Tuesday, August 31, 2010

End of the Line - nearly



Still learning the new picture editing software. One of the things I'm trying to figure out is where it now saves things. None of the places seems intuitive to me - but then I'm a dinosaur. :}

At any rate, here is the last of the scarf warp. There is enough left on the warp beams for one more scarf and then it's done. That's about 20 yards of woven web on the cloth storage beam.

You can see a yarn hanging down. Actually it is an 'extra' warp end and it comes off the warp beam, goes under the tension box rail, then up and over the rod in the ceiling. The yarn gets a cardboard tube to weight it, and on which to wind the surplus yarn as it comes off. The distance from rod to floor is just about exactly the length of a scarf so it works well.

The reason there is an 'extra' thread is because I only need 79 chenille ends but I'm winding 8 ends per inch. Rather than remove 'extra' ends from the last section I 'waste' the 40 yards by winding it on the loom. It sometimes comes in handy if I have a broken end on that side of the warp. :)

After thinking it over I expect that Handwoven won't be particularly interested in my new scarves because they are done on 16 shafts and I'm not willing to write a project for doing it using pick up. What I'm doing is absolutely possible on a four shaft loom with pick up stick, but while I'm willing to weave more slowly than usual to get the results I desire, I'm not willing to weave that slowly!

Put in an order for more of the fine bamboo for another warp. Or 3. I'm having so much fun doing the new designs that time just flies and I have to be very strict with myself not to push beyond the 45 or so minute weaving period.

Had lunch with some guild members today and they all loved the new scarves. Here's hoping the buying public will, too.

Currently reading The Killer of Pilgrims by Susanna Gregory

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Like a Jigsaw



dancing butterflies.....

I envy people who receive revelations complete and in full colour. I rarely do.

Rather it seems like revelations for me are like jigsaw puzzles. You know - the really hard ones? The ones that may take weeks or months or even years to finally finish?

This morning I appear to have set the last piece of the current puzzle into place. The puzzle of what to weave. What do do with the rest of my life - for however long that may be.

One thing about having health issues is that one gains a heightened awareness of just how fragile this life is, and how short one's alloted time may be. Dealing with such issues the past few years has brought me to the realization that I have had a very good life in many ways, but that I am not a young immortal. Some people would even consider me.........old. :D

My new direction is still settling into place. I'm working on the technical details of the cloth I want to construct. I may even submit some of it to Handwoven, in which case I should not publish photos or details here until I decide if I am and whether or not they will accept it for publication.

So I won't say more about that now. I'll just say that my little heart is going pit-a-pat with anticipation.

Currently reading Death's Excellent Vacation by Harris et al

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Fighting the Good Fight



Did I ever mention how much I hate computers? Or at least software upgrades?

My perfectly good camera/picture editing software from Kodak was just dandy. Simple and essentially idiot proof. You know - for dinosaurs like me?

Until......we upgraded my computer to Windows 7 and I had to upgrade my camera/picture editing software along with a few others that won't run in compatibility mode.

Well, the new program does some nifty things - like embed text - but between that and Win 7 pictures are not saved in the same way in the same place as before. I am sure I will eventually get it figured out, but it seems like such a waste of time. :P~

Anyway, I haven't heard back from Albuquerque yet, but I decided to start pulling the warp yarns (and wind some of the warps). I'll be starting my travels on Labour Day and time will suddenly get very short, indeed.

In between trying to figure out new software I've also been working with two guilds in Florida nailing down details for January. I'm looking forward to escaping winter for a couple of weeks or so. Check my Schedule page in a month or so for details. I'm waiting to confirm dates and topics.

Today I also started my ledger entries for July/August. With the HST (prov. and federal sales tax are now combined) bookkeeping is going to get a lot more complicated for small businesses like mine. I can't afford to let 3 months worth of entries go and expect to get them all done quickly. Things like this make 'retirement' look more and more attractive!

Unfortunately my 'retirement plan' is to keep on working................

Currently reading Burn by Nevada Barr

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Mug Rugs



I got all the mug rugs woven and run through the washer/dryer before I left for Kelowna and managed to hem nearly all of them while I was away. The rest I finished last night.

Normally I would press everything once the hemming was done, but I knew my client was in a hurry and they looked good without the pressing so...........

My client has just left and was happy with the mug rugs and with how quickly I got them done for her.

I have to ramp up my energy levels because I'm supposed to be supplying the samples for the workshop participants to wet finish during the one day version of Magic in Albuquerque, NM in October. Since I'm away so much in Septemer I'm going to have to get everything done in the next two weeks, so it felt good to complete the mug rug order.

On the computer front, several of my programs don't run on Windows 7 and I'm having to learn new versions of the some of the ones that do. Which doesn't make me a very happy camper at the minute.

One of the programs that isn't working is the transcription software. I ought to have been doing more of the WeaveCast episodes before we up-graded but I didn't expect problems with that program. :((((

Another is my picture editing software, which really makes me unhappy, but was only to be expected given how old the program is. :(

Anyway, I have the first warp for the workshop ready to go onto the loom which I'll do once I've done my errand run to town.

Currently Reading White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison

Friday, August 20, 2010

Smoke Free

Well, sort of.....to the north of Kelowna sits a huge bank of smoke. I'm really hoping it stays there. I will be home and back in the thick of it (literally!) soon enough. :(

The wildfire conditions worsen here with the smoke plume now literally across the continent and beginning to hover over New England - according to the evening news.

So if you live there, give a thought to the courageous firefighters battling what has to one of the worst wildfire seasons in (my) memory.

On the weaving front, there isn't much happening, of course. On the hemming front, I've nearly finished 30 mug rugs. I went way overboard with my fudge factor and wound up with 42 (not counting the one that has a treadling error in it.)

As soon has I've done 30 for the order I'll switch to the Diversified Plain Weave scarves. I cut off what I had woven so far and got them wet finished. The scarves from the first warp are en route to my friend for the September sale.

I'll head for home Sunday mask to hand. On the way down I drove for hundreds of miles wearing it - much longer than I ever expected - and fully expect to be wearing it most of the way home.

Praying for rain the whole way.

Currently reading Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Marketing vs Advertising



This was the view from my back door at around 6:30 pm. The skies are laden with smoke from wildfires burning to the south west of us....

The last couple of days I've been staying indoors as much as possible trying to keep out of the smoke filled air. Smoke, along with other air born particulates, is one of my worst allergies so needless to say it hasn't been a fun time.

I have, however, enjoyed having a student, especially one who caught on so well to the principles involved in weaving. I have also managed to pass the half way mark on the mug rug warp and hope to weave a bit more this evening before Doug gets home from work.

Many weavers come to the craft as a hobby. They find that they enjoy themselves and if they do it a lot discover that they can produce more than they can use themselves or gift to family and friends. And so they start thinking about trying to sell what they make.

They sometimes wonder about the difference between 'marketing' and 'advertising'.

A number of years ago I took a class on marketing and the definition given by the instructor was that marketing is simply sharing information. Advertising is what you pay some form of media to run - in their pages, on their screens, etc.

Marketing can take many forms. The easiest and most direct is to just tell people what you do. Aids in this are things like business cards or brochures that you can hand out or leave for people to take home.

In the 21st century marketing can also be done on the internet via sites like Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

I try not to do too much marketing in my blog, preferring to keep it more educational - a sharing of what I'm working on currently. But yes, from time to time I toss in some information - like the fact I ordered more CD Weaver III's to be made (available at http://LauraFry.artfire.com)

My website would be considered advertising. I pay for a URL and I freely post things that I sell there, including my services as a teacher (workshops and seminars). http://laurafry.com - click on Store then Workshops/Seminars.

Some chat groups do not allow 'advertising' (which ought to be called 'marketing' because you don't pay for the space - either way, it's verboten).

Blogspot now has an option for bloggers to 'monetize' their site. In other words, you agree to allow others to advertise on your blog and you get paid for it. I have resisted this because I don't know that it's terribly effective plus I don't want to offend people. If I'm going to 'advertise' it will be my own self. Selfish perhaps, but so far that's where I'm sitting in that regard.

Selling one's work is not easy. People assume that everyone will just love their hand woven textiles.

But what weavers are really selling in the 21st century are their skills as a designer first, their skills as a weaver second. There is an abundance of choice in terms of textiles in the marketplace. There are poor quality textiles, medium quality textiles, and high quality textiles.

What makes something poor quality? I always think about function first, but there are also poor design choices, poor colour choices, poor finishing choices.

There are textiles that are serviceable but lack a certain something in terms of design. And that is generally in the eye of the beholder, so very difficult to nail down. OTOH, most people can pick out something that they think is outstanding.

So what are high quality textiles?

Something unique from what is already available in the marketplace. Something made with high standards of workmanship, from good quality materials. Colour choices should be exciting, perhaps even a little unusual. This is always hard to nail down, but there should be some sense of drama in terms of the colour/design.

High quality textiles will command higher prices than poor quality textiles ---- IF they are offered to the segment of the market that appreciates and can afford them.

It is extremely difficult to take one's wares to a church bazaar environment and find very many people who will willingly invest in a scarf priced at more than $100, for example. Not entirely impossible, but generally people who go to a church bazaar are looking for lower priced items.

So I choose my sales venues with care. I never do outdoor events. (See above for why.)
I do not generally do sales where the organizers sell 'tables'. And if I do attend such an event I never use the table provided but bring my own display apparatus. And lights. I never do a show where I can't have my own lighting.

It is also very important to dress the part of someone who has high quality items for sale. It would never do to man the booth wearing my work clothes. I have a whole other wardrobe with my 'sales' clothes in it.

I bring a tall stool to perch on so that I maintain eye contact with people walking by. And I never (and I do mean never) sit in the back of the booth and read. In fact, I don't have a 'back'
of the booth as every inch is devoted to displaying my work as well as I possibly can.

When people spend $100+ on a scarf, part of the experience of the sale is meeting with and getting to know the maker a little bit. To sit and read instead of making eye contact and greeting the people who enter your booth is to say you aren't interested in that dialogue. If you truly aren't interested in that contact, hire someone else to sell your work for you.

Most creative people are not good sales people. They know where the bodies are buried, so to speak. They know they are capable of better. They might even be a little embarassed that their work is not yet 'perfect'. So sometimes they find it difficult to ask a higher price or move to close the sale.

When complimented on their work, the best answer is not an apology, but a simple and heart felt
'thank you'.

If you are interested in selling your work, check out the variouis venues in your locality. Talk with other craftspeople who already exhibit there. Listen to the comments of the public. Look to see how they are dressed. Do they look the type to spend large on something hand made?

Think about how your are going to display your work long before the day of the event. Have something built, or beg, borrow or buy display props and apparatus.

But once the door opens, put your game face on and become the salesperson you need to really sell your work. And leave your ego at home.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Mug Rugs


Got the loom dressed and started weaving after dinner. This photo shows the hem woven with 2/16 cotton, and the body of the cloth woven with a cotton slub, a cotton boucle and two strands of 2/8 cotton bundled together.
I weave a cut line between mats for ease in cutting them apart and serging, tucking the bundle of weft ends into the hem. I'm hoping to get them woven in the next couple of days so I can bring them with me to hem in the evenings while Sheila knits. :)
Usually I wet finish before hemming, but this time I'm going to hem them first because it's way too hot to fire up the steam press. It is supposed to cool off later in the week so with any luck I can get them done when I get back.
Well, the smoke rolled back into the valley again today and it's nasty with a promise to stay that way for the next few days. I'm hoping that Kelowna is not as smokey and that now I know my back pain is largely associated with the allergic reaction to the smoke that I can chew enough anti-histamines to stave off the worst of it. And that the trip to Kelowna on the weekend will give me some respite from the smoke. :( According to the weather report it is supposed to rain here on the weekend, so hopefully I will come home to fresher air.
But this summer has been brutal for wildfires in terms of smoke.

Sarah's Scarf


Sarah came today around 12:30 and by 1 pm she's nearly 1/3 done her scarf. This is the second thing she's ever woven and I have to say I'm impressed with the consistency of beat and the nice straight selvedges. :)
She's also catching on very quickly to issues of efficiency. She threaded a herringbone twill and we talked about weaving it with the herringbone treadling but she decided that trying to keep track of that treadling right now might be a bit much so she decided on a straight twill. I think it looks really good. She also recognized that threading something complex and keeping the treadling simple was likely A Good Thing. :D Lots more picks than ends!
I also read an open letter today from a style maven in the UK. She says bluntly what I have tried to say tactfully for years. No doubt a blog post on this subject will make it's way to these pages at some point as I sort out my thoughts about her comments.
http://3.ly/gRcQ if you want to read the open letter and Mary's response.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Special Orders



Finished winding this warp for a special order this morning. It's only 6" wide, but 11 meters long - for 30 mug rugs.

I hesitate to do special orders except that this client has been so easy to deal with. She pretty much gives me free rein to do what I want within general specifications. :D

She is understanding of and supportive of the time it takes to do something handcrafted because her husband is also a creative person.

My student will come back on Monday to weave her scarf and then I'll slam this warp onto the Fanny loom. My client needs the mug rugs for hostess gifts in September which means I have to have them completed before Labour Day when I start to travel myself. Since I'm also going to be away for 4 days next week (if my back continues as it is - or hopefully gets even better!) I'll have to really focus on getting these woven and hemmed in time to deliver them.

Currently reading A Play of Tragedy by Margaret Frazer

Friday, August 13, 2010

Forward Progress


second butterfly motif....

All of the CD Weaver II's have been spoken for. I hope that people find them helpful. :)

When I decided to produce CD Weaver it was in order to provide people with some video without going to an expensive video format while allowing people to be a fly on the wall of my studio and watch how I do what I do. Everything is described in text and illustrated with numerous colour photos - video clips show the parts I felt needed to be seen in motion.

Many people tell me how fast I am. Working efficiently means that productivity can increase. Learning how to do the various tasks involved in weaving with less wasted motion means that a person can do more in less time.
So many people tell me that they have no interest in hurrying. What they don't realize is that I don't. Hurry, I mean. What I have done is learned the value of taking the time to do the preparation at one stage in order to save a whole lot of time and bother during the next stage. Investing 10 or 15 minutes of preparation to save 2 hours further down the line just makes good sense to me.


Today my student came back to finish her sample warp and start her scarf warp. She did the majority of the loom dressing herself - the first time ever for her.

From the time she arrived, she finished her sample warp by practising controlling the beater producing a sample with a heavily beaten section, a moderately beaten section and a lightly beaten section. We talked about being consistent. We talked about learning how to control the loom.

Then I showed her how to wind a warp and she worked at refining her movements until she finished winding - and got the motions down pat.

Once the warp was wound, she rough sleyed the reed, then we took it to the loom and she beamed it using a water jug to provide tension as it rolled on.

Threading presented more of a challenge to her, but she caught the sequencing error she had slipped into as she threaded a 24 end herringbone twill sequence and we fixed it even before she finished threading the entire warp. :)

Sleying proceded without too much trouble although there was a pair of ends twisted between the heddles. Something easily fixed.

I tied on and demonstrated how to begin weaving and at that point it was time to stop for the day. She had done all of the above from 1-5 pm. Just four hours.

She will come back on Monday and weave her scarf and I'll serge her sample so that we can do the wet finishing. Hopefully she will be able to fringe twist her scarf before she leaves on Monday, but if not I can loan her a fringe twister.

Everything I showed her today - except how I now sley the reed - is on CD Weaver (part I).
Part II covers shuttle handling (one and two shuttles), bobbin winding, hemstitching, fringe twisting etc.

Part III brings the series up to speed on wet finishing, plus we added most of the articles I'd written for Heddle magazine, handouts that were included with the Workshop in a Box kits I did a while ago, plus other articles/essays that used to be on my website. Possibly a couple hundred pages - I haven't actually counted them. Some technical, some opinion pieces.

I have 12 CD Weaver III's left. I'm at the stage where I need to decide if I order more of them made up. It would be nice to know if there was any interest in them before I invested more money in doing it. Right now I'm reserving these 12 cd's for the students who enroll in the class at John C. Campbell Folk School next January. To register http://3.ly/9EKb


Currently reading Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Clutter Clear Out


After watching a repeat program on Oprah about hoarding I've been trying to get rid of a little bit of my clutter every day.
Today I'm offering out dated CD Weaver's. I have four left with "You Have to be Warped" and "Weaving Hints" only on them. You need an internet browser to run the cd - Foxfire seems to work for most people.
To the first four people willing to pay $10 each for them who email me at laura at laurafry dot com
Ten dollars pretty much just pays for the shipping and the cost of the cd holder and cd.
I still have a few CD Weaver III's with the sample set if anyone is interested in those, too.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Perception of Value



I was going to brighten this photo, but this is about the shade of dark magenta I'm using so decided to just let it be. :)

For those people interested in selling their work - or even giving it away - there is something called 'perception of value'.

The marketing industry has done a very good job over the past 50 or so years advertising the attractions of various textiles.

For instance we all know that silk is more precious than cotton. Therefore anything made with silk we expect to be more expensive than something made from cotton.

But there is also the perception of the value of some textiles over others. People are often much more inclined to pay a higher price for something beautiful (decorative) over something useful - no matter how decorative that useful thing might be.

For example - 100% linen dishtowel woven on a drawloom with a lovely design. The price on it might be for example $100. Probably worth twice that given how expensive linen is to purchase and how long it takes to set up a drawloom and weave such a piece.

Unfortunately there are many people who will look at that price and think to themselves that they would never in their lifetime use a dishtowel that cost them $100!

That same person might, however, actually consider purchasing exactly the same textile - if it is labelled and displayed as though it were a lovely table centrepiece.

Perception of value.

There is also the issue of underpricing something that people would expect to pay more for. If you put too low a price on something handcrafted people will wonder what is wrong with it. After all 'cheap' is equated with poor quality.

Perception of value.

Many people just starting out trying to sell their handwovens are nervous about asking what they think is a high price. When I first started weaving the accepted wisdom was that you doubled the cost of your materials.

I knew that wasn't right and that if I did that I would starve! Since I wasn't willing to starve I calculated my time as being worth something in terms of pricing structure.

And then I stuck to my guns, politely but firmly not making 'deals' with people for lower prices. Lo and behold, there were sufficient numbers of people who were willing to pay my prices. And tell their friends, encouraging them to go ahead and invest in my work.

Perception of value.

This month I've been cleaning up my Art Fire store and looking at some of the new options they have. If I can get myself organized I hope to be posting some of the new work I've been doing this summer. However fall sales begin soon so whatever I post to Art Fire will have to be set aside in case they sell.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

And So It Begins - Again



Sleyed the warp this morning and started weaving again. The first scarf is going to be this simple diamond pattern in order to check to make sure I had no threading or sleying oopsies.

I had one sleying error - in the very last dent! Easy to fix. And some tension issues, which were handily dealt with in the weaving of the header.

One of the advantages of having more shafts is that you can use a simple threading and treadling sequence - in this case a point progression - and save the complexity for the tie up. :)

Another advantage of having more shafts is that you can get 'fancy' in the threading and keep it simple in the treadling.

Or you can go for broke and do something complicated in both the threading and treadling and do things that you could only do with a pick up stick otherwise.

The advantage of doing this on a dobby loom is that you don't have to keep track of the treadling sequence, the loom does that pretty much for you (when it's behaving properly, of course! - not always a guarantee).

And the advantage of doing complex things on a computer assisted dobby loom is that you can spend your designing time comfortably in front of your computer and then quickly change files and change your pattern. Which is pretty much what I am doing on these Diversified Plain Weave warps.

On this warp I will be exploring some of the motifs I did on the first warp a bit further, making changes as I go along. But this morning I just wanted to get started weaving and prove that the warp was good to go.

Currently reading Nemesis by Lindsey Davis - if you like historical detective fiction, she has a great series

Friday, August 6, 2010

Deja Vu



With both looms needing warps and feeling somewhat better after a couple of trips to the chiropractor I got the sample warp for my student onto the loom yesterday and today. With just one student I've found that it's not a bad thing to dress the loom for them first, let them get the feel of the loom and weave a little before we start the process of how to actually dress the loom.

They weave a sample following the directions in Davison's green book and then if they want to go ahead and make a scarf or something, they can choose one of the patterns they have already woven. It makes the weaving of the sample relevant to the process. :) The yarn I chose is fairly thick so I made the warp 5 yards long and 16" wide. If she doesn't want to finish it it's no huge loss as the wool yarn was a mill end and quite cheap. OTOH, if she really enjoys it, there's lots for her to play with. And lots of different treadlings for a straight twill threading.



Once the Fanny loom was ready I turned my attention to the AVL. Running out of warp before I ran out of ideas, not to mention hardly making a dent in my rayon chenille stash, I decided to go ahead and dress the loom with another 40 yards of the same Diversified Plain Weave.

The second beam on the loom is quite low and I've always sat upon a stool to wind a warp on it. It's particularly important now because bending is not comfortable, particularly, even though I'm a lot more mobile. :)

I sit facing the loom and wind 20 turns with one hand, then switch and wind 20 with the other. Once again I'm putting an 'extra' 5 turns on because it looked like that was just about exactly correct to keep the two warps the right length. It's hard to judge build up because the two yarns are radically different in their thickness so I just guessed for the first warp. :)

We've been inundated with smoke from several of the many wildfires burning to the west of us. Last night was terrible and we're all praying for a good hard heavy rain, not just to help put the fires out, but to soak the bush. About 80% of the province is on either high or extreme fire hazard alert, many smaller communities are on evacuation order or alert and the smoke - gets everywhere. More info here: http://3.ly/86uX

Currently reading The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Book Review



I confess I'm not much of a sports fan. Basketball kind of got 'ruined' for me as a fan the season I spent scoring for the men's basketball league in grade 12. :( So the first I heard of Steve Nash was a few years ago when Doug began waxing eloquent about this short white Canadian who'd just won MVP playing for a US NBA team.

Once the name was brought to my conscious notice I began hearing snippets of interviews and articles etc. I began to develop a respect for the man as a person, not just as a talented dedicated athlete.

Wanting a change from my usual reading genres of mysteries and sf/fantasy, I tossed this book into my bag at the library the other day.

He sounds almost too good to be true - a young kid growing up in Victoria, BC expressing a desire in grade 8 to one day play for the NBA and then doing his darndest to make it happen. While he had an innate talent for any sport he put his hand (or foot - he played soccer before tackling basketball) to, he was also willing to work and work hard at developing his skills to a much greater level than raw talent.

Blessed with some great coaches in his early years, ones who were willing to be honest about his flaws and help him overcome them, and to support and encourage him, he managed to stick to his dream. It wasn't an easy road, though, and his ability to overcome adversity in many forms and never lose sight of his goal is inspirational. Perhaps, dare I say it, heroic?

Oh yes - short in this instance means 6'3" according to his published stats. :)

On a personal level I'm dealing with a 'bad' back. I remember hosting Nell Znaimerowski in the 1980's and telling her I had a physio therapy appointment at 8 am and to help herself to breakfast if I hadn't returned by the time she got up. She said "Oh, you've got a bad back, right"?

Somewhat taken aback I said "How did you know?" "Oh" she said, "all weavers have bad backs."

I wound up postponing my road trip today. I have to get back on my feet properly because my travel schedule begins in earnest Labour Day weekend. I won't have the luxury of recovering from a bad anything soon. As a self-employed weaver there are dates and events that I really must attend to or there won't be any income. :( Cancelling Convergence/CW and a few other events already this year were a great disappointment, but they were 'luxuries'. Come September, they will be bread and butter and I need to get as healthy as I can by the end of the this month.

The good news is that my ankle is vastly improved. Both the chiropractor and massage therapist have assured me that my back would get better as my ankle healed. Today the chiropractor said that the change in pain location is actually a good thing - an indication that things are improving. I just have to take the time to rest and heal. I've got until Monday when I have a student coming. :)

Monday, August 2, 2010

A Sense of Satisfaction


stack of scarves cut and serged, ready to be wet finished...

There is always a certain sense of satisfaction when it is time to cut the proto-cloth from the loom and get it ready for wet finishing. Especially something like rayon chenille which changes so very dramatically after it has been wet finished.




There is not only the change in the handle, but the changes in the weave structure. The very grid-like structure of Diversified Plain Weave has been softened although it is still there. And the rather awkward looking stars are now twinkly instead of alien looking. :)

The dimensional loss is higher for this cloth than I'd anticipated, but the scarves are still long enough for many people so I'm not too concerned about the somewhat shorter length. They'll be called 'Blazer Scarves' as a friend told me to call them.

Since there is half as much rayon chenille in the cloth compared to the same yarn used warp and weft all by itself, the cloth is much lighter weight and it has great drape.

I think I'm overall rather pleased with these and quite happy to dress the loom for another 40 yards worth. The warp isn't quite done, done, but I'm hoping to get it off tomorrow. Then I'll be away for a few days and will dress the loom again once I'm home next week. I have just enough yarn on hand to do another 40 yards now. If I decide to do another warp I'll have to buy more of the 2/16 bamboo. :)

Did I mention I have depth of inventory in rayon chenille????

Sunday, August 1, 2010

YouTube

I've just spent a frustrating 30 minutes but finally managed to get a YouTube account that YouTube would actually recognize and uploaded a couple of videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LauraAnnFry1

A friend suggested that it would be good to post some videos there as well as to my blog and website. Unfortunately I didn't find that the search engine showed my 'channel' or even showed my videos when I searched under 'hand weaving' or 'weaving' which were two of the tags I used. Perhaps I should try 'shuttles', too, just to see how many space shuttle launches are listed before my shuttle thowing! :}

Gotta love the technology - some days. Others - not so much!

Currently reading Club Dead by Charlaine Harris