Double wine bag, ready to go!

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A year ago (August 2018) I made a rep rug for the studio. It was my first rep weaving and I loved making it! When the rug was the right length, I found that I had about a foot of extra warp left... I changed the big weft from 4 strands of mop cotton to one strand of mop cotton and came up with a much finer fabric.  I made the fabric into a bag, then padded it with leftover rug padding, then it languished on a shelf while waiting for a strap.

Last month, Gudrun helped me get my Anglo Saxon band weaving going again! I'm getting better at unweaving when I make mistakes but still have issues making things work the first time. I had a few fits and starts but finally finished the band last week. The Anglo Saxon method, where you turn every other card every other pick, results in a very dense band that is the same on front and back, just offset by a half motif... Perfect for a bag strap.

Ready for two bottles of wine!

Today I lined the bag with fabric from my quilt stash and now I just need someplace to go with two bottles of wine! I need to pickup my wine club allotment at K&L, that might be it's inaugural journey.

What did I learn? Don't get me wrong, I love the bag. But in the interest of doing better next time:

• I didn't line up the sides carefully so the pattern matches better on one side than the other.
• I eyeballed the bottom so the triangular ears I sewed to make it squarish are not symmetrical.
• The above two points indicate that I need to slow down and measure more. 
• I tacked down the insert divider before attaching the straps which made it hard to attach the straps with the sewing machine.
• I didn't make the warp for the band long enough for two straps; I would have liked to have put one on each side.  Having said that, I think it's sturdy enough for two bottles anyways.  Ideally, I could have looped the strap all the way down around the bottom.
• I didn't finish the bag seams nicely so it's a little messy between the top of the bag and the lining. 
• I measured each section and added an inch for seams plus and for wiggle room on each lining insert; this apparently was the wrong measurement. I could have used another inch, though I made it work.

Ikat at the Eugene Textile Center!

Solid weft, pattern weft, and a slightly blue hand

I took a 4 day class last week/weekend in Ikat weaving from Marilyn Rogers at the Eugene Textile Center. It was an amazing experience! As a class, we spent the first day learning how calculate where to tie our warps, then we tied them and dyed them in indigo. On the second day we learned how to do the same for the weft. The next day we dressed our looms, and the last day we wove.

Hashtag Ikat!

I'm not going to describe the entire process in detail... there are plenty of books that do that. I'll just note the things that I need to pay attention to.

• Measure very carefully for the tie placement.
• Make sure the ties don't extend a lot further than they should (this is hard).
• Ensure that any choke ties are loosely place or remove them.
• Marilyn recommended taping the dyed warps to the back beam before winding on to prevent shifting yet all of us had some issues; I think you have to be very aware of where you place the tape. I am wondering if it would be worthwhile tieing one tie on each pattern bundle in the loom waste near the cross end to use as a "registration" mark to ensure I've got it right.
• We used an 8 1/8" template for the 8" weft. The 1/8" is to account for the yarn going over and under all the threads, but doesn't account for draw in. Marilyn suggested weaving 10 inches or so on a dummy warp to check what the actual length of the weft should be. This would reduce the little loops on the side of the ikat where I've place the pattern threads.
• The weft squidges around when you place it then beat even with in a close shed. Marilyn said this is normal and fairly regular so I should be able to anticipate it with practice.
• This is a precise art! So be very careful when doing the setup, then the weaving is easier.

I figure I should make a couple of travel notes.

• Flying into Eugene is pricey! but convenient. Flying into Portland is a better deal but then you have a two hour drive after your last class.
• I stayed at the Inn at the 4th, which is the shi-shi hotel in town. It was very nice, very quiet, and within easy walk of lots of restaurants. They have a bizarre chicken theme.
• I had a vegetarian entree at Marche; it was amazing! Wish I'd gotten back to taste their fish.
• Another night, the group of shops and restaurants next door had a live band, so I had wine and small plates while listening to the music. It was very tasty.
• Nearby Ta Ra Rin had good Thai food.
• Provisions had some tasty wheat based breakfast treats, and I tried them, and my head still hurts. But they were worth the headache. They also had good granola and oatmeal.

First Ikat, a cautionary tale...

My First Ikat on the loom

I promised the technical details of the ikat scarf... It's 7" of 20/2 cotton in the reed, at 40 threads per inch. Warp is 3 yards long. 

I tied it in bouts of about 15 threads and randomly bound of some pieces (see photo in my last post). I dyed it in a 2% dye solution using Procion MX dyes from Dharma; I used a small amount of "Indigo" and the rest is from a 20 year old jar of "Teal Blue". The color is slightly darker out of the pot than I wanted but I like it.

I want to document my four gotchas:

• I didn't put in enough properly formatted ties and the yarn isn't balanced. The yarn corkscrewed a little in the dye bath and my warp chains were a little tangled. I overcame this... sort of...
• I thought I had all the crosses well marked and put on the lease sticks I screwed it up so am warping mostly without a cross. I do have some well organized threads but not a lot. I had to warp very carefully.
• Remember in disaster 1 where I said the yarn corkscrewed? Wow, how fun to try to wind that on without a good cross. I'd probably be just as unhappy if I had a good cross. Yarn should behave.  And its 20/2... so tiny... I broke a couple threads.
• Messed up the threading; I have two 1-8-1 runs together instead of alternating 1-8-1 and 8-1-8. Decided to leave it and proceed anyways. 

There actually is a fifth gotcha. I didn't sample... and was surprised that the scarf wasn't as drapey as the last 20/2 cotton scarf.  I went back to my notes to find his grey scarf was at 30 ends per inch and this is at 40. Oh well. It's still lovely, and I was testing technique; I may do another one day in silk.

It could also be a little longer; I wove to 68" but it shrunk back to 63".

Most of the strong vertical lines in the top pictures are reed marks, and went away after wet finishing. I did find one strong vertical that ended up being a blue thread that got lost in a white section. I blame the lack of cross.

I realize I've just listed all the things wrong with this scarf. But after all, this blog is primarly a way for me to record what I've done and identify how I can avoid the same mistakes. Despite all the issues I'm beyond thrilled with the outcome and more importantly, my DH is in love with his new scarf!

FInished Scarf on the new granite

Things are getting done!!!

OMG I finished a sweater!

DH left 3 days ago for France to bicycle up three mountain passes on the same day... I did not go because I can't handle heat, altitude and that much climbing in one day! I have been back on the bike lately but even in my strongest riding days I doubt I could have ridden that... While he's gone, I've been trying to get some things done around...

For the fiber part of it, I finished Mystic River! Okay, almost, I still need to sew on two buttons. It's drying right now, and I'll sew the buttons on tomorrow before I put it on to wear to Knit Night. I'll swap the photo out for one on me when I wear it the first time.  I think it'll be adorable over a tank top.

Card woven badge lanyard

I've been hosting the Guild's Card Weaving Study group every two weeks to make lanyards for our guild badges, hoping to get folks past the fear of making simple bands. Last meeting, I used a warp that was  John Mullarkey's class demo, which he gave it to me because he couldn't remember my name. Win! I added two border cards to each side and wove it up into a lanyard. Looks like 27 inches finished length puts in mid chest; I sewed one end to a lobster clip and tied the other one on with twisted fringes.

I don't know what I'm doing

Did I mention that I've become the guild librarian? It's a heady feeling to have all those books and magazines at my fingertips. I'm working on getting enough shelf space for all of it as well as moving things in. I want to drive more interest in the library so I decided to weave something from the library books periodically and wave it around at guild meetings with the book it's from. I picked Handwoven Scarves as my first book. They have a twill scarf in blue with random bits of white in it (she calls it random ikat) that I thought would look fabulous on DH and it's time for him to have a new scarf anyways. Note that I've never done ikat, but am scheduled for a class on it next month. So I pulled an ikat book from the library shelves and dyed the warp and weft today; it's drying outside.  I'll put technical details about the scarf in a future post.

I noticed something interesting looking at older weaving magazines and weaving books. Most books I've looked at contain exact instructions, numbers of threads, colors, yarn, tie up, methods, etc. The older books are more like a suggestion; there's data on how it was woven, but so much depends on the weaver knowing what needs to be done. Have you ever looked at an old cookbook? Where an instruction might be "prepare the dough"? Depending on the cook to know what needs to be done? I'm fascinated.

Next up? I have too many things in flight.

• Sew two pillows out of that Kilim of my mothers that I have for the couch in the den. 
• Clear the Mac and cut texsolv cords for all of the tie ups. 
• Warp up a strap with a new card weaving technique (AngloSaxon?) and get a little bit done before the next card weaving meeting.  I'd like to use the strap for my new wine bag.
• I'm also working on a Devan sweater for one of Scott's coworkers who is expecting a baby in the fall. This is easy enough to qualify as "idiot knitting".

It's the end of Q2 '19 (5)

I spent way too much time making this cute little mug bag.

Realistically I'm not going to finish anything else by the end of June four days from now so I might as well sum them up now.

• I finished the little cell phone bag to carry my phone about when I don't have pockets.
• I tried to weave a doublewidth blanket from stash yarn and ignored all the things I know about yarn and it failed. I'm still counting it as a project that is complete. And the scraps went into my mug bag
• Scraps from the above failed project above became mug bag, with the addition of a cardwoven band that I wove 2 or more years ago, a piece of marbled fabric I made YEARS ago, and a kumihimo braid I just made to coordinate with the band. It's just big enough to hold a coffee mug. I freely admit to having sewn the button on in July but will count it as Q2.
• I knitted a pair of socks that are warm and wonderful.
• I finished the rep placemats for the new kitchen but might relocate them to the lodge.



Awesome placemats, crappy photo.

• I'm not counting the 6 class samples from The Weavers School.

Q3? I'm still thinking about it, but I suspect it will include some mosaic work, Mystic River, and a card woven lanyard for the guild meetings. The rest is to be determined!

The Weavers School

I spent last week at the Weavers School in Coupeville, WA. What a beautiful place, and I learned so much!!! I learned some basics of weaving, like the proper way to wind a bobbin. More importantly I learned to look at blocks in weaving, and from a block design how to substitute in different weave structures, and how to figure out all the pieces (threading, treadling and tieups) needed to weave it. I wove samples in 6 different weave structures, learning how to tell if I had the right beat. I met a bunch of wonderful weavers and had a very good time. Photos are here, most with notes in the info field. I expect to clear my looms soon and start working on something I learned in class!

Placemats on the Gilmore loom

I feel in love with a new loom in class... I may or may not sell my larger loom and buy a new one. I came home and wove a bit to see how I felt, and the thing that annoyed me the most is advancing the warp. M had told me it was kitted out with the anti-spin kit but somehow it was still spinning. I had S take a look at the documents and there's a missing piece of wood! Gilmore is shipping a new one to me for the cost of postage, which is very kind of them, and S will put it on for me as soon as the placemats I mentioned in the last post are done. I'm about 10 inches of weaving from the end.

The failed alpaca blanket in the last post? I sewed together two parts of the scrap that I'd woven into a mug bag for guild meetings. I lined it with some marbled cotton I made years ago, and plan on using a card woven band as a strap. I think I'll need a tie to close it, so will try kumihimo. I should have it ready for the July meeting.

Mystic River continues, I'm about half way down the back. Apparently the pattern is Feather and Fan, not to be confused with Old Shale; this article explains the difference for any who are interested.

The real time sink the last two months has been the house.  We're doing a kitchen remodel as well as all kinds of yard things like tree and brush removal; it's felt like a slog but I'm hoping that things level out in the next few weeks so I can get back to enjoying my craft instead of just sneaking it in. And hope to be back to cooking...

Life Before Fiber!

Just big enough for my cell phone!

Our kitchen remodel is in full swing, and I'm working a lot in the yard with or without helpers, so the blogging has languished; I have had some progress on a number of fiber projects.

I wove a hand for a little cell phone purse so I can carry my phone along when I go between here and the other house. It's super useful and I'm more than pleased with the kivrim card woven band but I definitely could have done a better job on the bag and on sewing the band to the bag. So I've learned a lot for next time.

I'm hosting the card weaving study group every other week through July and have started a card woven band using thrums (the unweavable yarn at the start and end of any woven piece) from an other project; I'm trying to conquer a few tablet weaving techniques; the latest is Egyptian Diagonals. I think I'm doing fine.

I think I mentioned starting an alpaca blanket... I suspected one of the yarns would be problematic and it was!!! I ended up having to cut it off the loom and throw most of it away. It would have been beautiful, too.

I was so discouraged by the blanket that I bought a rep weave placemat kit from Gist Yarns, swapping out one of the colors for one that I preferred. I'm in the process of warping the Gilmore loom with it, so expect a photo once I get started on it.  I'm hoping the colors of the placemats coordinate well with the new kitchen.

Part of one of the front panels for Mystic River

The "Mystic River" sweater I started is half done; I just started knitting the back side.  We travelled to Albuquerque for a family event and it was frankly too big for airplane knitting; so I started a Delavan (my third) for a baby due later this summer... I'm making it in the 18 month size so I've got plenty of time to finish. I brought everything on the plane... Then realized after I cast on that the needle had started coming loose from the cable, so the yarn caught with every stitch. I made my DH drive me to the closest LYS and announced to them that I had a knitting emergency!! Anyways, I got one of the front panels about 1/2 done on the plane flight home, and am looking forward to knitting on it.

The other exciting news for me is that I've become the Guild librarian; this means that I have all the Weaving Guild books at my house!!! I'm in heaven. I suspect I'll enjoy this resource immensely.