Completed Guitar Strap!

I think Ryan will wear it proudly.  It came out to be 48 1/2 in long, (I needed 48) and 1 7/8 in. wide.  WOO HOO!  Longest double weave yet!  Done 5 days early.

Houston We have FLAMES!

Just getting started but by George I think I got it!

Another failed warp!

February 25, 2011 Once again I re-established the fact that #10 cotton crochet thread is out of the question for me with double weave.  I am doing an awesome piece, all be it slow, and found 4 mistakes on the back ;~{.  They are called teardrops, and I definitely know why.  I just wanted to cry. I have been working on it since Saturday and only have about 5 in. done.  I was hoping I would be o.k. this time because I don't always want a band as heavy as the #3 produces.  This is my 3rd failed warp...I am definitely off my game.  Maybe time to try a tried and true technique, or maybe even pebble weave... This side looks lovely! This is the side where you could see the mistakes.  Couldn't miss them with that pale pink showing on this VERY dark fuscia.  I cheated and cut them out before I thought to take picks.  I wanted to see what exactly would happen.  Caused a couple of VERY long warp floats.  ;~{ Here is what it became when I started it again in plain weave.

One weft double weave and the "Relay for Life!"

February 22, 2011

I really just didn't like the little man that I did in the coffee brown double weave project.  In trying to un-weave him I found the yarn really fraying and making a mess.  The nubbies weren't helping either.

So I cut him off the loom, retied to the front beam and am going to make this piece into a plain weave piece.  Maybe a sash belt or even an envelope pouch.  Not sure yet.  Just trying not to waste any yarn.

Here is how I saved/salvaged that yarn.  It will probably be made into an 'envelope bag', as it isn't quite long enough to use for a belt.

On another note: 

Now that you have seen what I am donating to the auction for 'Relay for Life' cancer fund raiser, I thought I would promote this cause a little.

For now here are the links for the the one The Pine Cone Teacup participates in in Ohio.  There are also page links where you can find more info if you want to get involved in one close to your home.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=31549&pg=entry
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/teamterwillegar
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hforte

also, here's the link to the discussion page for people that want to donate!
http://www.facebook.com/thepineconeteacup#!/topic.php?uid=265608828333&topic=14864

Please go and check them out and do whatever your heart moves you to do!

One weft double weave! For the Camera strap!

Written 2/12/2011

Thursday night I gave the panels for the camera tote for KraftyMax to Dana, my student, so she could assemble the cube.  Meanwhile I kept working on the double weave camera strap.  

Last night- Friday - I completed the strap and took if off of my Gilmore Mini Wave loom.  I was asked to leave the fringe long so she could attach it anyway she wanted to to the actual camera.  Keep in mind that when the tote is completed and closed, the camera strap will also serve as the bag's strap.

Once again I know that there is a higher power somewhere in the universe.  This thing is simply beyond all of my creative expectations.  Beautiful, in a word.  It is 32 in. long without the fringe, 44 in. with fringe and a consistent 2 1/4 in. wide.  It's only flaw is a slight curve.  This will actually serve the band well when on the camera though.  Another serendipitous mistake.  I found 4 teensy weensy floats.  Only one in the webbing.  It was in the letter M on the backside and all I had to do was snip it out.  The others were in the edging.  I actually found the worst one near the fringe, so I threaded it onto a darning needle and corrected it.  The other two were so tiny I left them.  You would have to look very hard to find them.

Then I singed the fuzzies.  THEN, I found out my roommate, Carol, had a little steamer.  This thing is the bomb.  It heats up in 10 seconds flat and produces a profuse amount of steam.  I haven't been wet finishing these pieces up until now, but I definitely will from now on.  It made the yarn bloom beautifully, even though it was mercerized cotton.  It evened out all of the ridges in the weave to a consistency that is stunning.  I will be investing in one of these for my own.

Then I steamed the symbolism piece with the dog on it.  I had decided to keep it for myself and hang it in my room.  I would love to hang it with driftwood...oh yeah...I don't live in FL near the beach any more (for the first time in my life I might add).  Then I thought a piece of a cedar branch...then I thought, "what the heck I don't want to wait".  So I tied it onto the curtain rod with my curtains, which are red and purple.  The colors are great together and it looks like it belongs there.

All in all a great morning.  I get the greatest sense of satisfaction from weaving.  Now I get to plan the next piece.  

Probably a piece for an envelope bag...Then the piece for 'Relay for Life' cancer fund raiser.  

I will be pretty busy as usual.  Keeps my mind sharp.

Check out the pictures.

One weft double weave! For the Camera strap!

Written 2/8/2011

OMG!!!  Look what I did!  This is going to be awesome, even if I do say so myself.  Please keep in mind that not only am I new to this technique, I CHARTED MY OWN LETTERS!  

The logo will be "KraftyMax"!  I started at the bottom.

Just hope like the dickens that the warp is long enough for the entire word.  Again there is a learning curve and I didn't know the letters would be 3 in. long. 

Double Weave pattern...or at least an attempt!

Here I have ventured into the world of charting my own designs.  Please keep in mind that not only do I not usually have a preordained idea of what I want to weave, I certainly don't CHART them.  

This one is 36 warp revolutions wide.  It should make a nice accent strip on a larger piece.  Since I was able to do the 'people' and 'dog' I decided it was time to give it a shot.  No particular end result though...

There are a couple of spots at the top that I am not happy with...it is definitely a work in progress.

2nd Attempt at one weft double weave.

#10 Mercerized cotton ‘Espresso’

#10 Copper mist

#3 Gold metallic

#3 Silver metallic

This is another attempt at one weft double weave. There will be a design, but as of now I am not sure what it will be. Wish me luck.

First we wind the warp!

Then we wind it onto the loom!

Getting ready to thread the heddles.

Getting started with the actual weaving.  Notice how we have copper with silver on one layer and Espresso with gold on the other layer.

 

Had some trouble with the warp, so I had to cut off the beginning, re-establish the cross, re-thread the heddles, re-tie onto the front beam and start over.  I thought you might like to see the little samples.

UPDATE:    

As for this weave along, I am stepping away from my current project. It is on the largest wave loom (borrowed from my friend in Jacksonville, who’s parents own Gilmore Looms), and I am not sure that my living situation, as in where I weave, is conducive to this larger one. I just can’t get comfortable with it.

However, that is just the tip of the iceberg.  What is really happening is that this #10 I am using is simply too hard to see for doing a design. At the moment I can’t seem to find a reason to torture myself with continuing. After, what? 5 days or more, I have woven and unwoven so many times that I am still in the 1st 2 inches of the weave. ;-( Also, I can’t for the life of me imagine what I would do with another long thin band, as this warp is 11 foot long.


So I am going to sit this one aside, my frustration level is just toooooooo much. I will think of another project and put it on my mini, using number 3 like I did with the black, white and red piece I completed earlier in this WAL.


So for now I will be lurking for a while, thinking, thinking, thinking. I might try warp floats galore from Laverne's blog/tutorials!  Maybe I will draw for a while.

Completed one weft double weave practice piece.

Remember, this one is made entirely of left over yarn, I actually hate the colors and of course I am using my Gilmore Mini Wave loom.  I had no idea how much 'take-up' would occur, except that it would be alot with the two layers.  It is 27 warps wide, which came to 1 6/8 in. wide.  I started with a 5 ft. warp and ended up with a 27 in. long piece (without the fringe), maybe a foot or so of waste.  It isn't meant to be made into anything, at best I thought maybe a belt.  Unfortunately it is too short.  I found one little weird spot in the black side.  I am thinking it may end up being a small cell phone pouch for my tiny phone?  Maybe.

New warp face technique!

Unfortunately, my Artfire site doesn't seem to be selling anything, so I have decided now that the 'have to' weaving are completed I can go on to do some just for the 'fun' of learning something new.

As you know, I belong to a couple of weaving groups.  I have been particularly active in the Ravelry backstrap and inkle groups  (the backstrap info translates well to my Gilmore Mini Wave Loom).  In the backstrap group we are doing a WAL, Weave-a-long.  I have been wanting to try something called 'One weft double weave'.  I did indeed complete two small pieces in the past, but quickly had to move on to something that went a little faster so that I could finish Christmas presents.  

This 'pick-up' technique allows me to eliminate the horizontal lines in the background of my work.  I want to try for solid backgrounds.  This also allows me to have a weaving with one color on one side and another on the other side.  If you do pick-up designs they show in reverse from one side to the other.  It also produces a heavier woven structure.  A little less drape in the finished product.  Perfect for things like belts and dog collars!

For now, I am simply concentrating on a 1 1/2 inch band with no design.  This is a much slower, and laborious technique that requires all of my concentration.  It makes it easier to produce lettering and my own design work as well...once I get the hang of it anyway.  In two days I have only produced about 12 in.  Remember I don't have a day job and can devote more time that most people to my weaving.  Still taking me alot of time for this technique.  But once I get it together...watch out!

So, as usual, especially since I am participating in the WAL, I am taking alot of pictures.  Here is the start of my project.

First warping.  This is the 4 1/2 yard warp board made by Gilmore Looms.

Here I am ready to start threading the heddles.

Here I have threaded the heddles and then tied onto the front beam!

Here we have the backside of the loom all warped up and ready to go!

Here we have a side view.  As you can see I not only have to use the two existing sheds, but I have to develope two more for each 'row' of weaving.  Two for the front side and two for the bottom side.

 

Here you see the very beginning.  Notice how much wider the piece looks before you actually start weaving.  Since you only use 1/2 of the warps with each pass it becomes much narrow as you weave.  This makes getting the very beginning of the weave very difficult to keep the same width as the rest of the weaving.  I think I did O.K. though!

I will definitely post pics of my progress.  I just don't want to mess up my tension on the loom by unrolling the finished weaving for now!  So stay tuned folks.

One weft double weave!

I finally succeeded in one weft double weave!  I got all of my information for the very informative blog on Backstrap weaving by Laverne Waddington.

I discovered her on Weavolution and Weavezine.  Then I stumbled on her information again on Ravelry.  All three of these are full of great information on weaving and fiber arts in general.  The really great thing is the information is free for the offering.  

One weft double weave allows the weaver to have one color on one side and another on the back side.  It also provides for the weaver to have design on the front that is the reverse color on the back.  I am still trying to get the basic weave down so mine has no design...yet.  It produces a very thick and sturdy band.  I think for myself I will use finer threads next time and produce a finer band.  I can see where this would be great for dog collars, leashes, mug rugs, hot pads and even belts.  It is a labor intensive weave, which in my case made for time consuming as well.  We all know though, that weaving in general is not a 'fast' form of art.  This weave actually forms kind of a tube.

I took some pictures for you.  I did break a warp thread with all of the fraying going on from all of the manipulations while weaving.  It requires very minute changes in the weave tension that I am absolutely sure would be easier with a backstrap loom.  I can see another session with the backstrap in my future.  

Keep an eye peeled.  More to come soon.

One weft double weave!

FINALLY!  I figured out how to do one weft double weave! 

It requires a special warping and multiple passes per row of weave.  If you get it right it will let you have a solid background for your designs.  It also is one color on one side and the other color on the flip side.  It is also a very heavy weave.  On the thick side, unless you use fine thread/yarn.  I went for something heavier for this one.  The first one I did a few months ago is very small and somewhat thinner.  This is an extremely laborious technique, very time consuming.  It took me HOURS to do these pieces, I figure around 6 hrs.  I also found that the tensioning needs to be flexible and I had to do alot of fiddling with it on the loom.  Very easily achieved if the loom is attached to your body.  This definitely works better on a backstrap.  Guess I am in for another shot at backstrap weaving.  LOL

As usual I got my information from Laverne Waddington's Backstrap blog.  She is also found on Weavezine and Weavolution.  Both excellent sites for weaving information.  We are both also on Ravelry and I find great information there also.  Ravelry has great info for knit and crochet kind of fiber art also. 

So here are my pictures.  Keep watching for one I do on the actual backstrap with a design....eventually.