and see the pattern.  I also want to add that the slightly smaller grist 10/2 tussah tencel in the centre wasn't an issue at all. It behaved just like the rest and you wouldn't know there was a difference at all. (Phew!)

So that 'cold and dark' night is far behind us now and spring is here in all its promise.  Daffies,  cherry blossoms and green leaves are budding and the yard is full of nesting birds competing for worms and bugs to feed their broods.    Lots of fresh starts... and speaking of which....

Our local guild, The Midnight Shuttles, held a 'learn to weave' one day short program at the local community centre this past weekend and it was great fun. It was a 'taste test' of various methods of weaving  and we had participants of all ages:

Two serious students hard at work. 

One of our members, Jeanelle, working on a tapestry loom. 

Val showing off her tapestry samples.

Joyce showing the workings of a table loom.

All in all, it was loads of fun but I came home very tired and ready to  relax.  They wore me out... 😊