Moving right along . . .

The Weavers' Group workshop was a lot of fun and deemed to be a success.  Since then I have had a warping weekend of my own, taking advantage of having my warping board wheeled out into the lounge for more space and light.  I now have a fine navy wrap on the loom, looking good, and warps waiting in the wings for tablecloth, napkins, teatowels and hot-plate mats.  No photos yet but I hope to get a fair bit of weaving done during September as I intend to stay home for the whole month.  Yes, I know, I should be in the garden . . . but . . .  I also must remember to send my entries for the Area Exhibition in Westport. 

Warping Week!

The past week has been spent preparing for a weavers' workshop next weekend.  Each warp is a gamp of some sort . . . twill and colour-and-weave predominate.  Drafts are sorted and warps are wound. All I need to do now is prepare the paperwork and get copies made.  Who knows what will emerge from this lot but I am looking forward to it.  Here are the 'surprise packages' waiting for the weavers.

This one is a colour blending exercise . . . it took the longest!

Last of the Blues

A couple of small blankets or knee rugs have emerged from pretty much the last of the thicker blue yarns I had accumulated. 

I am not greatly enamoured of the space dyed yarns used in the weft, especially the one that goes so dark in places it is almost black.  It gives dark horizontal lines that detract from the twill line.  In use they are not so noticeable. I suppose if I did my own dyeing I could avoid these problems.

Now I have worked off all the fluffy stuff I am ready for something finer.  This is no.50 Egyptian sewing cotton set at 40epi.

Threading the heddles was a bit of a mission but I used a straight draw on 8 shafts and tied each 8 ends together in a slip knot. That made it easy to sley it 4 ends per dent in a 10 dent reed.  It was only if the slip knot came undone I had do do some sorting out.  It was a dream to wind the warp with one reel of cotton and fit another one directly on to the shuttle to weave.  No knots, no joins, no breaks .  Why did I think it might be difficult?  it wove up really fast in plain weave.  What am I going to do with it?  Watch this space.

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.