The Tangled Weaver

The move

2012-01-09T05:16:00.000-08:00

I started school again back in September. I didn't do much weaving after that, although I did do some. Then, in early November we found out we were moving in six weeks. So everything except for the essentials stopped as we prepared our cross-country move. The loom, which still had it's yellow chenille warp on it was carefully wrapped up.

We have moved and are settleing in. Last night I fixed up my loom from it's move. Three warp threads had broken. Not bad. I did what I could to repair those and I started weaving again. I broke two more threads. Repair.

Considering the trama my loom just went through, I have to say it came out well. I'm looking forward to sitting down to it more often and working on my projects again. Right now I'm making some simple fabric. My weaving vocabulary has left my mind and I can't think of the kind of pattern I'm doing. I have plans for it. A few months ago, I saw the cutest hat made from hand woven fabric, like I'm doing now. I'm going to try and make me a hat with it. I love hats and recently, my daughter has gotten into wearing hats too. I'll make us matching ones.

Fall project

2011-11-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

Being in school and running my theater, I've been busy and haven't spent much time weaving, but here is what I finished most recently.

It's purdy.

I don't know why my computer is doing this with my pictures. I rotate them, but they aren't saving properly, I guess. Still, you can get an idea of what it looks like. It's a gold and navy blue chenille/rayon yarn. It's about 6 feet long and almost 3 feet wide.

Blue and Gold Overshot project

2011-09-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

A picture update on my latest project. It's a blue and gold chenille overshot weave. It's looking so cool!

I love the way overshot looks. Those are some amazing patterns!

You have just seen AWESOMENESS!

A new project

2011-07-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

It's been three months since I updated this blog. I didn't do any weaving for about 2 months. I was busy with other projects. Last week I finished what was on the loom. I quickly decided on my next project and decided to go BIG!

The next project will use the full width of the loom - all three feet of it. It will be 402 (if I counted properly) pieces of yarn. I don't have any idea how long it will be. I really should measure that. My loom can hold 432 strands of yard, but the pattern I'm going to do is in multiples of 67.

This is all the yarn and the four pages of pattern that I'll use to thread the loom.

So, over the last three days I've been putting the thread on the warping board. My board can only hold about two hundred threads at a time, so I had to do two groups. This evening I managed to tie the threads to the back of the loom and now is my least favorite part of weaving, winding the thread onto the loom. It gets tangled so easily. This is scary:

I've only just started and already it's a tangled mess! Oh well, there is no rush and each time I do this, I learn a little more. It's going to look great! Just you wait.

Preparing the Loom

2011-04-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

Getting the loom ready. What a process.
First, I get the warp onto the warping board.

Next is the hardest part for me: Getting the warp off the warping board and onto the loom without making a huge tangled mess.

There is a special kind of braid that can be done to keep the yarn in some sort of order. Here I've placed the yarn onto the back of the loom with the aid of lease sticks. I don't know why they are called that. Then I'll tie the warp onto the dowel that goes over the back beam.

Next I wind the thread onto the back of the loom. Then with the greatest of patience, I thread each individual thread through a heddle (those metal pieces that are vertical). After I get each thread in, I thread the yarns though the beater. You can see here in the picture the green threads that have already been put into the beater.

Many slip knots are used to keep the threads separated and to keep them from sliding out of place. Once I have all the yarn though the beater, I tie it to the front beam. With that done, I'm are almost ready to weave. Almost.

This picture jumps ahead a bit, but you can see the very beginning of the weave. I've got toilet paper separating the threads and keeping them nice and even and in place. Yep, toilet paper.

I use floating selvages on my edges. They are not tied to the back of the loom, only the front, so they hang off the back beam of the loom. To keep these floating bits of yarn in place, I use weights on the back. In the past I've used PVC pipes, with the thread wrapped around it. It didn't work well. So, this time, I was trying to find something that would work better. A quick glimpse into my children's room provided me with my answer.

Meet my weaving buddies, Gollum and Smeagol.

They hang around and keep my floating yarns in place. They are perfect for the job!

That's how I get my loom ready to weave. Now, off to weave. These colors and this pattern are going to look great!

Pretty, but what is it?

2011-03-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

I have some beautiful cotton chenille threads right now to play with. One of them is a gorgeous lavender color. I had to do something with it.

I've been having a lot of trouble getting the patterns in my weaving to show up. One theory was I was using too thin of a warp thread for the larger, thicker chenille weft. So, this project used the purple and blue chenille for the warp and then I woven entirely with the purple thread. It is so soft!

The pattern still didn't show up like I had hoped, but it worked out better. So, I played with it. It's pretty and it is soft, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it. I'm thinking I might sew it into large bags.
This is weave #1

Hold it up to the window and you can see a bit of the pattern. It's isn't spectacular, but it's nice. You can see in the weave there are darker threads, they are random blue threads I threw into the warp to spice it up a bit.

Weave #2

Here it is up to the window. You can see the pattern so much better with light behind it:

I like this a lot. It's got a nice stripe thing going on in it.

I like the idea of making some bags out of this, but I don't know what to use for a bag strap. I thought about using the inkle loom to make nice straps, but you can see in the previous post, that turned into a disaster. I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Inkle Disaster!

2011-03-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

A disaster on the inkle loom!

Do you see the very sad attempt at pick-up weaving? There are patterns in the weaving. I found some wonderful blogs that focus on this kind of weaving. I wanted to try it. I read the blogs, watched the videos and studied the pictures, but my attempts come no where close to the pictures I saw. Why can't I get this right?

And another disaster! This one looked so bad I quite after three inches.

If you want to see really beautiful weavings from an inkle loom, check out this web site called ASpinnerWeaver.

A tale of three scarves

2011-03-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

Three difference scarves.

Scarf #1 - RED

This scarf has two difference threads. The thread that makes up 10 inches on both ends of the scarf is a red cotton. In the middle, making up about 40 inches, is a beautiful red and black yarn. I believe it is called Electra, but I'm not 100% on the name. It's soft and has a wonderful texture. The two threads together don't make a nice combo. I don't care for this scarf much. It was just too expensive to get more of the nice Electra thread to make this any longer.

Scarf #2 - Blue and Red

This is made with a wonderful cotton chenille which is quite soft. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out very soft at all. It is extremely stiff and dense. I was so frustrated with this thing. I had warpped the loom to have a wonderful pattern in the scarf, but it didn't work out. It was just extremely dense and showed zero of the pattern. I think the warp I used was too thin for the cotton chenille weft and that was why it was so dense.

It's about 70 inches long and 8 inches wide.

Scarf #3 - Stripes

I'm sure this has to be some school's colors.

I made this scarf on my good ole Dorothy loom. I haven't used the table loom in a while and I gave it a try again. This scarf came out a little shorter than I would have liked. I rad out of the blue thread.

The blue and white thread are a thin cotton thread. The red you might recognize from scarf #2, it's that red cotton chenille. The chenille is quite a bit thicker than the cotton and so it gives this scarf a wonderful texture. It's quite thin, about 4 inches wide, but I love the way it looks and feels. The pattern I set up in the warp shows up in the white and blue parts of the scarf. They are the same kind of thread that was used for the warp. The red, which is thicker, didn't show the pattern very well.

They were all fun to make, but I'm not producing the kind of product as I would like. I'll keep working on that, I guess.

Weaving stoppers

2010-11-10T18:16:00.000-08:00

It isn't easy to weave with Transformers on the warp and Polly Pockets on the treadles.

Latest shawl

2010-10-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

This is a beautiful shawl I just finished on the tri-loom. It's got fringe, too!

It's made with Lion's Brand Homespun yarn. The color is blue, obviously, but it has strands of green running through it. This is the second shawl I've made with this yarn.

This is me, modeling the shawl. It is so soft and warm. I love it!

Long Overshot Wrap

2010-10-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

I finished!!! It took me a while, but that's mostly because I'm busy these days and it sat on the loom with only about three inches done for two weeks. Once I started weaving and had the treadle pattern memorized, it went pretty quickly.

It's 8 feet long. At first I thought that was way to long, but once I started playing with it and wearing it, I realized it was a very nice length. It's 18.5 inches wide.

I used up all the thread - all 1400 yards of it! The thread is thick, so it makes a wonderful cold weather wrap. I'm looking forward to winter now!

Weaving away

2010-10-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

The huge spool of thread I bought is going quickly. I hope it lasts this project, but I'm starting to worry that it won't. What will I do if I run out? I can't afford more of that kind right now. Well, I'll just keep going until I run out and that will be the end of this project.

Pictures to come soon....

Overshot pictures

2010-09-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

This neat-o pattern is the overshot pattern I mentioned.

Is it great?!? I really like it, but I didn't do such a great job at it. First of all, I've got it off center. I didn't read the pattern right, so the main butterfly pattern is off to the side rather than in the middle. Second, my selvages were terrible and I wound the thread very loosely. I'm still working on getting my warp nice and tight. Then, I realized I wouldn't have enough thread to finish the six feet I wanted.

So, I cut if off and re-threaded the entire loom. This time the butterfly is in the center. I bought the prettiest cotton/rayon thread called Astra. This particular color combo is called Peacock. I think it's beautiful.

It's green, blue, purple and a tiny bit of black. The thing is with this thread, you don't see the overshot pattern very well. Still, I think I'm going to finish this warp with this yarn. I have a lot of this thread, so it should last me. What slows me down the most is my bobbin. It's four inches long and doesn't hold much thread at a time. So, I don't make it far in the pattern before I run out of thread on the bobbin.

Then there is the issue with my kids. They don't let me work very long.

I want to have this ready for this fall. That means I'll have to put a lot more time into it than I'm giving now.

It's going to look great!

new camera, no weaving

2010-09-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

I've got a camera again, but no projects to work on. I'm too busy with my school stuff. I made a beautiful shawl with my tri-loom, but I had to give it away before I had a camera to take a picture of it.

It's was a thick, soft dark blue with a strand of green running through it.
So pretty

Overshot attempts

2010-09-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

I'm trying a new pattern. It's an Overshot pattern called "Maple Leaf". It's so different from anything I've tried, but I'm loving the way it is turning out.

I can not get my selvages to look good. It's frustrating. With the overshot pattern, it requires me to use floating selvages. I've never done that before. I'll keep working on getting the selvage even, but if you don't look at the edges, it's super NEAT! I didn't read the pattern quite right and the maple leaf is on the side of the pattern rather than the middle. Oh well, I'll know better next time. I'll be doing this one again because it is so much fun and the results look so amazing.

Where are the pictures? My sweet two year old broke the digital camera. UGGG! I'm so upset. I hope that by the time I finish this, I'll have a new camera. Then I'll be able to take a photo of this incredible project.

I'm using an all black cotton warp and a deep royal purple for the weft. The look is very dramatic. I have plans for this too. It's going to be a wrap for a dress I have that is dark purple. It isn't as wide as I would like. I should have added another hundred threads to the warp. Right now it just has 250.

Well, I had better get working on it again, buy a camera, and get a good picture so I can wear my beautiful dress and wrap.

Another Hudson Bay Scarf

2010-08-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

I have quite a few family members who like this pattern, but I think this will be the last time I do it for a while. I want to try something new with some new colors. It's about 5 1/2 inches wide and 65 inches long.

I had the hardest time getting this scarf to work out. I started it over three times and I still don't like it a whole lot. I couldn't get the pattern I wanted right. I don't know why. It turned out looking very nice, but it's not what I wanted.

Well, time for bigger and better things!

Tri-loom success!

2010-08-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

The finished shawl freshly off the tri-loom.

Here is a better look at the shawl and it's colors.

The top has issues. I guess I'm going to have to work on making the top of the shawl look better. To finish the top, I crocheted a stitch along the top. It gave the top a nice edge, but the threads along the top row really separated from the edge and so there are huge gaps. It's just going to take some practice.

I love it though! I can't wait to do more. I have plans for these shawls.

Pictures of latest projects

2010-08-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

More weaving projects! This purple scarf I made during my weaving class I just finished. While I only meant for it to be 5-6 feet long, it's 8 feet. It's pretty, though.

This shows the ends. I twisted them into the cords again, but this time I also added some beads to the ends. I only had a few that matched this color yarn, so each end has three beads. I love the extra touch it adds to the look.

My tri-loom! This is a new loom for me to use. It's has been lots of fun. It's six feet long along the top.

I took this picture several days ago and since then, I've finished weaving on the loom and now I'm adding some fringe. It will be finished this afternoon and I'll take a new picture of it completed. This kind of weaving doesn't take too long, but you have to stand up the entire time and I get tired of that. Also, because of it's shape, it either needs a special easel or a place to hang. The only place I could find to hang mine that wouldn't put massive holes in the wall was the garage. That's all the junk behind the loom. It is also super hot in the garage. It is August, after all, so I don't spend much time out there at any one time.

A closer look at the loom and thread. I picked a very soft yarn that is used mostly for baby blankets. Because this will be a shawl, I wanted something soft, fuzzy and warm.

I'm excited to see this one off the loom.

Tri-loom

2010-07-31T15:28:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about this for months (since February) and decided I wanted to get a tri-loom. As a weaver, I must be well versed in the craft.

My kids think I'm crazy because now I have a ridged heddle loom, a table loom, an inkle loom, a floor loom and now a tri-loom. That's 5, count them, five looms. I love them all! (My warping board could double as an inkle, so I could say I've got six.)

Because the tri-loom is triangle shaped, it needs a special stand or a place to hang on a wall. I didn't want to put holes in the wall to hang this, but I didn't want to buy a stand either. The stand it more expensive than the loom! So, I found a place in the garage. I've been working slowly on it for a couple of days. The first three rows were the hardest to do and after that, I've got it figured out. I'm enjoying it, but I have to stand to weave and I get tired of that after a while.

I'll have pictures of the tri-loom up soon. Wait for them.....

Summer time weaving

2010-07-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

This summer I took a weaving class. I really enjoyed it. As well as learning lots of great things, I got to get out of the house for a couple hours, every week for two months!

I learned a much more effective way of getting the threads from the warping board to the loom. When I did it in the past, I made a huge tangled mess and often spent days untangling all the thread. Now, I know a better way and know how to use lease sticks. So far, I've threaded my home loom two or three times since starting the class and it has gone so much better.

During class, I made two projects. The first was a table runner that is about 7 feet long and 14 inches wide. It's impractical for me to use it on my table at home (kids and cat), but it's pretty. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.

The second project was going to be a long scarf. Well, it's long, about 10 feet long! It's made with a pretty cotton/rayon thread in shades of purple. My computer isn't liking my camera card right now, so I don't have pictures on my computer, but I'll work on that so I can get some pictures of my latest projects up.

scarf

2010-07-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

My latest project fresh off the loom.

For whatever reason, the picture isn't great, but it's a scarf about 57 inches long and 8 1/2 inches wide.

I made it for my father in law for his birthday, but there is one problem...

This:

Everytime I advanced the warp on the loom, the weft would separate. I can't figure out how to get it looking normal again. I may not give this too him. I also ended up with two different whites. It doesn't look as good as I had hoped.

Well I've got some new thread, that's 100% cotton, so I'll be trying that out.

class

2010-05-11T06:53:00.001-07:00

I've signed up for a weaving class this summer. I'm very excited.

I realized a few weeks ago that I hit my one year mark of weaving in April. One year! I've come a long way and I still have a very, very long way to go.

I started with a simple Inkle loom that I built. I still use it. The wood is still raw and really could use a sanding and a staining, but it works. I just have to be careful of splinters when I use it.

Then I moved up to a ridged heddle loom, then my wonderful Dorothy table loom and now I have a beautiful floor loom. I still use them all, except the ridged heddle. I haven't used that since getting the Dorothy.

Anyway, I still feel like a beginner. So, I'm taking a class this summer that will teach me the correct way to use the warping board, remove the warp from the warping board and tie it onto the loom properly. It will be very good for me to learn these things from a professional teacher.

There will be no stopping me after that!

moving along

2010-05-10T09:05:00.001-07:00

I really enjoyed working the tartan. It turned out beautifully. This is the finished product.

I haven't had much time to work on my next project. I'm using a yellow warp and a blue weft. The pattern is the most complicated I've done and I've made many mistakes. My biggest problem is that I get distracted by the kids a lot and I loose my place in the pattern. I'll have to put up a picture after I've worked it a bit more.

Maybe I'll go do that now.

Robertson Tartan weave

2010-04-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a new project this week and I'm very excited about the way it's turning out. I started putting thread on the warping board on Monday. I did that for two or three days. Then I started to put it onto the loom. It's about 440 threads, and is 27 inches wide. I'm using the Orlec thread. I really like using it.

As you can see, it's a bit of a mess. I've been doing things wrong on the warping board. I'll know better for next time. There wasn't anything I could do about this, but I planned much better for it and managed to keep the tangled mess to a minimum. This is what it looked like after I got it warped on the loom. It is the Robertson clan tartan. That's my family clan. My great-grandmother was from Scotland and her family were Reid's, a part of the Robertson family.

Isn't it pretty? I'm loving the way it is working out. I found one big error, though, right in the middle of the warp and I didn't realize it for a long time after I started weaving. There isn't much I can do about it now. Well, I can take about 1/3 of the threads off and re-thread them. That would be the professional thing to do, but I don't think I will. Still, I really like the way this looks.Another view of the pattern. The entire thing is a repeat pattern of red, green and blue. In these pictures, you can see what each color looks like. On the bottom is the red weft, then the green is in the middle and I was just starting some blue on the top.
I'll keep working on this. It has the potential to be around 14 feet long. What am I going to do with it? Hubby suggested a runner for the back of the sofa. If my two youngest kids didn't climb all over the sofa all the time, I would be all for displaying it on the back of the couch. What do you think?

Hudson Bay Stripes

2010-03-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

My Dad really likes the Hudson Bay stripe pattern. I made him a scarf. It's pretty wide for a scarf, but I love the way it turned out. I used the Orlec thread. I really love that stuff. Too bad it is so hard to get. This pattern used lots of white, navy, light yellow and red.

My next project will be a tartan. It will use the blue, red and green. I can't wait to get started.

Waiting

2010-03-15T17:07:00.001-07:00

I ordered new thread several weeks ago. It still isn't here, but my loom is ready for when it does arrive. My next project has a white warp and I've got the white Orlec thread so I spent a few days getting the loom set up.

Now we are waiting..... I really was hoping it would come sooner. I wanted to have my next project done by Friday, but it isn't going to happen now. I guess I need to contact the company. It shouldn't have taken this long.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.....

Getting ready

2010-03-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

I ordered more thread a week or so ago. It isn't here yet, but I decided there is no reason to wait on the warp for my next project. I have the thread for the warp and yesterday I got it going on the warping board. I've got 150 threads on the warping board. I need to do about 75 more. I'll try and get the loom warped today or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow. Today is a crazy day.

I'm going to make another scarf. This one will be for my Dad. It will be mostly white, but at the ends of the scarf, there will be bands of dark blue, red, green and yellow. It's called the Hudson Bay pattern. I hope I can get the loom warped, the thread arrives and I can finish the scarf in 10 days, because that's when I go to visit my family.

We'll see.....

scarf off the loom

2010-02-25T15:36:00.001-08:00

I finished the scarf I was working on. I like the way it turned out. It's 59 inches long, not including the fringe. I can't wait to try the next project.
You can't see the pattern in the white, but it really stands out in the dark blue. (The nice thing about all the white is it hides my mistakes well. I would lose in my place in the pattern fairly often.)

on the loom

2010-02-24T19:56:00.001-08:00

This is the project on the loom right now. I'm using the new Orlec thread I got. I like the thread. I didn't expect this weave to have such a lacy look to it. I was quite disappointed when I started weaving and it was full of holes, but I like the way it looks now.
I'm working this on the Dorothy. It takes longer to work than the floor loom because of the right hand run treadles, but when I get going on it, I'm about as fast as I can be on the Dorothy.

New threads

2010-02-15T09:10:00.000-08:00

Dig my new threads, Daddy-O?

This is Orlec thread. It's a strong, shiny synthetic fiber. I'm going to make a delicate scarf as an accent to a pretty outfit. (I hope)

This is silk! Oooo. It's light blue and oh so soft. I can't wait to play with it. I hope I can do something really nice with it.

Off the loom today

2010-02-15T08:58:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I posted anything here. I've been busy weaving, but I haven't taken many pictures. Here's a few of the projects I've been working on:

This is made from an old t-shirt I was getting ready to throw out. Actually, I did throw it out and decided it would be a fun experiment on rag weaving, so I pulled the shirt out of the trash, cut it up and put it through the loom.

I've never done a fancy tie up through the heddles before. I always just did a 1-2-3-4 tie up. This time I followed a pattern and did 4-3-2-1, 4-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-1, and so on. Then, I ran my weft through the same pattern. It developed into a really great pattern.
See the diamonds?

It's bigger than a place mat, but not by much.

This next one is pretty. It's made from two pieces of iridescent fabric. On the outsides, it is a white shiny fabric. Then, there is a blue and in the middle I ran the blue and white together. As you can see, I used the same diamond pattern. It's really pretty, but not big enough to do anything with. I don't know why I do this - make things that I really can't use. I guess I could turn it into a small bag. I'm just having fun.

onto the HD

2009-12-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

HD does not stand for High Definition in this house! It's stands for Harrisville Designs, the name of my new floor loom. As Harrisville Designs is quite a long name and I don't feel like typing it over and over, it will, from this point on, be called HD.

Today I finished my Christmas table runner. It is much shorter than I would have liked. If I had had two rolls of this yarn instead of one, it would have been a perfect length. As it is, it is pretty and sitting on my dining table with a single candle in the middle of it. My 6 year old daughter asked what a table runner was for. I told it her it is to make the table look pretty and is very nice with candles on top of it. She put on the runner a candle holder she made at school and gave to me for Christmas. It looks very pretty. I'll get a picture of it tomorrow.

So, with that finished, I decided it is time to test out the HD. It was quite late this evening when I pulled out the warping board. I got about 100 warp threads on it right now. It isn't much, and it isn't long, but it will be enough for me to play with the HD and learn how to use it. I can't wait. My first project, when I'm ready will be curtains.

We'll see how long it takes me to thread the HD the first time.....

Christmas weave

2009-12-28T20:07:00.001-08:00

I've been working on a pretty weave on my Dorothy. With all the kids home for the holidays, I don't get much time for weaving.

This is what the underside looks like:This is the topside of the loom.

What is it? I'm not sure. I think I will weave until I run out of warp. If it is long enough, it will make a very nice table runner that I can use next Christmas.

My floor loom!

2009-12-27T21:07:00.000-08:00

I've got a floor loom and I'm so very excited. Six months ago I was just figuring out how to work my Inkle loom and now, I've got a 36in floor loom! It's put together, but the gal I bought it from must have had the thing stored in a hot, humid place because of few of the boards are a bit warped. It's not too bad, thank goodness, but I won't be able to weave until I take care of those warped areas.

It's a Harrisville, 4 harness, 4 treadle loom. I've never used a foot treadle before. Now I just need lots of yarn!

My dad was here for the holidays. He brought me my loom from where I had bought it. He was pretty annoyed at the loom having to transport it. He thought I was crazy, but over three days he really got to liking my looms and weaving. He said he will build me a triangle loom and an new nicer Inkle loom. He has already commissioned me for a few projects.

I need thread! Big time!

2009-12-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

I've been busy and haven't been able to weave much. I've got my Dorothy out and I have been weaving plastic bags again. Unfortunaly, my one year old got ahold of some scissors and cut a hole in my warp. I had to take what was done off the loom, and re-thread. Thankfully there wasn't too much to re-thread. I learned my lesson with my one year old though.

on the Inkle - Woven Christmas ornaments

2009-11-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

I've been working on the Inkle a lot lately for a project. Getting ready for Christmas! I've been enjoying using a red, green and white yarn.

They are little Christmas ornaments! Mini rugs. I've had a hard time deciding how to finish them. They are so small that to knot the ends of each doesn't really work. It's too bulky looking to me. So, I've been using a large needle to hand sew a little seam on either end of the rug. It works well and looks OK. I'm not the greatest at this, but like everything having to do with weaving, I'm learning.

cute purse and new scarf

2009-10-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

I made a new scarf using some yarn I bought. I really don't know why I got this yarn, I don't like the colors much, but there is it. It is about 5 feet long and very soft. Here is a picture of the colors, white, tan and yellow. The scarf:

With the left over warp, I used some super cute yarn I got from the Dollar Tree. It is pink, hot pink and purple. I made a little purse for my 5 year old daughter. She loves it! The bag itself is only as big as my hand, so it's quite small, but it's perfect for a 5 year old's stuff.

I love the things I can make with a loom! My next projects will be on my inkle loom and I'll be puting the Dorothy away for a little while.

Wool, finished product

2009-10-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

It took a long time to get the camera working again. First it was wet and then the cord to recharge it got lost. However, after many delays, I have a picture of the wool weaving I made. Thanks again to my good friend for the opportunity to weave with wool. I'll be making this into a bag for her to have. I just need to find a good material for the bag handle.

Ta Da! The colors are great, are they not?

The reds, the blues, the greens, the purples and even a little yellow. It's so much prettier in person.

Weaving with plastic

2009-10-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

I saw this on another weaving blog and it looked like great fun - weaving with plastic!

I had to try it. I had a little warp left on my loom so, I got some plastic Albertson's bags and the scissors. I cut the bottom off and then the handles, which left me with a plastic tube. Then, I started at the bottom and started cutting one long, continuous strip. It was about an inch wide. When I had cut the entire bag, I took the strip and wound it around my stick shuttle. Then, I wove it through the warp on the loom. I was very pleased with the way it worked and the way it looked. Most of the strip was white, but there were dark blue sections where the store's name and logo were printed on the bag.

I loved the effect! It took 7-8 bags to get this:
Here I have already sewn it into a bag. Don't you love the white and blue? Aren't the tassels too cute? OK, so, I've created a shopping bag that is waterproof out of grocery sacks. What a way to recycle and what a great free material for my loom. I'll be doing this again in the future. I'm on the look out for different colored plastic sacks now.

no weaving

2009-10-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't done any weaving lately. This last week was so crazy and this coming week will be crazier! I hope to sit down a little this week and weave. I've missed it.

Weaving with wool

2009-10-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

I wove the entire skien of wool today. What fun! It was filled with beautiful colors - blues, greens, brown, pink, purple, and yellow. It turned out so pretty. Unfortunatly, my one year old threw my camera into a sink and turned the water on over it. My camera isn't working at the moment. I'm hoping that when it dries, it will work again.

I have plans for this section of cloth I made today. It is 26 inches long. When I can, I'll get photos up.

A fun gift

2009-10-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

My good friend, Rebecca, showed up at my house yesterday to drop off her son to play with my son. She had in her hand a skien of hand-spun wool yarn she picked up at the local fair for me. I was so excited! I've never used wool yarn, much less hand-spun yarn. The colors are pretty. It's kind of like a tie-dyed shirt. It starts out grey, and turns blue, then green, they gray, then pink and so on with those colors. They are dark, subdued colors, very pretty.

I put the entire skien on my warping board and I started to wind it around my stick shuttle. My loom is warped with the pretty grey cotton that I've been using. Colorwise, it works perfectly! I'll start weaving with it tomorrow. I can't wait to see how it works out.

Thanks Rebecca, this yarn is a most beautiful and fun gift!

productive weekend

2009-10-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

I've gotten some good weaving in this weekend. I'm getting better! I was using the zig-zag pattern and realized that unless I'm really concentrating, I get lost in the pattern and forget which way I'm going and where I am in the pattern. That being so, my latest projects have some funny zig-zags going on, but it looks ok and fun anyway.

I made two of these things. They are about the size of a place mat - 11 1/4 inches by 15 inches. I used the same pattern on these, but reversed the colors. The first one I made had a dark blue edge and off-white middle. The one I did today has the off-white edge and dark blue middle.

What are they? I don't know. I suppose they can be place mats or dish towels. Knowing what I'm weaving and why I'm weaving something is becoming more important now. While I'm still learning to weave, I'm more comfortable in what I'm doing and am capable of producing more than practice pieces. I really don't know what I can do now, but what I would like to do are 4 place mats, 4 napkins and one table runner to be sold as a set, after I make myself a set that is. :)

project update

2009-09-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

I finished the little dishtowel sized cloth I was weaving. As you can see, at the top, I was playing around with different patterns before I finally decided on one that worked well. It most certainly isn't the prettiest thing ever woven. You can see on the left side of the cloth how much thicker the blue edge is before the off-white and how on the right side it doesn't match. That is where I ran out of room due to all the extra heddles. This next picture is of the project I started this afternoon. I'm using the blue in a "tubular" twill, as my book calls it. That particular pattern makes a very dark, thick weave and it is excellent as a border. Then I began using the off-white in a "left twill" pattern and then reversing it, giving it the zig-zag appearance.

I believe this project will go better because I decided early on what I wanted to do and didn't play around with it. I like the way this one is turning out. Perhaps if I do a good job, I can make placemats out of them....

Desire

2009-09-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

Crafts and hobbies are dangerous to the pocket book! There are many hobbies I have avoided for just this reason. You always need just one more thing, one more color, one more sticker, one more something.

I'm finding weaving to be the same. I check Craig's List constantly for various things for the house. Craig's List is how I found my Dorothy loom. She is usually $500-600. I got her from an estate sale that I found on Craig's List for $65! What a deal, right?

So, recently a floor loom appeared on Craig's List. Oh, how I want a floor loom. It's a $3000 loom, and the lady is selling it for $1200. That's more than half the price. Still, I would have to take out a loan for that. Someday I'll get my floor loom. Someday.....

Still, I'm working on my latest project of the lovely blue and grey, but I'm already thinking how I need some different color yarn. Oh hobby bug, how you have bitten me!

on the loom

2009-09-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

I started a new project on my Dorothy with some of the cotton yarn I bought earlier in the month. The warp is made of a grey 8/2 cotton and a peachy/off white textured cotton. The weft is a much thinner denim blue 10/2 Astra. It's pretty obvious how much of a beginner I am, but considering this has all been self taught, I think I'm doing alright.

On my warping board, I carefully counted out what I wanted of the two colors. I'm glad I went with a smaller amount of the white. It is very delicate and breaks easily. It will make a better weft thread than warp. After getting my threads off the warping board, I began the tedious job of threading it through the heddles. I'm quite slow at this, but getting better. I really need some help with this job. Although I get it done, it is slow and sloppy.

I planned on using around 180 threads on the four shafts, and threaded 24 of the grey, 12 white, and then a wide patch of grey before ending on the other side with 12 white and 24 more grey. Well, I made it to the last 12 white and ran out of room with all the extra 200+ heddles on the loom that I'm not using. I managed to fit 12 grey, but not the 24, which would have made a matching edge to the other side. So, this ended up being an approximately 164 thread project instead of 176. It really makes a difference.

Oh well, live and learn.

I like the way the grey, off white and blue look together. The weaving is going well, but since the blue is so thin, I can't hand wind it onto the spindle. I've been putting the spindle on our power drill, but it's pretty unstable and I end up with really uneven tension on the spindle. It's also a two person job to wind it that way.

Anyway, I'm having fun. I'm going to make this particular project a little longer and cut it off. I'll see how it works as a dish towel. I would love some red, green or gold thread right now. I would like to make some things for Christmas, but I can't justify spending any more money right now.

scarf

2009-09-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

My scarf that I finished on Sunday. It is so pretty. I found the yarn at the Dollar Tree and paid $5 for all of the yarn I needed. I was shocked when, a day after I bought the yarn, I was at JoAnne Fabrics and saw the same yard selling for $5.99 each. That would have cost me $30 at JoAnne's. Thank goodness for Dollar Tree!

The colors are just beautiful. It is as long as I am tall, so it is 5 feet, 6 inches in length. Long enough for a scarf. I really had no idea how long it was getting, I just kept weaving. I don't know how to measure things once I start weaving. I guess I'll need to learn to do that.

I'm learning my Dorothy and I'm glad that my warping job for this scarf worked out perfectly. Let's hope that all warping in the future works out just as well.

new project

2009-08-18T14:42:00.001-07:00

I've got a nice table top loom that I've only used once. It took me three days to warp the board. I used almost all 400 of my heddles. Some parts didn't work so well, I couldn't get the tension right and while it was fun to use, I was very frustrated that the sheds didn't open up properly. There were always 5 or so threads that would get tangled and I couldn't figure out how to undo it. So, I made it my ugly practice weave.

After that, I had a hard time getting excited to do anything again on the Dorothy (name of the type of loom). The loom sat on a table in my living room looking empty and ignored. I finally moved it out of the living room and worked on some Inkle projects.

Then, over the weekend, I decided to give the Dorothy another try. I built a real warping board and I read detailed instructions on removing the thread from the board and putting it onto the loom. I was very concerned with tension issues again, but the instructions looked easy enough. I'm only using about 1/4 of the heddles this time. So, it makes it a very small project, but I have been so pleased. Either because I'm using such a small number of warp or because of the good instructions I followed, or both, things have been going much better.

It only took me a few hours in the afternoon to warp the loom. I know that is still a long time, but I'm new. The tension is much better and I was so excited to see the shafts open cleanly with no snags.

Unfortunately, I don't have much thread. The warp is black and my weft is red and white. I'm trying out different patterns using the shafts and have been so happy to see the patterns forming in my weave. I'll get a picture of it soon. I have no idea what I'll be doing with this little projects. It's width would make a nice children's scarf, so that is what it might become.

Today, I'm a very happy weaver.

Using the Inkle

2009-08-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

The Inkle loom, which you can see pictured to the left of the screen here, is used to make bands. Depending on how many dowel are on the loom will determine how long the warp will be. Mine is fairly small and will make something a couple of yards long. I built my loom by myself from looking at pictures in a book. It isn't the prettiest loom and it has a few issues with the tension, but I really like it. So far, I've made belts and head bands with with the bands I've woven. I have some ideas for other projects, and I'm working on a technique called pick up weaving. It isn't going so well at the moment. I'll keep working on it.....

This brown belt is made from regular yarn. The yarn is the type that changes color within itself. I was very pleased with the patterns it made on the Inkle loom.

This yarn is quite fun and fuzzy. It is white with silver. I was playing around with the loom and wondered how this yard would come out. I like the end result. It isn't as fuzzy once woven, but it makes a much softer band than regular yarn.

2nd Weaving

2009-08-09T16:12:00.001-07:00

Mid May
After adding a few more nails to my loom, I was able to thread more warp and I attempted a tapestry type weave. I was starting this in May with the idea that Independence Day would be here in 6 weeks, I went with a patriotic theme. It wasn't pretty, but I learned a lot. It was also just plain fun to do. My husband didn't like it much, but I was proud of what I had created.

My First Loom

2009-08-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

This was my first "loom" I built.
I started weaving with 6 cards and using the backstrap method. That is where you tie one end of the strings to something sturdy, the kitchen table in my case, and the other end of the strings to you, with it wrapped around your back. Hence - backstrap. I didn't like that much. With small children around, if one of them needed me, I couldn't hop up and take care of them when my weaving is attached to me. I needed a loom.

I came up with this dandy idea and Hubby built it for me. It keeps the warp (see the glossary on the left side of the blog) nice and tight without it being attached to me.

I made my sister a 4th of July belt. It wasn't the prettiest thing ever seen, but for my first weaving attempt, I was pleased and my sister humored me by wearing it on the 4th of July. She even wore it in public!

Welcome

2009-08-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my weaving blog. I hope to keep a journal of writing and pictures of my looms and my weaving projects. I'm quite new to this and I hope that I will learn plenty and improve with each pass of the shuttle.