It's All Relative

I'm so used to beaming 'long' warps (10+ yards) that these relatively short warps (5.6 meters) seem to zip onto the beam in no time at all.

Since I've worked a lot with variegated yarns I decided to submit an article to Handwoven about how I use them.  The challenge, of course, is that they prefer readily available yarns so that their readers can source the yarns profiled in their projects.  With so many of Handwoven readers being somewhat inexperienced, I felt I ought to use a yarn that is reasonably friendly to work with, not the rick rack and bamboo yarns in these particular scarves.  So I will work on that article in December and hope to submit early in January.  The deadline is mid-February, and since I don't get home until after the deadline, it's either do it now or not at all.

However, as I was winding this yarn onto a cone I thought of a little hint that some people may not know about.  A skein of variegated yarn can be a bit 'tricky' - this particular yarn has several shades of red, gold and purple in it.  Sometimes it is hard to know which yarn to pair with a variegated.

Now the photo here makes the warp look very red.  Part of that is because I paired the rick rack with a red bamboo.  But the reason I used the red is because as the cone winder was winding the yarn from the skein onto the cone, the motion of the yarn travelling round and round blurred into a predominantly red colour.

I could have used other colours instead of the red, but for this first warp I had the right shade of red on hand for both warp and weft and went the easy route.

So if you aren't sure what yarn colour will go with your variegated yarn, try winding it onto a cone or ball winder and see what colour it looks as it is being wound.....

Intimations of Things to Come

Today the first harbinger of my latest yarn order arrived.  I got a commission for not one, not two, but three table cloths from a customer in Calgary.  He was so sweet - when we were discussing designs he said "Just make what you like...what's ugly in this booth?  I have a sense of your design esthetic, I know you'll make me something nice."  I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist.  (blush)

How could I not take the order???? (Especially when he offered to pre-pay.  I won't take payment until I'm ready to start weaving.  If the money is being dangled in front of me, I work much better - something about carrots?)

He wants mostly neutrals with a little green, a little peach, so there is more yarn yet to come, in one of Maurice Brassard's bunny eared bags of goodness.

I am going to have to warp the loom up to it's full width (60") and cross fingers that the cloth will be the 54" I promised.  Needless to say, there is going to have to be a component of plain weave to whatever I do to minimize draw in and it will probably mean using a temple as well, just to keep things co-operative, but for 3 tablecloths it is well worthwhile putting the warp on.  I will no doubt put extra on and do a couple of 'tea cloth' type squares as well.  The warp will be nearly 2000 ends - that's a lot of threading, even if I am fast at it.  ;)  Besides, extra is good in case of some sort of disaster on the loom.....

The red warp for samples is almost finished.  I'm hoping to get to the end of it today yet.  It took me a while to generate an alternate tie up, hoping to increase the stability of the cloth and still have the chevrons she requested.  But bobbins are wound and I'm ready to go.....aaaaaand, she's off!

Crushing

work table and inukshuk of foam for packing the van still to be put away....

My to-be-done list is completely overwhelming right now.  I think it's a combination of fatigue and so many things to do that I just don't know where to start!

However we have made a little progress.  Doug delivered most of the empty boxes etc., to the annex this afternoon and is loading all the fibre and yarn for the sale at the guild room this weekend.  We'll take everything up there on Friday, when hopefully the emergency exit door will be unalarmed and we don't have to walk so far to drag everything up there.

I still have to sort through the workshop handouts and see what I need to order in for yarns, plus the yarns for sampling the new scarf line.  I still have not heard anything from Silk City - if I don't hear by tomorrow I will place the order again in case it just got lost in the holiday.  I really need that yarn very soon if I'm going to get a leg up on production of the new scarf line using the rick rack rayon.  With my travel schedule as full and busy as it is, there won't be a day to 'waste'.

Today I've fired up the AVL.  I will do two more samples for the designer as the last one was too 'stretchy'. I rather suspect that I am not going to be able to meet her requirements in terms of cloth stability and if neither of these two samples is good enough for her I will have to cut my losses and move on to something else.  I still have two more samples to weave for A Good Yarn:  Rayon, and I'd really like to get them done before my first trip in the new year.  Not impossible....IF I get the yarn order from Silk City by Christmas....I can always get Doug stapling samples while I am away.  :)  But they have to be woven and wet finishing first....

Next week I will contact everyone involved in the Jan/Feb trip as I need to find out if they are all a 'go' or not.  Three of the workshops require that I mail out the warp yarns and drafts and I'd really like to do that by Dec. 20 - after the rush of Christmas mail.  That won't leave a lot of time for people to dress their looms, but 6 weeks should be ok for most of them.  Besides, sometimes the longer people have, the longer they wait to do things.  I know that's how I operate!!!

And now, after much too long, I am going to go throw a shuttle!  Yay!

Donation Scarves

stack o' scarves....

I needed more body maintenance today which meant a trip to the building where my doctor has his office.  His receptionist started a 'toy' drive a few years ago with all the donated things going to St. Vincent de Paul. Last night I sewed in all the tails and this afternoon got them through the washer and dryer so that I was able to deliver them today.  I hope that some kids will enjoy a new scarf for Christmas.  I am happy because that stack of scarves is now off the back of my sofa (where I pile them as I finish knitting them).  Of course I've already started another one so there will soon be another stack abuilding....

Today was mostly administrivia again but I've got the labels ready for the hand painted bamboo skeins.  Tonight I'll drag the suitcase up to the guild room, snap them out, twist them and tie on the labels.  Hopefully I can get them all done but if not, the rest can wait until Saturday morning.  Boxed up the yarn that is here and asked Doug to pick up the rest from the annex when he delivers the empty boxes from the shows and the display equipment that gets stored up there.  We will deliver everything to the room on Friday and get set up, ready for sales on Saturday.

Little by little.

The rest of the afternoon I decided to take 'off' and have been working on a jigsaw puzzle.  I'm hoping to get a couple more done so I can take a bag of them up to my mom's later this week.  I've been collecting puzzles for a few years - a couple here, a couple there - and now have a huge stack of them because there has been no time to make any of them.

Since I'm the boss, I'm giving my best employee a few days 'grace'.....  :^)

A Little Room

Today Doug unloaded the van and I unpacked the boxes of inventory.  Tomorrow I will sort through everything and choose those textiles that will go on 'sale' in hopes of moving them on to a new home.

There are several scarf lines that only have a few scarves left, there are just 9 placemats, a few table runners and some tea towels that are 'orphans' - only one or two of a colour/design.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with them - they just make setting up a cohesive display difficult.  And they take up room on the shelves in my storage area.

With the exploration of some new designs - sampling will begin shortly - as well as needing to do more placemats, I need to clear some space on my shelves so getting rid of some stuff will be very welcome.

I need to order in more yarn (yes, more!) for a new scarf design and will do that in the next day or two.  I'll make up sample warps and hope to get them woven when I get home from the tour to NC/GA/TN.  Bringing a brand new scarf design to the shows means I have to start doing the weaving by June at the latest in order to get sufficient stock made.  In the meantime I will carry on with the new design I barely got ready for the shows this season because they seemed to be well received.  I ordered yarn from Silk City last week, and hope it didn't get lost in the Thanksgiving holiday.  I forgot that they would be closed.  If I don't hear anything from them in a few days, I'll place the order again and ask for confirmation they got it.

Tomorrow I will weave one more sample for the designer in Vancouver.  If she isn't happy with the quality of cloth after that sample, I don't think I can meet her needs and will move on.

Next week I will contact the tour people for Jan/Feb and hope to find out if everyone thinks they are a 'go' or not.  I need to pull warp yarns and drafts for the workshops, which means.....ordering more yarn!  :D  Best to do that before Christmas mail gets too heavy.  January will be here very soon.

The rest of this week I will spend getting ready for the sale here in PG on Sat/Sun and maybe winding a scarf or placemat warp.  Or both.  It's been far too long since I've done any weaving.  Who knows, maybe I'll have some new scarves or something in time for the pop up sale on the 15th?

Just finished reading Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs and about to start another Donna Leon - Suffer the Little Children.  For Barbara Holloway fans - there is a new book out now, but it is only audio or ebook format.  I may be forced to buy the ebook version and put it onto my iPad for reading while on the tour?

Two More

Today I had the sixth of eight Rituximab treatments, in the new cancer clinic facility.  I brought a small hanging that I hope will help brighten the treatment room up as, being brand new, it is still a little sterile in terms of atmosphere.  I suggested it would look best hung in front of a window and the nurse said she would bring a suction cup 'sky hook' from home to put it up.  If I can find a photo I will post, but I will have to dig deep into the bowels of my photo library.  Or take a photo of it in situ at a later date.

My veins were not co-operating today and they finally got the iv into a vein right where the wrist bends.  Which would have been ok except it won't stop bleeding.  Therefore throwing a shuttle or doing much at all with my left hand seems like a bad idea.  :(

The good news is that the oncologist said yesterday that they expect me to be around for a good long time to come and urged me to continue to monitor and deal with the hypertension, which is still an issue.

I told him that I expect to be around for a good long time, too.  :)

Now if I can figure out the bp stuff and lose some weight I will be a very happy camper!

Dreaming Textile Dreams

In addition to the last two shows being successful enough that inventory is getting low in certain items, I also have the sample warp for the designer in Vancouver to weave and a special order for 3 table cloths for a customer in Calgary.

One thing about doing shows in person is that you get all sorts of validation.  Weaving - like most traditional crafts - is done pretty much in isolation, making your best guess as to what people might like enough to actually purchase but never really knowing until the hall doors open and the people start walking by.  Or in to your booth.

While compliments are great and provide food for the ego, it is the actual purchases that pay the bills.

Yesterday was spent trying to clear up critical things - like bank deposit, paying bills, dealing with questions via email and phone regarding upcoming classes.

Today I had cleared enough little grey cells that I could begin to think about the yarn I needed to order.  I also realized that my iPad has become an actual tool not just a toy as I was able to spread out on the dining room table (which hardly ever gets used for dining) and still have access to the internet via my iPad in order to check emails, websites and so on.  Once I get the 'remote' email situation sorted out, I think I am going to become very enamoured of the iPad!

One of the challenges in working with the designer is that she knows what she wants and will recognize it when she sees it.  She doesn't have a grasp of how colour interactions happen in a woven structure, which means some angst in terms of choosing the actual colours for the sample warp.  So I have agreed to do some extra work and use both of the greens in the warp so that she can see exactly how they will work in the cloth.  I'm gambling hard that this relationship is going to mature into something that will benefit both of us, and that she will come to trust my colour choices in terms of what she is telling me she wants.  But it's a gamble and a risk for her, too, to work with the weaver and not just buy something already made that she likes.  Working with the thread, she doesn't have the foundation of knowledge in terms of weaving to be really confident that she is going to get what she wants.  So, I am making the sample warp in such a way that she will be able to see the colours as they will look once they are woven.

I also need to place an order with Silk City for more Bambu 7 and 12.  They were out of stock of some of the fine #12 colours on my last order so I'm hoping they are in inventory now.  The new 'scarves' went over quite well - I sold about half of what I'd managed to get made in time for the shows.  In terms of price points, that is huge acceptance and I'm going to go ahead and make more for next year.  But I need a better, larger, colour selection as I only managed to get 5 different colours made up - and no blue as such.  But the dyer doesn't seem to have dyed any actual blue, just the teal blue/green that I started with.  However, I can get around that by using the really dark navy blue as the base for the variegated yarns.

But I really want to get the orders in today and hope that the yarns don't get too bogged down in the Christmas mail rush.....

Currently reading Cold Case by Kate Wilhelm.  I just found out that her new Barbara Holloway title is only available in audio or ebook formats.  I may be forced to buy the ebook version for my iPad.  Then I'll have it to read on my trip in Jan/Feb....