Sunday, April 17, 2011

Break-

I took a break on Friday afternoon, from all things fiber and otherwise to keep track of the impending weather doom.  I am very grateful the doom was not meant to be for us.  I managed to capture more beautiful clouds.  The sky was so angry, yet beautiful. When I'm able to put my fear aside, I see beauty. 

Isn't he adorable?
 "Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from."
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Thursday, April 14, 2011

I think this is where I missed the boat...

I did not get this memo.  In the book from which this was taken, (shhh), I read where the author writes...not to be tempted to comb the warp.  @@  My guess is her warp doesn't contain 32 ends per inch (e.p.i.) Oh yes, and this weaver has a friend.  Maybe the cats will lend a hand/paw to help expedite matters! 

A demain mes amies!

Warping Tea Towels Alone without Tears.

I know there has got to a book out there by this name or-something similar...  There will always be snags in the whole weaving process.  It just goes with the territory.  However, this is one lesson, I seem destined to repeat over and over again. 

This is my lovely tea towel warp hanging in front of my loom-waiting for me to untangle it.  Sigh. Somewhere around here, I have really great wide toothed pick. It was part of an Estee Lauder gift.  What a great item for combing through tangled warps. Since it's currently missing,  I will use my fingers to comb and untangle.  Mind you, this happens to all weavers to some degree while transferring a warp from their mill or board.  This particular yarn has an affinity for sticking and in general making a mess of itself.  I remember winding this same material on my loom several years ago.  I was weaving  2 overshot (Orange Peel-pictured on the right side of my blog) table runners for my sister.  At that time however, my good friend Debra was here to help me.  It's ever so good to have 2 sets of hands (and such a good friend) when attempting this process!   I am cognizant of the fact that, one day, soon,  I will prevail...


The above is what I've already untangled and wound. For the time being, this will be my lesson in patience.  Heaven knows I need it.   Once I have it wound around the warp beam, it will be smooth sailing... I think.


Friday, April 8, 2011

Tea Towels

Well, after a weaving respite, I've finally begun the process of weaving 6 tea towels.  I've wound the warp, chained it off and transported it to my loom.  I'm always surprised when I begin this process.  While winding, any warp, there will be some variation in length on any given end.  Mine however always seem to be quite long on the end that was wound first. I suspect the problem is the pegs begin to push inward from the pressure of the warp thereby making subsequent windings shorter!.  So, I've tried to correct this by not winding the warp so tightly.  It never works.

At any rate,  I'm on my way to enjoying all the processes/steps of weaving.  Each one is quite distinct.  You can't go on to step B without fully completing step A.  This erases any confusion as to what comes next! It's just a small part of why I love weaving.  If you follow my drift, you're a weaver.  If you don't follow, I apologize.

With my next blog entry, I'll include some photos and maybe it will be clearer as to what I'm doing! :)

Happy weaving! (to me)

Heartfelt Haiku - "Serenity"

I'm longing for blue Waves and tides and beach campfires The October cape.