95 heddles too few....

I got to thinking about this blanket for mom and the incredible amount of heddles I will need for 30 ends per inch all the way across the whole loom.  With a 25.5" reed and 30 epi, I will need 765 heddles to cover that space.  That's a lot of heddles.  On the 4-shaft I have 660, so I would either have to take some from the 8-shaft or just simply weave it on the 8-shaft.  I'm going with the 2nd option.  Also, I still have Bertha Gray Hayes potholders still on my 4-shaft, so it's getting a little backed-up over here!

Anyway, back to the conversions from 4 to 8-shafts.  The next trick was to figure out how to turn the 4-shaft pattern into an 8-shaft design.  I tried very large M-W rotations using all 8 heddles, but it wasn't even the same pattern.  Then it occurred to me that I read somewhere in a book that an 8-shaft threading is like 1-2-3-4 & 1-2-3-4.  So once I divided the threading and treadling that way, I ended up with the same pattern:

So using this 8-shaft method, I will need 70 heddles on shafts 1, 4, 5, & 8; 105 heddles on shafts 2 & 7; and 140 shafts on heddles 3 & 6.  I think the 8-shaft can handle that, but I will count shafts 2 & 7 just to be safe!  I hate adding heddles during threading.  It just isn't much fun at all!

I'm going to put the sage green as the warp because my mom likes it best.  This way the fringe will be the green color.  I haven't decided on a small border around the piece yet.  Maybe I'll repeat the pattern a few times in one spot at the beginning and the sides just to make it a little bit different around the whole piece.  And maybe I'll just weave up to the edges.... I'll have to think about this a bit.

OK- off to the warp board!

A Handwoven steal...

I love going to my local yarn shop and thumbing through the old Handwoven magazines.  They sell their old magazines for really cheap.  I love getting a few every time I go!  Last week when my mom and I went to the yearn store they had a whole bunch to chose from and it was hard to narrow it down to just a few.  I'm so excited to dig into these new old magazines!

I also got 2 balls of wacky colors to work with.  They were in the sale bin and were super cheap!  (I don't even think it was the price in the tag... )  I want to use these for some bright overshot.  Maybe one of Bertha Gray Hayes' patterns.  I can't wait to get these on the loom!

A little bit o' orangy goodness!

This cat

is

 

too easy to 

photograph!

My next weaving project:

My mom picked out this pattern.  After she saw my Huichol blanket, she also wanted a blanket so she brought over some yarn from the yarn shop and we went through lots and lots of books.  After searching and searching for just the right pattern, she finally settled with this classic M-W beauty.  I'm going to thread it onto the 4-shaft loom and then that means I can still put something on the 8-shaft loom!  Woo hoo!!  I'll start measuring out the warp this afternoon.

I think this will make a very pretty blanket. I really like the sage green mixed with this shade of yellow.  They will be a nice relaxing summery feel.

Dominos #21

In the May/June 2005 Handwoven magazine there is a pattern called Overshot Made Easy for Pot Holders by Jean Koruson (page 30-33).  What I find fascinating is that she used 8/4 cotton carpet warp for both the warp and tabby and then worsted weight cotton knitting yarn for the pattern weft.  I have never thought of going this big with overshot before, usually I am trying to get it all balanced with the very small weights of yarns.  This is so exciting!

As you all know, I love Bertha Gray Hayes' patterns SO MUCH!!  So I decided to the Dominos pattern for my first pot holder warp.




I wanted super  bright colors!  I think these will do!






















And here is the sample so far:



There are a few threading errors on the right (not shown) that I need to either ignore or work out.  I'm thinking Jean Korus (who wrote the article) chose the single pattern repeat for her potholders for a reason.  I'm not getting enough pattern repeats to make it really that neat, but perhaps once I fix the threading error and actually wash it and take it off the loom I will like it a bit better.  I do like the effect of 8/4 and worsted weight knitting yarn!  I can think of all kinds of things this would be good for, like rugs.  In fact, it was just on Tuesday I received an email from Judy last week about her rug using these larger sized yarns.  I am so glad to get such good ideas to try out!

My P2P surprises

So when I sent my P2P pictures to Meg in New Zealand, I added to surprise pictures two surprises to the batch.  After a forever and half wait, She FINALLY received them!  So here are the additional pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Meg referred to this picture as "the party" but it was far from the fun a party can be!  This picture is one of the many times we've broken down in the car.  This was taken at the Walmart in Flagstaff, AZ.  That is my mother-in-law and husband trying to fix the car.  I was kind of bored so I just played with the camera.  We had a fun day, except for this part.  We finally had to call my dad to come and rescue us, then drive back the next day with parts to fix this car.  It needed a new fuel pump and a homeless mechanic helped us get the parts in.  I gave him a sack of food with homemade cookies and money for his troubles!  The reason why I was thinking about this picture recently was because this car just finally bit the dust for the last time.   

This picture was taken at a local lake that my husband and I spent a lot of time hanging out at before we were married.  We had just gotten our new digital camera and were meeting up with a bunch of friends.  I just thought this was an amazing dusk scene and it's always been one of my favorites.  Aren't the boats so inviting?  And isn't the water so peaceful?

As for my P2P choices, I'm still crunching on stuff and having a hard time narrowing it down because I can see something that I want to do in each picture.  I'm getting close to an idea though.  I'm kind of leaning towards this one:

I keep thinking a lovely plaid twill throw would be perfect to go with this picture.  I can imagine myself sitting on a rock or a bench and having this lovely twill plaid blanket wrapped around me during the brisk morning.  Who knows if the morning is really brisk or not, but it doesn't matter.  In my mind it can be whatever temperature I want it to be!  I think I want to pick out some colors from this picture, like the greens and the grays and blues with some dots of that washed out brick red orange.  And maybe taking some lines from the buildings in the back or the sailboats.  That is what I'm thinking today anyway, but it could all change in a matter of time.  But I think I'm going to work with this idea some more.

Beware of those who reinvent the wheel

So back to the rag rug...

I figured out the instructions just fine.  And the tool is pretty cool.  But...

I realized it IS just the toothbrush rug.   I could have saved so much money.  AND recycled an old toothbrush.

It is pretty cool and fun to do, but I'm just feeling a little jipped and lied to at the moment...

Because at the quilt show my mom DID ask the person selling these if it was the toothbrush rug....

And she said no.

Oh well.  I just keep telling myself that it is a cool tool.  And it is fun.

Inspirations

Since the P2P2 thing got started, I have really been noticing my world.  Usually I feel so oblivious to things at my own house that I almost don't see them anymore.  But when I was at my parent's house the other day, I noticed all kinds of things I wasn't looking at lately.  Here are some colors and textures from their house that have really stood out to me lately:

My dad's junkbots...

Handwoven gifts... 

 Wooden treasures...
















Cactus...  *ouch!  Don't touch!*

My mom's sewing stuff...

Freshly painted watercolors... 

Colorful quilts... 

 

Lots of books... 

And color galore...

Great inspirations!

Sewing the Huichol blanket panels

I have to admit, this was a very hard task!  Finishing the Huichol blanket and sewing the two panels together was just as difficult as I had suspected, but now I know what works and it will definitely help in the future.

Before I share my woes of the panel sewing, here is a picture of the edging.  (I know Judy was asking about how the edges will be finished.)  First, I did some extra light blue for about an inch around each border piece. So the sides and each end have a little light blue border.  Then I did a hemstitch while the fabric was still on the loom.  I made sure to keep enough unwoven material to make fringe.  I love fringe!  When I cut it off the loom, the untamed fringe kept tangling so before I sewed the panels together, I took the time to twist the fringe.  I love it!

So onto sewing the panels together...

I tried several various methods of sewing the two panels together, like three different times I tried the hand-sewn zigzag stitch up the sides, and it just stretched really badly.  I could just see future children pulling the two panels apart accidentally!  I needed something more robust.  So I tried sewing the panels one on top of the other with the sewing machine so each side had a seam and thread showing.  It was even worse.  And I did it twice, once with yarn and once with thread.  The yarn didn't work well, it kept breaking.  The thread was ok and I would have settled for it, but even though the panels are the same length, I had about 3 inches left over the second time because the sewing machine bunched up one of the panels and caused puckering.  It wasn't pretty!  So I ripped out the stitches and just decided to do an old-fashioned "match the right sides together" seam.  I felt like it was my only option.  And it ended up being the best one.  In fact, on the right side of the blanket you can hardly see the seam!

The back-side shows the seam more, but I am sure not many people will be focusing on that.  I think the design and the softness (and that super cool fringe that sways so nicely!!!) will distract them well enough!

 

The finished size after washing is 60" by 44", not including the 4" of super cool swaying fringe on each side.  And it is just perfect for those cool early summer evenings here in northern Arizona, where surprisingly as soon as the sun sets it cools off rather quickly!

First sewing lesson!

I taught my first sewing lesson!

One day a week I have an 11 year old girl coming over for sewing lessons.  This is her quilt top so far.  She picked out the fabric all on her own.  It's going to be so cute!  The squares are each 6", so the blocks are sewing up into about 17.5".  So when the top's done, the quilt blocks will probably be about 17" around.  She is very enthusiastic about this project and I'm proud to be her first sewing teacher!  (She's also my first sewing student!)

The kitties are enjoying their indoor sunbaths!  So far it's been a mild summer here in Arizona.  I'm surprised we just barely had to turn on the air conditioner!

Huichol blanket is DONE!

I've finished weaving the Huichol blanket!  Now I have two panels that need to be sewn together and honestly, I'm a little worried about this part.  I have already tried sewing them and didn't like it yet, but I will try it again. I'm sure it will look better once it's washed!  I'm a little worried about sewing it just up the side seams and having it hold together.  I'm going to just trust the process... it's been done for a long time and it seems to work for other people!

In the mean time, here is an interesting view: