Fall Fiber Work

 With the temperatures in the valley starting to finally slip down into a more comfortable range and even some rain, I've been able to get cracking on several projects.  The highest priority was to finish the weaving on the Guild 2018 challenge bag.  That took about half a day to finish. It would have been much quicker but I had to work around a couple of minor warp problems. 

Finished the weaving, with a celebratory glass of wine!

 Once cut off the loom I ran some machine stitching across the ends and wet finished it in warm water with a little detergent.  Rinsed a couple of times and then dried flat and ironed on a hot setting under a damp cloth.

Finished and ironed.

 I went out yesterday and picked up some iron on backing and some cotton lining.  Along with some cardboard and magnets I now have everything to put it all together.

In the mean time I finished the first skein of llama wool and washed the second batch.

Drying llama locks inside under a fan.

 Once dry it takes another hour to run the lot through the drum carder (in two lots of approximately 1 oz each).  I then diz it off the drum and I end up with very easy to spin roving.

Llama roving ready to spin.

When not working on either of the above I did find time to finish another fall colors dishtowel and start another - I think 3 to go to finish the warp.  And of course there was the outside work - three wheel barrow loads of wood cut up and split and now stacked and drying, and I dug out the silt and fallen leaves from the dam so that we can pump some water up to the hot tub and get it running again.

Return from Oneida, TN

We spent a very relaxing couple of days with friends in Oneida - well almost all relaxing. There was a few hours of digging out a RZR all terrain vehicle after we managed to get it stuck in a muddy creek!

I had taken my wheel and was able to fill two bobbins of a grey romney singles.  The wool had come from an inherited stash of odds and ends and it seemed like it would be easy to spin. It was!  I was able to ply it into a skein of about 2.7 oz., 140 yards 2-ply.  I'll look at a potential weaving project using this wool and some Clun Forest white 2-ply.

Skein of NZ Romney 2-ply

Once home we did some guard hair picking and lock sorting with the llama (Moonshadow).  That resulted in 2.5 oz of white which I washed and dried.  I then ran it through the carder twice and dizzed it off the drum to produce some nice looking roving that should be a dream to spin.

Llama (Moonshadow) roving.

I've also made progress on the guild challenge project - incorporating some of the supplied hand spun yarn as a supplementary weft and one other variegated yarn into a small square (using tapestry techniques).  I'll use up more of the yarn pieces in further squares.

Guild challenge project progress.

 And finally I've also been working on more Fall colored towels - these ones with a brown weft instead of the original white.  I think my towel count is 7 (of 10), but with the trip up to Townsend and weaving up there I've lost count a bit.  I did manage to finish one and a half towels up there while still talking to visitors most of the day.

Moonshadow

I dropped off the Neme skeins and picked up another fleece to process.  Pam had mentioned that the most popular skeins she takes to barter with are white colored because people like to dye them.  A quick check of her fleeces found a 2015 one from Moonshadow that is mostly white with a dark black as well.

2.2 lbs raw weight of Moonshadow fleece

The locks seem to be a good consistent length and apart from a little bit of dust accumulation at the cut end the fleece is in pretty good condition.  There are some minor second cuts, but I should be able to sort those out while sorting and washing.  Anne will be pleased as her favorite activity while watching TV is to remove guard hairs - this being llama it has plenty but they are really obvious and simple to remove in the early sorting/washing.

Llama guard hairs in the locks.

It took a little under 15 minutes to sort the colors into white, black and the rest, then I quickly removed the guard hairs from a sample of black.  In the photo below you can see the sorted color with the small back pile top left being the guard hair removed pile.

Sorted locks.

Next job is to start washing batches after blowing the dust out of them first which will leave clean locks ready for carding and spinning.  They get another wash to set the yarn on completion and that removes any final dirt/dust.

2017 Guild Challenge

The Scenic Valley Handweavers Guild set a challenge at the beginning of the year to weave a 'bag' out of various yarns that were supplied to everyone joining the challenge.  There was a large amount of a gray polyester and varying amounts down to a few feet (of hand spun merino). In all about 10 different yarns.  The bag can be any kind and the idea is to incorporate some of every yarn into the design.

All but one of the challenge yarns.

Having lots of gray and a fair amount of a pink color and both being similar in size I used both in the warp - winding two irregular stripes of the pink (and using it all up) as I went.

Wound warp.

I'm making a bag for my tablet. It will have a folding flap and I'll have to sew in a lining and stiffener if it is to work at all.  Given the size of the tablet there will not be too much weaving - in fact it is pretty close to the loom waste, but as there was a ton of the gray that won't be a problem.  The weft will be all gray with inset 'boxes' of the various colors - some as they are, others twisted together or doubled to balance the size.  The boxes will form a diagonal line across the back and part of the front.  The flap will have a couple of shots of supplementary weft using the hand spun merino which is highly textured. 

Dressing the loom (Pete) has been pretty fast given the small amount of warp, but I do need to address a slipping friction brake before I start to weave.

Warp on the loom.

The project is due in 3 weeks. The weaving won't take long - hopefully that will be the case with the sewing and fastener!

Fall Color Cotton Dish Towels

With the Townsend Blue Ribbon Country Fair coming up at the end of the month I had picked up the Harrisville Design loom and brought it home ready to put some cotton towels on it to weave while demonstrating. This will be my third Country Fair and this time I will do the same as for the Fiber Arts Festival - put a long warp on the loom and weave before, during, and after the event - eventually ending up with a set of towels to put up for sale.

Given the time of year I decided to do a 'Fall Colors' towel and was able to pick up some reasonable dyed cotton at a good price from R&M Yarns in Georgetown.

Half the warp wound on.

10 towels is about as long as I would ever like to do on the warping board (which would probably hold enough for another 3 or 4 towels).  The HD loom doesn't have a sectional beam as do two of my looms.  Beaming directly from bobbins is the way to go for larger runs.

All the warp, chained and ready to dress the loom

Ready to wind on and potential for tangles all the way.

The long warp chains can be a problem, but I was able to keep it under tension as I wound on and only had one snag that led to a broken warp thread.  I caught it in time and was able to tie it up and resume winding. 

Threading the heddles and sleying the reed took a whole day as there are 480 ends.  I also had to supplement the heddles as the HD didn't have enough. Luckily I have the same size inserted eye heddles on one of my looms.  The reed is a 14 dent and it is sleyed at 2 per dent to make 28 epi - right at the top of the range for this 2 x 2 twill design.

First towel underway.

 The weaving is pretty fast as it is all going to be plain white weft - no changing colors for stripes.  The first couple of towels are in a M&W diamond twill design with a 24 thread repeat.  I've designed the next two with a slightly longer repeat that produces a more curved design.  I'll change after every two.

Close up of the diamond pattern

The weather at the moment is great so there won't be too much weaving going on while I'm outside working, but there's always early morning and evening to get some more done.

New Indigo Dyepot

On Saturday the Scenic Valley Handweavers gathered at the same Civic Center where we had held our Woven Shibori lesson the week before.  Everyone had prepared for the day by finishing the weaving, knotting the pull chords and soaking their scarves overnight in water.

We had our normal meeting first and then went on to the actual dyeing.

I had prepared by exhausting the old dyepot and while cleaning out the pot discovered a hole in the pot - only actually noticed when I scrubbed a blob of what I thought was indigo from the inside, but it turned out to be rust!!  Luckily we were passing through Cleveland (TN) and I was able to pick up a replacement 5 gallon pot.  The last one had lasted about 7 years, with most of that time full of indigo dye solution, so I can't complain.

I use the pre-reduced indigo powder for times like this as it is quick and uses relatively easy chemicals (Thiox and Soda Ash) to activate.

I showed the group how it was prepared/mixed and we retired back inside to wait the 15 minutes or so that it takes to develop.  Unfortunately it wasn't so - after 15 minutes it was still only just starting to turn a fairly light green and no copper bloom on the surface.  We waited another 15 minutes and saw a bloom starting to form but not really the rich dark green I have experienced in the past with the same volume and mix. Two things are likely to have contributed. 1. the indigo powder was a little old (although stored with the minimum of oxygen or moisture exposure) and 2. the source of water at the Civic Center is unknown so may have been high in something.

Anyway the mix did continue to darken so with a couple of dips for each scarf we were able to proceed.

5 minutes in the pot, 15 minutes to oxidize - repeat...

First dip and just out so still green.

Indigo dyepot

To complete a woven shibori guild project all participants will be dyeing their warps at our meeting this coming Saturday.  I'm supplying the dyepot and said that I'd make up a fresh one - the guild is paying for materials.

As it turns out I still had the dyepot from our guild dye day last year and decided to try to bring it back to life to see if that could be done.  The dyepot has been sitting covered out in the back shed the whole time.

I followed recommendations in adding small amounts of a) the pre-reduced indigo, b) thiox, and c) soda ash.  In each case stirring gently and then leaving for 15 minutes. I then waited for a further 30 minutes to see what if any reaction there was.  For the first go around - none!!  I repeated the process and once again waited and noted that now the dyepot was returning to the expected green color so decided to try dyeing some pre-soaked cotton. 

Two dips of 5 minutes each with 15 minutes after each dip to oxidize and I had a pretty reasonable blue.  I then repeated the process with the woven shibori warp which had been soaking in water overnight.

After the last 15 minute oxidize I hosed off the warp then brought it inside and washed it first in Dharma professional textile detergent in tepid water, then two rinses, by which time there was little if any blue residue.

After unpicking the pull stitches from the woven shibori scarf I was able to lay the cloth out flat to dry.

Woven shibori scarf after drying (camera flash lightens the blue)

Reasonable dark blue (no flash)

Overnight the dyepot developed a pretty reasonable bloom.

Bloom on the indigo dye

Given that this was a re-awakened dyepot and not a full strength version (good for 2 lbs of material) I decided 10 oz of Clun Forest handspun yarn with one dip should work OK and use up a lot of the indigo before I dispose of it ready for the new dyepot this weekend.

5 skeins of indigo dyed Clun Forest handspun yarn.

It will be interesting to see how the refreshing of this next dyepot goes as we will be dyeing between 1.5 and 2 lbs of cotton this time.  At least I know it is possible to wake it up again.

Woven Shibori

The Scenic Valley Handweavers had a special event this month with one of our members hosting a class on Woven Shibori - a technique I had read about, but never tackled.  The guild hired space in a nearby civic center (old Elementary School) for a whole day of instruction and weaving after first getting all the participants to dress their own loom.  There was 7 floor looms and 3 table looms in total with plenty of room to spare. All in a nice sunny room and we even had lunch supplied.

On completion of the day some of the floor loom weavers were finished their 60" scarf - I, using my table loom was just on 40" for the day, which I thought was fairly good.  It then took another couple of hours to finish off to the required length.

Tabby ground in 8/2 cotton and nylon pull threads in a monk's belt pattern

The weaving was pretty straight forward for the 4 shaft weavers. 10 picks of tabby and then 1 shot of the nylon pull thread. Repeat 3 times and then change to the alternate pull thread pattern (reverse of the first).

Once hem stitched and removed from the loom the work involved knotting all down one side first and then pulling the other side tight to form ripples in the tabby ground which would form the 'resist' when dyed.

Fat fingers and thin nylon is not a great combination, but eventually I had it all knotted and tied up tight.

The next step for the other participants will be to dye their tied up warps with an indigo dye pot that I will be bringing along to the meeting this Saturday.  I however, was able to dye my own warp by bringing back to life the dye pot from over a year ago (next blog).  The warp was soaked in water overnight while the dye pot awoke, and with two 5 minute dips and 15 minutes after each to oxidize the results were pretty good.

The dyed and rinsed scarf.

Close up of the shibori pattern

A very interesting technique, with this attempt being a very basic design.  Even that though, produces a quite spectacular final product.  The repeats of 3 are visible and many variations on this simple design are possible before getting into more complicated versions.  Then there could be over-dyeing to add other colors etc. etc.

Smoky Mountain Fiber Arts Festival

 For the third year I was at the Smoky Mountain Fiber Arts Festival in Townsend, TN.  I have on other years been demonstrating spinning in the days prior to the festival then demonstrating weaving and/or spinning at the actual festival.  This year they weren't at the Visitor Center in the days prior to the festival, but I went up early to help set up the Heritage Center ready for the arrival of the vendors on Thursday - little did I know, but more on that later. 

The Townsend Artisan Guild is a prime organizer of the festival with support from the Tennessee Valley Handspinners Guild. I am a member of both guilds so can't help but be involved.

As in previous years we set up the tent at a campground across the road from the Heritage Center.  It's very convenient and a simple walk across the road once everything is set up.  There are plenty of places to eat and we tend to sample local BBQ and Mexican and then always make the most of there being a great coffee shop located just down the road.  The folk at the Artistic Bean know us well now - and my standard large latte is typically underway before I get to the counter each morning.

Our tent is a fairly large tent and we normally get a site that has power on so that we can recharge phones and use the fan in the muggy heat typical of the Smoky Mountains at this time of year.  Pitching the tent is now pretty fast - I've done it often enough.  With both of us it takes barely 10 minutes, and not a lot longer with just me.  Taking it down again and packing it away takes about the same time.  This year the weather forecast was for a lot more rain than previous years and on the day I traveled up I managed to arrive in a break in the light rain and was able to get the tent up and everything unpacked before the main rain came that night.  As we have discovered previously we have a couple of seams on the sides that leak a little, but otherwise everything stays dry - more on that later too.

I decided to use the TAG loom again this year - it's a Harrisonville Design 22" portable jack loom.  The warp on it had been there for at least two years and was nearly at the end so I had prepared a cotton warp at home and planned to dress the loom in the couple of nights before the festival began.  There is plenty of room in the center of the tent and winding on went pretty well - only broke one thread when I took my eye off the lease sticks for a second.  I dressed back to front and certainly missed my two big looms where I can remove the breast beam and sit down low right in front of the reed and heddles to thread the warp.

 I finished all that on Tursday morning and once it was all tied on I was able to weave a small sample before folding up the loom ready to be delivered to the Heritage Center the following day.

 I was in my normal spot on the porch in front of the Transportation Station where they had a few of the many vendors.  There was also a wet felting demonstration by Bridgett, set up next to me - the idea was that we would draw customers from the front entry into the first of the vendor spaces - I guess that worked as we had a steady stream from opening at 9 am through to the close at 5.

Anne arrived in Townsend having driven directly from work on Friday afternoon.  She was able to bring a temple that I had forgotten which proved useful the following day.  Both Friday and Saturday I had a lot of interesting conversations and managed to answer a few questions and pass on some tips - the most appreciated was how to 'soften' new linen - a process I read somewhere and which as worked very well on our linen place mats.

On Friday night after dinner and after sitting around the firepit with some of the Scenic Vally Handweavers members the heavens decided to open up and along with thunder and lightning we retreated to our tent for the evening to watch some Netflix episodes.  Unfortunately the noise of the rain on the tent pretty well killed that idea!  It was late enough so we climbed into bed only to discover an hour or so later that we had a small lake in the tent that had come about by leaving a small gap unzipped at the bottom of the back door.  It must have poured in there and been soaked up by the large rag rug we have until such time as it reached saturation and then flowed down to the lower side of the tent.  Our bed and in it us stayed dry but our clothes and other bits and pieces were soaked.  We headed for the laundry and managed to pop everything in dryers to dry - and as the rain had stopped continued watching some Netflix.

The following day (Saturday) was fine all day, but the weather forecast was for thunderstorms and rain from late in the day and all through Sunday.  With the prospect of packing ourselves and the tent in the rain we decided to pack up and head home once I finished at the festival that afternoon.  Best decision we ever made as Anne was able to pack the car and prepare the tent and when I arrived back at the camp ground we packed the dry tent etc into the truck and headed away.  Heading south we drove through parts of the storm that would have hit us an hour or so later in Townsend - it would have been terrible.  Safely home we were able to unpack a little and settle down as the rain started here.

Before leaving Townsend I ended up volunteering taking on the job of vendor coordinator for the festival next year to give the current guild member a break.  Our first meeting will be in the next couple of weeks.  I'll time that with a trip up there to visit the shop/gallery.

4 Horse Blanket II

The weaving and finishing went smoothly and then Anne took over the project to embroider some suitable motifs into the central squares.  The recipient is a fairly religious person so she picked three fairly standard designs and worked up the designs with graph paper.

The overall effect looks great and the blanket has a nice soft/warm feel to it so should serve the purpose.

We packed it up and had it delivered at the beginning of the month. Hopefully there will be pictures of it in use some day soon.

4 Horse Blanket

Not a blanket big enough for 4 horses, but rather a throw for the artist who painted the picture "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (Anne's younger brother Connell), in appropriate matching colors.

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Connell Byrne

The first challenge was to match the colors which are much brighter in the original which hangs in Connell's living room in Baltimore.  The copy above from http://www.pbase.com/connellart doesn't nearly capture the mix of vivid colors. Luckily we had plenty of photo's to go by.  In the end we managed to find appropriate yarn at www.loveknitting.com.  To get the color range we went with an acrylic in DK weight. 

After some fiddling to sort out appropriate balances for stripe/background and color mixes we ordered the yarn and waited for the 7-10 days for delivery - they just made it.

Half the warp wound

Dressing back to front.

A day of preparation, winding the warp, and attaching it to the loom.  Everything went smoothly although as this is the widest project I have undertaken I had to borrow parts from the upright loom as most other accessories I have are 36" wide and this is 40".  I also found I had missed one green warp end. Far better at this stage than after starting to weave!

Ready to tie on

 No problems while threading heddles or sleying the reed and nothing complicated as it is 8 ends per inch in an 8 dent reed.

Weaving started.

Started weaving and so far it is going smoothly - I have some weighted floating selvedges on this to help avoid too much draw in (I don't hae a temple large enough).  It's a balanced weave so will go slowly at first to ensure my beating is appropriate, but it is the same as the last blanket I wove so I recall it isn't a heavy beat. 

I have a new shuttle for this project. The small plastic shuttles can be thrown across this width but they don't hold all that much yarn so I would be forever changing bobbins.  For this I have a new wooded 15" Leclerch boat shuttle and enough bobbins for the colors.  It seems to work pretty well. Photo's to follow.

Gift Towels Finished

With some extended sessions the towels were finished.

The obligatory finish libation...

Pete (the loom) performed well - and will now get a deserved clean - weaving 30 cotton towels really does get dusty!!  I used a temple to keep the draw in to a minimum and as the next photo shows I managed to keep the overall width pretty consistent across the whole warp.

Edge of the cloth beam.

After using some sticks and packing around where the knots were I didn't bother with any more packing and had no problems.

The towels were cut off, rough finished on each end of the continuous wash - any ends were trimmed and the whole thing was thrown in the washing machine.  After washing and drying I ironed the whole roll and then cut it up at the marker threads.  I then ironed and pinned the hems and machine sewed them.

Towel #1 finished.

We had about 22 towels to complete to post/deliver for Christmas and the rest are stock for sale or next Christmas gifts.  I bought two very large cones of the cotton for this project and based on how much this used, I should be good for 3 to 4 years!!