work in progress

i've begun weaving again, first time this year. i mentioned this earlier, but after a slow take-off, i'm finally making some progress. something to do with 460 warp threads and only 400 heddles. so very, very thankful i realized it before i threaded too many of them, only a couple of centimeters. at 10 threads a centimeter.

i dug up the metal heddles that came with it and added some more to the harnesses. there's an easy way to do this and a hard way that only looks easy. after trying the latter, i recognized the sanity in doing it the correct way. the harnesses come out smoothly enough, even with the high castle tray which is on my loom (schacht thought of everything when they designed these things-the tray bottom pops out to create an opening to slide the harnesses through!).

this is the first weaving i've tackled with so many threads. you don't realize it until you have to go back and fix an error, be it threading, reed sleying, or confusion about the pattern. which brings us to todays happy fun! the piece is weaving with the lights and darks inverted, and i thought there was a typo in the book i got the pattern from, and spent a bit of time trying to figure it out, first by unweaving, then reweaving, then unweaving, then graphing, and eventually realizing i was looking at the back of the piece on the loom, and not the front of the piece as was photoed in the book. i think. blah.

i'm laying all the blame due to being rusty. i only wove five pieces last year, and those in the early half, and they were fairly easy patterns. all in all, though, i didn't have any threading errors once everything was tensioned properly, and that's a lovely moment!

space to work in

ah, photos. what would the internet be without them. everything in the studio is coming along nicely now, so i thought i would introduce you to my new/old "dyeing laboratory and weaving studio":

the dye laboratory and tea brewing station.

skein winder, gokoh, and kasuri shifter.

ze loom, with the new addition of jazz bands to prevent floating harness syndrome.

my workstation, complete with idea/inspiration board.

now that smell (japanese incense courtesy of lisn), sight, and touch (sheepskin bench cover) are taken care of all this space lacks is sound. i was hoping to get the vers 2x for my ipod, but they're not manufacturing them again until spring. phooey. so i'm on the hunt to find one, and haven't had any success thus far, as they didn't produce any this year.

a throne!

it would seem that it has become a necessity to have a bench upon which to sit when weaving. nothing with a back, so out goes the chair, something cushy as you'll be sitting awhile, so no hardbutt stools, and it should be a nice height so your legs don't fall asleep. oh, yeah, and cheap in the dollar department, as funds dwindle with my trip to japan growing ever closer.

after several hours spent roaming through antique malls, discount furniture stores, and dusty "attic" stores, i found a bench that would fulfill the above list. but it had no seat. but the bones were good; strong and sturdy. but it needed a seat.

i figured some cushy foam, some scrap plywood cut to size and a bit of lovely linen would make it a wonderful bench. once i removed the several layers of grim, oiled it, and waxed it, that is. but of course the linen i wanted to use had a prussian blue stripe, and i really would like a light blue stripe. so then i spent several hours prying the unwanted color out of the warp with a seam ripper, then spent several more hand weaving the new color in. let's just say, i'm nuts, and i can no longer feel the side of my index finger.

then tacking the new seat together (no hammer accidents, luckily) and voila! a new (but was once old) ever so comfy (i hope) bench for my loom. now my only wish is that my cats won't decide to find it as comfy as well.

what comes from decisions

several months ago i decided that what my life needed was a loom. this decision led to another; what i needed was a schacht baby wolf loom, 4 or 8 harness. i searched the internet to no avail, checked craigslist in a sweeping 250 mile range three times a week, and after several disappointments decided to sit on this decision.

about a week ago, following a little voice inside, i searched craigslist once again. maybe my stars were in alignment, maybe i was not "a day late and dollar short", or perhaps the fibre gods were smiling, for i am now in possession of a 4-harness baby wolf.

the story goes as such; a young couple moves into a house which they purchased from an older gentleman. the home was once shared by this man and his wife, who had a loom. the wife passes, and the man is left with a loom and a too large house. he sells this abode to the young couple and leaves the loom's fate for them to decide. they, having two small children, full time jobs, and not being partial to weaving, decide to find a new home for this loom. so they post it on craigslist. and so into this story weaves my thread, 5 hours time after this posting. a phone call, an offer, a zealous explanation of my love affair with textiles, an appointment time, directions gathered, car loaded into, tank of gas filled, a five hour car trip, and the loom was there, i could touch it and see it and take it home with me. her name is sophy and we shall be friends for she is only one year younger than i.