Monday, April 29, 2013

Back to it!

We've had alot of rain this past weekend and even before that, lots of clouds that made the world seem very dreary. The best thing to do was stay inside and work on a loom!!
I did get a couple of projects woven this week. The first is the warp that I'd just gotten on last Monday, threaded and ready to go.
The weft is natural and it tones down the stripes of the accent yarns but I do like how it ties the colors together. The pieces in this warp will have a calming effect.
 
 I have a yarn I call colonial blue. It's actually not as purplish as it shows on the picture. I'd found a couple of balls of a yarn that had that blue and a bit of yellow in it so that was the start of this warp. I only had 2 balls so it's not as long a warp either.
The color in the middle is that accent yarn plus a couple of cones of yellow that match it. It's a nice yellow, not too bright.
 This picture shows the color of blue a bit better. Because this warp could only be a few yards long, it's got a top and 3 vests on it, that's all. I"ve woven it all and am about to take it off the loom.
So that's been my weaving week. I have another warp ready to go on the loom. I'm hoping to get it on today. It's a royal blue with a strong accent yarn. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it does.

On the washing machine front......technology is great but my almost 6 year old washing machine with all the bells and whistles (and warm rinse) needed a major repair again inspite of them having replaced everything when we were trying to figure out what was wrong last summer (under warranty which of course has run out). So we went to Home Depot and found one without the bells and whistles. It's a basic machine. There are only 2 things I'm not really thrilled about. First, it doesn't have a buzzer to signal when it's done. I'm really surprised about that. I forget about the laundry as it is, so having a buzzer might just remind me that I've got something in there!!
Secondly, it doesn't have a warm rinse. However, none of them do now. Even the really expensive machines. If I can't have a warm rinse, I might as well just get a basic machine where I turn knobs myself on the size of the load, etc. Hopefully this machine will last longer than the other one did, plus it has an agitator inside. Did you know that the new ones don't? How bizarre is that?!!

This week I only have 2 days to weave. Later this week I'll be taking a 3 day bobbin lace class with Louise Colgan again. I'm excited about this because we always have a good time, bending over our lace pillows and flipping bobbins, creating a tiny picture at maybe a square inch an hour, if we're lucky!! I'm making a little pansy this time. Hopefully I'll have a picture for you next week. It's a complicated design (for me) so probably won't get it all done in class.
Until next week, keep weaving!!
Carol

6 comments:

LA said...

You got a lot done on those rainy days!!! Lovely warps will produce lovely garments!

Theresa said...

Wow, moving right along...beautiful warp!

Tina J said...

Rainy days are weaving days in this studio too!

Bonnie said...

Nice material. I love that natural. You got a bunch done.

Anonymous said...

One the washing machine, what if you let it drain and then turned it off and ran another (warm) wash cycle without the detergent? Then spin dry. I could do that on my very old machine. I don't know about the new ones.

Kaaren in California

Anonymous said...

That might work!! Hadn't thought of that. This machine has no bells and whistles so I bet I can do that. It doesn't really matter with cotton but if I weave with wool I need the warm to wet finish it. Thanks for the suggestion.
Carol