Now for the Victory Lap

Spring Doily tatted by RepWeaver

Summertime arrived along with gardening, home improvement and house guests. Hence the long, distracted silence here.

It has been a slow next-to-last row on my "Spring Doily" designed by Renulek. The long chains are a bit vexing. Perhaps I ought to have pull them a tighter? So far, I enjoy the look of this. Now it's on to the final "victory lap" row. Wish me luck but don't hold your breath. This may take a while.

Spring Doily tatted by RepWeaver, detail

The detail shot clearly shows the row I decided to flip. It is the one with the small golden rings without picots. I like it this way except it would have been better to have added those picots. I will do it that way if I ever tat this doily again.

My latest Wee Coverlets are finished. Next I need to photograph them. After that you will see them here.

Warp On, Weave Off
RepWeaver

Studio Helper

Dear, dear Dot. She truly thinks this is helping. As far as our two cats are concerned, the loom is nothing but a jungle gym. A nice big jungle gym from which no end of adventures in climbing and jumping are to be had. That might explain several of the more interesting scratches to be found there. Kitten intervention may be more annoying than otherwise but really, how can I argue with such a sweetie?

Dot hard at work.
As you can see here, being cute takes quite a bit of effort.

Dressing my loom took a bit of time and effort over the long weekend. In this warp there are 1139 ends of 20/2 cotton sett at 30 e.p.i. It is 38" wide in the reed. That is a problem because my widest temple, the one you see here, expands to a maximum of 37". Argh! Guess I didn't think about that when designing this project. So I had to order a wider temple and am hoping priority mail really means two days. It is supposed to be only two days, isn't it? Or is that just a soft target?

Here you see the first of my latest round of baby coverlets, this time in a miniature overshot pattern from Josephine Estes called "Maltese Cross". I can't decide which this orange color way reminds me most of -- Dixie Cups or Creamsicles. Which do you think fits?

Warp On, Weave Off
RepWeaver

2014 Spring Doily

This doily was a tat-along type pattern by Renulek. I like her blog even though it is written in Polish and the translation could use translating. The photos are great though and the way Renulek shows the directions right on top of the photo works in any language. Guess that's how it goes with music and weaving drafts as well.

Since I am way behind the pack on this project, all 14 rows have already been published and many tatters have finished their doilies long since. Here I am just beginning row ten.

Renulek's Spring 2014  Doily tatted by RepWeaver

The thread is DMC Cebelia which used to be my favorite back in the day but not any more. I have been trying to use my stash of this and had been doing hearts for Valentine's Day. Since the shuttle was still full I decided to do a trial of this pattern to see if I would like it. Apparently I did because I just kept going. Now I wonder how much more I can get out of this ball of thread. I may have to work in more of the gold color.

If you know this pattern and perhaps have been working on it yourself you may notice that I flipped row number seven. After a lot of thought I made this decision because I wanted the gold colored rings to appear the way you see here. If I had it to do again, I'd still flip the row but would also add the picots to match the gold rings in the previous row. It's hard to see those details in this photo, guess I ought to take a close-up shot next time.

Also, for row ten I am leaving off the thrown ring which I will add in again in row eleven.

When the doily is finished it should fit nicely on this little round table. It stands between the sofa and my husband's easy chair. Not sure how well it will work because he likes to toss a lot of "stuff" on that table. Time will tell.

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

It's Wedding Season

Yes, it's that time of year again and already there are three wedding invitations in my inbox. Yesterday's children are preparing to say "I do." Time passes in spite of the fact that I cannot possibly be any older.

With each invitation's arrival I check the online wedding registries to look for the happy couples' color ideas. Then I look for a rug in my inventory. But a recent bride, Allison, chose a combination that I hadn't yet attempted -- turquoise, mint green and grey. These are three colors that I would not have put together and could not see myself using. Since then I have discovered that for the moment these colors are tres chic.

Allison's Rug by RepWeaver

Where to start? The biggest hurdle was getting over my own color sensibility. After a long deliberation I decided the best thing to do would be to add a few of my own ideas to include lighter and darker shades as well as highlights.

For some time I had been wanting to use common Inkle-type threadings side-by-side in a rug. The possibilities are absolutely endless so it was a lot of fun playing with various ideas and combinations.

I limited the warp length to six yards due to the fact that I had limited amounts of either shade of grey on my shelf and also because I had limited time before Allison was to be married.

The rug went out in the mail a couple of days ago and should be delivered today. It will be interesting to hear how it is received. I sure do hope the newlyweds like it.

Here are the three rugs fresh of my loom before they were hemmed. I'll post a few more photos of the finished rugs soon.

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

Rye Crumbs and Hip Pockets

My Hip Pocket #10

By now that rye bread has been more than sampled. In fact only one slice, the last heel, remains. Baking is on my mind.

But first as promised here are a few additional Hip Pocket photos. There are more photos to share later. And yes, all colors of jeans work well.

RepWeaver

My Hip Pocket #8 made for my friend, Marjy, using pockets and the zipper from her own pair of jeans.

These are some of the Inkle bands I wove to use as the sides, bottom tassels and shoulder straps for "My Hip Pockets"

My Hip Pocket

One side of "My Hip Pocket" #4

Remember all those jeans pockets I've been saving? Recently it occurred to me that even though two pockets from a single pair of pants may not be symmetrical, they are mirror images of one another. I suddenly saw that they would make the front and back of a bag. So I combined the pockets with the zipper from a pair of jeans, added an inkle band, some tatting and beads. Voila! Here you see one of my creations, a tiny shoulder bag. I am having a load of fun with these and will post more photos later, perhaps when the rye bread I'm baking comes out of the oven. Or after I have sampled said rye bread.

The reverse side of "My Hip Pocket" #4

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.

New Entry Rug

It must be at least 13 years ago that I first wove a Rep rug for our home's front entry. Since then the rug has been through it all, including teenagers and pets. The design was adapted from Laila Lundell's book, "Rep Weaves". The rug is still in rather good shape except for the permanent dirty look along certain pathways. Here you see old faithful in the background.

New Rep Rug on the floor near the old Rep Rug.

Recently we moved my mother into a retirement home and I wound up with several sets of light blue bed sheets. These were the perfect rags for my new rugs. They will remind me that the struggles my family and I have been experiencing over the past couple of years are over. We have been caring for my father who suffered from dementia. For the past year neither he nor my mother could drive and I was often called upon to chauffeur. It was difficult but my precious mother took loving care of Dad at home until the final two weeks of his life. He is now at peace in heaven and she can finally rest.

I wouldn't be telling you all of this except that since January my loom has been naked. Naked! It has not been idle for this long since it came to me back in 1989. All the work and angst dealing with a dementia patient took a huge toll on me. I just didn't have the heart or energy to do anything creative during the last few months.

After such a long break, getting back into weaving was sort of intimidating. I fussed around in my studio for some time before plucking up the courage to dive in again. Dive in I did and managed to design the widest rug I have ever woven. The profile draft is #203 from "The Shuttle-Craft Book of American Hand-Weaving" by Mary Meigs Atwater, a book chock full of great ideas. I could weave for a lifetime out of this one little book. It holds just the kind of inspiration I love.

That old rug was a work horse and was so beautiful I wanted to replace it with a similar one. My goals for the new one included:

• Using darker colors in order to better hide traffic dirt
• Using a busier block design to help hide traffic patterns
• Maintaining the yellow/blue pallet
• Adding a touch of red
• Weaving a slightly wider/longer rug

It turned out well. I cut this first rug off my loom to check the design before going all-out and weaving the longer replacement rug. For the longer rug I chose a slightly different block arrangement. That one still needs hemming but I'll post a photo once it is finished and in place.

Dot was kind enough to help me weave the new Rep Rug.

This, by the way, is the type of help I get around here. Jenny and Dot appreciate every stage of the weaving process. Can you see how I put socks over unused treadles? When setting up I simply leave unneeded treadles tied up as they had been previously. Binding them together in pairs with a sock helps keep me from mistreadling while weaving. I'm always looking for ways to speed up my weaving and keep myself from having to look down at the treadles. Socks work for me.

It is wonderful to be weaving again. Until I returned to my loom it didn't occur to me how much I missed weaving. There are a couple of things more to post including my super-secret jeans pocket project. Watch for them.

Weave on. Weave Off!