It Isn't Finished...

All together now...

...until it's wet finished.

But before that can happen, a whole lot of knot tying needs to be done.  By my calculations I believe there are 28 shawls in these three bins to be tied.  Doug has already done some sessions pressing what I've managed to get ready.  Of course, once they are wet finished, they still have to be trimmed and tagged.

However, the weaving part is now officially done.  I cut the last warp off the loom a few minutes ago but before I begin on the AVL...it's lunch time.  Or will be in a few minutes.  Because when you are self-employed, you get to choose when to take breaks, right?

End of the Line

This is it, the End of the Line.  The Last of the Shawl Warps.  #18 of 18.  Just two more shawls to weave and put a period at the end of it.

The rapid rate of recovery after surgery has slowed and, indeed, feels like it has come to a full stop, although I know that isn't really so.  It is just that now, recovery will be measured over weeks and months, not days.  I have been told by many that recovery from this surgery takes one to three years, depending on the person.  I know that after 13 weeks I'm only at the beginning of the journey.  Does that make me any less impatient?  Of course not.  Intellectually I know there is a ways to go.  Emotionally?  Not so much...

With the plateau I feel that it must surely be time to push the boundary a little bit harder.  Having so many of these 'easy' warps to do meant that I stayed the course, did not start pushing too soon but stuck with the promise to myself that I would weave all of these 'gentle' warps before I tried weaving more normally, i.e. with the same degree of physical effort I'm used to using.

As each warp came off the loom I found I could do a little bit more before I felt tired or achy, until with this one I didn't really feel any aches or pains at all.

These warps fulfilled several functions:  a) they allowed me to ease back into weaving, reminding my body very gently of the movements and effort I need it to perform; b)  I was able to clear three boxes of yarn out of storage - about 150 four ounce skeins; c) build badly needing inventory - about 50+ shawls.  All that needs to happen now is fringe tying, pressing, trimming and tagging.  They will be ready in plenty of time for the fall sales beginning in October.

This warp will come off tomorrow and then I will take a deep breath, turn the computer for the loom on and see just how far along in my recovery I really am.

Currently reading Murder 101 by Faye Kellerman

Time Flies

It seems a long time ago Kerstin and I were wending our way through the north of England and southern Scotland visiting every textile mill we could find.  This photo is from Masson Mill and shows the rather large warp winding beam used by industry.

But really, it was only - what - 2 years ago?  So much has happened since then...

I don't know how much traveling I will be doing in the future.  Cutting back my teaching schedule means that I will be staying much closer to home.  On the other hand, I have made so many friends across the border I would really like to go visit some of them, some of the time.

So today I went and bought a one year travel medical insurance policy.  I leave the province just often enough that it felt like it was going to be a lot more convenient to buy it by the year than to have to remember to go in for each and every trip, especially when some of the trips are less than a week in duration.

Friends in Florida has issued a standing invitation to visit them during the winter, which after last winter is looking especially attractive.  And of course there is Kerstin in Sweden, although that seems like an awfully long way to go with a back and hip that don't tolerate sitting for hours and hours very well anymore.  I don't know if I will be able to drive long distances, either.  But having the insurance policy is my optimistic vote that I will get to go somewhere, that my traveling days are not entirely history.  Yet.

Currently reading Falling in Love by Donna Leon

Concentration

Concentration was pretty thick in the air in the guild room this weekend!

Eight enthusiastic students, exploring the nature of lace weaves.  The guild room was stuffed.  If there had been one more person, I think the room may have burst.  As it was we were, um, cozy.

Such a delight to see people understand the concepts and even go beyond to design their own patterns.  Looking forward to seeing what they do with this knowledge.

Lovely Lace

Don't forget to biggify for a larger picture...

A friend came over one day, early in my career, looked around my house and wondered where all my weaving was.  I told her I couldn't afford my own weaving...

Over the years I have made a few things especially for me but I have kept very little.  Many of the hand woven textiles I have in my home were actually woven by friends - mostly tea towels.  I always recognize who made the towel du jour and I feel they are close to me, even though physically they may be very far away.

I did keep most of the textiles woven for the master weaver certificate, although even those in some instances have found other homes.

The silk scarf pictured above is one of the things I have kept.  It was woven from 2/60 silk in Huck Lace.  The butterflies (or moths - I can never keep them straight in my mind), flutter across the cloth as they will.  The cloth has areas of spots, lace and plain weave.  It isn't perfect, but it's pretty close.

It was a nice ramble down memory lane as I pulled examples for the workshop this weekend...and for the contract...more news on that once everything is settled.

I know, I'm such a tease!  :^)

Fix

I know I've posted about this before but thought that it is time to revisit it because it is just so darned clever!

First learned this from Kerstin Fro:berg...

Although I try to remove knots from the yarn as I wind a warp, sometimes they aren't obvious, or sometimes, as with this very textured yarn, the problem is not a knot, per se, but a a flaw in the spinning which creates a large lump.  So it was with this warp...a large clump that snuck into the warp and which was not happy in the reed.  The only solution was to 'cut it out'.

What Kerstin does is thread a repair end into the same heddle as the culprit, weave for 2-3 cm, then cut out the bad end and continue weaving with just the repair end until the original is long enough to be brought back through the heddle, reed and pinned to the woven cloth.

The beauty of this technique is that no needle weaving is required after the cloth is removed from the loom and with a yarn this textured, that is a real bonus!

My contribution to the technique is what I do if I have the yarn on cones:

I purposefully kept the dregs left over from warp winding just in case I had to do any repairs and only on the 15th warp did I need to do this, but because I had it was a piece of cake to fix the problem.

Check the video clip but essentially I take the loose end of the yarn, pass it up through the bottom of the cone and through the top.  The weight of the cone is usually enough although weight can be added if you are weaving with higher tension than the cone provides.  To lengthen the yarn when the cone rises to the back beam, it is a very simple matter to grab the yarn at the base and pull more yarn off the cone from the bottom.

Fund Raising

Our guild is extremely fortunate in that we have had our own room almost since we started.  Unfortunately our membership roster is much smaller than it used to be, and the rent for the guild room never seems to go down, only up.

Over the years we have done all sorts of things to raise funds for the rent...without continuously dipping into members pockets by raising membership fees.

This year is the centenary of the city and the mascot of the city is a 'wooden' man, Mr. PG.  He wears a hard hat in honour of all the people involved in the lumber industry.

One of our guild members designed a knitted Mr. PG and various members made some which we are trying to sell in order to keep the roof over our head.

They come as lapel pins or with a loop for hanging on your Christmas tree, loom, spinning wheel, whatever.

They range in size from 1.5 to 2.5 inches, all are hand knitted with face and "PG" stitched by hand.  We have about a dozen left and we would love to send them off to new homes.

They are in the guild room and available for purchase for $20 during drop ins and Spring Fest aka the Great Chili Cook-off.