Feast and Fashion

We had our last Wednesday weaving class for this session of weaving classes. It is our custom to bring food and feast while weaving and chatting very animatedly. Most of the contributions were very healthy choices, and those that were not were an indulgence. I once heard Paul Anka say in an interview: Everything in moderation; even moderation. A good motto for a life well lived.

I have had many people contribute great pictures to post on our weaving class blog and I want to thank everyone for their contribution. We've had so many that I will not be able to post everything today and will keep some for later posts as the summer progresses. There's lots to inspire and keep us all motivated and productive.



Somehow we haven't shown work from Jane very often. The quiet ones sometimes get overlooked so I wanted to make a point of making sure we featured Jane's latest creation. It's a bamboo baby blanket, fringed on all sides, with a turned Spot Bronson, a variation of a huck type design. Jane found the pattern in a handwoven magazine.












Detail of bamboo baby blanket in turned spot bronson by Jane Tucker










We haven't seen much of Susan Abrams work either. That's because she's been working diligently on two bound weave rugs, in a summer and winter type effect. That is to say, the rug is done in two colours (this one being blue and olive), so where the rug is blue on one side, it is olive on the other and vice versa. The rugs are approximately 28" x 42".

Susan is a volunteer at the Textile Museum of Canada. She wanted me to let you know that the Museum is hosting its annual yard sale where plenty of weaving related bargains are to be had. You should get there as early as possible. It's a frantic mob trying to grab everything in in site. I've attached the link to this blog so that you can find out more about it. http://strandnews.wordpress.com/more-than-just-a-yardage-sale/

Ellen Alias has natural and well honed desinger abilities being trained as an interior designer. She is posed her with me (Line) in front of her loom before cutting off her project. She carefully designed and adapted this summer and winter pattern from Marguerite Davison's Handweaving Pattern Book to create a number of bags. The warp was a 4/8 cotton and in the weft, she wound about 5 thin yarns from cones in her stash that she wanted to use up. If you want to learn more about Summer and Winter patterning let me know and I can help you learn more about it.




Ellen with the bag fabric cut from the loom. So, see you next week. We'll be visiting Judith Fielder's studio and going to the Textile Museum of Canada to view the Ikat exhibit.

Warp woes and herculean projects

Warp Woes (wars?)
Jill certainly deserves a medal for having the patience to endure the trial and tribulations this warp has created in trying to weave her shawl project. She used a lace weight yarn and we have discovered firstly, that it breaks too easily under the tension of a warp. In addition, I also failed to advise Jill at the start (likely because there was a lot of other things going on in the class) that it would have been technically better to wind this warp with the back to front method, however that would not have caused the problem that we see here, which is that the warp threads have an uneven tension as as one progresses through the weaving, the uneven warp threads become looser and looser. The only way around this is stuffing cloth where you need to increase the tension of the threads, but only at the back. Jill is almost finished this shawl and it will be a very sophisticated and elegant shawl despite all the trouble it has given her.

Another herculean project

Donna rose to the challenge to weave on the 60" loom. How long did this take you Donna? Did you start last spring or in the Fall of 2010? She is, rightly so, very proud of her achievement and looking at the blanket was hypnotic as it was a variegated twill. You can see how lively it is in the detail below. Donna used Lemieux 2 ply yarn which comes in about 50 colours and is relatively inexpensive at $5.25 a skein. She made the blanket longer than intended because our calculations provided her with some extra length.

detail of Donna's blanket

More projects from the Knitters Loom

Cheryl Yetman and a number of us are addicted to the spontaneity and simplicity of using this loom which is so portable and just plain ol' cute. These were the first projects that Cheryl attempted on her knitters loom with a lemieux 2ply warp and then using assorted knitting yarns she had in her stash at home. The colours are very spring like.

Bamboo

Incredibly this is Cheryl Yetman's first project on a floor loom. She has only recently started weaving seriously last Fall and she has hit the ground running. This is an undulating twill that imitates an overshot pattern found in the Handweavers Pattern Directory. Woven with 2/8 bamboo yarn, this fabric that will be made into a shrug feels luscious and satiny.

Blossoming weaving students

It always gives me immense joy to watch my weaving students and participants flourish and blossom in the their weaving skill and creativity. This weaving session was no disappointment in that way and their blossoming continues to keep the flame of my own enthusiasm for weaving burning. The more I learn about weaving, the more I see how much there is to learn, so the teaching the weaving always keeps me immensely challenged. However, as most of us would agree, it isn't enough to only learn about weaving, and the lessons are only absorbed when we are actually doing the weaving, and talking to each other about it.

Maureen Krinicic - 2/8 cotton tea towels. Pattern taken from Handwoven magazine.






The next 3 scarves were also woven by Maureen. Like many of us, Maureen fell in love with the 12" Ashford Knitters Loom. It's just too cute and folds up and carries easily and lightly. It even fits underneath an airplaine seat as carry on luggage! It comes with a 7.5 epi rigid heddle. You can get different sized rigid heddles: 5, 10 and 12. The 12" knitters loom is $233 plus tax and $267 if you want it to come with a carry bag that we all agree is very elegant. We like it because it allows us to be more spontaneous and creative with the fibres as opposed to the amount of time, planning, and forethought required to weave more complex projects. It's defintely 'mindless' weaving, the kind you can easily do while being constantly distracted by people, or while watching TV. You can order one through me (Line Dufour) at tapestryline@sympatico.ca. The knitters loom also comes in a 20" width.















more scarves done on the 12" Ashford Knitters loom by Maureen.














Gail Sheldon has been very inspired in the last several months. She wove this tryptich in record time. I like the irregular lengths of the tapestries. I also like that Gail creates her own original designs. She is always very clear about her own creative intentions and vision.

Presently she is working on a flower series, starting with the tulip below. Again one of her own designs. She has used paternayan yarn for all of these tapestries. The tulip piece measures approximately 10" x 12".