I’m writing this in my hotel the night before we return back home. Honestly this trip has gone by in a blur but it’s been wonderful. We got to really experience Oregonian weather, cool one day, to warm, and then raining the next. Fortunately we planned for it and like the rain.
Eugene was so calm and tranquil, beautiful views from a 850ft climb and others by the river.
Eugene Textile center was the reason to come to Eugene (for me anyways) and it didn’t disappoint. I got to see 2 draw looms set up and I picked up some books (one I had actually looked up after watching the first half of Jane Stanford’s deflected double weave) and some yarn for those deflected 4 shaft towels. Everything they shipped back home and I’ll take pictures when I get them.
Portland was like how I remember, weird and charming. Great nature hikes up to a great view of the city and mountain. A brief look at a yarn store (didn’t have room to buy anything, but might order when we get back), the Japanese gardens (which changed a lot since the last time I was here in 2014), river walks, Chinese gardens, and good food.
I’m sad to be heading home, which signifies the trip is coming to a close, but it means I made great memories. I’m so thankful I got to come and see and do everything I did. Maybe next time I come (maybe after flock) I’ll get that tattoo I was planning on but didn’t get this trip. Time to head to bed and get ready to fly home.
You may recall that I thought it would be a good idea to sew a few button downs and other shirts for my trip this week. Well I can safely say that it’s not going to happen, not for a lack of effort, but I completely forgot how long it takes to make a single item. Button downs do have a lot more steps to them and flat felled seams on a curve are fiddly. I spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon making the pattern on swedish tracing paper, adjusting the pattern and around lunch time I took a break. I had gotten the fit around the right place, not where I would really want the finished garment, but I thought close enough. Close enough to say, lets do like my friend does and make a wearable muslin. Which is a test garment, but is also a real garment and not one that is only meant to be a test. So that’s what I did after lunch, I brought out some plaid I bought from joanns (in December, but at least it’s not as old as some of my stash).
All the while, the fabric I really wanted to make a shirt out of (and planned on it years ago) sat patiently waiting for its turn. I proceeded to sew the plaid, but came upon the first change when cutting out the pieces. Normally you cut out two of the yoke and encase the yoke/back seam and the shoulder seams in it. But since this fabric is a little thicker, I decided to forgo that extra bulk, opting for a different approach. That’s right, I used the serger on those seams and top stitched them in place. I had to wrestle with the serger to switch from white to black thread, but honestly it looks good. With that done, I went ahead and tackled the sleeves. And honestly, if you just pin/quilters clip it and go slow, you can get a nice result. I was fairly shocked at how well they turned out. Then the flat felled seam for both sleeve caps, honestly took longer then all of the sewing and fitting. With that out of the way I could finally test the garment in fabric, by sewing the side seams. And I put it on to realize I was right before…. I should have taken out the extra width in the hips and midsection. You might recall this is the “larger figures” version of the pattern and I think what they meant is that it’s for someone with a fluffier midsection. Granted I do have some fluff, but not as much as the pattern thinks. So I took out those seams, measured where things should be, basted the new seams and it’ll do.
That’s where the garment sits right now as I type this. I still have to do the flat felled seams, attach the collar stand, the collar, do all the finishing, button holes, and then it’ll be ready. I don’t see that happening today or tomorrow and making the other fabric too, while making a slight adjustment to where the arms eye sits. I think it’s really time to turn my attention to my knitting I’m going to be brining with me. I’m thinking socks, after last year’s Washington trip was so good with socks instead of bulky items. I won’t have a lot of room to pack too much, as I’m trying this whole one bag travel thing, but I’ll have a little room for a purchase or two. Though when I mentioned one place we are going to my mom she said “you can’t bring a floor loom as a carry on.” Which I had a good chuckle about, as I am going to Eugene Textile Center to look at a few different floor looms to prepare for which loom I will replace the Baby Wolf with in the future. No it has not sold yet, but I’m hopeful it’ll sell by the summer.
I’ll try to update you in small tidbits with the fun fiber stuff as they happen. But that might be in a larger post next week when we are preparing to leave. Off to Eugene and Portland I go, though no Knit Purl this year (they closed a while ago) but I’ll find a store or two to look at while I’m there.
One of the themes of this year (and let’s be honest, the past few years) for me has been to try and use up my stash. Even though I have bought yarn and supplies (when I started weaving that added in quite a bit of yarn) I have been really making an effort to use what I have. I’ve been working on projects that I have had the yarn for years and just didn’t have “the right time” for it. So now I’m starting to work through what I have and really evaluate what I’m needing or wanting more of. Sweaters is still one that I want more of, as I have destashed some of my sweaters and have less then 5 remaining that I love, cherish, and wear all of the time. So the Slade Cardigan is still going well, I did block everything and it looks like my math is correct and I can continue onto the sleeves. Which I am now around the elbow on the first sleeve, but there was that scare with the missing 8th skein. The replacement skeins came in (yes I bought 2 just in case I needed it, it’s a discontinued color) and I’m still surprised I was able to find it retail. The color match is pretty close for yarn I bought over 10 years apart (I was talking to a friend about where it came from and really realized how long ago it was). So now I can continue with the knitting and I should (hopefully) not run out.
In the same theme, I’m looking at my other craft stashes and trying to decide what to do with them. Some quilt kits I have no longer interest me, I mean I like the quilt and all, but I just don’t see myself making it in the next few years. So they went off to new homes. And then I got to my sewing stash, which I have had grand plans for, ever since I started sewing. Then I had the great idea of, well I’m going on a trip at the end of this month, why not sew a few things for the trip. Or at the very least 1 or 2 shirts so I have a little more variety in the fabric I can wear. Then I got the idea of instead of just a t shirt or henley why not actually sew some of the button downs I planned on making years ago. So I pulled out the pattern I’ve made once before (that shirt was a decent first attempt) and I got to work getting my current measurements. I looked more carefully at the measurements in the pattern for what I thought would work for me, “average figures”. Well for my size, the height would be much taller than I am. I glanced down at the “larger figures” and compared my measurements, and it to the “average”. Lo and behold the “larger” would probably fit a little better with less adjustments. Only problem is that I only printed the average figures A0 not the larger, so I looked up how much it would cost and how long it would take from the place I like. It would not give me much time to actually make a mock up and then sew the garment without rushing. So I decided to print out the 50 pages (plus 4 for the short sleeve addition) and got to putting the pattern together. I do believe in every craft there is a part of the process we don’t like, this is the one I like the least in sewing, putting the paper pattern together. But facetiming someone while putting it together makes it so much easier.
Now with the pattern assembled and ready, it’s time to pick fabric which I have options. But I chose a nice slightly stripped Japanese fabric I’ve had for a while. It got its ends secured and then into the washer it finally went. I do have some flannel I got at joanns which will be my test garment, especially because I have the buttons for it already. I’m also deciding to not make a muslin test garment but instead I’m going to use my swedish tracing paper that same friend recommended (years ago now). I’ve had it in stash for 5 years but never touched it. So Later today I’ll be tracing out the pattern and seeing if it works. If all goes well I’ll be cutting fabric by the weekend.
Last week I was writing the day I was heading down to Monterey and I came back on the weekend. It was a short and sweet trip, I always like visiting that area and the drive is usually nice and scenic. It was much busier than I anticipated, since I think all of the schools in the area (and probably a few other places) were out for break and with Easter on the weekend. So we tried to go around that as much as possible, like parking at my favorite hiking spot was fuller then in years passed, but we still got a spot and took a nice 2-3 hour hike.
I did stop by Monarch Yarns, even with the rain and high winds. Though I did not buy anything, even though I had some ideas. I was pulling out shelter to make another Atlas or Gretir, but I kept pulling the same colors as I was wearing (in my Atlas). So I had to put it down and look around more. I ended up just heading back to the hotel, no yarn in hand. I was thinking of getting some yarn for the Emotional Support Chicken, but I will probably look at my LYS when I’m there next Friday. Though I did order some yarn when I got back, some more of the yarn I need to complete the sweater I’m working on. Since I just can not find the 8th skein of yarn that I know I’m supposed to have. That should come next week, so I should be able to get the sleeves done before it comes and then I can finish the collar.
When we came back the weather was so nice, I knew I needed to take advantage of it and get the fleece back out. So I set up the folding table outside and picked out the locks to be washed. I think I ended up washing around 1.5lbs of fleece and I can see the bag of raw fleece is shrinking. I’m hopeful that this first fleece will be fully washed by mid May. I would have done more picking out locks and washing today, but the weather isn’t agreeing.
I’m going to try and update more than once a week, but that’ll depend on my schedule and some future projects I’m trying to work more on.
Honestly it’s been a slow crafting week. The past week has also been quite busy and I have not had as much energy to do as much. However I did get to have some crafty fun on the weekend with 2 friends of mine from knit group. We were invited over to play with her Glimakra floor loom and see if it’s something we would consider purchasing in the future. Since my other friend is closer to buying one, she wove on it longer then I did. But in the little bit of time that I did weave on it, I could tell a few things I liked and did not like, but I thought overall it was a possibility. The treadles would take some time getting used to as they are floating and back slung, which is nothing like my David. The no shuttle race did not bother me really as I don’t think I rely on mine all that much to begin with. One thing that did surprise me was the beater, it was much lighter than I anticipated. I thought when I would beat the weft in, I would have to be super gentle, but the beater was light for its size. Though the beater is probably the loudest part of the loom surprisingly. When you beat you can hear a *thump thump* and then a rainfall of wood as the treadles, lamms, and such move.
Of course that loom is quite large, but taking it apart and moving it would be much easier I think then moving my loom. The other advantage of it, besides draw loom potential, is that since it’s larger and spread out, you can really get into the loom and make it very ergonomic. I have gotten setting up my loom to be pretty good, but I can’t just sit there and thread an entire warp in a few hours with light breaks. I do have to get up and take a break for a bit and then I’ll come back in an hour or so. My friend said if they had room, they would get a loom like the David, since her loom does take a little longer to set up and you can’t just “throw” a warp on. I don’t have to think about that loom for a bit, probably 3-5 years, as I just don’t have the space. And I think there is a person who has Glimakras at her shop somewhere near Chico, so I could take a class from her and really get to try that style of loom before I buy. That might be a good idea, though next month I’ll be “closer” to Eugene so I just have to stop by Eugene Textile Center.
The other thing was my friend showed me how she processes fleeces. She does it lock by lock, which sounds like more work, and it is a little more work, but it’s worth it. So we took a good bit off my 7lb merino fleece (later I realized how long this will take with such a large fleece) and washed it there. At the end of the day, I had these gorgeous floofs of fiber begging to be spun. I was good and I laid them out when I got home, let them dry, and separated them a little more and let them dry more. After 2 days (I was being cautious) I pulled out a spindle and my flicker brush and tried some of the fiber. All I have to say is that, that fiber spins like butter and is probably the best thing I’ve spun, including some of the exotics I used to spin. So of course, I ordered the last bit of tools I would need, some sectioned mesh laundry bags, and I was off. Yesterday, since the weather was nice I took the fleece out onto my balcony with a fold out table. I pulled probably 8 oz of fiber, which filled both of those bags, and then proceeded to wash them. They went through 2 wash and 2 rinse cycles and I did other things in between. Then they went for a ride through the spin dryer and I laid them out on a mesh drying rack. This rack can hold I think double the amount so I ordered more of the bags. Some of the locks still have something stuck to the tips and I’m thinking it’s because my water only gets to 130F, so I might try getting some 140F water from the kettle and seeing if that helps. If not, I’ll have to cut and compost those tips.
Though my goal is to have both fleeces washed by end of May, I think that is doable. Then I want to start planning projects and start spinning. Then once I have a bin back, maybe I’ll allow myself to buy a fleece at Lambtown this year. That is if I go, which I’m still deciding which events to go to this year. That’s a talk for another day.
If you’re anything like me, you have to make a lot of choices every day. Not to mention all of the thoughts and ideas we all probably get every day (just me?). Realistically I know I cannot do it all, but I definitely try to. For example, last week I decided to actually take some of the classes on the School of Sweet Georgia (which has quite a lot of good classes) and oh boy did I get ideas. Most of the classes I watched were spinning based, which I already had a lot of ideas (one was about a business idea), but this added more ideas. And as those ideas kept going, they birthed new ideas, to the point where I have some more equipment coming. It’s not a big piece of equipment, I’ll show you when it arrives.
But another one of those classes came from that second generation idea, natural dyeing. Though I think the guild meeting with a natural dyer helped spur that one too. I used to dye with acid dyes, but I stopped because I had other things in life I had to prioritize. Now I want to start dyeing again, but I just can’t add more crafts to my already full apartment. Not that it looks that full, I just have enough to do and can’t do it all while working full time. Not to mention I would need to get a bunch of tools and supplies. So then more choices arise. Would I give up a craft and its space to allow for this new venture? Or would this be something for later when I have the space (even a dedicated space) to do this? I don’t have the answers yet, but I know I would like to take up dyeing again.
Another choice is about the second loom. I’ve realized I’m just not a fan of jack style looms, so I’ve been debating what to do with mine. There’s nothing wrong with it, it just does not suit me as a weaver. I’ve been thinking of selling it, which would mean I would be back to a single loom. Though I would then consider a small table loom to be the sampler and tester (and maybe some small projects while the other loom is in use). But then that adds more choices, 8 or 16 shafts, what width, if I get the bigger one should I get a stand? And there are more choices I would have to make, but right now I just need to get that loom cleared off. Maybe some time sitting at that loom, clearing off the summer and winter placemats will give me clarity. Perhaps I’ll get some clarity on my side business project…
I’ll leave you with some images of spinning I finished recently. Now that I’ve taken the classes on spinning I think I can start to improve my spinning on the wheel and spindles. I’m still quite happy and surprised with the brown one in the photo, it is super squishy and I love how it turned out. Though I think I might give chain plying a break.
Well this has been a very interesting week. I wish I had more to tell you about but unfortunately I injured my knee. Do I know how I did it? Not in the slightest, but what I can tell you is that I’ve had to take it easy the past few days. Though Sunday I should have stayed home and not gone into the city, but it was fun. I even took public transit, which I have done in the past but since most of the things I want to do and see it’s easier or faster to take my car. But in this case it was not that much longer and not as stressful as driving. But after Sunday I really just had to sit at home and keep my knee from being used. It’s not even my knee, it’s more like the quad where it connects. I’m hoping I won’t have to go see the doctor, but I will if I need to.
I did try weaving when I was feeling ok this week, but even on the David I had to stop after a bit. Though I have been getting better, like yesterday I was able to spindle spin for a bit. I am getting close to finishing this 1.33 oz of fiber on this spindle, it is a little thicker then I would normally spin on the wheel. Though I think it’s because I chose the slightly heavier spindle. Now I know what spindle to use for the weight of yarn I usually spin. If I had known this spindle would need to be spun a little thicker, then I would have planned on a 2-ply and not the 3-ply fractal that I planned. The fractal might not show much on this fiber because it’s kettle dyed, but it’s just a test, getting my spindle spinning chops back. It’s been years since I’ve really spun on a spindle. It’s great for portability and spinning in small moments, which adds up. Now that I’m almost ready to take the singles off I had to order some storage bobbins I can use on my bobbin winder. So once those come in, I’ll get to work on the next bit of fiber on this spindle. Or maybe I’ll grab another spindle and try to match these singles. I did some work on some more Vanilla is the new Black Socks, with yarn my partner chose in Seattle. I’m coming up on the toe and once I knit the second sock, then he’ll have 2 new pairs of socks.
Since this week is Red Alder and I decided against going this year (I wanted to go, but I think I needed to plan ahead more), I’m going to do a mock Red Alder. There won’t be a market and I’m going to try and not buy anything (there’s something I have my eyes on right now, ok that’s a lie there’s a few), but I’m going to do some learning this week. I decided last year to sign up for The School of Sweet Georgia for all of the content in addition to having Jane Stafford’s School of Weaving. So I pulled a lot of spinning classes and a class on Krokbragd for what I’ll be trying to learn the next few days. Today will be Working from Fleece, I though that would be good to do since I have those 2 fleeces I need to work on. Then things such as “Spinning with Support Spindles” and “Spinning for a sweater” and I’m going to take lots of notes. I did watch a class with Laura Fry for the Intentional Weaver and I learned a lot of things I’m going to try and see if they work for me. If they do and even speed things up that will be great, but if not then at least I tried.
Now you might say, that sounds great but what things would you buy if you were at Red Alder? Well the things I’m looking at most likely wouldn’t be at Red Alder, but since I’m doing a mock version then I can make up my vendor list a little. I got the itch, from seeing an ad for a class through Long Thread Media, on spinning cotton with a Charkah. Now I made one of these with my father years ago and it worked ok, but I never really got it working well. For some reason, the idea of spinning my own cotton (and short staple fibers) tickled my fancy. And the smaller charkas would not take up much space at all. It’s not like I need another hobby, but I could see brining this or a spindle to spin, instead of a wheel. Though knowing me I’ll go for the Bosworth because it’s pretty and they have a larger size that doesn’t need to be held in place (or used with a grippy mat). So there’s that and of course I want to get a different loom to replace the baby wolf. I have a few ideas for the future, but I can’t justify doing it right now. Well time for me to get ready for my class for the day.
From last week, it did not take me long to get my loom back up and running. I would have happily wove another 10 towels in that 8 shaft bronson, but I have so many other things to learn and make. So back to the backlog of Jane Stafford and into Season 6 I went. I grabbed some cones of cotton, bamboo, and wool/silk and got the loom set up for the overshot scarves. I decided to buy the bamboo after making those luscious scarves, since it’s more economical than the silk. And if I like doing the overshot (spoiler, I do) then later on I can get the silk and do more overshot with them. I did not read the pattern that well (shocker) and did not realize I needed 8/2 cotton for the warp, but thankfully I have a good amount of it in the right colors hanging around. So I made the warp and got the loom fully set up in a day and a half, started weaving and fell in love with overshot. I think to me the 6 treadle set up just makes sense, unlike the 10 treadle summer and winter I have on the other loom. Though I think once I figured out a rhythm for summer and winter I’m liking it more.
The first scarf is going pretty well so far, I find myself just drawn to the loom to just weave “just one more section”. But I’m trying to be good and get that 10 yard warp of summer and winter placemats off the other loom soon too. So after I weave 1/2 – 1 placemat, I go back and weave a bit on the scarves. I will say that going back and forth between the two looms really shows me how different they feel to use. An example is that on the baby wolf, pressing a treadle tied to 3 shafts is way heavier than 4 shafts on the David 3. But it is also just how they sound and feel to weave on, I find my weaving style shifts a little between the looms too. So that is definitely interesting to me. I’ll need to really dive in and optimize the ergonomics and efficiency at each loom in the future.
Though I did not do a lot of weaving the past 2 days because I injured my right shoulder, so I had to take it easy. I was able to do some knitting yesterday, but I did not want to chance using the drop spindle. And so it was nice to have the needles back in my hands, I know I have not been knitting that much, but I think that might change in the coming weeks. I did an inventory of my current hand knits and where there are gaps in my wardrobe. Mainly it’s sweaters, hats, gloves, and socks. Surprising I know about the socks, but I bought a bunch of yarn years ago to make the shorter socks I normally wear and never did anything. So that is something I’m planning on doing, along with more sweaters, as I have been wearing two of my sweaters quite regularly. I have to go through stash and my queue to find some patterns I want to work on and I know I’ll wear.
Honestly I can not believe I am already done with the warp, it feels like I just started. But I did have it on the loom and started weaving about a week and a half ago. I pulled off the 10.75 yard warp 2 ish days ago, so maybe it’s been a tiny bit over a week. But that’s pretty good, averaging about a towel a day, though a day or two I didn’t weave much and others I wove a lot. Honestly this is probably my new favorite towel pattern to weave as it is just so fast and they look so good. I think something I might do is a stash clean out of all of my 8/2 cotton later in the year and make a lot of color ways in these towels. Of course I shared that the towels were coming off the loom with my cousin and they were even more excited. Currently they’re all washed and separated, just waiting to have their ends trimmed and hems pressed and sewn. I’m hoping to get to that today so that I can bring some of the towels with me to knit group.
And I did not forget about the photos, I did take some photos of the scarves that came off the loom in all their beauty. But they are best seen in person, though as I look at them I’m thinking I should shorten the fringe.
Besides that, there is not a whole lot of updates. I did finish my first tablet weaving and I got hardware to turn some of it into a lanyard and the rest into wrist straps/keychains. I warped up the little inkle loom again and realized about 8″ in that I did not add in border cards, so I’m going to do that after the fact, we will see how that goes. The other loom has been unfolded (I was doing a lot of cleaning the stash room/office last weekend, so I needed to put things where the loom is temporarily. I finally got the brake to work properly, with some help from Schacht. I added on the elastic bands to all 10 treadles just to see if it helped with anything and it’s made things a lot better. They’re normally used for imbalanced weaves on jack looms as they have a tendency to have floating shafts. But with the elastic on, that does not happen and has the added benefit to be able to be treadled more like my other loom (lightly resting my feet on the next treadle in a multi shuttle project, slight overlap in treadle pressing when moving from one shed to the next, etc). Am I actually going to finish this 11 yard warp? Yes. Am I still thinking of replacing this loom with another Louet? Probably. But maybe I’ll wait and see how this project goes first.
Ok the title is some what of a reference to a movie, but in this case I’m talking weaving. So if you weave, you know if you follow a draft or pattern you have to see what kind of loom was used. Is it a jack loom or a counterbalance/sinking shed? Then you know if you need to change how you tie up your loom. So the wisdom is for a sinking shed loom, if the draft/pattern is for a jack loom, just tie up the empty boxes in the tie up. For a jack loom tying up from a sinking shed draft, tie up the empty boxes in the tie up. But I found there are some times that this rule has exceptions. Turns out when I was doing the final tie up on my treadles, I did it as written and so the pattern was going to be showing on the side I wasn’t going to see. No problem I thought, I would just reverse the tie up and it would be for a sinking shed loom which is what I am using (the David). Then I went ahead and starting treadling and I got no shed. I went back onto the floor and triple checked my tie up and it was all correct. So then why when I did the pattern it was not working? I think the answer lies in the type of weaving structure I am doing. Remember those blues and natural I was threading last week? Well that pattern is Bronson lace on 8 shafts. Bronson lace is a 2 tie down structure and by following the rule to convert from rising to sinking, I tied up the tie down shafts to EVERY pattern shaft. Looking back it makes so much sense, but this is my first woven lace. So I had no idea and at 11pm at night, I was so confused and tired.
So naturally went to google, looked up the pattern and found it came out of the 8 shaft pattern book I have. But when I looked at it, the treadling was very different. So then I thought, well maybe I can use that and find a way to reduce the number of treadles then that would be great. As this pattern without using a skeleton tie up uses 12 treadles, which I have 10. So I said, let’s just go to bed and figure this out in the morning. This was wise as I woke up the next day and I asked some local weavers and they were not sure. I asked the Jane Stafford form and nothing came through for a little bit so I thought, “what would Jane do?” So I got some graph paper out and started doing a draw down. And while I was doing it, the light bulb started going off. I started realizing what I needed to do, so I opened Fiberworks and put it in there. The software confirmed my theory and so I took it to the loom, after all the cloth is the true proof. I had to make a slight tweak on the treadling, but it worked! And it’s just so fast to treadle, once you figure out ways to make one of the tabby treadles easier (it has 7 pattern shafts tied on it, it’s takes a little more force and can come up with a good WACK).
I was off weaving happily and so I wove one towel, but wanted to make sure everything came out in the wash, so I did the same trick I did with the table runners. Wove some plain, put in my extra metal apron rod, wove more plain and then cut off the weaving. Re-attached that apron rod to the wood one on the cloth beam, while I sewed the ends of the single towel and washed it. It was truly magic in the water, it went from this interesting but not great feeling and looking thing to purely magic. Honestly I love how these feel after they’re washed, they have this kind of feeling of you know they’ll help get the water off your hands and dry itself quickly. And best of all, I sent the final videos of the process to my cousin, ending with the actual weaving. Their responses were what we all hope for, they are so overjoyed by the look of the towels. I even sent pics of the test towel washed next to the ones on the loom. They’re looking forward to the towels and it helps keep me weaving. Though i have to admit, this is such a fun weave and it’s easy to treadle. I think I’m halfway through this warp and I really want to put on another 10 towels in a different color. I can see doing long warps of this with just so many different colors.
But first I have to get these off the loom and weave through some of my remaining Season 6 and then Season 7 of the School of Weaving lesson kits. So many fun things to do! Oh yes the other loom is going slow as it’s a 2 shuttle structure, but I’m just about done with the first of 10 placemats. Ironically it’s also a 2 tie down structure but this one is much slower as it uses 2 shuttles. Not to mention I have to weave differently on this loom then the David. Maybe by next week I’ll have something new on the loom!
Tyger Knits 