Weaving stoppers

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

Latest shawl

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

I

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.