The quilt is coming along!!!

With all the vacations that have gotten in the way, we are rapidly running out of summertime!  BUT...  my student's quilt is all quilted!!   The machine quilter chose a perfect pink to match the back!

 

Here's more detail:

It turned out really nice!!  I can't wait for her to get the binding on and put it to use!

And of course, quilts and cats always go together!

Summer and Winter sample

So far, the summer and winter project designed from the profile draft is coming along, however I have come across a few challenges along the way, as usual!  I found just one threading error, and it was easy enough to fix.  The only concern now is that the design looks really stretched out when I weave it.  (I think this is where sampling would have been a good idea!)  Originally I planned for 27 epi, but I wouldn't have been able to squeeze in 3 repeats of this design without 30 epi.  So that is why I went with 30.  Also, I knew right away that I wanted to use the same size pattern thread as warp thread.  But I'm sure now that I miscalculated the epi.  Because it's summer and winter, I needed to use a tabby epi, and when I did 10/2 back in April in the weave-along, I used 20 epi.  12/2 cotton is not much different in size, so maybe the 10 dent reed with 2 threads per dent (20 epi) would have been a better choice here.  Now that I think about this, I wonder what was I thinking with 30 epi?!  In order to address this, I think I might try half the treadling just to see what happens, like 1a2b instead of 1a2b1a2b.  Otherwise, I might just have to improvise along the way.


Here is a sample so far.  It's pretty even though it's stretched out!

So far the weaving width is about 22.5".  I think for a dishtowel, 4 rows will be perfect!  It will be about 32" long, plus the fringe length.  Here is a close-up photo:

I am doing my usual hem-stitch edging.  I love the way it looks in the end!  It's so pretty.

And the back of the fabric is looking good also.  Because it's the summer and winter pattern, the back is a complete opposite of the front. What is dark is light, and what is light is dark on the opposite sides.

Even though it's stretched out, I do like the colors and the design!  I'll keep experimenting!  Good thing I have an 8 yard warp! 

The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers

 




The Complete Book of Drafting for Handweavers is an excellent resource for both 4-shaft and 8-shaft weavers!  I discovered this book last summer at the White Rock Weaving Center in Dallas, TX.


 
I love the vocabulary lists (seen on the left in the sample page below).  I also love the pictures.  They are very easy to understand.  The book is filled with all kinds of valuable information.  It also has practice lessons for you to do.  Here is the table of contents:

Part I: The basic weaves
The family tree weaves
reading drafts
Writing drafts
Understanding the basic weaves
Drafting twills and color-and-weave

Part II: Blocks
Key to block weaves
Reading profile drafts
Writing profile drafts
Understanding overshot
Drafting overshot
From blocks to units

Part III: Unit weaves
Understanding lace weaves
Drafting lace
Understanding Damask
Drafting damask
Understanding tied weaves
Drafting tied weaves
Understanding patterned double weave
Understanding Stitched double cloth
Understanding lampas
Drafting double weave

Part IV: Extras
Understanding turned drafts
Understanding blended drafts
Understanding network drafting
Understanding fabric analysis

answers
For further study
Graph paper and design sheets
index

We're warping!

 We're warping for the summer and winter dishtowels!  I'm going to do 720 threads on an 8 yard warp... that's 5760 yards!  Wow!

I just love these two colors together!  I have noticed when I do summer and winter that the closer the colors are, the better it looks.  If they are too opposite, then you get a lot of graying.  

This file photo taken in April is a good example.  I was weaving this for the weave-along at weavingtoday.com.  The blue and orange are just too opposite on the color wheel and caused a lot of graying in the areas where they mixed.

So I had to scratch the blue and go with magenta. 

 

 

It definitely had a happier flow after that and came together easily.  I was thinking of switching it up some with my summer and winter and doing the yellow warp with a few other colors I have on hand.  We'll have to wait and see what I come up with! 

And of course, what fun would the weaving process be without a little mid-warping break?

It's purrrrrrr-fect!

So our cat Scout is a nuisance when it comes to needing attention.  He will constantly bug anyone for cuddle time.  It's especially bad in the kitchen.  When I cook or do dishes, he is constantly at my feet or tripping me.  Not only is it really annoying, but it's also terribly unsafe!  Honestly, I don't want him to get hurt.  One Thanksgiving a few years ago it got so bad that I had to make a new rule that he had to sit outside the kitchen.  We almost got a baby gate to try and keep him out, but decided against it.  So then we had to train an older cat some new tricks.  In our new house, we tried to make the different colored tile the marking point, but Scout just doesn't get it.  Well, a few days ago my mom gave me a lovely handcrafted rag rug that I was using at the sink.  When Scout claimed it to be his own, I realized I had the perfect boundary setting tool to help us out!  Here is is on the mat:

It's purrrrrrr-fect!

page 104 Summer and winter project

Remember this profile draft I was doing in summer and winter?  (From The Gartner Manuscript page 104)

Here are the stats I've figured out:

ends per inch = 30
reed = #15
Warp length = 8 yards

Yarn = 12/2 unmercerized cotton in curry (warp and tabby color) and tangelo (pattern color)

Threads per repeat = 240
Total repeats = 3
Total threads = 720
estimated width = 24" 


Heddles needed
shaft 1 = 180
shaft 2 = 180
shaft 3 = 84
shaft 4 = 84
shaft 5 = 96
shaft 6 = 96
Total heddles = 720

How can you tell the orange yarn from the orange cat?








"Oh ZZZZZZZZiiiiippppppp!!!"



Just call out his name!

Yay for the Monsoon season!!!!

Monsoon season is here!!!  Yay!!!!

 I love the desert monsoons.  I love listening to the rain and thunder while weaving and working with my yarn.  It ALWAYS reminds me of summertime.  And it cools it off outside!

My mom's blanket is DONE!

My mom's blanket is done!  And it turned out really nice.

However, I have been noticing that the colors don't come through on the camera or computer like they should.  These are the tones I keep getting:

But after messing around with the color balance, saturation, and tint, this is what it should look like:

 This turned out to be a very pretty and soft blanket!  She loves it, too!

A few treadling mistakes...

 As I was measuring out the yarn for this project on the warp board, I was thinking about the treadling and realized that something was wrong.  After looking at it again, I have realized the mistake.  I had the treadling as 1-a-2-b instead of 1-a-2-b-1-a-2-b!  So no wonder it looked so "normal" when I put it up on the screen!  But with the corrected treadling, it became very stretched out so I had to fix the picks per inch to twice the ends per inch.  This is what I came up with:

This one is just way too small to see all the treadling along the sides.  If you want the pattern all drafted out, let me know.  I have saved it as a WIF file, but can't find a way to post it here.

I'm also thinking of trying some with my favorite treadling, the 1-a-2-b-2-a-1-b treadling.  It looks like this up close:

I know profile drafts are a lot more work and it's easy to make mistakes along the way, but they are so much fun.  The combinations of patterns and colors seem endless!  It's so much more fun than following a pattern or book word for word!

Atypical Profile Draft

I've been thinking a lot lately about profile drafts and came across an atypical situation.  Take a look at this draft, the Gartner Manuscript on page 74:

It was kind of throwing me for a loop because of the tie-up section.  I have only seen and work with tie-ups that are lined up like this: 

But notice how different it makes the draft look!  What is one to do if they want to make it into a pattern?  Well, you definitely have to take the tie-up into consideration.  And it's easier than you think.  After plugging it into the draft program using summer and winter as an example, I have figured out how to use it!

Basically, all you have to do is just mesh the tie-ups together to include all the shaded areas.  The above pattern shows blocks A, B, and C in order across so the tie-up is just normal for summer and winter.  In the below tie-up, the blocks are A, C, and then B&C are combined, so your tie-up for summer and winter would be in that order, meshing (or combining) the last two together.  Compare these examples:


 

Notice the few slight changes in the second tie-up pattern.  In the bottom example, the third tie-up combines the tie-ups for both blocks B&C.

Here are the drafts all filled in with summer and winter.  Notice the changes between the two.  It makes quite the difference to have the tie-up done right, but still makes a neat looking draft to change it a little bit.

Original draft from Gartner Manuscript page 74

Tie-up is more normal than original draft

I have been so focused on summer and winter lately that I haven't plugged in any other threading yet, but I'm sure it would work the same with any chosen pattern structure.  I hope this tutorial helps get your brain thinking about other kinds of patterns that are out there!  I love the profile drafts, they open up so many different doors.  They also open up a lot of designing opportunities.  Have fun!!!!