Avalanche

 

I had to take this photo at an angle in order to show up the motif.  White on white is very difficult to photograph, but I think this turned out ok.

This is the same threading I used for the last warp (tea towels with the highly energized/twisted weft) and I thought it was quite pretty and wanted to show it off.

In the theme of KISS, it is a fairly simple progression to thread, and of course, the dobby makes it easy to weave.  When the loom is behaving.  I had some issues on the last warp with one shaft not behaving properly, but I'm hoping that is fixed now.

The selvedges aren't 'perfect' but much of the problem will be disguised during wet finishing.  And the beat is not 'perfect' as mentioned yesterday.  But I don't much care.  It feels 'right' for a nice dressy scarf as it is, so the diamonds are not perfect - and I find I don't care.  The beat is consistent, and if you can't be perfect...

I'm hoping that the hard press during wet finishing will bring up the shine of the silk compared to the mat of the cashmere.  The effect is subtle and that's fine, too.  Not everything has to be eye catching.

And that's the thing when you weave your own textiles, especially if you design them yourself.  You get to choose.

I find myself constantly intrigued by the various parameters involved in those choices, finding a path through the effect of one choice on the others.  

Not everyone wants to follow a 'plan' however.  And that's also fine.  Because we are not bound to follow rules - we can ignore them when it suits us.  

But our choices come with consequences.  And if you are okay with those consequences you can make whatever choices you want.

My goal, first and foremost, has always to make cloth that will serve a purpose.  So every choice I make I keep the end result in mind and try to be aware of how my choices will play off of each other and affect the finished textile.

As such, I have - over the decades (lordy, lordy, I feel *old* when I say that, but I have been weaving for a very long time) tried various things, woven countless samples, built a foundation of knowledge.

But the life so short, the craft so long to learn.  

More Snowflakes

 

weaving draft for silk/cashmere scarves

I'm about done with the current warp, which was an interesting little tangent to go into.  But I'm about done with that highly twisted single 6 cotton, and am anticipating a very nice jaunt down the silk warp, cashmere weft bylane.

I really liked the weave structure I used with the single 6 but the twist energy pretty much erased the actual motif, and I thought it had some nice features about it, so I essentially reduced it to the number of ends I needed for a scarf warp and will go ahead with the same thing for the scarves.  

Seems like I have a whole lot of very fine (as in gossamer) cashmere in natural white.  After doing a grist comparison yesterday, I decided I am going to have to double the cashmere even to get close to the 2/30 grist of the silk.  Since the cashmere is in skeins, it seemed the best way to deal with what is a fairly 'tender' yarn, is to use it doubled and the best way to do that is to use the double bobbin shuttle.  If that doesn't work very well, I can then double it by winding from two bobbins onto a single bobbin, but before I spend the time to do that, I'm going to try weaving with the double bobbin shuttle.

The other thing I wanted to point out is that this weave structure is the 'same' on both sides - except the warp and weft change places in the motif.  The front side is a mirror image of the back.

 The fabric will have a difference one side to the other since the warp is shiny silk and the weft is mat cashmere, so the effect will be a subtle difference.  The effect when done in contrasting colours is greater, but I like the mat/shiny effect, too.  

And I have rather a lot of the fine cashmere, so I'll be doing a range of scarves using these (and other sizes) of silk.  If I run out of options to use up white, I also have rather a large amount of very fine worsted wool to use on some of the intense coloured silks also in my stash.  So I have my 'work' cut out for me.  

I don't expect to be exploring much in the way of weave structures, but some colour options.

And, in the end, weave down some of my silk and cashmere stash.  Win-win!

Doh-See-Doh

 

The other night I had enough spoons I could start dragging out the bin of cashmere, and dug out some of the dyed silk I inherited from a weaver.  At the time, I wasn't sure what I could do with the skeins of silk, all in 30/2 size, each skein a different hue/value.  Some were pastel, some saturated, and they came from every area of the colour wheel.

When I dug out the cashmere, I had thought I had more coloured than I have, so there is a large quantity of natural and a few that are...not.  However, the plan is to use the dyed silk for the warp(s) and the cashmere for the weft.  Of course the yarn is *all* in skeins, so before I can do anything I need to weigh all the silk skeins, then do a ruler wrap, compare the grist of the two yarns and try to work the numbers and make what I hope will be a nice quality of cloth for neck scarves.

Just a quick eyeball indicates that I should have more than enough silk to make several warps, and have even more cashmere to weave those off.  I *think* I have some natural white silk on spools left over from the last silk scarf warp I did, so who knows, I might do a white warp and use some of the dyed cashmere on that.  TBD.  More stash diving will happen as and when I feel able to do it.

But before I can do anything, the silk needs to be transferred to spools.  Last night, feeling particularly exhausted, trying to figure out what I could do, I asked Doug if he would weigh the silk skeins.  I think that they are 100 grams, but I need to know before I can begin planning what I will be doing, and then designing the first warp.

I'm hoping that if I can just wind one skein to spool that I can actually do that myself.  But, first things first.

OTOH, I have two procedures booked at the pain clinic in November, plus I've 'discovered' a different otc product that I hope will reduce pain flares when I overdo things.  Maybe this Christmas I will be feeling 'better'.

I'm still trying to understand my body better, but the pain persists.  I feel like I have to explore every avenue, try anything that seems like it might help.  

Today is a blustery grey day.  Most of the leaves have been ripped off the branches, and the leaden skies promise that yes, winter is on the way.  It feels good to be looking forward to some colour on the loom for the next while.  I have a feeling I'll need the 'lift' from pretty colours.  

Inching Along

 

Down to the last two scarves, thinking about the next warp, picking up the various 'pieces', turning them over, looking at them from different angles.  Trying to decide.

So, the yarn I was planning on using was not, after all, 2/20 or even 2/30 silk, but...2/60.  I quickly re-calculated the epi to accommodate the different size, factoring in the weft I was going to use and then developed a threading that wasn't exceptional, pretty plain, really.  But it would do for a first warp.  Because it was clear there was enough of this yarn for at least two warps (about 20 or so yards long).

But a friend is also making scarves and we had been bouncing ideas off each other and over the past few days while I worked on fringe twisting and getting ready for the upcoming sales, I thought about the silk/cashmere I was planning on working with.  And found myself dreading fringe twisting 2/60 silk.

Sigh.

I mean, I could do it.  But I donwanna.

I also donwanna do on loom hem stitching.  

The alternative was woven hems.  The more I fringe twist these 2/20 silk scarves, the more I'm leaning into doing hems on the silk/cashmere.

Now I need to figure out what weave structure.  Because the draft I came up with doesn't do a true plain weave.  It will be back to the drawing board (software) to generate some treadlings, some variations, see what seems the best approach.  Right now I'm thinking a 2:2 tie up and a straight treadling, but until I see it on the screen, I'm just not sure.  I may also need to dig in my stash to fine a heavier silk to use for the hem.  Or just use the cashmere.  Not sure right now.  Could go either way.

In the meantime, I continue to pick away at the fringe twisting.  My new press should be here on Friday so there is some expectation that I might be able to deliver some to the guild craft fair booth.  OTOH, I can wait until I see it more or less set up on Thursday - see if there is room for some silk scarves.  Or just wait until the sale in the guild room.

But never mind.  Progress has been made.  And will continue to be made.  Even if it is just one inch at a time.

Currently reading A Conspiracy of Bones by Kathy Reichs

Goat Trails. Again

 

The goat trails come and go but never disappear entirely.

However, I sorted through my hand dyed variegated silk cones (I used to import and dye and sell the yarn) to see what there was, if there was enough for a warp - or two - and what rayon yarns I might have to use as weft on them.  As it happens, there is enough for 5 more warps in addition to those I've already done.

This corner of the studio got filled with a bunch of stuff from other corners of the room in the latest shuffle which makes getting at the silk much more difficult.  And the reeds, stored behind that table on the right hand side.

I have lots of bobbin lace stuff I need to decide what to do with - do I keep?  Or sell on.  Will my eyesight improve enough after cataract surgery that I will be able to see well enough?  Or should I just bite the bullet and get rid of everything.  The basket under the table is just ONE of the piles of lace equipment/books I own.

Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime I have done the rough outline for the second filming, added in the items I'd initially forgotten, and now need to figure out filming times.  But first I wanted to finish the warp on the loom, which I just now did.  The two scarves are now sitting on the dining room table, waiting to be fringe twisted.

But that is also the space I need to spread out my papers while I gnaw on a pencil and figure out the details.

All well and good to come up with the concept, the devil is in the details, as they say, and it is time to wrestle with the devil!

As far as weaving goes, I now have a couple of opportunities to sell my work in Nov.  The large craft fair is scheduled to go ahead, no doubt with lots of covid protocols.   People who want to participate will require proof of vaccination as will shoppers.  I'm undecided if I will go help in the booth or not.  Much will depend on the level of covid floating around in 8 weeks time.  I can always take all the shifts for the guild room where there will be far fewer people and we can control ventilation better.

Anyway, there is good incentive to weave the silk scarves and have them ready for Nov.

In the meantime I am still waiting to hear about the ghost weaving I agreed to do last July.  So I'm pouring on the coals trying to finalize the filming so I can hit the ground running as soon as I get the details.  Yup.  Details.  More details to sort out.

The sort of details that I enjoy getting my teeth into and then winding up with something close to what I wanted.  Always something to learn.

Currently reading Not Dark Yet by Peter Robinson

Magic in the Water

shawl woven with rayon

Yesterday I had the experience of seeing the Magic in the Water in action.  I've been preparing an article for Handwoven (to approve - or not) and working from my stash. 

In The Intentional Weaver I discuss many of the considerations that go into the creation of a textile and while I have touched lightly on some of them for the article, the thought processes go way beyond what I could fit into a magazine submission.

The final step in changing the yarn into a cloth was the wet finishing.

The web was very stiff because I had built the cloth quite densely, relying on a) weave structure (twill) and fibre (silk) to lend their flexibility to creating a cloth with drape.

During the planning phase of designing, the density changed several times, from 24 to 30 to 32 to 36 and finally to 40 epi.  Yes, all with the same yarn.

I didn't weave a sample because I had other experience with 20/2 silk, plus I had some woven samples that I referenced.  One reason for keeping samples - so you know what you have done previously and the results that were obtained.

The above photo is not the cloth I'm talking about, just there to reference drape in the finished cloth.  I won't publish any photos or details until after I find out if the article has been accepted or not.

Since Mary left I've been trying to work on things that have looming (pun alert) deadlines, and the article seemed the most pressing so what little I did yesterday was to get the scarf fringe twisted, then wet finished.

Now that Puff is being taken apart, I am back to using the little flat bed press, which doesn't do nearly as good a job and takes three times as long.  But since I'm no longer producing for craft fairs...

So I used the flat bed press, carefully straightening out the curl at the selvedge, then when it was nearly dry went to the ironing board and hand iron where I polished both sides of the cloth.  We want to see shine when we see silk, so developing that sheen was an important final step.

The only thing left to do now is trim the bits off the ends of the twisted fringe, review my written notes, and then save the files to a thumb drive and package the whole works up and into the mail.  With two weaving workshops coming up in two and three weeks, I needed to clear the decks so I could concentrate on getting ready for those.

Plus I would like to get back to weaving.  I have barely touched a loom for two weeks.

The Scissor Solution

Since weaving was, first and foremost, my business/profession, I was very quick to realize that my time was the most valuable commodity that I was investing into my textiles.  As such, it became quite easy over the years to figure out when the time I needed to invest in a warp was becoming unreasonable.  When I needed to invest so much time that I could not ever hope to recoup the time and materials I had put into completing it and bringing it to market.

It is one reason I sample so much.  I'd rather invest a little (a little time, a little materials) to prove that a concept is going to work.

Over the years I have invested a great deal of time in just making samples to investigate new weave structures and new yarns.  While I am happy to take advice from other weavers as to density, the only way to know for sure if that is going to work for me is...weave a sample.

Sometimes the sample is a warp of its very own.  Sometimes the sample might be the header at the beginning of the warp.  Sometimes a sample woven on a narrow warp won't translate to a warp that is much wider, so that last chance header sample is necessary before committing to the entire wide/long warp.

Sometimes conditions change.  Having a different loom means that what I did before on the AVL might not translate well to the Megado, which has a different kind of engineering and a much lighter beater.

Sometimes you start a warp with a certain relative humidity and by the end, that may have changed drastically.  As happened on this silk warp.

The first scarf wove up beautifully.  Then Life Happened and it was about five days before I got back to the warp.  Not realizing the delay would be that long, I had not released the tension on the warp (20/2 silk).  I knew the relative humidity would drop, but in the end wound up having to turn the small humidifier off because the house windows were beginning to ice up, quite significantly.  And the warp sat for those days with the tension on and the relative humidity dropping like a stone.  (This morning it was registering at 18% in the house according to the little weather station we have - and that was with the humidifier back on since yesterday morning.)

When I started weaving yesterday afternoon, I noticed the right hand selvedge was not behaving well.  Loops were forming at the edge and to make the weft sit 'properly' I was having to stop and give the weft yarn a slight tug to make it lay properly.

That cut my weaving speed further, but mostly?  It was annoying.  I carried on until the third broken end happened, in the space of 12" woven.

I was happy enough with the way the cloth was building in the loom, but I looked at the selvedge.  Considered how many more  broken ends I might have to deal with, took a break and thought about whether or not I really wanted to carry on.  Or if it would just be a really good idea to stop now.  Before I invested any more time or weft yarn in this scarf.

The first scarf looked to be good, and that was the one intended for publication.  It was a matter of quite literally cutting my losses.

The yarn was 'inherited' so my financial investment wasn't great (shipping to get it here).  I had not carefully selected each and every skein with a lovely vision of what it would turn into - I was working from someone else's stash.  (Don't get me wrong - I have done this before and I consider it a great honour, it's just that I don't have the same sort of emotional attachment to it.)

The warp was six meters.  When I cut the warp off the loom, it looks like I do have a lovely scarf to write up and submit.  I'm very pleased with how it looks prior to wet finishing, and I think a good hard press will bring the silk to the lovely lustre we associate with silk and I will be happy to submit it for consideration.  Out of a six meter long warp I have apparently achieved one scarf that meets requirements.

The thrums (about 2.75 ounces) will go to a friend who takes them and incorporates them into her 'art' yarn, so the yarns won't actually be 'wasted'.  I just won't be spending any more of my time trying to make it behave when it so clearly does not want to.

So I applied the Scissor Solution.  And I feel fine about it.  The next warp is already planned (mostly) and I am looking forward to getting that into the loom and enjoying weaving it off.

Ticking Boxes

Continuing to tick boxes on my journey to retirement. 

The cold 'snap' is over, the temps have warmed up...to minus 23 when I got up this morning.   Felt positively balmy when I went out this morning!  :D

This week broke record low temperatures for our town.  Talking to someone this morning, he mentioned having cabin fever.  I told him I was content to look out the window, see the glorious sunshine we had, note the temperature, and curl up inside.  A form of hibernation - because I felt no urge to do much of anything other than just make it through the day.

However, I did get the two boxes of Olds homework marked, the marks submitted to the college, and one box is on its way back to the student.  The other will wait until I hear when she is back in Canada from her adventure and if she wants it returned immediately or is willing to wait until June and pick it up at the college, saving the postage. 

My company arrives tomorrow and we have class prep to do so most of what I have been working on will be set aside while she is here.  If there is time she wants to dive into my rayon chenille stash and make a scarf.  Or two. 

I am hoping to finish the silk warp by tomorrow and start writing up my notes.  They will have to be fringe twisted and wet finished, but the deadline is March 8 so if I can get them woven, I can easily make that.  (She says, perhaps over confidently!)

The next warp on the Megado will be another tea towel warp.  I still have a large cone of singles linen to use up and I pulled the yarn for the warp last autumn.  All I have to do is clear the Megado off and get the next warp beamed. 

And figure out how I'm going to thread it! 

We are nearly out of the annex but the super cold weather has caused delays on that.  Nothing to be done for it except get through it. 

The really nice thing is that the daylight hours are getting noticeably longer.  As quickly as it goes, it comes back. 

In the meantime, it is back to ticking boxes.  And that means weaving the silk.  I'm excited to see if the treadling is going to look as I hope it will.  After lunch I will be jumping right on that.  This is what keeps me weaving - having a vision, not knowing how close I can come to making it come into material form (pun intended!)

Physics

1:3 twills will curl

draft shows the path of the weft and warp

It is a fact that - like stockinette stitch in knitting - a 1:3 twill fabric will curl at the edges.  There is really nothing that can be done to prevent this.  Not a floating selvedge or temples.  It will curl.  A 1:3 twill will curl upwards as in the top photo - a 3:1 twill will curl downwards.

It is in the threads.  What the draft above does not show is that the weft thread will curl around a thread three in from the selvedge, then two, then 1, then will catch the outermost selvedge end.

This is not a problem because during wet finishing, including a good hard press, the selvedge will resolve and everything will settle.  When this cloth comes off the loom and is wet finished, the selvedge will be pretty much straight because it is all woven with a 1:3 twill.  (I prefer to lift the least number of shafts so the other side is actually going to be more interesting and considered the 'right' side of the cloth.)

On some of my tea towels, woven in designs that exchange twill blocks of 1:3-3:1 twill, the selvedge may not be ruler straight, but over all will keep a straight edge as the twill blocks change from weft to warp emphasis.  Since this slight waviness does nothing to prevent the textile from doing its job I do not consider it a 'flaw'.

With so many commercial fabrics being woven without a woven selvedge we sometimes forget that the selvedge is just the edge of the fabric and we can create textiles to purpose to a specific width and have it sport a woven edge, not a 'raw' one.  

(Why is it 'raw' or 'unfinished'?  Because with the rise of newer technology looms, each weft is cut from the cone and laid into the shed as a single thread, not a continuous one.)

I find it somewhat amusing that raw edges are so common now that a woven selvedge is sometimes referred to as a 'tartan' selvedge.  What they mean (in regards to a tartan) is simply a woven 2:2 twill has been woven with continuous weft (multiple weft colours are run up along one selvedge in loops.  This selvedge is then used for the kilt waistband and no effort is made to cut them and tuck the end into the cloth.  With many colour changes, there is a possibility of that selvedge building up further than the rest of the cloth.)

The further from the breast beam, the more the cloth will curl.  Another good reason to keep the fell in the 'sweet spot'.

Sprouting

When I began telling people that I was going to 'retire' and close down my business, the question would be asked - what would I do? 

The short answer was - I don't know.

I knew I would keep weaving, just not production weaving.  I knew I would write - for this blog, if nothing else.  I knew I would teach - the Olds program for so long as they wanted me and I was able.

Beyond that?  No idea.

Having been in the business of being creative for 44 years, the one thing I knew for certain was that when the time was right, the idea(s) would come.

The past six months have been a steady slog of downsizing, getting rid of production equipment I no longer needed or was useful, getting rid of yarn I would not use, re-arranging the studio to hold the new, smaller, loom, erasing the goat trails of clutter and working out the last of my contracted obligations.

Now that 80% of that is accomplished (still some AVL loom bits but Doug is dealing with those so I'm not sure what the status is on them), my shows are all done, shelves have been crammed into every nook and corner and lined every inch of wall space, boxes are being emptied and I can see what there is, it would appear that I was ripe for a confluence of things to happen and a way to show itself in terms of a creative idea.

The seed was planted last week.  When I picked up the silk from Ingrid Boesel, I wanted to make Bob a scarf from her silk as a thank you.  So I have had that idea quietly dormant in the back of my mind since July.  Then a bulk email from Handwoven with their upcoming themes dropped into my inbox.

At first I ignored it.  The deadline for the one theme that caught my eye was fairly tight, I have company coming in January, there are special orders I am working on, workshops to prepare for and a tea towel warp on the Megado.  So I closed the email and let it go.

Well, not entirely apparently because suddenly a tiny seedling appeared.  It was based on a weave structure I'd played around with in the 80s but it was slow and I'd let it go because I had to produce.

I no longer need to weave with a product to sell foremost in my mind.  It doesn't matter if the weave structure takes two shuttles, or is in some other way time consuming.  I can weave purely for my own intellectual stimulation and enjoyment.

Hmm.  Intriguing.  Remembering my desire to weave a scarf for Bob, I dug through Ingrid's yarn and found some that could double as a scarf for Bob, and a suitable project for Handwoven. 

Over the past few days I have thought about the colours I have available, changed my mind several times, ruminated over what I would do, remember how the weave structure actually worked, crunched the numbers, changed the colours I would use - again - so I could make a longer warp, make two scarves and still do a sample at the beginning of the warp to make sure I was remembering correctly.

Then as I started winding a skein of the silk onto a cone, I had a sudden flash that let me know how I could manipulate the weave structure to make it more 'interesting'.  Still just using four shafts, so still appropriate for Handwoven. 

Today while weaving a tea towel on the Megado, I thought about the project, decided that ideally I should do it on the Megado so that it didn't matter how many treadles my idea would take, it would still be 'easy' to weave.  And then I thought about the scarf for Bob, and further realized that doing it threaded on all 16 shafts would allow me to really play with the warp.

I still have to crunch the tie up and treadling, but already I'm getting excited about forging ahead.

It may all dissolve into tears if I've thought it through incorrectly, but never mind.  I'm having fun.  And seeing the whole concept of our conference theme of Confluences coming together.  

Change One Thing

Change one thing and everything can change.

Such a simple sentence.  Such a complex concept.

This is one of the principles that are explored in the Olds Master Weaving (level one) class.  I say this over and over.  Usually after saying "It depends."

The best short answer to almost every question in weaving is "It depends.  Because change one thing and everything can change."

So, this scarf.

It's 2/20 silk, most commonly set at 20 epi for plain weave (using 2/20 silk for weft - or other yarn of the same thickness).  But I wanted to put the emphasis on the warp, which is hand dyed.  One way to do that is to make the cloth slightly warp emphasis.

Silk is a fibre with lots of drape, and the weft I had decided to use is rayon from bamboo, so also high in drape.  I knew that a denser warp would not negatively impact the drape of the finished cloth with such flexible warp and weft.

To make things a bit easier for myself (I thought) I started with 32 epi.

However, when I started weaving it wasn't a huge surprise when the weft would not beat in nicely.  Instead it got 'trapped' in the dense selvedge creating loose bubbles.  This is a sure sign that the warp is just too dense.

Of course I had enough warp to sample.  (Of course I did!  Sometimes I do work with full sized 'sample' warps.)

So I cut off the inch or so that I'd woven, resleyed to 30 epi and started over.

Voila.  No problems with the weft not beating in nicely.

I'm still getting the warp emphasis I wanted.  At 30 epi it will drape and behave nicely.

We're good to go.

And registrations are open for level one classes in Tenino, WA (sponsored by the Olympia Weavers Guild), and in Cape Breton (at the Gaelic College).  Registration for Olds College opens on March 1

Worthy Causes

These are some of a run of silk scarves I did a few years ago.  I was down to two last weekend, and then one of the two sold so I only had one left - the purple one more or less in the centre.

Now after being in business for as many years as I have, eventually you wind up with stale inventory or 'last one of a series'.  These items have been dragged to numerous shows (in case of the former) or else are difficult to display because they are just one.  They don't 'fit' into the display well.

As a starving artist I have rarely had much in the way of actual cash to donate to causes that I deem 'worthy'.  On the other hand, these end of the line or stale items are perfect for donations.  Most charities will give tax receipts that I can claim on my income tax return (should I ever be in the position of actually needing to pay income tax - I used to tell people my goal in life was to earn enough money that I was required to pay.)

But mostly it is because I want to help support an organization that I know is probably struggling to make ends meet and this is the only way I can do it.

So that purple and white silk scarf got dropped off the the Early Childhood Development facility this afternoon for their fund raising auction.  I have a tenuous connection to the facility - the lady who lived next door to us when I was growing up worked long and hard to establish this support agency for children with disabilities, mainly because her son with cerebral palsy needed something like this and it didn't exist at the time.  She wanted other parents to not have to struggle so hard to get their children the help they needed.  She doesn't live in this town any more, but her legacy lives on.  And I like to help keep it alive.

Currently reading Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb (almost 700 pages!!!!  I might need to ramp up my reading, which has kind of slowed lately.)

Love Affair

My love affair with twills is long standing but lately it's been herringbone twill.  Different yarns, different proportions, but it has been holding my interest for a few warps now.

This is another of the sample warps for the Big Project.  I need to sit down with my notebook and make sure I get all of the warps needed woven in good time.  Just in case one (or more!) don't look good, or don't work out.  Always nice to have a back up plan.  Or two.

Starry Night

Neither of these photos are quite the right colour.  The top one is about as dark but too grey.  The bottom is the right blue but not dark enough.  But the best I can do with my camera and software.

The point is that I could have titled this post Making Lemonade, or Design Feature or even How the Light Gets In.  But all of those titles would have reflected a negative attitude toward this warp and I would rather focus on the fact that these scarves look quite nice.  I'm thinking that they might be very suitable for a man - or woman - but women (generally) tend to choose the brighter colours, men generally darker value ones.

See, when I dyed the blue skeins, I neglected to remove the factory ties and they acted as a resist so that when the ties were removed there were white 'specks' left in the yarn.

Too embarrassed to show the world my deficiencies as a dyer I stuck them in a bag at the back of the studio and when Doug said he would cone the silk skeins off, I tossed the 'defective' skeins in as well.

Because there was really nothing wrong with the yarn.  They just weren't 'perfect'.  In the end, they are weaving up into a lovely set of scarves that rather remind me of stars shining on a dark night.

When something you make doesn't turn out, I suggest putting it away for a few months and then look at it again.  Instead of seeing the way it doesn't resemble what you'd set out to do, you may find that you quite like what you made, just for it's own self.  Just like the disappointing dye job looks just fine in this warp.

Currently reading How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny.  If you are a fan, Still Life (her first Gamache novel) has been turned into a movie and will air for the first time tomorrow, Sept. 15 on CBC.

Loop Oops

Lack of attention while winding this bobbin means that a 'loop' of yarn 'fell off' the end of the bobbin leaving slack which will eventually drag off the end of the bobbin and wrap around the spindle of the shuttle during weaving.  Unless I deal with it immediately.

The easiest way to do this is to put the bobbin into the shuttle and pull the weft off from the side, then when it sluffs off and wraps around the spindle it's a fairly simple matter to unwrap the loop from the spindle (or axle) and carefully continue winding the weft off.

It is also noticeably, albeit slowly, turning from summer to autumn.  The first indication - and a subtle one - is that the humidity is dropping.  Our warm humid summer days are slowly ebbing away.  Which is unfortunate as the silk is becoming more and more prone to static electricity making winding the warp and then beaming it more and more of a challenge.

I am going to hurry through these thankfully fairly short (at 7 meters) warps as quickly as I can and then switch to something a little more co-operative.  Like cotton.

Beauty Shot

Doug pressed the scarves today.  I think they are a 'winner'.  Now I have to decide if I wind longer warps and dress the big loom with them.  That would require a lot more fiddling, but make the weaving itself go more easily.  I think you'll probably guess which route I'll take.

If I'm going to weave these on the AVL, though, that means I have to weave the warp currently on it, off.  Should not take too long as it is only 10 yards.  In the meantime I can be winding warps and stockpiling them for when the loom is clear.  And use the small loom to weave more place mats.

I can hear the thudding of the approaching deadlines, growing ever louder....

Temptation

proved too strong....

See the 'mistake'?  No I'm not going to go back and fix it.  This is my proto-type.  I don't expect it to be 'perfect'.  I'm still getting the 20 pick treadling repeat set in my mind and feet and don't doubt there may be a few more 'oopsies' before I'm done.  I will either keep it or give it away, but the primary purpose of this scarf is to work out the details.  Once I'm satisfied I've got a good cloth, then I'll worry about 'perfect'.

Currently reading Dying to Sin by Stephen Booth