In Between Soumak and Twining

I like this twining better, it's very decorative and for me was easier to do than the first. This is my attempt at Soumak, I think I did it right but by the end of the night I needed a break and was seeing double.

Why blogger posted this sideways I dunno, but these are both techniques within the weaving. I'm in love with the teal yarn. I have to plan some really nice hand towels with it.

I hope to finish the weaving tonight and get it in the wash, after a good press and backing, I will start designing this cover, hopefully, successfully. I had a few questions in the comments I'll answer for you guys in the next post.

New Weaving

I started on my son's bible cover this Sunday and can I tell you, I'm in love with the shuttle! I love the way it moves through the shed, the fact that I don't need to un-weave to get more yarn out of the stick shuttle and it's ease of use. I am though discovering that my selvages on the left side are really loose while the right has a good tension. This is a close up of the fabric it's really the color of the first pic, but I needed to turn the flash off for this pic or it would washout completely. I love the look of the basket weave, although it's not true basket weave but, it's dense and I think will produce a nice sturdy fabric.

I tried the twining from the book, I can't say I love it, I like it but I'm still not sure. It was very easy for me to go from left to right on the teal strip, but going on the brown from right to left was a challenge, I don't know why it was but it just seemed that my brain didn't get the concept of doing it as easily. It was a very interesting exercise.

I need more bobbins, since I want to work in different colors on this, I ordered some from Harrisville and they should arrive sometime this week, as for temp bobbins I took some card stock cut to size, wrapped it around a dowel and taped the open ends to form a tube, wrapped yarn around those and kept working. Not that it's news to any veteran weavers, but some newbies might not know that's a temporary option.

My New Shuttle!! new to me ;)

I've been hunting on ebay for a boat shuttle for what seems to be evvvvvveeeeeerrrr! And of course I won't pay absurd shipping costs or pay new prices for a used item for that I'll just buy from the supplier direct IMHO (yeah, I'm cheap that way, but I have a budget I can't go over and I'm disciplining myself to be frugal and get a good deal for my money). My persistence and constant checking on line finally paid off. When I came back from lunch this was waiting for me at my desk, ain't she a beauty. It's a Harrisville Design 11" boat shuttle closed bottom with a 4" wooden bobbin. She has a strong odor, but the guys in production said it's not chemical, I'll air her out and see. I'm so excited, she needs a bit of sanding to smooth some wear, some oil and guess what; her maiden voyage will be on my new project hopefully the smell will be gone by then.

A bit of Everything Friday

Good God it's hot down here! No not in hell people, but in South Florida. LOL.. This is the time of year I wish Adam and Eve had not screwed up and clothes were optional. Well of course if you go to South Beach, it actually is optional. What I saw last weekend on the beach is scorched into the memory bank, I need a Clorox wipe to remove, but anyway here is what the beach was like with out the various degrees of lady bits. (this btw is a family, public beach but I guess visitors are not aware, oh and ladies over 55 should not, really not go topless there is nothing sexy about gravity trust me I know).

We had a great time and it was relaxing, I always come back from the ocean feeling calm, if we ever move to the mountains this is what I will miss the most, being able to get to the ocean in 20 mins or less. Mr. Deepend says, I'll appreciate it more because it won't be as available as it is now, we'll see about that.

I also attended WWKIP day at the Broward Library, our small group joined a larger one and we sat, talked and had some good fun. There was one lady with a Schacht Spinning Wheel, with this wonderful yarn she was working on, I was amazed actually stood there with my mouth open like a numb nut, in my defense, I've never actually witness really spinning so I was allowed the stupid expression and idiotic questions. I talked to her about her spinning and told her my spinning is still in it's art yarn stages, she agreed (as everyone has told me) that it takes some time to get good enough to produce anything worth knitting or weaving with, but eventually you get there. I need to practice more.

I made a bag with some extra woven warp and purse hardware I had stashed for my spindle and roving. I need to start carry my spinning to knit club and to work for lunch time spinning (part of the practicing agreement I made to myself). This bag is deep and has lots of pockets, I can also carry some knitting in there if I have to, or as my DD so graciously put it "daaaaamnnnnn woman, you can carry a small tribe of babies in that bag", yeah, she's proof that the apple doesn't fall far from the ol' tree in the odd humor department. I was also thinking I may take my spinning with me for my wait at the hospital with my mom. I wonder if anyone would care if I spun yarn in a waiting room??

And finally some warp on the RH loom. I'm going to make the bible cover for my son. It will be loosely based on the Folio Cover from pg. 64 of Woven Treasures by Sara Lamb. I don't have the double heddle and know I'm not going to get the sett she's getting in the project specified, but did double up on the yarn to create a stiff fabric. I also plan on doing the twining and maybe a pick up technique for some texture. I have copper brown linen, 3ply cotton in teal, red and light green that will be the accents. After the weaving of the fabric, I will be doing some card weaving to add page markers to the cover before assembling the whole project. I'm really excited to start weaving on this one.

Thoughtful Thursday

Hear the meaning within the word. - William Shakespeare

I started sewing the latest inkle band into bags. With the length I get from my loom I can produce two bags. I screwed up one entire bag and had only some material left. I made the small bag but could not line it, this is something I need to work out, as the liner is important for keeping thing from piercing the woven fabric and causing damage. The second larger bag is holding my card weaving cards, I would have liked to have my shuttle sticks with the cards and therefore need to design a longer bag. For now it keeps the cards in one place and I stuck the shuttles in there even if they stick out for now.

These are the cards that were made for me. I'm still working on cleaning them up and getting all the plastic bits in the holes smooth. I'm starting to get excited on the possibilities with these. I'm still not sure how it all works but that's not going to stop me from trying.

I'm planning on warping my RH tonight with what will become my son's bible cover. I"m going to use some of the techniques found in Woven Treasures, and hopefully I'll have something that can be sturdy enough to use. If the card weaving turns out well I will use it as a decorative book mark for the cover.

Stuff

Life is full of stuff; material stuff, mind numbing stuff, annoying stuff, paper stuff, clutter stuff... just plain stuff. Well I've been dealing with a lot of stuff and I thought I might share with you all and put it down somewhere to think about.
My youngest son turns 21 today, he's the baby of the family and although I didn't give birth to this one or his brother, I love them dearly, I'm a bit touched by how I feel about this today. This is a pic of my three kids the one on the left is the youngest.

My mother will have a lumpectomy on June 29, I'm planning to stay with her that week and sleep in my old childhood bedroom, which is her now sewing room and very close to the magic closet. I'm a bit worried about this for many reasons, but have prayed upon it and am leaving it in God's capable hands. With this, I'm also thinking about if something happens to my mom, what happens to my incapacitated g-ma that she cares for 24/7, a ton of emotional stuff. Me and mom she's only 68 to my 44.

My looms are nekkid, I haven't the motivation to warp any of them and that's scary stuff. I've been reading my book on card weaving and the guys at work made me some really great 1/16" acrylic cards that were done on a router, they are great looking now I need to put them to some use. I'm planning on making a dog leash as a thank you for one of the guys, the other one is the knitted hat guy.

I guess I need to get myself out of this funk and get going. I'm going to a local WWKIP tomorrow and I hope I snap into myself at one point or another.

PICK 2 PICS

Picks 2 Pic was a great inspiration for this year's virtual exhibition. Lynn was my exchange partner and she sent me some really wonderful creative motivation, Thank You Lynn for your wonderful package it truly got my mind working and opened me to various new experiences.

My first inspiration was her beautiful hand spun, which triggered my spinning adventure. I am still in practicing but seem to be getting a bit better. I still love the art yarn that I'm creating and plan to use it later in the year for another project. I've also been told by experienced spinners that once I create true singles this art yarn will be forever lost as you will not be able to spin it this way again unless it's purposefully done.

My second piece was derived from a piece of dyed cloth that I pulled the colors to create an inkle woven wide band. I then took the band and sewed a small bag. This little piece of art has been to the Florida Keys and several trips to Miami Beach. I've gotten wonderful compliments on it and a few orders for others. It's inspired me to create more of them and a soon to come Etsy shop featuring the bags which are named Baja Bags.

The final piece was taken from the postcard that was a field of flowers, once I turned it on it's side I was struck by how much it resembled clasp weft weaving. Since it was a technique I wanted to try it was the perfect push in that direction. I'm planning to use this fabric to make a bag in for my smaller shuttles and card weaving supplies.

Thank you for stopping by my blog, I hope you enjoy the tour of Pick2Pics Virtual Exhibition 2010.

I have a head cold, am taking some over the counter stuff that's making me groggy and sleepy. Will be back later this week with some content that may be worth reading and pictures that may be worth seeing. :)

I know I usually post about weaving but I've put some of that on hold to work on the wedding ghan although I did finish the inkle band and may work on some bags this weekend since we have three glorious days off.

I just want to make sure I get the ghan finished and out of my way in time for the wedding on August 21 so I don't start to panic that I didn't finish on time. I also need some opinions on some finising ideas and thought I'd run them by you all for suggestions or comments.




First here's the pic of the ghan 48 rows in, it's actually starting to look like the pics in the pattern. It's easy to knit and all the charts are written in long hand which saves me alot of time, the next one I want to knit just from the charts to see if I can read them as I should without the written instruction crutch.

For the finishing touches I thought I'd have someone embroider thier names and the date of the wedding on silk and sew it in place on the interior of the ghan, but this is cable and lace and lace edges and I don't know if that would look good at one of the corners of the ghan, I could sew it at the center but not I'm just not sure. Do you think that this would be a nice addition or should I skip it altogether? If I don't skip it should I have the embroidery be done on a square or long strip? What color of thread do you think would look good with this beige? Gold, Silver Black?

Wedding Gift Decision- Part II

I spoke to the bride and groom on Friday, um well nix the yarn I chose they want something very neutral, beige.... I never do anything in plain beige, it's just so...... well bland. I know it can really be beautiful if the pattern is interesting which thank God this pattern really is. Armed with this new color, I set out to find beige, do you know how hard that really is? I went to three different stores, there is white beige, cream beige, vanilla bean beige, taupe beige, caramel beige, tweed beige and the list goes on really, it's just beige. After a bit of arguing with myself ( the store clerks thought I'd lost my mind) I settled on Caron One Pound - name of the color (your gonna love this) Lace 585. I didn't know Lace had a specific color??? Oh well it didn't hurt that the giant skeins were on sale for $5.97 so I got two just in case I need some extra Lace color. The yarn is actually soft to knit with and I figure after a wash and dry should really feel nice. I'm saving the other yarn for myself there's another throw that I have my eye on.

This is a pic of the one I'm working on, this is my friend's afghan the one that started it all!

In weaving news I'm almost done with the inkle strap and I've been working on a the final project for P2P. I also came across this ad and OMG I went into cardiac arrest when I read it.. I called spoke to the nicest gentleman, who was over joyed to talk to another weaver in S. Fl imagine that he said. (we are so rare we're on the extinction list). He has a tentative buyer, should that not happen he will give me a call, talk about a bummer, but maybe the other lady won't come through but really at that price she'd be nuts. Oh well we'll keep hunting!

Wedding Gift Decision

I finally made a decision on a wedding gift for our friends. I went to knit club Wednesday and my friend had made this baby blanket, called Serenity oh my Lord this is so beautiful in person that I just knew at that moment I wanted to knit it. I have yarn in my stash that works out perfect for the afghan the long print will just be sensational for the cables and lacy bits. I have to say this one it an addictive knit.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thoughtful Thrusday

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Albert Einstein

Books, inkles and Lots of Fun!!

The books my boys ordered came in yesterday, these are the Mom's day gift's from my kids, Card Weaving, Learning to Weave (I can finally return the borrowed book to the library) and Woven Treasures. I'm so excited, I've been reading the Card Weaving book and am planning to warp it on the RH, I saw a youtube video that was done this way and it seemed possible and easier than my small inkle. I've also convinced the plastic department manager at work that he needs to make me some cards out of 1/16" plastic, we have a router machine that can accomplish 30 perfect cards in 2 mins flat much easier and longer lasting that the deck I cut up. I will owe him a knitted cap this is what we bartered for, frankly I think I got the better end of the deal ;) . In Woven Treasures there's a book cover that my son has requested for his Bible, that will take top priority over the card weaving but it's all in the works because I plan to make a strips for the book cover to mark pages with.
I also need to think about a wedding gift for our friends they're getting married in August which gives me some time, but I'm a bit stumped on what to create for them, they have been previously married and have a house full of everything, I thought about a nice gift card to a restaurant but also wanted to hand make something for them to mark their special day, any suggestions? knitting although that's a close call or woven, give me some ideas please. With all that is going on creatively, Meg over at Megweaves emailed the deadline for Pics2Picks, aaaaacccckkkkkk, June 5 OMG... really... already!!! I have one more project I wanted to accomplish for the exhibition so I have to get my behind in gear and git-her-done (is that the way he says it?). That one will be a surprise so I can't show any pics until the big reveal.

But.... I can show you pics of my new inkle weaving based on the fabric swatch I chose. This is my own design and I like the colors and pattern, I may never be able to repeat the pattern but I like it, actually on second thought, I could if I wrote it down, I guess I need to start an inkle loom journal to match all the other weaving and knitting journals (yet another project, whew all this should take me well into the end of this year).

Inkle Weave Designing

The inkle bags are something that I really enjoy making and I can put them up for sale online. I came around to the idea that DD had planted in my head, why not, after all if they don't sell I've lost nothing, enjoyed my weaving, and expanded my skills. If they do well then that's great also, it's sort of a new attitude with my creative work, I want to do what makes me happy and for the moment this is what that is. To that end, I picked up a bunch of fat quarters that appealed to me in color and pattern. I lean towards the splotchy ones they seem very free form and laid back, although I know that they were really well planned out and not just happened, but they have a good vibe for me.
After rolling around the blogosphere, I came across this post at Weave4Fun great blog lots of info and ideas, but this post was something I wanted to try and thought it was a good exercise for me especially to pick colors for a specific fabric. I picked the fabric quarter that interested me at the moment and did the little card yarn wrap swatch (I don't know the technical name someone please let me know, I don't want to sound like a total buffoon).

The purple looks blueish on the card but not on my inkle I guess if I would have wrapped it next to the yellow it would have taken it's true hue being opposites on the color wheel. I started warping last night and hope to finish this weekend. I'm using one of Mary Atwater's draft from How to Weave on an Inkle Loom. I've change the color sequence and will add extra warp ends to get a wider band, hopefully it will look right once it's all on the loom.

Just because I haven't bored you enough!

I promise this will be the last post on these. Magnetic snaps

Back pocket with Velcro dots.

Finished pieces 6" x 5" for the entire woven bag, and 6" x 4.5" on the jean with woven flap. I like both bags but for some odd reason the jean bag is what I would buy if I saw it.

I finished my inkle loom band for the Baja Bag last night and came up with a design for the bag that will allow for two pockets and the flap. I'm going to work on it tonight and hopefully post a finished piece tomorrow.

I really like the way the colors turn out after much debate on the hot pink I've settled that I really do like it after all and the yellow also does it's color change from deep burnt yellow to a faint hint of yellow which to me at least adds extra interest. I love to play with color and am going to experiment some with this vibrant pink and some purples and see how that works out.

In other news I went to the Urologist today, everything checks out fine, no cysts, no polyps, nothing, nada, zilich, so what's causing the UTI's no one seems to know other than some women are more prone to getting them as they get older. OLDER!! jeez I thought 45 was the new 35, according to the media hype LOL.. I now have to monitor myself as soon as I get the UTI, I need to go back and analyse what I ate, drank or did that may have triggered it. So I have a maintenance RX and an RX for full blown cystitis, so we'll wait and see hopefully I will not have an episode for a while, cause I have to tell you, I'm really tired of this nonsense and would not like to go back to them until my next appt in August.

Weekend Redux

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, I hope your day was wonderful. I was busy this weekend with a lot of activity none of which was at the loom, but I did get some sewing projects finished. Another tissue box cover this was a gift for my cousin, for Mother's day, she loved it, couldn't stop raving about it and how proud she was of my creativity. My SIL got the last of the brown warped covers and was equally impressed. Thank God, I thought they were going to be like WTH is this crap, but I was pleasantly surprised, I guess they're coming around to the fact that handmade gifts are gifts of time and love rather than what they cost and name brand.
My DD got me Card Weaving by Candace Crockett from my wish list, that was really exciting, something new to learn and have fun with. The boys also got something from my wish list but it was delayed in delivery so I'll have a surprise this week. I finished this new bag from recycled jeans and some extra woven fabric that was stashed away, I used it Saturday and the weaving started to give out at one of the sewn edges, I have to repair it or decided to use some other woven fabric, still planning what I'm going to do with it.






Did some more knitting on my June Marinella Shawl .
In which I just found out the instructions are written incorrectly the lace portion says SSK which is slip1 slip1 knit tog, well the designer meant s1 k1 psso, arrrrghhhh, well regardless it's staying the way it is, I'm on my 5 repeat and it's 15" long I don't want to rip it out since I actually wanted any easy summer knit.




And finally the big TADA!

I've lost 15 pounds and am really excited I broke through the 10# barrier.

Thank you!!

Thank you for all the suggestion and remedies, I have them all copied and as soon as I get another trigger will try them out. I'm on Macrobid and it's working, will have a Cystoscopy on Tues 5/11 and that should determine what it going on in there.


In other news I finished warping my inkle for a baja bag, I like the colors although I'm rethinking the hot pink, doesn't seem hot enough for the other colors but it's weaving up nicely and I'll finish it up and see how I feel about it then. If anything the strip can always become book marks or a strap for something else.



I also finished the cropped cardi and wore it on Saturday, I need to knit another, but this time I'm going to go down a size, I can't believe it I need to knit a medium, when a large is usually my size, but then again you can never be too sure with knitting patterns.

Need some Help!

I've had a UTI (urinary tract infection) for two weeks, been through 3 antibiotics and still not gone, I'm so over it already! I'm prone to getting them and if you've had one you know it's not a happy place, if you've never had one, thank God and pray you never do. What a pain in the tuchis, well another place but this is a family friendly blog.

Does anyone have any herbal, home or non prescription remedies to share, my bladder and I would love to hear from you.