Nearly done

The warp is nearly woven up and I'm happy with the way it looks so far. I did stick to the 2/2 twill as I felt that it was best for this warp. This is the end of the warp in view

Here an earlier part of the 2nd scarf being woven:

And this is where I'm weaving now:

I cannot wait to get the warp cut from the loom. I hope later tonight.

Yesterday I picked up my grandson and he will probably be staying with me Friday morning. Last few days this week his sister will be coming, school starts again Monday week. So my attention will be with the grandchildren this week but I'm hoping to try and get a new warp done too. I went to the first day of a 3 day workshop on Iridescent weaving by Marian Stubenitsky. When you click on Woven iridescence in twills in her link you will see what these weavings look like. It was a very stimulating workshop and I cannot wait to make my new warp with 4 colours, the weft has a 5th colour. I've done several workshops with Marian and really like the way she teaches and she is very generous with her knowledge. She uses the Venne 34/2 cotton yarns in her scarves and that is what I'll be using too as there are so many colours to choose from. The weft yarn will be a cotton/wool yarn also from Venne. This yarn gives a lovely drape.
Venne has started a collection of organic cotton yarns. The beauty of Venne yarns is that they are high quality yarns and all the colours coordinate in the different type of yarns. I'm just an enthusiastic user of Venne yarns ;-)

With this last warp I'm really getting to know my Magic Dobby and really loving it! The glitzes I had in the beginning I can put down do not knowing my loom.
I had some problems with the knife but Jan Louet advised me to lubricate the groove where the knife moves up and down and it seems to have done the trick. A friend gave me some grease that was suitable for this, forgotten now what it was exactly.

First inch or so

Getting the loom ready took more energy than I had thought. But I'm weaving again! Last weaving was done last October. I had to search for starting the dobby again but that was soon found. ;-)
I'm weaving a 2/2 twill, I thought that would balance the colours and black best. After weaving the first inch or so I'm not sure if it will end up to black and mute the colours to much.

I'll continue with this and review halfway weaving this warp for the second scarf, if I'll change to 3/1 twill or stick with 2/2 twill.

 

Update after some more weaving, I'm happy with the result after all. I'll happily continue with the 2/2 twill.

Advantage with 2/2 twill on this warp is that both sides look the same. With 3/1 twill, one side would look really colourful but the other side will be very black with 1/3 twill. So, I'll stay with the 2/2 twill on this warp.

Balloons

It is grandchildren weekend and at the local shopping centre they were handing out balloons in heart shape. They both ended up with 2 each. When we came back home the eldest had decided that he was going to sent one with a message to his granddad. In the end the remaining 3 were sent up to their other grandparents and to my father. It was an initiative that I could not stop them doing, a heart-warming idea.

The warp is still not fully wound on but it is on the loom. I was struggling with the Louet raddle again, the yarn did not stay in the raddle when winding on so I got my own raddle out that my father made for me years ago. May be I'll let them help me tomorrow after breakfast. Than I can start threading in the evening.

We will have to see how the weather goes as they have to go back home tomorrow, ready for school on Monday. The forecast is not so good for travelling and it is over an hours drive each way.
In a weeks time it is holiday time again and they will be back but one after the other. Looking forward to this.

New Project

After the loom has been standing empty for some time, I made a white 8/2 Tencel warp last Friday. My intention was to dye the warp in the weekend. I have some Acid Dyes standing ready for use. But of course Tencel is not like silk and it should be treated as vegetable fibres, and use Reactive Dyes.

What I thought would be a quick job, became a lot of calculations and weighing small amounts of dye. My warp was just over 4 meters, enough for 2 scarves. I want them both different. Yesterday was dyeing day. I was not sure about the colours I saw but of course you only know the real colour after rinsing and I had to wait!
I woke up around 3 this morning, and I just had to rush to my warp and rinse..... (yes, I did go back to bed) I found that one of the colours was to green and not more towards the blue. Not what I had intended. Still not sure what went wrong.
Today I had another thought about it and I've over-dyed the green I was not happy with. End result is still not what I wanted but I'm happier than before. To the left is the complete warp as it is now.

Of course I forgot to take photos before over-dyeing....

Here a close-up of the warp. One scarf will have lots of primary colours. The warp will have small black lines  to separate the 3 coloured parts in the warp. The weft will be all black.
Back to loom now and get that warp on!