Autumnal styles in procrastination.

I got caught up in a novel bit of weaving yesterday, while I'm sure I could have been doing something more productive. This leaf was done on a simple cardboard loom with an upholstery needle, some carpet warp and dyed wool. Oh, and one stick from the yard.

However, in the spirit of multi-tasking my distractions, I also watched a great Bette Davis movie called "Deception" while I wove. I recommend it highly -- she's so fabulous!

Right?

I don't know. I'm just feeling it today.

...and the blanket.

I was trying to tack several, good-sized pictures onto this post, but either the site or my computer wasn't being very agreeable, so I had to settle on this one tiny picture. This is the blanket that appeared from the same warp as the sleeping mat below (which is delightful to sleep on). I am continually surprised and pleased at the variety of looks you can get out of a warp -- these things look nothing alike. This one's cotton, mostly chenille, with the green stripes being something more cord like (I don't know what you'd call it).

So, this blanket is a little short because, amazingly, I broke the loom while I was weaving it and had to cut it off -- the screws that connect the gear-looking crank thing to the beam completely sheared off! Fortunately, it was fixable (because it was not my loom either, yikes). It's a very nice loom, but it has seen a couple decades of serious action.

This did, however, make me feel like I was some sort of crafting powerhouse. Meaning, it made a big cracking noise and the crowd went wild.

I'm weaving to move into a yurt.

Well, I wish -- wouldn't this sleeping mat look good in a yurt? Maybe weaving it is the first step in making that move a reality.

Um, anyhow...this was my very first double weave project (it was kind of exhausting)! It's woven out of cotton rug warp and stuffed with that green foam that you stuff into things. I haven't tried sleeping on it yet, but the cat seemed into before I even finished sewing up the open side. (Yes, just a weak excuse to talk about my cat. He's handsome.)

I used the same warp to weave a cotton chenille blanket that I'll post as soon as I put the binding on -- it's interesting how completely different they look.

Dyed warp experiment #3.

Dyed warp experiment #1.

So, I took that dyed warp off my loom a couple of weeks ago, but only just got around to washing the pieces yesterday. The whole thing was a big experiment, the pattern is a variation on "Simplified Damask" out of Marguerite Porter Davison's green book and I used several different yarns in the weft -- I will reveal them in order of appearance (when they're all up #1 will be at the top, #7 at the bottom, hopefully it will be obvious)....

1. 100% cotton, recycled from a sweater -- beige

2. cotton chenille -- grey

3. rainbow-dyed wool

4. wool -- turquoise and black

5. recycled cotton (navy), linen (turquoise), bamboo (grey)

6. 100% acrylic -- beige and black

7. cotton carpet warp (plain weave) -- blue

In the end, I think I liked the plain weave best. I felt like the pattern detracted from the warp and vice versa. Now, what am I going to do with all these pieces?

Tiny Rug (Huck A Back Warp #2).

When I started getting sick of the Huck A Back, I switched to plain weave and made this tiny rug, laying in white bias tape to make the square pattern. Despite it's absurd smallness (15"x20"), I'm kind of fond of it. Perhaps, what I have pictured would be considered the back? Whatever, I think I have a preference for it. Now, what do you do with a rug of this size...?

Huck A Back Warp

Here's a random warp I pulled off the loom recently. I was just using up some white carpet warp and experimenting with a version of the Huck A Back weave structure. I ending up winding around 6 yards, but it was too narrow to do much of interest with (live and learn). One thing I found was that it was difficult to get a good selvage edge with this structure (as you can see in the picture) and if I used it for something again, I would put a bit of plain weave on either side. Nonetheless, I really liked the way it looked when woven with this dark blue cotton.

And I like the name Huck A Back.

KY Shuttle.

One of my favorite things about getting immersed in new crafts is collecting knowledge about all the trade specific tools and figuring out your own personal preferences.

I had tested out a few different shuttles belonging to other folks and I thought I had settled on my first purchase (a Leclerc slim shuttle, which I did end up getting as a second shuttle), before I came across this one at The Woolery, based out of Frankfort, KY. It is hand made out of Kentucky Maple and Walnut which, of course, sounded too promising to pass up. It has a really lovely feel on top of being beautiful, therefore, I have no regrets about dishing out a little extra cash. I don't know a thing about the company, but since I bought it from a store in Kentucky and it's made from Kentucky trees...they're from Kentucky?

Dyeing Experiments #1 cont.

Here are some shots of the warp....

Dyeing Experiments #1

Yesterday afternoon I got to do some experiments in dyeing at a great studio in Nashville (Indiana). I will give some more info on the studio (and the super helpful/knowledgable woman who runs it) as I get more pictures together, but for now, I just really wanted to throw some pictures of my new yarn up!

It's a two-ply wool that is fairly coarse. I thought it looked kind of like a huge mess while I was painting the dye on the skein, but spun up in a ball it looks edible! I also dyed a warp, that is on my loom now, with a lot of the same colors, so we'll see what the look like when they intersect.

At this point in my weaving education everything is still a huge surprise -- a lovely feeling.

We used to be sweaters.

In an effort to make weaving more affordable (after the rather extravagant purchase of a floor loom) and to introduce less newness into the world, I have been unknitting some quality sweaters in order to harvest their yarns. Sounds quite reasonable, if I do not share how many hours of my life this is absorbing. Nonetheless, it is exactly the kind of tiresome, time consuming activity that I can really get behind. In this photo we have some wool, cotton, camel hair, angora and a tiny bit of cashmere. Finished projects to follow...eventually.

Monk's Belt

Another of these beginning weaving adventures. I was pretty pleased with the turn out, but didn't make it long enough (for how wide it is) to be a good scarf...looks like it will hang on the wall for contemplation. This is mostly cotton, but the grey is bamboo, which was super slippery when twisting for the fringe, though lovely and soft for all other purposes.

Before I cut into it...

So, I've been learning to weave all summer and this was my second weaving project ever! It's about 4 and a half yards of wool, mixing twill and plain weave. It will be a coat sooner or later. Autumn is in the air, so that should serve as inspiration, however, the idea of cutting it up is a little nerve wracking. (The yarn is Bartlett and, I believe, I set it at 8epi.)