It's Hard to Hit a Moving Target

I'm on the move again. I just had to take a break though and share my THIRD ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF MOVING. The movers come on Tuesday, and I am far from ready.

The good news is that Grace and Gary will be reunited.


More good news is that I only moving blocks away. And even more good news is that I will be able to do some one on one teaching "retreats" in the new place, but more on that later.


And more good news is that 2 of the 3 towels have been sent. Sue Bye, please email me your mailing address, and I will send yours (after I move)


And last (actually first), my classes at the Montana Conference went extremely well. I wish I could say the same for my camera. It seems to have developed a problem. (also a topic for another post)

Perhaps the move will be the beginning of a resurgence of enthusiasm and continuity in posting. It is not that I don't have anything to say. It is more that I have too much, so I just don't say anything at all.

But very exciting things are coming down the pike.

A Plain Weaver Takes a Holiday

Once every ten years or so I like to crank up all 8 harnesses and all 10 treadles just for the fun of it. (and also to see if I really can do it)(grin)

This is an harness block twill, inspired by Coby Johnson, current president of the Missoula Weavers Guild. She presented a program on block twill over a year ago, and I decided I would like to give it a try. Unfortunately the draft is in Gary's loom bench across town, so if you want to draft, you will have to let me know.

I hate to admit that the square is the only part of the warp that I wove as I had to cut this off to make way for the Blessing Blanket. I removed the remaining warp and retained the cross, so I could put it back on the loom at a later date. The plaid (notice the twill) in the background will be the long awaited towels I owe for the towel exchange.

Sue and Sandra don't faint! I haven't finished them off yet. I messed up the sett and had to re-sley, so the really will be more of a square napkin than a towel.


Who said after weaving 52 years, one would stop making these silly gaffs.

Below is the wrapping I made for this warp---spells out the word "peace". There will be more about this in the weeks to come.

There is really much to tell, but since I will be heading off to teach in Alberta in a couple of days, the best I could do is to give you a taste of what I have been up to.

A word about the color choices for the towel/napkin/table mat. A while back I talked about achieving ZYG (zero yarn growth) by alternating projects featuring "stash reduction" followed by "stash expansion". Above is stash reduction.

Making Lemonade and Paying it Forward and Loose Ends

Several months ago, there appeared on Facebook the opportunity to Pay It Forward. If you were among the first 5 people to respond, the person who posted would send you a gift of something they had made (within the upcoming year). In turn, you had to post on your page and then make a gift for the first 5 people who responded. I don't think it has been 6 months, but I have just completed my gifts. I have the list of 5 and will contact them.

The lemonade part of the post is that this warp was originally going to be towels for the towel exchange, and I made the warp too narrow. Instead of fixing it, I just decided to weave it off as is. So I experimented instead. The pinkish piece off to the left is woven with cashmere. The bluey one in the middle is rayon chenille, and the white is a thick cotton chenille. I was quite pleased with how each of them came out of the dryer. And I look forward to sending out my Pay It Forward gifts.

Back to the warp at hand. Here is a little scarf I pulled off Grace (posing on my newly warped loom)
Woven Words and Almost Ikat warp all ready to go....


Sometimes it is hard to begin.....

Too Busy to Blog

I love the blogging community! My 4 years of blogging has brought me more pleasure and friends than I could ever imagine. I have been struggling to keep up in the midst of so much change in my life. I can hardly believe that I will be moving again within a month! Please continue to check in on me, and I will post whenever I can.


Here is a quick recap of April.

Wrapping Words for a Blessing Shawl.
Winding Almost Ikat stripes to go between the words for the Blessing Shawl


Finally finishing off the towel warp (or better, the warp that would be towels, but will be table mats instead). For those of you who are patiently awaiting your towel (3 of you!), my goal is to weave some towels before I dismantle the studio.


Teaching a Woven Collage workshop


Creating a Virtual Quilt from each students woven collage.


Anything else will just sound like whining and complaining (grin)

Towel Exchange: Maybe I Should Have Taken Notes

It was hard to decide what to call this blog post.
I debated on: DUH!
Win Some Lose Some
Or: There's No Mistake You Can't Fix
Or: I'd Like to Share a Learning Experience With You

Ah, the list is endless....

So as I was weaving away on Gary, I kept glancing over at the towel warp on Grace. Something just didn't seem right.


I was using Syne's recent towel as a basic design inspiration for the towel warp (in addition to using Syne's towel to dry my dishes, note slightly used look)


And I was using the yarn I had left over from my last towel warp.


I was feeling very clever. The only thing I forgot was-----to count the number of ends I would need to create an 18" wide towel sett at 24 epi ( small detail). So now the loom is threaded and I am 80 ends shy of the required number of ends----what to do?


The problem: I do not have any more of the right color ikat. I am thinking I will just wind 80 ends of a solid and put 40 ends on each outer edge.

Actually, I will probably think on it for a while and finish the shawl.

Part of me wonders if I did this on purpose to create some tasty blog fodder. (grin)

Oh yes, 3 people have told me they were sending me towels (plus the one I already have from Syne) so the warp must go on.......

A Towel Exchange to Start the New Year

I don't know how many remember my ongoing Towel Exchange---it goes like this: You send me a towel of your own creation, and I will send you a towel of mine. Imagine my surprise and delight on the Solstice to receive a package from Syne Mitchell! Among the delightful goodies was a towel (and what a splendid towel it is!) (details of Syne's towel will be featured when I finish my towel for her) All of this has made me remember just how long I have been blogging and how long it has been since I've written anything above and beyond the blog. Here is the last time I did ikat dyeing and taught a turned weft ikat workshop

So pulling the remaining threads together (so to speak), and using Syne's towel as an inspiration


I begin a new year of weaving.


Grace is chosen for the project.

The loom gets dressed.

But wait! I have a rush commission! So towels will have to wait (half-dressed) while Gary steps forward to receive an interesting new warp----

Unusual Towel Exchange, Woven Labels and Loom Trouble

There is this big wind storm going on outside. Hopefully I won't lose power. The beautiful towel I received from Maureen McGuinness acts as the backdrop for my part of the exchange. Several months ago Maureen (long before the towel exchange) asked me if I had any of my wrapped silk brooches for sale. Alas, I had stopped making them because they were just too labor intense (and I am on this new kick to stop cranking out "stuff"). When Maureen sent me this lovely towel, I asked her if she would rather have a brooch in exchange. She examined some pictures on my website and gave me an idea of the size and colors she liked. I will ship it off today. Maureen is going to send me another towel sometime in the future so that I will also send her a towel.
My only requirement for the towel is some sort of label, so I can remember whose towel I am using. When I first decided (back in the 80's) I needed some sort of label, I hand printed them. I do not have any examples of that label. I began searching for a label company that would produce a custom woven label in reasonable small quantities. I went to the library and searched through the Thomas Registry (now available on line). At that time I found only 6 companies and wrote to them all. Of the 6, only the Minnewawa Label Company in Knoxville Tennessee produced a label that met my requirements. The top label was my first 1000 labels. They lasted me about 10 years. I had a friend redesign the label and ordered another 1000. (the middle label) They took me through the 90's. When I went to order another 1000, I discovered the Minnewawa Label Company was no longer there. I went on line and began another search and found ITC Labels(bottom label) I wish the label was more satiny, but the great part about this company is you can order as few or as many labels as you wish. Plus they send you a sample and you sign off on it before they make the labels.

If there are others out there who have a good label source, I would be interested in passing that along.
So I'm weaving along on my 10 year old Fireside Loom last night thinking how wonderful the piece is coming along---no problems. This morning when I went to start weaving, I noticed the slack tension. I went to give the toggle a little twist (as I have to do from time to time) and noticed THIS!
Words like GAK! ZOT! (a new word sent to me by a weaving friend, Russ) and others too terrible to mention, sprung from my lips.

Well, then I had to chuckle because I have often said there are an infinite number of mistakes to be made in weaving, and this was indeed a first. As you may or may not know, Fireside Looms is now located in Pennsylvania with new owners Larry and Michelle Lesniak(no longer in Washington state in easy driving distance from me). I started to write a pathetic whining email to Michelle, but I decided a phone call would be in order. She was most helpful and a new rope and assembly directions are being FedEx'd to me as I write.

I use my Fireside more heavily than most, so I'm not faulting the rope device for wearing out in 10 years. In fact, the tensioning system was one of the main selling features (along with the worm-drive and the removable breast bar) I didn't see a picture of the removable breast bar, but it is a thing of beauty. Anyone wishing me to take a picture of it and post it, let me know.

So "Gary", the loom has to take a little rest. Fortunately my ikat towel experiment is up and running on Grace, so my practice of weaving every day doesn't have to stop.

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.

First Towel Arrives

The bar is set pretty high. What a beautiful towel sent to me by Stef M!
It is woven of unmercerized cotton and variegated tencel, 24H point twill threading.

The color is slightly off here, but I love the look of it.

24H Point Twill meets Turned Weft Ikat. I got the towel warp off the loom, but that is all I got done in the studio today. My attention was drawn to converting digital images to slides. I delivered 46 images. I can pick them up on Friday. I am sure I will tackle Power Point after this adventure.