Thanks to your comments I have some inspiration for future posts. I’ve also updated my pinterest page (that site is so much fun) and finally jumped on the instagram bandwagon. So many ways to keep the creative juices flowing!
point of view
February 19, 2012blogging
February 10, 2012
Thank you all for the comments you left on my earlier post. These last 6 weeks have been quite something. It’s been a time to reorganize, focus and take lots of walks. Luckily, I’ve also taken some time at my loom. Above is a progress shot of many, many, MANY small knots. I am in the process of tying a new warp to the old one. It’s a process that is very time-consuming, but easy to get in the groove.
I have been thinking a lot about what I want pirtti to become, and the realities of how much time I have to spend. I’m happy that I’m coming up with ideas, and happy that my ideas give me nice long deadlines so I can progress parallel to my life as a wife and mother. But slow-moving also means slow blogging. I don’t want to keep showing pictures of knots. So, I’m taking suggestions for what you’d like to see here on the blog. More tutorials? More about inspiration? Thoughts on world peace? (Just kidding.)
If you have any questions about weaving, ask away. Or anything, for that matter. I need a break from tying all those knots.
weightless
January 13, 2012I keep watching this over and over again. I think it is beautiful.
time off
January 4, 2012On December 23rd, exactly 5 months into my pregnancy, I had a miscarriage. We were so surprised (more like shocked) when we found out this past fall that we were going to have another baby. Another year of breastfeeding, more diapers, more chubby cheeks to kiss and bite. We are absolutely devastated by this loss.
I am taking some time off to spend with my children and husband without timelines or deadlines. Very soon I will be back at my loom, throwing picks right to left and left to right, letting my mind sort out what happened. It’s been a whirlwind and I look forward to the precious hours I can play with yarn.
expect the unexpected
December 6, 2011As summer drew to a close, I narrowed down my designs for fall and put a plan together for my scarf production. As usual, it’s a small number of scarves, suited for my availability to work in my studio uninterrupted. As you can imagine, putting together a schedule when also parenting two small children means running a tight ship and having a great babysitter. And with any plan, there are always hiccups, and my plan had its share. It is to be expected that there will be roadblocks and you simply have to figure out a new way to accomplish your goal.
The babysitter has to leave for two weeks, two weeks before my deadline.
Back up babysitter announces she is moving to L.A. the day after first babysitter goes out of town.
Daughters school announces mandatory volunteering for school fair that involves crafting, baking and manual labor.
Solution: Channel that innermost, ultimate Type A side of yourself that lives for situations like this and pull it together and make it happen.
But there was one thing that was completely unexpected that combined with all that is mentioned above that put a screeching halt to the best laid plans.
In September, we found out that we are expecting.
My babysitter is back, the school fair is over, I’m well into my second trimester and the nausea has passed. Every spare moment is being spent at the loom and I imagine my blog posts will be few. But by golly, there will be scarves! Barring any more hiccups, I am hoping for smooth sailing as I focus on weaving. I will update as to when I think the shop will be ready. I’m hoping in time for Christmas…
I love weaving and am very happy to be back at my loom. It’s a nice respite from these last 2 months!
on the loom
October 19, 2011
Here’s a sneak peek at what is growing on the loom. F/W 2011 will have 3 distinct colorways in limited edition. The next shop update will be mid-November.
If you are not familiar with Donor’s Choose, I highly recommend checking out the site. Many of our country’s public school teachers are underfunded and supporting their classroom needs on their own. Thanks to Donor’s Choose, everyone can help out a classroom in need. The project close to my heart is Ms. Aquino’s 5th grade class. They were able to get the funds to purchase a table loom, but still need funds to get the necessary tools such as shuttles, hooks, etc. which will make the loom work. Please consider helping them out. Any amount will be helpful, and the done-good feeling will last you a long time! Please visit the project page here.
it can be done
October 13, 2011The following is a photo tutorial I have put together. There are not a whole lot of online tutorials for weaving (although this is quickly changing) so I have added a lot of weaving terminology to help my buddies looking to solve this same problem. The majority of my readers are non-weavers, but I hope you all enjoy these photos just the same. It’s an inside look at what handweaving is all about! For a basic photo identifying the parts of loom, please visit this site and scroll down.
As I mentioned the other day, I ran across a little problem with my current set of scarves. The width was too narrow! But with nearly 9 yards of warp on the loom and a deadline on the horizon, I did not want to cut everything off and start over. Surely there is a way to add width without starting over. But could it be done without taking anything off that was already on the loom? Could it be done without having to re-thread (much)? The answer is YES.
First I determined that I wanted to add 2 inches to both sides of the warp. (A total of 4 inches.) I measured out two separate warps at 2 inches wide and 8 yards long. (I estimated that after sampling, I had about 8 yards left on my 9 yard warp.) For clarity in this tutorial, I only photographed one side of my warp, but I actually added warp to both sides simultaneously.
Putting the new warp aside, I tied on the current warp to the cloth beam, as evenly tensioned as possible. (photo 1)
I then proceeded to wind the old warp forward to the cloth beam, using packing paper between the layers as I would on the warp beam. (photo 2) I wound until the end of my warp was even with the warp beam. (photo 3)
Untying just the outer edge of the stick, but not removing it completely from the warp beam, I slipped on the new warp and spaced it as evenly as possible. I then re-tied the outer edge of the stick to the dowel that is attached to my warp beam. I dress my loom back to front ala Peggy Osterkamp so the new warp is reversed on the back beam for “crank and yank”. (photo 3)
Since I couldn’t attach my raddle to the back beam, I laid it on the floor a few feet away and spaced the warp with rubber bands over the prongs to keep the warp from flying out. (photo 4) This actually worked surprisingly well! I still had to fiddle a bit on the back beam, but this was definitely better than nothing.
Yanking the new warp tight, I slowly wound old and new warp together on the warp beam. (photo 5) This took patience and interesting maneuvers as I had to carefully release the brake with my left foot and release the ratchet on the cloth beam with my left hand while cranking the warp beam with my right hand, plus keep everything under tension. Tricky perhaps, but totally doable.
With the old warp now rewound to the warp beam along with the new warp, I proceeded to set up for threading. (photo 6) I inserted lease sticks into the cross, attached it to the castle and threaded the heddles. In my case, I did not need to alter any of the already threaded warp ends, other than reassigning the floating selvedge.
Here is the new warp threaded through the heddles, ready to be sleyed through the reed. (photo 7) The reed has been attached to the beater bar this entire time with the old warp already sleyed and ready to go. While sleying the new threads through the reed, I did have to rearrange a few of the old threads to space things correctly, but I did not have to re-thread everything. I did however, re-tie everything, all ends, to the cloth beam. There was no risking the warp being uneven, so to make sure that the tension was even, I re-tied all the groups of threads.
My warp, on tension, old and new together, evenly spaced since it never left the heddles and reed. My warp is ready to go. Happy weaving!
If you have any questions about this process, please leave it in the comments section and I will be happy to add a response.
a learning opportunity
October 10, 2011
Today I have a challenge. I wound on warp for scarves, and even though I sampled, I still wasn’t happy. I decided that the width of the scarf was too narrow. So now I have the delightful challenge of adding warp, all without wasting or unwinding and re-threading what is already on the loom. That which does not kill us makes us stronger, right?
Wish me luck please.
autumn warp
September 21, 2011
It’s a bit odd living in a place that has a different take on seasons. While the leaves are changing out east and the cool weather is setting in, the temperature is rising here in San Francisco. It’s nice to have some heat after a very cold summer. I help my mind adjust to the changes by working with autumn colors and eating honeycrisp apples.
Happy fall everyone!
25 ways to wear a scarf
September 20, 2011Thank you to Karen Barbe for posting this on facebook today!
