From SUNBURST skein to FIESTA TOWELS

  Fiesta colors for my next set of towels

#heddleandhook #handweaving #blazingshuttles

5 towels and one end of warp experiment with treadling variations.

I used two handdyed Blazing Shuttles 'Sunburst' skeins with 8 little solid stripes. Wefts were turquoise, fuchsia, jaune, orange, and aqua with different treadle patterns for each. The table mat, woven with black, was my own design using varied treadling.

I used 18epi for this 6/2 RS cotton. they came out nice and thick with great texture. 

 

 

 

 

 

10/2 TENCEL SCARF IN PROCESS

PLANNING A COWL FOR A FRIEND

Using 10/2 Tencel for warp this time. This is finer thread which I've used in weft before but not warp. So I have to plan the correct ends per inch at either 30 or 36. 
That will make a difference is how the slightly larger 8/2 tencel for weft will place in the weaving. 

10/2 Tencel dyed by Theresa Ruch of Portland
purchased at Seattle Weaver's Guild Sale and spied by my friend Tina when I posted on facebook. 

It has been difficult to get good pictures in true colors because of the dark daylight we have now.  But I need to try to see this objectively.

Hoping I can line up these colors on the board in colorpooled sections 

but the skein is certainly not in palindrome arrangement.

    wound the skein into a ball for easy warping while keeping the color progression above in mind.

Also important is the color placement of this hand dyed skein when it goes on the warping board. I hope to line of the colors in sections rather than in stripes. 
However so far it is not going as well as envisioned. The first 100 threads lined up really well, but then the colors shifted as the skein probably began to have a shorter length around at that point. 

The first section, closest to the towel, would be about the first 3 inches of the scarf. these colors lined up together well. 

After that the colors just went random and in narrow stripes.   

The planned weft will also be a somewhat verticle stripe, though in a curved pattern, 

So will that work?  

Time to ask the future owner. 

Decision time: whether to  remove the 200 threads in the portion with narrow stripes and re-do at a different length to see if the color position can change.  
But that risks too short of length for the hopefully two cowls planned.   I was hoping there would be enough warp length after the first double cowl 70" to be able to have some 30" left for a small single cowl instead of having yarn waste or just a small section of warp left to weave a small piece of fabric for an unknown use at trim or whatever.  
UPDATE: no need to re do the warp,  prospective owner is ok with the color line up.  -- So on to the loom ---

BUT FIRST--
CHANGING THE EPI IN THE REED
 AND  UH, OH, NOT ENOUGH HEDDLES! 

Resleying previous 8/2 tencel on the loom went easily on the 10 dent reed. It was changed to 3 per dent to get the 30 epi needed for 10/2 tencel.

but then  counting heddles revealed there were not enough heddles on certain shafts for the width of this project and the extra thread count of 30 ends per inch. 

So off came the shafts and I fortunately had on hand more flat steel heddles.  
Employed some help from the man cave to get these on smoothly. 

Now sucessfully tied on: 

 and ready to weave: 

Artificial light at night:

In daylight -- these are closer to the true colors:

2017 TEAM SCARVES AND COWLS READY!

I'm so glad to get these done before my surgeries scheduled this fall. 

I have my looms warped and ready to work on during my recoveries. I will again have a table at the November Puget Sound Gift Show in Edmonds.

COWLS: 

70 inches x 7 double wrap cowl SOLD

64 inches x 7 inches double srap fancy cowl

64 " x 7" double wrap cowl 

SCARVES:

76 " x 7 " doubled wrap scarf

THE PROCESS:

Frolicking Feet yarn $26.44 per skein
Merino and Nylon

wound with a swift and ball winder

color pooled design alignment on warping board in faux ikat style

sleyed into the reed, threaded into the heddles, and wound on to the loom
then woven with tencel for the weft 

Fringe twisting then followed by hand washing, steaming and blocking. 

FAUX IKAT TECHNIQUE

True Ikat is a dyeing technique for finished weaving or fabric. But in weaving we can also take predyed yarns and arrange them on the warping board to "pool" the colors together where we want them.  
Depending on how the skein is arranged this can be fairly simple, but sometimes the warp has to go around the warping board in a circle  instead of back and forth to match up the colors.  And if using knitting yarns they can be really stretchy which is tricky to manage both on the warping board and once on the loom to keep the tension even.  

Here are some of my Faux Ikat scarves and cowls I have ready ( or am getting ready ) for my SALE   (and HERE  ) this coming weekend November 19th in Edmonds WA.  

I will also be in Bellevue at the Group Health Foundation gift show 

 Tuesday November 29th.

available SOLD

sold -- NEW SIMILAR ONE AVAILABLE FOR 2017

SOLD

sold

sold SIMILAR ONE AVAILABLE 2017

sold

SOLD

After the show I had a request for a hot pink scarf. 
I used one of my favorite yarns, "Socks that Rock" from Blue Moon fiber Arts in Portland OR in a colorway called "Flamingo Feet" 
this was a Merino superwash yarn for warp and I used a thin Tencel for weft. 

SPECIAL ORDER, SOLD

Then this spring I just finished an 8/2 (thin) Tencel handpainted yarn from Yarntopia Treasures in New Mexico in spring colors for warp 
and used another thin tencel teal for the weft. 

thanks to Rebecca Kaye for the draft. 

AVAILABLE AS A COWL

SOLD

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.