It's Your Day!!!!

Carol
  We hope you are having a fantastic day!
Happy Birthday!

Love,
The Tuesday Weavers

Re-building a Loom

Last Tuesday I was rummaging around the Appalachian Arts Crafts Center looking for a small tapestry loom to use as I learn about this form of weaving.  I have a floor model at the house but it is busy right now making fleece rugs.

Anyway, as I was saying I was rummaging around looking in all the corners between boxes, you know the drill, surely there was an odd tapestry loom hanging around somewhere!  I caught sight of piece of wood with a spring stretched across it and I went to investigate.  Sure enough I had found one in the storage area set aside for barn loom pieces!  Although, when I managed to get it out from the barn loom pieces it was only half of a tapestry loom.  I spent a good bit of time looking for the other half of the loom, but it was nowhere to be seen.

I brought it home with me that day, to see if I could come up with any ideas about how to complete it.  I got to thinking about some plans for a tapestry loom that I had seen, made from copper pipe, and I went looking for them and I found them on the "Brennen-Maffei.com" website.





Armed with my diagram and the top half of the loom I went to Downtown Hardware in Oak Ridge, TN to see if they could help me.  We talked about what I was trying to do, and having the diagram really helped them to see what I was trying to accomplish.  I ended up leaving the dear loom with them over night as they fitted the new pieces.

The completed loom has a 36inch height and a 31inch width.  There are the threaded rods and bolts to use as a tensioning device and the cute angle pieces at the bottom to hold the crossbar in place.

The pieces are not yet glued together, and I think I will be bringing this piece to the Center on Tuesday to get some opinions about it.  I am thinking that I may have gone a little overboard in the over all height of the loom, the diagram we used was for a much narrower loom, so I figured that as we were already adding to it for width we may as well add to the height.   I also think it might be wise to reenforce that lower crosspiece by inserting a dowel or a rod of some sort into it before we apply any glue.

The loom is back in pieces and ready to go back to the Center for an evaluation, I don't know what I would do without this weekly get together with the Tuesday Weavers, where we share ideas and finished objects, hopes and dreams, and sorrows and joys.  I hope you have someone in your life that will cheer you on too!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

Yahoo!!!!

  I may be cheering too quickly, but, this is the first time I have been able to fill a bobbin with spun fiber!!!!!  In the past, my spinning has actually been plying--I made lots of art yarn a few years back.  Don't get me wrong....that was tons of fun repurposing yarn.  But, I wasn't spinning.
  But, I yearned to sit at the wheel and turn fiber into yarn.  (I did always love the tale of Rumpelstiltskin....and who can resist the story of Sleeping Beauty and her spindle?  Someday my prince will come......)  Plus, this might be in my DNA....just saying.
  So, I'm feeling very encouraged by my accomplishment.  I'll keep going, and keep working on making a consistent yarn from this lovely wool.  Then, I'm going to add all the pretty things........  The fiber world awaits!!!!

  This is NOT a happy kitty!
I took Sweetie and Biscuit in for their yearly checkup, and Dr. Paul noticed that Sweetie's front fang was very loose.  The decision was made to keep her overnight, and remove the tooth this morning.
  I got the call midday that she was out of surgery and they had to remove FIVE teeth.  Bless her little heart!!!!
  Needless to say, she is not happy with me.  (She did come up to me about an hour ago for some loving...I was starting to get worried!!!)
  The funny part is that I was late getting going this morning since my "alarm clock" wasn't here!  I actually got to sleep in an extra hour!!!!

  It's hard to tell much from this picture since it was shot from inside the house, but the hummingbirds have been very busy this week.  I usually only have 2-3 hummingbirds at a time, but there have been at least six buzzing around every day.  I'm making large batches of liquid ahead of time to keep up with the demand.  You can tell that migration season is starting!
  I don't mind....I love to watch them and listen to the chirping sounds they make.  They are truly wonderful little creatures!
  Don't you just love this time of the year?  I'm looking forward to spending some spinning time on the porch in the next few days.  I need to keep this momentum going!!!

Happy Weaving (and spinning!!!)
LouAnn

Community

  Welcome back, Sara!  It's been a few years, but with a little schedule change, she is going to be able to join us again.  Besides loving to weave, she wants to be part of our weaving community.
  I understand!!!  (We often say that being part of the Tuesday Weavers is just cheap therapy!!!)

  So....today we wrote out her weaving plan (remember to start a weaving notebook!)  After all the math, Marie set up the warping mill, and Sara got ready to wind her warp.  She got half of it done and chained off today.  We'll start the second half next week.






  Another great part of being in our community is sharing our weaving projects and trouble shooting weave structures.  Marie just finished a honeycomb project, and she brought her sample today.  Ray has just started a honeycomb project, too!  This discussion concerned draw in and carrying the heavy thread up the sides of the project.

   Helen is working her way through her first project on the table loom.  Today she did some trouble shooting with a loose thread....yes, hang a weight!!!  Ask us.....we know these things!











 
  Lanny has returned from Scotland, and he has some wonderful pictures of his trip.  It's always nice when our fiber friends return (he saw the restored tapestries at Stirling Castle!!!!)










 There's usually a warp going on a loom somewhere in the studio....Joan was busy today with her new warp. 
















   Then, there's the knee knockers!!!!  You know....the placemats on the cloth beam are up against your knees!!!  Linda might have to cut these off pretty soon!

  The gray weft is working with this pink warp.  Marie is on the right track.














  Those blue jeans look great with that red warp, Carl!  Another ribbon winning rug, I think!








   Bonnie took the vacuum cleaner back to the old barn loom and got up all the lint and threads.  While she had the vacuum out, she just tidied up a bit!









   Welcome back, Anna!  She been traveling, too, this summer.  It's so nice to have our friends back in the fold.
  *****We all hope Carol is having a great time with her sister!  I wonder how many quilts they will make this summer!






  Yes....you guessed!  We had home baked lemon cake for a treat today!  Bonnie baked this for us from Shirley's recipe!
  Isn't it fun being part of this community????!!!!


Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Looper Rug

I have not finished the looper rug that is on the rug loom yet,  I got distracted.  I thought I could at least share with you some pictures of my progress so far.

After a tiny bit of sampling, I figured out that it takes 4 rows of loopers on the rug to make 2 inches, and around 7 loopers to make it across the loom.  Once I had that information, I made some rough chains with a stripped rug in mind.

I think it is going well, even if it is a little fiddly.

Close up,  these loopers are very different than the ones I used on the previous rug.  These are heftier and at the same time shorter, that is why I had to sample.

You can easily see the difference in the selvedge tuft on the 2 rugs.  This second rug will be much more substantial all around, and it will be fun to compare the two once they are off of the loom.

I hope to finish this rug this week or next, because I have many more color combinations of loopers that I want to try, but life, and distractions, often get in the way.

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

Plans

  The Anderson County Fair is over, but, Carl got to share his ribbon winning entries with the Weavers today.  The number one question was, "What kind of rug won the BLUE ribbon?"
  I wasn't as concerned about checking on the competition as I was seeing how our entries did!!!  I promise to take careful notes next year!















  Tina went to a fiber show this weekend, and came home with some lovely braids to play with.  (And, they are super lovely to touch, too!!!!)  Stay tuned to her blogs to see what she has planned!

   I'm sure Carol is planning all kinds of projects that she's going to do with her sister in the coming weeks!
  It looks like Alyce is almost finished with her warp....that means she'll be planning her next project!  Helen is probably close to being finished, too. 










   Carl finished the threading, and it was time to wind on that red warp.  With Tina and Carl holding the reins, we wound that puppy onto the warp beam.  After tying on next week, there will be a new batch of blue jean rugs!!!







  Ms. Ila works hard keeping the Ladies on task.    Or, at least, she says she's working hard.......












  Marie is starting the next shawl on the bold pink warp.  I think this one will have a light gray weft...we'll check on that next week.
  Linda is back from her trip and working on her placemat warp.  She has quite a few finished ones wound up on the cloth beam!







  Sharon and Liz were working in the middle of the pack of "wolves."  That means more scarves for the fall sales!









 
  WOW!!!!  Four shawls came off of Jocelyn's loom this afternoon!  Now this is some kind of wonderful!!!








  As we finish up the projects on our looms, we're thinking about the Fall sales, which will be here before we know it! 

So much to weave....so little time!!!!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Summer Guild Fair

Summer guild fair is in the books! This year the Southern Highland Craft Fair was only 3 days long. The big controversy is whether we should continue at 3days or go back to 4. Four days is a very long time but having the extra day for sales can be beneficial. 

I had a good show.

Taking pictures with my iPad probably isn't the smartest thing to do but when the lights are dimmed, it's the best I can do.

My booth is a mixture of cotton and bamboo. The drapey pieces are bamboo and the others are cotton. A fair number of these pieces found new homes over the weekend.

This picture below doesn't show the beautiful caribe of the top on the left or the royal blue on the right but you get the idea of display.

A rack of jackets just waiting to tempt people.

Black and red. The jacket on the right is predominantly black, the one on the right predominantly red. Both of them plus the purse on the left found new homes.

Black, grey and white jackets look stunning on the right person. It's got a new home, too. She looked awesome with this jacket on.

My summers are very hectic. After the convention in Nashville for a week, then the guild fair this weekend, I have to shift gears again and quickly get things packed away til the show in October. That's because I leave Wednesday for my annual trip north to visit my sister. DH will be home taking care of the cats and collecting all the treasures they find in my studio and bring up the stairs. Those cats are a mess. He keeps saying he's going to get a camera to see which one it is. I suspect Belle is the one. Thursday morning when I was coming down the steps to the studio, there was a lb cone of yarn on the third step. Those cats managed to get it off the cutting table to the floor and carried it up three steps. No telling what they'll do next! Good thing they also catch mice. DH can take care of those, too!

No weaving for me the next month but I hope you have time to throw your shuttle a time or two!

Until next time, keep weaving!

Carol