The Domino Effect

Oh yes, this runs rampant in our house and thanks to friend Mary and a wonderful gift, it has caused quite the effect felt round the house. After a winter of warm weather travels down south,

Mary arrived back in Oregon with some great news. Her and hubby had bought a place in AZ and the present house was hitting the market. Would I like that mid century dresser I had been drooling over?



 Hell yes! We'll just pack that sucker in the Subaru when I come for a visit, and so we did. I will say that getting it from basement through garage to back of car was WAY easier than Gene and I lugging it up 2 flights of stairs, one with a corner landing. But it arrived in it's new digs just fine and looks fantastic.



 Thank you Mary AND Ross, so very much!

 The problem of course then becomes what to do with the old dresser? Since I'm at it, a few things need to be moved around the bedroom anyway. So out came the old dresser and the Ladybug spinning wheel, the chair I like and of course, spinning fiber. The lamb dresser moved to the weaving studio to hold loom stuff.



Lots of AVL bobbins, pegs and bars, spare parts, weights etc. Other drawers hold general stuff, shuttles, texsolv, manuals and I should probably make room for the temples hanging around on the open shelves here.

 So that meant that the table that provided some counter space in the weaving studio had to go somewhere. It ventured out into the back room where the Delta is living. Took the place of the little nightstand.



 Oh and the bed had to be moved around and might as well get the loom into a position that allows one to warp it and weave on it. Nice sunny place for the spinning wheel and chair too.



 The bottom shelf on that table will provide fiber storage. The only thing that hasn't found a new home, of course is the old nightstand. It will go to the furniture warehouse in the basement. You never know when it will be resurrected again, happens all the time around here.

So when I haven't been moving furniture or cleaning out and refilling drawers, I have been doing a little weaving on Sal. Looks like something that should grace a bordello in pink and red, but it is what it is. If anyone has a suggestion on a color to put with that pink, PLEASE let me know. BTW, a yellow-green is a no go with this. :)



A good deal of time has been spent in the garden, getting the weeds knocked back, looking at plants that took a heavy frost hit last week and pulling stuff that just didn't make it.



 There is a lot of life out there though and I am so thrilled to report that my much loved dark blue Salvia's have come back. There is new growth under the mulch. I peeked. But for right now, this is what we've got to show in our spring garden.


Brunnera

Hellebore



Lady's Mantle



Witch-hazel

Arctic Willow

 The temps have been riding in the low to mid 60's this week, drying things out and warming them up.

No sewing go on, but a few things have been cut and are waiting for some free time. The back door is open for the dogs to come and go to the pen as they please, clothes are line drying and the breezes through the house are soft and warm right now. Oh and I saw a hummingbird, a beautiful little Anna's male. As lovely as it is, we are hoping there is still more rain in our future, warm rain of course. ;)

Parting shots: Cat like Jack, captivated by twittering birds and sunshine.

A Day in the Life of Looms 2011

This is a wonderful tradition started by Meg.

Here is my clutch of looms, taken about seven this morning.

The Louet Hollandia (Hannah) 8 shafts/14 treadles has on a towel warp in 8/2 cotton that was just started yesterday.

The Louet Delta (Hey Baby!) 8 shafts/10 treadles has on the last of the endless pillowcase warp in 20/2 cotton. Just finished and waiting for cut off.

I have some warp left over so I'm thinking about weaving just a little more for decorative hems for more pillowcases. Haven't decided if I want to torture myself longer or not.

The Glimakra Julia (Julia surprise,surprise) 4/6 CM set-up has the start of more Prayer Flags.

The little Schacht inkle loom is collecting dust, but I really want to get it out and do some little bands for towel tabs.

That about covers my loom herd for this year. Anyone with a loom can join in and flash their looms! Sue at Life Looms Large has her looms up here.

Miss Bea is the loom room snooperviser today. Happy New Year!

What Exactly IS That Green Warp?

You had questions about the green scarf warp and I have answers!

The pale smooth yarn in the warp is Nature's Palette Lace weight silk and wool. 30% silk/70% wool. The ribbon type yarn is a cotton (85%) and polymide (15%) ribbon blend made by Filatura Di Crosa called Malva, which I think may be discontinued. I bought this on sale along with a hot red salsa kind of mix of the same stuff. The lovely loopy boucle yarn is a Curious Creek Fibers yarn named Shira and it is 54% mohair, 23% silk, 18% wool and 5% nylon. I have used this before in scarf for both warp and weft. It was called Poodle in a Pond. I love the name of this color way; Birches in Norway. Do the birches look like that in Norway?

The sett is varied but around 10 epi. I skipped some dents with the boucle, crammed the ribbon and basically did what I felt like when I sleyed it, just to see what it will do.

Loom Hannah is wonderful to weave on and I am enjoying this second warp on her

immensely. It was a good call to move the pillowcase over to Hey Baby and spend some really fun weaving time on the Hollandia loom

The weft is also Nature's Palette silk and wool but in soft shades of turquoise blue.

The hand dying process and natural dyes produces beautiful almost solid colors. There isn't a color way they have that doesn't inspire some longing in me to bring it home.

So there is the skinny on the scarf. :-)

Double the Fun

Okay, I am having a blast with this double width blanket I'm weaving. While all weaving is a form of self created mystery at times, double weave is simply magic!

I love it. Good thing too since I have a lot of blankets I want to weave now that Hey Baby has arrived.

Remember all that Harrisville Shetland I ordered? I was pawing over it this morning, dreaming of maybe doing a triple weave. Part of the fun of doing this new magical thing has really been the equipment. How do I love thee, let me count the ways....That's exactly how I feel about this new Louet Delta. While the verdict is still out on sectional warping, I'm smitten with everything else about this loom. The shed, the fact I don't have to get up to advance the cloth, the feel of the treadles and the quiet clack of them as I weave. I could weave at 5:30 this morning and no grumbling from on high about the noise. A big plus as I love to do busy work early.

As to weaving the double width, there is a lot of room for improvement. I have a fair amount of draw in. I tried a temple and didn't really like using it for this but I will next project if I must. I was out to lunch on the math part too. I doubled the warp, but neglected to do the same with the weft. OH NO!!!!! The Classic Elite Four Seasons yarn I am using is long discontinued, so little hope of finding it again without a lot of time. A solution has been found though. A quick trip to Web-sters and the expert help from both Dona and Wendy got me fixed up with a yarn close in weight and feel. In fact I had a couple of good choices. I came home with a Jo Sharp yarn, some in navy and some in white which I will work into the blanket along with the Four Season's navy and white marl yarn and the hot pink. It was a great solution and I am truly grateful.

And because this post is about doubles, I should also mention that two of my favorite people are celebrating their birthdays today. Gene heads deeper into geezerhood and yes, since it is birthday week, he gets to do what he wants. He'll be unfurling that paragliding wing and taking to the skies, and staying up until he's ready to come down I hope! ;-)

The second birthday of note is my dear friend Linda's, who is probably one of the kindest people I know, full of talent, creativity and just spilling over with joy and good cheer 24/7. How does she do it I sometimes wonder?

Happy Happy Birthdays!

And the Warp Goes On

Well, after slogging through with winding the warp on, the threading is fast and easy.

Finally a loom I can get right inside, that's a good height and has Texsolv which I love working with.

After getting all 36 bouts wound on, my biggest challenge was how to get the lease sticks into the crosses on all the bouts.  Most looms come with their own pair, but Hey Baby came with bobbins and tensioner, no lease sticks. I borrowed the pair from the Murphy loom and they worked but were too short to rest across the loom. It was a real pain to slide each cross over, in order and not twisted onto those sticks. I managed with some creative string and some warp sticks but it was a balancing act that I would rather not repeat. The first time I had all the bouts on two where twisted the wrong way, close to the middle of course! One half had to be taken off to fix them. The second try was a charm and threading has been simply wonderful.

 The breast beam comes off the loom as does the beater. I can take the cloth beam off as well but it's high and makes for a nice elbow rest while I'm threading. The footrest on the Delta loom is also high and I can roll my wheeled chair base right under it.

  None of these things are removable on the Murphy loom and while Barbara V allows for the breast beam to come off, the cloth and knee beam don't. They keep me from really getting into the loom and she is a long reach to get to the back 4 harnesses. I've never threaded a loom so quickly and comfortably. I started yesterday on the 432 ends and have only 65 more to go. Texsolv heddles are a wonderful thing! I certainly didn't work all day on it, but threaded in drips and drabs as I had time.

All that easy threading ( straight draw 1-8) allowed me time to think about sleying. Most double weave is sleyed 2 to a dent. I have 12 epi, so it would be ideal if I had a 6 dent reed, but I don't. I have an 8 and a 12.  Cindie, over at eweniquely ewe kindly provided an answer to my quandary as to which would be best. Due to the thickness of the yarn and possible abrasion issues, I am going with the 8 dent reed. I'll start sleying today after cleaning and farm chores. Might even get the warp tied on and the treadles set!

 Like Peter, I'm always hopeful,

 but sometimes I end up like Smoochie instead.

This is Some Loom I Got HERE!

I've waited 9 long months for this loom! I put a deposit on it in November of 2008 and paid the balance owed in January of this year. From that point to this point, weather and obligations have kept Gene from picking it up in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He gets the husband of the year award for driving 28 hours in 2 days to pick this beauty up.  It surely wasn't something on his long list of things to do before you die. ;-)

This is a ten year old Louet Delta. She is 43" wide in weaving width and made of ash, has 8 shafts and 10 rear hinged treadles,

a parallel countermarch system and with a sectional beam. She came with some goodies. The bench, 3 stainless steel reeds, bobbin rack and bobbins, tensioner and counter. 

 She's been used exactly 3 times in her life so far and looks brand spanking new.  The guild that owned her wanted to move her along as no one had any interest in weaving on her.  Before she left one brave soul wove a couple of rugs on her.

She's a heavy loom, while not as weighty as the Barbara V, she's plenty sturdy and in my humble opinion, darn pretty too. The Scandinavian sensibility shines in every detail of this loom as it does with all of them made in that general region. It was love at first touch. 

The couple of treadles used were still tied up when she arrived and I had a chance to check out the action. Quiet, light and easy accompanied by only the nicest wood on wood click as I depressed it. I was transported to a heaven like place.  After coming off cloud 9, I needed to do a few adjustments and go through her to make sure everything was as it should be. Today I'll tighten all her nuts and bolts as a 14 hour drive in the back of a pick-up is enough to rattle anyone up. I'll also start familiarizing myself with the steps of sectional warping. A few nifty gadgets to get use to and a new skill set to learn.

 Things are tight in the loom room right now. The Murphy is waiting on the sun room to be done and he'll go out there to live with the lovely view. The Delta will take Murphy's place in the loom room.  Oh, and she's been named. I call her Hey Baby!