Friday, October 19, 2012

New Woven Projects

Last two Ikat Samples, now to plan my rug….

 

These are my latest runners. The one to the right is a project from Alice Schlein’s book     “LIftplan Connection” If you tilt your head to the left you can read Linens, Towels and Napkins. I created it with Photoshop. These should be off the loom then I’ll post pictures of the finished items. Now that the AVL is working well it seems to be the one I want to weave on the most! Two naked looms right now! better get busy!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Computer woes and new to me loom

Finally felt up to weaving on the AVL. Bought the correct part so the Fly shuttle should work. Went to flip the old computer dedicated to that loom and Nada. It was unplugged from the end of Nov. until now, so it wasn't a power surge. 

Off center for the fly shuttle

Plan B get it working with my notebook. Right. Computer not talking to my loom, turned out there was something wrong with the cable. Go to set it up again, no luck. Note enough USB ports. Tried everything got it working but then my regular computer was acting weird, probably some fix I tried and failed. Had to put the computer back to the time when it worked correctly. Tried the Weaving Program again nope too many USB connections not talking again. Pulling hair out again!!

Went through the process again and it failed again. Emailed the Weaving program people they had another suggestion. nothing.  Shut it off in disgust. I needed Downtime.

Turned it on this morning and low and behold there is a port available for the loom that wasn't there when I shut it off. Bizarre but ok!  So today I'll try the AVL again and see what happens. Unless the port disappears again. Computers Love them but sometimes I don't want to live with them!!!

40" 8 Shaft Norwood.

Got the new to me Norwood 8 shaft all warped and am weaving a simple scarf in Dimity a structure I have never woven before. Looks good now that I took the blue off the edges! Semi followed a pattern in Handwoven that had a darker edge, ok when you are using that color as weft but I'm not. She is now all oiled up and a real beauty! I love the Cherry on the older Norwoods. It was looked brand new, my husband started taking it apart to get it in the van before I even said anything about buying it. He knew!

This is the Dimity it looks like plain weave but the darker colored stripes are twill. You can see the blue I cut off at the edges. I'll probably use that the hem area. I wanted to do something relatively simple for it's first warp on all 8 shafts. Ha, best laid plans. Had to tie it up about three times. It only uses four treadles so duh they needed to be centered in a bigger loom like this one. 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Busy, warping, planning and de-cluttering

Been busy organizing the studio. Brought back a bin of yarn and had to de-clutter in there. Dh thinks all stuff can go there, lol, Not.

Winding a warp for the new to me 8 shaft Norwood. Dimity, a weave I've never explored.

 Found a beautiful lace hearts draft for the Megado. The Megado is sitting naked in it's lonely room. I took a dog off that loom. The warp just became too frustrating to weave. I used this extremely fine variegated yarn and it seemed to stretch the further I went with it! I'm not sure if I'll dye that one or weave with color. I think it is going to be white and then dyed/ surface designed.


The Blue Ridge Fiber Show is going to open at the beginning of October I have two scarves in it for the first time in four years. With back surgery etc I am surprised I even got that done! I entered these two. The blue  scarf picture isn't hemmed but it is now! It is a lace weave and then Pole dyed. The blue one was woven with a more random treadling but the logwood one is done exactly as drawn in. The lace with honeycomb and  is called Treasure lace.



Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Finished with wheeling and dealing. now it's Dave's turn

Well. sold the Baby wolf and Norwood all with in a few months. The new to me Norwood 8 shaft is waiting naked in NC. Now I have no loom up here, only bad part of all of this.The # of looms have decreased to a manageable number anyway. I got about a yard and a half of thrums woven so that is good. There is so much more to be woven off.
     It has been such a warm summer here in MI. Air conditioner has run more than I can remember  for Michigan. No bites or even showings of the house. Which is kind of nice cause I don't have to clean like a maniac but the catch up is going to be painful. No motivation to do crafts or anything much. Dh is busy doing funerals and such with the Honor Guard.
     He still has these items to sell:

I use one of his warping mills all the time, love it! I can't stand that long to use a warping board anymore. Plus it stores so easily.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Good bye Norwood loom and Misc.




                                                              Luckily this bluster bay shuttle didn’t  fit when I was taking things down south. It works great for placing too short a weft in while I use up all these scraps. This is sure some old yarns from the thrum bin. Thrums are the left over parts of a warp that can’t be woven at the end of a warp.
  I will miss this Norwood, It is such a beauty. It was made in Baldwin where I learned to weave eons ago. They had week long classes, all day, in the summer. I only learned to put on a warp using the sectional method which this loom loves. But it can be a real pain to do  as 10-20 spools need to be wound then they go through the tensioner and it gets wound on the back beam. I ended up hiring someone from Bowling Green College in Ohio to teach me how to put a warp on using a warping board. Back then I had one lone 20 inch workshop  Norwood as my 50’ had to be sold for space for our son.
That is one of the great things about weaving you can never run out of things to learn or different things to try. Got a great book the other day on Miniature Overshot, Bertha Gray Hayes’ patterns. They mention the first Weaving conferences at Hartland Michigan in 1934. John R Crouse and his uncle H. Tremaine sold their carbon works to start this Hartland project. The company later became Union Carbide which Dave, his Dad and Uncle worked at in Ohio. Cromaine Crafts built looms and had weaving classes at Waldenwoods.( instructor there was Osama Gallinger This is just west of Lansing, I feel the need for a road trip! Love to see their museum.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Weaving Weft (Chenille)


This is one of the strangest projects! I am weaving chenille, weft for a rug. It should use up some of my thrums or waste from old warps. Some of this stuff is really old! When I got my new to me Norwood she gave me a box of old Magazines.   Handwoven's Jan//Feb 1990  was the article on weaving chenille for rugs or pillows. I have a huge  bag here in MI and another in NC. Unfortunately I don't know if this five yard warp will use up as much as I have!
           They suggest dyeing it afterwards, yeah right I have cotton wool and acrylic. Guess I will have to resort to good old union dye or Rit dye.  The warp is spaced and when it is all finished you cut between the warp groups. Plain weave and a real no brainer for summer weaving up here. Also using up some old rug warp. Basically a large recycling project. 

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Warping Paddles


      Leclerc warping paddle. I've had this one for years, read every article I could find on using one and could not figure it out. The Norcraft weavers guild got together to learn how with Mary Luluic teaching us how she does it.  I just put a warp on in no time. 8 strands at a time! It can hold more but that was good for a start. Really happy about this it will speed up my warping skills by about 10x!
     The  Norcraft weaving guild  is hopefully starting up again in mid west lower Michigan they have a new website here:     http://norcraftweavers.org/ 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Norwood 40 inch 4 shaft loom / SOLD


 I have for sale a 4 shaft beauty:  dark  Cherry 40 inch Norwood loom, It was built in Baldwin MI by the McGarr's and is just a gorgeous piece of furniture even  if it isn't warped. It has a bench that goes with it for $700. Located in Midwest Michigan. I used this loom all last summer and it is terrific condition for the age of the loom. The finish is so beautiful on this loom! It has the standard 1 yard round sectional beam. The Bench has tons of room. It has the one reed a 12 dpi. Contact me if you are interested

___________________________________________________________________________


Yes, some news. Decided to take the plunge and sold my Baby wolf. Have purchased a used 8 shaft Norwood from a lady in Ann Arbor MI. It is brand new but 30 years old, LOL. Like the car the little old lady only drove to church on Sundays. She had it priced kind of high but when my husband saw the condition he started taking it apart before I even started talking with the Lady. He really knows me well. She threw in,  a box of books mostly tapestry weaving, A box of yarns, a box of Handwoven Magazines most that I haven't got so this was so kewl!  Also an inkle loom and warping board. It was a real pain for Dave and fellow to load into the van so he is taking it to Toledo then NC.

Monday, April 23, 2012

2nd and 3rd lace/ pole dyed scarves



Here are the other two scarves that I've finished using the lace pattern from Weaver's Magazine summer of 1996 (Oh how I miss weaver's)  Issue 32 Found Treasure. Once they were woven separated and zigzagged, I attached them to a pole (with tape) then wrapped carpet warp( it turned out to be kite string lol), Scrunched them down, then poured dye over them. The yellow and green and blue scarves I poured the sabracet dye and batched them over night.  The purple logwood (Natural extract) one was set with heat.  I tried using rubber bands but they didn't really work very well I think due to the bulk of the material. The yellow and green was dyed and pole wrapped twice because the first time it was all yellow. I love how the blue turned into green but left patches of blue on the scarf. With the left over yellow dye I dyed one of my husbands old shirts that had some spots on it. It was made with polyester and cotton, the figures dyed darker than it originally was and my husband really likes it!


These two were dyed using Logwood extract. I didn't leave these in as long as recommended because I like the color where it was!  I also dyed some wool some with the shorter dye bath and some overnight. The overnight turned very dark purple. I've used the same heavy duty blue gloves for four years the logwood became permanent where all the other dyes didn't.  Even when the wool was rinsed till clear it left purple halos on my drying  frames. Really different than I expected.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Lace Pole dyeing project


Oddball one on the loom it is now blue!



Finished weaving the lace project on to dyeing. The first one I dyed using the traditional method with string wrapped around the pole then slid down. Dyed the first one Blue with Fiber Reactive dyes no heat used at all. 2nd one is batching it is very yellow. I may end up over dyeing it with a darker color. Used Rubber bands for the resist for the second one, a lot easier on my hands!
It turned out just the way I had envisioned it! Nice when that happens.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

A Weaving Studio At Last!

This is the right side facing the door. Sewing machine, baby wolf loom, Drum Carder and microwave for dyeing.


Right side facing back of studio. Three windows across the back room for my Glimakra Ideal and the AVL. Yarn storage at the end.

Yarn is almost all put away, have some up north still that will move in later. The Shower curtains are the blue and white over top of the storage cubes. They were all hot pink like in the first picture. We plan on enclosing the door and back of the room after DH has run electricity to his workshop, next door to me.
   We went to a small town near us and found a pretty gift store going out of business. I found a rack for my mug rugs and went back a couple of days later and bought a bracelet rack. All made of wire, dh had a point: me and plastic don't mix to well. It was nice looking but would have broken in a minute with me...
    I've been working on the Baby Wolf loom lately weaving lace for scarves. Less energy and stress on the old bod, getting very close to being recovered from the back surgery.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The other kind of Sheds

In this case it is a storage shed, now my studio. Finished painting, putting lower white peg board, and trim. Looking good. Now to some way cover over the hot pink insulation. I don't want to paint it, to high and I want it only to have a thin cover over the insulation. Went to Lowe's a couple of times trying to figure out what I could do, Talked with one of their workers whose mother was a weaver!
We priced out carpet too expensive, then she had the suggestion plastic which I already had thought about but black or clear? no.  I had wanted foam but I can't find it anywhere that thin.  Then it dawned on me Cheap shower curtains in different colors! cut to size and stapled. The $ store only had white, off white and blue. So I got blue and white. I will post pictures when all moved in. Can't wait!  All my books are moved, soon cones and other misc. I have three looms, a sewing area and a dyeing area! Exciting.