Weaving A Gem Of A Life

Temporary fix

How beautiful is that warp?! My brain can’t stop thinking about what I’ll use for weft and what I’ll make out of the fabric that I weave. But first I have to weave the 2 wraps for KG.

I got the warp beamed, threaded, and tied on to the front apron. I wove about 8″ and then stood up. Uh oh! My apron has a tear in it!

I’m betting this is the original canvas apron, from when the loom was built in the early 1950s. Even canvas has a life span, especially when it’s repeatedly subject to high tension. If you look closely at the picture you can see that I’d previously had to hand sew the hem at this end of the apron.

I need to replace the apron, but can’t do that in the middle of a warp. So it needs to be fixed temporarily. I sewed it closed.

Then, just for kicks, I put a piece of clear packing tape over the sewing repair.

I will go to Joanns and buy canvas to have on hand for a permanent repair that I’ll make as soon as this warp comes off the loom. It’s IMPORTANT. I’ll buy enough canvas to replace the apron on the warp beam, too. And the aprons on my counterbalance loom.

True confessions…I ‘repaired’ the warp beam apron on my counterbalance loom with clear duct tape many months ago. Although it has held, it looks like crap and I suspect if this loom saw the kind of action that the Macomber does that tape would have failed long ago.

A weaver who doesn’t take care of her tools is a fool. So say I. And I am too often a fool. 🙁

Jack in the box

Weeks ago I picked Jack’s toys up from around the house I put them in a little cardboard box. The box was big enough to hold all his toys (he doesn’t have that many) and small enough that he could reach into it easily. He never got anything out. I had to go pull out a toy or two when it was play time.

Till Wednesday. That was the first time ever that Jack went into his toy box and took things out. I had to put them back in later that day to vacuum. This evening he took them out again. This seems like a good step forward to me.

And in the last 3 days we’ve bumped into 3 different women walking their dogs. As always, he’s fine with the dogs, but sometimes he stretches his leash as far away from the human as possible. He didn’t do that with any of these 3 women. In fact, he let 1 of those women reach down to him and get within about 8″ of his face. Amazing!

Finally, with our mild temps this week, twice I left Jack in the yard while I was out. Twice I came home and he wasn’t in his usual place – huddled on the cold stone steps – but was out in the yard.

So we’re making progress. Baby steps, but they’re still steps. On Tuesday he’ll meet the animal behaviorist for the first time. I can’t wait to see what he has to say.

Pretty pretty

As planned, I received a box of yarn on Monday afternoon. This contains what I need to weave the next two warps of baby wraps — 4 wraps plus. What’s the plus, you say? The first warp, for KG, totaled 6.2 meters. I can weave up to 10 meters finished length, so decided I’d add some length to this warp for me. I’m going to weave 3 yards of fabric…yardage…and decide later exactly what I’m going to do with it. Maybe I’ll make a vest, maybe a poncho/shrug/ruana-type thing.

Here is the lineup for the warp that KG and I will share.

From left to right it’s gris fonce, gris pale, vert pale, turquoise, bleu moyen, bleu, and periwinkle. I got the first bout wound today and then my sciatica started talking to me 🙁 so I needed to rest. I’m hoping to get the second bout wound this afternoon/evening. I have several commitments over the next 3 days, so the progress won’t be fast on this one.

KG, who’s pregnant with twins, is getting 2 wraps – a long one with a white weft and a short one for a ring sling with a charcoal weft.

Me? I bought navy rayon for weft, but may change my mind. Maybe black rayon chenille? Maybe cream bamboo? Maybe cotton in an as-to-be-determined color? I’m not sure yet, but am looking forward to this little adventure.

Sigh and sigh again

The yarn for my next 2 warps of baby wraps should arrive on Monday. Meanwhile I got my counterbalance loom ready for some Christmas presents. Measured 430 threads, threaded the heddles and reed, tied onto the front apron, and wove a few pics to test the threading. I didn’t see any, so I proceeded.

I got a few inches farther and darn! I had not one but TWO threading errors, both in the reed. (I’m showing the photo in black & white to retain some surprise.)

I should have had 2 threads in every dent (slit) for the entire width. Unfortunately in the center of the warp I only had 1 thread, and on the left side of the warp I had 3 threads. (See the red arrows.)

I cut out the weft, untied the warp from the apron, and 1 bout at a time, corrected the threading from the center out to the left side of the warp.

Retie, weave again. POOP!! Now I have 3 threads in a dent in the center of the warp!! And only then did I notice that I had a heddle-threading error, too! (See the yellow arrow.)

Again, cut out the weft, rethread from the center to the left, fix the threading error, retie, and start weaving AGAIN.

Third time was the charm. I can’t show you more of what I’m weaving since they’re presents. I will tell you that I made lots of progress…until today. Not a shuttle thrown. Some fun, some work; some things went smoothly, some were very frustrating. I want to let go of the downside so won’t detail my frustrations.

I’m looking forward to finishing what’s on my counterbalance loom tomorrow, and receiving a lovely box of yarn.

A Fair Trade

When I packaged the wraps to mail to R & R, I used my last two baby wrap bags. My strong preference is to make more right away, ‘cuz the last thing I want to happen is for me to have wraps ready to go and have to stop then and make bags.

I went to my stash of pillowcases, grabbed several, and tossed them in the washer and dryer. When they came out I set up my sewing machine and got to work. For jobs like this, I make a mess while I work and clean it all up at the end. So I simply tossed the pieces of fabric I didn’t need on the floor.

Jack, who loves fabric and soft things, was happy ‘stealing’ the pieces.

He chose each piece carefully, sorting through them to find the perfect one to drag into the other room. But he was fair. He left me Fishy, his favorite toy.

Sticking with Jack, after I removed the bottom half of the dog house door, I knew I needed to do something to keep the rain out of the house and off the cushy bed that’s in there. So I got some heavy duty plastic, cut it to size, and taped it on. I chose the day that Baxter, my grand-dog, came to visit, figuring that having someone else use the house might make it more tempting to Jack.