Touching Heaven

Oh yes.....another field trip!  My son was teaching a class at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg this week:  Ripping Yarns:  Stories and Fibers.  Tina had given Nick a refresher course in spinning with a drop spindle a few weeks ago, and he invited us up to visit the class and have lunch. 
  The class had spent the first few days exploring spinning, embroidery, tapestry and knotting.  They also had been reading stories, myths and fables that included the different fiber arts.  When we arrived, they were discussing thoughts on their big projects that would take the rest of the week.  We peeked at the projects underway on the participants' tables...and it sure looked like they had been having a grand time!

  After lunch we took the class to The Spinnery, which is just a stone's throw from Arrowmont.  How amazing that this shop is so close!!!
  And, that's when I got to touch heaven!!!

Nancy was so gracious to all of us pouring into her shop, and answered all the questions that were popping right and left.  I asked her about the Guanacos fiber that I found that was so soft.  She then went to the back and brought out the softest fiber I will ever touch:  Vicuna!!!!
  You can read all about the vicuna at:
 Vicuña - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
After reading the article, I realized why it is so rare and valuable.  Nancy told us that it is $350 an ounce at her shop.  Truthfully, I will never spin that luscious fleece, but it was heaven to touch!!!

  
  My spinning practice continues:  Linda gave me some assorted bags of roving to spin.  Cece thought they were very interesting (and she thinks that she can sit on my lap when I'm spinning!)  I am still working on the art yarn with thrums on the Country Spinner, but I want to get more proficient with the wool.  I know....practice, practice, practice!!!!  Just when I think I'm getting the knack of it, I hit a wooly bump that throws me off kilter.

Cece is also the chief rug inspector around here!  I wove off the warp on John, and when Tina is ready, we'll wind on another warp.  You might remember the looper rugs that I wove this winter using the loopers we got at the mill.  
  The corduroy rug was the last for this warp.  All three rugs are resting in the foyer right now, and I'll get the hems sewn in sometime this weekend. 

On the home front, Biscuit is becoming part of the family.  She likes to spend her days outside terrorizing the chipmunks, squirrels and moles.  In the evenings, she stretches out on the kitchen chairs and dreams of her conquests.  The bee balm is finally blooming.  I bought this plant two years ago at the Lavender Festival, and it is blooming for me this year.  It is such a nice, bright spot in the garden!  Weeding the flower beds continue....and will continue FOREVER, I think.  If Virginia Creeper was a cash crop, I'd be rich!!!!
  But, I am fiber rich.....and I got to touch heaven!!!!!
Happy Weaving (and spinning!!!)
LouAnn

Tension

I love to warp my sectional looms.  I can put on a long warp without the hassle of  managing a long warp.  I am only handling 1 to 2 inch sections at a time, and they are always under perfect tension, mostly because of the tension box, a special tool that is used to guide the threads from the spool rack to the back beam, one section at a time.

The number of spools you need for each section depends on how wide your section is and how many ends per inch you need.  In my case for this projects I am using 8/2 cotton at 20 ends per inch, my sectional beam is divided in 1 inch sections.  That means I need 20 spools per section.

 I buy my 8/2 in large cones mostly from R&M Yarns in Georgetown, Tn., it is close enough for a quick road trip, (somebody else is always willing to go), and their prices are very reasonable. To wind the yarn from the large cones onto the spools that are on the spool rack that I have on loan from the Center,  I have the electric winder that I have on loan from Lou Ann. ( This winder has really come in handy recently as a pirn winder as well.)

 The problem I have with winding using any electric winder, is that when it really gets cranking, the thread is going so fast that it can burn your fingers, and I also my tension is uneven. I have seen a video online of a little tension attachment  that you can get to use with these electric winders, but my winder is not the same as theirs and the expense is prohibitive just now. But it got me thinking, I wondered if I could use my big tension box instead!  So, I tried it!

It works wonderfully!  I took the yarn from the cone and ran it through the tension box as normal, used the yardage counter too. Then I held the tension box in my right hand and safely guided the yarn onto the spool.
No burned fingers, no tension problems!




I was a little afraid that the spools wouldn't hold the 500 yards I needed, but they did, just barely!  I have wound half of the spools, and I am taking a break to share my discovery, now it is back to the studio to finish the spools and start winding the 24 sections of natural that are left.

Until next time, Happy Weaving and Spinning, Tina

All Work and No Fiber

 Makes Maggie a dull girl.  So I sought to remedy that during my weekend, Monday and Tuesday.  I started weaving on the newly threaded bamboo warp on Jenny, lace curtains for the living room.  The first treadling was the lace border, lots of fun for both feet.  The second is warp threads over, treadling B, if you're familiar with the Weaver's Huck Lace books' first four-shaft sampler.  It's fun and interesting, just starting to settle into a groove for me.

  It was a cloudy, rainy Monday, followed by a drop-dead gorgeous Tuesday, and this was the view from the loominaria.  Nothing like a photo to show you how much your table needs dusting, but the geraniums are lovely!

 At the Center, I got a picture of the entire warp that Pat cut off from B.  Our guest from Denmark asked me how long a project takes, if we only meet once a week, and I realized I'd been working on that project for at least one year, possibly two!  I am not the most regular of the Tuesday Weavers, so that makes it longer than other projects, but still, she's right!  We plod along!  I did tell her that weaving isn't always why we meet, though.  We're there for the fellowship more than anything.  Any of us can weave alone and accomplish much, but what's the fun of that?

 Now, we Tuesday Weavers know who posts on Tuesdays, and who's behind the camera of those posts, but I need to show those who don't know that LouAnn actually weaves and warps, too!  Here she is demonstrating her clever warp winding technique for more than one strand at a time.  Carol showed her very cool way to warp a few weeks ago, but LouAnn brings it down to very low tech.  I was surprised when she came up to me after lunch and asked me when I'd be done with my drink, but all she wanted was my straw!  She has all seven threads through the straw to wind them on all at once.  I was impressed!  And I will use this technique next time I want to load up the warping board.

I made some progress yesterday, exactly halfway through my 552 threads for the dotted swiss dinner napkins.  Next week, I'll forge ahead and finish 'er up!
  Until then, Happy Weaving!
Maggie

Continuity

And, so it goes......warps are cut off the loom, and a new warp goes on the loom.     
  Pat cut off 20 place mats that were still on the cloth beam (and remember that 9 were cut off previously.)  Then she and Tina got things moved around to set up the tension box and the thread tree.  This is a sixty yard, all black warp which will start out using up our bin of partial cones.  We can always rethread later with another pattern if the spirit moves us!

       

    As so often happens, we were greeted this morning with a donation left on the tables.  This one was from a former weaver here at the Center, and the large cones of thread will be put to good use.

  Eiko is almost to the end of her first warp!  After hemstitching, she'll be ready to cut off her first project!

       Maggie has assured us that Leo is doing very well, and she's back to thread her napkins.

  Lanny just keeps weaving away on his scarf warp....simply beautiful colors!

         Here's a glimpse of Ann's log cabin rug.....and Carl's rug is visible in the background. 

And, we had visitors today.  This lovely couple was from Denmark.  They had a lot of questions and were very interested in what we were doing.  We overheard her telling her husband that she would like a loom for Christmas!!!  Ms. Trudy enjoyed talking with them about what we do on Tuesdays.

  In fact, our new friend went upstairs to purchase some woven items.....then wanted to meet the weaver.  It just so happens that the placemats were woven by Carl!!!

  The towel she selected was woven by Bonnie...I'm so sorry she couldn't be here today to meet them.

   Linda is looking forward to returning to the "Fort" this weekend, and spent some time weaving with us this morning.

Ms. Ila finished up her first scarf on this warp without her glasses!!!!  Just the hemstitching required "readers."

  Roz finished winding her new warp, and got it on the loom before we had to leave for the day.  Now she'll spend some time threading the heddles for her next project.
  Carl brought his newest tapestry that he has finished....what a treat!
....and speaking of treats, Eiko is bringing egg rolls next week.  We'll provide the side dishes and dessert!  Sounds like a great idea to me!!!!
  And, so it continues.....weaving and sharing our lives.
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Second Dyed Warp

This past week I got the other painted warp on my loom and woven off. Another 3 vests ready to be serged, washed, cut, serged, assembled and finishing touches done to.

It's always exciting to put a warp on that's been painted. Each weft was woven using a different skein of painted weft. I like to just play with colors and see what happens. I made the skeins quite large and have some left over to add to scarf warps or maybe even another vest if I paint another warp.

This warp was bamboo. The last warp I'd done was cotton and it dyed nicely but bamboo dyes like a dream. It absorbs the color nicely and was fun to work with.

This warp was wound in 5 sections. If you look closely there are 2 narrow sections dividing the 3 wider parts. The narrow sections were painted with orange and purple. The wider sections had green, teal blue, nutmet, red...all more earth tone colors.

 The first weft I wove with was a midtone of colors, including purple, a sort of olive green, brick red and a mustard yellow that LaDonna had mixed that ended up not being the right color for what she was working on but perfect for my weft!!

 This weft was purples, orange, red and a kind of pale blue. I'm not sure where the blue came from. Maybe it was that dye we mixed up that Christy brought that was old and we weren't sure how it would work.

 I liked how this piece of fabric just brightened up with that weft.

 The third vest was woven with my true earth tone colors. Teal, nutmeg and a kind of olive green with maybe a bit of that mustard yellow too.

 I'm tending to lean toward keeping this one for myself but I'm going to wait til they're finished before I decide for sure!

I'll post a picture of these and the ones I posted last week once they're finished. Both warps are off the loom and waiting their turn for the serger. I need to finish the cranberry red pieces I wove earlier first. Changing serger thread is relatively painless but still, I'd rather finish with one color completely and then change it rather than change thread every day or two.
I do have another warp on the loom. It's just barely on and ready to weave. I hope to work on it alot today. It's rugs. These are for my family in Canada. I can't wait to see how it works because I'm using old knit tops that they gave me. Should be fun!!
Until next week!
Carol

What A Difference A Week Makes!

   The holiday weekend has passed, and a new month has begun.  Last weekend was HOT....it got over 90 degrees last Saturday!  But, today is starting off at 57 degrees and the forecast high for today is 76 degrees.  This will be a good day to attack the weeds in the flower garden!
   Last weekend, we had a visitor that decided to stay.  I had seen a white cat pass through in the back, and taking a nap under the bushes in the front....but, on Saturday, she thought she'd just stay in the back yard with the family. 
  One of her ears looked like she had been in a fight, and we all noticed that she had BIG feet.  But, she was a friendly, sweet  cat that was obviously used to being around people.  And she was hungry!
  You guess it....I have a new cat!  She made a visit to our vet, Dr. Paul, and he teased me that he had a sign down on the road for cats in need of a good home!  So, she's been checked out from head to tail (already spayed!) and declared healthy!  Paul guesstimates that she's 4-5 years old.  She's spending her first morning out in the house....the other two have chosen to ignore her for the moment.  I've named her Biscuit, since she's always "making biscuits" when you pet her.  I think she may be polydactyl.....that would explain those BIG feet!  It's all too new around her for her to let me count her toes just yet!  We'll see how it goes.







 I did get some spinning done last weekend.  This hank is 260 yards and will get mailed off to my sister this week.  I've got to spin some more yarn for the shawl she worked on last weekend during our Fiber weekend, and that will go in the package, also.    (By the way, my great-niece wove two mug rugs last weekend!)

   This is the yarn that I'm spinning now with thrums left over from the place mat warp I finished at the Center.  I'm pleased with the way the colors are working together. 

  Tina's blog yesterday was a reminder to me that she's going to be gone a lot this summer.  That's a wake up call for me, since I'm almost at the end of my rug warp.  John has a sectional beam, and Tina helps me get the new warps on very quickly.  I think my goal this week will be to get that warp woven off so I can get the new one on before she leaves on one of her trips.

  It will be interesting to see how Biscuit reacts when I start beating on the rug loom!!!
Happy Weaving (and spinning!)
LouAnn

Change of Plans

I had intended to weave off the last Baby Blanket on Lillian, the old 4 harness counterbalance, my first loom, and transfer the left over warp, directly to her warp beam, from the Leclerc.  I had planned to do that, because I need to load up the Leclerc with a custom order that just can't wait! (I know myself too well!)  I had forgotten that Lillian is in need of repairs as soon as the last blanket is done.  Her warp beam is broken in such a way that the warp will not wind on evenly.

So we must go to plan B, which is chain off the Baby Blanket warp from the Leclerc and save it for when Lillian is fixed.  I began today to pull the warp back through the heddles and secure it on the back beam.

The Leclerc has 1 inch sections and Lillian has 2 inch sections, so I am combining two sections as I go.

That went quite quickly and without much trouble at all.

Here is where I held my breath and began to chain off each section.





It worked!  As I pull the chains off, I am using blue painters tape to lable exactly how many ends there are, and if there was anything unusual about that chain, like for example, if one of the sections was shorter than the other.  I am also marking them as to their order, since that may prove important when I get back to it.

When I have the sections all emptied off, I will wind the spools for the new Bread Cloth project,  and begin to load it on.  The project is not due until November, but I have several trips this year, most of them a little open ended, and the dates are not set yet, so I feel like I need to get this project on the loom and woven off as soon as possible.




10 Bread Cloths with Leno Lace in the center, and red stripes sounds like it is going to be a beautiful project!  Now I need to go finish what I started!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina