Jabberwarpy: December 2010

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Problems, or the ZEN of selvedges

Problems? What problems? Just keep that fire blazing and no one gets the pit bull treatment.

I considered calling this post "Selvedges -- the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" -- I've known them all. For me, selvedges thrive on inattention; the more I fuss the worse they get. It's best if I just have a glass of wine and weave on . . . .

For anyone struggling with selvedges, fear not, there's plenty of wisdom out there for you. Today we focus on the common problems of bad selvedges and broken threads.

I had an entire weekend at home this week, and other than taking a long run, knitting with a friend, and watching the Patriots spank the Bears in blizzard (the way football ought to be), I worked in my studio. I'm weaving up my Alpaca-Silk warp with weft of deep blue Colerain Lace (merino-silk, both from WEBS). It's a lovely combination that reminds me of bluewater sailing in Florida. I have enough warp on for 2 scarves, and I'm thinking about a trip to Halcyon to find the second weft . . . .

Alpaca Silk in the raddle -- 22 epi.

Not bad, huh?

Resources:

Selvedges

Dot's Fibre to Fabric

Weavolution 1, 2, 3

Weaving Today (downloadable PDF, free membership required)

Weaving Today discussion

Schacht's Yearning to Weave

Weavezine: two colors in selvedge

Peggy Osterkamp's book Weaving and Drafting Your Own Cloth

Glimakra

Dust Bunnies Under My Loom

Laura Fry 1 and 2

Floating Selvedges

Rug Talk

Laura Fry Here and here

Bonnie Tarses

Schacht

Alaskan Fiber Arts

Weavolution (broken floating selvedges)

Weaving Today

Why you need them on twill

How to throw the shuttle around them

Broken Threads

Peggy Osterkamp

Bonnie Tarses

Mike Patterson (Halcyon)

Sleeping Dog Studio

Weaving Today

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Weaving Underway

Today's post is about weaving -- actual weaving, the part where warp magically becomes fabric.

Here in Maine we've finally got our first snow -- but Mother Nature put forward a pitiful effort. If it's gonna be cold, I say bring it on! I want enough snow for skiing, throwing snowballs, and sledding! This was just enough to get sand and salt all over the floors at work . . . .

In the studio, although there are lots of distractions, I'm beaming my Alpaca/Silk warp. It's a bit sticky, and although I doubled up the threads in the cross, I had one end almost break (you know what that means later on, it will break once I start weaving. Bummah.