Looking for a Change? We Are.... 🏠🤞

 

Dear Readers:   we have our house up for sale, and an accepted offer on another, smaller rancher style home. All pending on the sale of  the home above ⬆︎    

Ever thought of living in Campbell River on Vancouver Island?  Backing onto a world class golf course with a new luxury hotel?   NO LONGER ON THE MARKET.... sorry!

Our realtor told us to use what ever social media we have to get the word out and since we're motivated by the new place we'd like to move to, you bet!

The larger shed will hold a golf cart and there is a large swing open gate at the far right to access the golf course.  Campbell River Golf and Country Club.   We're mid way of the 541' long fairway.    It's just beyond the pond.... yes, pond. Actually there are three in a row....

We love this place but it's time to shift into something smaller, more manageable. So we have an offer on another patio style home just down the street and around the corner at the same golf course.  Why quit a good thing huh?

So it's going to be a chore downsizing our stuff as we go from 2322 sq ft to 1324 sq ft but it will be so much easier on both us ultimately.    Neither of us will be 100% happy and have to give up something so that's a fair compromise.  

I've been downsizing my studio for 5 + years now and gone from three looms to one.... and while Hub has done some serious work in his garage, it's still where most of the culling will have to happen.      They say divesting one's self of clutter is very liberating!  Let's be frank here.... we didn't come into the world with anything and when we leave, we exit the same way.    It all has to go eventually....

I have two scarves that are completed but I have been busy as a one armed paper hanger with all the paperwork, viewings and real estate stuff..... and do have a 2 scarf warp on the loom and just about finished scarf #1.    I'll give you a peak...   4 colours in the gradient

8 shaft Crackle woven as twill.... and if it looks familiar, yes... I wove it before and really liked it so giving it another go. 😊💕

Butterfly Scarves 🦋

 You have been very patient and waited for some time.... so right at the top of this post is some 'eye-candy' 🍭

So if I'm down to one loom, and must weave in shorter time increments, then why not have fun with it and try out new ideas, colour blending, new drafts?    So I worked from my existing stash and found three tencel colours that are close in value (depth of shade intensity) and work well with each other.  Why tencel? Well, I have a lot of it and there are some lovely colours to work with.  I used the gradient program in Fiberworks for Mac and did a 3 colour gradation. Some minor tweaks to soften it out and then printed off the colour order.   

I wound the warp one thread or a few more at a time on my warping mill, inching little 'post it notes' across the colour guide.   The draft I had chosen was very open ended for where the colours landed. No points in the draft to hit the mark, so that is a good thing. 

Each of those bouts are hung with 3 pound weights on an 'S" hook. I shifted them every 2-3 feet or so. It was a lot of back and forth but so worth the nicely tensioned warp!

The colours flowed on nicely and looked wonderful! Dark Teal, Iris and Red-Purple

When I took this picture I didn't know that there were two threading errors lurking in that huddle of heddles! 😬

Sleying also had an issue with crossed threads behind the reed.   I was feeling like a real newbie and it seemed like this start was the slowest ever!

Then I finally started weaving and this is what I saw.... I'm weaving it upside down!   So I'm committed to weaving this one, this way at least. The weft is an old gold / bronze age gold (?) 20/2 silk  from Treenway Silks from the stash. 

I end up having some difficulty with the far right teal edge thread. No matter what I tried, it would fray and break.   Advance the warp more frequently, sit closer to the right on the bench, subtley shift the reed in the beater.  I checked for spurs on the dents.   Lifted the floating selvedge up at the end of a session so it doesn't unwind the plies.... and so on.   Eventually, I could see when it was starting to soften, and I would lift and pin the selvedge thread and start again. It was easier to  needle weave stronger ends in than wispy bits of nothing!

Here is the result of the first scarf.... and now you can see the right side.    Its more warp dominant one side, weft faced the other.... but you know, it works nicely to compliment the whole scarf.   The back side does have a ghosting of the pattern visible.  As you can see from the pictures.

So for scarf number two I had to audition some new colour choices....and there was no silk in something suitable unfortunately.   I found  this salmon shade in tencel. They've tried calling it other names such as red clay etc.  I called it the right colour !  I also wove this one upside down and decided that I liked the big reveal when it came off the loom and so would be a surprise. 

The salmon is rather powerful, but still melds all the colours with a blush of colour throughout. It's my favourite of the two scarves.

They measure 9 inches wide by 73 inches long, plus the  swishy fringe.  

This is the draft I used and you may notice somethings are missing.    This is not my draft, or come from a public source such as handweaving.net or other places.    Its not mine to share and credit must be given to the designer / author.

You will find this 16 shaft draft here in this book, on page 122, by Janna van Ledden who designed this and other drafts inside and authored the book.  It has drafts for 8 shaft to 32 shafts and is presented in both Dutch and English. I do recommend reading the section on how to use and read the drafts *first* and to also seriously bump up your heddles on shafts one and two. Or at the very least count them against the draft.  It's a twill and half basket weave as was related to me by Marion Stubenitsky.

There really aren't much for fresh inventive weaving books right now but this book and also Marion's (such as Echo and Iris)  are ones for your book shelf. 

🌷🌷🌷

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!

Peach of a Rose ~ Garden Shawls

 This post has been a while coming and the shawls shown here today mark the end of 16 years of  imagining, planning, weaving and finishing  scores of projects on my Spring Loom.   In all that time, she was never empty and always had something on the go.  A delight to weave on and frankly, hard to let go.   

Truth be told, it was time as my health has undergone some changes in the past 2 -3 years and it's time to weave less  and be under less pressure to keep two looms going and an Etsy shop full.  I don't know how weavers with multiple looms do it as there is only one weaver to keep all the balls in the air!

I still have my Megado and will still weave but my back tells me when its okay... when and how much.  Its Boss.   Simple as that...

So this first shawl has an undyed 10/2 tencel warp.  I bought some back when Webs used to carry it as it's a great staple to have on hand.   I used a 28 epi sett and my new 14 dent reed I got for Christmas in 2023 and it had patiently waited in its plastic sleeve.   

I find that setts where its 2 threads per dent show reed marks less. If you double or triple them up then it's going to show up.  Not all reed marks will wash out either.  So, an investment in a new reed was a good idea when I checked my stash and saw how much 10/2 cottons I have on hand 😳

The weft is a rose fiber yarn that I bought from Hilary at Crazy as a Loom (she may have more?)  Technically it's 'natural' but it does have a slight peachy hint of colour.  Neutral but something is going on there....   I like it!

The draft is an 8 shaft huck lace which always looks better with 'tone on tone' colours.   The tie up stayed in place and the looms new owner wove a scarf or two. It gave her time to get to know the loom before she had to tackle changing a CM tie up.   Which she did with her next project and quite well too. 

I wanted to try my hand at some fancy smancy borders and thought to give Danish Medallions a try.   I pulled them tight to for the ovals and didn't like what it did to the overall light-weight cloth. So I  just snugged them into place and they appear as an interesting feature as you can see from the picture above.  They are a slow hand manipulation  but very pretty and I'll try them again soon.  

Above you can see the drape and trust me, it's a light weave with a very soft touch.  Rose yarn is lovely to work with.   Below you can really see the peachy tint.  🍑 🌹

... and now for another garden extract..... Dandelion!  

When the time came to start the second shawl, I dug into the stash cupboard and found something interesting choices.  I had a cashmere blend but it was much too fine. Then I found mint fiber which was soft but while neutral, it still looked a greyed white.   I opted for a cone of dandelion fiber yarn instead as it had the right colour and silky look and feel to it I was looking for.  { I bought it at an Etsy shop called "YarnItaly" and they carry an ever changing inventory of exotic yarns }

Your can see the results as it looks like a white ivory and where there are weft floats there is a lovely sheen that catches the light.   I might keep this one for me.   Or maybe not since we need a new heat pump. 

Again lovely drape and you can see how light the fabric is. It would be like wearing a cloud!  ☁️

The border treatment this time was to mix up the huck treadling and create a band of pattern.   It was certainly faster than Danish Medallions. 

I tried taking the pictures outside but the huck lace vanished in the sunshine. Inside was much better but my flash unit wouldn't work so I had to brighten these on the computer.  Technology to the rescue...

So let me sow some seeds for thought:  You may be really keen to weave but please think about your overall posture at the loom, getting the right sized loom for you, and the right bench height.   Your elbow should be at a right angle and rest comfortably on the breast beam when you sit.  

Then think on time management: only fill 1-2 bobbins so you have to get up and move, stretch.   Take rest breaks. Don't weave if a body part is hurting. It's time to stop.  Maybe shift to another studio job instead.

One thing I have never done in all my 30 years of weaving, is to weave at night.  Daytime only.   I will use lights to brighten a dark day but never weave at night when your eyes are tired and straining.

Dark colours, such as all black are only woven on a bright summer day when you can see! 

Some years ago, on a dark winter day,  I wove a black on black lace table runner and couldn't see if I had made an error. I had to call out the treadling order verbally to myself thought out the 50-60 inches and only after it came off and was washed could I see if I got it right.  I did get it right fortunately as linen is too expensive to make that kind of mistake with!    

If you think all  these steps thoughtfully, then you will weave longer and be a healthier you.  💕