Fiber-licious News

 As reported here yesterday by LouAnn, as well as at the Clinch Valley Handweavers' Guild blog, likewise by our roving reporter, LouAnn, Saturday was Dyeing Day for both the Tuesday Weavers and the CVHG.  Lots of dyeing action going on, as you can see.  Some had preconceived ideas; some came, saw, dyed.  Whichever they chose, we all had a good time.
  Cathy wound her warp and skein when she got to the center, then very meticulously colored in the segments.  Pat got down and dirty, impersonating Jackson Pollack while using up the leftover cups of dye.

Carol dyed skeins in large swaths of concentrated color, while LouAnn dabbed on specific colors she'd found in a catalog from a sweater named Aurora Borealis.




  I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I had fun deciding.  Below are the four 9-yard warps of 120 ends each that I wound this past week.  They are destined to be ikat-like stripes in upholstery fabric, if I don't lose my nerve!

Here they are in the sink in my kitchen tonight, soaking, which is where they are at this very moment.   Below are the other pieces I dyed.  The turquoise is carpet warp skein for weft that I dyed for Mom, since she couldn't make it.  The long pink and purple is for her, as well, a warp 6 yards long, of bamboo.  The one hiding in the back will probably be weft in kitchen towels, or...  who knows?

   LouAnn told you all about the big exchange.  Here is my loot:  A scarf made by LouAnn, the embroidery floss in the warp, along with some mohair and wool, as well as the mug rug and matching mug made by Ila.  I wore my scarf to brunch yesterday, then came home for a mug of tea, using mug & rug.

Then I settled into the next project.   Do you think blogger will ever figure out what side is up with our looms?  This is a bamboo warp, 773 ends, 24 epi, for baby blankets.  The pattern is Sun, Moon & Stars from Davison, a pattern I've been dying to make for a long time, just because of the name.  It's the perfect name for a pattern for baby blankets, I think.  I'll be using the dyed weft from our last dye day, and I'll keep you posted on its progress.
  There's been knitting and baking, too, but I've been up too long already, and I still have that orange yarn in the kitchen sink.  Have a wonderful week weaving!
Maggie

TA-DA...The Reveal

Tina took this picture way back when.....Pat wanted to challenge us to use up a lot of the stash at the Center.  These are several tubs of fine thread, and the challenge was to make a scarf:  one to give and one to keep.  Yesterday at the Center, we revealed our scarves and exchanged them with our fellow Tuesday Weavers.

Carl and Allan agreed to model them for us!  Look at all the variations!!!  Click on the picture so you can get a close up!  What a talented group of weavers!

And, the mugs and mug rugs were unbelievable!  Such a beautiful variety of techniques and colors. 
Even our newest weaver joined in the challenge, and wove her mug rug without a loom!

There were lots of oooo's and ahhhh's.

All of that anticipation was worth it!

And....I would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of  some of food we had for our potluck!  This wasn't ALL the food....oh no.....the stove top was loaded down, too!



We got a lot of dyeing done, also....just so you know.  I posted some of the pictures on the blog at the Clinch Valley Handweavers Guild.

And, now the new challenge goes out:  BAMBOO Shawls/Wraps
We will be buying large cones of natural bamboo.  Our challenge will be to design and weave a wrap/shawl.  I think I can see some more warp dyeing going on!!!!!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

That's What I'm Talkin' About!

This will be a short post....I'm off to the Center for our winter Dye Day!
  This was the warp from the October Dye Day that I got on my loom after Christmas.  It was a challenge to get on the loom since the threads tangled during the rinse process.  But, once it was on the loom, it was a joy to weave.

I had some 5/2 perle cotton in Bermuda Blue to use for weft, and it was so much fun seeing the design appear.  The weaving went quickly, and before I knew it, the end of the warp was trying to kiss the heddles.  I would have liked to been able to weave just a few more inches, but the end was there!  I know that today I will allow about 13-14 inches on both ends for the fringes if I want it to be symmetrical. 

As soon as I cut the scarf off the loom and took it to the table, Cici jumped up to weigh it down so I could twist the fringe!  (Is that a well trained cat or what?)

I really did not have a plan when I dyed this warp, but I have two warps planned for today!  I saw a sweater in one of the many catalogs that I got during the holidays, and the color scheme was called Aurora Borealis....different shades of blue and purple!  That's my plan for one of the scarves.  I want to add some shades of green to the blues and purples for the other scarf.
OK....I've got to get ready for today!  Lots going on!
I'll post pictures this afternoon from our scarf and mug rug exchange!!!  So, stay tuned for an update!
Happy Weaving (and Dyeing!)
LouAnn

Clips and Clamps!

Here are the "Crocodile Clips" that came in the mail last week.  They really are called that!  I have them set up well enough to use, but I plan to tweak it a little.

The "clip" clips onto the side of the fabric.  One on each side.  There is a cord attatched to the other end of the clip that  has a hole for  that very purpose.

I weave until I have about 2 inches of woven fabric behind the clip.  Then I release the clip by pressing that little button on top which releases the sleeve that fastens the clip.  Then I advance the clip.  I can do this about 3 times before I have to advance the cloth itself.

The directions I read said to use large eyebolts and screw them into your loom so that the cord can go straight out from the fabric.  I am a little hesitant right now to do that so I have used a c-clamp instead. 

The problem with this clamp is that it really isn't big enough for the job, so I do plan to go get some really big ones that will allow me to have the weights come directly off the fabric instead of at an angle like it is now.  Yes, that is a shoe hanging off the clamp, I also plan to get some more heavy duty washers, since I am supposed to have about 1.5 lbs hanging off each side.

As it is set up right now, I am getting about 2 more inches in the weaving width, and that makes me happy.  I wove the first one on the cloth beam without the clamps and this one with the clamps, I can't wait to see how much of a difference there is in the finished cloth.


Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

What is on my looms

I thought I would show you what I have going on three of my floor looms. On the Union I had some how miscounted the revolutions when I was sectionally warping for another project, Three sections had some warp left. Thankfully they were next to each other so I decided to weave up some mug rugs. This is a great way to use up small amounts of yarn left from other projects.

Next is the Schacht. I also have a warp on there for mug rugs. This is the warp I used for the mug rug challenge. Sorry, that is all you get to see until Saturday! See the darker pieces of wood on the sides of the loom? They are antique lease sticks.  I sometimes use them with  homemade temples.

Lastly here is the Gilmore. This is a warp for another table runner order. After I took this picture I threaded the reed so I am farther along than you see here.

As I was getting ready to leave the studio today I felt a twinge of excitement. I HAVE MY VERY OWN BIG STUDIO! This is like a dream come true for me. I find I am excited about weaving again and I can't wait to get back over there everyday. I think I could weave 24/7!

More snow today. It was only a dusting but it covered everything. Unfortunately, it was gone a few hours later.

Linda

Placemats

As I type this, it's still snowing!! It was supposed to be done by now but they've continued the advisory til about noon today. Hopefully that will be it. It's not going to go above freezing today so everything on the ground will stay until Friday when the temperature creeps above freezing and Saturday, when our dye day is scheduled, it's going to be in the 40s!!! Yeah!!!

Monday afternoon I took some pictures of our place. Good thing DH has a jeep since that's all that will get us out of our place.

 This part of our driveway is the easy part, around the curve to the left  it goes fairly steeply down to our street and then left down the street it's a fairly short but steep drive to another road which will finally get us out to the main road.  We love living up here and wouldn't trade it for anything, so we just deal with the few days a year when it gets really tricky!

 I've not been out since Sunday. So, I'm getting some weaving done. I had an order for 7 placemats. The warp is dark brown and the weft is a combination of 5 neutrals.  I just emailed the person that ordered them. She wrote back that she's at John C Campbell's this week. Boy, am I jealous!! I would love to be there taking a class and learning new things. Maybe someday...

 Of course I put a fairly long warp on. I've woven 18 placemats so far on this warp and I suspect I have 4 or 5 more on there. I had a bit of peach fabric that was cut on the bias about 1/2 wide and on a cone. This was the last bit from a cone I had woven with a year ago. So got a runner with that and then decided to go through my carpet warp for either 6 or 8 placemats using a couple of dark almost purple/burgundy colors, an olive, a navy and blue yarns. 

I really love this new color combination. It's dark but rich. Almost makes me want to put another warp on for placemats and see what combinations I can come up with since I have a fair amount of carpet warp colors here. However, the next warp will have to be back in my production mode. I'm not sure what I"ll put on yet, but hope to wind that warp this afternoon. Also have to wind my warp for the dye day on Saturday. I have a huge cone of cotton that I wound balls off of so that I can wind a warp quickly. Also have a big skein being wound for weft for this project. It'll be something new for me to weave and I'm looking forward to it!
Being stuck at home is kind of nice! We've got power and I made sure we had enough food to last awhile, so we're in fine shape! Not like the blizzard of '93 where we didn't have power for 5 days! So, it's back to my studio for me.
Carol

ANTICIPATION

Today was supposed to be the day!
We were ready!
Gifts were wrapped!
Hints had been leaked!

But, Sherman, in disguise as a snowstorm, roared through the South, and ruined our party!!!!

The picture on the right gives you an idea of this storm.  It came through Sunday night and most of the day yesterday.  I actually got out yesterday afternoon and shoveled a path to the gate and filled up the bird feeders.  It has snowed on and off this morning, but I started a new path, just so you could see the difference.

Carol's are ready to go.......

Bonnie is packed & ready........

Linda has been at work at her studio......

Tina (above) has her gifts ready......




Maggie's are by the door.......

.


Mine are at the ready, too......





So......now we wait until Saturday.  We had a dye day planned, and now it will also be our exchange!  It's supposed to be above freezing by Friday, and the high for Saturday is the low 40's. 
WE ARE READY!!!!
(Get that warp wound for Dye Day!!!)
LouAnn