This could be our summer !

Hi there - we have had a lovely weekend and actually sat in the garden for a whole afternoon. Still with a warm jumper on but not bad for April. Things are waking up here too ! We could see the first yacht race of the season and the opening day for the local green bowling club. You can see that grey skirts and trousers are the order of the day with a tartan skirt also allowed on the green.

Our garden has sprung into life as well with this lovely azalea in flower and a helibore.

Let's hope this lasts and we have a good summer !

Now, what about the weaving ? You will remember that I made a start on a Tencel iridescent scarf and I had struggled with a temporary heddle and then upside down weaving. I continued to struggle for most of this scarf. My left selvedge was great, no complaints and no worries but the right hand one was not working well. The more I noticed it the more I fiddled and the worse it got ! Then I got a helpful tip from Barbara, who is a loyal reader of my blog and a very experienced weaver. She suggested moving along the bench a bit to my left. So I started weaving slightly off centre and lo and behold perfect right hand selvedge ! It worked like magic and I can't thank her enough. So the last foot or so of the scarf has good selvedges !  Some pictures to show you what I mean : Left hand selvedge looking good !

Right hand selvedge looking awful. Also notice the darkish stripe in the fabric - more to come !

As well as dark stripes I had a lighter patch ! These pictures are after washing so no hope of them improving ! Must have been beating very unevenly.

So, all in all, I haven't made a very good job of this scarf and I think it will have to stay with me ! I am not a scarf person really but will have to wear this one !! It looks OK when in use just doesn't bear close inspection. I needn't have panicked about the iridescence because when it was off the loom it looked OK on both sides and I really am not sure if it was upside down or not !!!

Scarf number two is finished and thankfully without incident ! I was afraid to stop weaving as it seemed to leave a mark when I did even with the tension off. The selvedges stayed OK on both sides with me sitting slightly off centre. The weft on the second scarf is coral and the end result is much better.

The third scarf is at 36" and is the same colouring as the first one only with acceptable selvedges !

I think my next set of scarves might have floating selvedges and twill draft to the edges. Not sure I am good enough for plain weave edges !! I think it might have been Ok if I had been using same colour warp and weft.

These three scarves have hardly made a dent in the huge stash of Tencel I have so had better get warp winding for some more !

Until next time - happy weaving everyone and many many thanks to Barbara for that great tip !!

Rigid Heddle Success

Hi there - I am glad to say that I can report a successful project on my knitter's loom ! I am so pleased I might even make another and it is the first time I have felt like that with this loom. So what is it ?
Well it is a table runner made with the aid of a pattern in Issue 20 of Ashford's  The Wheel  Here is the picture from the magazine.

It required doubled 2/8 cotton but I didn't have any of that grist but I did have some black and some cream 2/3 cotton which I didn't much care for ! You will remember I made table runners on my Spring Loom and found it too thick for my liking. Good way to use it up I thought. I used the 12.5 dent reed and got started direct warping 135 ends. I made hard work of it as the colour changed in groups of three so had to thread hole and slots as I was warping. Lots of knots but eventually I was all set. Wound the warp onto the loom and it looked like this.

Next step was to insert two pick up sticks to raise warp and weft floats. I couldn't make that work ! What was wrong ? Well, now for this week's learning lesson ! The pick up sticks need to use threads in slots not in holes and mine were in holes. I had started threading in a hole and now know I should start in a slot ! Is there an unwritten rule anywhere that says always thread a rigid heddle loom starting in a slot ? So all 135 threads had to be moved over one and that took me ages and my enthusiasm for this table runner faded as the time went by ! However, the next day it didn't look too bad so I got started. How did the two pick up sticks work. Here is the first picture.

This is a view from the back of the loom and you can see the two pick up sticks lying one on top of the other. They slide over one another ! The top one slides down behind the beater and produces warp floats like this :

The second pick up stick works in the bottom of the shed and lowers threads to create weft floats like this:

Yes they do slide over one another as you are weaving ! The weft sequence required concentration but it certainly wove up quite quickly. It probably took me about 4 hours of careful weaving to complete 58" as required by the pattern. The black weft wasn't carried up the selvedge but left as a loop for decoration. I was a bit dubious about this but actually like the result ! Here are some views of the weaving.

When I was finished I did think it looked a bit loose and thought the cotton had just been a bit too fine for the 12.5 reed but when I machined washed it what a difference !

The warp and weft floats have tightened up really well and look good and the weaving has tightened up and looks pretty even. I hemstitched both ends rather than knotting as the pattern suggested. I have done enough hemstitching now to be able to do it without looking it up and can do it quite quickly. I trimmed the fringes to about 1.5" and left them plain. Here it is on a table.

 

This is my best rigid heddle project so far and I like this runner far better than the ones I did on the Spring. It wouldn't do for 'fine dining' but looks good on  a kitchen table or for every day use. The pattern would make nice placemats maybe.

So the knitter's loom survives !!

Think that's my story for this week, hope you enjoy. If anyone knows of more patterns like this I would love the links ! Bye for now !

Updates from last week and new work !

Hi there - I had two unfinished projects from last week so must tidy those up first !
The Brooks Bouquet scarf from the rigid heddle looks better than I expected now that it is washed and fringe twisted. It is a bit softer but not as drapey as I would like. Here is the finished article.

The other almost finished project was my third Evelyn Clark Swallowtail Shawl. This is such an easy pattern to knit and the pattern changes frequently so you don't get bored. I am always amazed at what happens when you wash and block lace knitting ! The end result is very pleasing and the merino/angora yarn is very soft.

So what is new for this week ? Well, a couple of weeks ago I showed you my tencel warp on Lizzie Louet and I was desperate to get started on iridescent scarves. When we got back home, I thought all I had to do was sit down and weave but no such luck, a dreaded threading error showed up in the sample ! I haven't just got these texsolv heddles down to a fine art yet and I had completely missed out an end on one of the points. So not only did I have an error but I was one end short.

I made a string heddle and wished there was some kind of replacement heddle you could use for these errors. I remember seeing replacement metal ones and thinking what a good idea that would be. When I looked it up on the internet I found this useful link for how to add an extra heddle

you need to scroll down to 'two neat tricks' ! I had already made a string one so didn't try this out. Puzzle loving husband assures me it will work ! Must try and not have a 'next time' !

Anyway, panic over, and now to weave. I used iris tencel for the weft and got started on the sample. Next problem, no iridescence ! What was I doing wrong this didn't look like it did in the pictures !! 

Luckily I looked at the underside of the sample and there thankfully was the iridescence. I was weaving upside down. I had been warned that if I tied up the treadles the wrong way this might happen. I decided I could live with upside down as changing 10 treadles with 8 ties per treadle seemed like too much ! So here are some photos of my upside down project. They are not brilliant as the light on the back side of the cloth can be a bit of a problem.

At last I was weaving ! First 18" went fine but then my right hand edge thread broke. No floating selvedge as I have plain weave at the selvedge. I knew I could replace the thread but thought I had better understand why it had broken. Urgent wake up e-mail message to Susan ! Serious long distance problem solver of the highest order !  Too much draw in on the right hand side, maybe move the reed slightly, spread the warp slightly wider on the back beam, loosen off my end feed shuttle a touch. All good things to do and I set about trying them all. Then I noticed something I had done badly ! I had inserted a protective layer of plastic on the cloth beam to stop cord marks on my fine fabric but it had not covered the last inch on the right hand edge so the tension would be uneven on that side. Now, I have no excuse as I have done this before and should have known better. I unrolled and inserted a wider piece of plastic and started to weave again. have reached 24" and no more breaks thank goodness. So things are progressing albeit a bit more slowly than I had hoped.

I also realised that I am no longer weaving tough cotton and should stop beating the living daylights out of this Tencel and treat it more gently and place or squeeze the weft rather than beat it.

Enough of my silly weaving mistakes, what about knitting. I very nearly started another Swallowtail but made myself search Evelyn Clark's web site for a different pattern. I came up with her Huckleberry Shawl. It is triangular but you wear it back to front and then wind the wings around your neck to the front - does that make sense ?

Anyway have made a start ! It starts at the end of one of the wings and gradually increases until you get to the middle and then decreases to the end of the other wing. Unlike the changing sections of lace in both Girasole and Swallowtail this is all the same pattern throughout. I am sure I will like it when it is done ! Here is where I am at so far.

And here is a close up of the repeating stitch

It will be reversible when it is finished. I must have bought a lot of that merino/angora lace weight, it seems to be lasting forever !

Well I will close now as Blogger is jumping about all over the place, I must have upset it somehow tonight. Tony continues to make good progress, five weeks today since his op and he is walking 5 miles and more now, mostly without me or I would never get any weaving done !

Bye for now.

Easter Weekend

Hi there - we have spent a very nice Easter weekend at our holiday house in Crail on the east coast of Scotland. The weather has been kind with three springlike days and then some rain today.
Daffodils are beginning to appear and I cheated and had some indoors !

Yesterday we had a visitor on the decking ! It was a wounded or winded cormorant, not sure which ! It seemed to have trouble flying. Tony caught it in a jacket to let us have a look at it. It had enough puff to swear at us and we couldn't see any obvious injury. We let it go and eventually it hopped away and we presume flew back out to sea.

Tony's recovery continues and we have been walking quite a bit. He will have reached his target of five miles today ! Exactly four weeks after his operation. This is a picture of the fishing harbour in the local village.

So, what have I been doing this weekend ? Well the rigid heddle loom came out of its bag ! I bought some Sirdar Silky Look double knitting weight yarn in a pale aquamarine colour. It was acrylic and nylon, not like me at all !! I wanted to try and make summer weight scarves and this seemed like a good, cheap way to try it out ! It was only £2.80 for 50 gms and I only used two balls.

The picture doesn't show the colour well but the yarn is slightly nubbly !

I used the 10 dent reed and warped 64 ends  two and a half yards long. I chose to do the Brooks Bouquet pattern and it really works up quickly. I did it over 4 threads and then did 3 rows of plain weave between the 'bouquets'.

I probably spent between 2 and 3 hours actual weaving and the scarf came off the loom. It still needs to be fringe twisted and washed but I am quite pleased with the result as a summer weight decorative scarf. We will see what it is like after washing. Might move on to try real silk next time !

I have also been knitting ! I still had some cashmere/angora lace weight yarn left after finishing the Girasole so decided to do a Swallowtail shawl by Evelyn Clarke. I have done two of these previously and really like the pattern. A small shoulder shawl is very easy to wear and keeps shoulders amazingly warm. The pattern is not too difficult, it does have a series of 'nupps' which can be quite fiddly. I find the secret is to do them quite loosely. As usual the photos of the unblocked lace do not look very exciting but hopefully you can see the nupps.  

I have only the border to do on the shawl so should be able to post a picture of the finished article next week. 

So that's what has been happening this weekend ! Hope you have all had a good time. Speak to you again next week !