Yarn Bits

Bits and Pieces

A lot has been going on lately.  Don was quite busy winding off a rather large order of our Tencel that has gone off to Britain for a new store opening there this month.  I'm in the middle of weaving the tried and true chenille scarves from hand painted warps to fill my seasonal wholesale orders.  I need a selection of colours, so it means changing warps and dressing the loom often.  I can usually have it done in an hour and be on to the weaving.  It sure has helped having warps already dyed from last winter, but I've gone through those and now need to schedule in some more dyeing.  We have the Knitters' Fair in Kitchener to prepare for as well and that is hardly a month away, so I have been handpainting our "Silken Twist" for that event.  I belong to a group of 8 textile artists that have come together to support and encourage one another and together we are participating in four different shows this Fall.  I can hardly believe how close September is.  The ArtWear Network has a new website up and running  www.artwearnetwork.com  Take a look and visit some of the artists' sites.  As well, most of the ArtWear artists are taking part in Just for Us Originals--THE Wearable Art Show  www.just-for-us.biz which I'm helping to organize.  We're getting down to the wire now with all the plans for this exciting event.  It's our third year and we're just getting bigger and better each time.  If you're interested, visit the site for all the details and be sure to book your luncheon and fashion show soon.  Don and I are off to visit some friends at their cottage for a couple of days next week, so that will be a welcome break before the craziness of Fall begins in earnest.

Conference Special

Six years ago Yarns Plus www.yarnsplus.com  designed a special hand-painted tencel warp for participants at the OHS semi-annual conference. It seems we began a tradition and each conference since I have designed a warp incorporating the logo colours for that year.  This year is no exception. I have been busy dyeing a limited number of special conference warps for this year.  The conference details and logo can be viewed on the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners Guild website  www.ohs.on.ca There were many hues present in the current conference logo.  Essentially I was working with the primary colours and came up with this combination-wine, mid-blue, turquoise and gold.  Of course, as always, incidental subtle colour mixing occurs naturally as the warps are painted which just makes the final combo a little more interesting and unique. I have woven one of the warps which provides two scarves.  One of the scarves was woven with a tencel navy weft and the other with a grey blue weft. Both variations are gorgeous and there are several other weft choices that would work beautifully as well.

Don and I hope to see many of you at the conference, next weekend, May 1 & 2.

At Work & Play

  I have done a little more work on the woven shibori scarves finishing number two.  It is now ready for some overdyeing as soon as we return home.  This scarf was woven with 2/16 Tencel set at 28 epi and I really like the fineness and hand of this size yarn, especially for a scarf.  It makes the piece more of an all-season accessory.  While I toil away, Don is busy building a model for his train layout. Who knew all the equipment he had packed away??  More later.

Another Anniversary

Don and I attended the second in the speaker series that the Burlington Handweavers and Spinners Guild are presenting this year to celebrate their 50th anniversary.  The speaker today was William Hodge who was as entertaining as usual, but also quite thought provoking as he discussed the future path of textiles in general and weaving in particular.  He had several thoughts of how guilds could develop programs to encompass these trends. Other guilds might want to invite William to present this particular talk to their members. It has definitely made me think about experimenting with new and different yarns and to try more exciting surfacing techniques on my handwovens. The Burlington Guild also opened their 2008 juried exhibition this afternoon.  The theme was "In the Garden" which leant itself to glorious colour interpretations. There were various textile media represented; knitting, felting, beading, dyeing, printing, basketry, and weaving.  Don was  thrilled to present the Yarns Plus Award, an Honourable Mention, to Jennifer Earle for her "In an Octopus's Garden in the Shade" (with thanks to Ringo Starr). This is a truly beautiful exhibit and I would encourage you all to try and visit and enjoy "In the    Garden". I'm adding just a few photos from the exhibit to entice you to make a trip to Burlington. Remember you can enlarge these photos by simply clicking on them.

Freda Veitch         Lucy Slykerman      Laura Marotta

Happy Anniversary

Last night the Mississauga Handweavers and Spinners Guild celebrated their 30th anniversary.  Unfortunately I haven't been a regular member now for quite a few years, but I keep in touch with a lot of the weavers from the guild.  I did belong for about 20+ years and served two terms as president. There were some photos from the past and boy! were we all young and thin once! There were 3 of us there last night that had attended the first organizational meeting of the guild, Sue Smart, Margaret Pointing and myself. It was great fun to reminisce about past shows and exhibitions and experiences and to remember other original members who have moved away, several out of province. We all enjoyed a fabulous strawberry shortcake to top off the evening.

Happy Anniversary to the Mississauga Handweavers and Spinners!!

Another Day Another Show

I didn't realize how long it has been since I've made an entry.  Our focus has been on preparing for the Knitters' Frolic in Toronto.  Since the 3/5 Tencel didn't arrive until a week ago, we have had to really move to get it skeined and handpainted for this show. 

In the meantime, we have also had a wholesale order to fill, which meant further handpainting was required to complete the order.  The last few days have been gorgeous and allowed us to hasten the drying process as the skeins can be hung outside on our deck to dry.  Hoorah!!!  Meanwhile I have almost completed weaving the black Tencel shibori warp to experiment with discharging it. 

I have also rece ntly been asked to weave some table runners for a new shop in the Distillery district.  I usually weave table linens with orlec yarn because it is strong and the fringes will hold up well, looking great over countless machine washings.  I had to order some white orlec from Gemini Fibres  www.geminifibres.com  and it arrived next day.  Great service!  I have planned a long warp threaded in a summer and winter pattern in white and then I will  use various soft colours as weft--off-white, a very pale yellow and silver gray for starters.  We'll see how sales go.  I'll post a picture as soon as they are finished, which has to be very soon. 

Woven Shibori Scarves

It has taken an incredibly long time to complete just seven of these scarves. I used 2/16 Tencel for the warps and 2/10 for the wefts and just love the finished "hand".  Now that all have been woven and gathered and, in some cases, dyed a background colour, I have begun the final dye processes and was able to complete 3 of the scarves today.  Gathering threads are out and these 3 scarves are all washed and dried and ready to go.  I should be able to finish the rest this week.

As soon as the Just for Us Originals Show  www.just-for-us.biz   is finished on April 5th, I want to set up my new, smaller Weavebird www.leclerclooms.com   for the very first time and give it a try.  I think I will design a couple of woven shibori scarves with a twill background and an overshot pattern and perhaps not have the shibori for the entire length of the piece.  It's a design idea I'd like to try out and then perhaps use for a wrap down the road sometime.  I also want to try a discharged black Tencel scarf and also, using the black Tencel, dye some scarves in a vat dye which will supposedly remove the black and deposit the new colour where it hits.  It's worth some experimenting, I think.  I'll keep you posted.

Loom for Sale

Hello everyone.  I've been completely out of the picture for a whole week now with a very nasty virus, fever and total lack of drive to do anything other than sleep.  I guess my body needed it, but I'm sure behind with quite a few things, one of which is this blog.

I had a request to publicize a loom for sale and said I would be happy to post it here.  Nancy Newman is wanting to sell her 45" Weavebird and all its accessories.  Here are the details.....................................

16 shaft LeClerc Weavebird 45" production loom, includes bench, 1" sectional warp beam, spool rack, 30 spools, counter and tension box, dividers and sectional warp beam guides and $750. Weavemaker Computer Software Program for MAC.  Total new would be $8,872.00.  All pieces less than 4 years old.  Asking $5,800. or best offer.  Talk to me!!  I need to sell this.  Contact Nancy Newman  905-852-4772  or nancy@nancynewman.ca

This is an excellent loom.  When I downsized earlier this year I traded my 45" Weavebird for another one, only smaller, which fits nicely into my home studio.  This is a good deal for someone looking to try a computer assisted loom. 

Woven Shibori

This is what I'm working on at the moment, some woven shibori scarves for the Just for Us Originals event on April 5  www.just-for-us.biz   As mentioned in a previous post, the weaving is finished, but now the real work begins.  These are a couple of the scarves that I have dyed before gathering up the fishing line supplementary wefts.  Looking closely you should be able to see the glistening of the fishing line.  I did find some that was a dark gray colour in Florida that I thought might be easier to see as I weave. I found it at a Pro Bass store so you may also be able to find it here.  The colour helped a little, especially when I was weaving in natural light during the day. I don't always dye the fabric before gathering it up, but for this series of 7 I want to try and make each of them quite different in colour as the patterning from the shibori will all be similar. I'll keep you posted with phot os as I go.

Shibori Progress

Well, I have finished weaving my shibori scarves and amazingly, I have 7 scarves when I only planned for 6.  I must admit, I always allow plenty of extra warp. I have run out of warp for projects in the past, during my early days of weaving. Now begins all the fringing, gathering and dyeing.  I usually dye each piece a minimum of 3 times using various techniques and dye types.  Some of the pieces I plan to dye before gathering and some I will go straight to gathering up the fishing line and then begin the dye processes.  Sorry there are no photos today, but I promise to get some as I go along.

On a completely different subject, I have found some additional websites for you to explore.  Try these when you have a spot of time to indulge yourself.  I have only glanced at them, but plan to go back and study them in more detail as time allows.

http://www.creativityjournal.blogspot.com  the amount of information here is amazing  This URL doesn't seem to want to work from here, but try typing in this address from your computer, outside of this blog.  It is worth having a look at for sure.

www.colour-journal.org  an online journal launched by the Society of Dyers and Colourist, UK