More Musings

Warp for Katie - 2/8 cotton warp with cotton/linen slub weft woven in broken twill.


My energy levels have been low the past few days and I've given myself permission to take it 'easy'. :}

However, Karena got the tea towel warp for Katie dressed yesterday, so rather than tackle the AVL I decided to get started on my portion of that warp. Katie arrives on August 27 and only has 3 days here so we'll try to get as much done as possible. If her plane arrives on time and she isn't too tired, she can start weaving after dinner. But Tien's flight was delayed so we'll just play it by ear.

There are a number of reasons for my slump in energy. When I look back at the past 18 months, so much has happened - life was a real roller coaster ride, with very little time to rest and recuperate. It's hard to believe that it will be exactly 18 months on the 27th since Don died, and the you-know-what hit the proverbial fan.

I'm not sure if my fatigue is due to the increase in the Niaspan, in which case that should soon pass, or if it is just the accumulation of stress. Add to that a very busy teaching schedule from January onwards, dealing with a construction zone and company at the same time, plus another death in the family - again someone who should have had many more years - and perhaps it's not too surprising that I'm not feeling terribly energetic.

So I worked a bookmark on my lace pillow, then made a couple of small jig-saw puzzles over the weekend. Last night I cleared the dining room table off so that I could get back to fringe twisting. I've got a bucket full of shawls that need to be dealt with.

Then, of course, there's the mountain of wet finishing that needs to be done, the dyeing of the silk, and on it goes. September will be pretty much a write off in terms of production as the show season starts and I've got two road trips in September, one in October, followed closely by 3 craft fairs.

So taking a little breather now seemed like A Very Good Thing.

Currently reading Various Positions; a life of Leonard Cohen by Ira. B. Nadel

Progress

Whoo-hoo! Another cone of yarn used up! :D

There is still warp left, so dug through the store room and came up with 3 different cotton yarns. One is a slub, one is a highly textured 'gimp', and the third is - well, textured.

So I combined the slub and the gimp and changed the treadling to a broken twill, but this one has two picks of plain weave incorporated in it. The treadling sequence of b,1,4,a on the Wall of Troy threading is producing an interesting fine stripe with a thick textured cloth. It should make great place mats.

Since I found three more cones of yarn suitable for place mat weft, I have started winding another doubled 2/8 warp, but this one will be at 16 epi because two of the textured yarns are quite a bit thinner than the heavier cotton/rayon/linen yarn I started with. And there isn't a whole lot of the gimp, but should be sufficient to finish weaving the blue/grey warp at the very least.

The bad news is that when I placed my yarn order with Brassard, I forgot to order the 4/8 cotton I wanted to use for warp with the buffalo rug yarn! Now I have to place another yarn order and since it's not economical to just order a couple pounds of yarn due to the cost of shipping, I've been thinking of ordering in more of the 2/8 bamboo. I wasn't sure if it was a floss like Silk City's Bambu 12, (which is approximately a 2/16 size) so didn't want to order in too much at once. But it is a true 2/8 with a tighter twist than Bambu 12 so now I'm thinking I'd like more of that yarn in some different colours in order to play with it. I'll make up my mind tomorrow as I think Brassard is going to be closed for a few weeks in the new year and if I want this yarn for the up coming workshops, I need to place my order before Christmas. :) Oh darn! More yarn! :DDDDD