Author Archives: Jean

My weaving mojo is back after my return from Vävstuga.  Last week I wound on a warp for some towels that I’ve wanted to do for a while now.  I used math (if you only knew how hard that is for me….) to figure out what I had left from the Dorothy Towels and how to use up most of it on this new project.  To play it safe I wound a 5.5 yard warp (short for me.  I like to do at least ten yards).  

I have “three” towels woven.  This was to be a “cleaning out” project.  I used some cottolin I had leftover from another project, but it wasn’t enough for a whole towel, so that one will end up yardage.  I got smart and weighed the cone before and after on the next towel (blue cottolin), so I’d have a better idea of how much weft I’d need for each towel.  I wove one more after that in a deep cranberry (you can see that one still on the loom under the warps in the picture below).  I still had one, probably two, towels worth of warp on the beam, but wanted to use it as a dummy warp while it was still secured around the back beam.  If I were to weave up to the end of the warp, because it’s looped over the back rod, it wouldn’t have been secure to tie each end without them slipping around.  I know I can finish weaving the remaining warp after I tie on to it and weave another project.  This way I get more bang for my threading/sleying buck and I know there are no errors.

Something I haven’t blogged about is a trip to Whidbey Island for a workshop with Kathrin Weber (Blazing Shuttles).  She is a Yarn  whisperer extraordinaire.  If you ever have a chance to take her workshop, jump on it.  If not, at least check out her dyed warps because they are SO much fun to weave.  Every advance of the warp is like turning a page in a great novel that you don’t want to put down.  At that workshop I learned to let go and play with color, not only in the actual weaving, but in dyeing as well.  I’ve dyed plenty of wool in my time, but dyeing cellulose fibers and warps was new to me.  I’ll write more about that later.

Back to the project at hand.  I had some 8/2 rayon warps that I dyed several months ago.  I took three of them and tied them on to the twill towel warp still on the loom since it’s the same epi.  Ideally, I would rather have had a narrower warp, but now I’ll have wraps instead of scarves, so it works.   Because of Kathrin’s workshop, I have no fear when I see a picture like this:

because I know that a miracle is about to happen with one little snap.  Suddenly I start singing, “Oh, oh, oh … it’s magic…. doncha’ know….”

The above shot is after the first warp was tied on.  I did the other two, attached my trusty trapeze and wound on all seven yards with very little effort in under a half an hour… alone.  I’m about 2/3rds finished with the first wrap.  I used an 8/2 deep teal rayon.  Not sure what color I’ll use next, but I’ll keep you posted.

We are back from an AMAZING trip to Guatemala.  We’ve been back a week tomorrow and already miss it so much.  If you’re looking for a fairly inexpensive vacation and are adventurous, GO!   We are actually talking about moving there at least six months out of the year, we loved it that much.  Let me say it’s not for everyone.  It’s a developing country, so there is a lot of poverty, it’s dirty and noisy.  The countryside is SO beautiful and the people, well… they are the kindest most agreeable people.  We loved the people of Guatemala.  We didn’t come across one angry person.

We stayed six nights in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan.  We went during the beginning of rainy season and I guess it there was more rain that usual.  We were also there for the 7.0 earthquake.  That woke us up quickly in the middle of the night.  The epicenter was only 100 miles northwest of us, but there was little damage (none where we were) and I think there was a few injuries, but no deaths.  Miracles.

We loved San Juan la Laguna.  This is where they have several weaving cooperatives.  The weavers there grow, spin and dye (with natural dyes) all their own cotton.  I brought some back and it is lovely stuff.

I took a backstrap weaving workshop with Maya Traditions.  My teacher, Zenaida, was very pleasant.   With my minimal Spanish, we made it through the morning just fine until my husband (who’s fluent) got there.  She reported to him that my Spanish wasn’t bad.  lol  She’s from the village of San Antonio Palopó.  It’s about a 25 minute pick up truck (Guatemalan taxi) ride from Panajachel.  We went to visit her the next day.  They are wonderful weavers and all wear the same blue woven fabric.  I was dressed up in it and put at a loom to weave a bit.  So much fun.   They also make some gorgeous pottery in that village.  We just brought back a few pieces as we were afraid of weight and breakage in our luggage.  Probably a good thing for our bank account that Guatemala doesn’t have a postal system.

I’d like to add in here, if you are interested in learning backstrap weaving, it couldn’t be cheaper or easier and it’s awesome for travel.  I’ve been following Laverne Waddington for years. She now has a great DVD out and a couple of books.  

To be closer to Guatemala City for our return flight home we splurged and stayed at The El Convento Hotel in Antigua.  Oh. My. Word.  The most beautiful hotel we’ve ever stayed in.  It’s built in an old Convent and just gorgeous. It was a splurge, but we would never have been able to afford this place in the States.  We paid about $350 for the night and that was with roses, dinner and breakfast.  It was our 25th Anniversary celebration so we did the package deal and the meals were out of this world.  

I love to take band weaving with me when we travel.  I have several inkle looms of various sizes, but I also weave them backstrap style.  It never ceases to amaze me all that you can do with some string and a little free time.   Here are some pictures of bands I’ve woven over time.There are more in my projects on Ravelry and there are MANY more in a basket just waiting for something to be done with them.  Thinking about adding them to the shop.

In other news, my youngest, Joseph, graduated from High School on Sunday.  Bittersweet.  I’m excited for what the future holds for him, but it’s really gonna be tough seeing him in the rear view mirror when we leave him at college in August.

So when last we left the loom I kind of left you hanging.  After finishing up the towels that I cut off I lashed the warp back on to the apron bar and continued to weave.   The great thing about this method is there are no knots to worry about as the cloth starts to go over the cloth beam.  So, onward with the weaving.  I should get at least five more towels out of this warp, but we’ll see.  The towels I took off were a huge 27″ x 16.5″ after washing, hemming and pressing.  I like a little smaller towel, so I might take a couple of inches off while weaving.

That is the question.  There have been many times when I’m in the middle of a multiple piece project…. like towels… where I need to cut some off.  I tend to wind very long warps because I hate tying up on my Glimakra Standard.  I have the Baby Wolf for shorter warps and she’s SO much easier to set up, but she doesn’t weave quite like the her Swedish sister.  Give and take.  Pros and cons.

Anyway.  When you put very long warps on, you get a spongy and sometimes too large cloth roll on the front beam as you weave.  I add warping sticks once in a while as go to add firmness to the cloth roll and that gets me a little farther.  There are times though when it just has to be done.  I have a custom order for six towels.  I really messed up my back when I dressed the loom with this project and couldn’t do anything for about three weeks.  It really put me behind.  Some of the towels are for Mother’s Day, so I cut them off this morning.  They are washing now so that I can hem, iron and get them in the mail giving my friend time to send them out.

I weave an inch or two in plain weave, depending on how brave I’m feeling and the thread I’m using.  If I’m using a slippery thread, I’d weave 2″, if it’s, say 8/2 unmercerized cotton or thicker, I’d just do an inch.  Then I insert a firm dowel and then weave another inch or two of plain weave.  If you click on the photos, you can see them larger.  You can see here that I also wove some twill.  That’s because the towels are in twill and nothing will spread out a twill project faster than plain weave.  I wove the twill to draw it back in.  Note the two stings on each side holding the dowel to the beater and to  the front beam.  These are my 3rd, 4th and 5th hands just to hold thing stable when I start cutting.

I will tie that rod to the cloth rod and continue to weave.  It’s nice because there’s no knots, you don’t have to tension things out again and it wastes very little thread.

Another thing I’ll share with you are my homemade temples.  The traditional kind and I do not get along.  I always end up getting poked and bleeding or tearing up my selvedges.  These tarp clips work great.  I was all thumbs when I first started to use them, but once I got used to them I can move them up the selvages in no time flat.  Much faster than the traditional ones and they do the job.  I used scrap handwoven (yes, there is such a thing) and made little pouches that I filled with 2 oz of buckshot.  I used texsolv to tie it all together and command strip hooks to hold them to the sides of my looms.  I did the exact same with my Baby Wolf.