“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha
Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.
Yes, it's true. My sister had a birthday last month and I have been dying to write about the placemats I wove for her! But, I didn't want to spoil the surprise- now she has them and I can show you all photos!!
It all started a year ago, when she asked me to weave her new placemats for her birthday this year. I tormented her with photos, questions- What colors, what pattern, what size?? And she dutifully answered everything, picked a pattern, suggested colors... so I went ahead and did something totally different!! I know, I know, I'm like that.
Four Placemats
I wanted to use the warp that I painted in the class I took with Kristie at Blue Flag Handweaving Studio. It was originally supposed to be for scarves, but my sister didn't want scarves... She wanted placemats! The painted warp is perle cotton and the colors don't show up very well in this photo, but they are the lighter stripes. Then I had to buy some blue perle cotton for accent stripes and weft. I did use some of my stash for the green and yellow (can't really see the yellow...) stripes. This is also cotton, but it is cotton rug warp.
And then, I suddenly got tired of the blue perle cotton and was forced to buy some beautiful dark green- thus 2 blue napkins and 2 green napkins.
2 blue, 2 green
Things I learned:
a plain weave border looks nice, but takes up differently than a twill body. Next time, use basket weave for the border (thanks Kathy!)
Perle cotton and rug warp cotton are not the same, they have different stretch and shrinkiness (yes, I made that word up!)
I hate sewing. Well, not exactly true, I don't hate it, I am just not good at it- even seams, I couldn't sew a straight line if my life depended on it!
Napkins and placemats don't HAVE to be square...
6 yds of warp is A LOT of warp.
I love packaging things! One of the most fun parts was folding these up and tying them with pretty twine and a label.
Pretty twine and label (complete with pink kitty button accent!)
Beautiful placemat!!
Napkins and Placemats
So there they are- Birthday placemats! (plus bonus napkins)
Even though it has been "hot, hot, sunny, bright, I can only stand to be inside after dark, summertime wonderfulness"... I still have a couple of fiber fun things to share!
This was a super way to spend a summer day. We started at Kristie Sherrodd 's Studio, Blue Flag Handweaving Studio in Sandpoint, ID, where we talked about design, color wheels and looked at a bunch of painted warps. It is simply amazing how beautiful a scarf (or any fabric) can be with a painted warp. Even simple plain weave can be transformed into a rhapsody of subtle color changes and depth. After some book work and planning, we measured off our own warp to paint and had lunch (as usual a highlight of my day!!)
After noontime sustenance, we reconvened in Kristie's carport to paint away. Now, I always imagined that a painted warp entailed warping your loom and then painting the threads while they are on the loom. Seems messy. And, since a lot of dyes have to cure for 24 hours, time consuming. There is, of course, another way: lay your warp chain out on a table to paint it. Which is what we did. So incredibly fun!!! I highly encourage you to take a class with Kristie- she is a super teacher, uncommonly patient and exceedingly talented.
At the end of the day, we took our dyed warps home to cure and then wash. Here is what mine looks like: (ok, I never took a photo of them, but Sharon's friend Al did at the Weaver's potluck and here is a link. Photo of my painted warp chain)
Which brings me to the next thing! The Third Annual Weaving Study Group Potluck - wahoo! We had soo much fun- We ate, we talked, we toured, we drank, we spun. Once again, I took zero photos, but here is a link (with permission) to Sharon's Flickr's photostream. Weave Study Group Potluck She and Al took a bunch of fantastic photos- they make our ranch look so beautiful.
ok, so lots of photos to look at, but none here... so here is one in parting!
I have been wanting to post about this for awhile, and just haven't had the time!
I love my table loom- it is an 8 shaft Woolhouse Tools Carolyn loom. It is very sad, but Woolhouse is no longer producing their wonderful weaving tools. The Carolyn is by far the best table loom I have ever used!
I did, however, have one problem using it with my pea-brain: every time I pulled the levers down, I would have to count to see what number shaft I had raised. Observe this photo:
With plain weave it is pretty easy, but any pattern that calls for a sort of random assortment of shafts to be up at one time, well let's just say my husband was tired of me counting out loud every 10 seconds.
It is pretty typical practice to either use a Sharpie or a piece of masking tape to label your levers, but this is my beautiful baby!! I didn't want to mar her perfection with my chicken scrawl. My husband suggested the wood burner, but burnt chicken scrawl didn't really seem any better. Thus, the search began.
I looked at scrapbooking stickers, stencils, fabric numbers, but nothing looked right. What I had in my mind's eye was old type writer keys. Now, that would be cool. But try and find numbers 1-8 in one set for a price that wasn't as much as the loom... Time to blink my mind's eye and find something new.
What I found was:
How perfect is this???
Yes, I know. It's a ring... but you get what I was thinking don't you???
I contacted Tracy at 3Fine Design on Artfire and asked her if she could make me a set of leather discs numbered 1-8. Not only was she willing, but she even found me some thinner leather that would work better on my loom levers. She did a fantastic job! They are perfect. And I got to paint them myself.
They came like this
and then I got my paints out:
and did this!
and this!
Aren't they pretty? And then my beloved husband glued them on for me (he is way better with spatial relations)
The lowered shaft numbers are blue and purple (my personal favorite colors)
The raised shaft numbers are orange and yellow (my new personal favorite colors!)
Now I have the prettiest loom on the block. All thanks to the wonderful artist Tracy and her ability to not only figure out what I was talking about but to work with me to to get the perfect diameter and thickness.
I couldn't be happier. Well, maybe if we won the lottery, but barring that...
Soo.. I have been working on a project for my good friend who was married in December.I promised her 4 hand woven placemats.The yarn was chosen, the pattern was decided and I gleefully began my calculations. I carefully measured the 227 ends for my warp, I thoughtfully sleyed my reed at 15 ends per inch, first light green, then dark green. I painstakingly threaded my heddles, often referring to my pattern, so that everything was exactly right.I tied onto the back beam and began to beam by beautiful, stripey warp.I tied onto the front apron, dutifully wove in my spacers (rolled up toilet paper- it works wonderfully!) and began the joy of weaving.
Clicking up the shafts, clicking down the shafts, throwing the shuttle back and forth, packing the warp with the beater, clicking up the shafts, clicking down the shafts throwing the shuttle back and forth, advancing the fabric, etc.There is such a pleasing rhythm to weaving - it is one of the things I truly enjoy about it.As I progressed, I was pleased with the pattern, my selvedges looked good, and I wasn’t pulling the weft so hard that it was distorting the edges.I happily wove along, feeling talented and proficient, blissfully ignorant of what lay ahead.
As I neared completion of my third placemat, it seemed that I was unusually close to the end of my warp.Now, I know the importance of measuring your ppi (picks per inch) and of sampling, however, as with everything in life, knowing is not the same as doing. So, yes, I was weaving at approximately 12 ppi and my pattern was set up for 15 ppi.Non-weavers may be wondering what this has to do with anything, weavers are probably nodding their heads and smirking, knowing how this small discrepancy can make a huge difference, especially since the pattern I was working with is a certain number of picks, not a certain number of inches. It became apparent that I was not going to be able to squeeze my final placemat out of the remaining warp…
This dilemma presented me with several options on how to proceed. My first thought was to tell my friend that 3 placemats were plenty (I am not too proud to admit I am lazy!), but I reconsidered, they are a wedding gift after all. My second option was to cut off what I had finished and start fresh.Not a bad option, I enjoy sleying and threading, but it seemed so wasteful, not using that last bit of yarn.
So, I made the big decision- I would tie on more warp.And since I was tying more on anyway, I would cut enough to make napkins too! Oh, wasn’t I brilliant? Wasn’t I brave?The next step, of course, was learning how to do it.
My impression was that I would be cutting off the old warp behind the heddles (as the benefit to tying on more warp is that you don’t have to re-thread everything).With that picture in my head, I began trying to figure out how one would keep all the little threads straight as you tied them on, how you would keep the 100 inches of added warp from tangling up into a big bird’s nest and finally, how you would re-beam the new warp. My husband and I envisioned two long tables on which I could lay my warp threads, one at a time, as I tied them on.He offered to help by holding the threads for me (God bless this patient man!). I emailed for help, I Google searched, I looked in my weaving books.For as popular a method this seemed to be, I could not locate any directions on the actual “how” to do it.
Finally (and of course) my weaving study group came to the rescue! Our meeting last week was at one of our member’s homes.She has a beautiful studio and we gathered there to share our tricks and shortcuts on warping. When I described what I was hoping to do and how I thought it should be done, they were quick to help me see that I was looking at it backwards (hmmm… how unusual!)The old warp was to be cut off IN FRONT of the reed, then the one could proceed beaming onto the back beam, as per usual.
AHHA! The light clicked on in my head!Well that actually made sense! And solved all the problems of how to deal with these enormous lengths of thread balling up everywhere.I was thrilled!
And so my newest weaving learning adventure commenced.
I grabbed up my chains of neatly measured warp and prepared to begin. Then, as is my usual sequence of events, I put it back down and did the step that was actually next- cutting off what I had finished.
I had enough existing warp to make one of the napkins, so I completed that.It may be obvious to you by now that calculating loom waste is not exactly my strong suit.So I ended up shortening my first napkin by about 2 inches, so that I would actually be able to cram the shuttle through the tightening shed (I eventually had to use a stick shuttle at the very end).
I did have the foresight to tie up the apron rod for the back beam before I cut my project off and therefore prevented all the threads from slipping out through the back!
Once I cut my completed placemats and napkin off, I had approximately 3 inches of thread left in the front of the reed.I HIGHLY suggest leaving way more than that if you intend to try this.
With my project safely cut off, rolled up and put next to my sewing machine for finishing, I sat down to begin the process of tying on 227 pieces of thread.Since the ends were so short, I used a pair of hemostats to assist.My weaving group told me (much to my relief) that I did not have to use the “fancy” weaver’s knot, but could use a simple overhand knot.Lucky for me, since I would probably still be tying knots if I had to use that one!
I once again grabbed up my warp, put the cross in my hand, took it back out so that I could cut the loop in the end, put it back in (incorrectly), one-handedly shuffled around through the items scattered on the floor beside my loom, came up with my Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler book, looked in the index to find “holding the cross” (page 35, if anyone else needs to know!), reassembled my cross correctly and grabbed up the first thread.
By wetting my thumb and forefinger, I was able to get a firm grip on both ends of the two threads to be tied together.
I made a loop, then pushed the nose of the hemostats through, grabbed the two ends and pulled them through the loop.I pulled extra hard to tighten the knot then went on to the next.
First all the light green, then all the dark green.Slowly, but surely, the new warp was secured.
I now realized I had yet another problem.The idea is to just start beaming the warp by turning the crank on the back beam.My problem was that an overhead knot would not easily slide through my 15 dent reed (15 dent means 15 slots per inch- if you can imagine that!) and believe me, I tried!So this basically meant that I had to re-sley the reed- one fat, knotted thread at a time, by sticking my sleying hook through the dent, twisting it a little to broaden the space, and pulling the thread by hand from behind the reed.If you have never done this, I will tell you that is absolutely a test of patience!
However, now I am rolling!The knots pulled easily through my Texsolv heddles, and I continued to beam my warp without incident! YAY!
The actual weaving of the articles is not as time consuming as all the incidental activities and set up involved.It is a metaphor for life in a way.If you take the time to set up a good foundation, everything flows more smoothly.
The change of seasons makes me oddly happy/sad. We've had our first hard frost and my beautiful garden has turned into dark green (soon to be black!) slime. I did however harvest about 40 pounds of beautiful Yukon Gold potatoes this weekend. And I did get three red, ripe tomatoes this year! This gardening in northern climes is not for the faint-hearted... In some way I am relieved that the garden is finished for this year. It is a tremendous amount of work and although I love it, this ending will give me more time to participate in other things I love, like weaving and painting.
A lesson in letting go, in staying in the moment, in not wishing away today for another, "better" tomorrow. Every year I resist the coming of winter- the snow, the ice, the bitter cold. And every year, on the first day it snows, I am filled with the beauty of it, the sheer exhilarating joy of it.Winter is the time for hot tea, a fire in the woodstove, a chance to be inside my life.
In the warm, long, sunny days of summer and fall I can’t stand to be inside.I work inside and the second I get home I change out of my school clothes and into my play clothes.And I play.Usually I play until dark- in high summer that is about 10:30 at night.Mundane chores like dishes and housework generally go undone, unnoticed.“Cooking dinner” consists of grabbing a sandwich or a piece of fruit (or really, sometimes a Pop Tart!) and eating it standing over the sink (this is a time saving tip- little to no clean up with this method!) and then racing back outside to mess with the horse or the goats or the garden.Summer is all about people visiting, building projects and outdoor activity.
Winter is different.Slower. Quieter.Interestingly enough, people don’t come out to visit us in the winter.The building projects are buried under a blanket of snow.And outdoor activities are pretty much reduced to snow shoeing to work and feeding the animals.Oh yes, and moving snow.Indoors becomes quietly attractive.Suddenly being inside all day Saturday doesn’t seem a punishment.Now is the time for art. For painting, weaving, writing.For nourishing that part of my soul.
Fall is the harbinger of all this nourishment.My favorite time of year.
This is my receiving bowl, woven as part of my Weaving a Life leadership training. (It is upside down in the photo, so that you can see the shapes that make it a bowl!) It is a symbol representing my intention to welcome into my life the opportunities that will help me grow in the direction I desire. It was an exercise in trusting myself, as I am a consummate rule-follower and kept checking and re-checking and checking again, sure that I was doing something wrong! Finally, I was able to let go of my idea of perfectionism and just enjoy. As you can see, it all worked out. Another important life lesson- Trust in yourself.
Keyform number 3: the Doll INSIGHT
This has, by far, been my favorite keyform to create! She is the image of me as an old woman, complete with the wisdom and knowledge gained through a lifetime of experience. I use her as a confidant, to ask questions, to share secrets. When I told my husband that she and I talk, he asked, with a concerned look, "do you really think she is speaking to you?" I think he was worried that I slipping into insanity!! I explained that it is really a form of play directed at helping me process my questions, experiences, etc. It is funny how different people perceive different things, because when I told my mentor/teacher the exact same thing (about how my doll and I talk) she said, "great! and do you listen to what she tells you?" I love it! The diversity, the chance to look at things in different ways, the ability to take it all in and sift through to keep what I need for me. Beautiful...
One more photo: this is last spring, but it gives me hope for the upcoming months!
Anyway, what motivated me to write again was a comment by someone who read what I had written before. It is true for me, in my life, that outside motivators are often the things that get me doing what I want to be doing anyway. I often refuse myself the time to do the things that fill my soul (like writing and weaving, painting and gardening) unless I can "justify" it by claiming an obligation to someone besides myself. At times this is frustrating, however I am becoming more creative in figuring out more and different "outside obligations"! A different approach to my time constraints!! Still working on convincing myself that "me time" has as much value (if not more) as any other activity...
