awayuq

getting things done

I came into the office to do various things and the baby blanket was here so I finished knitting up the border and sewing it on. Phew-- I'm glad it's done, since the mother is very close to due. We're hoping to present it early next week... I'll have pictures!

Besides that the day was spent with lots of textile thoughts for Monday's workshop though not much to show here. I finished the little weaving samples, so I now have half a dozen. I hope they are helpful. I also decided to make handouts after all-- I wasn't going to, but my boss said it might be a good idea... luckily I already had lots of the pictures already created. The handouts describe plain weave, balanced and warp and weft faced; tapestry; supplementary weaves; doubleweave; gauze; and complementary warp weaves.

I left the complementary warp weave sample for last-- in part because I wasn't sure I remembered how to do it, and in part because the doing it always reminds me of my very best friend, the person I love the most in the entire world. He taught me how. He died far too soon for those of us who are left. I'll miss him as long as I live.

another lucky day

on which I saw far too many fascinating things to describe in the few minutes before I tear myself away from the computer and head outdoors. I'll just throw out a few teasers:

--gauze as the basis for embroidery. Imagine a ground of 1x1 leno, warp and weft spaced so as to leave approximately square holes... now imagine weaving through that ground cloth with colored threads of your choice. Even changing the texture by the direction in which you weave the colors.
--complementary weft. How do you do it?
--warp-faced stripes; leno stripes; overspun weft. Add color, play with stripe proportions--leno stripes providing transluscency, warp faced stripes adding substance. Endless possibilities.
--Allover 1x1 leno looks very different when made with plied & balanced yarns. Hmm.
--Large warp crossings (say, 4x4 or 6x6) can make a sweet and subtle pattern on a plain weave ground cloth. There are no restrictions on how many of them can go vertically or horizontally so any design would be possible (unlike, for instance, fair isle knitting which can be plotted out on squares but in which you want to avoid long floats). Go to your favorite book of charted patterns, there are hundreds of gauze experiments waiting to be woven. Tea towels anyone? Oh, but let me ask first-- will this technique lead to ripples in the cloth?

Still to come: ancient workbasket.

This weekend's textile endeavors: complementary warp weave sample. Baby blanket border. Industry will be rewarded because if I work *very* hard, I may next week get to sew something summery for my ***vacation***!

unseen efforts

Summer is almost here. I struggled with an intense writing project over the weekend and I have only one more to do and then-- bliss. In spite of gorgeous weather and other preoccupations (Archie Goodwin), there has in fact been a little bit of textile activity going on. I've been creating examples of various peruvian weave structures in coarse cotton thread. Next week I am giving a short workshop about textiles and my hope is that these examples will help people be able to see what is actually going on in the cloth-- thus why it is so amazing. So far I've done balanced plain weave (most of the audience will be non-weavers, so we'll start simple), warp and weft faced pw, supplementary weft, gauze, and doubleweave. These are small samples with thick thread so they go susprisingly quickly. I wind the "warp" over a small wooden frame, the kind that could be used to stretch canvas for painting. The weft is inserted with a needle, so it's not true weaving, but I have found it surprisingly relaxing. It is also comforting to know that I can reproduce all these structures without the help of heddles; working thread by thread, you really have to know what each one is supposed to do, you can't rely on having set the loom up correctly. The plain weaves were simple of course but I was a little unsure about recreating doubleweave this way until I tried it. I am now reassured.

It's quite likely that there are very few people who care as much about textile structure as I do. But I get asked on average once every two weeks "what's the difference between complementary weave and double weave?" or "why is it complementary and not supplementary?" I won't detail the (ahem) discussions I've had trying to convince people by asking "well, if it's supplementary, where's the ground cloth?" Oh, it must be in there somewhere, is the usual reply. Right. Anyway-- I hope these large-scale examples will help clear up some of the confusion. Doubleweave. Makes a pocket. Stick your finger between the layers. See?

unexpected delights

A couple of weeks ago a woman I know slightly from my church asked me if I know how to crochet. Sure! I said. Crochet is the first fiber-ish pursuit I taught myself, before knitting, before sewing. I haven't done it in years but I doubt I'll ever forget how. "Would you teach me?" she asked. She saw me and some others knitting and crocheting in a reading group we're all a part of, and decided to re-learn. She wants to make baby blankets to donate to various charities. So of course I agreed to help.

I love teaching people to do something I love. In this case I can't say I really taught her, just helped her remember what to do. She was making stitches in no time, and we went over the pattern she chose for her first project, a nice lacy shell stitch. I got to visit her home, which is gorgeous, and I ate a delicious lunch with her and her partner. When I explained I am interested in Peruvian textiles he brought out an object he'd found years ago in an antique store. It is a little boat, wrapped in fabric, with three small dolls inside. The dolls' faces are flat, with embroidered features and headbands; they all have cloths on their heads, and tiny fingers wrapped with yarn. Very much in the style of ancient Peru. I can't judge how old the thing is, I am no good at that; but the cloth was fascinating. There were scraps of gauze from at least three different pieces, brown cotton, white cotton, green cotton. He offered to let me examine it in more detail sometime, and I think I will, because it's quite possible that the fabric is really old.

After that I went to an art store I'd never been to before, on a quest for some sort of stiff frame on which to make weaving samples. A bit vague, I know. I was envisioning some nice firm matt board cut in smallish rectangles with holes in the center. I wandered around the main floor-- stationery and pens-- and the upstairs-- every kind of paint and paintbrush you could possibly want-- and was losing hope. Then I figured out they have a basement.

WOW.

What an incredible resource! Besides every kind of sketching and writing and drawing and drafting paper, with squares and lines and plain, from pocket size to dining room table size, and binders, and canvas, and foamcore, and journals and stencils and plastic sheet covers for film and slides and photos, and the kind of stick-on letters you put on your mailbox... besides all that they have a section with sewing-related things. Now I confess there's a lot I don't like about objects made with cheap felt and glue guns and pompoms. But-- they have an entire wall of DMC floss, in just about every color. Perle cotton in two sizes. Aha! Small bits of color to weave hakima bands. They have every color of 6-strand embroidery floss-- gee, it was enough to make me want to make friendship bracelets again. They have crochet cotton, the kind that makes you think of bedspreads from the 40's, and tatting thread. Tatting. Now that's something I've always wanted to do and haven't learned yet. Hmm. All in all, the wares sent my mind whirling into new project possibilities.

Oh, and I found what I was looking for. Small wooden frames, sturdy and cheap. So I've already started on those weaving samples.

shhh..... project bambino

Look what we made!

I knit with a fabulous bunch of women who work in my building and nearby. Our one-time lunch get together has turned into a weekly gathering, and it is lots of fun! One of the group is having a baby-- due in a couple weeks-- and this blanket is for her and her new son. Everyone has been working on their squares for the past month or so, and yesterday we had a secret meeting to arrange them and start stitching. Here we are seaming (click on the image to make it bigger):
Would you believe some of these women have been knitting less than a year? All of the squares are so nice, we can hardly wait to finish putting it together. There will be another clandestine sewing party next week, and we hope to present it to the mother-to-be shortly after that. Here's a group smile:

What a great group of people!

early color review

Over the past couple of days I've had a chance to begin reading Deb Menz' new book "Color Works". I'm only on page 37 or so. My preliminary opinion: buy this book *now*. If you work with fiber or paper or beads, if you weave or quilt or stamp, if you make wall-size tapestries or miniature sweaters-- get this book. The examples themselves are well worth the price. Every other page has nine swatches in different techniques showing the color ideas explained. The creation of these examples alone must have been a gargantuan job. Seeing the color theories at work in yarn, knitted fabric, woven fabric, embroidery, beadwork, and piecing is a great help in envisioning the theoretical in the real world. No doubt I'll have more to say once I finish reading, but for now my opinion remains: pounce on this book if you can find it.

service!

I ordered a new warping board from WEBS on Tuesday afternoon... I just got a delivery from them and unless I am very much mistaken, it's the warping board! Already! WEBS has always given me good service, but this is incredible. No special shipping was requested. I'm surprised it could get here so fast. Now I have no more excuses for a naked loom.

Speaking of weaving stuff, if you haven't checked out Ralph Griswold's digital archives recently, do so with all due speed. I've been out of the loop on these things for a while and when I visited the site the other day I was stunned at the amount of precious references available there. Invaluable. Many sincere thanks to Ralph for creating and maintaining this site.

we are dry

The scarf with handspun green cotton weft is fully finished. This article was last seen here wet, just out of the first washing. Since then it has survived several rainstorms and more washings. It happened to be dry this morning and I thought I'd better take a picture while it was in that state, since with spring and all, it's hard to count on keeping dampness and bedraggledness at bay. It's still not crinkling at all, but the texture is lovely. Softer than the hard-twisted two ply commercial cotton. I'd love to be able to weave with all handspun cotton singles-- imagine what a luxuriously snuggly fabric that would be! I think I may have to get texsolv heddles first. The thought of subjecting those handspun yarns to metal heddle eyes brings frightening images of threads snapping here there and everywhere. I've heard of people weaving cotton with sizing and without, and I am undecided. I'd probably try without first, just to make sure it's worth the extra trouble.

Here's another view, a little closer. The first week this was finished I wore it every day, I like it so much. There was a lot of grief in my life while it was on the loom, entirely unrelated to its construction, and it is nice to feel that the textile can survive such adversity. Perhaps for that reason I find it comforting to wrap around my neck.

Now the loom is empty and I'm hoping to do a surge of spring sewing in the studio. And then maybe fabric for a bathrobe, and some linen towels. I have some skeins of yellow and orange cotton slub which I dyed over Christmas break; they should weave up into a cuddly bright fabric for a kimono-style robe. Speaking of warping, today I ordered a warping board. A replacement for the one whose peg broke so inconveniently while I was making my last warp. Ugh. I truly hope this one is sturdier. I'm getting a McMorran balance too.

I saw a few looms at MDSW. Fireside FiberArts was there, showing a floor loom and a vertical tapestry loom. Their looms are very beautiful, but only go up to 8 shafts, or so I was told. They sell my favorite end-feed shuttles too, which I always knew as Bluster Bay shuttles-- boy am I glad I bought mine years ago! They are more than $70 now. Yikes. I will protect my two carefully. I had a chance to try a Kessenich loom. Oddly enough, I'd never heard of this company before. The looms seem very sturdy, very heavy, and they work well. Again though, maximum of 8 shafts. What I need is a serious 16 - 24 shaft loom, countermarche, very sturdy, double back beam, that does not require a computer to run. That is, has real treadles-- yes, even though 16 or 24 treadles be required. LeClerc used to make one and the last conference I went to they said no, all their looms with more than 8 are computer driven. I may end up buying a Glimakra or Toika. Bringing myself back down to earth, I realize that such a loom would not fit in my condo, even if I could get it up the stairs in bits and pieces. A larger house will have to come first. But it's not a bad thing to have long-term goals in mind.

books don't count

or What I Bought At MDSW. My friend June was admirable. She reminded me of my resolve and set a good example. While we were cruising the booths together I spent almost nothing.

After we separated, the story was a little different. From left to right you see cormo/silk roving, 90/10. The cormo was so bouncy I couldn't resist. Then 4 oz of bamboo. I love cellulose fibers; I'm very curious about this. At first twist it feels a little like linen. I'd guess it dyes wonderfully, may have to try that too. Finally some corrieadale something or other cross rats I am so bad with remembering sheep breeds-- part of a silver fleece overdyed teal. The color called to me. A pound of it made it home squished into my suitcase-- enough for a sweater probably. I hope. All in all, moderate stash enhancement.

But how can a woman resist enlarging her library? Especially when weaving books are so hard to find and so rare and go out of print so fast and then become impossible to acquire? You'll notice I did get the Deb Menz book-- I haven't had a chance to browse it yet but I'm likely to have opinions when I do. The Peggy Osterkamp warping books, which have been on the To Buy list for several years now; a book on doubleweave and one on tablet woven images (with lots of charts! hooray!) Finally a new book on two-stranded knitting. The lady in the Yarn Barn booth recommended it for structure people, so I decided to chance it. In flipping through I noticed it does at least mention S and Z twist and the differences in knitting with them, a good sign. Now all I need is a week on a remote island, to absorb all this fine literature.

Spinners, what do you do with 4 oz of fiber? I think I collect so much fiber because I'm used to thinking I need a pound or more to make anything significant. What can I do with 4 oz of cormo roving? A very fine lace scarf?

I'm in LOVE

And he’s available! Since I promised to report on my MDSW experience, I'm going to tell you all about him. We are geographically separated right now, but he’s willing to relocate, and I have hopes that finally I may be a part of a lasting loving relationship! He stands a little taller than I do. He has an elegant style, a little old-fashioned, but he’s also practical. His skin is smooth and tawny. He moves silkily and silently, with restrained grace. We walk well together. He is flexible and creative and knows how to make many different things. He’s interested in my fiber pursuits, and even wants to help! Even though we just met, I know we could have a fulfilling and productive life together. I am sure I’ll love him as much 40 years from now as I do today. He is well balanced, and says my lifestyle and goals are a natural fit for him. We satisfy each other in other ways too--he responds to my lightest touch, and is sensitive and patient. His (ahem) drive is astounding, and he is so versatile! Ten minutes or two hours, he’s happy to play fast, slow, or anywhere in between. His shaft is long and smooth and straight, with the most luscious rounded tip. As for diameter -- (pause for swooning) -- he has the absolute largest I have ever experienced. It makes me shiver with ecstasy just to look at him.

The Wyatt Great Wheel. I want one.