THE WEAVER SONG

Weaver Song ( Holly Ann)

Judy Collins

" She is a weaver

Through her hands the bright thread travels

Blue green water, willows weeping, silver stars

She sings and sighs as the shuttle flies

Through the yarn like a Kerry dancer

Pink and purple velvet red for a lover's bed "

GO HAWKS! AND OTHER WEAVING STORIES.........

January 2016, I'm getting back to weaving with a vengeance.  I finished the Piano scarf on the 12 shaft Bergman and then quickly sold the loom. It didn't fit me well and was too heavy and bulky for me. But my grandson's piano teacher got the scarf! 

So I found another 12 shaft for sale- a J Made loom which takes a lot of figuring out to get it up and running. For now I put an 8 shaft drall design on it and I have promised 3 red scarves in this pattern. But I'm not sure I'm comfortable that I have the tension down pat. The shafts just aren't lifting evenly. It needs tweaking, so I'll probably weave a small towel to get used to it before putting on my good tencel yarn.  I have three other cool designs in the queue for this loom, so it better work out. 

BUT THE SEAHAWKS ARE DOING IT AGAIN! 

And now I have orders for some scarves in blue and green. So my other looms are warped up for those.  As soon as those are finished I also need to warp up one loom with the cute sparkly cowls that are great for office wear on Blue Fridays! ( picture coming soon)  See more Seahawk colored scarves below and here.

And then just in case I need to do the red scarves on my Mighty Wolf loom, I need to finish the warp that has been on there all year. I was out of a color I needed and ordered that, so I can get to work on those scarves after finishing the Seahawk ones. Promised one of these to my college roomate. 

Wonder if I have enough to do to keep me busy until gardening season? 

double weave block on the
12 shaft Bergman

doubleweave chenille block piano scarf

figuring out the tie up on the 12 shaft J Made loom

Merino/ tencel on the Louet loom

three finished and ready. Two available $50.

twisting fringes

starting the Chenille scarves on the Baby Wolf loom.

                                   

first weaving post

 December 3rd 2013
Before this year I had woven mainly thicker yarns. My first project was a rug I made about 15 years ago, made on a huge floor loom borrowed from my weaver neighbor Heather McGillvray  http://heathermcgilvray.com/Site/Artist%20Statement.html 
This was made on a handmade loom with parts made from recycled lawnmower parts among other things. I bought very expensive wool knitting yarns and blended the colors on stick shuttles. I wove in plain weave or twill, I forget now, and used the Fibonacci sequence to create the pattern. The rug is still used at the bottom of the step down into our living room. 

then about 5 years ago I took a weaving class and made some Rayon Chenille scarves for everyone I knew and their relatives for Christmas. Then came the grandchildren and very little weaving took place until I found a great deal on a Schacht Mighty Wolf 8 harness (shaft) floor loom.

My Schacht Might Wolf Loom
It has 8 shafts & can weave 36 inches wide

Winding a bobbin with 8/2 tencel for the weft.

So finally in January this year, 2013, I expanded into what I felt was much finer ( thinner-- for me) yarns. I ordered some 8/2 tencel from WEBS during their sale. First up was  Spot weave from Handwoven magazine March/ April 2012. Red warp with mauve weft. 
I put some red warp on the loom and expected to make some scarves for Valentine's Day. 
I finished them and got them off the loom around the end of -----April!   Ooops. 

                  

        



                   

so I quickly put on some spring colors and chose a block twill  to do. 
I finished those in ---- August!

           

   

But then I got the bug. 
So 
I started weaving furiously getting ready for my annual fall sale Nov 16. 
I have been selling felted hats and prior to that some knitted scarves every year at the Puget sound Artists Sale. 
My unexpected surgery for a blocked kidney stone in October however, has put me further behind than I wanted to be.
This year I will have more scarves than in the past and not just chenille in Christmas colors. Here is the Blue and Teal Tencel scarf on the loom doing my first try at undulating twill using the 8/2 size tencel yarn. 
I just love watching how the pattern develops right in front of your eyes as the shuttle passes through. And how the colors blend and pop with their amazing shine continues to fascinate me.
Keeping track of treadling is really good brain work, let me tell you. 
Missing the count provides lots of experience in unweaving and reweaving.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

The weaving draft for this pattern is from handweaving.net and by changing the treadling you can get other effects. I particularly like how the one above looks like Christmas ornaments. 

http://www.handweaving.net/PatternDisplay.aspx?PatternID=61537