Friday, August 29, 2008

Font size

I don't understand why my font sizes are all over the place.....apologies for the inconsistency. I think that it had been so long since the last post that I have forgotten what size I used. The preview doesn't give a true indication.
Never mind, I will persevere.

Been thinking

I have been reading a lot of older entries of various weavers' blogs and been thinking about various ways of doing things. I wound this warp on a few months ago. Since then, there had been a lot of information of warping with a rigid heddle or warping paddle. If I knew about the alternative methods, I guess I would have done without all these tied ends!! It would have been far less time consuming, even if I had to wind off some yarn to form the 4 ends of each colour to go through the paddle/rigid heddle, and a much neater result.

It is interesting in preparing all the photos for this blog so far, I have come to realise that I am not a colour weaver at all! Even though I have used different yarn fibres, the items I have shown so far are all the same colours. I was reading Bonnie's blog about the 3 types of weavers. (sorry, haven't quite figured out the links function yet) I believe that I am a pattern and texture weaver.

I haven't been totally idle but it seems to be taking a long time for me to do things lately. Here are some before and after wash samples of this 'deflected' double weave.

sample 1, before wash

sample 1, after washsample 2, before wash
sample 2, after wash

I like this weave structure and think that it will make a good warm scarf. However, winter will be over this weekend..... Hopefully, I will finish this in the next month of so.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Loom waste

This will be the practice piece for the box cushions. It is a sample that I wove from the last 50cm left on the loom. I like to use as much of the warp as I possibly can, usually by trying new weaves and experimenting with different tie-ups and threading.
It is an 8-shaft honeycomb woven with 2 ply bendigo wool for the base weave and a slub yarn as the outline weft. I like the way it shrinks after washing to give a lace-like effect.

I got some black denim to form the basic stucture of the cushion and I think the texture and the colour work well together. The fringe will be hidden in the hem so that I get a neat square finish.

The very last bit of loom waste: what do other weavers do with them?
I usually give mine to Michelle who will use it in her resin and glass projects, and I have been saving the ends of the needlepoint scraps for Carole to use in her felting.

Coloured in

6 weeks and 31 skeins of yarn later.

Finished.

I like the textures of the different recommended stitches.


It is 15 inches square and only 1/2 inch out. I guess stitching on a frame really helped.
The blocking will follow after I have finished the second one. In the meantime, I will practice making the box cushion.