Spring?

      SPRING!
  It's time to get the rocker beater loom ready for visitors!  I didn't get the warp wound at home, but, I spent my time cleaning the wood and counting heddles.  The rubber mallet helped get the pegs back snugly in place.  She's ready for that warp.
















    I left the old warp on the loom for now.  The bright colors look so much nicer from the doorway!  The second graders who were visiting the Museum had a lot of questions about the purpose of the loom.  Weaving cloth is just beyond their imagination!
  Since I'll be weaving rugs this year, I told them to look at the rugs in the cabin loft bedrooms.  They are handwoven rag rugs!

  It was a little nippy in the Loom House, but walking in the sunshine warmed me up a bit.  This peacock was keeping track of the visitors from his perch in the tree. 













  The folks at the Museum have been working in the garden.  It won't be much longer until they'll be planting seeds.
  Next week I'll be getting ready for Sheep Shearing, so I know I won't be back to the Loom House for awhile.  I'll get the raddle, lease sticks and warp sticks packed to go to the Museum in a few weeks.  Maybe it will be a little warmer by then.

Happy Spring!
LouAnn

Old Friends!

  New month....old friends!
  We were so happy to see Charlotte this morning.  She was able to get by the Center for a little bit.  She's been weaving at home, and brought in placemats last week.
  She jumped in to help Polly evaluate some of the table looms that we have on hand.  In fact, the ladies put a new warp on this loom this morning!






  Harriet and Sharon joined us today, too!  Sharon brought her rigid heddle and sat down to weave for awhile.    It's always great to see our weaving friends!

























   If you get just the right view point in the Studio, you can see our weavers hard at work.  The fun part is when you walk around and see what they are weaving.








  Or, maybe you'd like to see what Margi has come up with now!  She's been creating 2-D artwork with woven pieces.











  Linda was hard at work deciding how many reps of each block to weave for her towel pattern.   She's got a system....believe me!!!!





  We had two warps going on looms today:  Irene got her warp on and she was threading away.  Pat, also, got her warp for soup cozies on her loom. 











  This is Shirley's new warp...she fell in love with Pat's table runners, and just had to do another warp of those spring colors!

   Ray counted the heddles on his loom, and quickly realized that he needed MORE!!!  Yes...do that before you start threading!!!!!!
  (That's my white placemat warp.  I finished one and started another this afternoon!)

Ms. Ila is now into the purple part of her shawl warp...it just keeps surprising us!

    A big HI to our California girl....we hope you are having fun with your family!!!!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Set Up

Last evening I met Lynda at The Art Market Gallery and we set up our wall for the month of April. The gallery is a co-op that's been active for over 35 years. I've been a member since shortly after it began. The feature wall changes each month. We can sign up for a month every year or so. I don't sign up unless I have something new. So it's been awhile since I was featured. Having the idea to make bags with my rejected curtain panels, I signed up for April and then I had to get going and make them!! That's one of the reasons I haven't been weaving much this year.

Lynda is an awesome artist. I think she's still a flower child, free spirited, enthusiastic and fun to be around. Setting up was a hoot. Her panels are big and deciding which ones to use worked well especially with my small things. Having my mannequins on the side did squeeze her a bit but not much. These were the ones she wanted to show.

The mannequins dressed in my jackets show off the handbags quite nicely.

The jacket is navy which is hard to photograph but the bag just pops next to it.

The straps for the bags are also carpet warp. I used my incredible rope machine to make them. I'm just glad that it comes in so many colors that I was able to blend colors to make it all work.

Some of the bags are darker. The dye isn't always perfect and I like that effect.

The purple bag needs a home with someone who loves red.  In dyeing them, I tried to think of all the possible colors because these are it. Once all the bags are sold, there will be no more. I've dyed all the fabric. There are 30 bags done and I re dyed about 10 so that means there will be about 40 bags altogether. Limited edition!! Ha! 

 Waterfalls in the Smokeys. 

It's hard to take pictures that do it justice with the lights, etc.

One more view.

This Friday there's a reception at the gallery from 5 til 9. What's funny is that I'm in charge of the kitchen and Lynda is pouring wine half the time. We sign up for duties like that before we sign up for featured artist so we're dividing our time! Not a bad thing. I hate just standing around, having a job to do is fine!

The show is up til the 29th. If you get a chance, come see the gallery. Every month the featured artist wall changes but also the whole gallery. There's a committee that comes in the Monday before the first Friday and takes every picture down from the walls and also the 3D things. They then rearrange it all. Not too shabby!!  The gallery is in downtown Knoxville. Part of being a member also means I work the gallery once a month. It can be a lot of fun!

So that's the latest here. I'm heading back to the studio now.

So, keep weaving!

Carol

Good Friday

It is good Friday today, and because of that and the fact that the family is gathering on Easter Sunday,  all weaving has come to a standstill as we get the place ready for them.  On Monday however, I was able to get a good start on a commissioned rug that has been backlogged for way too long.  You see I took the order when I had LouAnn's rug loom about the place, and then I found out that weaving on that loom gave me bursitis of the hips.  It was really scary to lose the feeling in your leg for over a month!

Anyway, with Big Bertha in the studio, I can now finally get these rugs done and to their new homes. The first rug is a copy of one I made sometime last year or the year before.  The customer had bought the rug as a gift and ordered one for another gift.  They are made with recycled T shirts, one of my favorite rug ingredients.

Original T-shirt rug

The rug I did before had wide blue and white stripes with shots of black, red and green.  This time I am using a variety of blues in the blue sections. and I really like the effect.

Current rug project

In this rug there will be 5 blue stripes and 4 white strips, I am shooting for 40 inches or so in length and 30 in width.  I am just starting the second white strip.

Bertha is behaving quite nicely, I have found that I can weave standing up, and right now I have the treadles tied up  as 1-3-4-2, which I heard about on Peggy Ostercamp's website.  I am doing a regular twill pattern to make the Hollywood rug warp sing, so I am walking the treadles standing up.

This method of weaving will take care of the 2 concerns that I had about bringing Bertha here to my Studio.  She is really big and I am really short, her treadles have always been difficult to press, and reaching for the edges of wide fabric was really a stretch for me.  But I really wanted to weave some wide wool blankets.  I heard about someone who stood to weave on a loom just like this, so I took the chance.  Standing to weave does not hurt my hips or knees, and I will be able to easily weave full width, once I get the yarn finished for the blankets.  While I am spinning yarn for the blankets, I am weaving rugs.

I won't get much weaving time for the next week or so, I am going home to see my Mom and family, I try to get out there at least once a year.  I will be back home late on the 10th, so I am going to be missing 2 Tuesdays,  and probably will not post next Friday either, since I am leaving my computer here at home.  I expect to have this rug finished and the second one started when I post the following week.  The next rug is all about sports teams, and it has turned out to be at least 3 projects, instead of one.

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

Thank You, Mary Black!

  The Tuesday Weavers have been reading one chapter a month of The Key To Weaving.  This month, we read Chapter 3, which was Plain Weaves-Loom Controlled. 
  Perfect!!!!!
  Last fall I decided I would weave log cabin rugs at the Museum this year.  Using two shuttles would give added interest to my demonstration, and I have a lot of navy blue fabric to use!  I came upon this project this winter in an old copy of Handwoven (October 1997) and I was even more sure of my decision to weave log cabin rugs!
   I just wasn't sure I wanted to weave ALL of them with the orange stripes.

  Mary E. Black to the rescue!!!!
Wouldn't you know it....she waited to the END of the chapter to give this gem of a suggestion (and I almost missed it!!!)  Just add in the stripe as a supplemental warp thread!!!
  Well smack my head!!!!  That's doable!  And, I can use different colors for the stripes!!!! 











  She also played around with log cabin in Chapter 3, which I really enjoyed.  There are so many possibilities with this weave structure!






  Thanks to Tina, I also decided to use three different shades of blue in the warp to give added interest.  Tina is weaving a rug (which she might blog about) and she sent me a picture where she used different shades of blue in the weft...it really give more depth to the rug.
  I'd like to get this warp on the loom at the Museum in the next few weeks....but, first it has to be wound!!!!

  Since John has returned home, I decided to give him a little TLC....those wires need replacing on the harnesses!  It just so happens that my BIL has a tool belt, and he knows how to use it!!!! 
  He's coming by in the morning to take a look, and there might be a visit to Home Depot involved.  (You know how that goes, right?)
  I'm just so thankful for folks who have special skills!

Thank you, Mary!
Thank you, Tony!


Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

It's Just Like Magic

  
Do you wonder about all those warps that the Weavers do on Dye Day?  What do they "grow up" to be????

  Here's Ms. Ila's warp that she has been threading on her 8 harness Mighty Wolf.  You might think this is two different warps, but this is the shawl that was woven today.  It seems to change from one moment to another!!!!!


   Last week we saw a close-up picture of Betsy's placemats.  Today she finished the first one, and you can see the color change in today's photo.  These really are patriotic placemats!!!!

 

One minute they are cutting more strips of blue jeans for the rugs, and the next thing you know, Carl is back at his loom starting a new rug.




   

   A coverlet with a few treadling errors can fixed with a few carefully placed threads and a real, sharp eye!!!!  (Thank you, Tina!!!)













  And, just when you think you don't have enough dyed yarn to finish your scarf, it surfaces in your tote bag!!!!!

 What do you do with a whole drawer of full bobbins?  You get Marie and Pat to wind off the thread!!!  Thank you, ladies!


  When you sit down and start weaving, you can get a placemat finished before you know it!!!  Right, Liz?

Anna and Frieda have their heads together.  Wonder what they're up to???

  Another dyed warp for Sharon.



We'll have to wait for the magic for Ray's warp.  Right now, it doesn't look like much, huh?  But, you just wait and see!!!

Another magical Tuesday at the Center.  Join us sometime.....


Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Oops

For the last thirty years or so, I've been weaving curtains for a lodge on top of Mount LeConte. The lodge is awesome. The only way to get there is to hike up one of several trails in the Smokey Mountains. I can see the mountain from my house and it's nice to know a part of me is up there. Hiking up is no small feat. The shortest is 3 miles, almost straight up. We've usually gone up Teillium Gap and then down Rainbow Falls. Both about 6 miles long.  It's been years since I've gone up but we've stayed up there a few times. Reservations are very difficult to get. 

I've woven curtains in bursts of time. The first time I wove for a few cabins each January. They have to be done by the end of February because they become part of the air lift each March. They get special permission and a small window of opportunity for a helicopter to fly up with huge skids of supplies, enough for the year. During the season a bunch of llamas goes up several times a week with perishables like eggs and laundry. They have this down to a science! 

After I weave all they need which takes 3 or 4 years, there's anywhere from 5 to 7 years before I need to replace anything. He calls in November to see if I can do it. I always have.

A year ago was the last time. I had replaced everything that needed doing. I suspect some windows have been done 3 times. They used to have kerosene heaters which were hard on the curtains...and yes, the kerosene was part of the air lift...but they've changed to something else that's easier on it all.

So I wove curtains. I actually used carpet warp because the lodge is quite rustic and the yarn is almost indestructible. I weave, wash and hem the curtains and they're ready to go. I learned to sew the casing on top with just a straight stitch but the hems, well, that's different. I sewed the sides as well so there's no chance of hanging them upside down. I have a fairly deep hem for added weight as a bonus. I get paid for just the actual finished length so the deeper hem is my gift to the lodge.  I pulled out a few pictures from past weaving times.

Mostly just natural with bands of the red or sometimes blue. The dining room used to be blue but may be red now. Haven't been up in about 15 years.

Near the bottom a double bunch of pattern and near the top of the curtain just one set of a pattern.

So in weaving you try especially hard to be accurate. For the curtains I was so careful. However, things happen like you weave five inches too short or you miss a repeat on about 3 panels, etc. So the last couple of years, I had to wind another warp to weave the panels correctly. That meant I ended up, now that I'm done for awhile, with about 6 panels that were not usable. You know us weavers.....we don't want to waste all that work. So here's what I did. 

I took the panels and cut them into lengths of about 8 x 24 inches and serged around them. All of it got cut up into these small pieces. Then on dye day in fall, I mixed the pieces up into pairs. No pair had the same pattern in it. Each of the pair was different. Then I dyed the pair together in a bowl of different colored dyes. The last month or two, I sewed them into little handbags. They're all lined with a different patterned batik fabric. 

Each has a pocket inside.

The handles, shoulder straps were all wound with my incredible rope machine using coordinating carpet warp yarns.

I ended up having to re dye about 10 pieces but so far I have 30 bags done. Each looking so cool. The dye isn't always smooth. I liked the mottled effect I got. 

What I also find interesting is how the red took the dye. 

Also, some bags have the pattern in the back because of how I cut the panels. It took a lot of work but I'm liking them.

I belong to a co-op downtown called The Art Market Gallery. They have featured artists each month. A 2d and a 3d use this one wall. I don't sign up for it unless I have something new. I signed up for April with the idea of the bags so I had to make it work. I set up this coming weekend and will post pictures of what it looks like. The 2d artist I'm with is so talented with her paintings. They flow and should look good with these colorful bags.

That's what I've been up to lately. Not weaving but using what I wove before.

Until next week, keep weaving!

Carol