Transformation

Weaving has taken a back seat for a few days while I have been finishing a project which is to be part of an exhibition at the Marlborough Museum later in the year.  Several Creative Fibre members were given an opportunity to inspect items from the Museum's textile collection and choose one to use as a subject to 'transform;'  not to reproduce it but use it for inspiration to create something using either colour, shape, texture or motif from the original.  Because I thought I could happily use tatting for this project I chose a purple pillbox shaped hat with bold gold decoration and here is my transformation with a photo of the original alongside.  I reversed the colours and toned down the gold somewhat and turned the shape into a covered box.

I had experimented a bit first and here is my first attempt. At least it was started first but finished last.

I have some weaving though and taken a couple of knee rugs off the loom. I will post photos of them when the finishing is done.  I'm now looking forward to weaving something much finer.

His 'n' Hers

Here is the finished blanket that I had trouble seeing in the winter gloom. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.  The photos make it look a lot brighter blue than the reality which is a dark navy, especially the thick yarn which is almost black.

It is to be a companion to another one in a similar weave but a more feminine colour which I wove a little while ago.

On with the work . . . more blues on the loom now.

Light in the Darkness

What sort of idiot would choose winter time to weave a dark navy blanket?  Yours truly, that's who.  My weaving room is on the south-west corner of the house and in winter I can really only weave in the mid to late afternoons when the sun comes round.  Well, there hasn't been any sun for the last couple of days and I really did want to get this off the loom.

So here's the solution . . .

One light on my head and a couple of little ones underneath.  I don't know who invented LED lights but whoever it is deserves a medal.  Will post a pic of the blanket when the finishing is finished.

Lightweight Sofa Throw

Another blue creation, another merry mix of fibres.  This has two different wool yarns in the warp; a slub in multi-blues from the Little Wool Company for the thin thread and a bulky unspun also multi-hue from Turkey for one of the thick ones.  The other thick yarn is a pale blue boucle from Italy which says it is 35% polamide (nylon), 30% wool, 20% acrylic and 15% alpaca.  As if that is not enough the  slub weft yarn is a shiny acrylic with the thin being the same as the thin warp.  It all makes for a very light throw. It used a total of 581 grams of yarn including the waste. . . finished weight 533g.

I sometimes think I make my throws too long but I do like them when they go the full lenth of my sofa.

Blue Wrap

My latest creation is this wrap in bamboo with panels of dark blue Bronson lace in slub cotton.

The main warp is bamboo and it took quite a while to decide what to add to it to make it interesting.  On its own it was not quite wide enough for a wrap and also I felt it looked quite flat and bland even though it is multi-hued.  At Festival I found some nice dark blue slubby cotton on the DEA stall. I intend it for another use but stole a bit off the cone to make the lace stripes and even used it for the weft. I'm very satisfied with the look of the result.  It is quite light and drapes well.  I'm not too sure about the bamboo though.  It seems to crease quite readily and I suspect it might pill.  Time will tell.

The Long and Short of It

This is one result of a short investigation into shrinkage and wrinkleage.  A new book 'Magic Materials to Weave' by Lotte Dalgaard covers cruel and unusual punishments to make perfectly beautiful fabric into wrinkled and distorted caricatures of itself. Some methods use yarns with differential shrinkage and others, as here, include 'kinky' yarns that behave differently when washed.  I think I am over it now.  I really love perfectly smooth merino fabric.

Today I would have had a wrap off the loom if it wasn't for phone calls, visitors and a visit to the opera . . . Rigoletta from the New York Met, set in Las Vegas in 1960. A perfect setting for the story but I would really like to see it set 400 years earlier. Some fabulous singing from people I've never heard of. The music will still be going round in my head when I'm weaving tomorrow.

Festival 2013

Just back from having a great time at Festival. Stayed in a house with 10 other people where we were very comfortable. 

Here are the three pieces I had accepted for the exhibition.

 I was pleased with the way my fabric was hung - in fact all the fabrics were well displayed.

The long linen runner earned me a Merit certificate from the Linen Trust.

This one is shorter and is a mixture of linen and cotton. Both were displayed flat, which was nice as several table pieces, of necessity, had to be hung on a wall . . . one of the problems of exhibiting in a gallery.  On the whole the exhibition was great - only one or two things I would have displayed differently.