Lots of Color

This past week I wove off that black warp. It was a long one and will result in several pieces that will be lovely and sell but just too boring to take a picture!  I'm always glad when black comes off the loom.

A few weeks ago we had a dye day at Norris. Loads of fun!! I decided to weave the warps now before summer already and see how they turn out. I finished the one warp and the other one is on the loom but I didn't have time this weekend to finish weaving it so that will have to be pictures for next week!!

So here's that bright red, yellow and blue with purple and green warp.

The first vest was woven with the same colors as the side warp.

It's pretty bright, red, yellow and blue.

 The second one is a bit more muted. It's the center colors of green and purple.

 The colors are more muted.

 The third vest was toned down even more with muted colors as the weft.

 There are lots of greens in this weft.

I think it'll be interesting to put the 3 vests side by side and see how they look as a group. Each will be different inspite of being that same warp!
The new warp is earth tones and will be fun to weave later today!
So, this week begins my summer schedule. I will be so in and out all summer. I may end up missing a week of posting here or there but I take my laptop with me when I travel and will endeavor to post when I can, depending on the signal!
It starts Friday. I'm leaving early that morning to head to Kansas for Midwest Weavers Conference! Of course I'm going to the preconference too.....so this week I have to get my warp on the loom. I'm taking Robyn Spady's class!! She's a good! teacher and we'll come out with wonderful samples and lots of notes!
I'll let you know what I find on the way!!
Til next week, keep weaving!
Carol

It's Not Wednesday, But...

The backyard in panorama!

 Wednesday was about 84degrees, about 80% humidity, but I went outside and worked for five hours.  When I was done, I came in, took a shower, fully intending to write a blog entry, and fell fast asleep on the couch.  So, here I am, writing on Sunday, after another four hours outside.  Good thing smells don't transfer over the internet, because I've waited to take a shower, to avoid a repeat.

The vegetable garden in panorama!

I have been weaving the black on black blooming leaf scarf, and it is coming along.  Interesting that I am timing myself on this scarf, and it takes 25 minutes to weave one motif.

Figs and St. Francis

  But mostly, I've been outside.  Things are blooming and sprouting and needing attention.  The Shasta daisies all bloomed and promptly fell over from the weight.  The figs are popping out at every intersection of the wandering fig tree.  My garden is bursting with minute vegetables, and I even got my first ripe tomato today.  Okay,
in all honesty, it could have hung out one more day and been tastier, but it was fun to pick it and pop it in my mouth.
  The roses were coerced onto their trellises today, and I made a trip to the near-death plant rack at Lowe's early this morning.  Which means more planting!  I got two Astilbes in the ground, as well as a new Carolina Jessamine, complete with its own new trellis.

Day Lilies gone wild!

Busy days!  And busy nights, too, hanging out with friends in Knoxville.  For those readers not familiar with our fair city, Knoxville hosted the 1962 World's Fair, and like all such cities, we now have an ugly landmark from it!  The SunSphere is very tall and noticeable, and last night, we were standing under it, pondering whether to have a drink at the bar on top of it.  Instead, my friend showed me how to take a panoramic photo with my new phone, and I captured the whole tower!
 

Ramp Burgers!

And then, we had burgers, made by our friends at Hoof Knoxville.  Cindy and Dennis enjoyed a Ramp Burger, with ramp pesto and pickled ramps, while I gobbled down a delicious Dirty Southerner, with local cheddar, crispy onions and whole grain mustard.  All were served with fantastic fries and mushroom aioli, and all were on buns from the bakery where I work!  So delightful!  If you see Hoof Knoxville's truck parked and open for business, please give them a try!
  Time to shower and weave for a spell.  A big storm is coming up and everything just planted will get a good watering in.  Have a fabulous Sunday, and happy weaving!
Maggie

More Color!

I have that fleece from last week all dyed and ready to comb!  The colors, while maybe not exactly what I would have planned are really great!

 These first set of pictures are after the first dye bath.  One of the greens and one of the blues broke, or separated during the dyeing process.

I saw that there was teal in that red and blue mess, and that there was a bright green in that mossy scummy mess.  I also thought that the first teal and leaf green really were not dark enough.

So I set up a new dye bath for those first, and I stuck a lock or two from the "broken batches" in with the "good batches".   By this time I had the crock pot going and a couple of pots on the stove!

I saw that the over dyeing was a success!  I proceeded to overdye the remainder of the fleece and this is the final picture of completed process.  You can see how much richer the colors are!  I am very pleased!




Now I get to comb this fleece, using my Viking Combs.  I will comb it all in separate batches and I will probably combing the blues in the spinning process, and combine the greens somehow in their turn.


After all that life got very busy, so there hasn't been much weaving this week.  I have been spinning in those spare moments that crop up during the day, training for the Tour de Fleece 2013 you know!

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing, Tina

Before And After

  As most weavers know, preparation takes up a lot of our time for a lot of projects.  Besides planning a project, winding the warp and dressing the loom, a weaver might also have to prep the weft. 

  It's time for me to weave some more rag bags for the Fall sales, and I needed to dye some mop cord for the handles.  I measured off several hanks of cord for eight bags, and pre-soaked the mop cord.  And, into the dye bath they went.

  I also had an eight pound roll of white fabric that was printed white on white.  I pulled off several yards of fabric to throw in the dye after I removed the mop cord.  I got quite a surprise when it came out of the dye!!!

  Everything is on the porch to dry....we have isolated showers forecast for today.  I'm planning on finishing up the rug on the loom, then I can get started on some bags.
  Sounds like a plan to me!!!!  Since it's gonna rain, I might as well weave!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Ever Busy Tuesday

 

  The yarn order arrived at Carol's house yesterday...just in time to come to Weaving today!  After sorting out the individual orders, the 8/4 carpet warp for use at the Center needed to be put away on the shelves.

  And, no day is complete without show & tell!  Pat had pictures of her newest grandson, Oliver.  Too cute!  Tina brought her Hollywood rugs that are woven with tee shirts.  Of course, that started a mad scramble to Meany and Pfaff's Rag Rug Handbook for the draft.

  Now...let's all get busy!  Meet Patty....she's checking out the Tuesday Weavers.  Meanwhile, the other looms get pulled out of their hidey-holes and the weavers get to work on their projects.

Channel 8 dropped by to interview Carol, and get footage for a piece about weaving.  It will air later this month.
  (Can you believe it?  People are surprised that we get together and weave once a week!  You would think we were a secret society!!!!)

  We'll post a link to the piece after it airs!

  Ann kept going outside...then coming back inside.

When I checked on this activity, I found the picnic table filled with these burlap pieces.  This was donated by a former TW, Liz, and Ann is weaving the strips into a rug for her.

Cindy wove off her towel warp:  5 towels!  (And, we had gotten word from upstairs that they are plum out of towels!)  We are all waiting to hear what the shrinkage rate is for these towels!

  Maggie is almost finished fixing the threading error on her coverlet warp.

  And, it's time for Kid's Camp....get those table looms ready for the kids!  Carol wound these warps last week, and they worked really hard getting them threaded today.  This is always a popular activity for the campers.

  Tina started setting up the Cambridge loom that was donated to the Center.  As soon as the take up lever is repaired, she will be ready to go!  Tina already has thread set aside to wind the warp!!!!

  Thanks to Maggie, here's my "under the loom" picture!!!  This was my first time using the hooks to connect the treadles, and there was a definite learning curve involved!!!!  But, the treadles are ready, and I've checked for threading errors....so far, so good.  But, there was a tension problem, so we will be lashing this warp to the front bar next week.

Always busy.....so much to share and learn....another typical day at the Center.

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Progress

I try to remember to take pictures of my warps on the loom. Well, I forgot to do that with this purple one so here it is, on the cutting table waiting to have the raw edges serged. On top are the thrums which will end up in the bag that goes to LouAnn to add to what she has to make fun yarn!

 My accent yarn was purple, yellow and green. Good thing I had a cone of fairly bright green yarn from Scott's that I'd gotten years ago. It worked perfectly with the other colors and made this kind of a mardi gras looking fabric!

 The next warp was a pale sea green with an equally pale accent yarn. Very subdued, calming warp.

 Both warps wove up quite quickly.

 The warps and skeins of yarn that I dyed are about dry after all the rinsing. So, here they are:

On the loom now is black. I have to weave black several times during the year and the time has come to do it again! I hope to weave it quickly but it's a fairly long warp so not that exciting.
I'm hoping to get it done and maybe get one of the painted warps on the loom yet this week. I would like to weave these both as well before I have to quit weaving for a couple of weeks...
My show isn't til July but building up stock is a slow process.
I'm back in the rhythm and progress is happening!
So it's back to the studio and loom. Hmm, maybe I can switch from watching Magnum PI to Duck Dynasty for a couple of hours of throwing the shuttle! We'll see how it goes! I'd like to get it off the loom by Wednesday afternoon. I wonder if I can make that happen...tomorrow is weaving with Tuesday Weavers so I don't weave at home.
I'd better get going!
Until next week, keep weaving!
Carol

ETA!

I first did a batch of Teal.

Hot water, a couple of glugs of vinegar, and some color!









Clean white wool, soaked in hot water for about 30 minutes.

Drizzle the color over the wool.

Cook on high for about 2 hours, or until the water around the wool is clear.  That means that the wool has absorbed all of the dye.   Turn the crock pot off and let it set overnight to cool.  (or several hours!)

After a quick wash with just a little bit of soap, and then a rinse.  Wrap it up in a large towel to get out most of the water.

This batch is leaf green!

Just getting started on the cooking process, you can see the dye in the water.  

Teal on the left and leaf green on the right.

Right now, I have a batch of delphinium blue, but I think that that color has separated in the dye bath, but we will see once it is done.  I think I am going to end up with some blue and some reddish purple instead of the lovely blue I was looking for.  Live and learn!  The last batch I want to do is a darker green, but that will probably happen this evening, when I get back from my grandson's birthday party at the roller skating rink here in town.

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing, Tina