New Tricks

This is Bruce, my husband, doing his old job.... as a locomotive engineer.   Thirty eight years passed by, although it felt slow at the time! Those days and weeks do end up reaching a goal eventually.   He did work at another job in a different field for approximately ten years and is now fully retired.  He has a birthday with a zero in it later this month and it gives you a pause to think on it. I know, I have my own 'zero' coming up too in March.  He keeps busy on line doing consignment sales for people downsizing their model railway hobby (or expanding it)  and he also keeps a blog where he write his (98% true) railway stories.  Its been a while since he last wrote but several people, including me, are nudging him back to the keyboard.

He's a wonderful supporter of my weaving endeavours, and also an invaluable help in the studio and lends a hand when it comes to beaming a warp. I get everything all set up and ready. Then he winds the back beam and I tension and detangle. We usually have a good chat about what ever is going on, or listen to some music and sing along.

We use brown wrapping paper as our separator (which we buy at the post office as it seems to be the right size, price and is sturdy). It gets to be a 'personal challenge' to see if he can get the paper on and keep it winding straight.  Many of you might know how frustrating it is to have it going off wildly  off track.  I would cut it off, fold the edge over to straighten and carry on.    Bruce got creative!

He noticed I had a length of  half inch PVC pipe which I normally use to hang up and dry shawls over standing in a container.

He placed the PVC rod through the centre of the roll of paper and then nudged it back against the edges of the down treadles.  He has the leading edge folded perfectly straight and uses the apron rods to line up and we start to beam.

Bruce uses his feet and toes to gently tension the rod and the paper slides off under control and no wandering!  He's such a clever clogs!   We decided to take photographs and show the technique to you. This was 100% his idea and I must say it really works. No fighting with the paper and the six and a half yard warp went on very quick.

So what was that warp you say?     Have a peek..... 

There's going to be some colourful show and tell soon.... stand by!

Moody Blues

So that last project was fun to weave up and see the colour effect!    I thought "let's try that again"! This time I used four colours instead of three: Navy blue,  grey blue, whipple blue and baby blue.  All 8/2 tencel and sett 24 epi.  I have a nice selection of colours to play with at a time like this. 

Again, it was awkward to photograph effectively!  But it was clear that there was a completely different look and feel to the project. The warp width and length was the exact same:   8.41" at the reed and 6.5 yards. The scarves were woven the same way: network and as-threaded. 

The weaving went along well and I was pleased at how my knee was feeling with the exercise. It did swell slightly by the days end so I would elevate it and keep an ice pack on it.... plus pour a cold, well earned drink for me.  Endless days of rain was the perfect weaving weather in the quiet days of late January.

Below is the woven 'as threaded' scarf.  Once again it has the look of flowers or circles and they are much more visible with this colour arrangement.

I did find some beads that were a good match for colour.... so there's a few in each corner. Somehow less was more this time round...

It looks sort of flat but that's due to my arrangement to show the pattern off. The tencel is soft and silky with a lovely drape and cool hand.  I see either one of these paired with jeans and casual wear quite nicely for Spring. 

The network scarf requires only ten repeats to equal one scarf. The repeats are six and a half inches long!

This one has some bead accents hand sewn in off the loom as part of the finishing.

Again, I had to drag every light  into a huddle to shoot these pictures..... and today the sun came out in all its glory as I write.    I might try retaking the pictures and see if it makes a difference!

So that concludes my ombre style colour gradation  exploration (for now). Its time to move onto something different. I get bored easily and so my runs of anything are limited. I couldn't be a production weaver as I would suck at my job   :)

So here's a sneak peek at the next project..... to keep you coming back!

Magenta Ombre

Its sure been a long time for both you and for me when it comes to a new weaving post!     I'm having to reach way back to last September to start this story.   It was a tense time getting things together in the studio, plus getting the house and me ready for the surgery to come.

This project started with watching a video by Margaret Coe on how to use the colour gradation feature on the Fiberworks program.  It looked simple enough so I thought I would try my hand at it.   After a few fumbled attempts, I pulled together a three colour gradation of just over two hundred ends and then  found a nifty eight shaft twill draft at Handweaving. net wound a warp long enough for two scarves and some samples.   

{ I love that web site.... I could spend *hours* cruising through their random drafts feature..... and I do!    If you are a fan of authentic tartans, then go and take a look! There have been many entered into their web site and give the actual colour setts. }

 I wound the warp and got it ready for beaming once the guest towel warp came off the loom.    If I recall, the warp came off and this warp was on the loom all within an hour or two!   Hubby Bruce helped me so it went smoothly and quick.   I'm not a fan of naked looms.... they should be kept dressed at all times  :)

I wove the first repeat, which measures six to seven inches to see what it looked like and admire the colours.... and then left it to sit until I was able to weave again.  Something to look forward to.

I noticed it was hard to photograph it well between the darkness of the colours, the flash, and the shine off the tencel. I had to try different angles and settings. I'm sure someone with camera 'know- how' could do it but I only play with the auto settings.   So you might notice some changes in the lighting and appearance.  Its just me trying to get a better picture!  So my secret is out... I just take lots of pictures and see what turns out.... and then play with them in the computer.   Hey!  its worked okay till now.

The weaving part took some time. I tried my first few inches at about six to seven weeks post op. (So about mid November) and quickly discovered .... it hurt!  My first few sessions produced a few inches and only a few minutes each time.  The knee would swell up and so need a couple of days off and then I tried again.... with the same results.   But it felt good to be resuming a normal activity again. 

Then we received all the photographs from my Dad's estate, which I sorted, and then Christmas came along and so there was a three week break away from the loom.  This turned out to be a good thing in hind sight as it gave me more time to heal.  I felt much stronger when I got back and not as much swelling and pain.   I planned to be on the bench for New Year's Day and I was !   It sets the 'weaving tone' for the new year and I wanted  to start 2016 off right. 

To be truthful, I have finished these two scarves plus two others since then but the second batch are for another post!

It sure felt good to pull them off the loom. Bruce was there for the 'unveiling' and he also helped me load the next warp right away. I was on a roll and not about to stop!   The next day I serged my samples up, and measured my fringe allowance and evened the lengths up.  I pinned them out on my board and got busy twisting the fringes.  I had a good look through my bead stash but other than small basic black seed beads, I have nothing in the magenta colour line at all. They were just going to have to go naked!

Its okay as the ombre effect sort of takes centre stage anyhow.... who would even notice they were there?

These pictures show the scarf where it was woven 'as threaded'.  Its a neat little design that reminds me of flowers somehow.  Fully reversible and so it has a slightly lighter and darker side. I arranged the scarf to show both sides in the pictures.   I had waited for some sunshine to take the photographs but we have had endless rain.... or I was away from home when the sun did break out! I finally gave up and dragged every lamp we own into the studio and set up a white sheet across the Megado and gave it my best shot. (pun intended)

Etsy shop

The other scarf was woven 'network' style as shown in the draft above.  It has a whole different feel or mood to it.  Its also fully reversible.   I think this is my favourite of the two.   It would look stunning against a black wool dress coat, or suit.  Well, they both would!

So to review: six and a half yards of  8/2 tencel in colours black, eggplant and red-purple; sett 24 epi.  Both scarves were woven to approximately seventy four inches and end up being seventy two inches in length when all done and a final seven and a half inches wide. The fringe measures 6 inches.

The next warp that went on is a repeat of a few things.... the drafts used, the ombre effect but this time all different colours and a whole different look and feel.   I used four colours this time as well.
I had to plan to use the same tie up again as I wasn't sure of how things would go changing it, even propped up on crates. Parts of me just don't bend the same way anymore!     The treadling does count as exercise though for the leg and knee so its been good that way!

It was my goal to get a new weaving post to you in January and I made it!  By the skin of my teeth but I did it!      :)

Little Tiddlers Road Trip

We just had a second Christmas, a second helping of *happy*!   We have been away to see the grand kids and spend time just soaking them up in all their sweet, noisy glory!    Then, we came home exhausted and our ears ringing but a very happy Nana and Grandad.

Madison has grown and is now ten months old and has personality plus.  I know I'm somewhat biased  but she is a quiet, happy baby.   She babbles and talks but in a calm way.  You can see her concentrating on your words as you talk with her.

I thought I'd try my luck at getting her to say "na-na"...... and she nailed it!   For the rest of the visit, I was clearly "Na-na"!

Ethan, who is four in April, is a whirling dervish. He simply does not stop moving.  Consequently many pictures just didn't pan out as he was too blurry.   He's the opposite of Madison.... action filled, loud and boisterous.  I heard the phrase "inside voice Ethan" a lot!   To be fair, he was excited and happy to play trains with his Grandad.

Ethan is train crazy and has all the Thomas the Tank engines and miles and miles of wooden railway track.  He just received more track to add to his empire.  He builds his railway out of the play room (formerly a dining room) and down the hall way..... around through the kitchen and back again.  It all gets picked up and put away as their rhoomba vacuum cleaner will "eat it all up".  (It doesn't, but Ethan doesn't know that yet to his mother's delight! )

There was one special moment with Ethan when we asked him who runs the train.  The engineer.  Did you know that Grandad used to run big trains?  No, don't be silly Grandad!  Then we showed him this picture:

What is this Ethan?  a big locomotive. Then we spread the picture with our fingers on the iPad and asked him who the Engineer is?      His eyes went wide and he gasped   GRANDAD!!     He stuck pretty close to Bruce after that and Bruce spent much of the time there on his hands and knees building track and having crashes  off the big hill they made.

We had a grand time....


Now, I do have two finished scarves waiting for some sunshine to snap some pictures for you. I also have two more that are waiting for fringe twisting and a wash..... and the loom is already reloaded again.   Towels are being woven up next and I have silk being wound on the warping mill.  So there will be weaving related posts very soon.   Its been darker than Hades even with all the lights on and anything I have taken have not been very good.  The scarves are dark to begin with and the flash just washes things out as it bounces off the tencel.    Its been raining steady for some days now.  Our little stream on the property was up and over its banks a few days ago and close to the underside of the bridge decking.

We have a hand made stone wall on the back yard built many years ago by one of the former owners of this property. The land goes uphill just beyond it and so the run off fills the flower beds.   I took this picture just as it was getting dark(er still) outside and the flash shows the draining water flowing out of a small hole in the wall to its best advantage!

This is normally my herb bed in better weather. I'm not complaining as I at least don't have to shovel it !

We'll show this picture to Ethan next time.....  I think he might be impressed.

....And the Winner is....

On the 8th anniversary of me starting this blog, you, the  contestants had a 1 in 38 chance of being drawn!  Not bad odds huh?  Better than the lottery !   {There were a total of 39 comments but one person commented on each post... so only one entry to the draw}

So here's the prize. Its a guest towel woven by me (10/2 mercerized cotton and a fine Bambu 12 weft called  water chestnut which is much like an ecru.  Yes, there is a treadling error but the towel is pretty none the less!  I made up 38 little tags of paper and had all names entered and into the wee basket (that a friend made by hand and gifted us for Christmas).

A good stir and toss......

....and the name drawn was Deanna! 

Deanna has a blog she writes called Deanna's Weaving and seems to be very accomplished!  I searched for an email address for you Deanna to contact you directly but came up empty!  So please contact me via emmatrude(at)gmail.com when you see this.    

I simply can't believe that its now 8 years since I started this blog.  I had been the President of the Guild of Canadian Weavers for a period of four + years and it involved being on the computer almost daily with emails, meetings and such.   When my term was over and I stepped down, I went from being totally involved to a sudden nothing. I needed something to become involved in regularly as I became more involved with Life and weaving again and less about computers and meetings. 

A blog so that I could share what others had generously taught me over the years and in turn I could share with other weavers, such as yourself ..... and I could go about it in a way with blogging that makes it easier for both you and me. I'm sure many of you sit and read posts in your jammies.  

 I somehow sense that while blogs are still very popular, they don't enjoy the large readership they had of a few years ago.   I did create a Facebook page called Thrums Textiles   and I also created an Etsy shop of the same name. Even Pinterest, though I'm still trying to work out how this site actually works!  I'm trying to keep up with the times but draw the line at all the other social media web sites such as Instagram.... if I joined them all, I would never get any weaving done! (But if there's one you think I should know about, then please contact me!)  I hope to do more weaving this year and then write to you here more often than I was able to last year.

I'm optimistic at any rate! 

So Congratulations to Deanna.....