Weaving A Gem Of A Life

Watery Lace

This time of year, I just keep weaving, and weaving, and weaving to build up my inventory for the coming show season. It’s nice to weave light, lacy fabrics when it’s cold out – it makes spring seem right around the corner.

Of course this year, we had a week of summer before winter was even over. Despite my weather concerns, I’m still enjoying weaving scarves for spring and summer. I’m using up that hand painted yarn I ordered. And yeah, I’ve subsequently ordered two more batches of Tammy’s yummy yarn.

It’s no surprise that I like saturated colors, and gemtones, so it’s completely fitting that one of my personal favorites is Tammy’s Ocean Waves colorway. I’ve used it in rayon chenille, bamboo, bamboo-cotton, and tencel. It’s always successful, and always popular. So I ordered a bunch more. This time in a blend of bamboo & tencel.

I worked out a new lace design for my little 4-harness counterbalance loom, and warped for four scarves. I could vary the treadling and create two somewhat different lace designs – either an open cross of four lace squares or a mini checkerboard of five.

The two scarves on the right look the same color in real life – no idea why they look so different in this picture. For the first three scarves, I used the same variegated yarn for both warp and weft. For the fourth, on the left in the photo, I used a solid, bright turquoise bamboo. It really lightens those scarves up a lot. I wasn’t positive if I’d like it, but I do. I like them all.

After I twisted the fringes and wet finished these scarves, I wasn’t ready to be done with the watery-colored yarn. So I measured out another warp of three scarves, this time in a log cabin pattern with black bamboo.

Although weaving with two shuttles takes me more than twice the time of weaving with one, the end result in a log cabin weave makes the time investment worthwhile. It turns a plain weave into something that thrills the eye. At least it does for me. I will definitely have to weave some more log cabin for this season.

I have so many more things I want to weave, so many ideas. There’s no way I can build in time to weave everything I want to. At least not if I want to sleep. And I do love to sleep. Still, despite my long stretch of unproductive time due to the nasty virus, I’ve completed 67 handwoven scarves, plus the 10 towels and 3 baby blankets since the first of the year. 30 scarves in March alone. I’m threading a loom for a warp of 2 shawls right now, and I’m hoping I can add them to my list of March completions.

Can you tell I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive? But you knew that already, didn’t you. 😉

Your turn: what’s one of your personal characteristics, or behaviors, if you prefer?

Season’s First Bouquet

We’ve had record-setting warm temperatures for over a week. On the one hand, the weather is so gorgeous it must be enjoyed.

On the other hand, it doesn’t bode well for the coming summer.

I’m doing my best to just enjoy each day and not think too much about the future.

Yesterday I brought in my first cut flowers from my garden.

The tall flowers are hellebores, most commonly called either Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose. It’s not uncommon that these flowers will bloom with snow on the ground, so they’re not particularly early. I have three different colors – a deep dusty rose, a medium dusty rose, and a creamy white.

With nodding heads, it takes some effort to see into the open flowers, but it’s definitely worth it.

The little flowers near the bottom of the pot are pulmonaria, commonly called lungwort. They do not last well as cut flowers, but their colors are so beautiful, I couldn’t help myself. These little flowers change from pink to blue as they open.

My favorite time in the garden is early spring. I love seeing little things stick their noses above ground, and my body isn’t yet worn out from all the work.

Your turn: what’s blooming near you?

A job well done….or……well……done

Here’s the result of 6 days of hard manual labor.

Granted, each day I only worked on this from 45 to 90 minutes, but trust me when I tell you that’s all this old body could take.

My asparagus bed is moved – YAY!!!

I moved 28 crowns, and was glad I’d left last year’s stalks on to show me exactly where those crowns were. I’ve dug asparagus crowns before, so knew from first-hand experience that there are lots of roots that, if planted, won’t yield any asparagus.

I’ll be the first to admit that this job could have been done much better. By a 20-year old. Male. With muscles. Ideally, compost, peat moss, vermiculite, and other yummy additives would have been added to the soil as each crown was planted.

It couldn’t have been done better by me. By the time I’d dug those buggers out, they were lucky I could dig the holes to get them in the ground the same day!

So I planted them all, then went back today & top dressed with the above-mentioned amendments, finishing it all with a good, thick layer of mulch. Not only will the mulch help keep down weeds and keep the plants moist if our hot, dry temps continue, it’ll add to the depth, which I’m sure should have been deeper. That’s why I chose to mound those soil amendments up.

Now I just need to wait a few weeks, and see how they do. My mouth is watering already – YUM!

Behind Every Cloud

I’ve worked with Tammy’s Silver Linings colorway before. I’ve woven rayon chenille scarves, tencel scarves, and bamboo scarves with it. It’s always a hit with customers. When it became available in a bamboo-tencel blend, I had to give it a try.

The delicate colors of Silver Linings call out to me for handwoven lace. I like weaving huck, but I’m trying to remember that recent lesson – simple pictures are best. I think huck works better with solid colors than variegations, so I went back to an old standby pattern — Swedish lace borders.

I warped the loom up for 4 scarves this time instead of my usual 3, because these scarves are always popular. I used the same warp as weft for the first 3 scarves, and decided to try something different for the 4th. I used a fine, 10/2, pale blue cotton.

The cotton weft gives the scarves more of a subtle striped appearance instead of the almost-plaid look of the variegated warp. I like it, and will definitely do it again. The bamboo-tencel warp is so soft, that even with a cotton weft this scarf still drapes and wraps nicely.

Despite my best efforts, both of these scarves look more gray in the picture than they do in real life. I’m never sure why sometimes it’s easy to get the colors right, and other times it’s impossible.

Reworking The Warp

After deciding to unweave the 210+ rows of the attempted curves with the purple rayon, I rethreaded the loom in an Ms & Ws pattern. I’ve used it plenty of times before and know I like it, and didn’t want to take another chance on a new pattern.

First, treadling in a traditional Ms & Ws pattern, I wove with the green weft I’d been trying the curves with.

As I hoped, it did look like the lovely amethyst & peridot jewelry I’ve made. Only in a soft handwoven scarf with gorgeous sheen & drape. I would have woven another one in these colors, but I didn’t have enough of the green yarn.

For the second scarf, I used a lavender weft, just a bit lighter than the dark purple warp. I modified the treadling slightly to make it quicker & easier.

I like the subtlety of this. The closeness of these two colors look almost like one color with depth, as opposed to two separate colors.

For the third one, I used a variegated weft in red, pink, & purple. I used the same modified treadling as for the two purples.

This is my least favorite of the three. The reds in the weft overpower the purple warp, and muddies the pattern so it’s difficult to appreciate it. Maybe it’ll appeal to a red hat lady. It’s also the least successful photograph. I often have difficulty photographing reds, and this wasn’t an exception.

I got a few of the cones in my stash emptied. I’m heading back to more of the hand painted yarn for a bit.

Weaving A Gem Of A Life

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Watery Lace

Season’s First Bouquet

A job well done….or……well……done

Behind Every Cloud

Reworking The Warp

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