Snowflakes and Snowballs

 

Well, it IS winter, might as well do woven winter themes?

This is a draft based on one of the old German weaving manuscripts (Ars Textrina article by Pat Hilts).  I extended the draft to 16 shafts, and wove it in 2/16 cotton in pale green and grey in the warp, and the fine singles linen as weft.  My ipad washed it out - it's actually much prettier than it looks in the photo.

I'm overall pleased with it, although it does tend to wrinkle a bit.  However, it should make good tea towels, or perhaps table runners as they are somewhat large.  The motif was large and hard to size for the purpose of a tea towel.  One less motif and they would have been (perhaps!) a bit small, but they turned out larger than I expected.  I should have accounted for the less drawn in/take up due to the majority of plain weave.  In the end, I probably could have reduced the length by one motif and been fine.

Oh well.  You makes your best decisions and takes your chances...

Winter 2024/5 continues grey, dreary and too warm.  Again today it tried to rain.  The roads are a mess, everything is dirty and dull.  My massage therapist recommended a SAD light, which I have, but I suspect my foul mood is more to do with current politics than the weather.

I'm also suspecting the new pain meds are not sitting well in my body, but I'll keep going and see what happens after the dose doubling on Friday, and the back jab next week.  The fatigue is already more than I'm comfortable with and I worry the fatigue will only get worse.  

But last week I got to the loom every day until the warp (above) came off the loom, I dressed the next one, and have already begun weaving - and discovered an error in the tie up, so that first towel is a 'second'.  Oh well.  A case of not being able to see it until I did, and then I couldn't unsee it - as usual...

I was told yesterday that Michelle Boyd's book is on it's way, and I'm looking forward to hopefully understand my materials better.  I know a bit since I started spinning before I fell into the weaving studio, but I'm no expert and I feel that now is the time to try and understand the dynamics of what happens to fibres when they get turned into yarn.  Something about 'old dogs and new tricks'?    I doubt very much that I will spin my threads to weave, but I also knit, so...

Anyway, *my* books are still available.  Since they are printed in the US I doubt that they will be hit with the tariffs the new administration is promising to flog Canadians with.  There is a very small window of opportunity to buy tea towels before the tariffs come into effect.  I have some listed on my ko-fi shop.

Next in Line

 

This is just part of the draft for the new warp.  I started with the snowflake I used in the warp before the last one, and played around with it to create a 'centre field' that was the same weave structure but woven 'roses' instead of 'star'.  You can see the beginning of the first 'rose' in the lower left hand corner.

I'm not sure it's the worth the time and energy it took to get it sorted but I'm going to go ahead and weave it anyway - because curiosity killed the cat (satisfaction brought it back).

Besides, I've got about 3 weeks to 'kill' while I wait for the new yarn for the article I'm working on 'next', so...

I've just sent the current article under construction to my alpha reader, and she spent her Sunday afternoon helping squash 'bugs' in the spelling/grammar.  I think I'm too tired to read it now so I'll wait until tomorrow when I'm 'fresh'.  

Doug gone to visit a friend in hospital (wearing a mask although hardly anyone else is).  I think I'm going to go lay down.  Even if I don't sleep, a toes up time sounds like a good idea.

As well as weaving the sample for the draft above tomorrow. I have 17 towels to be pressed.  I think I will have plenty to keep me busy Monday.  :)

Wonderful Winter

 frosty window

Or the winter of our discontent?

I am getting mightily discontented with Google.  Now it will not let me use a different browser when I write blog posts and upload photos using that other browser.  I'm not talking about photos I've 'borrowed' from another website, but upload photos *from my own computer*, most of which I've taken myself or by other textile artists.  Boo, hiss.

I am trying to use Google less, so I downloaded a different browser and while it has been mostly fine, there are times when I forget and then I have to open Google, upload the photo, then remember to go back to the 'new' browser.  

A petty annoyance, I will grant, but still.  Too many companies out there wanting to scrape every little detail or control every move of individuals like me.  And spread disinformation.  And scrape content for LLM.

I will promise you this much - I will *never* use LLM in what I write.  I don't know when Google will start 'scraping' personal blogs on Blogspot, but if they do, I guess I'm outta here.

Yesterday I finished the last warp, cut it off, stripped the loom and set up for the next.  I am actually pleasantly pleased with the pale grey and beige combination.  I suppose it doesn't really 'suit' the design (another snowflake twill) unless I think ahead to spring thaw.  But I'm hoping to get this warp off the loom by the end of January - if I can.  I have another jab in my back on the 17th, and I've found that following doctor's orders (by taking a few days 'off') actually works, so I will perhaps work on the spinning.

I find myself somewhat at a loss for inclination to spin, but that may change with the arrival of Michelle Boyd's now book, Twist.  That might be just the ticket to get me going again?  We will see.  Whatever, I'm expecting to learn more about yarn construction, and that is always A Good Thing.

There are so many instances right now where a little patience, a little compassion, a little understanding that we are all going through 'interesting' times, and So Many people have Covid issues (or other invisible disabilities) they are dealing with.  Right now I am still using a cane, and will likely continue for so long as the sidewalks are covered in snow and ice.  I can't risk another fall.  :(  

I've been taking a new medication since Jan. 1, and I'm not sure it's going to give me pain relief without causing other kinds of pain.  But it is early days, so I'll keep taking it.  Beaming a new warp is 'hard' on my body (these days), so I'll make a decision before the end of the month.  Who knows, maybe all I need is a renewal of the back jab.  

Life is truly One Day At A Time now - and I suppose to the end of my life.  I can still weave, so as long as I can do that, and write(?), I will keep heading to the loom and exploring what happens when you marry thread and weave structure.  With that, I'm heading back to the loom to finish beaming the new warp and start threading...

I Won!

 

Two sections one turn 'short'

Playing 'yarn chicken' is something that most fibre folk run into from time to time.  It is when you see the end of the yarn coming and you aren't entirely sure you have enough left for the project in hand.

Well, I had a couple sections 'short' (and one too long - what can I say, I still have sink holes in my brain and lost track of my thoughts) but I just managed to finish the 15th towel before the warp got too short to weave nicely.

I cut off the web and stopped for lunch, then set up the next warp and began beaming.  Almost immediately I ran into 'brain' problems, but hopefully I'm not too far out.  I don't care about one or two turns one way or the other since my warps are sort of long (not as long as I used to put into the loom, but still 'long' for most weavers).  

The next warp is an idea that sparked while doing the the most recent article, which is probably too late to include when I ship the box, but I'm curious.  If it doesn't work well, I have a Plan B.    

And that's the thing, isn't it?  To keep thinking?  To ask yourselves the 'what happens when I...' questions?  To keep learning?

I had been a wee bit trepidatious about the two hues I chose to pair - a pale grey and beige - but the beam is looking good.  The weft will be that fine linen single, and I think the cloth should look good.  With this weave structure, there are fewer interlacements so what I'm doing is beaming the warp at 24" on the beam, and then instead of 36 epi, I'll sley it at 40.  If the whole idea is a bust, I can re-sley to 36 and change the weave structure again.  But that is Plan C.  The difference in width will be down to 21.5" from 24", and I'm pretty sure the Megado will have no difficulty with this because the shed is gigantic.  As usual, I will cut off about every 1/3rd of the length of the warp and re-tie, which ought to resolve any tension issues - if there are any.

We have no plans over the weekend, and my goal is to get this warp beamed, threaded, sleyed and be weaving by next week.  Fingers crossed!

Winter

 

inspired by snow covered tree branches

We are having 'real' winter today.  The temperature dropped to -23C last night and today we are having a brilliant sun-shiny day.  The light is so bright that sunglasses are necessary as the light bounces off of every snow covered surface.

I am not so brilliant today.  Yesterday I started a new pain medication and as usual, the transition from the old to the new came with a few hitches.  

But now that I've connected the dots and recognize when the medication is causing problems - in addition to my actual physical conditions requiring pain control - I called a halt on the last 'new' med after just one month.  

In the meantime, I continue to weave, in part for my mental well being, but also because I tend to weave 'aerobically' (although no where near what I used to do) that I generate endorphins.

We also began the new in the midst of helping our neighbour, currently in hospital but doing 'better' today.  He has no family left and we have had a mutual 'distant' but respectful relationship since he moved into the house next door about 15 or so years ago.  And we were who he called when he needed medical assistance, and we are happy to watch his house and check in on him.  And help him when he gets home.

Because goodness knows, we can all use a little support and care when we need it.  Doug will do the majority of the 'caring' because I'm still not driving, and won't be until spring.  So Doug will have to juggle the two of us in his calendar.

The political situation continues to be...startling...insofar that the far right is moving swiftly to curtail the rights of those of us in the 'out' group, and there are shenanigans all over the place.  People like me - and our neightbour - 'old', retired, needing medical care, are in a precarious position, as well as others in society.  

I just hope that Canadians pay attention and make sure that we continue to be a society that cares about those in need.  

In the meantime I will stay home, try to get to the loom every day, stay creative and *con*structive, not *de*structive.  Because the planet can use all the positive energy that each one of us can contribute.  I may finish the current warp today and the weekend will be spent dressing the loom with the next warp.  All the yarn for the next article will be shipped next week, and once I have it in my hands I will begin working out what exactly I will be doing, then weaving the samples.  This article is going to require lots of samples again.  And I'm so intrigued with the topic, about which I have thoughts and conclusions that I need to put to the test, that I'm quite looking forward to go exploring.  

If I had to think about a 'theme' for 2025, it would, I suppose, be something like 'exploring boundaries' or something like that.  It will be a time to explore new things, put to the test some of my assumptions and see if my conclusions are accurate or half-baked.

With the world seemingly set to reject science and scientific thought processes, it feels right that I do my bit to keep people thinking and to encourage others to explore and learn.

Onwards.   We have a new year.  And, I suspect, an 'interesting' one.