Change in plans...

October 31, 2011

Having had to move for the second time in 3 months, I am now back to square one on how to tie up my backstrap loom.  I am in a smaller room than ever and I simply can't find a spot that works.  The frustration of this is at an all time high!

There is no room for my usual table (if you recall I found it trash picking and it worked perfect), and I don't think the walls in a mobile home will take the pulling very well.  I am made to feel much more welcome here, but I often find my weaving a meditative solitary endeavor.  In other words, even though I could weave in the living room, there is a HUGE big screen, 2 adults and a 6 yr. old alot of the time in the same room.

In thinking about this dilemma ever since I first started to do backstrap weaving, I am find it a total PITA each time I have to move.  I am finding that for my purposes this loom is anything but portable...or maybe to clarify, it is portable in that it is easily moved and transported, but not portable as to finding a place to tie up.  Maybe if I were in another country where folks sit outside alot more, a tree would be very handy!  But here in Florida in the southern United States, between the mosquitoes, flies and humidity, as I have a choice, I prefer to weave indoors.  Thus the dilemma.

So I have been researching Inkle looms for quite some time now.  For many reasons.  Direct warping being one of them, no need for a warp board.  Easier! and less gear is a good thing.  Longer warps, most have somewhere around 6 to 9 feet capacity...if not more.  A 9 ft. warp on a backstrap is beyond my current skill set or need.  Along with the fact that 9 feet of the same weaving is boring after a point.  I love that it will allow me to use the same techniques I am currently using on my backstrap also.

For a long time the 4 1/2" width seemed narrow, but I have come to the conclusion that this is about my maximum width anyway, my comfort zone as it were.  Especially since I am no longer afraid (Thanks Dana) of my sewing machine, and of course still have access to the large Wave my friend owns any time I want to use it (or can find space for it). 

SOOOOOO...my friend's, yesterday I ordered an inkle loom.  It is made by Northwest looms.  It holds 9 1/2 ft. of warp and has a weaving width maximum of 5 1/2 in.  It also has two sides, one that comes off for warping and then is placed back onto the loom to keep the pegs from bending or becoming loose from the tension on the warp while weaving.  I already have a hook on the wall to hang it when not in use.

I can either use it on a table, or I have even seen folks rest the far end on the floor while weaving.  No extra pieces of furniture taking up valuable floor space and no need for a fixed object that won't move while weaving.  No need to scoot my chair up or the table closer while weaving either.  Much more user friendly in my current circumstance.

If you have never visited Northwest looms...please do.  I talked to Mr. Tony in person yesterday and found him to be a lovely gentleman.  I am excited to get started!

I got these pictures off of the Northwest site.  My loom will be Oak, which is what I think this one is made of also.

Here is a shot of it with the side off...Another point to notice is that the tension peg has a large wing-nut on both sides of the loom.  I am sure this will make for an easier time using the tension peg.    Can't wait!

More Warp Floats Galore.

 June 27, 2011

TADA!  My second warp floats galore.  The hook design Laverne did last week in black and white is definitely on the list!  And I did it on the backstrap!  Woohoo!  The warp is 3 ft. and I still have plenty to do, but going more narrow seems to be helping!  No more stripes if I don't want them. Odd how I figured it out after the stripes stopped bothering me.  It isn't free form but it is what I wanted it to be at that moment...and a struggle to get there!

FYI to all of my wonderful followers...I am in the process of a move back to FL...starting tomorrow morning as you are reading this.  I hope that I have enough posts to keep you happy until I can get back on line.  I will miss you all and be back as soon as possible.  Can't wait to see the Ocean!

Poncho project!

May 21, 2011   Saturday

So I took all of my bands down off my curtain rod (I hang them up just so I can look at them)...got out the straight pins (my hands are now officially pin cushions) and a piece of 'practice' fabric the size I wanted to poncho to be and started playing around with the placement.  Grrrrrrrr

Keep in mind that I live in the DEEP south USA and I never took out not one jacket this Winter.  Only long sleeve shirts and sweaters.  I wanted a 'light' poncho.  Imagine my surprise that the thing weighs 50 lbs.  BUMMER!  BUMMER!  BUMMER!    So then I talked to my friend who sews and asked....how about we just use the bands for trim on a poncho?  Say all around the outer edge's and the neckline, with a kind of muffler (pocket) for my hands?  Maybe even a muffler pocket on each side so it is reversible.

So more pinning.

It is still heavy so I will have to have to think hard about what fabric to use to keep it from hanging funky.  I wish she had been here...but that will come.  On the good side I have tons of bands to choose from...I almost had enough to fill the practice fabric.  But for now I am not sure I even want a poncho ;((((.  A good 1/3 of the pieces are wide and short...not long strips...more like table center pieces, great for gift giving...especially since I have no job.  Even then I still have plenty of LONG bands for trim on a poncho.

I have never had a handwoven wearable piece...certainly not of my own weavings.  The closest I got to wearing my own fiber art was hand knit socks...which I love...but again the DEEP south...don't wear socks much and knitting kills my old lady hands.  So basically I am back to the drawing board...but very prepared for the holiday season already this year.  That is a plus though.

At the very least I am having to re-think the project...

KraftyMax's camera tote!

April 5, 2011

Max's tote is as complete as it will be until she receives it.

She wants to install her own magnetic closure and the strap will be put on the camera.  When the bag is closed the camera strap will also serve as a strap for the bag.  I have left it to her as to where she would like to place the dragon flies that Ms Carol did for her also.  Just a few pictures before I pack it up.

Unfortunately it turned out waaaayyyyyy too big.  But that is okay.  It will be used to keep it save when it is on her desk where she creates her beautiful beaded jewelry pieces. ;o}

Completed Mistake band!

TADA! 6 3/4 in. wide, 22 in. long without fringe, 348 threads, #10 mercerized 100% cotton crochet thread.

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!

Weave A Long

March 8, 2011

I worked, and worked and worked on the blue/teal/forest green piece.  For some reason I became impatient with it and finished it about a foot or more short.  I like it and discovered alot of things.  But I don't love it.

My biggest discovery was that at times I can convert a double weave pattern chart to a simple warp float design.  YEAH!  Unfortunately this time it did not come out in the center and I decided to leave it...it was something of a struggle to get it in there at all.  So here are a few pictures.

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".

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. 

What's on the Loom????

I have started KraftyMax's camera tote.

The first thing I did was try using the nylon!  What a nightmare!  No give, toooooo slippery and very tangely (is that even a word?).  So even though the colors were beautiful, I can't weave with it.  

So I went to plan B.  She said I love blue and yellow together, purple and green together....So I gathered up all of my purples and greens, blues and yellows and just started warping.  I double and triple stranded throughout, and this is what I got.

The tote will be a cube shape and I will lay them in a t shape, sew them together and maybe add a strap.  Actually Dana will do the construction this time.  Love you Dana.

This piece will be the front, bottom and back sides.  

The side pieces will have the same outter edges as the main body piece, but the center will be double stranded 2 tones of green.

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.

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!

What's on the Loom????

I was absolutely thrilled with my new warp and it's colors.  WAS.  LOL

I decided to warp up with a stripe background because this would allow me to try a speckled background, and I did try it.    It also allowed for the fact that if I could not figure it out, or hated it, I could still revert to my usual simple warp floats.  Had I known that this warp would be soooooo wide (which is a serendipitous good thing), I would have made the stripe area less wide.  Maybe just down the middle, or even on each edge and the center????  Anyway, I have a 96 thread wide pattern area.  I haven't been able to just happen onto a pattern that this works for.   But I digress, back to the speckles...Below you will see a picture.  

First I did just stripes to establish my width, 5 3/4 in.  Then I got out my Helen Bress Inkle book and did some speckles...didn't seem to be working...went and got roommate (2 heads are better than one you know, especially when one used to be a full time weaver)...decided I was indeed doing it correctly and started again.  I didn't like the up 1 down 1, too busy.  So I tried up 2 down 2, hummmm it was o.k...then I tried up one and down two.  Aha!  I love that one.  So I unwove the sample below and started with the up one down two...then I decided to check the backside...;o(...bummer, this system allowed for every so many threads NEVER to be tied down, somehow this way there were threads that would float the entire length of the fabric, that would be 7 feet.  More un-weaving.  I am just glad I looked at the backside when I did.  

Also, I was very mistaken.  This technique is definitely NOT like Laverne's warp float galore tutorial.  ;o(

I have learned alot with this warp already.  Use slightly smaller pattern area, double threading each heddle makes for a wider as well as thicker piece, I love the speckled background and I have indeed figured out how to do it.  Now, of course, I would still have to figure out how to do the speckled background with a pattern.  Didn't get that far.  I learned that to graph a 96 thread count design area you need to tape graphs together and the chart is HUGE!  Good thing I have in abundance lots of that tenacity Laverne talks about.  LOL

In the end I am just doing simple warp floats.  Diamonds so far as I don't know how big a motif will be, or it if will get elongated etc. etc. and etc.

Now for pictures.

Bottom up it goes, stripe, 2x2, 1x1, 1x2....

All of this but the stripes got unwoven...keep watching though the pattern is indeed happening for the next posts' pics.

What's on the Loom????

Here we goooooooooooooo...

All warped up.  Started out on the Mini loom and discovered my warp was HUGE!  Much wider than I had thought, must be the # 3 mercerized cotton crochet thread combined with double stranding the entire piece.

Believe me it was a pain.  Thank goodness I made the decision to move over to the larger loom.  The Mini only has 100 heddles.  I would have been in deep poop!  It was tough enough even though I caught it early.

The watermelon and the pomegranate I think are smaller than #10, but as they were not marked I cannot be sure.  This is my widest warp yet.  I haven't started the actual weaving yet ( my back was killing me when I finished warping) but right now it measures 5 3/4 in. wide, 116 heddles.  The yarns snagged and snarled all through winding it onto the warp board, as a result I lost my count repeatedly.  So I could only give an educated guess as to my count.

The watermelon and pomegranate make a lovely combination.  I took pics of course so here they are.

Here I am starting out on the Mini Wave.

                          
                                                    Here it is wound onto the Large Wave.

                                                  Just about done with threading the heddles.

                                                         Starting to tie onto the front beam.

                                               Here you see it with the spacer slats in place.

Now all I have to do is decide what technique and patterns to use.  Such a bit space is just a leeeeeeetle bit
intimidating.

What's on the Loom????

So I decided to do a new piece.  I chose to do another piece similar to Crystal's Christmas scarf.  

I warped double stranded 2 shades of yellow, and double stranded watermelon, and persimmon.  I am going to try to go for 'speckled background'.  Think this is the same technique that Laverne calls 'warp floats galore'.  This means that there are floats on each row of stripes in the background and as a result the stripes are hidden and specks show in the background instead.  I just want to know that I have the option of eliminating the stripes when I choose to.  Even though I have actually produced some very nice pieces with the stripes and have learned not to mind them at all.  

I also believe the more I know the more likely I can teach it to others.  This also let me produce nice gifts for my friends and family.

So far I only have pictures of my warp, but it will give you a taste.

Here are the yarns!

                                                                Here is the warp!

Kind of reminds me of Valentine's Day!  No hearts though, did enough of those of Crystal pistal!

Stay tuned, more pics coming soon.

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.