Creative Procrastination

1. Go to the Saturday Farmers Market and purchase attractive vegetables. I don't usually take pictures of provocative vegetables, but this radish was too good to ignore. The squash is pretty interesting too.
2. Take pictures of my vegetables.

3. Look at the warp I wound yesterday.
I wound another towel warp, but I think I will wait until after my next Dye Day early next week. I'll have some additional shades to work with.

4. Weave just enough so I can say I wove today.
Somehow I lost the picture of my "weaving everyday". I'll catch you up with Grace in the next post. I must have been too anxious to move on to the real creative part of Creative Procrastination.

5. Start to clear the piles of stuff off the guest bed in my office.

6. Become distracted by a box of photographs made from my digital images.
Before my recent "Turned Weft Ikat" presentation to the Whibey Weavers Guild, I converted 47 digital images into slides. I decided to print out 4x6 all of the images and take them to the slide processing lab. Now that I have the slides, I don't really need the prints.

7. Crop pictures to show just weaving or yarn.

8. Spend an evening assembling and re-assembling little bits of colored paper.

Much to my delight, a new series of greeting cards emerged. I just happened to have a brand new box of 50 blank greeting cards (with envelopes).

9. Take pictures of the pictures of my weaving.


10. Plan to use a tripod the next time I take pictures.

Towel Exchange, Silk Ikat Kumihimo, Cashmere Weft

What a lovely array! The purple towel is brand new. I haven't gotten a good picture of the towel solo, but I will. By then I will have information.

As I was unpacking my samples after the Turned Weft Ikat presentation, I came upon this piece of kumihimo I made about 20 years ago. It is one of the very few I have left because it was always a favorite. I'm not even sure what braid I used, but I love the way the ikat works with kumihimo. I just looked in my Catherine Martin book: Kumihimi Japanese Silk Braiding Techniques to see if I could identify the braid. I think it is Mitake Gumi, but I'm not sure. I haven't braided for many years now. I try to curb my tendency to master every craft that I admire. I know you know what I mean.

I just like the look of this. The colored yarn is some of my 20/2 cotton. The big white cones are the 8/2 unmercerized cotton I'm using for my towels. The two baskets contain the cashmere I will triple and wind onto the shuttles. Here is my collection of 22 stick shuttles. I actually have 26 shuttles, but only about 10 of them are mine. I borrowed 16 of them for a project (I'm embarrassed to say maybe 5 years ago!) Periodically I ask the owners if they need them back, and they say "eventually". AND I am still using them for a project, although it is now a different project. Those white ones on the left were made from old venetian blinds.

I am gearing up to begin panel #5 of the Big Commission woven in the Saori philosophy.
I am also gearing up for another Dye Day next week.

Having Woven

I used to believe the best part of weaving was "having woven". With this piece, I never wanted it to end. I wove as slow as I could.


But with all things, the end finally happened.


This isn't the best picture, but it is hot off the loom. The threads are still warm. I just wrote to Just Our Yarn to see if they have any hints and tips connected to laundering tencel. I have never washed tencel, but I have heard a few "stories". I wasn't paying close attention to the tales because I wasn't using tencel at the time. I am not in a hurry to wash this because I plan to twist the fringe first.

The Edge of........Power Point

Amazing! If I weave just a little bit everyday, having woven happens. I could have finished this off this evening, but I have a pretty full plate and besides, I wanted to show this moment. Have you ever noticed how the last few inches of a weaving takes the longest amount of time?

I am in the process of preparing a program "Turned Weft Ikat" for the Whibey Island Weavers Guild on Sept. 6.
I have a wonderful "Easy Ikat" slide show I have been presenting for quite a while now, but I have been taking digital pictures for the past 4 years. So here I am poised on the brink. Do I buy a slide scanner and laptop? Do I sit down and figure out how to work the power point program? Or do I print out 5o of my best pics from the past 4 years and have them made into slides?

For the past couple of days, I have been printing 4 x 6 digital images having elected to make this year my last year of slide presentations. Now I am having a good time playing photographer. In order for me to have the slides back in time, I have to deliver them tomorrow.
I couldn't resist winding back. I have to stop and keep wiping my drool off this warp.

Gary and Grace Enjoy Summer

What with all the travel and house guests, it would seem like nothing gets done in the summer. However, now that I have committed to weaving everyday (when I am home), I am finding it easier than I had thought it would be. Here is what (or should I say "who") is on Gary, a good example of the Bambu 7 "kit". I am weaving this shawl using yarn from Cotton Clouds and using Irene's horoscope (the owner of Cotton Clouds). Very soon I will post detailed instructions for ordering a kit and what is included in said kit.

Grace features another 8/2 unmercerized cotton towel sample. I like to weave something in ikat prior to giving an ikat presentation (September 6th at the Whidbey Island Weavers Guild).

My current fascination with handwoven towels is somewhat of a mystery to me.

Big Commission--Chapter 6: Blanket Meets Saori

I just couldn't go away leaving this warp sitting on the loom. Since I am going to a Saori Conference, I decided to weave a test panel in what I believe to be the Saori way. After I come back from the Conference, I will have a better idea of exactly what that philosophy is. But this is what I did:
1. Weave what I feel.
2. There are no mistakes.
3. No planning ahead. For me, this meant "no counting" "no measuring"

Who knew I was a compulsive counter!

What started out as a frustrating exercise soon became lots of fun.


So here are 3 of the proposed 7 panels of the blanket. It was challenging to find a place where I could get far enough away from the panels to actually see the whole thing. (60" of the 90"). You can sort of see that the panels are not put together. My sort of plan is to intersperse four 8" panels. I thought it would be interesting to make the 8" panels a weft faced design using the colored recycled cashmere. I will still use the same bamboo for the warp although not ikat dyed. The weft will still be triple strands of unknitted cashmere sweaters. Because the warp will still show, the weft will be muted. The colors are full of nuance. I did much color blending, and the gray warp keeps the colors from jumping out too much.


The panels are folded over a rod, but you can get the idea. You're seeing about 60" of the length.

Not writing anything down or taking any notes is quite a challenging exercise, like working without a net. Ladies and Gentlemen, do not try this at home. It takes a lot of years and countless attempts. It takes a lot of faith. But mostly it takes knowing how to set up very tight parameters. Even though I don't really know what it is going to look like, that is the only variable I have. Showing you every step of the way is my attempt to demonstrate a process of weaving into the future.

I realize just pulling a piece off the loom is weaving into the future--at least it was for me the first 20 years or so. Weaving offers a lifetime of lessons, a lifetime of healing, and a lifetime of creativity.

Yes, I Really am Leaving

I thought this was a particularly interesting section of warp. I've been experimenting with form and freedom in this warp and in The Big Commission blanket. Some areas have a controlled pattern with adjacent sections wound randomly. I haven't decided if I totally like it, but I intend to experiment some more before I make up my mind.

Where many folks are challenged by using lots of bright colors, I struggle with pastels and light colors.


Here it is just cut off the loom. I flipped it over to take this picture because I didn't want any of the lose threads to show.


I won't be doing any of the finishing now. I will take it with me on the trip and work on it as I go. I'll be interested to see how much it shrinks and if I will be able to get 2 towels out of the warp.
I did have some problems with my edges, but I won't go into that now. I want to mull it over a bit.

What's true is there are always little glitches to work out when you switch to a new fiber. At least that has always happened for me.

OK, is this the official goodbye?
No, I'll be back in a few hours. I have more to say.

Must ...Not ...Weave... Must ...Get...Ready...For...Trip

I never thought weaving could be a form of procrastination! I am so jazzed about seeing how this 8/2 unmercerized cotton in turned weft ikat weaves up that I can't seem to turn my attention to getting ready for my 3 cities in 3 weeks trip. (coming up in 5 days!) But now I have to take this piece with me. It is only a 3 yard warp after all...


The weaving light was on, so the color is distorted, but I just had to try a little weaving before I officially start my day. The sett is 24 epi, and I thought I would try using the same yarn (since I have 25# of it) for the weft. I wondered if it would wash out the ikat too much, but I don't think so from looking at this first inch or so.

White (or off white) goes a long way--especially here in the Northwest. But for towels, I think white is an exception.

OK, I really have to make my train reservations now (Baltimore to NC and then NYC to Springfield MA), but I'm sure to hit the loom again before the day is over.

And The Beat Goes On

Once again, I am faced with a weft choice; and once again, I decide to try all the colors. The warp is 5/2 cotton, and the weft is 20/2 cotton doubled. I couldn't stop weaving. It is slower to stop and change colors every few inches, but it also affords the necessary breaks to minimize the impact on the old body.

Another trick I use during the weaving process is to wind an inch of ikat whenever I take a break. By the time I finish weaving the blanket, I have the next warp all ready to go.

I got so excited to see it off the loom! You should have seen me running around the place looking for a spot to hang it or drape it so I could snap a picture.

Oh yes, I was also equally excited to see what 8/2 ikat would look like on the loom.


Two warps with one picture!

I can hardly wait to see and feel the blanket after washing, but I promised myself I wouldn't work on it until I got to Baltimore. I will have some days there before I deliver the blanket to its owner, and it will be nice to have a project to work on. Besides, I now have this other test warp crying out for completion.

Recalculation/Rethread/Rethread

When I got to the halfway mark in the reed, I realized I didn't have enough dents. Ames had written a comment asking about reed size which made me stop and consider how I was going to put a 42" warp in a 40" reed. Although my loom is 48", only my 12 dent reed is 48". I thought by unthreading and removing an inch of the border on each side, I would have enough.

When I got to the halfway mark in the reed for the second time, I realized once again I didn't have enough dents! Did I miscount? Did I make a mistake in the initial winding? Am I crazy?


Then it hit me. Duh! There are 10 planet thread groups which are not doubled in the reed. It is as if the weaving is 19" wide instead of 18" wide. (doubled for the baby blanket makes the warp 38"). I would have to remove the entire border. I did leave 4 turquoise threads at each edge as a selvage, and I will add a floating selvage thread as well. I plan to use a turquoise weft to give a nice look to the edge as long as I don't have a border.

I plan to put the cross back in the borders and re-chain them for use in another weaving sometime. Perhaps I will invest in a 48" 10 dent reed:)

The 3rd threading worked. Weaving to begin later today.


I finally cut the Tree Peony dead heads. I was surprised to discover I had had 17 blooms.

Solstice

Here is my first 5/2 cotton baby blanket going on the loom. This blanket will be 42" on the loom with a sett of 20 epi. When I use the 20/2 cotton tripled, the blanket is 36" wide, sett 24 epi. My goal is to take this with me when I go back East in 10 days.

The color isn't very good here, but it shows off a little problem I had to solve. You can see the 2 green ends that come together in the center. They are both thread #1 of the horoscope. The baby blanket is actually a mirror image 360 ends x 2. What I had to do is remove one of the green threads (I picked the one on the right) and insert it as thread 360 on the right side. It was easily done, but it stopped me for a day.

Here is a surprise, the cobalt ikat dyed 8/2 cotton all dry. It got much lighter. Sadly I won't have time to weave something with it before I leave. What the yarn lost in depth of color, it gained in softness. I think it will make wonderful towels.


While the cotton was drying on the patio, one of the Japanese Tree Peony dead heads called out to me.

Oh, a piece of good news: I just found out the 50# suitcase containing all of my supplies, slides, and weaving samples for the NEWS Conference arrived safely in Massachusetts and is awaiting my arrival.

Big Commission--Chapter 5

I just cut off panel 3 (center panel)! I had to hang it right up. It has a lighter look than the first two, so I decided to put it in the center for now.

In case you are just tuning in, each panel is 20" wide and will become a blanket 90"x 100". The warp is ikat dyed bamboo, and the weft is un-knitted cashmere sweaters.

In addition to the goal of using recycled cashmere, my plan is to design the blanket without writing anything down. I don't know exactly what I am going to do next, so I will let the panels hang there for a while and wait until they tell me what to do next.

The next time the sun comes out, I will find a place outside where I can stretch out the whole length of each panel to see the entire piece. I hope I like what I see.

If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I will be dyeing some 8/2 cotton.

Another Lesson

Here's a pretty interesting story. Back in January I got a Color Horoscope Weaving commission from Charlene who saw a reference to me and my website on Sara Lamb's blog. I went right to Sara's blog to check out what blogs were all about. I was so taken with the idea I immediately set up a blog of my own. I asked Charlene to tell me her favorite color which would be the color I would use for the weft. In all of my previous commissions, my clients came to my studio and selected a color from the yarns on my shelf.

Color is so very subjective, and Charlene was not in my studio. She sent me an color rendition of a coat she wanted to wear with her horoscope shawl. HERE WAS MY MISTAKE. Instead of sending her a color sample card and having her select the weft herself, I matched the printed color square.
It's funny how a person can feel so good about something that misses the mark. I wove the shawl and sent it off fully expecting email squeals of delight. Silence... I finally wrote to Charlene to see if the weaving had arrived. She wrote back reluctantly and said she was very disappointed. The color didn't match her coat at all!

I said I was glad she wrote and that I would weave her another shawl. This time I would send a color card and have her select the warp. (all the while kicking myself that I hadn't thought to send Charlene yarn samples in the first place. What had I been thinking?!)

I was pretty mortified at first, but eventually came to appreciate a valuable lesson. The second weaving is much prettier, don't you think?

And now I will have another funny weaving story to tell when I'm teaching....

Warp Off, Warp On

I cut this horoscope shawl off the loom today. I will be hand-delivering this piece on Friday. It's so hot off the loom that the threads are still warm.

This horoscope shawl goes in the mail on Friday as well. I'm on a roll.

I just love how the horoscope weavings seem alike and different at the same time.

I've spent lots of time on the loom today and don't have much left over for writing. I do have a good story to tell about the piece going on the loom.

What I Did When the Chenille Wormed

In addition to throwing myself into the 3rd blanket panel, I went right to work on a Color Horoscope Weaving birthday commission (although I have another whole week before it is due).

I used 20/2 cotton tripled and sett at 24 epi.

It is quite relaxing to weave horoscopes.

I recently received an email from a soon to be student. She was trying to figure out from pictures exactly how I create Color Horoscope Weaving and said she was beginning to see how I used this technique to add interest to the tabby weaving.

It’s funny I have never looked at weaving this way. For me it is that tabby weaving holds together all of my weaving techniques.

Big Commission--Chapter 4

My basket of un-knitted cashmere sweaters has grown to two baskets (15 sweaters). The basket of colored cashmere will come into play in later panels. I just received 6 more sweaters yet to be un-knitted. I see more cashmere weaving in my future.

I just figured out why these back and white ikats delight me so much. It's like clearing my visual palette between color courses in my weaving banquet.

As I may have already mentioned, I had launched into the Big Commission with just a single idea: to use all ikat dyed bamboo for the warp and un-knitted cashmere sweaters for the weft. The finished blanket will be 90" x 100".

A sub-theme: to juxtapose random ikat dyed sections and intentional sections.

My current "plan" is to alternate four 8" panels with the three 20" panels.

The 8" panels will feature the colored cashmere.

Another sub-theme: to design the blanket without pen and paper, guided by intuition alone.

Oops: A Cautionary Tale

So I was weaving this most lovely warp in Woven Words and Ikat Dyed Bamboo. My client wanted me to weave space-dyed chenille for weft. She loved the feel and drape of the bamboo/chenille.
Here is a picture of an earlier piece woven with bamboo and space dyed chenille. Although you can still see the warp, it is down-played and the weft really shows. Notice the bright horizontal turquoise stripe near the top of the picture. This is the new warp. You also notice you don't really see the weft.
Try as I might, I just couldn't bring myself to beat the weft as tightly as I should. All the time I was weaving I kept telling myself I was beating correctly. Denial!

I know many people shy away from chenille for this very reason: the dreaded WORM! Here it is in all of its glory.

THE FUDGE FACTOR: Let me say a word or two about the fudge factor. It is a principle I adhere to with great devotion. It goes like this, "If it works, it's OK."

When I pulled the shawl out of the dryer and discovered I had pushed the fudge factor over the edge, several thoughts raced through my mind. The first thought was, "OH NO! What will I write in my blog!" My second thought was, "What will I tell my client!" My third thought was, "Maybe I made this mistake because I wanted to keep the weaving for myself, hmmm".

I draped the shawl over a chair and walked away. Here is an opportunity for me to learn a new weaving lesson. The biggest lesson I have to share with you is, "No matter how long you weave, you still have lessons to learn." It has taken me a few days to get over myself enough to show the world my latest creation, but here is the good news.

When I walked away from the weaving, I didn't walk out of my studio. I immediately put warps on BOTH looms, started weaving on both looms, and wound a another warp. (pictures to follow soon) So if I haven't learned much in the past 47 years, I have learned to keep moving forward.

Once the "wormed weaving" has had a chance to consider its future, I will visit it again, see what I can salvage and let you know its final fate.