Solving "The Problem"

Make friends with the lessons, limitations, boundaries, and structure.

When there is a fence around the school yard, the children play up against the fence. When there is no fence, the children play close to the door.

I can't remember where I heard those words, but I find them affirming and applicable to weaving. If someone came to me and said, "I want you to weave me something. I don't care what it is, just something you feel like making. I am in no hurry, whenever you get around to it. I want to pay you, so whatever you want to charge me is fine. As for the color, I'm happy with whatever you decide", do you think I will ever make that weaving? But if someone came to me and said, " I want a scarf 9" wide by 74" long. I am allergic to wool, and my favorite color is blue. I need it to wear on my trip in 3 weeks, and my budget is $150." This series of boundaries is "The Problem". Solving The Problem is creative.

Whenever I find myself having a bit of a creative block, it is usually a sign that I haven't built a good enough fence. There is a bit of a knack to thinking in terms of solving problems and to be constantly creating problems to solve.

"Nod of the Day"

Here Diane Smith of Just of Yarn is showing off some of her lovely painted tencel yarn woven into a Color Horoscope Scarf. I was speaking about this scarf in an earlier post bemoaning I had no picture of the finished piece, and Terri in Md sent me this wonderful picture.

Here is a picture I just received, 2 ikat scarves woven by Glenda Clift. The warp for one of the scarves happened at the Easy Ikat Workshop, ASCH 07. Glenda had enough 3/2 ikat dyed cotton to create a second scarf since the workshop at the end of March. Great job, Glenda!

Aahh, Spring

Here I am taking a break from work to hug my Tree Peony. I am stand inside my patio. I wanted to show you just how tall the Tree is, but I think it looks like I'm holding it up in my arms. I'm not, the plant is really that tall.
Back in the studio, I thought I would weave off a quick chenille scarf commission before I begin another blanket panel. A friend of mine saw this scarf sample containing the Woven Words: "Peace in the Middle East" and decided he wanted one just like it. It is an interesting exercise to duplicate something you have woven in the past.
I'll have it off the loom tomorrow. I have a unique finishing technique I will attempt to demonstrate.

Confessions of a Virtual Gardener

Japanese Tree Peony in Bloom!

If you have never seen one of these "trees", they are pretty amazing.

This picture is shot from outside the patio. That wall is 4 ft high. The tree is over 7 ft tall. There are 16 blossoms this year, a record. Each blossom is about 9" in diameter. A friend bought me the peony in 1990. It was about a foot tall then.

About Virtual Gardening: I love flowers, fruits and vegetables. I love looking at flowers, fruits, and vegetable. I love talking about flowers, fruits, and vegetables. I love picking flowers, fruits, and vegetables. I love eating fruits and vegetables. I just hate to touch dirt!

I am also a virtual quilter, spinner, and dyer, but that's a story for another day.

In the gardening books, it says a Japanese Tree Peony will grow to a height of 6 ft.
It's when you get right up close that you really become captivated. The petals are extremely delicate to match the light fragrant scent. The blooms usually don't last very long. One good rain, and that's the end of them. The patio becomes littered with what looks like used Kleenex.

I've used the dead heads in weaving. I'll have to try and dig up one of the pictures from a couple of years ago.

The Image Appears

The wonders of computers will never cease to amaze me. Here is a picture of the horoscope weaving I did with Just Our Yarn's painted 10/2 tencel. Christine, a reader of my blog happened to run into the Diane and Cathie at the Maryland Sheep and Wool yesterday. Christine mentioned I wanted a picture of the woven tencel to post on my blog, and Diane produced a picture on the spot. Christine emailed me the picture. It took me longer to figure out how to post the picture than it took Christine to get it and send it to me.

I must get back to the loom. I am weaving a quick little something on Grace. I will show you tomorrow. It's all chenille and always fun...

Dye Day #3

A few years ago, I ran into the lovely ladies of Just Our Yarn at MAFA 05. Check out their schedule, and pay them a visit. Diane had taken a horoscope class from me a while back. When I saw their hand painted tencel yarn, I was drooling. I said to Diane, "I wonder what your horoscope would look like in this lovely yarn?" She replied, "Who has time to weave!" I told her I would weave her horoscope for her in exchange for enough yarn to weave one for myself as well. In a matter of minutes, I was walking away from their booth with an armload of lip smacking tencel. I had never woven with tencel before and saw this as the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

The only drawback to "trying out" a new yarn is 12 colors!

I wove up Diane's horoscope. It was magnificent! If you are wondering where the picture is, well, I never took one. Perhaps I can get Diane to send me one. Even better, I will actually get around to weaving mine.

DYE DAY #3 dawned with the usual clouds and rain. I needed to dye some additional bamboo yarn for the Big Commission, and I looked around for something else to dye while I was at it.

Not only is my experience with weaving tencel rather limited, I had never applied my ikat technique to it either. I wound the balls pictured above into skeins, tied it and over-dyed it along with the bamboo. The grey and black skeins flanking the large center skein is bambu from Silk City. The large skein is from Habu. The yarn looks like a sculpture hanging in my dining room.

The tencel will be another project I will document as I go along.

Turned Weft Ikat

I had always referred to my ikat technique as Easy Ikat, but it is really Turned Weft Ikat. I like the sound of that. The yarn is dyed as if I were going to use it as weft ikat, but then I use it as the warp instead. Here I am at the very beginning the 3rd panel of the Big Commission. Whereas, sometimes I have to add the pink strings, sometimes I don't. Each warp end is placed one at a time to create as controlled a pattern as I would like.
Sometimes the pink strings are necessary depending on the circumference of the skein. But what about all of that yarn you are wasting, you might ask?
My answer is: Make Art! I don't have a good picture of the finished piece framed and on the wall, but it is made up of 225 two inch square pieces of black archival matte board wrapped in left over ikat yarn. Most of the yarn is silk, but some is bamboo. I am working on a new piece made entirely of the yarn left over from the Big Commission. I will show it after I get a little more of it done.

Questions?