More completed projects!

September 7, 2011

Finished up Alissa's pencil pouch and Aye's purple peace sign envelope pouch.  I like them both.  I certainly hope they do!

The purple doesn't photograph well for some reason.  You just can see the bottom of the peace signs in this picture.

I hope some day I get better at figuring out how to get the motif's where they are ALL right side up and positioned where they are not folded.  Each time I get a little closer.

 Here we have the pencil pouch.  This is the side I am calling the front.

It opens with a drawstring and the sides fold down part of the way so she can reach anything small she wants to put in it.

Success with a Backstrap!

June 12, 2011

So I am finally having success with the backstrap...sort of.  As usual I was just happy to get it warped somewhat successfully.  Reasonable tension and length.  Didn't even count the warp...let alone have a design plan.

So far all I have is my mark...for the second time. 

It is 5 ft. long, 56 warp ends, 1 3/4 in. wide.  Didn't even think to take a photo of the back side.  :-(  Especially after having to unweave the effort down to the first 4 rows. 

You know the OCD is kicking in when you can't sleep ( all night I might add ) because all you can think about is ... now that it is warped what design do I want to do?  LOL

IGNORE THE OLD LADY LEGS!

I am really just playing around with this one.  It is boring me to tears and so I have even started other projects with other backstrap looms.

Stay tuned for 'warp floats galore'.

My third Double weft Double Weave!

May 26, 2011

I LOVE THIS!  And I discovered that I can really cut down on mistakes if I put a little mirror underneath the weaving where I can see the reverse side.   OMG...I finally did it!  Double weft double weave...can you tell whee the plain weave meets the double weave?

Here it is all fresh off of the loom.  I can't decide which side I like best!  I think this one might be an envelope pouch when it grows up!

Catching up on my posting!

May 8, 2011  Mother's Day

Of course I have to be one of the people that cervical cryo is VERY hard on!  So I haven't been doing as much weaving as usual, and certainly no posting as much as usual.

But, the antibiotics have kicked in and I am starting to feel a little better.  A leeeeeetle.

I have been concentrating on backstrap weaving and it seems that it is indeed hard on my back.  Actually it isn't the weaving itself that gets me...it is the warping.  The only place I have to lay the warp out and place my saver cords...and I use lots of saver cords...is on my bed.  Which means leaning over.  Remember most of my warps are between 5 and 7 ft. 

Also, if I owned my warp board I would hang it on the wall...as it belongs to someone else... it is propped against the wall...on my bed.  More leaning. Then placing the string heddles and making sure the sheds are correct...you get the picture.  

It is only worse when I find a mistake in the warping and have to keep at it trying to correct things.  Let's not forget I am a frugal soul and hate throwing out a warp AT ALL.  But it is what it is.  I can only get better from here.

So in the end here is what I have accomplished.  

First a blue and lime green piece.  Five ft. long warp, 55 or so warps wide, plain weave.  Ignore the old lady legs and notice that I am tied onto a wooden chair...I am actually sitting in my recliner.

The completed piece has ridges that are very visible in places.  I believe this is caused by the tension being too tight.  Ms. Carol, my roommate snapped this one right up!

Then we have my first pick up piece on a backstrap.  Just pleased as punch that I got it warped up.  Mystery yarn, same size as the blue and green piece.  This one is teal and mocha brown (mystery yarn, scratchy and shrank horribly when washed) and I used a hook design that I got off of Laverne Waddington's blog.  We all know I am one of her keenest fans.

 Then I had two botched warps...my back started killing me again...so I am back to my Mini Wave and a band for my poncho project. 

This one is 7 ft. long and 80 warps per shed wide.  I have 50 threads in my pattern area.  First we have my mark...the infamous heart.

Then I finally got to do the indigenous flower design that I have on multiple sites on the internet.  This design always seems elongated when I do it.  That is why I have not done it as of yet.  Each time it looked more like a geometric design than a flower.  I have even tried lifting pairs instead of individual warps and it is the same way for me.  ?????

Last but not least I am using my own scrolls side by side...it almost looks like a heart too!  I got that idea from Laverne!

I found another flower in the 'Byways in Hand weaving' book, it looks kind of like a tulip.  I had to chart it myself for this technique, so I am not sure if it will work yet.  The book is geared to 4 shaft looms and I don't quite understand some of her pictures and instructions.  So sometimes they work and sometimes not so much.

  So my design factors (hopefully) will be yellower petal flower, blue scrolls, yellow tulip, blue scrolls, repeat.  That is the plan at this point anyway.  Always subject to adjustments.  LOL

Dana has made HUGE strides in her backstrap adventure.  She surprised me and did her second warp alone AND with horizontal stripes.  She has been experimenting with her pick up floats. 

I can't wait to see her progress as well as pictures of Ryan's birthday pictures.  I hope he likes his guitar strap.  ;-}

Pictures finally came!!!

He looks proud!

So that brings us mostly up to date.  I am still healing and will keep you posted.  

I am excited to be back into the successful weaving, instead of the possession of learning a new loom.  The backstrap bug bites me hard, just a little OCD going on there and I won't get my poncho bands finished in time for cooler weather if I don't keep at it.  I am going to do the weaving, the design, the assemblage sewing, lining and all, and we all know I am sew not a seamstress.  But I figure if Dana can get the hang of backstrap weaving this fast, then I should be able to tap into all of her textile knowledge and learn to do a little sewing.  I hope.  

I told her that I want to do it all myself, that I just want her to instruct, unless I find myself destroying my weaving's.  Her response was "  Knowing that...you will have a hard time getting me to rescue you". 

She knows I am excited to finally have something to wear that I have done completely on my own.  Except for spinning the yarn anyway.  

Dana learns backstrap in ONE sitting!

I passed the backstrap addiction on to my friend DANA!  

I taught her to wind a warp on a warp board, mount it onto a backstrap cross...of course it was only a 3 ft warp and of course we screwed up the cross and had to re heddle it a second time...then it was letter perfect!  It is 50 warps wide and here in the pics you can see we used mini blind slats for spacers and she is weaving her very first warp face structure!

You might also notice that she found some great nylon that seems to be working beautifully for her heddles.  No un-tying, even when pulled on aggressively, no shredding, etc...

If you look very closely you can see a little bit of the braided ends of the backstrap I made her.  She is using the same Garnet, gold and black yarn.  She is going to make a cell ph. case for her sister's birthday!  Actually 2 of the, her sister's job requires she carry both.

When we got to a breaking point, took us about 3 hrs., and she had woven an inch or so, we went inside to eat big 'ole Ribeye steaks and baked potatoe.  MAN, I so needed to get out of the house.  Their place is way out in the woods, so we worked on the front port in beautiful Spring weather.  It was soooooo much fun to spend the day with such good people, doing what I love most and passing it on to someone who is JUST as interested.  

Versus them looking at me like I am nuts when I say I weave.  LOL

Just off the loom!

May 13, 2011

I finally finished this one.  Took me days...just couldn't get motivated.

It is 160 warp ends, 3 3/4 in. wide, and 53 in. wove web.  Started out with a warp just under 5 ft.

Completed pink and gray!

April 12, 2011 Tuesday.

From a 7 ft. warp and 148 warp threads, I had 78 in. total with waste.  I got 59 in. (4 ft. 11 in.) woven web.  It is 3 3/4 in wide.  With fringe it is 70 in. total.  I am very happy with the way it turned out.  The only thing wrong is that it is slightly curved...I seem to have this in my work at times.  Always to the same side....hmmmmm.  Maybe something to do with being right handed, or the tension...maybe even both.  Since it is to be an addition to the poncho I don't think it will be a problem.  It might even relax out of it after a period of time.

New warp with lovely yarns from an E friend on Ravelry!

April 5, 2011

I warped up on my smallest loom yesterday.  WOW!  It is beautiful.  

I used yarns Mr. cphilip, a cyber friend from Ravelry sent me.  This is how people in the fiber arts are...GENEROUS!  See, I have had very little contact with Mr. Philip, but he has been watching my work.  He somehow happened on the information that I don't have a job and decided...out of the blue...to send me a box of yarn.  Just 'gifted' them to me. 

When I got the box, I was stupefied and without words.  The box was huge and filled to the brim with everything from linen to silk to perle cotton.  I have never had the pleasure of using linen or silk...somehow 'Thank You' just isn't enough.

Both the perle and the silk shimmer beautifully...check it out...

I gotta think of something to make for this wonderfully generous man.

What's on the Loom????

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Just a quick shot of the first motif on my 'mistake warp'.

Here is the second one!

And the third.  She has hair!

Catseye03's backstrap project is finished!

March 26, 2011

Ok...I did it...I think it is very nice.  I do wish it were stiffer, but the one I use when I use a backstrap weave is even weave and flexible and it works fine.

I hope she likes it.

And she sent me yet another care package.  This one had 7 skeins of #3 thread and a takli spindle with a little bowl with a bird painted on the inside.  


Now how did she know I love birds?

Why do I do this to myself.

March 9, 2011

Ok, enough of the creative glitch.  I am kicking it in the arse and moving on.

I occasionally get bored, or frustrated, or depressed or whatever the heck it is and can't get any satisfaction with my art.  I am here to tell you boys and girls that I have been in this funk for about a month and I am sick, sick, sick of it!  I am not going down without a fight.

I even went so far as to warp up my tapestry loom.  I really haven't touched it since I started with the Gilmore Wave / warp face weaving thing.  In the process of warping it up I discovered a few things.  

I intended to do an interlocking scroll design.  My thoughts being that it has no striped background, isn't a double weave thus not as thick, and of course I need to learn to follow a cartoon.  Guess what?  I hated it.  Big surprise right!  It bored me to tears to try to do an exact design, even though it was my own.  Not only that but I hate that the tapestry room hogs my bedroom so much.  I just wasn't having fun at all,

So once again, it is back upstairs in the attic and I am returning to what I seem to really love.  The warp face weaving I have been doing since October of last year.  

I never thought I would like the big looms with all of their technical stuff.  But a table loom, oh YEAH!  It also pleases me to know that when I have to return KraftyMax's large Wave, I will be able to convert over to the backstrap for the larger pieces than my Mini Wave can handle.

I haven't come up with another project yet, but I will...and it will be something warp face, without a chart in all probability.  Just wingin' it as usual.  But lovin' it.

Warp for Ravelry Weave A Long

Written March 3rd for posting on April 11, 2011 

Dedicated to my sister Jackie, Happy Birthday Jack.  Rest in peace.  She always told me how creative I was.  I used to laugh at her and say, "not creative, just poor, I have to make the best use of what I have".  In hind site, she was a pretty smart cookie.  I miss her something awful.

I warped up my Mini Wave today with a 8 1/2 ft. warp. I double stranded the entire thing. It is 75 warps wide…which means 74 heddles that have 2 strands in each. So at 150 per shed it is 300 threads. It is 4 in. wide and I have woven about an inch so far. Gives me about 75 threads to the inch.

I used #10 mercerized cotton crochet thread, doubled, 15 heddles wide in forrest green.
Then #3 mercerized cotton crochet thread in warm teal, stranded together with #5 perle cotton in baby blue, 46 heddles. Then another 15 in doubled forrest green.

I ran out of the forrest green before I got done, so one side only has 13 instead of 15. Thus 74 heddles/warps that are double stranded wide. By doubling all of the threads I get a streaky effect of the two blues together. I also get the choice when I do my pick ups of using either the perle or the #3 for my picks ups. So considering this…I can get lifts in green when I want to, then I can also do lifts in #3 warm teal and also in #5 perle, or use both blues at the same time. So I get 4 choices of pick up colors instead of the usual two when using the horizontal stripe background. I will say that it is a bear to wind the warp with two crosses using 4 cones at once. grrrr

I will be doing what Laverne calls ‘Simple Warp Floats’ (click here if you want to see the tutorial), on her blog.

I will be doing my own designs and making them up as I go along. For those of you who don’t know me this is how I usually do my weaving. I like to make my designs up as I go. I do sometimes look at pics of other folks designs for inspiration, but I rarely follow someone else’s pattern, and I hardly ever chart mine. I find the proportions off when charting…so I just use my eyes as I go along. Sometimes I have to do quite a bit of un-weaving, but I have had great successes so far and I like to experiment to see what I can accomplish.

Here is the start of the warp.

Here is the first design.  Go figure?  I did indeed follow someone else's pattern.  This one comes from Mary Atwater's, "Byways in Handweaving".

New project!

I got the yarns from KraftyMax today!  I am going to make a box like tote for her new camera.  She sent nylon in BEAUTIFUL colors.  Unfortunately their #2 is a little finer than the cotton #10.  Plus I am not sure how it will do tension wise.  

On the good side, I have lots of purples and blues that match her choices, in mercerized cotton.  Both #10 and #3.  I probably won't be doing any warp floats though with these fine threads.  AAANNNNNDDDDD...My roommate Carol has taken up Chinese Knotting techniques.  Max's logo for her websites is a dragonfly, and we, (Carol and I ) had already decided to use some of the dragonflies on the tote.  Today she did a couple of samples.  

So I have pictures of the yarns and of the dragon fly prototypes.

Here goes!

Dragonflies first!

Please notice that if you look VERY CLOSELY that one of the blue and one of the purple is variegated.

Tonight I will be warping up a little band of this yarn to test it!  Probably a little necklace for 'Wiggles'.  

I will let you know how it goes.

February 16, 2011

For those of you who follow that are fiber geeks like myself, anything from knitting, crocheting, spinning or my own love, weaving, you should consider joining one of the larger fiber groups.

I belong to both Weavolution and Ravelry.  While Weavolution concentrates on weaving, Ravelry encompasses ALL of the fiber arts.  If you can think it up, there is a group on Ravelry for it.  I belong to 5 of them.  Most of my participation is in the backstrap and inkle groups.  Because both of these groups do 'warp face' weaving, which you can accomplish on alot of different looms.  Even a floor loom or a rigid heddle.  

What I am after in these groups is technique information.  Design, warping, creative ideas...these are what rock my world.  Some of these groups are very technical, for those who love that I am happy they have also found a place to gather.  It's just not necessarily my thing.  I like to think outside the box.  Like taking a little picture of a design and playing with it until it is distinctly my own.  I am getting better at it each time too.  I simply could not have achieved such goals without these groups and the lovely participants.  They are warm, considerate and sharing with the time and ideas.

So now it is my turn.  I recently participated in a Weave A Long in the backstrap group on Ravelry, of course Laverne Waddington is the moderator.  I learned so much and had waaayyyyy too much fun as well.  Alas though, all good things must come to an end, as will the WAL in the backstrap group.  March 6th to be exact.  Wiggles and I really hated to see it end...So I got an idea.  

Why can't I form my own WAL.  Not in the same group though as that is not my place.  I certainly didn't want to step on anyone else's toes.  So I started to thinking...maybe I could start up some sort of participation on my blog.  Couldn't figure out how to get a proper 'widget' that would allow people to post in MY blog.  Only I can do that I guess.  Then I started looking around in Ravelry again and discovered that the INKLE group had all but died out.  It needed a jump start.

Since the weave structure is the same as what is usually produced on a backstrap loom, I thought maybe I have enough knowledge to get us going.  SO I DID!

We are having a WAL and you are cordially invited.  Everyone, every skill level.  No big monies to spend, no complicated weave techniques (unless you want to), just alot of like minded people practicing and trying to perfect whatever it is that they feel they need to work on.

Below are my guide lines.  Come join  us.  Ravelry is free!  All you have to do is join.  Then you can come out to play with us!  If not with us, maybe you are only interested in knitting, LOTS of groups for that too.  I am sure they have KNIT A LONGS!  

Stop procrastinating and step outside of your comfort zone.  I did! and I was welcomed with open arms by all.  I would not have cared if only 1 other person wanted to participate.  That is one more person that I can relate to, help or get help from.  You scratch my back and I will scratch yours kind of thing.

Take a look.

I have suggested an all around Weave A Long. All skill levels, all kinds of inkle/warpface weaving.

I would like it to start on March 1st.

1. We would all use cotton.
   
2. I would like to shoot for at least 3 in. width if your loom
   will accommodate, if it won’t do 3 in. just try to go wider than your comfort zone.
   
3. I would like for everyone to try to make a longer length than they have in the past.  Maybe max your loom.
   
4. Any technique you want to do is okay. From plain weave to very complicated. I know several, I don’t have a day job and I am very glad to help in any way I can.
   

Suggestions:

a.  Plain weave
    b.  double weave
    c.  you could do soumak, picots, stripes, 

or  combs.
    d.  You can do inlay, I have tried it and understand the theory, 

even though I wasn't so good at it.
    e.  plain weave is beautiful with crisp cotton yarns.
    f.   Or maybe you just want to work on your salvages and warping techniques. 

We might have suggestions for that also.

I think it will allow us to discover some new techniques, some new yarns and weights. Find out where they are available and their price range. If you want to we can even assemble a little bag, cell ph cover, i pad case. Something that could be made from the strip with simple hand stitching.

I would love to have all of you participate that can. Please let me know. If you need to contact me I am at pandulaarts@yahoo.com. If you want to see the little pouch’s look on my blog at http://pandulaartscreations.blogspot.com/ . You can see pictures of them and a few of my beginner pieces along the right hand side.

DON’T FORGET TO POST LOTS OF PICTURES GIRLS AND BOYS!

Also I am thinking we will end this one on April 15th…unless we are just having too much fun!

Woooo hoooooooo! It's off the loom!

Please keep in mind that these posts are done in advance and so the dates are sometimes confusing.

This piece was completed on January 31st.

I had such fun figuring out how to make these motif's.  Especially on such a large pallet.  I haven't decided what I will do with it except that I will be keeping it.  I want to use it as a reference for the designs.  Laverne says alot of the women weavers where she lives in Bolivia keep scraps for this very purpose.  To help them remember their designs.  

Seems I gifted out everything for Christmas!  Good thing I took lots of pictures or I would have no way to remember!  I have also started keeping a written notebook for this same purpose.  But a picture says a thousand words, right! 

I am very proud of it! 

Next it is a camera bag for my friend KraftyMax!  She sent me some beautiful yarn.  It is 100% nylon though so I am not sure how well I will be able to weave with it.  I am sure it has no give or stretch.  This sometimes makes tensioning the warp difficult.  I will keep you posted.  Pics of the yarns coming up soon.

This one is 44 in. long without fringe, and it is 5 1/3 in wide.

After I posted this on Ravelry I was told that if I were in a country, such as Bolivia, where symbols hold great power, belief and tradition, that I would be asked what they represent.  The story behind them as it were.


I laid awake thinking about this last night, and this is what I came up with.

 I laid awake thinking about what the symbols represent...So here is what I came up with.

Starting at the bottom.

Diamonds are the hardest substance know to man.  This one represents the hardships we all face in life.
Yellow Diamonds are extremely rare, as is the person who faces these hardships with grace.
The next one represents being pulled in different directions and trying to stay 'level', and centered.
The heart of course is love.  We all need it.
The x and the o are tradition, hugs and kisses.
The person represents a holiday.  She has on her best dress and hat ready for a night out on the town.
The dog of course represents unconditional companionship and the last one represents chaos and is there to remind us not walk around in circles.

What do you think Laverne?

UPDATE:

This piece has been tied to my curtain rod above my bed.  It actually looks like part of the curtains.  And I get to look at every time I walk into the room.  LUV it!