"Rose's Garden" shawl.

I'm still hip deep in yarn for the triloom shawls. I did get one more done this week though. A friend of mine had gone with me on the yarn buying spree and picked out colors that her mother would like, with an eye to commissioning a birthday gift. I delivered it today, and she was thrilled. I think she's mentally picking out colors for one for herself now. I'm tickled!

"Midnight Solace" shawl

The memorial service for my friend was today. So, instead of actual content (I feel like I have a hangover, even though I wasn't drinking...), I give you pictures of how the black/red/purple shawl turned out. It is striking, no? And I caught my daughter with a case of the giggles while she was modeling.

Shopping Therapy

When I'm depressed, I also take it out in shopping. Luckily, JoAnne's had a sale on the yarn I use for the triloom shawls, so I could indulge without breaking the bank entirely. So, instead of actual content, here is a shot of the shawl I'm working on, and the yarn for the next several shawls. I've got enough here to keep me busy for weeks!














































(If anyone wants to call dibs on any of the color combinations, I'll let you have the shawl for a pre-order price of $130 instead of the $150 they usually go for. Just let me know.)

Grief

So, what do you do when you are grieving? Me, I turn inward, curling in around myself. And then, I put on quiet music, and lose myself in meditative, easy work to keep my hands busy. It helps to feel like I am creating something, and keeping my hands busy is better than sitting idle.

I had a dear friend die unexpectedly on Saturday. I'll come back to this blog when I can reach outward again. In the meantime...go hug your loved ones! And then make sure you take care of yourselves, ok? No more of this dying stuff. It sucks.

Pictures and Planning

So, you want to see how the 'Falling Leaves' triloom shawl turned out? I took my daughter into the back yard this afternoon, and had her model it for me. (What am I going to do for a model next year, when she's off to college?!) Here are the results:















Today I also took pictures of some of my felt juggling balls. These are kind of cool. I start with a golf ball as the core, then wet felt a seamless wool cover around the ball. The golf ball gives a great weight to the juggling ball, and the felt gives it a nice grippy texture that doesn't slip out of your hands easily. I don't juggle myself, but my friends who do all love these.














Most of today though, was spent moving looms around. I had to disassemble my 8 harness Harrisville loom to get it though my studio door again. We hauled it upstairs to stash it away for the time being. The AVL loom got moved into position in front of my studio window. It is amazing how much more roomy it feels in my studio! The AVL has an appreciably smaller footprint, even though it only has 4" less weaving width. I'm liking this already.

I was going to try out the AVL, and if I liked it the plan was to sell off the Harrisville. But I have two teenagers, and they have watched Mommy weaving for years now. So...it appears that we're yanking out one of the living room sofas tomorrow, and the Harrisville is getting reassembled up in teenager territory. Then there will be some weaving lessons going on! My daughter wants to make her own scarves, among other things. We'll raid the yarn stash, and I'll set them up with a simple warp to start with. As long as we can keep the kitten off the back beam, everything should be fine.

Here comes the next generation of fiber geeks!

Falling Leaves triloom shawl

I just pulled this shawl off of my triloom. It has been washed, and is laying out flat to dry. I'm so in love with how cuddly this yarn is! It is hard to get a good representation of the colors involved, but this shawl looks like a pile of autumn leaves--except much much more snuggle worthy. I'll swipe my daughter after school tomorrow, so she can model for me again.

I'd like to get three of these done and up in the shop. This makes two--I'll list it probably tomorrow night. The third will wait until I've tried out my new loom, but I'm starting to mull over color choices now. Current options: there are some beautiful purples in this yarn. My daughter recommended black with a bit of red, to go for the goth crowd. I like working with greens, so if I was making one for me it would be green and probably rusty brown, with maybe some more blue or teal thrown in. And my sweetie's sister put her vote in for pink.

So...what is your favorite color combination?

New toy new toy new toy...

I am seriously doing the new loom happy dance over here. If you could only see me bouncing around my studio! I know, she doesn't look like much just yet. I need to get her into place, and all set up. But...new loom!!!

Ok, she isn't exactly new. She was made in 1980, and I am her fourth owner. Let me spew some numbers here, then I'll try to translate for the non weavers who are reading. I am the proud owner of an AVL 12 harness 36" dobby folding loom!!!

Translation:

AVL is one of the premier loom makers on the market. That stands for Ahrens and Violette Looms.

12 harness: With a floor loom, the complexity of the pattern you can create is limited by the number of harnesses (or shafts) you are using. The harnesses raise your warp threads. 2 harnesses, and you can only weave variations of plain over/under. My first loom had 4 harnesses. My current has 8. This one having 12 means I can weave some pretty complex fabric.

36": This refers to how wide a fabric I can weave. I don't know if I will actually be able to weave the full 3 feet, and there will be some draw in and shrinkage. But I should be able to make yardage that finishes up at about 30" wide. My current loom has a weaving width of 40", so this is only a few inches narrower. As I rarely use the full width for my projects, it should be enough.

Dobby: With most floor looms, you push floor treadles in order to raise the harnesses. The order that you step on the treadles creates the pattern in your fabric. The trick is remembering where in the pattern you are, especially if you have to stop to answer the phone or chase the kids. With a dobby loom, the job of choosing the shafts is done by a bar and peg system on the side of the loom, that you set ahead of time. There are only two treadles under the loom--one to raise the shafts, and one to advance the dobby bars. This means you can make really complicated patterns, and as long as you pegged the sequence correctly you'll never lose your place.

Folding: When I'm not weaving, the loom is folded up like it is in the picture. It actually takes up less floor space than my current 8 harness Harrisville loom. That will give me more space in my studio, which given the amount of stuff I have crammed in here is a Good Thing.

Do you begin to see why I am so excited? I need to finish up the project I'm currently working on (a triloom shawl in harvest colors--looks lovely!) before I can set up a trial warp. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll like this loom as much as I think I will.

(If I do love it, my Harrisville loom will be up for sale. Anyone near to Phoenix need a loom? New, it would run about $2000. I bought it used for $800. Make me an offer, and we'll talk. )