New Toys....er Tools!

a variety of colours wheels, some of them more 'accurate' than the others....I actually threw out a couple where the colours were really nasty!

Although The Project is on hold I have not forgotten about it. In fact I'm also developing the topic into a workshop, so I figured I may as well get a paint box and start working on the actual exercises for the book and the workshop. A book is great for people who can learn on their own, either because of their own personalities or because of necessity (i.e. they don't have access, for whatever reason, to personal instruction). But many people also feel more comfortable learning by doing under supervision.

It took me a long time to work up the courage to tackle colour use for weavers, mainly because I did not have an instinctive ability to work with colour. What I know about using colour in weaving came to me through studying it and simply getting into the trenches and weaving the colours together to see what happened when.....

And then being analytical about the results. Some of the colour combinations were of the "well, I won't do that again" variety, others were unexpectedly delightful. It was as instructive to analyse the won't do again's as well as the successful surprises. It took a long time to train my eye to see the components of a colour and recognize those which were siblings, distant cousins or not related at all. It took time to understand the value of - well, value - and how important that was to the success of a colour combination - much more important than the actual hue.

I'm working on developing the workshop as a one day non-weaving event. An opportunity to experiment and learn in an environment where there will be no mistakes, only a time to observe and learn.

Sarasota FL has already expressed an interest in the workshop so it's time to start getting my ducks in a row, as it were. Speaking of workshops, my fees will be increasing in May. Workshops booked before the end of May will be at my current rate. The calendar for 2012 is pretty open - March is the only month that is filled.

Keep Going

I found this fridge magnet on a trip to Tucson, AZ when I thought all my health issues were behind me. It was a visual reminder that the only way through is forward. That when you are in a bad place, it's counter productive to fall down in your traces and wallow in self-pity.

It's posted on my fridge where I mostly ignore it but from time to time I focus on it and remember to get up, get going, that all things must end, the bad as well as the good. That the only thing that is constant is change. That staying focused on your goal will at least make the bad things bearable. And when the only thing you can manage is to put one foot in front of the other, that counts as progress.

So I have been picking my way through the current warp on the AVL, which I have been finding extremely tedious for a number of reasons. Mostly, it's two shuttles alternating. I find it extremely difficult to reach my 'zone' and so I'm not much enjoying the weaving. OTOH, after wet finishing the sample, the fabric turns out to be drop dead gorgeous. But the weaving isn't going to happen without me sitting at the loom, and so I have been dutifully making it into the studio, at least a little bit every day, and I'm now within 6" of completion. Of the first scarf.

The warp is 10 yards long, about a yard has been used up in sampling, so there is enough warp for two more scarves. Give or take.

The warp also has a threading error. Three of the units are threaded on the wrong shaft, so as soon as I finish the first scarf I'll correct that and then I'll take another run at doing the rose design that I had originally intended.

Next week I should hear the treatment plan as proposed by the oncologist. As usual I'm not presenting a simple problem and more tests have to be run. The good news is that the bone marrow biopsy was a success and no further surgery will be required for a diagnosis. And that is very good news indeed. :)

Currently reading Still Life by Louise Penny

Not White

The colours of the red yarn are actually more intense than shown here. The red is more of a deep coral red. And I've made a little progress spooling the skeins off ready for warping. As I took this photo I realized that my dye palette of today is very similar to these yarns and I may in fact use some of the silk gimp as weft for one of the shawls intended on this warp. The very dark blue spruce would look great on these colours. :)

Book Review

Mark your calendar - April 26, 2011 Eric Nylund's latest book will be for sale. Especially if you know a young reader (middle school). I hear that the second volume in this series is already in the works. I've been sitting on this for a while - we scored a rare Advance Readers Copy way last September. Eric has been a very busy writer this past year - watch for more titles coming soon. And yes, I know Eric, but I have no compunction about telling people I like his writing, too. For more info about Eric and his books visit his website http://ericnylund.net

Waffle and Twill with Plain Weave

This is an example of what Jolanda wants to do.... Jolanda wants to weave towels with areas of waffle and twill stripes surrounded by a plain weave border at the ends and the selvedges.

To do this she would need 10 shafts. Four shafts for the waffle area, four for the twill, and two more for the plain weave selvedges.

It is possible to weave plain weave hems on the above 8 shaft draft by tieing up two more treadles to achieve the plain weave. It is also possible to weave twill stripes in the weft by tieing up four more treadles to weave twill all across the cloth. With only 8 shafts you need to thead a point progression to get waffle on four shafts.

The effect of having a plain weave 'frame' would be, I think, to have the ends and selvedges 'ruffle'. Of course it would depend on your choice of yarn and density how much this would happen.

The higher the density, the less it would ruffle, I think, but until I wove a sample I would not know for sure.

I rather suspect that this textile has been woven on at least 10 shafts if there is a plain weave selvedge, possibly more. I wonder if the hems are basketweave rather than plain weave, but I can't tell for sure from the photo.

Waffle and Twill in the warp

One option for waffle and twill in the warp. Begin and end with the point twill progression on shafts 5-8 and enlarge each section for the size of stripe you want.

Waffle Weave

JoLanda asked about waffle weave, how to do twill and waffle at the same time.


There are a number of options. If you want waffle and twill in the warp you need more shafts - here are some waffle options on four shafts. To make warp wise twill stripes, you would simply thread for twill on the other four shafts and then tie up and treadle accordingly. The draft above shows a lift plan because to do all the waffle options in one cloth on four shafts you run out of treadles and a direct tie up would be required unless you had a computer assisted loom.



Here is a 6 shaft version. This would make a very small 'waffle' and would not take up as much as a draft with longer floats. Therefore the difference between the waffle and twill would not be as great. Only sampling would show how much difference there would be. On a loom with 10 treadles you could tie up and treadle without having to use a direct tie up. Just add the twill tie up on the rest of the treadles and use them accordingly for weft wise stripes.




And lastly, here is an 8 shaft draft showing the tie up and treadling to make weft wise stripes of waffle and twill and would require 12 treadles.

I hope this has answered your question?