Meet Sophie the studio kitten

I'd like to introduce you to Sophie, my new studio cat. She turned up in my front yard two and a half weeks ago as a half starved foundling. It took me three days to get my hands on her. How did I do it? I have food for outside cats in my garage. (See above.) So that and the ready supply of water in my courtyard pond kept her in the area. Then I sat out in the 110F Arizona heat singing to her until she got used to me being around. Mostly ABBA songs. I had just seen the movie "Mama Mia: Here We Go Again", see. (Hence the name Sophie.) The third day, I was able to grab her, and bring her inside. I still have the bite mark. Scared feral thing!

Today? She is sleek and fluffy and curling up in my lap and purring when she isn't bouncing around the studio doing kitten things. It has taken a lot of work though! I don't think she had any experience with humans before, and was used to being scared all of the time. I have no idea where her mother was, or how she found her way to my front courtyard.

I can't save all of them. But when they come to me? Totally fair game.

So, I'll get back to weaving in a bit. I've got some blue and brown napkins on the loom that are moving slowly, but I'm getting there. These are inspired by an article in the May/June 2013 issue of Handwoven magazine on 4 Block/4 Shaft Summer and Winter. I used that as a jump off point to design my own napkins. I'm liking how it is turning out, but using two shuttles and changing colors and treadling with every block is proving to be a bit of a mental challenge. Every square on these napkins will be slightly different from each other.

 I'll get there. But....kitten!

Cloth Napkins

Vacation's over. Back to work! I'm testing out a new weaving pattern with a batch of cloth napkins for my own use. I made myself a batch a few years ago, and I love using them. So I want more.

Come to think of it, how many of you use cloth napkins? Or do you use the disposable paper ones? I've got single use vs. reuseable items on the brain currently. See, we went to the Museum of Natural History in New York City for part of our vacation. And I saw a video documenting our world population growth over time.

 

Let me see..... YouTube to the rescue. This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OE

And it is hard to miss the discussions over human induced climate change. And also the impact that our society's habit of using single use items is having on the environment. So I've been thinking of what I can do to make a tiny bit of difference. I feel so helpless sometimes, you know? I'm just a weaver. But...what I can do, I ought to do. And I can weave napkins. My own little push against the darkness.

Still chewing on the ideas.

Hand painting a ruana: Don't get cocky!

My latest project on the loom is a warp painted ruana. It is going to be gorgeous! But it has been a struggle, mostly because I got cocky and missed little details.

So, it started well. I sat down with my client, and we batted around ideas and picked colors. I usually do my warp painting with about 4-5 colors of dye, but she picked out 10 colors. We figured out how to put them together, and off we went.

When I had the dye and the yarn, the measuring began.

And then, the dyeing. Here was snag number one. I usually dye with foam brushes, but I forgot that I only had enough for 6 colors of dye. And I was working with 10 colors this time. And I started dyeing after stores closed. So, I shrugged and got eye droppers, which I had plenty of. Annnnnd dyeing took a bit over 8 hours, non-stop. Eye droppers are NOT the way to go. Lesson learned. It turned out, but that was quite the marathon.

Also, see the strips of cut up plastic bag that I tied on the ends of the warp chains in that middle picture? I use a permanent marker to write numbers on them, so I can keep track of the order of the warp chains. That helps me get them back onto the loom in the same order that I dyed them in. Lesson two: use Sharpie, not the knock off brand even if it is near to hand. Because the knock off brand washes off in the rinsing process, and then you have a puzzle to solve when you take the chains to the loom!

Lesson number 3: It is quite ok to use your top loading washing machine to soak your warp chains when you are rinsing them, to get the excess dye out. But for the love of God, do NOT turn your back and let it flip over to agitate mode. Luckily, I had put the chains in lingerie bags, so it wasn't a total disaster. But I had some serious untangling to do to separate things back out.

Lesson number 4: Double check which reed you have on the loom before you start sleying it. I got halfway done, and realized I had the wrong one in. I had to take the old reed out and lay it across my lap, then one by one transfer the threads into the new reed. Again, nothing I couldn't recover from, but a pain in the neck! And it would have been an easy catch if I had looked before I started.

Thank goodness for the warping trapeze! It took some patient work to straighten out the tangles from my previous goofs as I beamed the warp on, but I did eventually get everything on the loom under even tension.

From there on out, things have been much easier. I've got enough warp on here for three garments. I'm using black cotton for the first weft choice, purple cotton for the second, and I'm currently weaving black tencel for the third.

So, all's well that ends well? This is turning out beautifully. But boy, have I said a few words along the way!!

Tutorial: Warping the medieval box loom

Several years ago, I bought a medieval style box loom at Estrella War, a local event for the historical recreation group that I was active in at the time. I've since moved on to other activities, and the loom has been sitting unused. Poor little thing! But I found someone who is still active in the historical community, and I'll be passing the loom on to her this week. In preparation for that, I warped up the loom one more time, and took pictures of the process so she could see how I did it. That should give her a starting point for her own explorations.

So... Usually I use a warping board or mill to measure out my warp, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have one of those. So I fell back on the old school method of setting up wood clamps to give me three uprights. I put two down at one end of the table to make my figure 8 cross around, and one down at the other end to measure out the length.

 I'm using cotton crochet thread here. Start by tying on to the outside of the two clamps.

 Bring your yarn around one side of the next clamp, to start your figure 8.

 Bring your thread down to the far end, and around that upright.

  Come back up to the two clamps (Without crossing your thread between the figure 8 clamps and the far end, like I did here. I flipped it around after the picture.), and make the other arm of your figure 8. This gives you your cross, which will keep the threads in order for you.

 When you want to change colors, simply cut your working thread and tie on a new one.

When you are done measuring out your warp, tie your last thread off to the upright.

 Now, take 5 lengths of thread and tie bows around the threading cross. One on each arm of the figure 8, and one through the openings of the 8 right around the intersection. This will keep the cross intact until you are ready to use it.

 If your warp is long, I also recommend tying a choke tie around the length of the warp, every few feet. This will keep things from tangling.

 Ok, go down to the far end away from the cross, and lift your warp off of the upright.

 From that far end, chain your warp up. Again, this will keep things from tangling.

 Reach your hand through the loop, and grab the warp and pull it through, making another loop. Keep doing this. It is kind of like crochet.

Now you have your warp, and it is time to thread the rigid heddle. I use some binder clips to make a stand for the heddle.

 Take your threading cross in your hand like so. Your fingers are going to hold that cross for you.

 Remove the black ties, and snip open the beginning loop.

 You can fold your bottom two fingers down to keep things stable.

 Now, you can pick your threads up one by one, in the order that you warped them up.

 I made a threading hook of bent wire, and use that to pull the first thread through the hole.

 The next thread goes in the slot next to that hole.

 Repeat, hole then slot then hole then slot then....Then check your work and make sure that you didn't skip any like I did. If you do, move them over into the right spot one by one.

 When your heddle is threaded, it will look something like this.

 Now, tie the cut ends around the apron rod at one end of the loom.

 Bring your warp up and over the back beam, and down to the front end of the loom.

 Release the brake on the back beam, so it will turn.

 Hold onto the warp at the front end of the loom, to give it tension during the warping process. (I turned the loom around for working. The front of the loom is on the left in the picture now. No big deal, I just didn't want to confuse you.)

 Move your heddle down to the back end of the loom, so the warp will spread evenly as you wind it on.

 Wind your warp onto the back beam. Insert strips of paper as you go along, to prevent the threads from burrowing down into the previous layers as you go along. If they do, they will end up different lengths, and will give you tension problems as you weave. Try to keep your warp centered as you wind on, so the threads don't slip off the sides of the paper. (Oops. I did that one too.)

 When the warp is all wound on, snip the end loop and tie on to the front apron rod, up and over the front beam.

 Re-engage the brakes, and wind enough to put tension on the threads.

 Now you're ready to weave! You create the weaving sheds (the opening for your weft thread) by lifting up on the heddle for one...

 ...and pushing down on the heddle for the other.

 Weave your header, and you are ready to go! To advance your warp, release the back brake, crank it forward, and re-engage the brake.