Paint the Town Red

This past late spring I was thrilled to be asked to weave two all silk scarves for a client!  She was very particular about what she wanted as far as pattern, colours and fibre which is great.  She had purchased one of my linen / cotton book marks a few years ago and loved the intricate twelve shaft pattern.

yes, this is the same draft as the scarves!

As I had some projects under way on the loom and another special order to go so I had time to order in the silks.   The black 30/2 silk came to me via a friend in California who had done a bulk buy. She has a modern jacquard loom and it eats yarn like crazy! It arrived and looked wonderful!

Meanwhile I found some lovely red 30/2 silk from a Canadian supplier.   When it arrived it was decidedly an orange based red and not the requested blue based red.   It had looked just right on the screen... and of course, all screens are different.  Nothing replaces a real sample and I had clearly overlooked that fact, even though I often tell you just that.   My Bad. 

So my client found what she envisioned as the perfect colour and sent me a link to Treenway Silks and their dye number 42 "Velvet Opera".  Oh, yeah!   Rich, deep and  lush.... and rather burgundy compared to the other reds in the lineup.

So I ordered 30/2 silk, dyed to number 42 and waited for my order.   I was thrilled when it arrived as the colour was simply beautiful!  Then I noticed it.   It was not 30/2 silk. It was 60/2 .

Oh, geez...

I last ordered bombyx silk from Treenway under the old ownership and when it was here on the west coast on Saltspring Island. They called their yarns by their actual type of silk and the size of the grist.  The new owners have given all the various yarns names, which is lovely, but apparently confusing to me when I ordered. 

I called and spoke to Susan at Treenway and asked if a rush order could be done on 30/2 silk and  in number 42 Velvet Opera?   After hearing my story she kindly offered to take back the finer silk but I declined as firstly, it was my mistake, and secondly... I love the colour!  Susan drove some silk over to her dyer who did it right away ( and was about to go away on holiday for a month... talk about cutting that one close! ). It arrived quickly and it was perfect!  

So runs of bad luck usually runs in threes.  I started to wind my warp and it was going well. I had about 50 ends wound when I started to notice little bits of black dyed 'fluff' stuck to the smooth yarn.  They picked off easily enough and I carried on.... but they started to increase and within a yard or two the yarn was covered in little bits.   While they picked off okay and in time would wash out of a fabric, it was not the smooth  silky look I wanted for this project. These are going to New York City!

I located some black 30/2 silk at Sanjo Silks in Vancouver and happily my friend took back the  other 'fuzzy' silk (minus the weight of what I had wound off)  It was a shame as the cone had started out so well

The only other yarn used was a natural off white  bombyx silk, also a fine 30/2  and I'm happy to say, problem free!  From that point on there were no more issues to deal with. The beaming of the warp went well, threading was straight forward and no mistakes, no sleying errors and after lacing on, the warp tension was great!

It was just a lot of weaving as the yarns are so fine!  I listened to podcasts as I wove and mostly CBC's Quirks and Quarks, a science program.   There are several ways to treadle this pattern but I used two of them by the client's request.  Next post I'll discuss the various options and show you how they look.  It also took a bit longer due to Life happening (Calli's surgery) and summer in general (gardens and getting out more).   Then, they were done and I cut them off, leaving a third silk scarf on the loom for later.

The lady's scarf: I twisted a finer fringe this time and made it seven inches in length.

The gent's scarf: was a more regular sized twist bouts and cut to four inches in length.

Time to hand wash them!

I had a feeling that washing the scarves separately would be best and it would seem my intuition was right! The dye job was a rushed order and so perhaps was not rinsed till clear.   I did several rinses and used a drop of synthrapol to help but this scarf will have to go with a warning to handwash separately. 

As you can see from the pictures below, the black really wasn't an issue with minimal bleeding. There was no greying of the white silk at all.   A good hard pressing with my trusty steam iron and out popped that lovely glow that only silk has!

This is the gent's coat scarf:  eight inches by fifty six inches with a four inch twisted fringe.  ( thirty six ends per inch and forty six picks per inch)

Picture above and below how both sides of the scarf. one side is a bit darker, the other a bit lighter.

I can't imagine anyone who would not feel extra special wearing this red and black beauty! The burgundy red is simply rich as this picture shows...

Then there is that silk sheen as this one reveals

The fabric is fine and feels soft and light under the fingers.  It made all the tromping worth while! The finer fringe was also a good idea and it gave a graceful movement to the fringe. It measures eight inches by sixty six inches, as requested.  (Interesting points: both scarves were three inches longer when woven. Relaxation of the warp and wet finishing reduced both by a full three inches in length only.  Drawn in and wet finishing  reduced width by half an inch.)

close up of right selvedge

These two final pictures are my favourites as they really give you a good idea of how lush this colour is!  I think my client is going to be very happy once she opens her parcel.  I know it was hard to part with it myself.

Meanwhile back at the loom, I laced up the warp again and checked my stash for options.  I found a full pirn of fine silk yak blend left over from a recent shawl project. It made sense to me as since I wasn't entirely sure of how much warp I had left. If it was a bit short, then it could be a man's scarf  and if my luck held, then a full length lady's scarf.... plus my pirn would be empty and back in use again! The colour is also nicely neutral too.

Sorry for the slightly fuzzy focus picture but it does give you an idea of how things are progressing. In a word: slowly.  It seemed like I'm treadling a lot for little gain so I set a fine coloured cotton thread into a shed and wove for an inch. Using my trusty pick glass I counted forty six picks per inch!

Well no wonder it's a lot of work.....  Its labelled 30/2 but it looks and feels much finer than the bombyx 30/2 I just used.

So my next post will be a follow up from this project on treadling variations and how you get more bang for your buck out of a tie up and threading! 

Calli report:  she's doing just fine and had her stitches out this past Thursday. Its healed very well and the nasty onesie has been washed and put away.  She will need to see her vet in six months time for a check up.

Me? I broke my recently completed (spring 2017) root canal molar and waiting for yet another crown.   I was planning on getting a crown on it this fall but apparently that wasn't soon enough.   😳

Long Time Coming

My title says it all for this post!  Time has just slipped away on me and we find ourselves rather busy around house, yard and new town. When we moved in October 1st, we went straight into months of rain and snow and so much was left 'as is'.  So there has been much wrangling of stuff in the garage, garden sheds resulting in yet more stuff to donate, sell, or dispose of.  I have embarked on some deep cleaning projects such as windows (with walls and doors to come). Working away in and around the frames with my handy dandy tooth brush brings out dirt, debris (such as dead bug bits) and bring back the inner frames back to the white vinyl and clean screens too. They are so much easier to open now! 

Anyway.... you get the idea of what's been happening around here.  We have had delightful tea breaks with our new neighbours on the west side of us and got to know them better. They moved in just a couple of months ahead of us.  Also taking some days off entirely  to drive around and get to know the area better. Sometimes just sitting watching the waves roll in at the beach.

Your reward for being patient ( hopefully you haven't given up on me entirely) is the beauty shot right at the start.   This is the second shawl off the 10/2 white tencel warp, and same little 12 shaft point twill pattern.   This time I used a 55% / 45% silk yak blend from Treenway Silks as my weft. Its a 30/2 in size so quite fine.  It has the loveliest silvery-beige natural colour and picked out the pattern nicely but not loudly.  

Its a chameleon as the light changes, so does the colour!

I watched my friend Gudrun sit and sketch this draft out quickly. All the pattern is in the tie up, so its easy threading and treadling.

It has a lovely drape and is as soft as a cloud.  I decided to add some seed beads and tiny pearl accents along the fell lines.  The fresh water pearls are 2-2.5 mm in length, all with perfect tiny holes right through.    I buy them from this Etsy shop.

As I worked at twisting the (seemingly never ending) fringe and later hand sewing on the beads / pearls, I came to realize that I simply could not sell this shawl.  I'm going to keep it.  I have nothing suitable to wear with it, and not sure where I would wear it, but I'm ready if the  event comes up in my social calendar!   My next realization is that in 20+ years of weaving I have only kept a cream silk M's and O's scarf for me..... and a whole lot of seconds for kitchen towels and table runners for the home. But they were for the household and not me per say. 

Long time coming, and I'm not entirely sure why that is.   (hey, that's a rhetorical question!)

So, normally I have my standard loom waste allowance,  a few inches for samples and another allowance for take up.... plus the  lengths of the items to be woven and it all works out fine.   So imagine my surprise when I wound the shawl onto the cloth beam, including its fringe allotment. and could see and feel there was much more warp on the warp beam!  So no samples this time and lets see if I can get a nice table square!  I chose a light silver 10/2 tencel as its fairly neutral for any decor and should weave up 50/50 (or close to it).  

I end up with a 22 inch by 37 inch table runner and three inch (more never ending) twisted fringe!  I must say it did take me longer to do this fringe because although the turns were less and all the steps the same.... it was fiddly and awkward and some days I just didn't have the patience for it. Finally I just wanted my desk back and got it done and dusted!    Another long time coming....

As an aside,  our house plants love all the light and sunshine in this house and all are growing well.  So imagine my surprise when my little hoya plant gifted to me by my late friend Gudrun in 2013 when we visited  *finally* produced flower buds on all its few little stems!   It produces a light fragrance that smells like you could eat it and its stronger at night.

This is the first bunch to open up. The flower clusters hang face down so you only see the tops of the heads but underneath they are so pretty!

So what's ahead?  Well, in the pictures above you probably noticed the teal warp on the loom. That's for two scarves in this same pattern  and then as you can imagine, I will be thoroughly sick and tired of this draft. (It seemed like a good idea at the time.) I'm well into weaving scarf number two. Then time to move on to something new.   I have two client commissions to weave so one of those will be next.  Time to get the warping mill busy.

More deep cleaning jobs and ongoing gardening as well.....   good thing we're retired!  😳

Long Time Coming

Back last November I placed a silk warp  on the Louet Spring, wove in a header and then a few inches to see the pattern develop.... then I stood up and walked away.  I thought about it for a time wondering about what was ahead for me before I could sit down here again and pick up where I had left off.   Through it all, I kept one thing as my end goal.  To be weaving again! (That bit became a sample as I went with different colours)

Besides a "pat on the wood" a couple of times, my first time sitting to weave was six weeks post surgery where I wove for about 10 minutes and I had about an  inch to show for it!   Go me!

It was a busy time with physiotherapy and doctor visits and all the other things that had been put on hold for the past six weeks.   I would weave a bit but gradually increasing the time as muscles and even the bones adjusted to the new activity. It didn't help that the silk is quite fine and so there's a lot of treadling to get some mileage to show!

Then one afternoon I enthusiastically put in a long session and the following day, I had some serious pain difficulties and so had to take a week off to rest and heal. Then I started slowly all over again. Live and learn huh?   :)

So with a new understanding that this was simply going to be a slow process, I just wove a bit every day or every other day.   There was a huge victory cry when the scarves and samples were finally finished!!

Fringe twisting got under way the following day as well as adding some fresh water pearls to the plum paid version.  Nothing added to the black scarf as it could be either masculine or feminine. How do I know this? My husband did some serious 'jonesing' for it until I pointed out he has several scarves in a drawer!

They got a gentle hand washing in the laundry tub and a night to drip dry.  Next day they pressed up nicely with some steam and I nipped off the excess fringe from the twisted tassels with a rotary cutter.

Then came the beauty shots...   some project details for you.  I used 30/2 bombyx silk, tussah silk, and silk yak blend, all approximately 30/2 in weight as my warp. The sett was 36 epi. I used a twelve dent reed and three ends per dent. The black weft is 30/2 silk commercially dyed for a deep even black. It showed off the "boxes" nicely!  The second scarf took on a different look with a cotton silk blend I bought from Treenway many years ago and hand dyed it myself. It was an uneven dye job so the colours vary from soft plum to a touch of eggplant. This effect created an almost plaid like effect in a soft way.

You can see both sides of the scarf in these shots. One side favours the cream and the other the silver beige of the silk yak.  So you can choose depending on your outfit and mood.  :)

The black scarf is 7 by 68 inches  and the plum plaid is 7 by  72 inches and both are very light in physical weight as the silks used are fine.   (Both were woven to 74 inches so you can see the shrinkage in the length.  They lost half an inch in width.)  I even managed some samples for my files as well.

The next warp or two have been planned and one is well under way.  I discovered that standing still at the warping board really hard on both my new hip, but in particular, my left knee which has been complaining loudly of late.   I would stand and wind like a fiend for a few minutes, then sit down to rest and repeated the process. This seriously hurts my bones and so I turned to the internet and started looking for a warping reel.

Schacht has a horizontal model for $399.00 USD .    *gulp*    Too rich for my budget.  I looked for Canadian alternatives and drew a blank. Then I realized I was staring at the Woolhouse Tools Loom and then turned to their web page to see what they have!   They are winding down their business and so if there is an empty blank line after the product name, it means its sold out and not being replaced.  Well imagine my surprise when I saw they have a two yard vertical warping reel and it was on sale!
My lucky day...  

From ordering to arrival took three days and its now assembled. It can hold up to twenty yards +/-  which is six yards better than my existing warping board.   I completed my ongoing warp on the warping board, but I will give the reel a whirl for the next!

A chuckle for you:  I got the next new warp set onto the lease sticks at the back of the Louet earlier today and was getting ready to spread the warp in the raddle...... and then noticed I had forgotten to take the apron rod up and over the back beam. Oops!   Four months since I beamed a loom and I'm back to square one!   :)

I would also like to announce that Handweaving.net has just relaunched their web site and it's a tremendous improvement over the old. Fast, colourful and just plain fun to go and play with the drafts.   I left a small donation via paypal to help with the web fees to show my appreciation. Its a wonderful resource for weavers of any level!

A Reversal of Plans....
We had our realtor in place, downsizing underway and even a possible interested buyer but we soon realized that we simply don't have enough time.  I had a call from my surgeon's office last Monday and it seems that they want me to start my pre-op tests as early as  first week of April and I see the surgeon the third week of April.  My knee replacement can come as early as June...or... as late as October.  We had a discussion on the news and we decided with a time spread like that, a move is not a good idea right now.  (Too much stress as well.)  Another year here will give us time to get things better prepared, and hopefully sell the big loom and a bunch of other stuff!

It does mean I will be coming home to a flight of stairs which doesn't thrill me too much but we'll figure a work around.  Might just move the looms to one side and sleep in the studio?

The Small Big Thing

Just wanted to say hi .............and guess what I did today?

I sat down and wove about six and half inches, or seven repeats on my scarf!  It felt great to be holding shuttle again.   I haven't lost my technique thankfully . 

My progress today is shown here from the gold marker and up!   I went slow and was careful not to twist my leg or over reach the treadles.  Its a small, but big first start!

I'm six weeks post operative now and this time with my last hip replacement I was still hobbling around on crutches. Things have gone much better this time round.   I started weaving last time at about three months after surgery.  

I'll see how I feel tomorrow and not overdo  such things too much. I have been using my spinning wheel in the evenings so maybe that's helped?

I know someone else who is happy I'm back in the studio! Call grabbed a toy and waited patiently for the game of "you cover my eyes and throw it.... then I track it down, and bring it back ten seconds later."


Its a start!

Trials and Tribulations

Well, I did warn you some time ago that there will come a day when the medical stuff going on in my life will start to really squeeze out the weaving part.... and its beginning...

In the last month I have had three dental appointments, and seen my family doctor twice, my rheumatologist once and recently my surgeon again. Its been a very busy time and will be ongoing for  awhile.

I had a three hour root canal this past Tuesday and I'm still in the recovery phase and not chewing on that side of my face.   I'm a "white knuckle flyer" in the chair and on the day, so  I took some ativan and brought my iPod along.   I plugged in my ear phones and listened to some favourite music... loudly.... and just lay still. I reckoned the orthodontist could do a faster job if I kept quiet.... and I did a good job of it.  I even started to fall asleep once!  They got it all done and even a permanent filling in place, so no return visit or two.  (We won't talk about the two crowns I need now....)

Then two days later I saw my surgeon for an important appointment.  Bruce came in with me and we had a discussion about my two cranky joints and which goes first.  They are both equally painful now and both need medical intervention and it was decided to go with replacing my right hip as its a major weight bearing joint and the left knee will be next year, approximately June to August possibly.

I've been down this road before as I had my left hip replaced in 2001 and so know full well what is ahead and we have been busy getting ready. There are a lot of helpful aides that you need to set up: raised toilet seat, walkers, a reacher, crutches, a cushion to raise your spot on the coach or chair, and a bath bench.   You need comfy clothes for coming home in,  and going to rehab. We have been ticking off things on the list. Why the hurry?   Well, they have moved my surgery up to December 4th and that's not all that far away.  

So add in getting Christmas done early (such as it will be) and there is an air of urgency !

Coming up this week is yet another Doctor visit and a three hour education class at the Joint Replacement Clinic.  It doesn't leave much time for weaving and quite frankly, sometimes I just sit and read a book to take my mind off everything.  Between the knee and hip and dealing with pain.... and some time down the road, there will even be a foot surgery, it can all get a bit much to deal with.   Weaving keeps me sane and is my "carrot" to dangle at the end of all this!

If you made it to here, then you deserve some fibre content!    I've been playing around with my Fireworks program and came up with this: (click to enlarge)

I saw in my mind's eye,  scarves in three types of fine silks: silk yak blend is the grey, silk and camel is the gold, and 30/2  bombyx silk is the cream, with a sett of 36 epi.  Soft natural colours.

Its tough for me to stand in one spot for too long so winding the warp took time, especially  with all the colour changes!  I did bits and pieces as I could and Bruce helped me wind the warp on. 

Today,  I worked the new tie up with the loom up on her crates and made a start!

The two stick start means you get busy right away.

This is a close up of the sample for my records.

I laced on to reduce loom waste... it is silk after all! I plan to weave one scarf like the sample with all yak silk weft, and then maybe try my silk plaid arrangement for the second?  Or find another weft yarn?  I'm just happy that the loom is back in action and I can sit and weave when time allows!

Bruce took the pictures of the Japanese maple today while the sun shone. This magic colour is such a brief period in time and I wait all year for it!

Here's one that I took a few years ago and the leaves seem to  float by themselves in the air!