Woodyarn

UFO's???

2012-01-20T21:08:00.002+01:00

Not the UnFinished Objects but the kind of Unidentified Flying Objects.........
An extraordinary magical sighting tonight where I live when I cycled back home from the shops around 6:45 my time. Strange orange-yellow lights like a string of lights (about 6 or 8 lights in total) looked like they had been put up in the sky. Next it looked like the saucepan stars (how do you call this) you see but next again it was like a string (I was cycling so was moving as the lights were)
I got home and I saw the light disappear in the distance towards the South. But 2 more came from North very fast flying over me, following after the others. They were lower than planes fly, definitely no planes and also no stars either.
It was an experience that I will not forget quickly as I have never experienced something like this before. I'm only sorry that I was on my own. It was all over to quickly to go to a neighbour to share this experience. So I just share with you all. I did try to make a movie with my mobile but it was all black and than they were gone.

Finished young weavers scarf

2012-01-09T20:25:00.003+01:00

He finished the scarf in 2 days. It was a present for his mother for her birthday so I could not show any details before ;-) just in case she was watching the blog........
She was so surprised and happy to receive his self made gift.

He chose the loopy yarn and I tried to find yarns to go with that.
As warp yarn (horizontal yarns in the yarn photo)

I used the Webs yarn that I used here, but in different colours. Strong enough for him to weave with. No good to use a yarn that might break easy. It needs to be fun for him for now.

The loopy yarn has shrunk more than the other yarns but I think the end result is great for a 6 year old. He was so proud of himself.
His mum told me tonight that he took the scarf with him to school today to show what he had made in the holiday.

We have not looked at yarn for his next scarf, as he wants to make a woollen one for himself.
I will have both grandchildren here again next weekend, so may be we will get around to looking at yarns.
But if the weather is nice we will go out instead.

Young Weavers

2012-01-05T21:19:00.002+01:00

Here is the scarf my 4 year old granddaughter started weaving last Summer. About halfway she was when she went home last weekend and I promised to finish it for her. Though she was weaving ok, the concentration was very short. So it would have taken a long time for her to finish.
I finished it together with my grandson. I wanted the loom available again for him. Still have to do the finishing. I was able to show her this result on Skype tonight and she was very pleased. I'll try to finish it for her before Sunday when I'll see her again. She would be able to take it with her to school and show after the holiday. And of course use it with her new purple coat.

My 6 year old grandson is weaving his woollen scarf since this morning. It took me a bit longer to make the warp as I got a cold New Years Eve and did not feel like making a warp.
He is weaving fast, having done just under 90cm today. So, I think he will finish tomorrow as I made a short warp for just one scarf. I made it easy for him to use 2 colours in the warp for plain weave having one colour on shaft 1 and 3 and another on 2 and 4. When he finishes this one he wants to make another one with 3 colours in the warp. That would be a new challenge for him.
He is here until Sunday and will be here again the next weekend. If this scarf is finished before he goes home I'll make him a new warp for his next visit. We will have to go through my stash for him to make a choice of yarns. He's also made it known that he would like my dobby loom when I'm dead. ;-)
Hopefully a long way away but how about this? It pleases me that he likes the weaving for now and may be he'll stay interested. So much for him to learn. Planning a project, warping, threading etc. For the moment I'll do the warping and threading for him though.

I myself am ready for making a warp for my dobby loom. Still have to decide on yarns though. But I feel like weaving again.
I watched the Triple Play Class by Alice Schlein. Weavolution let's you view the workshop for a week after it took place. As I was unable to take part last week, due to a bad connection on my computer it was good to see it after all. Great fun. If you like designing for your dobby loom I would highly recommend the class when she does a repeat class.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T22:35:00.002+01:00

Happy New Year to all.Lots of fireworks here last night and the cats have survived it again. They used to get very upset about it (keeping hidden for ages) but they seem to be better with it the older they grow.
2012, may it be a good, creative and healthy year for everyone.

Together with my grandson I'm finishing the scarf that my granddaughter started.
It's almost finished and we have been looking at yarns this afternoon for another scarf he would like to make. Hopefully we'll manage it all this week as he would like to finish it before he goes home again.

It's my 3rd Blogiversary today. My aim was to write about my weaving but this last year has changed so much that weaving has been in the background for quite some time. Others may find the weaving giving distraction but I seemed to have just dried up for a while.
A new year and turning a corner. And the weaving with my grandson is working wonders.

2011 coming to an end

2011-12-30T20:51:00.000+01:00

Sooo glad that this year is coming to an end through one thing and another. And looking forward very much to a new year.
My Internet connection is working well again. What a relieve. I can now watch the video of the class I missed last Wednesday.

Have not thought about weaving these last few months but as the year is coming to a close I find that I'm beginning to get the urge to get a warp made sooner rather than later.
My 4 shaft table loom is still warped with my granddaughter's scarf. Although she is capable of weaving on it she is not able to stay concentrated for very long. I've been helping her a bit this week and most likely will finish it for her as I do not want her to get an aversion to weaving. When she is a little older she might get back to it. At 4 it is probably asked to much. It was really sett up for her 6 year old brother who did manage to finish a scarf by himself this Summer.
This next week I will have my grandson here after having had his sister here this last week (what a lovely time we have had together). After next week my intention is to get a warp made for the Magic Dobby. I have several options for a warp, so I have this coming week to decide what it will be.

Dependency

2011-12-28T20:34:00.000+01:00

Lately my Internet connection is so slow. I changed to fibre optic 2 months ago and that was fine but the last few weeks it has become so slow that it is no joy at all to use the computer just now. Friday I'm having a re-installation and I hope all problems will be solved.
Skype is useless too so no talking to grandchildren or, like now, having granddaughter staying here, she is unable to Skype with her parents. But hopefully that will be back to normal too after the re-installation.
It's like the old dial up connection at the moment.
It is making me realise how computer depended we have become.

Very frustrating as I had enrolled for Alice Schlein's class Triple Play at Weavolution, using Repper, Photoshop (Elements) and a weaving program (in my case PCW). But the connection was so slow that I never was able to connect to the class.

Almost the end of another year and it will soon be my 3rd blog anniversary. Very little weaving done these last months so I've had very little to report on that side. Just no inspiration whatsoever.
Closing this year will be a big help to get over this and start afresh and getting the creative juices flowing again.

Family time

2011-12-28T11:35:00.001+01:00

Christmas has been and gone. Hopefully it has been a good time for everyone.
Last year I was to ill with flue to realise it was Christmas, so this time around I was painfully aware that Christmas is not like old times with several family members sadly missing.
But we were all together and it was happy time.

I now have my granddaughter staying with me until Saturday. Than my grandson will be coming to stay with me.A good way to get through these days. Such a joy to have them around.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T08:37:00.000+01:00

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

This decoration was given to me many years ago by Yolande, who made it herself. Every year it comes out of it's box and gets pride place on the inside front door.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T23:15:00.001+01:00

To all, on the other side of the pond, Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo in blog title

2011-11-14T15:39:00.000+01:00

Jane asked about the weaving behind the blog title.

I used Venne cotton yarn in green and yellow and a variegated green/yellow as warp

and as weft a variegated green/yellow and a green silk yarn from Bart & Francis together with the warp yarns.

The pattern came from PCW Fiberworks, a 16 shaft called tumbling blocks.

On one side the blocks show the warp yarns and on the reverse the blocks show the weft yarns.
That's why I like this draft, I've used it for other projects too.

Here, above and under, the weft yarn was Noro Kureyon with a striped warp in plain colours.

Woven Picture

2011-11-10T18:34:00.002+01:00

Not weaving myself just now but I'll soon be the recipient of a woven picture by Sandra Rude
Looking forward to this, as I've been waiting patiently.
Sandra works wonders, first on her computer to get the shades right and next the weaving itself.

I have several option as to what I want to weave next but not yet made up my mind.

Autumn

2011-11-03T14:43:00.001+01:00

It's Autumn but the weather stays warmer than usual.
Today I found the first snowdrop in the garden! Usually it's Christmas time before I see the first one.

I was planting some bulbs when I found the flower.
When in the garden centre this week I came across this plant and just had to take it home with me....

Never seen this colour before, it's called Royal Blue.

Green scarves

2011-10-20T15:12:00.005+02:00

Productivity is not high at the moment. Just very little energy.
I have finished the green warp at last by finishing the fringe twisting yesterday.
The warp was enough for one good length scarf and the 2nd was just a bit short but with the long fringe on one side it still makes an acceptable scarf. See difference in photo on the left. The scarf on the right has been washed and pressed in both photos. It is very soft after washing & pressing and will be sent soon as a "thank you" present.

Next week is half term, so I will have the grandchildren here one after the other for most of the week.

Spinning weekend

2011-10-04T15:52:00.002+02:00

I've been away a few days as it was our yearly national spinning weekend.
The weekend is held in a conference centre in the middle of the woods. We even heard the red deer at a distance as it was toward the end of the rutting season.
I did some spinning (Hampshire Down)

and knitting (commercial yarn, that I had dyed with cochineal some time ago)

The weather has been exceptional this last week, braking all records for this time of the year but it is getting back towards "normal for this time of year" weather now. It was lovely whilst it lasted.

The cats were very pleased to have me home again, following me everywhere the first day home!

This and that

2011-09-30T14:05:00.000+02:00

Weaving still on the loom. As I'll be going to the yearly national spinning day this weekend, it will have to wait to be finished. I'm looking forward to meeting up with lots of spinning friends.
I did weave one scarf but the 2nd is just a bit to short to be called a scarf so I was in doubt what to do. Un-weave what I have woven so far of the 2nd scarf, or continue and use a long fringe to make up for length. Result is a standstill but I hope to finish one way or the other soon.

Last week grandson was swimming for his 2nd diplome

Another 2 months and he'll go for C. He loves the swimming and it is nice to watch.

Slow start

2011-09-15T14:09:00.003+02:00

The warp is on the loom and I'm weaving but it has been a very slow start. I made a threading mistake in the reed. When I started to weave I noticed a threading mistake in one of the heddles. Next, after weaving a bit, I noticed the sett was not right. I needed more weft than warp yarns. So I rethreaded from 6 to 7 per cm in the reed and I'm happy at last! Weaving is now square. I love weaving with this yarn. It's new to me, but it is lovely and soft and shiny. The colours used here are darkteal and greyteal.

The draft is simple, but in combination with the yarn, I think it's just right.
Hopefully the rest of this warp will be without any hiccups.

Lots of other things are going wrong. Washing machine broke down, printer has stopped working. What next? Together with the sombre weather we are having, not a very good time just now.
Better go back to some more weaving.

##

2011-09-07T17:05:00.002+02:00

Today would have been DH's birthday. Strange day, the first without him being here.
Youngest daughter here tonight, I'll cook them a nice meal :-)
New warp is made but no energy to get it on the loom. Tomorrow is another day.
I'm using a new to me yarn of 50/50 wool/Tencel from WEBS.
It feels lovely and soft and the shine of Tencel is coming through, so hopefully it will make a nice scarf.

This is what I plan to weave in a 3/1 and 1/3 block twill design with 2 colours green.

Above the threading of the block twill with extra plain weave at the edges and below the tie-up in detail

Done

2011-09-03T20:12:00.001+02:00

The warp is finished, washed and hemmed. Ready for showing.

I managed to weave 2 towels with a linen weft weaving a satin (below left) and an Oelsner pattern (below right).

1 using warp yarn as weft in tabby (below left)

and 1 using a cotton chenille yarn (above right) weaving satin again.
When finishing, I noticed that the linen satin towel has weaving mistakes that are beyond repairing, so it will have to stay as it is.

I like the Oelsner patterned towel best.

It is Oelsner pattern 813, or pattern 8980 at Handweaving.net.
May be I'll make some more similar like that at a later date. It has no distinct front or back like the satin towels in linen and cotton chenille and it feels nice.
I also like the warp/linen combination. I'm not so keen on the all cotton (weft like warp) towel. It just feels different. The cotton chenille one is nice for drying hands, it feels very soft.

I'm recovering from a starting lung infection, I was early catching it but it does take it out of you and the coughing is still going on and I'm told it could be 4 weeks to get over that.
I think my next warp will be a scarf that I want to make for someone as a thank you for visiting my father on a regular basis. I had thought of giving the coloured/white silk/Tencel scarf but I don't think it will do her any good colour-wise. So, I'll make a woollen one. Have to think of pattern and colour first though. May be a 2-tone green.

Another young weaver

2011-08-15T20:11:00.006+02:00

At the moment my 4 year old granddaughter is staying with me. She also wanted to weave a scarf and I'm surprised that she is managing very well!

I've tried to make a video of her, it looks like it is successful to upload.
It is as well that the loom and warp are strong when you watch her weaving!

Here a photo of her weaving, she managed almost 19cm today. It's the same warp as her brother but she wants to weave with pink.......

Not sure if she will be able to finish the whole scarf this week. Next week she'll have to go back to school so at the latest she is going back home on Saturday.
Giving her mummy a well earned break, as it can be very demanding, a 4 year old around you ;-)
But we are having a lovely time together, though today started very early, 4:30 :-(
Luckily I did get her to go back to sleep again....

My own weaving: I'm still weaving the last warp and now weaving the 4th and last towel.
I've been so busy these last few days that I just collapse in the evenings not doing any weaving at all ;-)

Magic in the Water

2011-08-12T00:36:00.001+02:00

Today in the post came my own copy of Magic in the Water by Laura Fry. I had seen a copy 2 years ago from the library in England so I knew what it was like and just wanted my own copy before it was to late. The full versions are sold out now, just some available now with not all the samples in. But Laura is also working towards a pdf version of the book. So, the information will still be available, but without the real samples.
As a bonus I also received a lovely towel. It is made with 50% cotton and 50% linen.

and here a detail

That was a lovely surprise to receive with the book.

Summer School

2011-08-07T20:10:00.004+02:00

Today I was going to travel to Edinburgh to Summer School. I was booked in to the Digital Photography course. But I cancelled as I wanted to be near my family for special reasons.
It would have been lovely to get back to Edinburgh, the city where we married in 1969 and also meet up with friends. But hopefully I'll be able to get to Complex Weavers next year. Never been to USA.
Family comes first and I'm happy to have made the choice to stay at home. I took my grandson back yesterday, and the house feels empty after having had him here for 10 days but on Wednesday his sister is coming. I just have a few days to recharge my batteries. ;-) School starts on the 22nd so she will have to get back home before than.

Weaving is going slow, but the end of the warp is in sight. I will plan a cheery new warp after this. But this warp was all about just being able to weave without thinking much. I'll be lucky if I get 4 towels out of this warp. Probably made the first 2 a bit longer than I planned. They have linen weft, I'm now weaving the 3rd with yarn from the warp.

Holiday almost over

2011-08-05T23:12:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow I'll take my grandson home again. First time he has been away from home for so long, 10 days. If it was up to him he would stay longer but I need a few days on my own and will have his sister later in the week. We'll see how long she wants to stay this time.
We went to the Zoo yesterday, that was a big hit. Lots to see and do.

He loves climbing, and this was quite high up

We will go back there again.
Today was weaving day as he wanted to finish his scarf. I think it is great that he managed so much for a first project. Have to see if it stays with just this one project or that more will follow in the future.

Here he is with the scarf just finished fringe twisting but not yet washed.

Here it is after washing and pressing.

And here a scan of the middle part. Not bad for a first weaving for a 6 year old!

He liked my finishing here, so I added one on his scarf and also found the "hand made" hand. That will be a surprise for him in the morning.
Today was also baking time

Nothing better than helping and licking

Young Weaver

2011-07-29T17:31:00.002+02:00

I have my 6 year old grandson staying with me. I asked him if he would like to do some weaving himself.
So, today we made a warp together and we got my first loom out for him to use.
The loom is now ready and he is weaving like he has done it many times before!

The colour of the warp and weft he choose himself.

Blue and red in the warp

and a multi coloured yarn as weft. All cotton.

Concentration

And after 15 minutes he has come this far and he is singing away whilst weaving.

Yesterday we went to the cinema. We saw Cars 2 in 3D. It was his first visit to the cinema as he usually sees DVD's at home. It was fun to see the film in 3D.

Cotton Warp

2011-07-15T21:17:00.001+02:00

Here is my new warp, it is a stripy cotton warp and I'll be weaving tea towels. Never done this before. I need to be doing something very simple for this moment as a lot is going on around me. It will be nice to just get into the rhythm of weaving this warp and think of nothing else.

The first towel will be woven with white linen in a satin weave.

It's an 8 shaft satin and the sides are on shaft 9&10.

I think I'll be able to weave 4 or 5 towels from this warp and I want to make them all different. I hope they'll make nice presents to give away.

Blue Bayou

2011-07-14T15:34:00.004+02:00

Today in the post I received a present to myself.

It's made by Sandra Rude and I'm very pleased with it. The photo shows it hanging in my bedroom. It will be really nice to see last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Sandra is showing the original photo here.

Above some details to show how this weaving is so different in parts.

My own weaving is slow at the moment through one thing and another. It has taken me over a week to warp and thread. Now threading the reed and hope to be able to start weaving tonight. Never woven tea towels and thought that this would be something easy and tranquil to do. A cotton warp on 10 shafts with a linen weft.

Proud Granny

2011-07-12T22:09:00.001+02:00

Last Sunday Syb swam for his first Diploma A. Of course I had to be there and watch him!

And here he is

End of September he'll go for Diploma B.
Oh, and it's his birthday today!

After some nice sunny days it looks like it has turned into Autumn, lots of wind and rain at the moment.

Finished

2011-06-24T17:48:00.002+02:00

The Shibori scarves are done now and I'm really happy and I'm sure I'll do some more later.

The 2nd scarf was a bit short, I left the fringe on one side long, no warp waste and a longer scarf. You can see the wavy pattern in the 2nd scarf and I'm happy how the colours have come out. You might spot a lighter patch in the fringe. I had unknowingly left a warp knot in when I was dyeing.

More Shibori

2011-06-21T18:58:00.000+02:00

I wove up the warp with another Woven Shibori, this time adapting the pattern to just one repeat and 4 plain weave in between the pattern thread. It's not fully dried yet, so I cannot pull it open to see how the pattern is on the inside but I think that the intended pattern shows up better overall this time.
I also died the woven scarf first in a turquoise bath and only then pulled the pattern thread tight and died again in a darker colour, a mix of 20% red and 80% turquoise.

Here the woven scarf from the loom and after the first dye bath.

Close up of the woven cloth with clearly the pattern thread visible.

Almost finished with pulling the pattern threads.

Scarf after second dye bath, not yet dry.

Scan of the scarf, I like the colours together. Just have to wait a while before I can have a look "inside" the scarf when it is fully dried. But I like it as it is.
Lesson learned, not to start to complex.
My first trial there was to much going on and no clear pattern is seen there after weaving, though the scarf is ok and looks nice. Just not what I had in mind when I wove it.

Empty loom again, so have to think of the next warp.

This date used to be a special date, now no longer. Weird.

Dyeing the Woven Shibori

2011-06-18T16:53:00.003+02:00

Last night I dyed the woven Shibori. It took a long time for the cloth to dry and you are supposed to wait with taking the pattern threads out until it is dry. Well, I speeded the drying up a bit by putting it in the dryer, but I did not want to use to much heat here. I even put the heating on for a while so that I could use the radiator for drying :-) I'm happy with the result, though difficult to see the network pattern in it. You can see differences but that is all.
Now, showing the result is quite a challenge as you need to spread it open to see what has happened. Scanning is what is needed.

Here is the warp after drying but with the pattern theads still in

Here a close up, with the pattern threads still in

Here, after taking out the pattern threads

This is what's left of the pattern threads......

Here a scan of part of the scarf, where I spread the cloth out for the pattern to be seen

Here a scan of all of it but not spread out, so the pattern that comes with the dyeing is not clearly seen.
I still have some warp left on the loom, I will do a bit of sampling with what is left over now. I had woven 3 plain weave rows overall in between the pattern rows, may be I should do a bit of experimenting with this and see what happens. I would like to see the network pattern back after the dyeing.

Woven Shibori

2011-06-16T21:32:00.000+02:00

My local Guild held an outdoor day today. Our last meeting before the Summer and holiday season. We were going to dye our woven Shibori. But it rained all day, so no dyeing done but we had a good time together. This is the first time that the weather was against us on our outdoor day.
I made a warp with 8/2 Tencel and used all 24 shafts on the Magic Dobby on a network draft.
On the left is how the woven warp came of the loom and on the right it shows how it looked after I drew the pattern weft yarn tight. For the pattern I used a polyester yarn that I bought at my local store, it's really a strong sewing thread. I was able to really pull hard, only once did the threads brake when pulling. I left it and hope that it will hold ok between the other threads. I'll find out after dyeing.

Here is a close up of the cloth, and you can see the thin pattern threads on top. I wove 3 rows of plain weave in between the pattern thread.

Here a start with tightening the pattern threads.

Here the whole warp with all the pattern threads tightened up.

Here a close up of this.
This warp is now soaking in the water and I will dye it tomorrow by myself with Procion.
It is the first time that I have woven a Shibori and I'm keen to see the result after dyeing.

Here is the draft of the warp. You can just about see the difference in the treadling. I just used the colour to make a difference between these treadlings and between the plain weave (blue) and the pattern weave.

Warm weather

2011-06-04T19:29:00.002+02:00

What do you do when it is hot outside (30C+) and want to cool down?

This and that, reflecting time

2011-06-03T21:23:00.003+02:00

It is so nice to get positive feedback. I'm very much up and down, lately a bit more down than up. So encouraging words really do help. Thank you all who have given me feedback.
And my granddaughter's reaction on the photo says it all. That is what keeps me going. Skyping with the grandchildren is also really lovely. Blowing kisses and giving a cyber hugh.

This month OnLineGuild workshop is by Isabella Whitworth: notebooks. I'm really looking forward to this and intend to take part and get the creative juices flowing again. You can only take part in the OLG workshops by being a member. Members do get The Journal each quarter and if you want to take part in Summer School, you are entitled to the special Guild rate.
There have been some great OLG workshops already this year but I have not managed to take part in any yet. The beauty of these workshops is that you can always do it at another time, when it suits you better. But that does need some discipline...... Doing it at the time they are given you get feedback when you post about your experiences. You can still post at a later date if you want, but that is different.
And talking about Summer School, I have enrolled at the last minute and will take part in the Digital Photography Course. David had a lovely camera and I want to be able to use it well. Also, we were married just around the corner from where Summer School is being held. So, it will be nice to revisit and look back, reflect AND go forward.

Happy granddaughter

2011-05-31T20:05:00.001+02:00

Something completely different

2011-05-29T01:29:00.001+02:00

It was my granddaughter's 4th birthday this week and I decided I wanted to make her a dress. I'm not sure how it will fit but I will find out later today. :-)
This was the pattern

And this is what I made

It is like a double dress as I made the lining with the "opposite" material, but it can only be worn one way.

I glued some applications on with special sheeting that you cut just a bit larger than the application and iron it on with paper on top and the access is left on the paper. Worked a treat.

The pattern was bow ties at the back but I put a zip in and one button.

Now, will she like it? And will it fit? Well, it is pink, she loves pinks and purples.

Young Designers

2011-05-28T21:35:00.003+02:00

Today I went to the Friends Day of The Textile Museum in Tilburg.
Once a year all the Friends are invited for a special day.
This year, like last year, they had 4 young designers who graduated at the Eindhoven Design Academy presenting themselves. It was very inspiring.

First was Michelle Baggerman. When she looked at her growing stash of plastic shopping bags she began to look into a way to re-use them. Also she looked at what happened to these shopping bags, ending in waste fills and recycling units. But she discovered that even the recycling was very damaging to the environment. So, her mission is to find a way to re-use these bags. We all seem to keep quite a few and have a stash growing. Anyway, she started to cut the bags into strips and spin with a spindle into a thread. These threads were very strong so she was able to make a warp with them and wove a cloth from 20 shopping bags from one big supermarket. By spinning the strip the loud advertisements on the bags were no longer visible, she ended up with a pale coloured cloth. By using the same brand bags she was able to create a uniform cloth. The spun yarn was very thin as the plastic was stretching a lot.
She had quite a variety of coloured yarns on show by using different bags. She is still very much into researching how she could use this into a larger scale project as it is all very time consuming by hand.

The second was Borre Akkersdijk. Now, he really inspired me. He intended to go into interior design but he said he always ends up into fashion. He has been researching a way to weave or knit a cloth that is not only layered but could be made up into clothing. By designing it so, that it can be made up ready for cutting without needing a pattern. The pattern is woven or knit in. I think he will go a long way. He had my vote. (after all 4 presentations we could cast our vote who should get the Friends price of €1000.) Do have a look at his website.

After a short brake we had number three Anique Noordman. Her graduation project was A tuft of hair. She has been looking into ways of designing carpets inspired by hair treatment in African culture. Some very interesting results were on show.

Last was Niek Pulles. This again was so inspiring. He used film for his graduation project to show his fabrics, what an idea. He makes prints onto lycra. By using screen print, the result is never the same. But he has also been lasering or burning the fabric. I'm sure sport and dance will be interested in his ideas for fabric.

The €1000 price went to Michelle. I think her idea was the safest idea, the others needed more courage to vote for.
All in all an enjoyable afternoon. For next year's Friends Day they will invite more young designers. I think it is a great idea.

The Museum has a Textile Lab. Here designers, artists and students can use 7 different techniques to develop ideas they have. Some projects can be realised in the Lab but bigger projects will go onto industry to be realised after first being developed in the Lab. It is a great way to interact but also to generate an income for the Museum.

Current exhibition was of 3 project developed at the Lab. Enjoyable and interesting.

Colour and Magic

2011-05-20T14:45:00.003+02:00

Yesterday I went for a walk with a friend here.
It drizzled but under the huge trees we kept mostly dry.

We had lunch here, a delicious fresh asparagus salad. Thanks Yolande! Outside De Serre we found these poppies

So much colour

and the feel of magic

even found this

Zoo time

2011-05-11T22:46:00.000+02:00

Today I took my granddaughter to the Zoo
We had a great day out, the weather was just right for this activity.
Long time since I had been to a Zoo and I did enjoy this one and so did she.

Another day out

2011-05-10T23:00:00.000+02:00

After visiting De Haar, we had another outing, this time to the seaside as he had not been there before.

We went to the same place as I took his sister towards the end of March.
At the end of the day we went out eating pancakes in a very special place.

He is back home now and his sister is staying here again this week.

The weather has been lovely but yesterday we had our first very welcome rain again since a while. The garden is very dry.

Due to nice weather and all these visits, no textile news as yet.

Joyful day

2011-05-01T22:36:00.000+02:00

Today we went to visit this place

They do special guide tours for children, we had a most enjoyable afternoon together.

Spring is in the air

2011-04-30T21:41:00.003+02:00

The weather has been so nice these last few weeks though this week we had the first rain for quite some time. But it is still warmer than it would normally be this time of year.

Today I had the grand-children here and grandson is staying on for a few days.
I had fun with my grand-daughter making her a flower chain for her hair.
I was hoping to go and see the fireworks with him tonight (official Queens birthday here today) but he is fast asleep. Another time.
No news on the weaving as I've been enjoying the sunshine.
And the next few days I'll be going out and about with my grandson.

Above some scans put together of different parts of my last warp after washing and pressing.

Weaving finished

2011-04-18T19:52:00.003+02:00

My first warp woven with the electronic dobby is finished.

I now have 5,5 meters by about 28cm wide (before washing) and I hope to make a jacket out of it, may be with some knitted parts added if I come short.

I'm really pleased with the result. The cloth feels really nice.
The warp was weaving up very well. When you think mohair, you might think sticking yarn but I think I got the sett correctly and I had very little problem with stickiness of the yarn.
I did run out of the weft yarn but had more yarn from the warp left over.
The main weft colour is dark grey with stripes of purple in it (colour from the warp), about 50 cm with just purple and the last 60 cm is light grey from the warp. All in all it will be a challenge to make something out of this. I have plenty of the light grey left for knitting if this is needed.

Weaving with the electronic dobby will need some more practise. Specially when I'm either beaming up or finding more weft yarn, jobs that might take more than 60 seconds. That is the time that it goes in a kind of sleep mode. I will read up about it to find out how to go about this. Have to find out if it is the program doing this or the interface. At the moment I find that the interface is getting confused and not lifting the correct shafts after that. I do get it going again but I'm sure there must be a way to do this.

It's lovely sunshine (with warmer than normal temperature for this time of year) here at the moment, so the outside is calling and weaving might get a back-seat just now.

Weaving

2011-04-15T00:50:00.000+02:00

The weaving is going well. Last night I had to get used to unweaving with the electronic dobby but I've figured it out and it is easy once you know. This warp is weaving up very easy, the sticking is not to bad at all. I do however have to keep a look out that all the correct shafts are lifted. It keeps you involved with the weaving and not let the computer do the thinking for you. But most of the time the correct shafts are lifted.
This is how the weaving looks so far

And a close up

I'm weaving with grey yarn as weft but for a short bit I mixed with the purple yarn that is in the warp. I do not have much left of this so will just add a few patches like this in the rest of the weaving.

And a close up

I was going to weave 2 scarves but now that I'm seeing the result of the weaving I like it better for a vest or jacket. I'll see when it is finished. I've woven about 1,5 meters of the 5+ meter warp.

It's working!

2011-04-13T22:17:00.000+02:00

This afternoon I went to Louet with my computer and interface. Joost, who looks after the computer side at Louet in Holland, started up the computer and next the interface. No joy, like what I got myself. He looked at different options and next changed the USB cable. Still no change. Next he used a computer from Louet and still the same problem, no communication. The problem was the interface. It was my lucky day as they had received a new batch in that day! Connecting up to a different interface, problem was solved. They were now talking together!
So, I'm weaving at last with the electronic dobby.

I'm sure I'll have a lot to learn how it all works but for now I can weave the chosen pattern.

It might be quite a challenge in itself to weave with the mohair but I do get a good shed and I'm able to open the sticking warp threads easily. It only slows the weaving down a bit probably.
But I'm a very happy girl tonight and very grateful to Louet and Joost for having resolved the problem. It must have been damaged during transport as Joost tested the interface before it was sent out to me.

Whilst at Louet, I was able to have a look at the production side. That was very interesting to see all.
Apart from the weaving and spinning side they also make bespoke kitchens and bathrooms.

Weekend

2011-04-10T19:55:00.002+02:00

The grandchildren were here this weekend. Their parents went away for a short holiday brake.
The kids enjoyed themselves in the garden

But they have gone home again now.
It's lovely and sunny weather here at the moment. Lots of colour in the garden.
One more day, than the forecast is a change of weather. It has been very dry, so the garden would like some rain probably.

Still struggling with my Magic Dobby but I'm going over to Louet on Wednesday and hopefully all will be working after that visit. The problem is between the computer and the Interface, they do not talk together.
I'm sure the long wait will be worth it in the end.

Spring

2011-03-29T16:38:00.002+02:00

We are having lovely sunshine these last few days and it really is giving the idea that Spring is arriving. Nights are still cold but with the clock having gone to Summer Time (clock gone forward one hour) the light in the evening is longer so enjoying the sun even longer in the garden.
It was lovely to have my granddaughter here, as I surely miss my DH as we loved to chill out in the garden. She is back home now though but it was lovely whilst it lasted.

Felting and more

2011-03-29T00:49:00.001+02:00

The weekend before last, I did the picture felting workshop with Helen Melvin at De Spinners. In total there were 4 workshops going on that weekend. Saturday evening we ate Japanese together, it was a really nice meal. I had never eaten Japanese.
For the felting workshop we were given a bag full of natural died wool and yarns + a photo. The wool and yarn colours were taken from the photo. First we felted a small piece of felt. Next we felted the bigger piece in the colours of the photo. Best was to take just a small part of the photo as inspiration for the felting. This was all wet felting, the next day we were going to use the sewing machine to get it all together. The small piece we made was to get used to using the sewing machine for this. I managed to do some but the thread kept braking so in the end I gave up and used the embellisher machine to get the bigger felted piece together. I'm still hoping to use my sewing machine to give the finishing touch to it all but I had great fun using the embellisher. I had not used one myself before.

My Magic Dobby is still not working. I phoned with Louet and they were very helpful and I tried out what they advised but still no luck so I will phone Louet again this week and hope to get to the bottom of the problem. I cannot get my computer to talk to the interface. I really miss my computer goeroe next to me.

The warp is rewound and ready for weaving. Problem was the Louet raddle being to narrow with the half centimetre division for the mohair yarn and in the end I used my own raddle (made by my father years ago when he could still see) and that worked fine for this type of yarn.

I'm planning to weave a network draft taken from Thrilling Twills from Fiberworks, I've had to delete some threads from the design as my warp did not have enough threads to weave the original. But I'm happy with it.

I had some distraction this weekend as my granddaughter came to stay with me unexpectedly. Today we went to the seaside as she had not been before. Still to cold to bath but we have been looking at shells and had great fun together. Tomorrow she is going back home again.

She is not yet 4 and she really enjoyed herself in the sun. Is it not lovely to be young? Her older brother will come at Easter and I'll take him also to the seaside as he too has not been before and he loves shells and stones.

This, that and the other

2011-03-18T00:13:00.001+01:00

My dobby loom is not yet working. Not sure what I'm not doing correctly or if it is the interface itself. I'm very much missing my computer buddy now. Also still have to re-wind the warp.

For the moment I'm concentrating on other things. I'm having guests this weekend arriving tomorrow from England, we'll be going to a 2-day workshop this weekend in The Hague.

Always great fun these English teaching workshops at De Spinners.
I'm going to do the felting workshop given by Helen.
Monday/Tuesday will be sightseeing days with another friend who is also coming over for the workshop but staying over in The Hague.
So Wednesday is the earliest I can start sorting out the dobby loom.

We have had some lovely sunny days this week. A real feeling of Spring is in the air. The garden is calling too, I've done a bit of tidying up today. Not all my lavender plants were cut last Autumn so that is a job still to be done.

Also took most of my father's clothes to charity today together with a few things from David. Taking small steps at a time.

Celebration of life

2011-03-08T23:33:00.001+01:00

Today was my father's cremation. So much to sort beforehand. Up until this morning I was listening to music for this afternoon. All went well and I was able to say whatever I was going to say.

It is all so final.
When my husband died, I found out that you could go all the way to the oven at the crematorium. This was such a help for me to be able to do that. So, with my father I wanted to do the same. It was a different crematorium, so all was different but we were able to go to the oven again.
If you ever go to a cremation, I highly recommend you try and go as far as the oven. It is only for the close family but it really brings things to an end.
I have tried to make it a celebration of life rather than doom and gloom.
We finished with this music.
It was his own wish to have this music played. He loved that film.
So many people said afterwards that this music made all the difference to it all.
Tomorrow I have some legal things to sort out, but afterwards I can start to sort out my Magic Dobby loom with the new interface. Watch this space.......

Magic Dobby

2011-03-03T16:14:00.001+01:00

Today the interface arrived from Louet!

It will have to wait until after the cremation on Tuesday for installation but it will be something to look forward to. By that time I hope to have the Silver Plus update for PCW.
I have a small 10" laptop that I'll use for operating the loom.
I have warped the loom with this warp but the tension was not even everywhere so a friend will come and help me to redo the warping. The uneven tension is because of the Louet raddle. To keep the threads in place I used an elastic band but as the warp is mohair it has been pulling in some places giving the uneven tension. The previous warps were silk and Tencel, so smooth, and that went ok doing it this way. Just did not think what I was doing at the time (my thoughts where elsewhere...). A good learning curve. Next time I have a woolly warp like this, I will not use an elastic band but may be use tape on top of the raddle to keep the threads in place.

The sun is shining, temperature not yet high, but what a difference the sun makes. Spring at last?

100 years and 47 days

2011-02-28T23:22:00.008+01:00

Today it's the end of an era, my father is no longer with us.
I'll miss him very much but he is at peace now.
Grateful to have been with him right to the end.
Here an old picture of him age 86, taken in 1997 in his beloved garden when he could still see.
Happy memories will stay.
I also have the items he made for me for my weaving like the reed holder, a warping frame and a raddle. I still use them all.
He has always been an outdoor man, as he used to be a fruit grower with mainly apple orchards and some pears and plums. May be this was his secret of living such a long life......

Memories

2011-02-25T19:55:00.001+01:00

Life can be hard. My father is struggling in his last days. Very sad to see this.
Here a picture of happier times, less than 60 years ago!

I'm away from home a lot now but when at home I've made a warp for the Magic Dobby.
It is mohair and I hope to get it on the loom asap

I've not decided yet how many shafts I'll use, but I was thinking to weave a network with a darker grey as weft. The repeat cannot be more than 30 as that is the amount of bars I have. No idea when the interface will be available for my Magic Dobby but with all that is going on around me I would not have the energy to get the interface installed anyway.
I just need to get the warp on quickly so that I can start weaving when at home.

Nature

2011-02-18T20:10:00.002+01:00

Today I made some photos whilst out on a walk. I walk in a newly planted wood and it is fascinating to see what grows there.

And a close up of the above

We have had some lovely sunny days the last few days but today was cold and dull but at least it was dry.
I've had another week of flu symptoms so it was nice to be able to get out again.

My scarf was finished last night. Quite fiddly to get the part mended with the broken warp threads.
I unpicked about 1cm so that I was able to secure the loose ends between the fringes. I left those to the last to do as I had to add quite a few threads to make up for all the broken ones. But I'm pleased with the result.
I took a few photos but not enough to show what I did.

Here the white scarf next to the black. They look so totally different, but the only difference is the black and white yarn. The coloured silk yarn in the black scarf was woven 3/1 twill and in the white scarf this was woven 2/2 twill, the black and white yarn was tabby woven. And I made the warp in a slightly different way so the colours are not as neat together as in the black scarf. But I think the end result is fine.

Here you can clearly see all the broken threads. This is after I unpicked 1cm of weaving.
10 from the 30 threads here were gone. What I did was repair in pairs so that I could start with one thread, weave it through the cloth with a needle and the other end of the thread was the 2nd thread. repeating this another 4 times making in total 10 threads. On the other side were 6 threads missing.

And here the end result after mending. The short ends are twisted into the fringes.
It was just so fiddly that I forgot to photograph what I was doing. So only have the before and after photo.

My loom has been empty now for the last week. High time to get another warp on the go. Will it be more about techniques or shall I make another scarf? At the moment I need some weaving that will not need a lot of thought like getting more into a technique so probably I'll get another scarf on the go. My father is not to well, will have to see how things go with him. Hence the need for a relaxing weaving and lots of walks next to visiting.

Problems

2011-02-01T21:41:00.000+01:00

The weaving was going well until today and is almost finished

but now the warp threads at both sides are braking one after the other.

This is not funny any more, so I might cut it of now and hoping that the scarf is long enough. I think it is but will only know for sure when I unwind the woven cloth. I have another 40cm of warp left that I could have woven. But not with so many threads braking. I think this yarn has a very loose twist and that this is giving the problem now. The sett at the side is a bit tighter than the rest of the Tencel yarn giving a nice edge to the scarf. This worked on the silk/black Tencel scarf and it did work on this one too, up to now.

Surprise

2011-01-29T11:54:00.004+01:00

Last night my youngest daughter took me to this fashion show. It is Amsterdam International Fashion Week this week but this show was in Eindhoven, just to be different. It was interesting to see a show close up but shocking to see how thin most of these 10 models were. The setting of the show was in the fabrication hall of Piet Hein Eek, really good. With life music and the 3 musicians in overalls as if they were part of the hall.

MLY is mainly knitted fashion though some was woven. I liked most what I saw, and some I would not mind wearing myself.
Very inspiring to see it all.
It was lovely to be taken out and very special to this venue. She works for one of the sponsors, so the treat was on them really.

Before and after finishing

2011-01-26T11:42:00.002+01:00

I cut my sample from the loom

and washed and pressed it

What a lovely difference. The Tencel has gone soft now and again a lovely drape like the black scarf.
Not so sure if I like the pink thread on the edges. It looked better with the black. To late to change that now, when the scarf is finished it might look different.

From black to white with coloured yarn

2011-01-25T20:16:00.002+01:00

My silk/Tencel scarf is finished and it is as I thought it would be.
Lovely and bright in combination with the black.
It drapes well too after wet finishing and pressing.

So, on to the next project, the same silk yarn together with white Tencel.
I made my warp "in the round" again like I did with the last scarf. Not from left to right and back again but just going in a circle and when finished warping, cutting the warp.
This time though I just went in the round but did not check to keep the colour together as well as I did with the previous one.
So, the effect is that the colours are more mixed this time but I think the end result will be ok.

With the black I wove the coloured silk in a 3/1 twill. This time I'm weaving 2/2 twill so that both side will be the same. Not sure how I like the combination with the white Tencel. So, I'm weaving a sample first and see how it will come out when wet finished and pressed.

Here a photo of the first bit of weaving.

And here a photo of the warp where you can see that the colours are more mixed than on the previous warp, specially in the centre.

I've added a new lamp to the loom, a daylight lamp. It makes all the difference. It flexes at 2 points (just above the clamp and in the bend in the middle) so that you can have the light where you want it.

Only problem was that the loom frame was wider than the clamp on the lamp but by using the hole for the beam (that I don't use as I have the loom stand where the beams are on) I'm able to fix the light to the loom.

Above photo shows the clamp in the beam hole on the outside of the loom frame and below it shows the inside of the loom frame.

The light was also useful when I was unpicking the previous scarf where I had made a weaving mistake.

Network Drafting workshop September 2010

2011-01-20T21:30:00.002+01:00

In September I went to the Network Drafting workshop by Alice Schlein at Devon Weaving Workshop.
My sample was almost a scarf and I've just finished and washed the sample. It is a short scarf (about 1m long) but I'll be happy to wear it as a happy memory of our last holiday together.
Usually I would weave a different thread between samples but here I just wove on and put a short thread at the side to know that I moved on to the next sample. That's how it could become a scarf and not another sample to put away in a binder. In place of the threads I have put some small beads (at the side) and also added some beads between the fringes.

The numbers refer to the samples. I put the drafts together in one photo

It shows very subtle the differences in the samples. It was great fun to design the different samples.
To find out more about designing Network Drafting you will have to read Alice's book .
I bought the book myself this way as a pdf file and printed it out and had it binded. I hope to get back to this technique very soon, on my Magic Dobby!

My last scarf cut of the loom this week is now drying. Will next wind a new warp with the same silk yarn together with white Tencel yarn.

1st weaving on Magic Dobby finished

2011-01-16T21:37:00.000+01:00

The scarf is woven, now it needs finishing.
It is long enough for the mistake to be undone, so may be I'll do that. It depends on how easy it is to unpick the weft yarn. The mistakes are at the very beginning.

Here a photo of both sides. I note that the centre colour stripe is blue on both sides. Just the way it came out, not planned.
I've enjoyed the weaving, it was not complicated to weave, but the result is very likeable.
I'm very happy with the loom.Though I'll have to watch that the right amount of shafts are lifted.
I wonder how that will go once I have the interface box, in place of the pegs and bars. I'm hoping that this will come next month.
I have more of the self dyed silk yarn, so I'm planning one more scarf like this but than with white. I'm sure that will be less striking than with the black. But I want to make it a gift and I think it will suit that person better.

Weaving at last

2011-01-15T21:27:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I started weaving this first warp on my new Magic Dobby.
Oh, after some time I discovered 2 mistakes. I've not gone back to undo but now I watch every time that the correct amount of shafts are lifted and not more than the 7 needed.
I suppose a learning curve to get to know my new loom.....

Is it not colourful to look at?

In the next photos are the mistakes visible.
The first shows the front with the longer warp floats over 6 rather than 3 threads.

The last shows the back with 2 longer weft float.

Centenary

2011-01-12T18:47:00.001+01:00

Today, my father is 100!!

So, it was party time with family and friends.

His eldest sister was nearly 101 when she died, so he is the second to reach this milestone in the family.
He cannot see much any more so the little ones had made a drawing with 100 that he could "feel".
He copes very well with his handicap by listening to spoken word (books, magazines and papers) and radio, he keeps up to date this way with all that is going on around him.

Re-threaded and ready for weaving

2011-01-12T00:39:00.000+01:00

I've done it. Took all the threads out and started again threading the heddles on a total of 10 shafts this time!
First I folded the front up again so that I had easy access to the heddles.

I'm using a reed 4 (4 openings per cm) and had worked out how many threads per opening beforehand. I used this schedule when re-threading, bundling the correct threads together for each opening after I had threaded the heddles.

Next, I bundled 6 bundles together, they would be the correct amount once threaded through the reed for tie-on to the loom.

I threaded the black yarn on shaft 1+2 and the coloured yarn on 3 to 10 straight through. To not make a mistake I count out heddles in groups like this:

It all went very well and quick.
Once it was all threaded through the heddles, I could pick up the bundles that I had made and started to thread through the reed.

Once it is all threaded through, I untie each bundle and make sure that each thread is the same length by pulling the bundle and than make a loop at the bottom of the bundle. I go through each bundle like that.
All I had to do now was to tie-on to the loom.
I use a very strong piece of yarn, about 6x the width of the weaving.

I start by tying this onto the loom and next to thread through the first bundle

and the next

When they are all done, you keep on adjusting the tension until they are all the same and tie the end piece fast on so that it will not loosen up again.

I'm now ready to start weaving, but that will have to wait until another day.

First something to celebrate, more on that next time.

Mistake in threading

2011-01-10T13:05:00.001+01:00

At last I'm feeling like weaving again and have tied the warp onto the beam.
Next thing was to put the pegs in for weaving, than disaster struck!
What had I been thinking when threading the heddles!
I have a tabby for the black threads on shaft 1+2 and a 3-1 twill for the coloured silk BUT I threaded the coloured threads over 6 shafts on 3 to 8 !!! So, now I cannot weave a 3-1 twill.

I used more shafts as I did not have enough heddles on shaft 3 to 6. I should have extended with 4 more shafts rather than just the 2, using 3 to 10.

This happens when you start a job like this when you have flu coming on.
So, the only option is to re-thread the heddles if I want to weave 3-1 twill and that is what I want to weave.
Better start quickly.........

A New Year

2011-01-09T17:27:00.001+01:00

2010 has come to an end. Is as well that we do not know what is in store for us. One year ago I would not have thought I would be on my own now, a year later.
The flu really knocked me out these last few weeks. I'm slowly recovering and hope to be my old self again very soon.

2011 will bring new chances and I will make the most of it.

Flu

2010-12-27T19:29:00.002+01:00

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

2010-12-19T13:03:00.003+01:00

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....

2010-12-16T22:04:00.004+01:00

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

2010-12-12T22:54:00.002+01:00

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

2010-12-03T15:51:00.000+01:00

Last Monday the first snow arrived here this Winter.

The grandchildren are enjoying themselves!

Old = New

2010-11-18T20:54:00.006+01:00

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

2010-11-15T15:30:00.000+01:00

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

2010-10-27T12:29:00.005+02:00

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

2010-10-19T17:41:00.006+02:00

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

2010-10-14T05:53:00.001+02:00

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

2010-10-06T16:15:00.001+02:00

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

2010-09-13T14:36:00.000+02:00

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

2010-09-12T21:09:00.002+02:00

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

2010-09-09T22:56:00.001+02:00

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

2010-09-04T22:14:00.004+02:00

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

2010-08-23T18:59:00.003+02:00

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.

Another sample of curves

2010-07-27T22:58:00.004+02:00

I'm still playing with my warp. I like to share one sample showing the difference in treadling in the same tie-up.

Here is the draft made in Fiberworks. I've added numbers 1 to 4 in so that I can show the different parts of this sample in photos below. Numbers 1 and 3 are their opposites, number 1 is woven from 1 to 24 (to the right) and number 3 is woven from 24 to 1 (to the left).
Numbers 2 and 4 are woven zigzag.
Number 2 is a zigzag from left to right and back again (24 to 1 to 24 to 1) but in number 4 the zigzags goes halfway, turning at 12.
I hope the drawing makes it easier to understand.
I like how part 4 has come out.

This is the woven sample, number 1 at bottom and 4 at the top. And I've cut them in parts to better show the differences (I hope)

Part 1 and 3:

Part 2 and 4:

The last photo is part 4, where the zigzag went halfway (or broken) like this:

You can see that the figures are different from part 3 where the zigzag went from left to right and back again like this:

The tie-up looks like this:

It is fun to discover that you can have long floats in the weaving and that it is ok! I still have some warp left to go on playing.

Some more weaving.... this time curves

2010-07-17T20:15:00.001+02:00

Now, when was it that I last was weaving I wonder.
I still have more of this warp on the loom. Since that post I have woven more samples, one I like is this one:

It was a long pattern to weave and I was short of the peg bars, so I just changed the pegs after 40 wefts. I think I had to change about 7 times to get the above woven. But I wanted to see how this design came out in weaving.

But now I'm weaving curves! Before today I just could not get the design right, far to long the floats were, but today it just went fine. Hurray!

First I used the same weft yarn that I have been using with this warp so far, very much the same thickness as the warp. Next, I used a much thinner yarn, and last a cotton chenille yarn that is much thicker than the warp yarn. Here is the sample with a repeat of 3 for each weft yarn:

And the back looks like this:

This last photo was guess work as I could not see what I was doing. But you can see the difference between front and back. Once the warp is of the loom there should be better pictures but I could not wait to see how the back looks.

Next on the list is play backwards and forward with the weft as I've now woven straight 1-24 times 3.
Something like this:

Blackbird (and cat)

2010-07-16T17:16:00.002+02:00

I came across this lovely blackbird made out of inner bicycle tubing.

Scruffy had to have a look too.

Handmade by someone, I really like this bird.

New Designers 2010

2010-07-08T14:23:00.000+02:00

Last Friday I went to New Designers in London. I had never been before and it was amazing to see so much young talent in one place. One thing that struck me was that Surface Design was very popular. As a weaver I was looking out for the weaving on show and was not disappointed. I did not have a lot of time to look around and it was very very hot there, so I might have missed part of it but what I saw was good. I saw most weaving at the stands of Farnham University for the Creative Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Loughborough University. Bradford HNC Fashion and Textiles Design students were also able to participate for the first time here, not setting a precedent for next year as there is not going to be a next year!! This very popular 2 year part time course has stopped mainly due to financing. It was nice to meet up with some of the students. At the Bradford BA stand I saw a familiar face. Graham was the technician in the weaving shed at Bradford when I went there for my HNC course, so very surprised to find him there as a BA (hons) Art & Design graduate, specialising in knitting and surface design. What a nice surprise and I really liked what he had made.
There is also a section at the show called "One Year On" and there was this amazing Jewellery Designer Victoria Walker. Do have a look at here work, it is so unusual, I'd love to own a piece. Another non textile designer that I liked was silversmith Niki Byrne. She does not have a website but I found two sites where she is mentioned.
All in all, a few hours well spent.

I was only in London for the weekend, spending 2 out of 3 days travelling with Eurostar. I must say I do prefer this to flying as you do not have all the hassle that flying entails these days.

Spinning Challenge

2010-06-24T21:13:00.000+02:00

With having shingles I did not feel like doing much but spinning in the garden was a good way of getting through part of the day. So that is what I did this week. I'm not a great spinner but I had a challenge that lasted 6 years....

The Online Guild has a spinning challenge each year and in 2004 this was North Ronaldsay. 6 years later and I have finished spinning my 500 grams. I have been spinning other fibres over the years, just left part of this 500 grams to be done. It has been a real challenge for me as I found it very short fibre to spin. I left the dark brown to last and half of this was very hairy and the end result is not soft at all like the rest of the spun yarn.

I now have 425 grams (about 1400 meters) of lovely soft yarn in 5 different colours (that is discarding the hairy brown skein at the bottom of the photo). So, my next challenge is to weave something with these yarns. I will not take another 6 years for this next stage ;-)
Luckily I feel a lot better than earlier this week.

Storks

2010-06-18T22:49:00.001+02:00

The neighbours of our hostess yesterday (Guild outdoor day) have a stork nest in their garden.

It was great to be able to see that so near by with the camera.

The beaks of the youngsters are black against the adult birds being red.

Guild outdoor day

2010-06-18T09:39:00.001+02:00

Yesterday we had our annual Guild outdoor day to finish before the holiday season. And as usual we had glorious weather. This time we have been felting. Only a small project as we were with 15 and you need space for felting. With the silk that I dyed we have made paper by laying out the silk on some wet net curtain (that itself lay on top of bubble wrap plastic with the bubbles down rather than up). When silk was layed out we put a gauze over (the type used for insect blinds) and than a wallpaper paste smoothed over to bind the silk together.

Next stage was to get the silk, together with the gauze, of the table and dry the silk with a hair dryer. This took some time to do.This was my paper silk when still wet.

After the silk was dry we cut out shapes to put on top of a layer of merino fleece. We each had a piece of about 30cm square of this fleece.
Here we are busy cutting out shapes. In the foreground you can see my first flower.

When the silk shapes were cut out we put a thin layer of wool fibres over the silk and the gauze over this again and next wetted the merino with warm water and soap and started the felting proces.

We had great fun and we ended up with this result together

My end piece looked like this

I might decide to make another piece and than have enough to make a small bag or something.
We had a great time together and after the felting we had our meal together. Everyone brought something to either eat or drink.

I was ready for bed when I came home as I'm suffering from shingles. Lucky only a few spots since this week (and how I found out that it is shingles) but the pain has been there for a few weeks now and I have not felt like doing much. This is the 2nd time for me to have shingles. Oh well, it will pass again. For the time being I will take it easy.

Lavender garden

2010-06-16T12:35:00.000+02:00

It is almost a year ago that I took this photo. And look how it looks now:

Not all the plants have survived, so there are some distinctive gaps but I will take my time to fill them in again.
All the different lavender plants are now showing up. Different flowers, colours, hight. The agapanthus plants survived but no flowers to be seen yet. May be they need to settle a year before they start to flower again.
I'm also pleased that the fig tree survived the cold weather that we have had this last winter.
But if it will have fruit? I'll find out soon enough.

Acid dyeing day

2010-06-03T21:17:00.000+02:00

I dyed some silk caps and fibre with acid dyes today.
We have our last Guild day before the Summer on the 17th and for that days activity we need some coloured silk. It was a lovely sunny day, so ideal for drying the dyed fibres outside.

I would have liked a bit more dark patches for contrast, but over all I'm pleased with the end result.
Back to weaving now.

Fun with twills

2010-06-01T20:07:00.003+02:00

It is fun playing with twills with so many shafts!

This loom I'm using has 40 bars but I'm only using 24 at the moment.

Here is a photo where I played about going from bar 1 to 24 vice-versa

But, when only using either the even or uneven bars you get this:

Now, is this fun or not?
As Cally already mentioned in her blog I'm using Bonnie Inouye's book Exploring Multishaft Design as a guide in PCW Fiberworks software for my designs.
Oh, I'm having fun here. Thanks Marian!!!

Weaving again

2010-05-27T21:16:00.001+02:00

Sometimes life gets in the way and not much happens.
I've not been weaving much since the beginning of April.
Just did not have the energy. But I'm on a detox since a week and feeling better already.
However, I have been busy lately for this. Very exited to have joined the team.

I'm very fortunate to having a Louet Magic Dobby on loan from my tutor, to find out if it would be a loom that I would like.
Warping the loom was so easy. Mind you it is only a narrow warp of about 20cm, but I've never so easily warped a loom by myself. I've used just one colour in the warp, threading straight 1 through 24 and as weft using a contrasting colour. All cotton about 8/2.
And now I'm playing with the peg bars weaving different samples just to get to know the loom.
Here are my first samples:

Museum visit

2010-05-06T21:55:00.003+02:00

Today, I made another visit to the Hermitage Amsterdam where the current exhibition is Matisse to Malevich. I had been in January when the Museum's first exhibition At the Russian Court was there with lots of dresses on show, that had been very special to see. This exhibition is totally different, I was blown away seeing all the beautiful paintings "in the flesh". Most paintings are from around the 1900-1915 period. I was fortunate to see the Dance as it is going back to Russia after the 9th. Here you can see a film showing how this painting has been transported from Russia to Amsterdam (scroll down to the bottom of this Dutch page). I think the painting is about 3m high and 5m wide or near enough. Another big painting was Kandinsky's composition VI, the colours, wonderful. Very stimulating to see art like this.

Next week I will make another museum visit, this time about fashion, here.
But first we will have our grandson here for a few days. Really looking forward to this, though not much time for weaving than. I'm still planning my next warp, but hoping to make progress soon.

Inkle weaving

2010-05-03T16:09:00.001+02:00

I've finished my first inkle weave band and I now have a strong coloured band of almost 2 meters.

So different from weaving cloth in so much that you really need to take care of the sides. I found that the band is not the same width overall, it will take practise to get it right but I did enjoy the weaving.

Therefore I will look into investing in an inkle loom in the near future as it is something I can do in between other weaving. Another thing I observed is that the yarn used needs to be strong as you need to pull quite hard after each new weft inlay. If you don't do this the pattern comes out different (looking longer). See middle photo above.

Here the band is still on the loom, almost finished. I was amazed how far I could weave to the end, ending up with very little warp waste.

Guild day

2010-04-24T22:45:00.001+02:00

Weaving has taken a backstep these last few weeks so I have been quiet.

But Spring has definitely arrived and the world is getting greener by the day. I love this time of year.

Yesterday we were going to weave with paper at our local Guild but plans had to change when the tutor could not make it. So we switched to Inkle weaving. I had not done this before. At Online Guild last year there was an Inkle weaving workshop but I had no loom to use. This time I was able to borrow one I'm now weaving my first braid using 8/2 cotton.

The photo's above you can see the colours of the warp. One mostly blue with one red thread and the other is mostly pale green with a red and a blue thread on each side.

Very simple but I like my "on the spot" design that I did when warping the Inkle loom yesterday. Changing some threads to get the colour changes.

Here the pattern is more visible but the colours are not as they are, they look a bit paler in the photos.

Small project on the sample warp

2010-04-08T21:12:00.003+02:00

After weaving lots of samples I made a scarf on the same warp. I had made a longer warp so that there would be enough to make a scarf and samples. I threaded the warp on 8 shafts so that I could make blocks in the scarf. The blocks are 1 cm wide and woven 3/1 and 1/3 alternating.

The scarf is wett finished and pressed.
A detailed photo here:

I was using my Leclerc Minerva loom and had lots of problems this time. Like the cord of the brake treadle snapping and the cord that connects the bar with the warpthreads on to the back beam also snapping. Not all the shafts were lifting as they should. I suppose that is getting familiar with the jackloom system.
Before I put on another warp on this loom I will go over the loom thoroughly so that the next warp will give less problems hopefully. Are there any other weavers reading this blog that are using a Minerva? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the loom.

The last samples looked like this using all 4 warp colours in the weft:

The finished samples are washed and pressed, the unfinished ones are not washed or pressed.

Back from UK

2010-04-08T21:09:00.001+02:00

I had a great few days away, visiting the UK.
Meeting up with some old friends. Visiting the new Quilt exhibition at the V&A which was well worth visiting.
I visited Handweavers Studio, unfortunately they did not have the handy balloon spring anymore (and no more coming either) that Dot was showing in her blog. The access to Handweavers is good and lots of choice but the area was not very pleasant and I missed the lovely atmosphere that Handweavers Studio was with Nancy.
I also visited Selvedge getting some back copies of the magazine and seeing where they do all the hard work making the magazine. Next stop was Margo Selby, she was not there herself but Tref, who won the scholarship at Mastercrafts was there and so was his work and that of Holly that they made as their final piece at Mastercrafts. There is lots to see here so highly recommended for a visit.
On the last night I went to see War Horse which I found very moving. I'm glad I was able to see the show.

More sampling, Textile Festival and UK travel

2010-03-26T22:35:00.000+01:00

I'm weaving another colour warp, this time with blues and a red.

(tabby sample, left side is unfinished, right side washed and pressed)
I had hoped to have finished the warp today but it will now have to wait until next week as I'm leaving for the UK tomorrow morning.
Today I went to Leiden where they have a Textile Festival. The website is only in Dutch unfortunately. There was so much to see, to much to take in. But it was an enjoyable day. The main festival was in the Pieterskerk (church) but at about 30 different locations were exhibitions. I only managed to go to 2 different extra locations. That was as much as I could manage. We went with our local Guild but we split up in small groups. It will be nice to exchange what we have seen today at our next meeting in April.

Cross twill samples

2010-03-16T20:34:00.000+01:00

I have finished the warp and was able to weave 5 more sample + a very small one. Having cut the samples of this warp twice has left me with less warp to weave but it was a good lesson to see that the sett was correct for the twill. Had I gone on weaving after the plain weave at the same sett as the plain weave, the twill weaving would not have been as it has come out now.

I have woven one sample twice so that I can keep an unfinished and a finishes sample. You have to feel the difference! The unfinished one feels hard but the finished one is nice and soft.
So these are a good addition towards my sample archive.

Top is the finished sample, bottom the unfinished one. Left are the front and right are the back of the samples. This is a cross twill. Here part of the drawing:

Spring is on it's way, they are forecasting 15C this week, huray!!!

Sett for twill weaving

2010-03-08T23:56:00.000+01:00

When I started weaving the twill samples I just felt that the sett was not quite right. So I made some small samples, cut them of and washed them to see what would happen. The first sample I started by weaving far to tight so after a few centimeters I changed the beat and it looked as if it was far to loose. The warp is threaded in the reed like this: 3-4-3-4 (4 openings per cm) and the bundles of the warp threads were so visible during weaving, I just thought it would not be ok. But having washed them they look allright.
The samples are woven 3/1 twill and the smallest one is a 3/1 cross twill

Left side is the front side and right the back. I used one warp colour in each sample as weft. I have not used the lightes warp colour yet. Not sure how much warp is left having cut twice, but I will keep on weaving now that I know that after washing it comes allright.

More on colour

2010-03-05T18:17:00.000+01:00

I've now been to 2 of the 5 colour course days. It is such an eye opener to really look at colour. We are also painting our own colour wheel by mixing paint colours ourself. Next time we should finish this assignment, I find it not easy at all to get the right colours. We are using 2 reds, 2 blues and 2 yellows + black & white for the mixing.
We have also been playing with all the different colours that the Venne cotton yarn comes in. In 2 groups we had to make some kind of order in the colours. We found that there were some colours that did not fit in very easy. (like not fitting in with green or blue, yet they did look like green or blue)
It was a fun exercise to do together.

The home assignment is to work with 3 colours that we like and being close together + 1 colour that is an opposite. We had to make a yarn winding these colours for a warp idea.

I have gone for natural colours + a purple and I've just finished the plain weave samples, weaving the weft as the warp colour order. One I have washed (sample on the right side) and the other I will keep unwashed for my record keeping archive.

The rest of the warp will be woven in a 3/1 twill + 3/1 cross twill, weaving with just one weft colour.

We have had some lovely sunny days these last few days and it gave a feeling of Spring arriving may be. But oh now, we have more snow forecasted for this weekend and freezing temperatures. A good excuse to stay indoors and do more weaving.....

Third colour warp

2010-02-18T17:23:00.001+01:00

This has been a fun exercise to be weaving plain weave with different colours. I have done 3 different warps, I only needed to do one but I enjoyed the different colour settings.
Here are the 3 warps together in one photo:

I have finished the samples and the last warp samples look like this: (right side before washing, left after washing and pressing)

This sample is weft like warp.

Here the weft is similar to the warp colours but just a bit darker (the light green warp is yellow weft)

Again, the weft colours in a just darker shade than the warp colours. The green warp is a variegated green to yellow weft, this has become stripy in the weaving.

Here the weft colours are much darker, though the purple warp is a warmer red purple.

Here the weft colours are paler than the warp colours.

Weft colours are dark and pale grey, black and white.

Another thick/thin sample. The thick yarn is cotton chenille.

I've found it very interesting to see how the warp changes colour with the different coloured weft yarns.
I will now get all the samples from the 3 warps organized together with bundles of the different coloured yarns used. The next lesson is this Saturday, the second of five lessons. So, looking forward to the next assignment.