Selvedges

3 thread 'float' on selvedge 2/8 Tencel warp/weft 24 epi

3 and 5 thread 'floats' on selvedge 2/20 cotton warp with 2/16 cotton weft 32 epi/ppi.  The 3/1-1/3 twill causes small 'scallops' at the edges.

3 and 5 thread floats on selvedge 2/20 cotton warp with mystery weft 36 epi/ppi

None of these textiles were woven with a floating selvedge or temple.  In my experience - depending on yarn size - a 3 or even 5 thread float at the selvedge is not a problem.
Rather than worry about a textile having a plain weave selvedge I would far rather see weavers focusing on being consistent.  Learning how to hold and throw their shuttles well.  Learning how to advance and re-tension their warps.  Learning how to beam their warps so that they go on under consistent tension.  Learning how to wet finish their cloth. Learning fibre characteristics so that they can make appropriate choices for their textiles.  Learning at least enough theory to make changes to the project notes found in publications - or recognize when there is a mistake in the printed format.

But none of that is necessary if the weaver is enjoying what they are doing and are happy with their results.  If they aren't, then perhaps they need to dig a little deeper and learn more....

Speaking of which, there are now 7 students enrolled in the John C. Campbell Folk School class in March.  I'll take up to 12.  It also looks like the workshop in Durham is a go with a few more empty spots.  Not sure about Sarasota or Asheville.

Currently reading The Midsummer Crown by Kate Sedley

12 Days of Christmas

a weaver's Christmas wreath?

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:


12 sheep a baa-ing

11 shearers shearing

10 carders carding

9 spinners spinning

8 dyers dyeing

7 winders winding

6 weavers weaving

5 golden fleece....

4 empty looms

3 shuttles

2 bobbins full

And a warping board with a new warp!

To all my fibre friends - I wish you the very best for the holiday and the coming year - may your looms never be empty, your stash always full and your mistakes all fixable.

Cheers!
Laura

One Winner, One....Not

herringbone diamonds

needs tweaking

I'm really quite pleased with the baby blanket/big project fabric.  When I want to do a large diamond, I use a herringbone threading/treadling sequence rather than an extended point twill.  What happens when you reverse the twill direction on an 'ordinary' point twill is that the outside warp ends fall out of the woven cloth.  If the distance is only 3 picks it's not a big deal, but when you want to do a large goose eye of an inch or more, it's a problem. 

So, rather than do an extended point twill I use a draft such as:

This is just one repeat - if you keep repeating the threading/treadling, you get large diamonds as in the baby blankets. 

(A little preview of what will be included in the Big Project - a little present for the holiday!)

As for the sample for the workshop, I'm not happy with the spacing of the colcolastic so tomorrow I'll cut the header out and resley.

Prepping and Proto-typing

box full of pirns ready for weaving tomorrow

proto-type warp for Durham NC workshop

Today was slow but steady progress - the loom got threaded, sleyed and tied on, ready to weave.  By the time I got pirns wound it was too late to start so that will happen tomorrow.

I scored a box of colcolastic yarn this week.  I've been looking for a supply for a while so it was great to receive the box so I can add it into my workshop.  The really nice thing about the colcolastic is that it is lycra with cotton and it comes in colours unlike the wool/lycra I've been using.  It's also strong enough to be used for warp without too much trouble,  While I did use the wool/lycra as warp myself, it was a singles yarn so I didn't like to put it into the warp for workshops.

bamboo 12 and wool/lycra in the warp

So, while the pirn winder chugged out pretty much perfect pirns, I wound a warp to test drive for the workshop in March.  It's ready to be rough sleyed and put into the loom.  Again - tomorrow.

Currently reading Three Day City by Margaret Maron

Keeping Notes

from this...

to this....

It occured to me today that I have not begun to record the information for the Big Project samples.  Duh!  While I always think I'll remember, I never do, especially after a few warps have passed over the beam.

So I spent some time thinking about what sort of notes I need to record and how I'll go about doing that.  Some people devise spreadsheets or have elaborate notekeeping apps they use.  I'm a lot more basic than that.  I'll set up a new folder in Fiberworks to keep the drafts and then use Word for the notes.

Right now I'm just working on whatever sample is ready to weave given my inventory of yarns and other considerations.  For example, I need a couple of baby blankets for gifts and since a baby blanket project was on the list for the Big Project, plus I wanted to use up some of the yarn I had on hand, this is the result.

The photo also shows an example of warm/cool colours and how warm colours advance, cool colours recede.  Even though the ratio of warm (pink/orange) is the same as the cool (grey/blue) the pink/orange stripes look wider than the grey/blue.  Not only that, while the yarns are in fact flat on the beam, can you see the slight slant?  That the pink/orange part of the stripe looks higher than the grey/blue?

Since this warp is so wide I don't need such a long one but since I need 'extra' baby blankets I'm beaming 20 yards.  It won't get done before Christmas, but will be done before the new year. 

Monday I'll be at the press tackling that mound of wet finishing that is crying out to be dealt with and then I'll have a mountain of hemming to do. 

Currently reading Mystery in the Minster by Susanna Gregory

Thought Squirrels

Normally when I sit down to blog I know pretty much exactly what I'm going to say.  Not today.  Today my thoughts have been flitting through my brain like squirrels, here, there, everywhere. 

Today started out quite normally - for what passes for normal around here lately.  But then a flurry of things happened and I totally lost my focus.

The good news is that I got in to the doctor's office early afternoon.  He agreed with my diagnosis and I came home with 'magic bullets' which will hopefully finally once and for all, kill the bug that's been bugging me, off.  It seems to me that the 'cold' I had in November wasn't an ordinary cold and it never really left - just changed locations from my lungs to my sinus'.

Plus I got the lab results showing that I do actually have some nutritional 'gaps' - quite a few, in fact, 3 of which have 'fatigue' listed as their primary symptom.  I'll have to wait for the new year to hear the treatment plan but I'm feeling as though I am on the right track and that I really will start the new year much healthier than I've been for a rather long time.

We settled our Christmas Day activity - dinner out at 4 pm and I'll help mom with her Christmas letter and cards tomorrow.  Since she's not heard anything about surgery we are assuming that it won't happen now until the new year.

And I think (I hope!) I've got a good enough photo of the roses on her wall.  I'll go tomorrow and make arrangements for an enlargement.  It might not be as large as the original, but I don't think mom will mind too much.

Once all that was done I stared at my pile of paperwork and decided that it could wait another day or two.  With the holidays upon us I don't think people are too worried about hearing back from me.  I only have one thing that's critical and I'll see about working on it after dinner.  Who knows, once one thing is done I might just steam roller through the rest.

Or maybe I'll weave some more.  The first 4 mats are done which means that this 9 yard warp is about 1/3 woven.  Tomorrow I'll number crunch for the next Big Project warp and maybe get that beamed, too.  Or maybe Wednesday as it may take a couple of hours to deal with mom's cards.  I'll see how the day goes.

Currently reading Season of Darkness by Maureen Jennings - the first volume in a trilogy set in England during the 1940's.  The tv show Murdoch Mysteries is based on her original mystery series set in Toronto in the late 1800's.

Recycle, Reuse

As a child of the 50's, I knew my parents were all too aware of the necessity to make do, reuse, recycle so when the 70's and 80's came along I heartily endorsed the lifestyle of composting, reducing waste, using things up.

I weave - a lot.  Therefore I have a lot of thrums.  For many years I gave them to school art classes until the teachers begged me to stop.  They had more than enough!  For a while I threw them away, consoling myself with the thought that at least they were natural and would eventually return to whence they came.

And then I found out that the local Salvation Army had a textile recycling program.  I stopped in at the thrift shop and asked if they wanted my thrums.  The answer was a resounding yes! 

So I set a bin under one of the tables in my studio and began collecting my thrums to give to the SA.

Last summer a friend asked if she could have some to give to her mom because her mom took old yarn and spun it into novelty yarns.  I was happy to do so.

And then she gave me some skeins of the yarns.

Some of the skeins of handspun novelty yarns

It took me a while to decide what to do with the yarn.  It was fairly thick so it seemed best to treat it like I would rag strips and make some thick mats.  Yesterday I beamed a 2/8 cotton warp for placemats and thought I would begin by using up the box full of handspun yarn.

The yarn is far too thick to use a regular shuttle and bobbin.  Here I'm loading a couple of stick shuttles with it.  I don't know if you can see it in the picture but the shuttles are shaped like a thin wedge.  The best way to load these shuttles, I've found, is to figure 8 the yarn around the spine or thick edge of the wedge.  The shuttle and yarn then forms a thick wedge that will fit into the shed without too much difficulty.  I just tie a slip knot and put it over one end of the shuttle and then start winding the figure 8.  The majority of the yarn sits on top of the shuttle so that it is mostly wood on the back or bottom side.

And here is the first mat with the second shuttle just begun.