Love my overshot!

This is the very first sample, and there are just a few mistakes I see!  However, so far I really love it!  I can't believe that I made this draft and I get to weave it up!  It's a pretty awesome feeling! 

My whole book idea is going to be on how you can do this yourself.  It's probably half way done, and I can't wait for you to see it and try it!!  Inside the book is also some of my other profile drafts from this year, about 20 of them in fact.  And I teach you how to design your own profile drafts and how to convert them to overshot with lots and lots and lots of pictures and examples!!!  It's written for those who get confused easily. 

Anyway, back to the Lego pattern!

This sample has one mistake in it, but otherwise looks so good!!

I also love these two colors together!   This is just a sample, but for the final project I have a slightly darker shade of aqua to use.  I wish I had enough of this shade because I like it! 

But knowing me, I will like the other one, too!

Leggo my lego

Bertha Gray Hayes is my hero!  She was an amazing weaver!  On Warped Weavers, we have been trying to figure how which weaver she was in the picture in her book.  We have guessed many different ones, and someone wrote to someone else who wrote back and said it was one lady and then others think it's someone else... so I guess it doesn't really matter what she looked like, but her work was phenomenal!  (But please share and correct this picture if you know for sure!!!)
 



I like her work so much that 18 months ago I decided to use it to study overshot drafts and make my own profile drafts that are in her style of weaving overshot.  I have some here.  I kind of forgot about them, but lately I have seen them over and over and over on Pinterest.  Do you know how weird it is to see your own stuff on that site and find it inspiring??  I've been hoping to see my work all woven up by someone else, but all I see are the drafts rotating around and around!!

The other day I decided to revisit my profile drafts and actually weave one up instead of waiting to see it done!  I made these over a year and a half ago, so it's time I did this!  My most favorite was called "like" as in the facebook button, but originally it reminded me of one of my most beloved childhood toys: Legos.  I wanted to name it Lego to begin with, but Brian didn't think that name was all that great, so I changed it to something else. Well, I have since changed my mind about the name, so it's going back to the original name of LEGO!  The original name also reminds me of the commercials for the 1980's frozen waffles: LEGGO MY EGGO, which was also something I loved, and these kind of look like waffles!  I love this draft!!!!  It's so me!!!

Here is the draft I made in Oct 2011, renamed to MY LEGO:

I was having so much fun playing with profile drafts at the time!  I love them so much.  I love how you can see a condensed version of it all, but you can weave all different kinds of weave structures from it.  I think I might go and make some more!  In fact, the main focus of my book will be about profile drafting, how to do it, how to make them, how to convert them, how to draw your own, and about 20 new drafts of my own with conversions to overshot, samples, and variations.  Yes, it's way intense!!

This draft is the actual draft that sparked me to write a book.  Yes, this draft will be in my book and a tutorial on how to convert it to overshot, summer and winter, and even how to make your own profile drafts that look Bertha-like.  It's going to be a really neat book!  Of course, it's not all about overshot and profile drafts, there are some other random weaving things in it as well!

I can't wait to get started weaving this!

Roll out the red carpet!

 This one is coming off!  Looks like the loom is spitting it out!

Here is what I saw the very first time I saw it unrolled from the loom:

 

Before I cut it off the loom, I just want to note how I did the edges.  It always seems to immediately want to unravel as soon as the tension is released, so I cut it off in sections and tied it as I went along.  I started in the center and skipped every other group of 8 threads.  After I worked my way across the top, I took the whole bottom off and laid it out on the floor and finished it there.  I noticed that it doesn't seem to explode as much as the top.  I think it must get packed a little bit more at the bottom edge.

Here is a full floor shot of Ensuing Chaos!  I think this would be such a chipper way to wake up in the morning.  I think I am going to put it on my side of the bed.  Oddly there is a tile floor in our bedroom (thank you previous owners!) so I will have to get a non-slip mat.... or this will most definitely end up being an unplanned trip to the ER!

It turned out so cheerful and zig-zaggy!

I have enough wool for at least one more rug, maybe two.

In the next one, I think I will do shorter zigzags and have one main color (like the dark gray) and have all the background colors changing.

I don't think I have enough warp left on my loom for a whole new rug, so I might have to warp it again.  Or just make a short rug.

I love this one!  

It's so me!
And as a secondary bonus, I didn't think my hubby would like it very much because it's all the colors mixed together, but guess what?  He loves it, too!!  Yay!  It's a win/win!
I'm for sure keeping this one!

Ensuing Chaos

I've named this rug Ensuing Chaos because reminds me of the end of a chaotic school year like the one we just had.  It is also a very wild pattern, so the name fits in that respect also.

I'm already almost done with this one...

What a perfect day it is to weave!

illusions

 Sometimes this particular rug tricks my eyes!

Sometimes the lines look like they are bending in all kinds of crazy directions!

But it's just an optical illusion created by design and color!

I think I shall call this rug "Ensuing Chaos" because it has helped clear my head for the summer following all the chaos of the end of the school year.  This thing is like a huge brain splat!

Feeding the machine

 I'm starting to get a feel for this rug and what direction to go in.

It wants colors!

I feed it color... 

... it gives me designs... 

 ... and happiness!

We get along real great!

I'm writing a book!!!

I have finally decided to write a book!!!  Yes, it's true!  There is still so much information to sort through... I can't believe this is really happening!  I'll keep you posted with more info!!  For now, enjoy the blog!

Too many colors?

I don't feel like I have many options left to make 2 color rugs, so I think from this point on, I will have to do some combinations.

It's not a bad thing, it's actually a really relieving feeling to me!

I'm the kind of person that likes to mix things all-together and see what happens.  I married someone completely opposite of me... I married someone who likes things very organized!  So he will probably not like this as much, but this is right up my alley!

I am using the zigzag pattern and repeating it 3 times to make it 1 inch long.

I have blues, greens, blue/greens, whites, yellow, two shades of red, and some brown to choose from.  I hope it looks ok in the end!  I am betting it will, but I'm feeling a little unsure at this point in time.  I mean, I personally like it, but I hope the colors don't distract from the zigzags... or I hope that they don't clash too badly.  I will admit (but I don't do it very often) that sometimes my stuff doesn't work out.  Oddly in the blog world, you can kind of skip showing that kind of stuff!  But I think this one will be ok.  I think there is a lot of potential here for creativity!

Oh, and PS.  I dyed the green!  Remember it here??

It's off, and it's beautiful!

 It's off!  

 

The directional changes are hard to see from the far away distance, but here it is a little bit closer.

Finished size = 24.5"x40.5"

100% pure wool

Took about 6 skeins of yarn, which is about 1620 yards of weft!

It turned out awesome!

In fact, my aunt saw it on Facebook and wanted it to decorate her beautiful house.  She's really into art, so I'm glad it went to someone who will appreciate it!

In fact, she made this painting in the background of the above picture.  It's awesome!  She said that someday she'll tell me the story behind it.  I can't wait to hear it someday!
 
My aunt is actually going to use the rug as a table top decoration.  It fits perfectly in her house with the style, color, and type of decor. 

It was meant to be hers!

Almost there!

Six more inches and then I can cut this rug off the loom, finish it, and then tie-on the rest and begin again!  I think the next one will have zigzags every inch.  It will be 3 repeats of the pattern.  I'm not sure of the colors yet... possibly lots of colors? 

Slurping up the stash

 I decided to change directions every now and then... maybe it will be planned and maybe it will be unplanned!  I kind of like random things more than planned things, but sometimes planned looks good, too.

I think the changes work much better when the warp is set up in a straight line than the other way around.  I'm not too fond of this pattern when the warp goes in different directions.  I think it's because of the weft-faced fabric.  When you change directions while treadling, it makes a much tighter point. 

I think I might do very tight zigzags on the 2nd rug!  

Black Cherry

Here is the rug so far!  

 

It's using up an incredible amount of wool, which is a good thing because I have so much that needs to be used up.  I decided to start with the diagonal stripes to remind myself of the pattern.  After this rug, I want to make one with zigzags.  I haven't decided the colors of the zigzag rug yet, but it will probably be just as neat!

Won't this be flashy?  It will spruce up any room nicely!

Rug

Remember the rag rug I made last year?  It was blue and white and made of old wool...??  Maybe this will help:

I've decided that I wanted to use up more stash and make another one.  But I also wanted to do a different pattern.  Zigzags are so hot right now and the left/right color changes were much better looking on the former rug than the up/down!  I also want to do one with some diagonal stripes, and I want to use the same warp.  I want to use several different kinds of colors, so it won't be as coordinated as the blue and white rug!  Hopefully it will work out ok though!!

Four blankets are done!

These 4 blankets are all done!  They are so soft and pretty!

I love the plaid!  I thought about tying on yet another warp, but I think I'm ready for something a little bit different...








I don't have anyone in mind right now to use these four blankets.  In fact, I put them into my hope chest that my dad made me in high school so I can use them with my future kids.

This is the beautiful hope chest he made me.  At the time, I filled it with things to use when I got married.  Now, it's full of things for a future baby!








Besides the blankets, here are a few of the fun things in my hope chest!

I have a whole set of storybook-like embroidered blocks to make into a quilt.  I made these in college!

I also have a set of these circle animal blocks.  I love these!  I think I also made these in college.

 And I have a third set of blocks (Geeze, I need to quilt these up!!) of these cats that are dressed up in various themes!

I also have a few sets of cloth books.  Some of them match books I made for my nephews when they were young.  (Like 10 years ago?!)  I made 2 sets and gave them one then kept the other for myself for the future.

Here is the dots book to practice counting:

And some cool quilt squares:

This is the transportation book:

And lastly, these are little things that Brian bought along the way in his travels.  He loves John Deere stuff and I think he got these in Cheyenne, Wyoming on one of his many trips!

There are a few other decoration items that I haven't taken the time to frame yet, like these wool applique pictures.  I made two sets when I was in college, one for me and one for my mom.  These small projects were so easy to do while living in a dorm room!

And something else I found in my hope chest that I forgot about was from my crochet year.  I didn't do much, but I did accomplish this awesome doily! 

Hope you enjoyed the tour!!