Tick, Tick, Tick….

Posted on August 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

Isn’t this mid-August weather glorious?  It’s hard to choose between being outside and being in the studio.  With only three weeks left until my long voyage, I have to choose being in the studio!

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Posted in tapestry, weaving

Progress on Boundweave

Posted on August 11, 2012 | 1 comment

A rainy Saturday

And the first tomato from my garden….yes, I did eat it on my homemade bread with pesto from the basil in the garden, topped with parmesan….it was a very comforting lunch.

Here is the progress made on my boundweave wall hanging.  Aside from the tree, which is not my design anyway, I am not happy with my images.  Drat!  That second figure is supposed to a coleus plant.  Are you laughing?  (I’m not.)  And the next figure is a lady slipper.  I think others may wonder if it’s some kind of bug, or a really bad rendition of a person standing on her head.  Dear Bob says these are things that mean something to us, so I shouldn’t worry what other people see in them.  I’m trying to convince myself of that!

This is a lady slipper, this is a lady slipper, this is a lady slipper…..I still don’t believe it….

Some boundweave hints:  many years ago when I did a Christmas wall hanging on 4 shafts, I remember reading about how the weft will slant up or down according to the direction of the treadling, because it is a twill afterall.

So, if you wanted eyes or hair (or in the case above, the lower petals on the orchid) to slant in a particular direction, you have to consider that in your treadling.

So the tree and the coleus were woven by treadling from left to right across my tie up.  But the petals on the orchid did not look right done that way, so I switched to treadling ‘backward,’ or right to left.  I could have changed direction in the middle of the orchid so that the individual picks up the upper petals would have slanted upwards.  My experience with the coleus plant was that treadling either direction didn’t quite give me what I wanted, so I decided not to change direction.  The source of this information is Clotilde Barrett’s book Boundweave, Chapter 7, page 60.

The other thing that I’ve found very helpful this time around is graph paper.  On the previous project I used square graph paper and had to figure out how many rotations of the treadling sequence it took to make my weaving square.  Now I discovered on  Weavolution that Karen in the Woods is using a flattened type of graph paper, where the height of each space is shorter than the length, making squat rectangles instead of squares. I went looking for graph paper like that.  I found it at incompetech.com (clever name). Click on ‘Grid/Graph Paper.’ I chose this one, and it is pretty close to being on square per pick.  And by ‘pick’ I mean a full rotation of the treadling series, which you’ll understand if you’ve done boundweave.

I hope my next few figures are better.  I’m going to start weaving a loom now, and it’s not my design either, so I feel it’s bound (could I have picked a different word here?) to turn out better.  I’m not feeling overly confident about any of my designs, and yet 20 years ago when I did my last boundweave project, all the designs were mine and I think those figures turned out very well.

Elves and Reindeer

Santa

Santa Lucia

Onward…..

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Posted in Fine Craft

Feeding My Disappointment

Posted on August 8, 2012 | 2 comments

I didn’t expect to be writing a post this week.  I expected to be at the IOLI lace convention in St. Paul.  But here I am, at home, sulking a bit….

I’ve had some health issues that are too boring to write about, and I ended up in the hospital on the night before my flight.  I spent the weekend recuperating, which mostly means sleeping, and I was just barely awake for a moment or so on Saturday afternoon right when my flight took off.  Why couldn’t I have slept through that?

I’m missing a class in Chrysanthemum lace which sounds so intriguing!  It is lots of little free form pieces, mostly of a tear drop or paisley shape, that are assembled together in a technique called ‘sewing’ that does not involve the kind of sewing one would do to hem a skirt or make a seam, but which I believe involves bringing up loops through the edges of the lace that are then closed to connect the separate pieces of lace together.  I know.…that wasn’t a very good description at all.  I cannot do better because I haven’t learned it yet.

Here is a little detail of the ‘sewing’ process:

From this book….

This book cover gives a good idea of the little curved paisley pieces of lace that are made and assembled into the Chrysanthemum. I imagined myself making a simpler flower that could be used to embellish a silk blouse.  The lace was to be pale pink on my imaginary bone white silk blouse….

My class was to be each morning for the week, and I envisioned myself doing lace through the afternoons, shopping in the vendors’ hall, and seeing the lace poppy exhibit.

Today after class, I was going to rent a car to drive to the Swedish American Institute to see  Helena Hernamarck’s exhibition there.  Big, big sigh….

I only just tackled unpacking my suitcase today because yesterday the thought of unpacking brought me dangerously close to tears!  And for the rest of the day I have fed my disappointment….literally….

 I made my second batch of bread based on suggestions I got from a very interesting baker.  I bought a loaf of his artisanal bread at a local farmers’ market and learned that in addition to baking he also owns a local Italian restaurant in Old Saybrook. He bakes bread based on ratios of flour/water/yeast/salt instead of any specific recipe, and he always uses a starter.  I usually use a starter too, but my bread is not nearly as good as his!  He gave me his ratios (which he learned at the San Francisco Baking Insitute), and he gave me a large bag of high gluten flour.  He suggested two starter methods:  a ‘poolish’ which you make yourself, and a ‘biga’ which is based on using leftover pizza dough.  My first batch was based on my homemade ‘poolish,’ and the bread shown here is based on his ‘biga.’  Both techniques are delicious.  I won’t bother to describe how my husband lined my large oven with ‘reflective’ tiles, nor how I hurl a big scoop of ice cubes into the oven just after I put the bread in to bake….but these are important factors!

Along with bread, I made my first batch of pesto with basil from the garden, so dinner this evening will be pesto spread on cod filets.  Tomorrow I hope to pick the first tomato from the garden!  I will make a sandwich with my bread, spread on a little pesto,  sliced tomato, and a shaving or two of parmesan…. to assuage my disappointment….

I know this is absurdly off-topic, but really, there is nothing like a day in the kitchen to brighten my spirits….

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Posted in bobbin lace

A Touch of Lace

Posted on August 2, 2012 | 3 comments

On Saturday I will travel to St. Paul to go to my first bobbin lace convention!  This is the IOLI, the International Old Lacers, Inc…..a rather dowdy name for such a talented group of women keeping these amazing techniques going.

I’ve been thinking that if lace makers are like weavers, most of the attendees will want to wear a little something that they’ve made.  I’ve had a good length of lace edging laying around for a couple years, slated to be used as an edging for some handwoven linen hand towels.  But I have not even got that warp on my radar yet….  what I do have is a lovely, old linen blouse that I suddenly realized might look very charming with a lace border at the neckline.  Hmmm….. this blouse is probably more than a decade old now.  I sure hope it has plenty of life left in it since I now love the touch of lace at the neckline!

Gosh, I hope someone notices!

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Posted in Fine Craft

Tackling My Toika

Posted on August 1, 2012 | 1 comment

In spite of that pep talk from my son, in spite of Su Butler’s excellent website with extensive information, including photos (!) about tying up a Toika, and in spite of perusing every forum post about Toikas I could find on Weavolution, I could not get my loom to work.  When I opened a shed I had such a jumble of threads at differing heights, there was no way to throw a shuttle! And I won’t even mention how hard it was to depress the treadles.

This is a warp I made somewhat over a year ago, before I knew for certain that we’d be moving.  As soon as we decided to put our house on the market, the real estate agent we used insisted that I take this loom apart and put it in storage.  She thought my studio would show well as a second family room.  We rented a storage unit and I put both the Toika and my 40″ AVL in it, not to mention lots of other studio equipment.

The project I have on the Toika is 8 shaft boundweave threaded in rosepath at 10 epi.  I’ve used some precious tapestry warp that is hard to get these days, and I put on about 6 yards, 24″ wide to make several boundweave wall hangings.  I’m envisioning a little story board of my family.  For me I have charted out a floor loom, a castle style spinning wheel, a drop spindle, various garden flowers, and maybe a bucket for dye!  For my husband I’ve charted a boat, and anchor, and a car.  My head is brimming with ideas to include our two sons, along with various cats and dogs…. and yet…. I could not get the loom to work.

Today I came close to tears.  It wasn’t pretty….  I became obsessed with talking directly Su Butler because I believed that she was the only person left in the world who could sort this out for me.  Either she had some advice or it was time to get rid of this loom.  Shame faced, I sent her an email.  Within moments she wrote back and recommended we talk on the phone.  Hallelujah!

My Toika works like a dream now! What a relief….

So, what did I do wrong?  Well, first (and probably most importantly) the distance between the bottom of the shafts, the top lamms, bottom lamms and treadles should be about the same.  Not knowing exactly what that meant I had them within 2″ of the same distance apart.  Su said I needed to get all these within a 1/2″ of the same distance.  Bingo!  The other dilemma was my treadle height.  Doing it as described on her website didn’t give me the necessary position when the locking pins were removed. My treadles ended up slanting upwards toward the bench, and that was no fun for trying to depress them!  She was familiar with this little quirk on some looms and explained to me what to do.  Now everything is in great working order!

So, these are not the best looking trees by any stretch….but the loom is working well, and I don’t mind working on my little graphed charts to improve the image.  I’ll give it another go shortly.

8 am next morning…. I have better trees!

I was compensating for my graph paper squares too much in my first attempt and therefore elongating the trees too much.  Now I think I’ve got it!  So I will weave a header and begin the first actual wall hanging!  Can you imagine me doing a happy dance around the loom??….punching the air!  Yippee!

Better looking trees shortly….

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Posted in family, inspiration, patterns, weaving

In My Little Corner

Posted on July 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

This is my new little corner of the world.  I feel very lucky that it is so beautiful here and so conducive to happiness and creativity!  Although you can always ‘bloom where you’re planted,’ some places are easier than others!  I do feel like blooming!


I have finally climbed under the Toika to tie up the lamms and treadles!  Go me!  It took some rather close scrutiny of Su Butler’s website,  a lot of fretting, and a pep talk from my younger son who is visiting to get me to do it.  Why are these things such hurdles for me??

And…meanwhile….in between everything else…. I knit….

One completed section of the “Ann Jacket” by Vivian Hoxbro

One virtually complete pattern repeat of “Mary Tudor” by Alice Starmore

The finished pieces of my “Soo Feminine” jacket!  ….

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Posted in Fine Craft

Three Sweaters

Posted on July 12, 2012 | 2 comments

A week or so ago, I realized that I have been knitting for 50 years.  I don’t really know if it’s this year, or last year, or next year, since I’m a bit fuzzy on exactly how old I was when my grandmother taught me. But it is somewhere near my half–centennial of knitting….my golden jubilee.   I need a celebration!

What would make a better celebration than knitting a project, or projects, that are truly captivating…. enthralling…. compelling…. not to mention beautiful!

I’m already knitting one that has kept me happily intrigued for a couple of months now.  It is a pattern by “Nadita” called “Soo Feminine.”  It is a fun short row technique called “swing knitting,” which has been quite popular in Germany for some time and is certainly taking off in popularity here now too.

This might be even more fun to knit than it is to wear!  But I won’t know that until I finish!

Another project jumped into my arms while I was visiting Harrisville Designs on my recent trip to New Hampshire: a Vivian Hoxbro kit!  All of Vivian Hoxbro’s kits, which use Harrisville’s “New England Shetland,” were on sale for 30% off original prices!  I love Vivian Hoxbro!  Her designs are flattering on me, and the knitting is fun, involving color changes and multi-directional knitting.

This design is called “Ann” and can be knit as a jacket or vest.  I’m doing the jacket in the purply/plum colorway shown on the vest above.

And lastly, there is Alice Starmore, queen of color!  This is her “Mary Tudor” design.  What I love about it (aside from the obvious, duh!)–  all her designs are a masterful blend of colors on a design that perfectly balances the horizontal-ness of the knitting and color changing with a strong vertical-ness to flatter the body–but as I was saying, what I love about this particular jacket is the button band and collar, which depart somewhat from traditional Shetland design.  I think those two details make this sweater absolutely elegant!    Decades ago I knitted her Oregon cardigan in the blue colorway.  It is probably my most precious handknitted item.

Aren’t all these sweaters beauties?

“Soo Feminine” and the “Ann Jacket” are on the needles now.  The yarn for “Mary Tudor” has arrived and I’ve been sighing and moaning over all the little balls of precious Shetland wool.

But the pattern book has not arrived.  Wouldn’t you know I have almost all of Starmore’s books, but not Tudor Roses.  Ugh! I cannot believe I’m one of the suckers who paid over $100 for a knitting pattern book.  I had to do a lot of justifying to make peace with that.  You know the rationalizations, I’m sure!  It’s less than therapy, it’s better than some other addictions, it’s feeding my creative spirit…etc…etc… and it’s part of my golden jubilee celebration!

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Posted in Fine Craft

Summer is for Workshops

Posted on June 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

Getting ready for my first summer workshop!  A trip to New Hampshire for a day of indigo dyeing.  Luckily no mordant is needed for indigo dyeing, but my yarns must be clean and free of sizing and dirt, so I gave them a good soak in Eucalan and hung them out to dry!

Harrisville Designs

I started the weekend with a trip to Harrisville Designs.  What a scenic spot!  The building further in the distance houses the retail shop and the workshop studios.  Other buildings house the spinning operation for the yarns and the woodworking shop for building the looms.

Harrisville Public Library

This was the first sweltering hot day of the summer, so it was lovely to be in a town so full of water.  The library sits just a short walk from the Harrisville Design buildings and is on a large body of water called Harrisville Pond.  Such still water here funnels into a stream that rushes past the mill buildings in the previous photo.

A delightful place to have lunch, overlooking the Harrisville Design buildings, the rushing stream and the distant mountains!  What an idyllic spot!

The dyeing workshop took place at Long Ridge Farm in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, owned by Nancy Zeller.  The studio is on the right and includes a beautiful balcony on the back where we had lunch in the canopy of the surrounding trees. The barn is on the left.

Nancy Zeller (center) instructs us on making an indigo vat

The next morning was the workshop at Long Ridge Farm in Westmoreland, New Hampshire.  Another idyllic spot, with beautiful views of mountains, gardens, and sheep!  Nancy Zeller owns this bit of heaven and runs various workshops from her studio and barn.  We started the day in the studio, pictured here, but moved outside when the going got messy, and then moved into the barn when a thunderstorm passed by!  Through out it all, Nancy remained calm and organized!  She is a terrific teacher!

Mixing the stock solution from powdered indigo from India.

The color change: blue on top where the stock has oxygen, and yellow/green beneath where there is no oxygen.

Ready to Dye!

After the addition of Thiourea Dioxide and Lye (both of which get mixed separately with water in their own container before being added to the vat) we checked the color of our new indigo vat.  Yellow/Green color along with a Ph between 9 and 10 meant we were ready to dye!

My friend Susan standing near the growing skeins of indigo dyed yarns.

Look at all our gorgeous skeins of blue!  My friend Susan joined me for this workshop and she brought lots of cotton skeins which turned purply blues.  My skeins of merino and mohair and mohair/merino blends turned various shades of French blue!  It was so exciting!

The Artist Loft B&B in Brattleboro

During the weekend my friend Susan and I stayed at the Artist Loft just over the border in Brattleboro, Vermont.  What a lovely spot.  The large picture window overlooks the Connecticut River and the scenic bridge that crosses it. (You can tell I did not take this photo since there was no snow during our visit.)

View from the Artist Loft

Our stay was enhanced by a bit off shopping in Brattleboro.  The fabric shop Delectable Mountain Cloth is a must!  It is full of beautiful textiles, and I believe they are all natural fibers.  The food in Brattleboro was also a high point of the weekend!  Dinner at Fireworks and breakfast at Elliot Street Cafe were both great. The ultimate dining experience occurred at Burdick’s Restaurant in Walpole, New Hampshire!  That is a destination in itself!

Back home with my newly dyed skeins drying in the birch tree.  It was a great workshop, and I highly recommend Nancy Zeller as an instructor!  Her farm is a wonderful destination and she is a thorough and organized teacher.  What a terrific weekend!

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Posted in dyeing, travel, yarn

Settling In

Posted on June 5, 2012 | 1 comment

I started a post on moving day, April 18th, and thought it could be a work in progress following  leaving my New Jersey home and arriving in my new home in Connecticut.  Few things ever go as planned, do they?

The first hurdle was that there was a bad cable line at our new house which prevented us from having internet service for a couple of weeks!  By the time we had it, I was really buried in unpacking/organizing/cleaning chores.  It’s been a long six weeks, but I’m feeling quite settled now.

I love my new little part of the world.  Everywhere I drive is full of inspiration; every morning when I wake up I’m happy to be here.  I know what a blessing that is!

My studio is almost set up.  The looms are in place, the bookshelves are full.  With a bit of patience I can sort of find all the tools and yarns I might need to finish several works in progress and even start the projects I’ve been designing in my head.  But I’m a long way from finished.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever get completely settled!  The hard truth is that I just have too much stuff.  Don’t we all?

In my perfect studio dream I will have a stone terrace outside the door (oops!  not in the photo….it is right next to the window) where I can admire my perfect garden, where all the flowers bloom in profusion with no pests, where I can sit and spin on perfect spring and summer mornings.  My looms will all be warped with projects that will become treasured heirlooms.  I am dreaming about a peaceful life here.  I hope I mostly make that happen!

This photo (above) is looking toward the wall of shelves and cabinets for my tools and books.  You can just see a bit of my Baby Wolf which sits around the corner from the two larger looms.  I have a lot of tweaking to do with this storage area.

So I christened the room today by actually working here, instead of unpacking and arranging.

In the near future I hope to knit and spin here!

….or better yet… in the imagined perfect garden….

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Posted in Fine Craft

Precious Materials

Posted on April 12, 2012 | Leave a comment

Last week a friend of mine asked if I wanted to join her for the monthly meeting of the Westchester (NY) weaving guild.  They were having a guest speaker; she couldn’t remember whom.  She thought he was a tapestry weaver and a member of the “New York study group.”  I wracked my brain!  I should who this man is!…..but I didn’t!

So I went.  And of course I knew him when he arrived to speak.  It was Stanley Bulbach, who also happens to be a member of the Textile Study Group of New York. I’m so glad I took advantage of the opportunity to hear Stanley speak and to see a few of his rugs in person.

Stanley Bulbach

As many people may know, Stanley spins his own yarn.  I did not know that he does this on a homemade spinning wheel that is based on a bicycle wheel he upcycled for the purpose!  He spins yarn from Lincoln fleece, which is long and lustrous, and when he wants something other than the natural colors of this fleece he turns to natural dyes for additional color.  His rugs really glow, something you cannot imagine from a photograph  They are beautiful!

I know you can’t see his rugs well in these photos, and I’m sorry about that.  Trust me that my photographic ability wouldn’t do them justice anyway.

What I want to say about his rugs is that they have a presence.  Even if I didn’t know that he’d done all the fiber preparation by hand, that he’d created the yarns by hand, that he’d woven the rug entirely by hand…. I know I would still feel the presence of something extraordinary about them. …which leads me to the title I gave this post: there is something precious in the quality of work done by hand with precious materials.
 It shows.

He also spent a good deal of his presentation on the need for textile artists to better advocate for our chosen field.  Of course we do!  I am a perfect example of someone who has not recognized this facet of working in textiles, and since I am so ill equipped to cover this subject I’ll just pass you along to Stanley’s website.

(His photographs don’t do justice to his rugs either)…

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Posted in dyeing, inspiration, sheep, spinning, tapestry