A year in review May – August 2020
As I mentioned in a previous blog, the guild was not able to meet since the beginning of the pandemic. So we have migrated our show and tell in an electronic format. This blog is a review of the creations our members have shared with us between May and August 2020. This is part 2 of 3 of a year in review.
Click on the photo to see them full screen
Fiber / Spinning
Sheila W:
Wool is all skirted, washed, dried, bagged and ready to go to the Custom Woolen Mills ltd.
Mary P:
Here is the yak fibre I steamed before use. The bag said yak top so I spun it worsted to maximize the minimal sheen. Wikipedia says yaks have three types of fibre in their coats: super long outercoat at 79 to 90 microns that shed the snow and rain; a mid-type at 20 – 50; and a down fiber at 16 – 20 microns. This is the mid-type. It definitely has a nap to the yarn as one way feels smooth and the opposite rough. It will still work as a “neck yarn.”
Felting
Karen C
I have been admiring all of the beautiful weaving. I thought this might be a distraction for spinners who have bits of fibre they don’t want to spin. There is something very meditative about poking with a fine needle.
Judith
Nuno felted pillow, made from superfine merino wool, silk fabric, mulberry silk roving and handspun silk yarn, then hand painted with acid dye. Mother of pearl buttons.
Knitting
Karen C
A couple of shawls with my handspun I recently finished. The yellow is wool/alpaca and silk dyed with marigold knit with a Munrosisters3 pattern. The white shawl is handspun Shetland and design I put together.
From the Studio
This one is a truly collaborative Studio project based on Jane Stafford’s Heavenly Check Scarf Kit. All the heavy front-end work was done by novice weavers as part of our Studio weaving lessons. The materials (Bambu-12 in sweet corn, mint & honey) were chosen and donated by Colleen D who also wound most of the warp. Vanessa S finished the warp and dressed the loom. One scarf was woven by Nancy using all three warp colours in rotation and one by Sandra using only mint & honey. It’s prone to wrinkles, but feels wonderfully silky. Here’s the link to Jane’s weaving kit for the scarf.
https://janestaffordtextiles.com/…/bambu-heavenly…/
Our new weavers are busy creating some lovely textiles.
Best friends Maria and Sara are sharing a hand-towel warp using 8/2 cotton warp and hand-dyed cotton bouclé weft. The light colours (not well photographed, unfortunately) are a warm, peachy neutral created with Procion MX orange and turquoise. The warp is sett at 16 epi and the bouclé is lightly beaten, so the towels are ever so soft. Lisa has several from a previous warp and reports using them all the time in her kitchen.
Oksana, another new weaver, is intrigued by the simplicity and portability of rigid heddle looms. So prior to committing to a purchase, she’s trying out the guild’s rigid heddle loom (bet you didn’t know we had one) to make a scarf with a couple of balls of donated knitting yarn. One of the yarns is variegated, and her pattern is log cabin, so the colours interact unpredictably and beautifully. It’s a perfect scarf for fall, woven on a rigid-heddle loom in a logcabin pattern with alternate variegated and solid-coloured yarns. It’s sure to be the first of many scarves and shawls as Oksana discovers weaving uses for her knitting yarn stash.
Weaving
Terri B
Here is my recent work in progress. Yesterday I saw some beautiful blossoms in town. Inspired by their colours, I chose some yarns, made a warp, put in on my SAORI loom and started weaving. The warp is 4 meters long, not sure yet what it will become. “Spring Blossoms”.
My latest….Cotton warp, linen weft – and my favourite colours!
The other day I decided I needed a summer weight scarf. I had been weaving with linen on a cotton warp thinking that it may be some clothing at some point. I measured out what had been woven so far and it was the perfect amount for a scarf, so I took it off the loom, tied fringe and washed it.
Sandra
I’m working on a series of scarves using stash yarns. They all use a bit of fine wool + “ladder” yarn (remember when that was popular?) for warp. The creamy one’s weft is mohair bouclé purchased from Yarn Barn at Convergence 2002 and dyed (probably 2003) with bronze fennel fronds. In real life it’s more beige than cream; thick, soft and cozy. The rosy one has a kid mohair/silk weft, and is unfortunately a bit short. But that’s the nature of stash yarns — when it’s gone, that’s all she wrote. The scarf is gossamer light with lovely drape.
Two more scarves in the ladder yarn series, both from the same warp. The brighter one has a kid-mohair/silk/nylon weft for another light, airy piece. The darker one is woven with a variegated fine mohair loop in dark olive and a range of purples. It’s a bit less delicate, but soft and cozy. As it needed only a tiny bit of the one-pound skein, the remaining mohair loop is begging for a several shawl warps.
Here’s a set of 2/2 twill tea towels: one warp, eight different towels and trying my hand at green and red (remember the pot of spring lettuce?). Unlike my usual colours, these are quite subdued — COVID towels.
Pic 1 — the whole set, Pic 2 — my favourites and Pic 3 — the ones that show the red-green experiment best.
Just finished a pair of “Undulating Shadow Weave” scarves in a merino/tencel blend based on a Margaret Windeknecht rosepath motif draft. Same warp, same tie-up, same treadling order, but two distinctly different scarves. The one on the right in second picture (008) follows the Windeknecht pattern exactly (starting with a dark weft pick); the left one starts with a light weft pick. Hard to believe that such a trivial difference would change the appearance so dramatically.
Nancy
I finished my first shawl. It is plain weave with gradual green cotton warp and light grey silk mohair warp. 35 inch x 80 inch. Very soft and very warm. This is my mother day’s gift to my mom. Made a second one for myself with a lighter grey silk mohair warp.
Elise Y
I’ve just finished my first handwoven garment! The warp and weft are 2/16 unmercerized cotton from Brassards, woven on a backstrap loom using a 22 dpi bamboo reed to keep the weave balanced. There is also a bit of inlay in 2/8 cotton. I had planned on four identical panels to create a simple top, but goofed on the inlay motif for the second panel, so I decided to finish the warp off in plain weave, and piece it together to create a tank top. It’s not perfect, but I learned a lot and I’m really happy with it.
Lisa
Swedish lace table runner, 2-block design 10/2 cotton. My sixth and final project of the Beginners Weaving Round Robin Workshop coordinated by Sandra. So lovely! This was a fun one, very happy with the way the colours interacted and exciting to see the pattern develop.
Sheila
Sheila weaved many throws during these 4 months:
- Supposed to be M & W’s from Anne Davidsons pattern book pg. 90 but all you can see is strips from the weft. Warp is wool and weft is bernat fifi boucle, mohair, wool and nylon. Sett at 10 epi. This blanket turned out very squishy. I’m going to try M & O’s on the next one to see if the pattern shows up better with the boucle.
- Warp is a bunch of single balls of purple to pink yarn, weft is burgundy boucle woven in m & o’s pattern sett at 8 epi.
- Warp is white wool from my sheep, weft is tango diamond mohair boucle in a 2/2twill, super heavy and squishy.
- Windowpane pattern by Sarah Resnick, handwoven jan/Feb 2020, sett at 8 epi
- Assorted harrisville shetland wool threaded at a 7 point twill sett at 12epi, weft black harrisville shetland wool, I changed the pattern every 5 to 6 inches to make a gamp from Jane Stafford Textiles online guild season 4 episode 4, lots of design elements but I think they add to it.
- Wool is from my sheep spun at @customwoolenmill in Carstairs, Alberta, sett at 6 epi, pattern is Palaka blanket by Linda McDonald in handwoven jan/Feb 2020
- Wool from my own sheep 2ply mule spun at Carstairs, Alberta. woven in plain weave sett at 8 epi, pattern from handwoven magazine but I forgot to write down which one, whoops.
- This Christmas 2019 my daughter bought me a big bag of yarn, much to our surprise when I unwrapped it each ball was only 20 yards long, Acrylic warp and weft sett at 8 epi in a small point twill pattern.
- Grey and white wool from my sheep, black, navy and wine from my stash. Pattern is monk’s belt from Simple weaves, pattern called for a sett of 15 but my wool is much thicker so used a sett of 8 epi, would use a much finer wool next time so it matches the picture.
- Acrylic warp and weft black bernard premium, cant find the label for the red – pink, sett at 8 epi in a 6 point broken twill.
- Three shades of wool woven to Tom Knisely’s Berry Blanket pattern, except I misread the 1234 as 4321 so the blocks of 3 don’t invert. sett at 8 epi.
- Was going to be Irish meadows from Tom Knisely baby blanket book but the green was too pretty to go over with lime green, soooooo Jane Stafford Textiles Season 4 episode 5, advancing threading in warp and white weft, green weft, straight draw 4321, green is 3 shades of green wool, white is wool from my Romney sheep.
- 7th Avenue Designs by Ellen Hess – Ombre plaid from Handwoven Sept/Oct pg 38 sett at 8 epi plain weave, super easy to weave, wool is from my Romney sheep spun at Custom Woolen Mills ltd. in Carstairs, Alberta.
- Hand dyed black warp, with assorted boucle weft one is Pingouin reflets d’or and another Boucle Bayadere chat botte, sett at 8 epi, pattern an undulating twill from Anne Dixon’s Handweavers pattern directory pg 199.
- Warp is wool from the stash, weft is Lopi Icelandic, sett at 8 epi woven in “goose eye” pattern.
- Wool sett at 8 epi, sept/Oct 1993.
- Twill plaid made with my own wool spun at Custom Woolen Mills ltd. Sett at 8 epi.
Sheila also made a scarf made from donegal tweed for warp and weft sett at 6 epi in Anne Dixon’s m’s and o’s pattern.
She weaved for the first time with bambu from Jane Stafford Textiles, inspired by the tulips I received for mothers day and Terry B’s cherry blossom saori. Sett at 15 epi, started with an 8 foot warp and ended up with a 4 foot shawl but its soft as butter
