Wednesday, August 6, 2014

A Little Happy


the 'wrong' side of the cloth


the 'right' side of the cloth - weaving this up-side down to lift the fewest shafts


The past week hasn't been great for a couple of reasons but today is looking up.  The smoke from the wild fires has cleared and we have lovely blue skies with predicted temps in the 70's F.  And after trying statins at the urging of the specialist, suffering with extreme muscle pain for the last week, my new GP said I could go off them.  I'm quite sure the fact that he has also experienced statin muscle pain was a large factor in his agreeing I could quit.  He has started me on a 'new' cholesterol drug - or I will in a couple of days when the statins have been cleared out of my system.

Since I hurt no matter what I did, what I did was finish weaving the blue warp and immediately beam the next.  Yesterday it was threaded, sleyed and tied on and this morning I started weaving.  These photos don't really do the cloth justice, but will give you an idea.

The design is Wandering Vine or Snail's Trails and Cat's Paws but woven in twill blocks instead of overshot.  Now that I've twigged how to easily convert overshot patterns into twill block designs, I may explore that a bit more.  I like the large graphic nature of the the overshot translated into twill blocks.  And I've still got all this very fine linen to use up as weft!

Currently reading the Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear (a novel of the Great War)

6 comments:

Sandra Rude said...

So sorry the simvastatin didn't work for you. I hope the "new" one does! Take care, and keep weaving those lovely patterns derived from overshot.

Laura Fry said...

Thanks Sandra. I really tried but it was obvious it wasn't going to work out. :((( Quite intrigued with developing some other traditional overshot into twill blocks.
cheers,
Laura

Laura Fry said...

I've been using niacin for the last seven years. My good cholesterol is very good, but the bad is higher than the docs would like. :-/
Cheers
Laura

Peg Cherre said...

So how many blocks did that pattern take in twill blocks? How many harnesses?

I'd like to explore this option, as I much prefer 1-shuttle weaves.

Laura Fry said...

Since there are four blocks in an overshot design (usually) you need as many shafts as required to get the number of blocks. For 1:3 twill you need 16 shafts. However you could also do this with a 1:2 twill which would require 12 shafts. You could also do this in other weave structures such as Bronson Lace - you would need 6 shafts - two for the foundation threads, 4 shafts for the pattern blocks...

cheers,
Laura

Peg Cherre said...

Thanks, Laura. Clearly I haven't don't enough block designs to 'see' this as easily as I might. While they do make sense to me when I see block designs others have drafted, I haven't done enough of my own designs yet. You're always an inspiration!