Thursday, December 11, 2014

Begin Agin



....and here I go again.  The first few ends in a warp that will be 764 ends.  You might just be able to see that it's mostly blue with a little 'sea green'.  The threading is another variation on point twill that will likely be woven in an advancing progression.  It's not quite what I had envisioned, so I may play with the treadling and tie up some more once the loom is up and running and I can see how it actually looks in the cloth rather than on the computer screen.  In the flesh, so to speak.

Yes I do use weaving software - Fiberworks by choice.  I have played around some with Pixeloom which in many ways is similar but I know Fiberworks so very well I have never felt like wallowing at the bottom of the learning curve to learn a new program.  What I've seen and done looks great, though, so if you are in the market for weaving software, either of these programs is pretty intuitive for most people to use.

If you want to know way more about Fiberworks than I do, Margaret Coe has pretty much written the books you need.

For the iPad I use iWeaveit.  I began this threading by messing about on the iPad, then when I had a threading I thought I liked, emailed it to myself so I could open it on the desktop in Fiberworks.  From there I derived a tie up (my standard 1:3:1:3:2:2:3:1) and played with woven as drawn in, advancing, variations on advancing.  When I knew I could do something close to what I wanted, I generated the threading only to follow as I thread.  I keep a pencil or pen handy and as I do each handful, mark off where I am in the sequence.

When dealing with a very long repeat (5 repeats in this warp plus borders) it's all too easy to get 'lost' if the phone rings or something causes my concentration to fail.  Something that happens more and more often these days.  And something that I hope will improve after the surgery.  Or not.  I am 64.5 years old now.  I've been told memory gets a little funky as we age!

The small loom is still nekkid so perhaps I'll get that dressed too.  I would sure like to finish off those last two painted warps so I can cross that task off my job list.

And then I can begin agin with something completely different...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Laura,
Just finished watching the chapter on wool finishing in your 'wet Finishing for Weavers'. Very helpful. I used a dog brush TOO!!!
I just finished 9 scarves since the end of Nov. All in wool or wool blends. For a newbie, I think they turned out rather nice thanks to you, your blog and your video. I mark patterns as well. And I write out the treadling in groups of numbers so I can keep track. I try never to stop in the middle of a repeat. You inspire many people unknowingly. Keep up the good work m'lady.

Re: the memory and concentration; I've found both Gingko Biloba and Vitamin B12 as well as a good dose of 'real' peppermint tea are real helpers to combat the 'many forked roads' of one's mind. There is also Piracetam if one is so inclined.

All the best in your holiday season and new year.

Tom Z. in IL USA

Laura Fry said...

Thanks Tom. Glad you find my hints and tips helpful. Wishing you and yours the best of the season.
Cheers
Laura