Topsy Turvey

Why do you make plans? They never seem to work out. My plan for today was to go shopping at Kohl's. I got up early to go. My husband was going to run to Sam's Club while I ran into Kohl's. 9:30 we were just going out the door. Phone rings. Big mistake---he answered it. A phone system was down, he had to fix it. I decided to go on. But not to Sam's. I don't like going there. Oops--I was out of gas. Stopped, got gas-ouch! $40.00. So I decided to go back home to make one trip at a time.(save gas). I went back home and then started weaving. I was working on my shadow weave towels. Looking good. I really like this one. BUT-here it comes. I am weaving on my Macomber loom. It still has a bit of a problem. I program it but it to pick up 4 shafts. During the weaving it will just drop or not pick one up. I have to watch very close. I was really in a rhythm and did not catch several misses. So maybe somebody out there has a solution to this. Also when I advance and tighten the warp, start to weave the brake or something just gives with a big clang and the warp drops down. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Bonnie

I consented to what?

Here is a photo of my loom room, the front bedroom of my small-but-adequate-for-one-person-with-a-lot-of-stuff house. Do you see room for an AVL in there? I must confess that the Harrisville on the left and the table loom closest to the camera have moved out with Mom, but the photo doesn't show the 7 foot tall Navajo style-loom on the left, or the 36 inch Nilus Artisat behind the table loom. And you might notice the 4 shafts I removed from the Colonial, leaning against the wall, because the 8 shafts are too much for me to deal with right now.

I have the foolish hope that one of these days, my job will settle down and I will no longer need to work 12 hours a day to get done, enabling me to weave more, be less tired and able to scale large looms in a single bound. Besides, who gets an AVL for free? The back bedroom will be re-arranged, then. My guests will have to set up the aero bed in the living room, the desk will move over, I'll lose my sewing area, but I will welcome the AVL into my house and one day, learn how to use it! Wish me courage!

Maggie

p.s. LouAnn, Leo is in the window!

It's Tuesday

It's Tuesday folks, and we are all here! Pat has joined us again, back from a much needed vacation. Sharon, one of our new weavers has cut off her warp and is winding on a new one! Maggie is on her last placemat, Everyone else is plugging along on their projects.
We have found a home for the 16 shaft AVL Loom that was so under utilized here at the center, and so much in the way! Our dear Maggie has consented to loom sit it and see if she can make it sing.
As the new year begins we will then rearrange the looms to see if we can make it a little easier to move around in here.

Winding a Warp

When I first got started in weaving I really didn't like to warp a loom. I mean I REALLY didn't like it at all! As a matter of fact when I saw the end of the warp coming I would weave slower! Now, after warping my looms many, many, (did I say many?) times I don't even give it a thought. This is a photo of 8/2 cotton that I am winding for dish towels. I am using a Louet warping reel that my husband mounted vertically for me. This one piece of equipment that sure makes life easier for me. It is so handy and fast.

Another way to wind a warp is sectionally. Years ago I bought a Union loom and then didn't have a clue as to how to wind a warp on the sectional beam. Thanks to a very dear friend (karen in the woods) learned how to do it. Sectional warping is another way to speed up the warping process. I recently showed the other Tuesday Weavers how to do it. I don't know if I was a good teacher or not but I hope that some of them will give it a try.

Linda

What a mess!

Several months ago I put on an almost white warp. The yarns I use are good ones that I seldom have problems with. However, I noticed that one of the yarns which is comparable to carpet warp in size and strength, was breaking, alot! So I ended up having to bring other yarns in as they broke to weave the warp off. It didn't look as bad as my picture. However, I wound yarn on a bobbin and threaded it in through the heddles and reed from the back and hung them off the back of the loom.

Now, you'd think that I'd have thrown that pesky cone away the minute I realized that it was being a problem. You would assume wrong. Somehow it got thrown in with the rest of my yarns and put back on the shelves after the project was done.

So a couple of weeks ago I needed to weave an all white warp. Of course I unknowingly used that same cone...........for the whole warp..........two threads per inch the whole way across. Yup, the minute I started weaving, threads started snapping. That's when I remembered!

So I immediately started hanging bobbins off the back with new warp threads. It's pretty simple. You wind a bunch onto a bobbin, secure it with a rubber band and just bring the end in through the heddle and reed and then pin to the fabric and throw off the old, weak thread. As I went, I would needle weave the end into the fabric before it went over the breast beam so I wouldn't need to do it later.

The problem with doing this is that every 15 inches or so you have to go to the back of the loom and move each bobbin individually back down to the floor from where it will gradually come back up to the back beam and you have to repeat!

I would weave along fine for 5 or even 10 inches but then threads would begin to pop, 3 or 4 within close succesion.

This picture doesn't show how bad it got. I think almost every thread from that cone broke before I was done. That's about 60 bobbins. Of course I'd wound on about 17 yards. I did cut off the last vest that I was going to weave. It just wasn't worth it by then. It had been suggested that I just cut the whole thing off shortly after I realized what was going on. But, no, I'm too stubborn or too Mennonite to do that! I can be very patient when I have to be.
I did get the warp woven and that cone is empty so it's gone. Yes, I wound the whole cone off in that warp.

Hopefully I will never have another cone like that. I'd like to find out how an 8/4 cotton could be so weak. I get alot of yarn from my source and this is the only time something like that has happened. Must have been a mixup in the spinning process........

The next warp I put on was a bit longer but instead of taking a week to weave, I wove it in just over 2 days. Now that's the kind of warp I like! It's still on the loom but waiting to come off and be processed!

Carol

Weaving Winter Wonderland

I had every intention of blogging about my Challenge Project today...it just wasn't to be! When I woke up this morning I was greeted by this beautiful winter wonderland. When you live in East Tennessee, you learn to treasure these little treats as they come. We don't get a lot of snow as a rule, and it usually doesn't stay too long, either.
In 2006, we had such a day as this. My Mom had come over for the weekend; we were going to have a birthday party for her, but the weather caused us to postpone it until the next weekend. So, with fire in the fireplace, and the Hallmark channel going, she had settled herself in the living room to enjoy a movie. I had learned to weave the previous fall, and my first little loom was also in the living room: "nekid"!!!!! It was the perfect day to weave...that little loom was right by the sliding glass doors, and that snow was sifting down. What to do???
I had carpet warp...no warping board. But, I had kitchen chairs! I turned those chairs up on their bottoms on the bench, and they became my warping board. I measured out a warp for potholders in overshot that Tina had showed me in an old copy of Handwoven. It only took me three tries to get the threading correct, and by the end of that day, I had woven my first potholder. That's not to say my Mom didn't remark about the noise the treadling made while her movie was on!!!! But, she really enjoyed watching the pattern develop, and I treasure that memory of our day together. She snagged one of the potholders, needless to say.
LouAnn

A couple of weeks ago my friend Lou Ann and I had the priveledge to demonstrate at a local high end Bed and Breakfast. The weather was beautiful in the 70's, and that is a stream behind us! Our buddy maggie was there making apple butter to tempt us, and the bees.

Lou Ann wove and I spun and mostly chatted with each other and with the clients as they came thru. We did actually sell one of Carl's table runners!

After everything was done we were treated to a scrumptious lunch provided by the B&B, you can see it was wonderful.

We had the best time going and coming, we are hoping to have the chance to go back again next year.

On the home front, I am done with the weaving part of the group challenge, and will finish up the sewing part today, a whole week and a half ahead of schedule. I am taking plenty of pictures so after our party, I will let you all see the project I chose to do.

Happy Weaving, Tina