Singin' the Blues

  I tend to gravitate to blues....so when Carol donated her thrums to my art yarn project, I quickly pulled out some hanks of her blue projects.  It's always fun to see what colors Carol has added to those warps to give them interest....and of course, she also has many different kinds of yarns in each warp.  These give a lot of texture to the art yarn as they are spun in to the final thread.

  On the wheel right now is a colorway using black chenille and teal mohair as the binders.  I'm using a bundle of thrums that has pinks, teals, blues and purple added into the mix.  This is the second bobbin of this colorway.  I'm getting about 40 yards of thread on each bobbin.

  On Wednesday, Tina and I had another spin-in at her house.  After filling my bobbin on my Ashford Traditional wheel, Tina had me spin on the Louet that has a BIG bobbin.  I spun 102 yards of art yarn!!!  Wow!  That was fun!  So, with the 40 yards from the first bobbin, and the jumbo hank of yarn, I'm ready to tackle a crochet project! 
  This was a dark teal acrylic yarn and purple mohair binder threads mixed with thrums of hand dyed bamboo from Carol's thrums.  (I remember when Carol dyed that bamboo!!!!)

  Now I really need to weave off the log cabin mug rug warp so I can experiment using my art yarn in a scarf warp!!!! 
  Sometimes I think the incentive for weaving off a warp is the idea for the next warp!!!!  But, this Pup has the large eye heddles, which will work well with the art yarn.

  I'm a little blue this morning....
....my little Zuzu passed away yesterday.

  She was part of my life for the last few years (she was 15 years old) and a great sudoku helper.  She had developed a thyroid problem (which I have come to understand is common in older cats.)
  I'm very thankful for the years I got to be with her, and I'm thankful that Cece and Sweetie will continue to keep me company.



Enjoy your weekend!
LouAnn

What a difference color makes!

I finished the Mother's Day Napkins by making 4 for my Mother in Law. This time I did them with a tan weft instead of the white.  They were just as much fun to weave, the errors were as easy to spot and correct as well. All in all a fun project to do.

The Pattern shows up a little more readily on the tan napkin, and I like that!   It gives a whole new feel to them, instead of elegant they seem homey to me.






 I think that these colored napkins are more likely to get used  too! The White ones seem to say, "oh, you better not get me dirty!"  These colored ones are saying, "oh, you spilled something, let me help you with that"!





I have a few more to do on this warp, first some for my Daughters in-laws, then some to sell in the etsy shop, and in the fall shows.  I am so glad that it has only taken me one or two attempts to figure out what these 100yd warps want to be!  I will be weaving these off and on for years I think, Hmmm, I need to get some more colors.  I can see them in Navy, which I have, but also Red, and Green, and Yellow! The sky is the limit isn't it!  OOOh, Sky Blue too!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

A Break, Sorely Needed

 The last few weeks, I've had Tuesdays and Fridays off, which doesn't make for much time to blog, see friends or weave.  This weekend, I grabbed four days off, and am at the end of my mini-vakay.  I've had a lovely time, Mother's Day-ing with Mom, phone calls from my son, book clubbing with my literary pals, and of course, Tuesday Weaving.
  A couple of weeks ago, one of our newer members, Cindy, asked me whatever happened to my double weave sampler.  I shame-facedly admitted  that I had let it flounder with all the time I'd been spending at work, but that afternoon, I spent some time with it.  See that gap in the solid red part?  That's where the sampler opens in the middle.  That part was fun, but apparently not all that interesting, or I'd done more.

  The next part is vertical stripes, followed by horizontal stripes.  The next sequence looks like more vertical stripes but is horizontal stripes underneath. I'm not sure what I'd use that for, but it was sort of magical, nevertheless!
  As I think I've mentioned, Big Bertha's first Maggie Project is Huck lace napkins.  It uses seven shafts, and I just started threading it yesterday.  On my four-shaft loom at home, I've just finished threading for Huck lace curtains, using the Weaver's Huck Lace book, the one Ila is using for her scarf that you saw in yesterday's post.  I'm using the border treadling, but I might just use it for a border and switch to another treadling after a few inches.  I've decided to make half curtains for the living room, to keep the light coming in, so I'll have plenty of warp.  It's kind of hard to see in these photos, and honestly, it doesn't look like much yet, after only one repeat, but it's all I've got so far!  I need to get back outside and finish weeding my street-side garden, not to waste a moment of this lovely afternoon.
  Speaking of, when I got back from my piano lesson this afternoon, I heard bagpipes!  I went outside to investigate and took this video of two drummers and two pipers, one of whom is a neighbor, playing for Channel 10 for Alive at Five.  I love bagpipes!  Enjoy, and happy weaving!
Maggie

Getting To Know Us!

We welcomed another new weaver to our space today....say "hello" to Eiko.  She's not a stranger to those of us who have been at the Center for awhile....she's very talented at a lot of different things.  And, now, she's adding weaving to her resume!

Maggie was ready to start threading today....she had her notes all ready.  Now, if she can just find the right stool or chair that puts her just at the right height for threading!

After making a string heddle to correct a threading error, Ms. Ila got her warp tied on and about six inches of scarf woven before we left for the day.

Ms. Trudy got busy with her mug rug warp.

Pat finished up the place mat she was working on, and gave the bench over to Judy.  Weaving on a floor loom is so much fun!!!!

Carol stepped back to check on Judy and answer questions.

Allan and Tina were busy weaving at their looms.

Linda pulled some great colors to add stripes to the place mat warp on the Harald loom.

Carl started weaving those fabric strips that he chose last week.

Christy loaded up her Inkle loom with another book mark warp while Eiko threaded her loom.  Shirley got a lot woven on her first warp.

Bonnie went with fabric strips to weave the second panel on her warp.

Just say, YUM!!!!

Ms. Ila made us a fabulous cake!

And, while we were all on a sugar high after lunch, Ann led us in some "get to know you" activities.  With so many new weavers in our group, it can be a little crazy sometimes!

We are just a merry little band of weavers, after all!!!

Happy Weaving!

LouAnn

Mostly Dye Day

Last Wednesday was a real treat!! DH closed the office in the afternoon and they had a reception for one of their nurses. Emilie has worked at the clinic for 50 years!! Can you imagine? And, she has no intention of quitting. DH asked her if she'd be there in the morning to work. The look of panic on her face as if, now she was too old to work was priceless. She will continue to work as long as she is able. She's the one that gave a couple of generations all their shots, was the only one allowed to draw blood on most of us and just a gentle, compassionate person. They're lucky to have her. I took a picture of her surrounded by some of the current docs and one that's retired.

 So, last Thursday was Dye Day at the center. We'd decided to dye some of the bamboo that we have for scarves and shawls. They'll be woven in time for the show in November that we do. There were 6 of us that came. I tried to keep up with taking pictures but as you'll see, I kind of forgot after a point....  Instead of arriving at 10 we got there at 9 already to get a jump on all that needed doing.
LaDonna is a real pro on all the fine points of chemicals, etc. Cindy and Shirley were just thrilled to get all the information that LaDonna was giving them. We are fortunate to have someone who has a huge knowledge of color as part of our group!!

 LaDonna and Ila had brought a couple of identical skeins of yarn. The one on the left is as it was dyed. Then they reskeined the one on the right. Totally different looks but the same color gradations. The one on the right looks more like what it would look like once knit or woven.

 Then we got to work.....

 This was the first bamboo warp that got painted, a section at a time.  I think that Cindy did this one.

 Christy had a scarf warp she was painting. Instead of bunching it up as most of us were doing, she spread her warp apart to paint it in total sections. I can't wait to see how it looks once she weaves it!!

 Bonnie got to paint this really long warp. It's for 3 shawls.....took forever!!

 So, that's when I forgot all about the camera because I was painting my own warps and skeins. We worked til 4pm getting everything done and then cleaned up down there!! In all we painted 7 warps and about 20 skeins of yarn. Some skeins were 1000 yards, some longer and thicker. I think that everyone learnt something about how to mix colors to get what you want and found that if something you mixed up turned out to be wrong for your warp, there was a good chance that it would be perfect for someone else's project.

I came home then to a box from UPS!! My yarn order from Yarn Barn came. I ordered mostly from their mill ends flyer, 8/2 cotton. I can see handtowels in those colors!!

We had wrapped all our painted skeins and warps in saran wrap and let them sit for awhile. I began to rinse out my projects Saturday afternoon and finished yesterday. It takes awhile to get the excess color out but boy, the fun of seeing what you painted is just exciting.
I got a tip from Catherine Ellis at the last South Eastern Fiber Forum Association workshop. She suggested contacting Laundry Alternatives and buy a centrifuge to spin out the skeins of yarn while you're rinsing them. So I did. What a lifesaver!! After you soak the skeins awhile, instead of killing your hands by wringing them out, stick them into this centrifuge to spin all that water out. Then, when you put it back into the water you get color from what's still in the yarns. The water got clearer so much faster!! Also, once completely done, I spun them again before hanging them to dry. They're almost dry now!!

 I've got a couple of warps to go on the loom but then I'm going to weave the 2 projects I dyed yarn for....can't wait!!

What's on the loom today? Black. Yeah, more of that but they'll be a bunch of vests that I'll decorate with woven triangles in different colors. I've done this for awhile and they are pretty cute.  I'd like to get the warp done by Wednesday and get the next one on...
It's another rainy dreary day here in Knoxville, perfect for getting down to the studio and working!!
Until next week..
Carol

Thank You, Martie!

  Oh, my!!!  Like most pictures taken in the '80's, this picture has that funky yellow look.  But, this is the last photo I have with my grandmother, Mamaw Martie.  So, this picture shows four generations:  Martie, Betty, me and my two precious children.
  Martie was well know for lots of things:  yeast rolls, fried pies, apple dumplings, Easter dresses, a cathedral window quilt and granny square afghans.  This lady made her own patterns....when my Mom was in high school, she just described the way the dress or coat looked, and my Mamaw would draw her own pattern and create the garment.  What a gift!

  When I was 16, and on a family camping trip that I did not want to be on, Martie decided that I needed to learn how to crochet.  Once I had my chain down pat, she showed me how to make a granny square.  If you can crochet a granny square, you can crochet.  I learned to read a crochet pattern on my own when I branched out to make a vest with granny squares.  (That would have been in the '70's, of course!!!!)

  Granny squares are great for using up left over pieces of yarn, and the goal was to make each square unique....no two were alike.  The last row was edged in the common color...in my case navy blue.  My afghan is on the left....it only took me 30 years to complete it!!!  I kept adding to it until it's big enough for a double bed.
  The afghan on the right is the one Martie made for me.  She made each of her grandchildren their very own afghan.  She used bright colors later in life because she was almost blind by that point. 

  I have to think she would be tickled that I'm making my own yarn, now.  I don't know if she ever spun...I don't recall anything being said about that.  But, I spun my first skein of novelty yarn (40 yards) from bits and pieces of left over yarn.  And, now I'm on to playing with spinning with thrums.  My mind is full of projects to weave or crochet with this newly created fiber!
 
  So...thank you, Martie.  You nurtured my love of fiber....you gave me inspiration and encouragement.
  And, thank you, Betty....you always applauded my efforts, and seemed to love the little gifts I handmade for you.
  And, thanks to my sister, Joyce.  You listen and inspire me in my fiber pursuits.  Our fiber days are full of fun and laughter!
  And to all the women out there that nurture fiber goodness, THANK YOU!!!

LouAnn

Last minute dash!

Whew!  I just got back from the post office!  The package will definitely not get there in time for Mother's Day, but this time it was not because I didn't try!!!

I had cut off  the first 4 napkin/towels,because I was having a little trouble with the threads behind the heddles tangling and making some threads tight.  I carefully pulled those few warp threads out and untangled and re-threaded them.  Then I continued on my merry way and wove 8 more napkins by Wednesday.  As I was finishing up the last one I noticed a glaring threading error, right where I had "fixed" it!

In disgust, and after a few choice words like "Rats" and Double Rats", I cut them off and looked to see if I could needle weave a fix.  The answer was No!  I had learned on a previous project that sometimes it is just quicker to weave the stupid things again! So, that is exactly what I did!  Staying up too late for sure, and not getting anything else done either!

I normally would have washed dried and pressed these babies before I sent them, but my drier sounds like it is ready for take off, and I didn't have time to let them hang dry!

I got a new tool, and just in time, this week at the local Thrift store.  It was sitting there waiting for me to finish looking at the skirts, and come over to the gadgets already!  It is a steam press that retails for $200-$300, it was marked $80, and they were having a spring sale that knocked off another 30 percent!  I came home with her for only $57,  including the tax!  I left the skirts laying there forgotten!

The picture above is a napkin unpressed on the left and pressed on the right, I love it!  I haven't been able to get the shot of steam to work yet, but I have the manual downloaded ready to print out for troubleshooting.

I loaded the unpressed napkin out the back of the press, and as I pressed each section, I advanced that part forward.  I then laid the napkin on the bed to cool as I did the next one. In just a few minutes, I had them all pressed and ready to go.

I washed one of the first samples I had done and you can see the amount of shrinkage.  Maybe 2.5 inches lost in the length, and a lot less in the width, thanks to the end feed shuttles! I used a very simple 1/4 inch hem, I may weave a bit more next set, so that I can make a wider hem, it may look a even better.

Of course you need to see the glamour shot!  As I type this they are winging there way to sunny California, and I am turning my thoughts to the next batch of 10 that I have to have ready by Sunday!  One set of 6 will be a wedding present and a set of 4 will be for my MIL for Mothers Day.  I probably won't be washing them either!

I realize that the lighting in this photo is off, but I just had to show you my Mother hen and her adopted chicks.  They like to perch up on the ledge and rest. They are a different breeds than the Hen, and it is too cute to see them nestled under her white wings, and poking there brown heads up to see what is going on!

That is it for now, tonight I burn the midnight oil again, thankfully Dear One is out of town so he isn't losing any sleep over it!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina