Fix

I know I've posted about this before but thought that it is time to revisit it because it is just so darned clever!

First learned this from Kerstin Fro:berg...

Although I try to remove knots from the yarn as I wind a warp, sometimes they aren't obvious, or sometimes, as with this very textured yarn, the problem is not a knot, per se, but a a flaw in the spinning which creates a large lump.  So it was with this warp...a large clump that snuck into the warp and which was not happy in the reed.  The only solution was to 'cut it out'.

What Kerstin does is thread a repair end into the same heddle as the culprit, weave for 2-3 cm, then cut out the bad end and continue weaving with just the repair end until the original is long enough to be brought back through the heddle, reed and pinned to the woven cloth.

The beauty of this technique is that no needle weaving is required after the cloth is removed from the loom and with a yarn this textured, that is a real bonus!

My contribution to the technique is what I do if I have the yarn on cones:

I purposefully kept the dregs left over from warp winding just in case I had to do any repairs and only on the 15th warp did I need to do this, but because I had it was a piece of cake to fix the problem.

Check the video clip but essentially I take the loose end of the yarn, pass it up through the bottom of the cone and through the top.  The weight of the cone is usually enough although weight can be added if you are weaving with higher tension than the cone provides.  To lengthen the yarn when the cone rises to the back beam, it is a very simple matter to grab the yarn at the base and pull more yarn off the cone from the bottom.

Looming 'Disasters'

See the mistake?  No?  Well, neither did I until after I had woven 12 yards in two different weave structures.  (Yellow line shows where I fixed the problem.)

Even after fixing the sleying oopsie, the cloth doesn't look a whole lot different.  I am hoping it will remain just as invisible after wet finishing, which is when these sorts of mistakes usually leap out at the eye.

It was only when I had the 'right' shed open to insert a new weft that I noticed there was a problem.  If I had never had that combination happen it never would have been discovered.

Just goes to show, no matter how skilled, how experienced you might be, you still make mistakes....


On another note, the first day of the UNBC Artisans of the North sale went fairly well.  It was a good thing I made lots of place mats as they sold like mad.  So much so I don't have enough for the rest of the sales and now I'm thinking that on those 3 days I have at home (plus the 3 days of Studio Fair) I might just have to stay home and weave as many more as I can fit into the time available.


And on another note entirely (pun intended!) one of the things I inherited from my brother was a bunch of cassette tapes, compilations one of his friends had made in the late 70's early 80's.  I've been weaving to the music of my young adulthood, feeling my brother very near.  I'm sure he'd be rather surprised at the level of enjoyment I'm getting from these tapes, obsolete as the technology - and the music in some cases - is.  In spite of 6 years difference in our ages (he was younger than me) we shared much the same taste in music and it was actually a bit of a surprise to discover that.  And that there were very few duplicates when I combined his CD  collection with mine.

Music is a big component of my working time in the studio.  To double my CD collection was a bonus - although I'd rather have my brother.  My vote didn't count on that score, though....

Burling (inspecting and repairing)

when something can't be fixed I mark it so I can cut around it

a weft loop in the middle of the cloth:  using a tapestry needle follow the route of the weft through the cloth

cut the loop at the base of the needle and thread the loose end through the eye

pull the end through the cloth and cut flush with the cloth

Into every life a little 'rain' will fall.  This cloth is far from perfect.  Far, far away from perfect.

This morning I cut off the first third, inspected, marked the flaws I couldn't (or wouldn't) fix, pulled weft loops to the selvedge trimming them flush along with the weft tails, and then fixed the larger loops in the centre of the cloth.

I have sufficient cloth to do the Seattle Weavers Guild Bulletin samples (which will get done at a later date), plus two pieces currently in the washing machine.  Doug has promised to press them today or tomorrow.

He's been waiting for dry weather to open the roof and effect some repairs but it's either been too cold or threatening wet to chance that.  So he has time on his hands, so to speak, and is willing to press the fabric.

I'm still dealing with some last minute administriva and trying to weave as much of this warp as possible before I leave.  I doubt I'll finish it all but I'm going to make a serious stab at it.

One of the things I'm working on is offering Magic in the Water on a flash drive instead of a CD.  A local shop has some 2 GB flash drives for not a bad price so I'm picking up a bunch today.  The price will be the same as the CD price and rather than task my webmaster with changing the page on my website, people will just get a flash drive instead of a CD if they purchase that option.

Video Clip - Repair Thread

Well, I got the video editing software installed yesterday, with many thanks for the help from my webmaster. You know, the one who lives 500 miles away? The man is magic! ;)

So this morning I did a quick test video clip and was very pleased that the upgrade is almost identical to the way the old program worked. It has extra features that I simply didn't have the time or patience to work my way through this morning. Hopefully when I'm back from our trip at the end of the month I'll feel inclined to tackle adding titles and such. :)

There is nothing like seeing yourself as others see you to provide a reality check. I've known for several years that I'm packing way too much weight, but have been unable until recently to do anything about it. After watching myself in action this morning, I'm more than ever determined to peel some more weight off (I've managed about 5 pounds so far). While I have a private ideal goal weight, ultimately I'm going to be satisfied if I just manage to take some more off. Losing weight is a factor of my returning health and all I want is to be healthy, knowing that packing around less weight will make being healthy easier and that life will be a lot more pleasant. And who knows, I might even fit into some of my handwoven clothing again! :D

You can watch the video here: http://3.ly/6szB

Dealing with Distractions

Distractions are not good when it comes time to do things like thread a loom, even if it is a simple pattern. It only takes your mind to go wandering elsewhere while your body continues on automatic, and you have an 'oopsie'. :(



Fortunately I'm weaving towels and cut lines come along at regular intervals, so after I spotted the glaring error in threading I just kept on weaving until I finished the towel I was on (the second, naturally) and wove a longer than usual cut line.

Then I got my trusty embroidery scissors with the really sharp points, dug the point into the cloth at the beginning of the cut line aaaaaand......snip!

The four errant threads were pulled out of the cloth, threaded correctly, re-sleyed and then pinned to the cloth.



Then I wove a few more picks to secure the ends into the fabric and kept going.

Like I said earlier, it's a good thing I've got a lot of friends who like 'seconds' because it doesn't look like the distractions are going to end any time soon. :(

Birthday

Yes, it's that day. :) And how better than to spend it weaving?



The back of the loom is looking a little tatty as I 'suffered' a couple of broken ends. Using Kerstin's suggestion of running the repair end alongside the broken one means I won't have to do any needle weaving later.

Anyone wh0 has tried to needle weave chenille will know that this is A Good Thing!

I'm hoping to finish weaving afghan number 4 tonight after Doug takes me to dinner.

My loom also does double duty at times as a drying rack. I have way too little room for all the stuff I do, so my things have to multi-task just like I do! The pink draped over the back is some of the yarn I dyed yesterday.

Got word today on the travel plans for the third person coming in August, so that's all set up now. I'm really looking forward to all three of them coming to play in my playpen. :) It was great fun having Syne (and Kai) come earlier.

The summer is really flying by. Doug has made good progress on the bathroom, although it will still be a bit of a construction zone when Tien comes. The tub is now functional, although not the shower, but I'm hoping he will get that done while I'm in Missouri. Or at least done to the point where we can use the shower, even if the painting isn't done by the time she comes.

Currently reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. The first paragraph in the book reads:
The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed sub-category. He's got esprit up to here. Right now, he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the night. His uniform is black as activated charcoal, filtering the very light out of the air. A bullet will bounce off its arachno-fiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door, but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest. Where his body has bony extremities, the suit has sintered armorgel; feels like gritty jello, protects like a stack of telephone books.

How could I not pick this one up at the library????

Broken

Bad things happen. Threads break.

It's especially annoying when they break during sectional beaming, because I don't always notice right away. This is what happened here. I'd wound on several turns before I twigged a thread had broken. :(

What I do in this instance is re-thread the offending end through the tension box, loosely coil about a yard and a half or so, tuck it into the warp and continue beaming.




When the broken end surfaces, I pull the coil out, tie it onto a repair end and hang it off the back of the loom.



The repair end goes from the bottom and up the centre of the cone. The cone is then run under the tension box rail, and over the rod in the ceiling that doubles as my warping valet.




It is but a matter of a moment to grab the loop at the butt of the cone and pull off a yard or so and then let the cone down to about an inch or so off the floor.

As I weave, the cone automatically rises. When it gets to within 6 or so inches of the bar in the ceiling, I go round to the back of the loom, yard off some more yarn and drop the cone down to near the floor level.

The flare of the cone prevents any more yarn from coming off than I deliberately pull off, and if I pull too much it's an easy matter to wrap a few coils around the butt, shortening the length.

When the original end is long enough, I then tie that onto the repair end and pull the knotted end through to the front.

When I'm doing short lengths like here for towels, I just wait until the original end is long enough that I can pull the knot through at a cutting line and I don't even have to needle weave the end into the cloth, just pin it into the already woven towel so that the join happens at the cutting line. :D

What can I say? I'm lazy!