WEAVING RETREAT

Perhaps Weaving Marathon would have been a better name for this event. After months of playing around with color wrappings, a palette was settled upon and I began winding a warp for a Blessing Blanket for a, soon to be, six year old.
I thought, perhaps, the girl was old enough to participate in the color selection. I gathered up a couple dozen samples of cashmere, placed them in a plastic bag and send them off to Seattle.


I anxiously awaited their return. As soon as I got the samples, I packed a suitcase and the yarn and went across town to Gary, my Fireside Loom. It is a long story, but Gary and I have been trying a trial separation. On Sunday, I warped the loom. I wove all day Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday afternoon.......

I cut the blanket off the loom! Wednesday night I tied the fringe. Thursday morning I tossed it in the wash and dryer.


At midday, a friend came by and snapped a couple of pictures, and then off to FedEx and overnight express to Seattle. It was picked up on Friday just in time for the birthday party on Saturday. It was perfect!!

Everything was perfect except for my back which did not appreciate being worked so hard. I think I will not push myself quite so hard in the future, but it sure was exciting.

PS: Gary and I have reconciled, but that is another story for another day

Problem Solved

The secret to posting with images is to use Explorer rather than FireFox.

I am trying out various colors and formats to see what I like. I am running into a problem I will soon figure out is how to move the images around. The usual cut and paste doesn't seem to work.

I don't know if anyone recalls that I was working on the chenille Color Horoscope Weaving. Well, I cut it off the loom and draped it around myself (as I love to do)

This looks so different from my own horoscope weaving! I love it.

One of the things I do differently than most people working with chenille is that I braid my fringe. I figure this step takes me close to 16 hours, but I generally put on a good trashy audio book and braid away.

Here is the happy recipient who made me promise to cut her head out of the picture.
I know you can see the difference in the luster and drape of the chenille after laundering.

How I launder: I toss into a cold water wash, let the machine agitate 5 times, turn off and let sit for a half hour. Drain out the wash water, fill with rinse (add softener if desired), let agitate 5 times, turn off and let sit for another half hour, drain, and spin. Remove from the washer and toss in the dryer with 3 tennis balls. Dry on gentle, checking from time to time between biting finger nails. The chenille looks really bad when it comes out of the wash, but something magical happens in the dryer.

Thanks to Fans

Well, I got rid of the dots, but the way new post box that I am writing in now is set up, I cannot add pictures. My blog is all about the images. I have spent far to much time trying to get back my old set up, to no avail. I am sure that I am not the only one who can't upload pictures. I have someone who is going to help me set up wordpress, but that won't happen until the fall.

Sandra told me there was a way to get the old template back, but I sure can't figure it out. Everything that I have read leads me to think that Google has decided to fix what wasn't broken, but now it is broken. 

The End

I am not happy with the new look, and don't know how to change it. So until I can figure out how to get my blog to resemble what it was before, consider this my last post.

Computer Problems

I am unable to upload any of my recent images nor am I able to print anything from my computer. I will do both of these things as soon as I am able. It may well be that a new computer is in order.

Meanwhile, I am braiding fringe on my chenille shawl---a 16 hour process. Pictures to follow eventually.

Chenille, The Pet You Don't Have to Feed

Actually, this blanket was a commissioned piece entitled THE RESULTS OF HAVING FALLEN INTO A PIT OF CHENILLE

Each square is the sample end of a chenille scarf I wove during a five year period leading up to the millennium.

What I know about weaving with chenille I learned during my scarf making madness. I also wove many Color Horoscope Weaving Shawls. In fact that is how I fell into the pit of chenille. I had stayed away from chenille for years hearing so many terrible stories of the dreaded "worming". Plus I really didn't think chenille would wear very well.

I was teaching a Color Horoscope Weaving Workshop at a yarn store sometime in the last century and they happened to stock a great palette of chenille yarn. The owner suggested I try it out. She said I could wind the warp (12 colors) and then weigh the warp and pay me for the total weight (came out to be about $80). Normally the yarn comes on 1 1/2 lb cones; and since I need 12 colors---well, that's mighty pricey which was probably another reason I had never tried it before. To make a long story short, the shawl came out beautifully except for a few little structural glitches which caused to yarn to worm. (worming is a nightmarish un-weaving caused by:
1. not weaving tightly enough
2. not snugging your edges
3. having floats
4. having more than one warp end through a heddle

The trick seems to be that when you take the piece off the loom, it feels stiff and has a lousy drape.

I wish I knew exactly how this yarn is manufactured. I do know that there is tons of sizing in the yarn, and it is only after the finished piece is laundered that it morphs into a cloth that people can't resist petting as you pass them on the street.

I know I haven't yet answered ANY of the questions you asked, but 2 things have happened. It has gotten late, for one. And two, my USB port does not seem to be working and I can't get the images from my camera into the computer.

But looking back over those chenille years, I can really only remember one time when I had a warp end break while I was weaving. The 2 warp ends that broke in the piece I am weaving now broke close enough to the beginning of the piece that I was able to lay in a replacement thread and tie it onto the front bar.

So I guess the trick is to wind short warps. Mine are mostly 4 yds long. (just long enough for 1 scarf and a nice sized sample piece) Watch your yarn closely while winding the warp, keeping a sharp eye out for frayed or weak sections of yarn.

But here is the good news, that first shawl I re-wove (about 15 years ago), looks like I just wove it! Believe me when I tell you that I road tested that shawl thoroughly. I can't believe it still looks as fresh and new as the day I wove it.

When I first started using chenille, I was very careful about laundering, and I never put it in the dryer. Then I ran into a woman who was banging out chenille scarves by the dozens. She tossed them in the wash with nary a care, AND she tossed them into the dryer as well (with 3 tennis balls), so now I do too. If you were washing the pieces often, it might not be a great idea.

Once I get to the fringes on this new piece, I will show you how I do mine. I always braid chenille fringe. It takes forever, but it really makes the shawl. And I have a special little non-knot, that is elegant beyond compare.

The ikat scarf on the wall will have to wait, but I won't forget.

Meanwhile Back in the Studio

Yes, it's true! I still weave!


I can hardly believe this is the first piece I have woven this year. I had forgotten what it was like to weave chenille--the perfect blend of heaven and hell.



When I mentioned to a weaving friend that I was weaving chenille, she said "Oh, don't the threads break a lot." I replied, "Not that I recall". and then 2 threads broke instantly. If anyone comments they want to see how I fixed it, I will show you. Otherwise, take my word that I found a elegant method for fixing the threads, but continue to keep my fingers crossed that I will complete the weaving with no additional breaks.