Flu

I'm not at my best at the moment, spent most of the time in bed these last days. But I have a gem of a friend who cooked for me and came with diner and all to eat here with me at Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The family will come at a later date.
So, all I can do is try to get better.
The loom will have to wait for now.

Before the flu: the warping went smoothly on my own

I use an old roll of wallpaper in between the warp, but the first bit is done with kitchen towel roll as there were a lot of knots to tidy away.

After winding the warp onto the loom I had to thread the heddles

Above shows the halfway stage
Below, you can see how easy it is to thread this loom, you just tip the front up and you can get right into the loom for threading the heddles.

And here the threading is all finished, through heddles and reed

 

All I need to do now is tie onto the beam. The warp is already knotted in small bunches and I use a long thread to thread these knotted bunches onto the beam. A great way of saving warp and getting a good tension. I need to feel a bit better to do that job. I want the tension to be correct and not to have problem later with uneven warp tension.
Next post I should be weaving hopefully.

Winter

It keeps on snowing here. Overnight we had more, so my blue car is more like a white one now.

I cannot remember the last time I saw this much snow. Life is disrupted as there are very few trains running in this area and no buses either.

The grandchildren are enjoying the snow though and transport can be quite different from normal times, this was how Syb was taken to his local children's club this morning.

I've made progress on getting the warp from the Leclerc loom to the Magic Dobby. My friend Romy helped me this far yesterday:

The warp is on the raddle but I now need to beam up and start threading. I have to see how I'll be getting on with that as I seem to have some problems with my right forefinger since last night at the joint with my hand. No idea what has caused this, even typing is painful. I'm sure it is just a temporary thing.

New Loom ! Christmas comes early....

At last I made the decision to get myself a dobby loom. I enquired about delivery times on Tuesday and Wednesday morning Jan Louet delivered the new loom as he happened to be passing this way anyway! How is that for speed!
I have gone for the 70cm wide Magic Dobby, the loom that I was able to use for a while during the Summer. That was a mechanical dobby and I have chosen the computer version but at the moment the interface box is not available so for the time being I have the mechanical version and will exchange this for the interface when it is available again. That might be some time in February.

The loom came in 2 boxes and I spent Wednesday most of the day putting it together. 

boxes unpacked 

putting the stand together

centre part of the loom on the stand (most heavy part with all the shafts in place)

When I was nearly finished I discovered that I should have taken the beams of as I wanted them fitted on the stand.
Only way to do that was to dismantle most of what I had put together. Oh no!
I left it like that last night and started again this morning. It is all done now and ready for a warp:

Tomorrow I might take of the warp from the Leclerc loom and put it on the Magic Dobby. I'll decide in the morning if this might be a good plan. Snow arrived again this afternoon and more is to follow, so, good weather to stay in and get on with things indoors as there is also a cold wind blowing.

Weaving Study Day

I was lucky to go to the first Study Day of Complex Weavers outside USA last Thursday. It was by Marg Coe at Handweaver's Studio in London. Meeting up with old friends and meeting others who I only knew from mail contact. Marg has written a book Fit 2 be Tied about weaving design in Photoshop (Elements).

This is a simple curve design in Elements

And below what it looks like in PCW via Sketchpad

It was stimulating to work with Photoshop Elements (completely new to me) into PCW. May be just what I needed to get away from paperwork etc and be creative once again. I really look forward to playing about with this and designing some lovely weavings to be woven up...
Going to London was an emotional trip, travelling completely by myself (done that many times but always had someone waiting at home). I've done it and stayed a few days with a dear friend which was a great help too. It's always nice to go to London but this time it was special. Next trip will be less emotional I'm sure.

More snow is forecasted for this week, so I'm hoping to get around to doing some weaving again after the emotional roller coaster months behind me. This trip has certainly helped me towards that way.

Snow

Last Monday the first snow arrived here this Winter.

The grandchildren are enjoying themselves!

Old = New

When my daughters were little I made them each a dress.

 Now, the same dress that my eldest daughter wore aged 5

is now worn by my granddaughter aged 3.

So glad I found these old photo's. Looking at the first picture it looks like I have added a frill at the bottom at a later stage but I cannot remember this any more (so long ago!). I'm also pleased I saved this dress, as it fits her perfectly! And she is thrilled to bits that this dress was worn by her mother and made by her granny.

 I loved the material when I made the dresses, and still like it.

Moving on

Life goes on and I'm living each day as it comes.
No weaving back into my life yet but my loom is eyeing at me and who knows I might be tempted again soon. After all, it is all warped up and ready to weave.
I've been out and about a few times but I prefer to be in my own home at the moment. Lovely friends and family surrounding me with their support.
I had the grandchildren here for one night and that was lovely. At 3 and 5 they are so pure.
I also have the sampler that I made in Devon to finish. It is just long enough to make a scarf out of it. It will be a happy memento of our last holiday together. When it is finished I'll show it here.

Celebrating life

We said our final farewell last Monday

All day glorious sunshine, what a difference this makes.
We have been celebrating his life and playing his music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEPAH_40tEs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahvACABy_Ek&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIgxx9Sapjs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4dHMNSwH3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRy77cmu80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWyVAQhXlFo&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHcunREYzNY

So many people came and I have received so many messages and cards too. Heart-warming to know that he was loved by so many and for me to feel that I'm not alone.

Lots to do and sort out but my new life will start taking shape.
The strength he has shown these last years is giving me strength to go on.

Letting go

After 42,5 years together I have had to let my dear David go today.

Letting go was easy in the end as it has stopped him suffering.

Positive

My husband is gravely ill in ICU and he needs all the positive vibes around possible to keep him here and for him to return to a healthy living.

Back home

I have not posted for a while as we have been away to the UK for 2 weeks.
This trip started of by me going to a workshop by Alice Schlein in Devon but it turned into a 17 day holiday.
I was going to show you what I have done during the workshop but it will have to wait as my husband has been admitted into hospital with lung problems after we were back home. So, everything is on hold for the moment as he will have major surgery tomorrow morning.

I will scan my weaving later, it was such a great learning workshop. Specially as I had been doing the sampling with Bonnie Inouy's book this Summer.
I've seen lovely textile exhibitions, more on that later too.

Sample

The sample was cut and I've washed and pressed it. There was very little shrink in both directions and it feels soft and it is lovely and shiny. So, I'm happy to carry on with this sett.

I did not want another sample in the draw so made a little pouch that I can use.

It's in my handbag now with some paper hankies. I stitched it in such a way that the fringes of the warp are still visible. I've used Velcro to close it.

Colour in weaving

I've started weaving the sample. What a joy to be weaving colour!!
To think that I dyed this warp myself.
I'll make the sample large enough before I'll cut it of and will wet finish it to make sure the set is correct.
Here is the first woven inches:

I've tried to make a photo of the back too, not easy just now. But here it is:

Same part at the front looks like this:

Marion was wondering if she could warp a warp like this on her warping mill.
I'm not sure. May be where the cross bars are at the top you could use that and let the threads hang down from the cross bars.

I had dyed on the skein, so when I was warping I think the circle of my warp was twice the length of the skein trying to keep the colours together. I kept my finger on one point to make sure that the colours would not move about as the circle was hanging loose at the bottom. So. if you have 2 points to start making your circle, you can just let it hang down to whatever length it needs to be. Hope this all makes sense.
Ah, but than you have to have something to make your cross............
I warped the 5 coloured stripes separate and all the black stripes separate too, so I had to think every time I started a new part, where to start the cross.

When I dyed the above skein last year, I had taken the colours from this photo:

Picking 5 colours with a photo program and printing these colours and dye as near as possible.
I have a second skein that I dyed at the same time; similar colours but a shade darker without yellow.

That's for another project together with the remainder of this skein. (I've used just over half of the skein for this warp)

New Warp

I've used the dyed silk from last years workshop at Summer School together with black Tencel for a new warp. The latest issue of Handwoven showed a good way of warping with dyed skeins, to keep the colours together.
You warp in a circle, this way you can see how the colours go. When you have finished warping you cut the circle and you have your warp. It was a bit tricky to get the warp on the loom as both ends of the warp were cut now. My normal warping would give me looped ends. Now I had to tie the warp on the loom instead of putting the rod from the back beam through the loops. I did not take any photos making this circle warp as I needed all my attention to get it right.
The warp is now on the loom and threaded. All I need to do now is tie on and I can start weaving.
Photo showing the front:

And this one showing the back:

You can see how the colour changes from front to back.
It will be very cheerful to start weaving with these colours. There is enough for one scarf + a bit for a small sample for wet finishing, to see if I have the sett right. The colours will be woven twill and the black plain weave. For weft I'll be using the black Tencel.

computer fun

I'm a member of Jacquie Lawson
They make the most unusual email cards and also make screen savers from the cards.
But the latest they have made is a desktop widget. So I now have Jack the dog running along the bottom of the screen or he is asleep and you even see him breathing.

Great fun to watch, as he suddenly wakes up and starts running along the screen, with or without a ball. He disappears and you never know when he turns up again........

Nearly a month gone by

Time seems to fly away. I have finished the warp on the Magic Dobby and the loom is back with its rightful owner. It was a great way to find out how this dobby loom is actually weaving. After the initial doubts I really began to like the loom. You have to compare it really with a table loom that has the advantage of the dobby.

As you can see, it fits neatly in one piece into the boot of the car.

With a width of 70 cm it gives a lot of options for weaving. So, who knows what the future brings  regarding getting my own dobby :-)

I will try and get some photos of the finished warp.

With the last 2 meters of the warp I wove a scarf as I had done enough sampling after 4 meters for that moment. I'm now thinking about my next warp. I have some lovely silk that I dyed last year at Summer School. I also have some Tencel so might combine the 2 for a nice scarf. Having woven lots of samples I need to get a real project going with lots of colour.

I'm getting over a week of having the grandchildren here last week, one after the other. That was a great idea not to have them here at the same time. This way we could give all our attention to the one that was staying.
First it was our 5 year old grandson. I took him to the Natural History Museum.

He enjoyed it very much. We also went to this museum, great fun, specially as they give a very good tour of the museum where you can hear and see the museum pieces in action. He is a very active boy, so it was nice when he went home again after having had 4 lovely days together.
We had a break of 2 nights before our 3 year old granddaughter came to stay. It was her very first time away from home for the night. After the initial shock of realizing that she really was away from home on her own she was fine. I also took her to a museum here.

We had a great time together the days she was here.

I just have to share this with you: Weave!
Do have a look, it is really worth watching. What a great project of 12 weavers.
More on it at Alice Schlein's blog.