I’m back – and with a cure for ‘dog on the loom’

As we live through these very strange times, the urge to blog and the urge to weave seems to have deserted me for quite a while.  Maybe it’s just what was happening in my life – once we came out of lock down at the end of October last year, work was very busy and then I had a family member staying with me for a few days each week until March.

I wrote last time about the dog on the loom and I have to report that there has been no weaving action there at all

There actually has been some weaving happening – I finished the tea towels based on Stubenitsky. With a natural cotton warp, I’d used the darkest yarns in the stash to give the best contrast.  I ended up with a rather dark and dull pile of tea towels, the nicest thing I could say about them was they looked as though they’d been woven during a pandemic.

I decided that the next warp needed to be brighter so I pulled out the brighter cones of cotton and designed my version of #728 from Carol Strickler’s book.  Apart from hemming them on the wrong side, they turned out well and now even the hems are fixed.

And the ‘dog on the loom’? – still waiting for inspiration.

Then I remembered that I’d entered a piece in the Complex Weavers exhibition in Canberra, postponed from last year.  I finally found my notes and realised that I was going to attempt something on my 4 unit drawloom.  I needed lots more of the long eyed and long heddles.  I tied all the heddles,

changed the shafts, set everything up for the drawloom, made the warp, threaded it through both sets of heddles and realised that I had almost zero shed and that the side I could see was the wrong side.  I knew that there would be many many mistakes with such a small shed and that it was time for Plan B.  Plan B was much the same design but done in Summer and Winter.  So I took all the extra heddles off the loom and put the normal ones back and, as I couldn’t find the original email with the dates, emailed the organiser.  Turned out that I had just over a week before my entry was due but somehow It was done in time, with I think about 3 minutes to spare.  

Here’s the wrap. The theme of the exhibition was Cartography of Cloth and I had been spinning a wool and silk braid from Moseley Park in shades of coral and magenta with some black and white as well.  It reminded me of the various colours of red wine from Merlot to Shiraz and my entry became Map of the Vineyard.  I used Zephyr as the warp, a fine wool yarn for the tabby weft and the handspun, plied with plum reeled silk, as the pattern weft. If you look carefully, you might see the gate into the vineyard at the bottom, the long rows of vines and the roses at the ends of the ends of the rows to indicate the grape varieties. 

Although we have few cases of COVID 19 in Victoria, our health officials want to keep it that way and as soon as a few cases appear we’re back in lockdown, usually just for a couple of weeks.  I think at the moment we’re in our fourth for 2021 and it’s just been extended by another 2 weeks

We went into lockdown at the end of May but it still looked as though the Sheep Show would go ahead. I wanted to make a jacket for the ‘Hand woven garment’ section but I still had enough warp left on the loom from the Complex Weavers piece, for another wrap. The Zephyr wool and silk warp was far too expensive to just cut off.  As I had a bit more time because of lock down, and enough of the handspun for another wrap, I decided that I would use the left over warp for another entry.  I played around with the weaving software, thinking I would be able to come up with something that looked like tiles.  As I experimented, the tiles elongated and turned into stylised eyes.  It just happened that the theme this year was ‘Vision’, I should know a bit about that. And just like that, the design was done and I even had a title – ‘The night has a thousand eyes’.

In the right light it does look like eyes peering out of the darkness but to be honest I think I can only find 472 eyes.

Once that was done, I still had enough time to weave fabric for the jacket and the facings.  I used 2/28 wool from Geelong Dyeing, a colour and weave draft from Robyn Spady’s Heddlecraft July/August 2020 for the main fabric and Strickler #43 for the facings. The pattern was Vogue pattern 1648 by Júlio César, a simple jacket suitable for handwoven fabric.

Once I finished weaving the fabric out in the cold garage, I told my 8 shaft loom that I would see it again in the Spring and went inside where it was much warmer

I rolled my yardage onto a cardboard roll,

 it almost looked store bought, and got on with the tailoring. 

I decided that it was time to try bound buttonholes in hand woven fabric. I used plenty of iron on interfacing and Fray Check and they turned out quite well. 

I’m not sorry though that I only need to do bound buttonholes occasionally

I delivered my entries to the Guild, they were taken to Bendigo, judged and put on display – and a few minutes after that we went into lockdown again and the entire show was cancelled.  I felt so sorry for all the people who run the Sheep Show every year. They were so close to going ahead but I heard that there were traders who took all their goodies out of their vans, set up their displays and then had to just pack them away and go home. Of course they weren't the only ones, everyone involved from the food vendors who had to throw out all the food they had, to the sheep breeders some of whom ended up stranded in Victoria along with their sheep and sheep dogs, missed out on the excitement, fun and income they get there each year.  Let's hope we can have a real Sheep Show in 2022

And the dog on the loom? Even though it was now the only loom with a warp on it, I still wasn’t inspired

We were in lockdown for the last couple of weeks of July, I got back to work for a couple of days, had my second COVID vaccination and found that night I had lost my appetite.  It wasn’t fixed by a good sleep and my stomach became sore.  I was a bit concerned about myself, went to the doctor and was promptly diagnosed with appendicitis and found myself on the way to the emergency department followed by surgery the next day.  

It all happened so fast I still have a surprised look on my face. I have been assured that I am too old to have appendicitis, apparently 15 to 30 is the peak age, and that the timing relative to the injection was just an unfortunate co-incidence.  Everything went smoothly and I was home in a couple of days with a long list of dos and don’ts.  My surgeon’s nurse rang after a couple of days to check on me and to reinforce what I was meant to be doing.  Nothing strenuous or any heavy lifting for the first couple of weeks, then more exercise, perhaps an exercise bike.  That’s certainly not going to happen but it did occur to me that the effort involved with an exercise bike was probably similar to weaving on my small loom. I asked her the question and once I had explained what weaving was – she told me that I shouldn’t weave for at least 2 weeks. It was however a good opportunity to re-hem the tea towels. It made no difference to the drying qualities but I felt better once they were done.

I can’t tell you how interesting that dog on the loom became once I was told not to weave.  I’ve examined it from all angles, have decided that I will finish the first piece with the hand spun yarn.  I read somewhere that rather than having needles disappear into the middle of the pincushion, it’s better to have a separate needle cushion with loops to secure the needles on the surface so I’m planning to weave a small strip to make into ‘needle cushions’.  Then I think I will re-thread the remainder to a different overshot design and use it for a table runner.

So there you have it, a rather drastic cure for dog on the loom

Must go, my 2 weeks of not weaving finishes today and I’ve got a dog on the loom that needs some attention

Helen

Sheep Show 2019 - Part 2

Here’s the second part of this year’s Sheep Show report with the details of my jacket for all those who want to know a bit more about it.

I wrote earlier this year about making a pattern from a jacket.  I bought the original jacket years ago in the US.  It was made in a very drapey polyester georgette, and has been a wardrobe favourite, great to wear over something sleeveless when it's hot. I thought the shape had possibilities for other fabrics, especially handwoven ones.

I traced a pattern off the first jacket and made it in much stiffer upholstery fabric. 

The latest woollen version is actually a better balance between body and drape

I had taken Nancye Whitman’s workshop on Iridescent Weaving at the Guild’s Summer School, and with some information from Heddlecraft May 2018, the 4-colour Echo weave issue, and Bertha Grey Hayes Jitterbug draft as a design line, I came up with a draft.  I had to search to find 4 colours that I thought could work together and added a strand of silk or viscose to the wool yarns to give a bit of extra shine.

Here are the colours for the warp

The warp itself

Weaving, with a black weft, in progress, 

helped somewhat by a few days off work with laryngitis. The echo weave is really starting to show here (thank goodness!)

I based the bands  on a weft face weave I’d used for glasses cases but  if I were doing it again, I would look at a different glasses case draft to give softer stripes in the band. 

I calculated carefully and used 2 repeats so that the band would have stripes inside as well as outside, see picture of inside below.

I finished weaving and wet-finished the two fabrics. I didn’t even have enough time for my usual trick of rolling it onto a cardboard tube to make me think the fabric is ‘store bought’ but I did make sure I measured everything at least twice, if not more, before cutting it.

I’d made the jacket before so the construction went smoothly and the jacket was completed and delivered to the pick- up point at the Guild with at least 45 minutes to spare. 

I showed a couple of the runway shots in the last post but here are a couple posed on Polly, my model, with the 'oil on a wet road' effect of the Echo weave showing up well, especially on the larger area of the back.

Here's the inside. I managed to find some silk/viscose fabric, probably meant to be a garment in its own right, but it was just the right weight and colour to make a great lining and it feels very luxurious

I should probably start designing something for next year now - maybe I can deliver it to the Guild with more than 45 minutes to spare.  I see in the catalogue that the theme for 2020 is 'Vision'. I can probably come up with a few ideas for that one.

Helen

Sheep Show 2019 Part 1

Here's the promised report on the 2019 Sheep Show.  I left Melbourne bright and early on a beautiful Winter morning, and it turned out to be the warmest Sheep Show I can remember. Halfway there, I felt I needed a break and left the freeway but didn't find the next entry ramp so went to Bendigo via the scenic cross country route.  I arrived in time to meet Norma and Virginia at the parade as we do each year. I don't think I got a photo of every hand crafted garment on parade but I've got quite a few of them. I was too busy taking photos to record the names as well but a look at the catalogue, including the results might help.

Our male model and his daughter stole the show, and the crocheted rabbit was very cute too.  Have a look at the front of the catalogue for a better picture of the rabbit

 This one was the most beautifully knitted cable cardigan with a multi coloured removable neck piece

And just one more garment and I do know about this one as it's all mine.  The body is in Echo weave with warp faced plain weave bands. I'll write more about the details in the next post but the judges liked it and it came first in the Handwoven Garment section

After the parade we did a little looking and shopping until it was time for lunch so we met in the dining room for a hearty country lunch of roast lamb and vegetables - delicious!

Then it was time for a bit more shopping and a final coffee.

Here's my haul for the day

- I keep saying that I really didn't buy this much, in fact I was quite restrained but I bought some raffle tickets to support the Woolcraft Committee who work hard to bring the Woolcraft competitions to us. As I was sitting drinking my coffee, the phone rang and a Committee member told me that I'd won a National Wool Museum rug and wanted to know where to post it.  I was able to tell her I was just a few steps away and she didn't need to waste money posting a heavy rug as I could take it home with me.  The yarn on the right was part of the prize for the jacket

I'm sitting writing this post with my pink pixie slippers on - very cosy and comfortable

And I'm already thinking about what I can do with the painted rose fibre braid which I bought from Mosely Park

because I thought it would co-ordinate with the rose fibre and cotton yarn, under the braid here, I bought in Canberra last year

I had time to drive over to Castlemaine to have afternoon tea with my old friend who has moved into aged care since last year.  Then it was back to Bendigo to collect my jacket and carpet and home to Melbourne.  Fortunately everything went smoothly this year, not flat batteries as in 2017 or bad accidents like last year.

Whew!

In the past few weeks I have finished the Tencel scarves on the 8 shaft loom and the glasses cases on the 4 shaft loom so that I could weave fabric for my entry for this year's Sheep Show in Bendigo - that's about 25 meters altogether

The Tencel scarves were a success and have the expected drape and shine – I do wish that I could take photos that do them justice.

Based loosely on scarves in Handwoven March/April 2006, and with a silver grey warp, there was one in pink,

probably my favourite,

one in slate with diamonds

and one in greyed teal with waves.

The warp on the 4 shaft loom – a weft faced plain weave for glasses cases – was inspired by the distinctive stitching on cricket balls and I couldn’t come up with a better name for it than ‘Cricket Tragic’. 

Hopefully some of the finished cases will become gifts for Fathers’ Day, celebrating on the first Sunday in September in Australia.

I’ve been to the Hawthorn Makers Market in June and July with reasonable to good sales.  It really seems to be settling down well back in its original location.  Even better they've finally finished adding an air look to the door where all the cold air was getting in on cold days, and that door is closer to the carpark than the one we've been using the past few months.  Much appreciated when moving out at the end of a long day.

My entry for the Sheep Show is still under wraps but was finished and delivered to the pick-up point at the Guild with at least 45 minutes to spare.  I managed to catch a cold that turned into laryngitis a couple of weeks ago.  I had no voice at all so couldn’t work but felt well enough to stay home and weave, maybe not such a bad thing

Next weekend is both the Sheep Show and the annual optometry conference and trade show and I really want to go to both – why does everything happen on the same week end?

Helen

Taking Stock

The start of a new year is always a good time to take stock. Here’s the tea towel stock,

what little of it there is.  In 2018, I made around 36 tea towels and have just 2 left after selling most of them and gifting the rest.  The total is probably more than that as there were several left from earlier years at the end of 2017.  

I even checked the numbers from 2017 and 2016 and found that I made 23 in 2017 and 18 in 2016.  I know there’s a message there, quite simply, make more tea towels.  They sell easily and my friends who are on the Christmas tea towel list, have started to ask, hopefully, if there will be tea towels this year.

I have 5 or 6 left on the broken twill blocks warp, the pale pink one looks particularly nice

and as the weather hasn’t been too hot, it’s very pleasant weaving in the garage with the door open.

I decided I wanted to weave some more Bumberet tea towels but in more neutral colours.  I even found the black and white setting on the software so that I could compare value.

Here’s what I started with 

Here’s the black and white version

And here’s the warp

I used the values to make a plan for the main colours – black, light grey, taupe, dark grey and white, and back to black again – and, as Bumberet needs groups of 9 ends, warped 2 of the main colour and one, randomly chosen, accent colour. After a few repeats, I added the terracotta/pink because I felt it worked.  Hopefully by the next post I will be able to show whether it worked – or didn’t

I also made around 17 scarves and probably sold or gifted much the same number. Here's just 2 of them

I made a coat for the Sheep Show

and managed to wear it a couple of times before the weather got too hot but it will be great for next Winter.

I am still working on the white runners, I suspect there are a couple of mistakes in the one I’m doing at the moment and hope there is still enough warp to start again.

Next week, I’m off to the Guild Summer School to do a workshop in Weaving Iridescence. Here’s the warp,

I’ve followed all the rules, but only time will tell if I achieve real iridescence

In my spare time I’m back at work though not working too hard as everyone seems to have gone to their beach houses for the Summer, and trying to convert the jungle that is currently where my back garden should be, back into garden

Helen