Rocky Top Weaver

Here is the result of the 6 towels that I had alot of fun making.  The pattern turned out beautiful, and yet was so simple to weave. Color Palette  Another view Now on to another project, but the next set of towels will be the same pattern but a new palette.  Here is a start of the colors. Spring is here today, so not much weaving will get done.  My flower beds are calling me.

The last towel is in process.  It is called "Tobacco Brown" but when you put it with the white warp it looks more of a gold color.  I think I will have enough to do the full 40" for the towel and if not it will be a slightly smaller towel.  The lighting is a bit off on this one. My little helper ~   More of a true color.... Now on to the finish !!

The last an final towel is just "Basic Black".  Thought it would still fit in with the other colors, because black goes with everything.  Loving the results of just black and white!! It can be a bit dizzy !

Towel #4 is what I call, Mellow Yellow.  The name of the color is really Spectra Yellow.  It is a hard pattern to see, since the yellow pretty much blends in with the white. Closer ? Think the next color I will do will be black.  Easy,  but would show pattern definition better than the yellow.

Towel #3 is a Cinnamon brown.  Didn't think I would like it, but the more I weave I do.  For the color palette that I have chosen, it fits in nicely. Up close and personal....

One towel down, 5 to go.  The first towel done in a Mediterranean blue was a better color as a towel, then on the spool.  So, on to the next color Lime green.  So far it doesn't strike me a much as the blue, but I will continue with it.  Color variety is part of this project.

Finally, I have gotten another project going.  They are cotton 8/2 towels from an old pattern from the 1940"s.  It is simple in the treadling, but the pattern is very eye catching and is all in accurate threading of the heddles. Below is the mess that it takes to get it started....warp, warp and more warp. 8 yards of white 8/2 unmercerized cotton for the warp, then the weft will be a variety of colors that I have on hand and think would look good with this pattern. Then after all the setup the towel starts to take shape and color.  :-) Close up.... Now, there are 6 of these to make (if I measured right) so I better get busy.  Stay tuned.

After much time and hesitation, I have finally gotten the scarves done !  It has been a learning experience since the treadling was on 8 harnesses and I was using Alpaca and Silk. But the end results are beautiful, if I don't say so myself. Thought it would show up better on the white chair. Never having done fringe before, it was fun to find out there are many ways to do fringe. Now, on to the next project....

This week I have been working on getting my loom dressed with the warp for a winter scarf.  The warp is Silk Noir and the weft is Alpaca/silk.  Having never worked with Silk before for the warp, I found out very quickly that it is not as strong as the 8/2 cotton I worked with on the towels.  Only 2 broken warp threads so far and that happened when I was dressing the loom.  The scarf will have a 6 inch fringe on each end and the scarf itself is 7 1/2 inches wide.  The pattern calls for a total woven length of 72 inches.  It will be a while before this is finished. As you can see,  12 inches so far...lots to go ! Fringe at the beginning with cardboard insert.

The towels are finally done.  What an experience!  The total were 3 towels, 1 small placemat, 2 samples for my sample binder.  The first two towels were using just the variegated weft, then I got bored with the one pattern that I added a solid Egg Plant purple in the weft at each end of the towel.  This allowed for a balanced look with a horizontal stripe for some color. This was a quick post and will add more detail this weekend.

Now the count is up to 3 towels on the loom.  I will have just enough warp left to make a dish cloth or two and a sample.  One of my friends (who shall remain nameless - you know who you are) told me to start a binder with samples and information of the pieces I do.  That is such a good idea,  so along with my blogging I will have an actual sample of the project that was done. Lot's of weaving. They are almost ready to come off the loom.  A couple more passes with the shuttle and this project will be done.  

More progress and beautiful results at that.  The variegated yarn is making a beautiful pattern of stripes, much to my surprise.  Just starting to see how it will look. Wider than I thought it would be. Enough for tonight....back at it tomorrow :-)

The war is finally over !!  I have been fighting tension since I rolled my warp onto the back beam.  Just keeping things even was a chore.  After much fussing with it, I decided to unwind it all to the front beam and then beam it back onto the back beam.  With alot of luck and "my sword" I was able to keep the tension on, little by little getting it back on the beam.  This is my first time warping Back to Front so it has been a challenge.  Since I have done 2 samplers and one project all warping Front to Back I was learning things all over again.  It did prove to be more tangle free, but I think more tedious.  Leaning into the loom to get the heddles threaded from the front proved painful (my arms) but very organized.  Below are some pictures of my feat. "I think I got it !! " Looks good from afar..... Warp from the back side with the lease sticks still in. The Sword - life saver - sanity saver. So I am ready to weave in a header...

Starting another project to learn the waffle weave pattern.  At the studio, I have been assigned to a wonderful teacher that I call the "Obi One Kanobi" of weaving.  She is a complex accomplished weaver, so needless to say my brain is working overtime to keep up.  My project at the studio is waffle weave kitchen towels.  I am duplicating this home so I can practice what I learn on the same exact project.  Might end up with alot of towels, but they can always be used :-). The colors for this project at home are an 8/2 Eggplant warp (not brave enough to bring more than one color for the warp yet).  Then am using a variegated 8/2 Mixed Berry for the weft.  So here it goes..... Warping back to front with the raddle...mysterious device but sure organizes things well. It spreads the threads out to start tensioning nice.  This is a very easy was to get your warp on the loom without alot of effort. From the inside of the loom it start...

My first official project is done !!  The samplers towels are off the loom, hemmed and ready for use.  Though they looked better on the loom, because of some errors I discovered early on in the weaving process.  Oh well,  that is part of the learning process.   They are very heavy towels, compared to the 8/2 and 10/2 cotton towels I have seen in the past.  Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome.  Now on to the next project.  I have no idea what it will be, but I have enough 8/2 unmercerized cotton to create what ever I want.  Below is a picture of the sampler towels from Weaver's Craft Magazine. This was my goal. Think I got pretty close. These are the towels after hemming, before washing. This is a look at all the towels on the loom before I am ready to take them off. Towels in progress on the loom. More color and lots of counting! Towels in progress..... Now, time for some research on what I would like t...

Just signed up for mobile blogging!  So now when I am working and wishing I was weaving, I can post my thoughts. This could be dangerous!

Finally, after much anticipation about getting the loom dressed as best I could it is time for some color ! I am starting with a sampler towel kit with a 5/2 Pearl cotton.  The warp is a Natural 5/2 Pearl and the weft is a variety of colors, all in 5/2 Pearl.  I started with a normal knitters yarn to get the header (if that is what you call it) started for about 1 1/2 inches.  Just to get a firm straight line.  Wow, that worked great.  There is a huge difference in the Mighty Wolf loom and the small table loom when it comes to the way it weaves.     So, after weaving a couple of hours last night I was able to get almost 3/4 of a towel done!  I expect to finish it this morning and then on to the next one.  There are three in the sampler kit.  After finishing the towels, I will have to stitch them and wash them up.  I am intensly curious how they will look after they are washed and pressed.  The colors that I will ...

In continuation from earlier, I got my loom dressed.  The warp is on the back beam and the front is tied off on the apron rod for the front beam.  Yippee !! If you look closely...really close, you will see that I forgot something.  The paper that goes between the threads when it gets rolled onto the back beam.  Not sure how I am going to get myself out of this one.  Beginner's luck. Then tieing it on the front apron rod.  That was tedious but eventually got it done.  My back did not like sittting so long but can't be a wimp about this. So, it probably isn't the prettiest nor done correctly but it is a start.  Tomorrow night I will see what I can do to get the paper on the back beam without destroying my warp.  Then ready to tie up the treadles and wind some bobbins!  Can't wait to get weaving!!