All Week in the Studio

The knots have appeared on the back of the fiery warp!  I'm sad to see it go.  I dyed it many years ago at a Tuesday Weavers dye day, and I've never again done something so vibrant.  Most of my dyed warps are muted in blues or greens or purples.  

But plans are underway for the next new project.  I'm weaving myself a coverlet!  At first, it was going to be cotton, probably white, maybe pink and white, but I would have had to buy new yarn, and I didn't want to.  Yesterday, I was weaving on the fiery warp and saw the rayon-linen blend sitting on the shelf.  When am I ever going to use all that up?  And I just found out last summer that it dyes very nicely.  So, I started winding a 10-yard warp on the warping mill last night when I couldn't sit one more minute at the loom.  It's a blah color, but it's neutral and slightly shiny, because of the rayon.  Woven with itself as the weft, the drape is lovely, and I think it would work very well in a simple lace pattern, maybe Huck or Swedish, probably in blocks.  If I dye it, I would probably go with teal or mallard from the Dharma Trading acid dyes.  Or I'll just leave it as is!

Tootsie is naked since Liz's towels were finished in March, so last week I chose this blue and lavender warp that I dyed last fall.  It's 320 threads, and I'll thread it 24 epi, also in lace.  I tried first to figure out a lace pattern from Carole Strickler's book, but I just cannot seem to get my head around profile drafts!  I understand the threading, but I don't understand the treadling.  I tried to enter it into WeaveDesign, but it wasn't right.  There were floats that were 10 to 14 threads long, and that's just not going to work.  Also, it's not what was shown in the pattern.  So I'll leave that problem for another day, and chose a pattern from Weaver's Best of Huck.  In the picture on the inside cover of the book, this pattern looks like Dogwood blossoms, and I love it.  Again, I put it into WeaveDesign, and have it hanging on the back of the loom, ready to go.

I used the trapeze to wind this warp on, and I am getting very proficient at it!  It went on in an afternoon, with no cursing or tears.  I lost the cross, but I'm not afraid.  I have re-threaded the last two warps I've woven without a cross, and nothing bad happened.  As you see, the threads are all held in the raddle, and I'll be threading back to front.  The last few warps I've done have made me question a lot of the "have to" rules I learned when I was learning to weave, and as long as it all works in the end, I will bend or get rid of rules I don't need.

Besides, what can go wrong if I have two watch-cats keeping me safe?  

Happy weaving!