Always More to Learn

"Life-long learning" and "Life-long learner" are oft-repeated catch phrases lately. Not so long ago it went without saying that a person gained knowledge over time. Although I don't disagree with those sayings, I wish it still went without saying. After all, don't wisdom and age go hand-in-hand? It does not hurt to go out of one's way to seek information, to digest it and to come to one's own conclusion.

Having promised to write about a Rep Weave workshop with Kelly Marshall, it is long past time to do so. Kelly came to speak to my guild and teach a workshop in January.

At the first opportunity I signed up for the workshop. Good thing too, because the roster filled immediately and the wait list was long. Demand was so great that Kelly agreed to teach a second group of students. Our enthusiasm was well founded. Kelly is a nice person, an accomplished weaver and an excellent teacher. Do make the most of any opportunity to learn from her.

Sample and Table Runner woven in Kelly Marshall's Rep Weave workshop

Here you see my workshop sample. I opted to use my own color choices for her design, mostly because there is little 5/2 perle cotton in my stash. Adding a single cone of Verdant Green, the other colors are bits and pieces left over from a previous project. The final result is not the best color-wise. The structure itself is far more satisfying.

If you look at the photos of my Yuletide Swirl rep runner in a previous post you will see one describing my dissatisfaction with the color breaks formed when I tried double-threading my heddles for a sett of 48 e.p.i. You may recall that I painstakingly rethreaded the whole thing with single ends per heddle because I did not like those spots. The result was a nice runner with near complete weft coverage. Weaving it was slightly problematic not in treadling but in advancing that dense warp. My three subsequent Swirl warps were sett a bit looser at 40 e.p.i. That was easier but still a tad dense. Still, the resulting runners are pleasing.

Threading two ends per heddle affords ample opportunity for color blending, something Kelly uses to great effect in her work. Two ends together in the heddle allows them to sometimes switch places. If the ends are two different colors interesting blending effects can occur. The possibilities are endless and exciting. 

Left - sample with mixed brown and cream-colored yarns for thick weft
Right - Rep Runner with all brown yarns for thick weft

Kelly won me over to her way of weaving Rep with two ends per heddle. The way she avoids those weft color spots peeking out is by carefully matching her thick weft color to her warp colors.

Being used to weaving on a more “open” sett and using the thick weft color as a design element, I wasn't expecting that as the solution. On the first class day I did not bring carefully matching weft yarns. Kelly directed us to use three strands of Sugar & Cream yarn as one for the thick weft. For my first day’s sample I used three different colors for the three strands: brown, cream, and variegated browns. On the left the photo shows the same problem that bothered me back with the Yuletide Swirl runner. The final runner on the right, with three strands of brown yarn together, is far better.

If you don’t have the chance to take a workshop or hear her speak, Kelly Marshall has written a lovely book about her design process and technique, “Custom Woven Interiors: Bringing color and design home with Rep weave”. Any or all of the three are highly recommended. Meeting her and learning from her was a thrill and a golden opportunity.

There is such a thing as an information overload but one can never know enough and learning is fun. I aim to learn more every day. Whether I manage to do so is another thing . . . I am a work in progress.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Evolving While Weaving

I heard from Jasper’s grandmother that he and his family are thrilled with the bright green and yellow Wee Coverlet. May it warm him and the lively colors delight him for years to come. Thinking of him makes me happy.

Wee Swedish Coverlet Warp #113

Fresh off the loom is my final warp of Wee Swedish Coverlets. It’s been nearly two years since I began weaving the “Norse Kitchen” draft. It’s interesting to keep working with a design over a period of time. Repeating a warp over and over offers time and opportunity for experimentation and discovery. By now I feel I know the “language” of this draft. And I made it enough my own to rename it “Swedish Kitchen” and “Swedish Wee Coverlet”.

There is always more to learn. I don’t presume to know anything more than anyone else. My constant disclaimer is, “This is what works for me right now.” Which goes to show that my techniques are constantly under review and often changing. Nothing substitutes for experience. Weaving at the loom is the perfect time to imagine and consider improvements. New ideas pop up all the time. Weaving friends, guild speakers and workshops inspire further thought. Ideas come from books, magazines and groups such as Weavolution. It’s important to admit to myself that I will never know enough while at the same time pursuing as much wisdom as possible.

Stack of 15 Wee Swedish Coverlets minus 2 already in use

Weaving many warps in order to learn as much as I can produces a surplus. Using the Swedish Kitchen draft I wove a total of 73 pieces on nine separate warps. That’s a lot of Kitchen towels and Wee Coverlets. Some of them I will keep for future gifts to family and friends. Two babies already enjoy their coverlets. Other towels and coverlets will go into the Seattle Weavers’ Guild annual sale.

Next time I will post more photos from the last Wee Coverlet warp. Here is the whole stack of 15 from three warps minus the two already in use by my granddaughter and baby Jasper.

Immediately after I snapped a few photos of the way these are hemmed, a commenter asked how I finished them. So next time you can expect to see photos of the way I sew hems.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Wee Swedish Coverlets, Continued

Wee Swedish Coverlets by RepWeaver

After lengthy procrastination, finally I have a few more photos of my Wee Swedish Coverlets. For the longest time they sat in a neat folded stack on my kitchen island. My camera sat atop the stack.

These blankets are crib sized but still large enough to challenge my photographing capabilities. Perhaps if I had a crib it would have been easier to stage them. These are not excuses so much as evidence of my lack of confidence. In any case, here is what I managed to capture today. Perhaps these photos will give you a better sense of my Wee Coverlets. Now I can email photos to my daughter so she will be able to choose one of these for our tiny grandchild.

Wee Swedish Coverlets showing both fronts and backs

Weaving progresses on the second color way of these coverlets. I am working on the fifth one on the bright green warp and chose a bright pink for the pattern weft. We’ll see how that combination works. Until it is finished and washed I will not know for sure.

Warp On/Weave Off,

RepWeaver

Wee Swedish Coverlets

Wee Coverlets for Baby Revisited

 Wee Coverlets are a blast to weave even though they take a lot of time. I wanted to thread another warp. Here is the result - seven coverlets and a small eighth piece, perhaps a ⅔ coverlet.

Wee Coverlets for Baby by RepWeaver

The warp is 20/2 mercerized cotton in Natural with a few yellow ends and two variegated ends in the borders. The pattern wefts are 10/2 mercerized cotton.

Wee Coverlets with source book.

This is the little book where I found the Miniature Overshot draft I used. The title is Miniature Patterns for Hand Weaving: Part II by Josephine E. Estes. This book is in the public domain. You can find it as a PDF here: Original Miniature Patterns for Hand Weaving: Part II
The draft I used is Maltese Cross found on page 9 of the book.

Detail of Wee Coverlet, Maltese Cross by RepWeaver

Detail of Wee Coverlet, Maltese Cross by RepWeaver

Next you see a couple of close-ups to show you how the border colors worked out. The maroon one looks different than the rest because I used the warp yarn as tabby until it ran out. After that I substituted a tan yarn, slightly darker than the warp color. The result makes for a livelier background that I find pleasing.

 

Two Wee Coverlets side-by-side for comparison

Here are side by side coverlets from two warps. The one on the left is from a previous warp. Its draft is Lover's Knot I. The one on the right is a Maltese Cross wee coverlet.

Allison's Rug

Allison's Rug by RepWeaver

Here are the finished rugs from my latest rug warp. There are three in total and each is around 25" x 52". After a long struggle with the colors, I am beginning to like this combination.

The area woven with the darkest green (Forest) may look familiar. I saw it in Väv Magazine, No. 4, 2013, on page 37. This issue is devoted to the topic "Stripes" and is filled with great ideas and inspirations and is bound to be a favorite.

Three Rep Rugs by RepWeaver

Just to either side of center there is an area of dark grey/duck patterning that doesn't stand out. There isn't enough contrast. It would have been better with the light grey rather than the dark. But I didn't have enough of the light grey. Ah, well. Otherwise I think the design works. This design is one I plan to eventually weave again only next time I will chose different color way.

Rep Rug by RepWeaver, detail

Rep Rug by RepWeaver, detail

Wee Coverlet for Baby

Even though my granddaughter is already five and my grandson is already one, I have always wanted to weave baby blankets for them. The main hang-up was the generosity of my daughter and son-in-law's friends who showered our baby grandchildren with quilts and baby afghans both knitted and crocheted. Weaving to give them even more blankets seemed redundant.

Wee Coverlets for Baby by RepWeaver

Then I started thinking about it and had a change of heart. My Glimakra loom is 53" wide yet I rarely weave anything that wide. Baby blankets are a perfect project to spread out a bit. Besides, the hand towels I have been weaving in miniature overshot seemed the perfect structure for little blankies. My wee ones might enjoy having something from Grandmama and maybe, just maybe, they would cherish it in the years to come.

It was the month of March when I began this project. My chosen warp color was green. In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to call these little baby wraps "Wee Coverlet for Baby".

You will notice my usual inclusion of a few variegated warp ends at irregular intervals. A little extra visual interest is good for babies, right? If nothing else, I enjoy watching the colors change as I weave away. I developed the draft using "Lover's Knot No. 1" from "Miniature Patterns for Hand Weaving, Part 1" by Josephine Estes.

Wee Coverlet for Baby, detail

These were very, very fun to weave and I intend to weave more in the very near future. Once I have a good stack of them I will let my wee ones have their pick of a "Wee Coverlet" each. They live far away but will be coming to visit in late summer. I can't wait. Until then there will be hours and hours of fun at my loom.

Wee Coverlet for Baby, detail

The Beanie Baby bunny appears only in order to give you an idea of scale. Beanies really aren't good toys for babies.

Warp On, Weave Off
RepWeaver

Wee Coverlets for Baby by RepWeaver

Class Prep

The rep class I'm teaching begins soon so I have been knee-deep in preparation. Weaving the sample projects has been fun if time consuming. This little table runner made me happy. The bright spots on the rag weft worked really well. Amazingly, I found the rag after my loom was dressed. That chartreuse colored rug warp is one of my favorites -- truly a must-have in my inventory.

Top Secret Project Underway

My collection of jeans pockets is growing.

Rag rugs woven with old jeans as weft are fabulous. I don't regularly choose to use denim in my rugs. Weaving with old denim poses respiratory risk and wearing a mask does not suit me. So it's only when my husband and I have worn through several pair of jeans on our own that I weave with denim.

As a rag rug weaver I hate to waste any useful fabric so when weaving with denim cut from discarded jeans I always remove and save the back pockets and the zippers. Not that I ever had a plan for the pockets and zippers. They just seemed to need saving. And over the years my collection slowly grew.

Well . . . at last an idea occurred to me and these salvaged orphans are finally finding a use. Hooray! Sorry, though. I'm not yet ready to spill the beans. Here is a hint: I am combining several of my favorite needle pursuits to make something just a bit unique to me and my interests. And I am having the most fun!

I showed my secret project to a small group of my weaver friends and now they are donating their jeans pockets and zippers to the cause. One friend even did the seam ripping for me and gave me several matched sets of pockets and zippers. She is one dedicated friend for sure. Have you ever tried removing intact pockets and zippers from jeans? It requires determination.

Don't know how long I will keep this under wraps but if I can finish several of them in time I intend to put them in the Seattle Weavers' Guild annual show and sale.

Weave off,
RepWeaver

Granite Friendly Hand Towels

Handwoven Hand Towels by RepWeaver, Warp #91

These hand towels are from a warp tied on to my previous two warps. This means they are of the same threading but a different color-way than the other two. This time I decided to place the variegated ends in regular spots within the warp. For instance, I decided the thin middle stripe in the first five towels should be variegated. There are a total of four variegated ends within each threading repeat.

The drafts are #443, #444, and #446 from Carol Strickler's "A Weaver's Book of 8 Shaft Patterns", my favorite drafts from one of my favorite books.

While weaving these I was thinking how well they would go with granite countertops. My house does not have granite, maybe some day . . .

RepWeaver #91-4, Hand Towel detail

As a general rule I aim to chose a solid color from one of the middle hues of a chosen variegated yarn. That way there are both lighter and darker highlights sprinkled in with the solid colored main warp color. And if I match the main warp color to a mid hue, the variegated ends will sometimes seem to disappear into the background.

An issue on my mind while weaving these is how so often handwoven towels are referred to as "dish towels." I beg to differ. Handwoven towels, at least my handwoven towels, are meant to be used to dry your hands. I call them "Hand Towels". A dish towel is a thin flour-sack sort of cloth, preferably embroidered with a cute design to brighten up a sometimes tedious task. Something like this:

Two of my favorite "dish towels" and their embroidery patterns
from Bird Brain Designs ( #325) and Aunt Martha's (#4009)

Another thought is that towels such as these would work equally well in the powder room as in the kitchen. No longer will I label my towels as "Kitchen Towels" which is the way I have been doing it.

Helpers in the Weaving Studio

Scottish Folds, Dot (left) and Crinkle (right) enjoy helping out in the studio.

This is the kind of help I have in my weaving studio. Crinkle and Dot are both Scottish Folds. Crinkle belongs to our son and daughter-in-law. We love having him visit when his owners are away. The one on the left is our little Dot. She is Crinkle's half sister and is quite an accomplished weaver for one so young. Tatting and sewing also come naturally to her. Scottish Folds are sweet, vocal and simply amazing, lovable cats.

Towel from Warp #90

Weaving and weaving right up until Christmas Eve I finally finished the second color version of my towels just in time for gift giving. This blue one was a particular favorite. Wish I'd done more like it. The third iteration of this design is now on my loom. On this warp I took care to place the variegated ends at regular intervals instead of going random. We'll see how it goes. Five of the nine towels are woven. Can't wait to see them off the loom and finished.

In the meantime, I am tatting up a storm. Just ordered a bunch of Lizbeth tatting thread. The variegated colors are tough to resist, especially when they go on special. Variegated is the equivalent of having a new box of 64 Crayola Crayons. As much as I longed for them, I wasn't ever allowed to have that sized box of crayons as a child because my mother did not like the built-in sharpener on the back. She was sure her carpeting would be stained by errant crayon bits. Color was extremely important to me then as it is now. Only now I tend to look for "the 64 pack" in threads!

Tatting by RepWeaver

Ah . . . Autumn

RepWeaver Warp #89
Autumn Hues Towels

Since my fair complexion means I sunburn at the drop of a hat, darker days don't get me down. In fact, Autumn is my favorite season. The colors dazzle me every time. I love throwing on a sweater on nippy days and evenings by candlelight. Then there's all the excitement of the upcoming holidays.

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Can you believe it? We had a lovely time celebrating with loved ones and contemplating our blessings. Over the long weekend we were busy but we also took a little time to catch our collective breath before the Christmas onslaught.

Just before the holiday, I finished weaving my latest batch of towels. The draft is # 443-448 from Carol Strickler's 8-shaft pattern book, an all-time favorite.

Aside from producing Christmas gifts, the purpose of my RepWeaver Warp #89 was to use a partial tube of dark brown warp. I wanted to wind a 9+ yard warp because the longer the warp, the more sense putting all the work into dressing my loom. So . . . I went for it. I wind my warps double length with a cross at each end. This made the prospect of running out of dark brown part way in less troublesome. When it did run out, I merely substituted a slightly lighter shade of brown. The lighter brown also served as the tabby weft.

Every fifth warp end is variegated.

Earlier I'd ordered a tube of two-ply variegated cotton on sale from WEBS. Using variegated yarns is one of my color-obsessions. I untwisted the ply and used this particular yarn singly. Variegated yarn is best used sparingly. Here the variegated ends occur at about every fifth end.

Overall this warp was a success. Using two shades of brown for warp was really interesting. I especially like being able to compare the effect of the variegated ends against each shade of brown. It actually makes these towels very interesting.

Here you see the cone of variegated yarn that I un-plied and mixed in with my brown warp ends.  Also note the lighter brown in the center of my warp.

This particular draft is a delight. With six different tie-up/treadling options weaving these was fun and interesting.

Shooting the photos was fun because the colors reminded me of a glorious pile of brilliantly colored Autumn leaves. Warp #89 produced nine very nice towels in three different drafts and colors.

When I cut the warp off I secured the ends to tie on another warp of the same draft. Can't wait to play with the next color way. Check back for progress.

RepWeaver

Third Rug for Joan

Life has been happening all around me, mostly without my control. Weaving, tatting, etc. have lately taken a back seat to caring for ailing family members.

In between everything, I finally managed to weave the third rug requested by my friend Joan. Taking on a project by request can be intimidating. There is an understandable disconnect between the vision of a non-weaver and that of the weaver. Another issue is color choices and personal taste. Joan's palette is decidedly different from my own and weaving her colors was challenging. Isn't it true that the more pleasing the result, the easier it is to do the work? It is, at least for me. All in all, this rug was a long time in coming. In the end, Joan loves her new rug and it looks fabulous in her home. I am happy.




 Joan, by the way, has an awesome color sense and picks the most fabulous print fabric for the rag filler. Those bright spots really pop.

My little Inkle loom finally arrived. I have the new Inkle book by Anne Dixon. Four bands are woven and the fifth one is on the loom. This is loads of fun. I have a goal in mind, something under development. Details to follow.

Now that my loom is empty and I am free to weave as I please, I think I'll warp up some towels for my guild sale.

Joan's third rug.