Miss Calli

This post is totally off topic. There's no weaving, no fibre, no looms. I think you will enjoy this post none the less though.

Its been five, going on six months since our Connor passed away. We are past the tears and now recall all the good stuff. We went from NO MORE DOGS to...'" so if you were to consider it, what kind would you like?" So it didn't surprise me when in time I found Bruce cruising the web looking at different breeds. Connor was a Lakeland terrier and while there are breeders out there, they are few and far between.   So Bruce did some research on other terrier breeds. We like that irascible terrier attitude (or is that terrorist?) The focus for a while was Welsh terriers which seemed to be a happy alternative and a couple of months ago we even put our name down for a puppy this spring.

Fast forward a a bit and one day I looked around my kitchen that is just a year old and suddenly put it all together. Puppies CHEW and piddle and it lasts for months.   Oh, crap.... time to review. How did I miss that part?  Oh, yeah... they are cute.

So we sat and talked about things over a cup of tea of just what we are looking for and what do we really want in a dog?   We have had small terriers for the past 15 years and the purpose of the 'small' stature was that at one time we lived on a boat for five years and needed all the attitude in a portable pooch!   Way back when I met Bruce he had a large (and I mean large!) Airedale named Samson  or Sammie for short. He was a big gentle bear of a dog and my daughter Carrie played for summers with him at her side. We never worried about her because Sam was there with her. I'm sure she will verify this and her tom boy ways (or was that shenanigans ?) I tried to find a nice picture of Sam for this post but he passed on so many years and so many moves ago. They are in a box somewhere along with pictures of the cats, other dogs and parrots we have owned through the years.

So we came away from our chat deciding that we wanted an Airedale again,  approximately one year or older, the gender didn't matter as it was more important to have a dog that is calm, no obvious issues and has a balanced personality. I still wanted a girl and Bruce a boy though. We withdrew from any commitments that were in place with our thanks and then started a new search. We did find one 2 1/2 year old female Airedale who showed great promise and based on the information we received, we got excited and arranged to meet her. She was beautiful but as a mature female she would be bred two times as part of a breeding arrangement and would spend large amounts of time at the breeders. We took her for a walk and it was a bit of a struggle She knew only 'show dog' commands and apparently, we did not. The word SIT  was met with a blank look of 'what??'   Oh, dear... this just didn't feel right and we are not about to force things to fit.

The next dog we viewed is also a female, ten months old and fully house trained and leash trained. She lived and mingled with other Airedales and other breeds of dogs that came along with their owners who stable their horses at the property there. We spent a good deal of time watching her interact with the owner and other dogs. Then we went for a walk and ran into a playful pit bull (yes, I said that right and in fact it was the most obedient pit bull I have ever met!) They played with no barking or growling. The border collie we also met could have used some more manners as it bounced its muddy paws off my new fleece jacket! I never saw it coming. There were large horses moving around us... cars passing on the driveway and she behaved beautifully.

So long story short, we bought her and brought her home on Wednesday. This past Friday she has had a vet wellness visit and was totally relaxed about the whole thing. She even licked the vet while he listened to her heart beat. Then there was the cranky pit bull who was not having a good day at the clinic that didn't phase her and she stood her ground; no growling, no barking. The pit bull was literally pulled out like a belligerent school bully after clearing everyone present down to one end of the waiting room. The slim built woman owner was a bit rattled and could barely hold onto the dog. (It begs the question: why get this breed of dog if you can't train and work with it properly? Anyhow, I digress....)

Today was the beauty parlor visit and she went through with flying colours!  So with our further adieu, may I present Calli    (formerly known as Calypso)

Calli was a scruffy girl before the cut, though she had had a bath by me. I don't know who was wetter: her or me or the entire bathroom? So here's the before shot to show how well she cleaned up!

Quite the improvement huh? She likes to lay by my feet where ever I go which is really nice. Normally all pets we have ever had have bonded with Bruce. She may well switch allegiance too but for now I'm loving it!
We have only heard one bark at the stables, but here at home no barking* (see edit below at end) and there has been no growling at all. But we are singing all night in our kennel as we adjust to all the new stuff in her life, which if you think of it, is a lot! She's very affectionate and loves her pats and hugs. Show her the leash and she's raring to go!

But one thing we know she likes and has a sense of ownership over, is her new pink martingale collar!  Its for a big Airedale gal with attitude :)

So we missed the early puppy stage but I can comfort myself with pictures. Now, doesn't this pup look sweet? Look at the size of those paws!  Now this may not be Calli but this pup is from the same breeder.

The best thing is we have a cookie jar back on the counter again. My daughter bought this for us many years ago and it now has its first fresh load in a long time!

Understandably there hasn't been much weaving happening around here as I still heal from the bad back (and wait for the new chair base)   and I also have been fighting a virus bug thing that is making the rounds this time of year. Hope you are all keeping  keeping warm and healthy as winter runs its course.
To borrow from friend Theresa,  here's a parting shot:

Feb 22nd. 2011
* edit: we have had our first bark! wow... impressive. We were in a pet store shopping and she barked at a well 'shaved'  small white dog walking by. (It looked more like Babe the pig) She didn't bark at the pit bull but this? Then the store manager said "looks like a rat... I'd bark at that too! "

Making Promises

A great  promise?  that Spring is coming... take heart!

I forget the full name of this hardy worker in the garden but its second name is Japonicus. It just doesn't quit! Blossoms, new red leaves all spring and again in the fall well into the frosts.

Early days yet, but that is the first primula blossom and a cluster of new buds forming, with a crocus nudging its way up.

There is a purple magnolia bloom in here. There's also the start of a new shoot at the base too!

The pink hellebore is almost ready!  Tough little plant and was the first to have fresh shoots up even in sub zero weather.

My personal favourite: heather which blooms from November to May, even through the snows.
So I guess you could call this the "Colours of February" on the west coast of Canada and these are all for Lynnette. I promised her I would....

Okay, back to indoor pursuits!
The chair situation in the studio was experiencing a delay.  Turns out the eight inch riser model was just a single solid pole and that simply won't work. So the ten inch hydraulic gas cylinder is the only other choice and then I found out the lowest setting is twenty four inches! I need twenty two and a half inches.  Since it can't be returned for a refund I had to mull it over some more and be really sure. The guy from the store actually came over to our house, looked at the benches and looms and we talked it through. (nice guy!) Seems when you sit down on the current regular chair, your body weight  depresses the chair down, therefore when I sit on the lowest setting of twenty four inches, it would also depress down and we deduced by at least one and a half to two inches so I'm placing the order this week. It makes sense that they would have one base meet and take over from the standard height and not leave a gap!  Phew...  it will take three to four weeks to come in.    *fingers crossed!*

I ran the gauntlet last week and went to the Government of Canada offices to get my first ever, bonafide passport. I absolutely hate the picture. I look like I'm attending a funeral or something but they liked it which is what matters most.  All around me were people grumbling about the long wait, having to get new pictures, more documents, that it was their third time back in line etc. I sat and waited my turn and it all went through first try and I was out of there in 30 minutes.  Now, Hubby promises I'll get to use it but as he pointed out, it is good for five years!

So after that grueling experience, I needed some retail therapy and so went to a yarn store "Knotty by Nature" ( in downtown Victoria, BC. which was just voted the most romantic city in Canada)
 I bought some additional shades of the finer bamboo in navy blue, black and a mid range magenta (which looks more pink here than anything):

While there was so much to love in the store, I was being mindful of my stash at home, counting my pennies... and that Hubby was waiting to carry my bag for me (oops!) I did buy this linen just for the colour!

Greens are so energizing aren't they?  I see the promise of leaves, grass.... and some nice huck lace runners!

So am I weaving again? yes, as a matter of fact I am, but only for short periods of time and not every day.  I do NOT want to go through another set back so I'm taking my time. I have a nine yard warp for three scarves and  I'm fifty four inches into my first scarf. So show and tell will be a while yet. A promise I'm happy that I can make again!

Cobbling Things Together

I have a confession to make. It seems I might have pushed things a bit and had a bit of a set back this past week. I suspect strongly that sitting on my weaving bench, even with a cushion, to do that one weaving repeat I showed you in my last post aggravated the nerve. My physiotherapist agrees. So I resumed my 'resting' and left the loom alone. Its so hard  NOT being able to weave...

So the hard edge of the wooden bench(s) is an issue, even with my elevating the rear legs to angle the bench. Its a problem now and I can see where it may contribute to future flare up's. So Hub and I did some talking about what might be a good fix.  I heard that Fireside looms makes an angled bench but its a bit spendy.  We went to our local Staples office supply store and looked at chairs, all kinds of chairs. At first we thought a  tall drafting chair would do as it can be raised to higher positions than normal chairs, but the edge of the seat was hard and not really rounded or soft.  Your normal office style chairs will only come up to 21 inches at full height and my bench at the Louet is at 22 1/2 inches. That small difference is actually a lot up top at the breast beam ! The Woolhouse Tools CM loom has an even higher bench at 27 inches, so being able to make adjustments is important.

So here's what we have come up with:

It's a regular style office chair but it has the added bonus of being able to adjust just about everything! You can move the back up and down, the entire back will shift to adjust the lumbar support, the seat will be flat or even tipped forward, the entire seat will drop or rise  and finally the arm rests can be moved up and down, moved in or out from the chair or even removed entirely.

 There is some good news and some bad news though...   The good? It was on SALE for $99.00 !!  The bad? it will only rise to 21 inches. So we want to see if the chair meets my basic needs which is to not cut into the back of my thighs and and be comfortable to weave with. If not, we can return it , no questions asked. 

If it works then there is a special extension base that can be bought separately that will increase the rise by either 8 inches in one model, 10 inches in another. With the part being a special order, it can't be returned. If this test of the chair works, then the 8 inch additional riser will do as the other loom will be covered too with 2 extra inches to spare.

So today I felt good enough to give it a try. The focus is the chair and seeing if it will work so...

I gathered up my usual bench cushions on the chair and sat and wove for a bit. Well, one repeat! I can't stop half way you know or I'll lose my place. My ample butt compressed things down a bit too far but there was no pressure on the thighs! The arms didn't get on the way and I actually needed them to hoist myself up on the cushions. I needed more height so I found one more pillow for the pile and tried that.

It looks ridiculous but it helps to boost me up the needed right height and hey, I wove a repeat or two more as well. It was right there in front of me after all.  So I think this will work out nicely and with the new special base I can use the chair at either loom. I'm going to order the part this coming week. So for someone who was only going to size up a chair and take 20 minutes, I wove up 21 inches and then called it a day. Don't tell my physiotherapist okay?!

So what else have I been doing? Not a whole lot to be truthful but I have kept my spinning wheel humming. I have a lot of singles to ply up. This is 70% merino with 30% silk in a pumpkin shade and no, I'm not sure what it will become (yet)

I'm one of those spinners who will buy another bobbin over plying.  I have quite simply run out of bobbins so plying will be ongoing for while!

I have also been using the time to catch up on annual paper work, reports and writing letters. I have family living in the flood zone in Queensland Australia and between water and cyclones they have been well tested. But  my great aunt is 94 and has survived fires and floods before, plus a world war so she's doing fine. I would like to thank reader Gay in Melbourne for your assistance to our family during what has been a difficult time for Australia.

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, then you'll know that this time last year we were in the middle of a full kitchen renovation. Well, it was much, much more than that but I won't force you to live through it again. I know I don't want to do it again! Hub, Bruce found a wonderful new area rug for our new dining room walnut hardwood floor. Its not the usual Asian style pattern and I love the colours. In fact, it looks like a tapestry! It was on clearance and came home with us that same day.

Here's another view!  Its made from 100% wool from New Zealand.

The light cream portions match the cream of the new kitchen cupboards. It was worth the wait to find it. Thanks Hun.

Under the Influence?

Have you ever bought an over the counter medicine and chuckled at the line on the back of the box that says:  "... and do not operate motor vehicles and large machinery..."  Well, apparently  the laughs on me as it seems I can't operate my loom! 

I was not able to sit to weave in the past while, I thought I could at least wind a warp and dress the Louet and get her ready for my return. Some positive thinking at play here. Loading the Louet Spring was not hard to do and involved no serious bending of said cranky back.  First goof was at the warping board when I  apparently wound nine yards while have only planned on paper for six and a half.  It took a picture of my warping board and the green record tags in a previous post to discover that error. Okay, so its now three scarves and samples. Not a serious problem...

Here it is going on the loom. I just love the orderliness of it all.

This is 10/2 tencel in black and silver. I am trying my first graduated colour warp using the Fibonacci method. I recorded this excerpt from a weaving discussion on line and can't recall the author, so my apologies:

A really common way of blending colors is to use the Fibonacci series. That series is made by using the number 1, adding 1, and then adding the sum to the preceding number to get the next one: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc. So you’d introduce first 1 thread of the new color, 8 of the old, 1 of the new color, 5 of the old, 2 of the new color 3 of the old, 3 of the new color 2 of the old, 5 of the new color, 1 of the old, 8 of the new color, 1 of the old. . sort of like that. You can use the same idea with other numbers.
{1 new, 8 old, 1 new, 5 old, 2 new, 3 old * 3 new, 2 old, 5 new, 1 old, 8 new, 1 old} * = centre

So the warping went well and helped me to feel useful and somewhat productive. Next up came the threading which took longer to accomplish due to chair and the sitting issues. Since it was done so slowly, it had to be okay?  right? (don't get  too ahead of me now!)   Same slow progress with the sleying. I used a 12 dent reed and sleyed the 8.75" warp at 28 epi (sleyed 2,2,3)

The next part was the tie up and I knew this would be a problem. We got the loom up on the crates but even with it raised up higher, I couldn't sit on my low stool to do the 144 cords for the 12 shaft, 12 treadle pattern. So I must confess the loom stayed perched up there and gathered dust for awhile. Then last week I was feeling so much better and I started the tie up. I did one treadle and when I felt a twinge, I stopped and left it for another day.

So a few days later, I was back and carried on, all the time being careful to do one treadle and then stretch and move about. When I got to treadle ten and my sheet said I should be on treadle eleven now. Oh, crap!
I simply could not believe it.
When I had calmed down and then studied my chart I understood what I had done. I'm using 12 of 14 treadles, so left the far left and far right treadle are on the floor. Next, I had tied up the second treadle which we will now call number one for the pattern. I had moved my post it notes that I use to isolate the row I'm working on over to treadle two and had quit for the day. So when I came back a day or so later, I moved the post it notes over one more thinking that's where I had left off and carried on.  Happily, I had a relatively simple fix!  I unbuttoned the bottoms of the cords on the first tied up treadle and simply slid them left to the unused treadle, then tied up the former number one and turned it into the missing number two!
I felt so pleased with myself.

I tied the warp to the front apron, added my floating selvedges and threw my first few shots of waste yarn.  Then after playing with my new fancy smancy AVL bobbin winder and loading up some weft pirns, I got down to business and wove the border. Its a very complex pattern and Iooked hard but didn't see any glaring mistakes. I quit for the day and the next day after my physio I wove a full repeat and that's when I saw the mistake. The graduated stripes didn't land on the same shafts from one side to the other.   Hubby came in at this point and asked "why so glum chum?" I gladly accepted his offer of help and we dug in behind the beater and reed and examined the shaft numbers and sure enough, they were not the same. So I  un-wove the repeat, pull through the reed and raise a lease stick under the warp to keep order and we re-threaded all over again. Bruce called out the runs and I threaded. We did find one part where I had added one extra repeat of a small point twill (oops!) We thought that must be why the two sides didn't match so moved ahead now confident we had caught the culprit. It was our very first time working together like this in the studio and it was a pleasant time. We didn't bicker or anything!

Resley, tie on and a few runs..... and they still don't match.  That night I sat with the laptop computer on my couch and worked my PCW Fiberworks hard! I altered the Fibonacci sequence a bit but now the colours line up on the right shafts. So with new chart in hand we jointly rethreaded the loom and I resleyed  for the third time.

Yesterday I wove just one repeat and had to stop as the pain has returned to my thigh. But I will show you what I have so far. The colour changes are on the right shafts and there are no errors!

Here's the over all effect showing the colour gradation and of course the patterning. I hope you like it as I have three of them to weave slowly and after this I plan to weave table runners in the same pattern  and therefore getting more bang for my tie up time! It will be around for some time...

This picture is taken a bit closer... click to enlarge any of these. What I can't share with you is the hand this cloth has. There is a definite  textural feel to it. It is fully reversible and it has an elegant appearance. Gebrochene is known for this. This pattern is of mixed parentage and also features 'hind und under'. I'd be hard pressed  to tell you exactly how.  I have woven both gebrochene's and hind and under before separately. Hind und under can be a bit busy to my liking, but this I like. I found this pattern at handweaving.net when on a big search for some 12 shaft patterns for Dorothy and her new extra shafts.



12 shaft gebrochene/ hind und under

So why so many silly mistakes? I like to think that maybe the pain medications I'm taking have me a bit more muddled than my normal state (and trust me, now after the big M, I get muddled!).  Don't worry I'm leaving the driving to hubby.
With so little happening in my studio right now I'm not certain what my next post will be about.....I will have to give that some serious thought!  Now there's a chore and a half!   :)

Patience is a Virtue

Thank you for patiently waiting for something weaving related. My back is slowly improving and I'm able to do more, but that's the rub! I have to resist doing more and setting myself back. I'm happy to pass on vacuuming but I now seem up for other duties.

I have been asked by a friend to share my hemming techniques and so along with the final unveiling of the guest towels, there will be a step by step details of what I normally do when finishing off towels or runners.

Once the warp come off the loom, I fire up the serger. (If you don't have one, then a straight stitch on the sewing machine will do. Just adjust the stitch length so the warp ends are all caught and held in place)

In the picture above you can see the towel on the left with its white hem allowance, then there is a narrow stripe of my scrap yarn, followed by a very short section for samples. I was able to squeak out one more towel, so sampling was reduced to a brief showing  :)   It might be small but it is all you need!

Here they are all cut apart along with my four little mini samples. Next step involves the ironing board. So please excuse the nasty cover as I'm finding it difficult to get a replacement cover for the wider Rowenta board.

In addition to my Rowenta steam iron, I use a small slide ruler sold at fabric stores, straight pins. I firmly press the towel and then measure the hems at both ends to ensure they are the same length. I divide the depth of the hem by three and  make the first turn.

Then using full steam and a heavy hand, I press it *firmly*. I fold the second turn and ensure it carefully follows the bottom edge of the hem stitching and then *firmly* press again.

 

In the picture above you can see the folded hem (shown front side up) and ready to be stitched. It stays put after the pressing but I do add some pins to keep it in position during its move to the side table in the living room.

It took a bit of time but all twelve towels finally were turned and ready for the next phase. I was getting a lot of couch time recently  and so having these to work on was a nice break!  I really enjoyed hand sewing the hems and it seemed to help me feel useful and still working on weaving how ever thin a thread!

I like to use quilters sewing cotton. Its a bit heavier than the polyester thread and less likely to twist. I also feel that I wove a natural fibre towel, so use a natural fibre thread to finish it. Above I'm drawing the thread through the Thread Heaven to reduce twist and improve the movement of the thread through the cloth. It seems to reduce 'tug'  if that makes sense!

I always start at the side fold....

I don't like leaving the side fold open. It leaves the door open for the handwoven fabric to unravel and trail ends out the side and generally look messy.  If there is a little of the first cloth fold pushing its way out of line, then I will ease it back into line using the needle.

Once its in place, then I pinch the whole thing with my fingers and start in the end of the fold. I want this part to lay flat so I sew back and forth straight through the cloth.

Then once I get to the main part of the hem, I switch to my running blind stitch. (I think its called this)

Running the needle through the hems fold to 'hide' the thread and at very short intervals, you pop up. I make my stitches very close together as this will be a towel that will be machine washed most likely. I want it to last!

Then you slip the needle through a weft thread or two and through the leading edge of the hem and pull snugly but not so tight as to misshape the appearance  in the front. Slip the needle back into the fold and move along. That's it. When you get to the other end, you move down into the side fold and flat sew that closed as well.  The pictures above show the non-fancy hem. It works the same for the fancy hemstitched hem allowance too.

The space between the ladders is clearly where you run the thread in the hems fold.  So what do I do when the sticky out bit at the side is too large to push back into place with the end of the needle?  While I'm not sure if this is the right way, it is what I do....

I gently snip off a portion with sharp scissors, then ease into place with my needle and then flat sew it with extra small stitches to keep it firmly closed!

Sorry for the wack of photos but I feel they can show you the process better than I can explain it. It's certainly not complicated and you should have it worked out after one towel. Feel free to adapt to suit your needs and please share with newbies.

So to review:

• press firmly into thirds with a heavy steam iron
• use small stitches and take your time

Do I ever machine sew? yes! I use it on towels that will be tossed into the wash regularly and doesn't have fancy hemstitching. Sometimes I use hand sewing when I don't want an obvious stitch line  running across the cloth as it is visually distracting. So I started out as a new weaver wanting to machine sew everything and slowly over time I have moved more and more to finishing by hand for the obvious benefits it provides of being as secure and  less obvious. It does take time to do this work but after what you have already spent winding your warp and weaving, its not a lot of extra time.

Next step is to wet finish them!    I placed them in the washing machine and set them for delicate. When they came out I took each one in turn and worked them between  my  hands and pulled them into shape and and then lay them flat on towels  and  left them for a couple of hours to absorb moisture.

Back to the ironing board... same disclaimer as before :)    I pull and shape the towels giving particular attention to the edges near the hemstitching as it can draw in here. I carefully snip off all weft tails and fire up the iron. Since they are already damp, steam isn't required this time.

I press very firmly!  I can lower my board down a bit to make applying pressure from above easier. What we are doing here is to set the threads into their permanent position. Even if the next owner of these towels opts for pressing, they will never need to be done like this again. { Not all weave structures need this or should be ironed this way... its a case by case choice. These are woven with fine smooth threads and reversible pattern}  I'm already whispering about needing a small steam press like Lynnette has for my birthday... wish me luck!  I see the store she bought it from doesn't have them listed anymore!

Once the towel is well pressed front and back, I like to fold it into thirds lengthwise, pressing as I go.  I'm one of those weird people who actually likes ironing!   I'll have to show you my 1950's rolling press some time I scored a few years ago.

Here are the towels with 16/2 beige mushroom weft. Two with ladder stitching and the top one with trellis style. Here's a close up:

Then there's the bronze gold bamboo 8/2 weft:

I had some pumpkin mercerised 16/2 from a friend many years ago:

There were some done in a gun metal gray in 16/2 mercerised cotton:

I also tried an experiment and I'm still trying to decide if I like it. Hub says he does...

That one Maltese cross on the left looks darker than the others but that's just an optical illusion! The body of the towel was woven with mercerised 8/2 cotton for a play of light on white.  I had to be very careful when weaving not to lose my place as I would never have worked out where to unweave back to!    So they are done at last and what was 8 yards felt more like 16! The hemstitching took a lot of time but I really think these turned out nice and I would be proud to give these as a gifts.

As a bonus for reading this far, I have included here all details of the project plus a copy of the draft. The basic draft came from A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns by Carol Strickler and I modified it slightly from there.  Click to enlarge the draft or any of the pictures in the post.

Maltese Cross Project



WARP DESCRIPTION
Warp Yarn: merc cotton
Count: 16/2
Color: cream
Cost, source: roughly $7.95 per 250 gram cone; Brassards, Quebec
Warp length: 8 yards
Warp Width: 13.42" at the reed
Set: 36 epi
Reed: 12 dent
Sley: 3 per dent
# Ends: 484 plus 2 floaters

WEFT DESCRIPTION
Weft Yarn: cottons (various) bamboo
Count: 16/2 and 8/2
Colour: white, gold, navy, mushroom
Sources: mainly Brassards

Pattern is taken from " A Weaver's Book of 8 Shaft Patterns" by Carol Strickler
Page 89, 323-4

Project Length:
19" per towel (4" for hems+15" main part of towel)
x 12 towels
-------
228"
12" samples
15" take up
----------
255"
20" loom waste
-------
275" divided by 12 = 22.92' divided by 3= 7.64 yds (rounded up to 8 yards)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Project Width
each pattern group =27 ends x two=54
54 times 8 repeats= 432 ends+ 27 1 repeat to balance+ 24 ends borders= 483
Plus 2 ends for floating selvedges.

Warp wound in two bundles of 242 ends each.
Beamed onto Louet Spring.
Various hemstitching to tart the towels up!