Franco's Fiber Adventure

Marg Gibson - Weaver and internet hostess

2012-01-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

Marg Gibson, listowner of the yahoogroup "Weaving" since 1999 has passed away.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Weaving/

This message was posted on the group by Alice Murphy..
I regret to tell the list that Marg passed away this weekend. She was a
personal friend of mine as well as list owner. I have been acting as moderator
for the last few years. I will go find out just how we can keep the list going.
Don't know if there's a way to transfer ownership or if it will be necessary to
begin a new weaving list and keep this one for the information in the files. I
am going to check with Yahoo and some who know more about this sort of thing
than I do.
Alice Murphy in MO. Weaver, spinner crocheter and sometime knitter.

Marg Gibson provided a forum for weavers from all over the world to communicate
and exchange information and ideas.
We are richer for her works and poorer for her passing.
The Creator has a master plan.
Have a joyful day!
Franco Rios

Caught on the Web

2012-01-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

Caught on the web - Fiber Sites of Interest

Discover African Mudcloth. Includes interactive DIY mudcloth activity
via Smithsonian Institution
http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/mudcloth/index_flash.html

Fibershed - A case study for sourcing fibers locally
http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/fibershed-case-study-sourcing-fibers-locally/70296

Lost art of weaving Spanish Moss (Video 2:59) - Dawn Klug loves to tell you about Spanish moss. See her harvest, carding, spinning and weaving Spanish Moss. She weaves saddle pads with it for Civil War re-enactors. Published Jan. 16, 2009 [Maurice Rivenbark | tampabay.com]

http://www.tampabay.com/components/video/lost-art-of-weaving-spanish-moss/8305854001/2652468001

Mermaid woven on a stick weaving loom
Mermaid
http://www.crone-findlay.com/Stick-weaving-loom-mermaid-blue%20%28c%29.jpg

Weaving sticks
http://www.crone-findlay.com/Stick-weaving-loom-sticks%20%28c%29.JPG

And Potholder loom weaving
http://www.crone-findlay.com/Crone-FindlayCreationsPotholderLoomWeaving.html

Have a good day!

Experimental Sprang Frame Continued

2012-01-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

After the last report, the sprang project was getting pretty snug on the 13 inch cardboard frame. I had moved the sprang from the long 13 inch frame to my regular 11 inch frame. After this picture I stop using knitting needles as holders because they keep sliding out. I started using string like I did on previous projects. The warp is kind of floppy and loose even with the tubes. That makes it hard to keep track of the intertwining.

So I made a 12 inch frame. The strings fit more snuggly with just one tube. I think I have the system figured out. I'll start on the 13 inch frame with tubes and move to smaller frames as needed.

I move the sprang from the 12 inch frame by sliding the 11 inch frame into the sprang and then removing the 12 inch frame. It worked smoothly. Now you can see the white and blue strings moving closer together as the band works around.

Here is the reason for working on cardboard frames. I can put all three frames into a plastic bag and slide that into my messenger bag for my commute to work and back. That's why I am spending time trying to figure a system to make sprang a compact craft.

So I can practice on the train or the bus! Here I go with my 11 inch frame. Over half finished!

Have a good day!

Experimental Sprang Frame

2012-01-21T22:25:00.001-08:00

Experimental Sprang Frame. (click picture for larger image)

Continuing the Sprang adventure. The goal is to work a continuous warp on a small frame. On a previous test I determined after the first couple of rows are worked in the sprang, there needs to be a method for creating slack in the piece. In another previous project I used a clipboard frame loom with dowels that are removed to create slack. Click here for CLIPBOARD LOOM. So I decided to try it out with a cardboard loom. I rolled up a couple of thin magazines into tubes and secured with rubber bands. Then I tied them to cardboard with acrylic yarn.

Then I wrapped the yarn over the frame and tubes. Yarn is Sugar and Creme Red cotton worsted 4 ply. The blue yarn is twined to help keep the yarn in order. Be careful not to miss any of the strands when you twine. I missed one the first time I twined it. This is my second try.

I started to interlink the string. I used knitting needles to hold the pattern. The process of twisting the yarn shortens the warp over the frame and that tightens the yarn on the frame.

After the second row, I found the yarn was pulling on the cardboard frame so I removed one tube. That created some slack but the frame keeps flexing as I work.

Here is picture of the working side without the tubes. I am sliding the knitting needles out of the pattern and inserting to the new row as I work down.

Here is picture of the other side. I slide a second knitting needle to move the pattern "down" over the edge of the frame to this side.

Again the reason for doing this is to work Sprang on a continuous warp on a small frame with common materials for the frame.

I'll be sharing the experiment as it continues.

Have a good day!

Twilight in Sac

2012-01-18T20:46:00.000-08:00

(click pictures for larger image)
Twilight in Sacramento. The docks at Old Sacramento on the Sacramento River.

View toward West Sacramento side of the Sacramento River.

Light sculpture illuminates the lobby of U.S. Bank (621 Capitol Mall) in Sacramento at dusk.

That's my corner of the world!
Have a good day!

Marilyn Greaves Display Case

2012-01-14T18:58:00.000-08:00

Marilyn Greaves is a Sacramento fiber artist. She puts up a display with her own work every year at the Fair Oaks Calif branch public library to advertise the upcoming Open House event of the Sacramento Spinning and Weaving Guild!

This year's show, "Fantasy Fibers", will be held on February 11 and 12, 2012 from 10 am to 4 pm each day at the Shepard Garden and Arts Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd, Sacramento, CA.

Read more about the Open House
http://www.sacweavespin.org/annual-show-and-sale/annual-open-house-and-sale---2012

The photos are provided by Marilyn Greaves.

You can read more about Marilyn at CoastalWebWeaver
http://www.coastalwebweaver.com/ashtlo/documents/weavingbios/bio_greaves.html

See you at the Open House!

Have a good day!

SWSG Saturday Group Jan 2012

2012-01-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

At the Saturday Jan 7 meeting of Sacramento Weavers & Spinners Guild Saturday focus group we focused on spinning in honor of St Distaff Day which comes after the 12 days of Christmas.

From right to left, we have Betsy showing some baskets she wove and she dyed to get the different colors. There is Connie with a lovely drop spindle, Ardeth with a vintage Clemes & Clemes wheel. That's Linda with her Schacht 15 inch 4 harness table loom trying to finish off a second set of rep weave place mats she has been working on for many weeks. And Debra is spinning some alpaca from her animals on an Ashford Traditional.

From right to left, Linda and Debra again, then Vonnie is giving drop spindle spinning tips to Stephanie and Monica who brought their drop spindles.

From right to left, Arlene brought a drop spindle, Susan is passing some of the chunky "art" yarns she likes to spin to Cathy who is sitting with her Nagy wheel from New Zealand.

Linda also brought her Spindolyn, a supported spindle that sits in a wood block. She likes the concept but it does not spin long enough for her liking.

Vonnie is using a supported spindle here with a margarita glass for support.

Susan shows us some of the newspaper she spun on a drop spindle for a project.

Hooray! Linda finished off her placemats and cut them off for hemming!

In the blue sweater, Ardeth is spinning on her Clemes & Clemes Modern spinning wheel. She says it was considered modern when she bought it 30 years ago.

Here is another picture of Debra spinning alpaca on her Ashford Traditional. Debra also brought some nut bread for us to snack on.

And the other Sue missed getting her picture taken but we got a picture of her Ashford Traveller spinning wheel. She showed us the cotton she is spinning with it.

Betsy said another weaver was cleaning her studio and sent these items for anyone who wanted them. I took the little blue loom in the upper right.

Arlene and Monica are trying to watch the video "Respect The Spindle" but we need some thing bigger than a tablet for people to see and hear it on.

Because we had 4 hours of time instead of 2 hours we were able to work and chat until we pretty much chatted ourselves out.

Our schedule can be seen at the Guild website
The Saturday Group is part of Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

It was a good day!

Little Green Sprang Bag

2011-12-24T15:33:00.001-08:00

Another little sprang bag was finished this week. This is done with cotton crochet yarn. 60 threads are being worked on this bag. The thick white and blue strings are used as spacers for the rows.

As the space gets tight I use this afghan crochet hook to work the yarn. This hook is longer than the average crochet hook and is very useful for this project.

The middle row gets a long thread to hold the shape of the bottom, then the sides are sewn up and knots are tied. bag is turned inside out to hide the knots. Double loops of single yarns are used to close the bag, making a less bulky top hem than a three strand braid would have.

There is five rows with Z twist, switch to 4 rows S twist, switch to 4 rows Z twist, close up the middle. I will definitely work this yarn again. These small bags will be handy for practicing different patterns.

I modified my cardboard loom with a hole and tied a loop of string through it so I could use it to anchor a three strand braid I was making for another bag. Just a simple idea to pass along to help work on the bus.

Have a good day!

December Saturday Group

2011-12-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

Dec 10 2011 - Here is the Saturday Group of Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild, which meets once a month on Saturdays. The group was started for fiber arts fans who can't get to the other Guild meetings which are held on weekdays.

Compared to the large meetings, we have room to spread out and spin and knit. Linda has a turkish drop spindle, Linda in the middle has a spindolyn in her lap, which is a supported spindle. Sue is knitting.

We also do a little bit of "show and tell." Jan is showing off her kumihimo braiding that she has been working on as Betsy looks on. Jan and Betsy are members of the committee organizing the Guild Open House in February. The Saturday Group is invited to have a table display at the Open House and they had suggestions for the display.

At the larger Guild meeting it was "Mini-workshops" month and Betsy brought her nuno felting piece that she learned at the Guild workshop.

Betsy also has been very busy and is showing us some scarves she finished. The piece on left is a four harness piece with yarn dyed with a mushroom! The piece in the middle is "birch bark" style weaving, and the piece on right is a sort of "mourning cloth" scarf with black beads although it has a few color threads to indicate about six months into mourning.

I showed off my sample from the Mini-workshop on rigid heddle weaving. I also showed some of the little sprang bags I've been working on.

This month the subject is fiber preparation and Susan brought her hand cards to show how she cards wool with it. Arlene also brought some hand cards and a box of multicolored wool (not pictured) from a sheep named Spot. She got some help from Susan on how to use the cards.

I also learned some carding technique from Linda who showed me how to do the little rolags (rolls of carded wool).

Betsy and Linda brought their drum carders to show us how they work. I would also like to draw your attention to the carpet with the cartoon critters reading books. We're in a public library and "Reading is fun."

Betsy brought her Shacht Petite (left) with fine tooth carding cloth that she purchased to blend some angora rabbit wool that she bought at Dixon Lamb Town. It can also process sheep wool and other fibers if you take your time. The brush on top helps keep the fine angora from flying away and smooths the tops of the batts.

Linda brought her Louet (right) drum carder with medium tooth cloth that she uses for wool. The stouter teeth allow her to feed more into the carder.

In 2012 we will be moving to afternoon time slots and having up to 4 hours at a time so we can do more involved work. We tend to run out of time with the 2 1/2 hour meetings so hopefully we can get more in depth in the next year.

Next meeting is Jan 7 - St Distaff Day, bring your spindles and spinning wheels!

You can visit the Guild website for more information.
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

It was a good day!

Purple Sprang Bag

2011-11-28T22:06:00.001-08:00

New sprang bag started Monday morning on the light rail train. Yarn is Sugar N Creme 4 ply worsted cotton, color Hot Purple. 30 wraps for 60 threads working. Top of piece is twined to keep threads in order. Will twine the bottom also. Use a dowel, pencil or similar item to raise threads up for twining.

After both ends are twined, carefully flex the cardboard to relieve tension enough to slide the warp off the cardboard while on the bus.

Using double strands of thread, run thread through the "inside" of the loops at top and bottom. The twining holds the threads in proper order for interlinking. Still on the bus, gotta put it away because my stop is coming up soon.

Doing the interlink (sprang) and using white yarn as safety strings and spacers. This helps maintain the evenness of the web. Little white strings on the outside strings are markers for the edge threads to help me keep the the outer threads on the outer edge. Picture taken during my lunch break.

Using a needlepoint needle I weave a yarn through three times on the middle to make a non-stretch bottom. Done at home while watching television.

Here you see how the middle thread is woven in and around three times to make a non-stretch bottom. The long loops of thread will be used to sew up the sides.

Done on Monday night! Finished at home on the same day it started! I think I like the non-stretch bottom. I'm not happy with the look of the loops at the top. I'll have to think about this some more.

Have a good day!

Green Sprang Bag

2011-11-28T06:02:00.000-08:00

This piece is 11 inch long, 30 wraps around the board, 60 threads working. I'm using double thickness of safety string as spacers. This has about nine rows worked at top and bottom.

Using crochet hook I chain looped the middle front row and turned piece over to chain loop the other row. Then I took one of the free ends of green yarn and it out down to the middle. Pulled free end through the last chain loop of the bottom and then sewed the side using a needlepoint needle.

Both sides are sewn up. I still need to make a braid for the drawstring. The bottom did not spread as much as last time. I'm going to do this again with a tighter weave.

This went a lot faster than the last one.

Have a good day!

Hawaiian Chieftain In Old Sacramento

2011-11-27T08:11:00.001-08:00

Hawaiian Chieftain, Grays Harbor, Wash, is docked at Old Sacramento, Calif until Dec 10. This is a teaching ship to educate people on how a trading ship from 250 years ago would have looked and worked. That is the I Street Bridge in the background.

Here is a picture of the bow with the Tower Bridge in the background. There was a constant stream of people coming to visit the ship and take impromptu tours on board.

If you like string, you gotta love this ship!

Here in the cabin a crew member answers questions.

Visitors chat with a crew member at the wheel. Everyone on the ship was gracious and eager to answer questions.

You can see more pictures on Picasa
https://picasaweb.google.com/105050480374519059715/HawaiianChieftain#

That's my corner of the world.
Have a good day!

Spanish Lace SWSG

2011-11-24T07:28:00.001-08:00

Tuesday of this week (11/22/2011) was the monthly meeting of Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild. November is the month that the Guild hosts mini-workshops on various crafts like dying, felting, basket weaving, spinning wheels, and rigid heddle weaving. I took the workshop on rigid heddle weaving with Robin Lynde. She taught us how to the warp rigid heddle loom, Italian Hemstitching, Danish Medallions, some warp floats/weft float technique and she showed me how to do the Spanish Lace technique! That's the sample I did in class up on my Cricket Rigid Heddle loom.

It was a good day!

Blue Sprang Finished

2011-11-20T18:17:00.001-08:00

Before I found my crochet hook, I found a little bundle of tools for sale at the Goodwill Thrift Store. Some crochet hooks, an afghan hook (long hook), some regular and double point knitting needles. All for 4 dollars and the money goes to charity.

The afghan hook is the right size so I used it to hook the middle of the sprang. This will be the bottom of the bag. It was recommended that I should run a string through the middle to make it a non-stretch bottom, but I want to try hooking the middle row. I was surprised to see how the piece shortened. Then I removed the safety strings. Sorry about bad color, flash did not go off on this picture.

Using the extra long edge cords I crocheted up the sides. Then I braided a drawstring and threaded it through the top. Then I saw how the bottom stretched out. Not expected.

Also not expected is how the bag does not fully enclose a bar of soap.

Okay, so I'll do the next one longer, narrower and make the bottom less stretchy.

Have a good day!

Blue Sprang Pencil

2011-11-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

As the two sides of the sprang start to meet in the middle, it is difficult to get the fingers in there to interlink the piece. Can't find the crochet hook so I'm going to link a couple more rows with the pencil. I can work the pencil like it's a finger. That little white string knotted on the right edge is how I mark the edge thread to help me keep my edges in order. After I'm done it will be untied and removed. Easier than using a bead.

Here I am pulling the safety cord through the sprang. I'm going to use two cords each time, one for the top row and one for the bottom row. This may seem compulsive but I use the safety cords to regulate the spacing of the rows so they come out even. I am using cords for four rows on top and four rows on the bottom. After each row I will pull a cord from top and bottom and move it to the middle row. I also left a safety cord near the top and bottom rows to help hold the shape near the twined edges. The twining will come out when I finish this bag.

This is about as far as I can go with the pencil. I think I'll pull a couple of safety cords through it then go find the crochet hook to loop the bottom and finish it. Then find a needlepoint needle to use the extra long edge cords to sew up the sides. This is the first time that I get a real appreciation for the sprang process that builds two rows each time I go across!

Have a good day!

Blue Sprang Bag

2011-11-17T22:01:00.000-08:00

Starting a small sprang bag. Cotton yarn (Sugar and Creme) wound around cardboard while on the light rail train during my commute.

I twined the yarn at top and bottom to keep the yarns in order when I move the warp. The pencil helps hold up off the cardboard while the twining is done.

Using yarn at top and bottom of the piece to hold it in place. The pencil will help hold the layers seperate. Safety strings will help keep the rows protected and will help maintain spacing of each row.

Working the sprang on the bus. The interlinking works on top and bottom rows creating the sprang. My right hand would fit that the group of yarns as I work.

More rows working from top to bottom.

Working more and more rows. It's getting harder to work in the area that is getting smaller in the middle. I need to find my crochet hook to work on this. The erasers on the ends of the pencil help keep the pencil from sliding out during the work. The small bundles of blue yarn (butterfly) near the bottom will be used later to sew up the sides of the bag.

Inspired by the new book "Sprang Unsprung" by Carol James

Have a good day!

Unsprang Bag Finished

2011-11-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

Bag is finished. A braid for drawstring. Bottom is kind of rough with the knots, I may sew it up another row to make it even. Bag is stuffed with a plastic bag for the picture.

Otherwise, not bad.

Have a good day!

EDITED TO ADD:

Somebody asked if this bag expands. Here is the bag flat, about 4 inch wide by 10 inch long.

Stuffed with plastic bags you see how the bag expands in width.

Have a good day!

Unsprang Bag Forming

2011-11-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Above we have the current unsprang (plain interlinking). Size is about 8 inch wide by 11 inch long (20cm x 27cm). This is about half as long as I hoped. There was a lot of shrinkage to the threads. Some threads are very short from being pulled unevenly over the top thread, leaving one end long and one end short, so I have to stop here.

I think I'll fold it over to make a long narrow bag. I'll tie off the bottom, sew up the side, and use a drawstring to close the top. The bag will stretch sideways.

I am knotting the bottom with overhand knots. I'm trying to tie in pairs one thread from each side of the bag.

Then I noticed the FLOATS! See the long diagonal threads? These were on the backside of the piece as I did the interlinking so I did not notice them. As a thread got pushed out of line and grabbed into another line the mistake occurs but was unnoticed by me. These long threads out of line in with the others are called "floats" in weaving and are often part of the design.

Okay, I already have a bunch of knots done. I will finish the knots, trim the strings, sew up the side and turn the piece inside out so the better side is showing outside. The knots will be inside and unseen.

Okay. I'll have to do better on the next one. Got to finish this one first.

Have a good day!

10 rows forward, six rows back

2011-11-05T08:52:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah, this week was 10 rows forward, six rows back.

There was an error. I tried to fix it I just couldn't figure out the
interlinking on all those rows. It was actually less stressful to undo six rows
and start again.

I think I was trying to gather too much of the strings in my fingers and so I
was losing track of threads. I also had trouble with the right side edge
threads traveling too much.

Carol James recommends putting a bead on the outside thread but I just tied a
short piece of yarn with a larkshead knot because I didn't have a bead handy. It
slides when I want it to and stays put otherwise.

So I am back in the zone and I've almost reached the same spot as before. And
everything looks okay.

Have a good day!

Sprang Close Up

2011-10-28T15:25:00.001-07:00

Sprang close up: Moving from right hand toward left hand, reach across to the next string in the back row and pull it forward.

Note: The white strings along the right hand side and running horizontally through the piece are the safety strings. The strings keep the work from unworking itself and helps establish even spacing. Using strings of different thickness can adjust the spacing. Sticks are often used in traditional sprang to hold the twist and patterns. The strings and sticks are pulled out as work progresses and are not part of the finished piece.

Moving from right hand toward left hand, reach across to the back row and pull it forward. Put finger where the two threads cross.

This picture shows the progression from the right side and how the threads cross. When I'm done working a section, I'll pull a safety string to hold that crossing point of the threads. That point is usually referred to as "the cross" by weavers and fiber artists.

Moving from right hand toward left hand, reach across to the back row and pull it forward. Put finger where the two threads cross. See how the front and back threads are held separated by fingers. Keeping the strings in line and under some tension is important to proper interlinking. I work in sections of however much my fingers can hold at one time.

You can see some more of the structure in this picture. Moving from right hand toward left hand, reach across to the back row and pull it forward. Put finger where the two threads cross.

Repeat until satisfied.

You can read more about sprang in the new book "Sprang Unsprung" by Carol James
(shameless promotion of my friend's book)

Have a good day!

Sprang Progress

2011-10-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the current state of the sprang this morning. Working my way down the strings. It's about 20 rows so far so I probably have 40 more rows to go. But the work is progressing.

A closer view. I am using safety strings to hold the row spacing. I have the safety strings anchored with lark's head knot to a holding string on the right side. I tie the left side ends of the safety strings with slip knots. There is ten rows held in position by string. I pull the safety strings from the top and move down the holding string. The strings are very important to keep the rows intact since I put the piece into a plastic bag and then jam it into my commuter bag for travel. Above the strings is the sprang web, holding shape nicely.

Here I am stretching the sprang web a little bit so you can see the structure of the mesh. I'm trying to work patiently for the best possible result on this piece. I can getting faster. A row takes about fifteen minutes now. There are no shortcuts to this simple process. It must be perfect or there will be holes in the web.

Patience comes to those who wait.

Have a good day!

3 rows back

2011-10-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

Four rows forward, 3 rows back. Been working one or two rows at a time, trying to get it perfect. And then I realized I had purple drifting into the blue stripe on the right. Take all the rows back to where it went wrong. The bottom four rows.

With practice I can now un-sprang as fast I can sprang.

Have a good day!

Nalbinding on the web

2011-10-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

(Picture from Videoita Venäjältä - From Russia! )

Nalbinding, another interlinking fiber art.

Nalbinding on Vakerrysta blog.
Click on the link, scroll down to english text.

http://vakerrysta.blogspot.com/2011/10/videoita-venajalta-from-russia.html

But Valerie says: Better still! Go to
http://www//sites.google.com/site/neulakinnas/link/video

for videos on all stitches, by Sanna-Mari. Wonderful.

Have a good day!

Looks like sprang

2011-10-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

I got a few more rows done today. I've had to un-sprang a row a couple of times. I'm learning to spot problems sooner and unsprang less.

I started untangling the loose ends. The area on the right has been untangled but look at the left side. See the mirror image of the sprang below the top rows. Looks like sprang.

Have a good day!

More Sprang on bus

2011-10-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Here is my sprang. I used a plastic bag to contain it when I put it away in my commute bag. Or man purse, whatever. I notice that the cardboard strip is going to make the first row too "loopy" when I finish.

So I take out the strip and un-sprang what I did. Then tighten up the strings up to the header string. It looks a lot better.

I started using string as space holders. I may regret using such a tight weave, but for now I like the look better.

More in the future.

Have a good day!

Sprang Unsprung on the bus

2011-10-19T06:06:00.001-07:00

Starting a new Sprang project for Weavolution's "Halloweave" challenge. My first challenge is to unsnarl the start of this cotton yarn. I'm planning to make a small bag and the only time I can make for this is during my commute to work.

I'm using a small booklet to wind my yarn in kind of a figure 8 pattern. See the new book by Carol James titled "Sprang Unsprung." Sprang as traditionally taught is done on a continuous looped warp. But in Carol's book, the first thing we learn is that sprang can be done with free ends. That makes my project possible on the train/bus/train routine of my daily commute!

At work during lunch break I cut one side of the V shape loops. This gives me yarn ends that are roughly twice as long as the booklet. Which is the size I wanted for the bag.

Using the Sugar and Creme self striped dyed yarn allows me to work with stripes in shades that mix well with each other. That cardboard on left is my frame for this work. I'll loop a string around it to hold my sprang.

Here I have hung the yarn on the header string. The cardboard frame is 4 layers of 8-1/2 by 11 inch card stock (thick) that I taped together. I also cut some narrow strips of cardboard to help keep the different rows of sprang separate. See the "safety string" that gets pulled through as I work to help keep the rows separate.

Back on the bus, all the elements are in place. And now the goal is make a bag out of plain sprang. More to follow later.

Have a good day!

Hawks Go To Church

2011-10-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

(click pics for larger image)
Morning comes softly over the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Sacramento. And now the drama begins.

The pigeons on top of the tower are flushed by a Red Tail Hawk (red arrow) trying to grab a fly by breakfast. Unsuccessful.

Here comes the other hawk (red arrow) hoping to nab a pigeon who hasn't seen the memo about the breakfast fly by. Again unsuccessful.

The pair of Red Tail hawks are having a meeting in a nearby Sequoia tree to discuss the breakfast situation.

As the pigeons settle in catch some more rays on the roof of the tower.

They are once again disturbed by a hawk on another breakfast fly by, note the dark blur on the left side of the pic.

Once again. Unsuccessful. I expect the hawks can do this all day. I want yell at the pigeons. I want to tell them to become Catholics and move to the roof at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament!

10/15/11 Edited to add this sequence:

A new morning. The hawk does its breakfast fly by.

And snatches a pigeon off the roof of the tower.

And flies off with it to a nearby tree. Pigeon fans do not fear. Because a few moments laters the pigeon broke loose and flew out of the tree. Hopefully wiser.

I like my new camera. Its a Lumix with 16X zoom and a bunch of features that make it a little magic picture box.

That's my corner of the world!
Franco Rios

Repper

2011-10-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

This lovely art is made from my beach angel. I put a regular picture into the Repper demo site and fooled around with it for a few minutes and TA-DAAAH!

Here is the source picture of my lovely wife AKA beach angel.

The Repper program plays with patterns and offer free demonstrations on their website. The even allow you to save your art as a low-res sample.

Try it! Visit http://repperpatterns.com/

Have a good day!

Loop Braid Tutorial

2011-10-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

(picture from tutorial doc file)

Loop Braiding Tutorial by Ingrid Crickmore

The Braid Society (UK) has posted a new tutorial for the month of October on the Braids and Bands yahoogroup.
You will need to register onto the yahoogroup to access the files. Registration is free.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/braids_and_bands/

The tutorial PDF files have been uploaded to the group Files area by Ingrid Crickmore. If you ever wanted to try your hand at loop braiding this is a golden opportunity to learn from one of the rock stars of fiber arts. Ingrid has been exploring and teaching braiding for years. Her plain speaking style will cover all your questions and she has included plenty of pictures for visual learners which includes a lot of fiber artists. Her tutorials also include instructions for left handers. That rocks!

There will be additional braid instructions posted during the month as people progress in their braiding practice, working up from 2 loop braids, 4 loop, 6 loop, 8 loop, then finally a 3 loop square braid.

You can read Ingrid's introduction at the group
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/braids_and_bands/message/1057

You can view more of Ingrid Crickmore's work at her blog
http://loopbraider.wordpress.com

Also visit The Braid Society website
www.braidsociety.com

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
Sacramento Calif.

SWSG Sat - Basket Weaving

2011-09-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

It's the September meeting of the Sacramento Weaver's and Spinning Guild (SWSG) - Saturday Group. Here is Jan giving us the news about the Annual SWSG Open House next Feb 11-12. It's the annual free exhibition for the public to see the works of the Guild. The Saturday Group has been invited to host a table and do some demos at the Open House. Especially "off loom" type of crafts like card weaving, backstrap weaving and triangle looms. There is a curious lack of spinning wheels this month but I'll tell you about it in a minute.

This is the diagram of the Open House facility. Jan is an excellent organizer and can diagram better than a lot of sports coaches I know. The little lady is a dynamo.

Here Linda is showing us a skein she just finished spinning and plying. She actually used this meeting date as a target date for finishing this yarn. I am proud to be a part of enabling her obsession.

Here is one of those off loom crafts. This is card weaving and Vonnie is hanging the work from a neck loop and a loop on her toe. Extremely portable.

Now is time for Basket Weaving! That's why there are no spinning wheels today. Above our teacher Sue has set up tubs with water out on the patio for soaking the reed to be used for weaving. She has pre-cut all the pieces so she just hands out supplies. We all start at the bottom and start weaving our way around.

Sometime we sit, sometimes we stand, but we all work on the basket. After we get the bottom sorted out, Sue shows us how to start the sides going up. We learned that keeping the reed wet and pliable is very important. And there is some fancy pattern work going on too.

There was 13 of us and we all made a basket. Here are some of them! Because of Sue's excellent preparation and presentation we were able to make these baskets in under 90 minutes.

Here is my basket. It looks"not bad" and the stripe at top is pure accidental design. I thought it would be smart to keep it simple. I like it and will definitely do some more of this.

Many thanks to Sue and her husband Ron for bringing the materials and setting it up for us. We are so lucky to have members who are generous with their time and skills.

Next month we will get down to Spinning Basics, Oct 22, 10 am to 12 pm at the Arcade Library in Sacramento.

See the website for more details.
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday
It was a good day!

MCOTW - Hawks and butterfly

2011-09-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

(click pictures for larger view)
New pics from my corner of the world. Hawks in Capitol Park, Sacramento. I think they are Red Tails but correct me if I'm wrong. New camera, has 16x optical and 33X digital zoom. This was shot with 33X and picture cropped and optimized in Photoscape. This pair is often seen sitting in the bare branches of this tree just east of the Capitol building. I walk through Capitol Park most days on my daily commute to work.

This is a closeup of a little flying critter I found on my walk to work. It is a butterfly called Cloudless Sulphur which common in North America. It was dead when I found it, probably was bounced off a car windshield. But the color is still vibrant. I would not have thought to combine yellow with black but look how the combination just pops out at you. I have yellow yarn and now I have to get some black yarn to combine with it in a piece.

Lastly, here is a cinnamon raisin bagel, toasted, with butter to be eaten during a slow walk through Capitol Park. I try to celebrate the ordinary and to be thankful that I have a job to go to.

So that's it from my corner of the world, Sacramento, California, USA

Have a good day!

Lahu Weaving

2011-09-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

I saw this video on youtube titled Lahu Weaving, recorded in Thailand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvfpKECVT-A&feature=related
It's backstrap weaving. It looks like a long circular warp and the weaver is weaving on the top layer and pulling the woven cloth around the beams.
Other fascinating features are the wide battens or shed sticks that enable the weaver to throw balls of yarn instead of shuttles.
You should see this.
Have a good day!

4 edge scarf - warping

2011-09-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

I started the warp for the next project. I am using a hand made warping frame made from bamboo bought from the garden shop for $3.00. These are six foot long and my cross pieces are a few inches from each end so I have a five and a half foot long piece. I am using an acrylic microfiber (Oralon) with very little stretch and no fuzziness. I am hoping it will work well on a back strap piece.

In this picture you can see the lashing done on the corners. The lashing doesn't take long at all. After I lash my warp to the end beams I'll untie the corners. Next time I'll try to avoid the knots at the joints of the bamboo because the yarn hang up on it. Some sandpaper helps, but I need to look for smoother sections of bamboo next time.

That's all for tonight.
Have a good day!

Four Selvedge Backstrap

2011-09-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

This is a project I started a couple of months ago. It's about 11 inch wide by 24 inch long. I need to get it finished so I can start the next one. I twined the edge of my warp and tied it to the beams so I could have a finished edge when I was done. The main yarn is white with pale red and blue color spots. I tried weaving some yellow/orange/white weft to make it more exciting, but it really wasn't a good combination, so I went back to usinge white/red/blue.

The piece of yardstick and two clamps is my temple to help keep the edges from pulling in. It is definitely helping. It is easy to set and to move.

Above I started from one end then turned it around and started again toward the middle. As I get closer to the middle there is less room so I start using narrow shed sticks made by cutting a paint stick lengthwise and sanding it. I am using a thin dowel as a shuttle stick. Soon it will be too narrow for those sticks.

When it gets too narrow, I pulled the sticks and I am using an afghan hook (a long crochet hook) to weave through and pull through. As you see there is some uneven weaving leaving a bigger gap on the right than on the left.

As I pull the yarn through I use a fork to beat the weft. After the last yarn is pulled through, I start shifting the weft down to spread out and fill the weft gap.

Here I am untying the beam so we can see the finished edge. You can see a little bit of the twining I used where I first started the edge. The edges are a little bit "loopy" but it should tighten up on the wet finishing (machine wash and dry).

Here is the piece off the loom. There is some loose threads to be woven in with a needlepoint needle. There is a lot of rough edges on the sides. There is some narrowing in the middle where I finished. I am not especially happy with it. The goal was to have 4 finished edges.And I did that.

Now to move onto the next one.

Have a good day!

PS: Here is a picture of the bottom side of the temple so you can see how it holds edges.

Andean Tunic at the Met - NYC

2011-09-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Found this link on a Weaving Today Ad: Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is hosting an exhibit entitled “The Andean Tunic 400 BCE-1800 CE” where thirty exquisitely woven tunics (the traditional clothing worn by Andean men) will be on display.

Great pictures of Andean woven clothing. Click here for Musuem link
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={EC9E0213-9C5B-4B59-B9B9-B50881E10617}

Have a good day!

Such A Deal!

2011-07-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

Such a deal I found at the neighbor's yard sale and at the thrift store in last couple of weeks. I bought this bag of fiber stuff for 75 cents at the neighbor's yard sale. It looked interesting and so I grabbed.

All this stuff was in the bag. The papers are pattern notes for knitting and crochet items. Some round crochet patches that probably would be for some kind of blanket. A big handful of embroidery floss. A small knitted swatch. Also some cross stitch needles. A knitting needle, a crochet hook.

Also in the bag was a couple of hairpin lace frames! Which is why I bought the bag when I saw the frames sticking out. So now I am closer to trying out the craft of hairpin lace which is on my "to-do" list. I bought the six sided peg frame loom for 25 cents at the yard sale. I found instructions for the six sided loom on the internet.

I bought the clipboards for 49 cents each at the thrift store to turn them into little weaving frame looms. I like using old clipboards because they are inexpensive, the pressboard is very sturdy but cuts easily with a hand saw.

Two dollars for all this stuff! Like I said, such a deal!

Have a good day!

My Corner Of The World - July 2011

2011-07-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

It's a bright, sunny day in Sacramento, Calif, with expected 100F temperature today. I think I need a plastic kayak to play on the American River.

Here are some California Black Walnuts growing along the river.

This is a Yellow Billed Magpie, a little bigger than a Blue Jay, and almost as noisy.

This noisy red bird is the Sacramento County Fire Department helicopter patrolling the river looking for people in trouble in the river. There were over 80 rescues in the last week.

This butterfly is called Buckeye and is common in this area.

The chihuahuas are getting up close and personal with a couple of Canadian Geese that live here year 'round.

And that's my corner of the world!
Have a good day!

Saturday Guild Jun 18 2011

2011-06-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

At the Saturday meeting of the Sacramento Weaving and Spinning Guild on June 18. From left: Ken and Betsy, Loren, Linda, other Linda, Kathy,

From left: Connie, Rita, Stephanie, Janet, Monica

Here is Franco demonstrating a backstrap loom.

The piece is being woven with cotton yarn. This will be a small cotton towel. The loom can be rolled up for easy transport.

This is Linda talking about knots and some of the small weaving pieces she brought to show. Although she looks very serious in the picture, she smiles a lot when she talks about weaving.

Linda brought a mini-inkle, some weavette looms, some nail looms, a card loom and a FastSam.

This is a FastSam. It's a small frame loom for testing patterns. You warp it to the sett you want (like 12 ends per inch). Use an elastic band that fits in the grooves around the FastSam to hold the warp in place. Then use a tapestry needle to weave the weft.

Here Susan is showing us how she spins newspaper. She is making a gift for a friend from the library, hence the paper theme.

That's it for this month. Next meeting is July 23, 10 am to 12 pm

For more info visit
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

It was a good day!

More Crios

2011-06-04T08:54:00.001-07:00

On Facebook, Niamh Trua, Crios Weaver has a great gallery of woven bands
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Niamh-Trua-Crios-Weaver/174736452554905

She also has a website
http://niamhtrua.com/

Have a good day!

Irish Crios

2011-05-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

I was surfing the web this morning and found Annie MacHale's blog: A SpinnerWeaver

There is an article about Irish sashes called Crios.
http://aspinnerweaver.blogspot.com/2011/03/irish-sash-weaving-traditions.html

The colors are awesome and the simple pattern shows how you make dazzling bands with simple warp faced weaving technique!

Bravo Annie!

Have a joyful day!

Threads In Action

2011-05-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

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One Saturday as I was driving down Folsom Blvd I saw some youths holding up some hand made signs in front of a church. At first i thought they were hawking for a car wash but as I got closer I could read the words "Book Sale" so I pulled into the parking lot.

There was about ten tables with books roughly sorted by fiction, non-fiction, cooking, biographies, and crafts. In the crafts section I found a hard cover copy of "Learning to Weave, Revised Edition" 1995, Deborah Chandler in good condition for $2. I have seen a library copy but now I have my own copy.
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I also found a folder with some kind of macrame instructions and some yarn and thread samples taped to the pages so I bought that for 75 cents.

These sat on a shelf for a couple of weeks before I tucked them into my commuter bag. On the bus I dug into the folder. The title page said "Threads In Action" Volume 2 Number 1, Fall 1970. As I flipped through the pages I could see it is a quarterly newsletter. This journal was carefully typed, pictures arranged and photocopied onto thick paper.
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Here is some of the "Hobnail" pattern done in macrame, that is done with knots instead of weaving. This craft is often used to dress up the edges of woven pieces so I hope to use some of these patterns in future projects.
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Here are some of the samples taped to the page that drew my attention if the first place.
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Then I saw this little article describing SPRANG! Yeah, SPRANG!
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Then there is this 9 page article by Peter Collingwood, the man who wrote the big book about Sprang!
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There is this article about combining tapestry and macrame techniques on the same piece.
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A feature about artist who uses sprang in her work.
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And some more articles about macrame.
This will definitely become part of the fiber adventure.

Have a good day!

8 potholders

2011-05-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the potholders done on the square loom.
(click picture for larger image)

All done with cotton yarn. The corner loop is just a four strand braid.

Have a good day!

Other Yarn

2011-05-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here is how the other yarn looks as a potholder.

Today's highlight was getting pea-sized hail this afternoon.

Have a good day!

Square loom finishes

2011-05-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Weaving is finished. I left long tails on the yarn so I could weave them to the same corner.

Then I used a four strand braid to make a hanger loop on the piece. I tied it to the corner.

I hooked the loops together one after the other all around the edge as shown by Noreen Crone-Findlay on her video.

Here is the piece with finished edges and a braided loop!

More to come!

Have a good day!

Square loom

2011-05-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

Once I finished the first piece with loopers, I decided to follow Noreen Crone-Findlay's advice and I ditched the loopers. Then I watched Noreen's youtube video on weaving the square loom with yarn.

See "How to weave with yarn on the potholder loom "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FC9_LpTLZs

Okay, second piece was started last night at home and continued on the commute to work. Above you see the work mostly finished. I'm using the wire hook because it comes with the kit. I did squeeze the hook with pliers to make it narrower. I am using 4 ply cotton yarn, a variegated color pattern and I lost the label so I don't know who the maker is.

Above I've laid out the yarn on top of the warp so I can be sure the next loop has the correct length.

Then I will move the end of the loop from the right side to the hook on the left side before pulling the yarn across.

The loop is pulled across. Following Noreen's advice I have kept some slack in the piece to prevent the weave from getting too tight to work.

And here it is all woven. Now to work on finishing the edges.

One thing worth mentioning. Usually people will ignore me when I weave on the train or the bus. This time when people saw the the potholder loom they wanted to talk about it. People had them as children or they just bought one for their children.

These little looms have touched people lives and they react emotionally when they see it.

Fascinating.

Have a good day!

Pop goes the potholder

2011-05-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

As I tried to finish the edges of the piece, it popped off the loom and some of the loops are unweaving themselves.

Having seen Noreen Crone-Findlay's video on weaving on potholder loom I noticed Noreen used a chopstick to help stabilize the piece. So I thought I would use a chopstick to recover the piece. Here I have restored the weave using the chopstick to catch/hold the loops.

Here is the completed piece. As we see, the elastic of the loops reduces the piece about 50 percent. Time to start the next one.

Have a good day!

Avalon loom pics

2011-05-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Playing with the Avalon loom. Following the instructions I have been using the hook to weave through the loops and stretch the loops over the pegs.

I took a picture at the computer desk under a fluorescent light bulb and I did not like the colors. So I took the loom outside and took a picture outside on the grass in the shade (indirect natural light).

I like using natural light whenever possible.

Have a good day!

Saturday Guild 4/23

2011-04-24T09:38:00.001-07:00

At our recent Saturday meeting of the Sacramento Weavers' and Spinners' Guild, Deborah brought her Ashford Traditional spinning wheel, and Linda brought her new Sequoia.

Rita has a Turkish style drop spindle, Tanda is knitting, Linda is working on her loom, and Susan is spinning on a Schacht Ladybug.

Kathy is spinning on a Nagy wheel, Sue is spinning on an Ashford Traveller.

Our theme for this month was Looms and Loren brought her brand new Ashford Knitters rigid heddle loom and look at the cool stand! She did not know how to warp it. So Will moved the loom to a table and showed how to warp it.

As you can see, Loren chose a variegated yarn for the the warp. She'll use a solid color warp and let the warp color serve as the pattern.

This is a Louet Klik 40 8 harness loom with plastic (texsolv) heddles. You can see a double weave pattern on the loom. This is an very clever way to work 8 harnesses on a tabletop loom.

Cathy brought some yarns from her latest batch of dyeing. The blue yarn is from the indigo pot. The yellow yarn is from using daffodils to dye. The greenish color in her hand is from over a yellow and blue yarn in the indigo pot.

There was also a Structo 4 Harness loom and a Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom on display.

For more info visit the Guild website
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

It was a fun day!

Birds, yarn, loom

2011-04-23T19:55:00.001-07:00

My bird blinked when I tried to take a picture!

Good purchase at the thrift store. 7 ounces of cotton yarn for 2 dollars US!

Great purchase! Avalon Weaving Loom #9922 for one dollar! Plastic loom, a bag of loopers, yarn, instructions. Looks like it was never used. Instructions are copyright date 1977. This is gonna be fun.

Have a good day!

Sunday at the river

2011-04-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Water at the river is still running high with runoff from the recent storms. There are three Embden geese which are escaped domestics and two Canadian geese that are wild.

These black butterflies are flying over the bike trail that runs along the American River. These look like Pipevine Swallowtails. The upper side wings have a row of white dots along the back edge and groups of orange dots on the underside (orange dots are not really visible in these shots). But you can see the little protrusions on the wings (like a swallow).

Here are the Pipevine Swallowtails overhead.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

Water at the river is still running high with runoff from the recent storms.

Sac Weave Spin Open House

2011-02-13T19:32:00.001-08:00

Sacramento Weaver's and Spinner's Guild had their annual Open House event at the Shepard Garden and Arts Center. Lots of spinning, yarn, and weaving on display. Above is some warp faced weaving samples.

Here is a booth setup by Marilyn Greaves, who weaves in the Navajo style. She also teaches this style. Here is a look at a work in progress.

This loom is about six foot tall and it has a rug about half finished on it.

Here is a small student loom with a rug about 10 inch by 20 inch.

Here are some kumihimo bobbins being used to control supplementary warp.

This little basket is made from 100% wool yarn. It's about the size of a coffee mug. By Pat Henderson.

More yarn woven baskets by Pat Henderson.

This is a working antique Great Wheel that is 225 years old. You don't see one of those every day.

This is a loom that was setup for kids to try weaving. The most interesting feature to me are the wooden dowels on each side. On larger rag rug looms those dowels would be metal rods used to help the sides from pulling in. The slots for warping are a common feature on rag rug looms too.

There was an article in the Sacramento Bee over the weekend about the Guild.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/12/3395801/get-the-spinning-started.html

Have a good day!

Found on the web

2011-02-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

While researching I run into websites of interest and I post them here for you to examine.

tips for rag rug hems: Jenny Bellairs blog
http://jennybellairs.blogspot.com/2010/12/tips-for-rag-rug-hems-additional-photo.html

http://jennybellairs.blogspot.com/2010/05/rag-rug-weaving-tips.html

Dirty Jobs: Mike at Ohio Valley Natural Fibers woolen mill
http://www.tvduck.com/frame.php?epi=342968&view=849342

Also at:
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/dirty-jobs-woolen-mill-operator/

Pehuenche/Pewenche Weaving - Chile
http://en.trekaleyin.com/trekaleyin/kintupi/

The Mapuche (English version)
http://www.bariloche.com.ar/museo/MAPUING.HTM

Deb McClintock's Weaving and Dyeing
http://web.me.com/debmcclintock/Site/Start.html

Jane Evan's Split Shed Weaving Technique
http://janeevans.ca/Techniques.shtml

Wadmal Class 2009, note weighted warp loom
http://szarka.typepad.com/sca/2009/08/wadmal-class-pennsic-2009.html

Yearning to weave - free rigid heddle loom projects
http://schachtspindle.com/yearning%20to%20weave/yearning%20to%20weave.php

Twining On the Lily Bag Loom
Instruction manual for basic twining
http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/lily_bag.pdf

Ruth Macgregor's website, Spinning Forth
http://www.spinningforth.com/pseudoblog/pseudoblog.html

Beautiful backstrap weaving
Qanachin - Respectable weaving
http://www.qanachin.com/Our_Albums/Our_Albums.html

saami weaving on youtube

These videos of Saami weaving were mentioned on the Weaving yahoogroup.
You go to Youtube and search for "greneveving" (means branch weaving?)
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=greneveving&aq=f

Look for Greneveving - Rátnogođđin del 1 (Part 1)
Also check out parts 2, 3, 4

See her weave first selvedge with a rigid heddle, then mount the piece on a warp weighted loom, then watch the magic as she weaves with her fingers. This is beautiful stuff.

Textile School
Under Weaving there is discussion of different types of looms.
It's about production automation but interesting
http://www.textileschool.com/School/Weaving.aspx

Cabin Cove website/blog
David Taylor Daniels, weaver
http://cabincove.com/archives/2771

Handloom Weaving, Mattie Phipps Todd, 1902 - A scanned book
Comprehensive guide to basic weaving
http://fax.libs.uga.edu/T848xT7/1f/hand_loom_weaving.pdf

Rag Rug Weaving - Master's Thesis - Ashlee Tecza 2007
http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Tecza%20Ashlee%20R.pdf?akron1185901168

Raven's Tail Weaving

Raven Weaver - LISA HAGEMAN YAHGULANAAS
http://ravenweaver.com/

Artists Talk about their work - Audio MP3
Includes raven's tail technique
http://jukebox.uaf.edu/Sitka/program/htm/artists.htm

Ravenstail Weaving
http://www.uas.alaska.edu/soundings/archive-files/2007/04-13/weaving.html

Edited to add:

The list of Ravens Tails sites is not complete without this one.
Talk about soul and eye candy
Raven's Tail - Cheryl Samuel

http://ravenstail.com/gallery/fibre/

Have a good day!

Sami Band Weaving Tutorial

2011-02-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

Sami band weaving tutorial begins in Braids and Bands yahoogroup
Look in the files area to see equipment list and first tutorial pdf's
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/braids_and_bands/files/On-Line%20Tutorials/

You will have to register in the group to view and download the files.
Registration is free.

Braids and Bands yahoogroup is one activity of The Braid Society
http://www.braidsociety.com

Have a good day!

Sac Weavers & Spinners Sat 1/22/11

2011-01-23T15:23:00.000-08:00

Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Saturday group met on 1/22/11, above you can see some spinners with their wheels and Linda has her loom. I took drop spindles.

The Guild is currently developing an alternate, supplemental meeting time for those who are unable to attend the regular, weekday meetups. Meetings are located at the Arcade and are from 10am - 12 noon. Come with your ideas on how to shape this group, or simply to enjoy the company of fiber folk!

Feb 19, 2011
March 12, 2011
April 23, 2011
May 21, 2011

Arcade Library
2443 Marconi Ave
Sacramento, CA

http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

This is the rep weave Linda is working on. It's not just spinning at the Saturday meeting.

See you next time!
Have a good day!

Nalbinding and Sprang in Russian

2011-01-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

I found this link to a Russian website showing some nalbinding and found there was a link to a sprang page!

I don't know Russian but somebody posted a link to a Babelfish translation

Click for English/Russian nalbinding

Click for English/Russian sprang (spreng)

The original link http://old-chest.narod.ru/pletenie.htm

Many thanks to Hastings on Nalbinding group on yahoogroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nalbinding

Have a good day!

Twined Bag 3

2010-12-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Twined bag 3 is nearing completion. I tied the bottom warp threads with overhand knots to close off the bottom.

When I started I was tying knots to the outside and covering the weft with a couple rows of twining, but then I started tying to the inside.

So I can clip the threads on the inside of the bag and hide the ends.

Have a good day!

Thunder Fury

2010-12-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas and Number Three Son (Oscar) has received "The Sword Of Thunder Fury!"

So as not to annoy the chihuahuas or chihuahua mama, Do Not poke or jab at persons or animals. Only swing in areas clear of obstructions.

Merry Christmas!
From my corner of the world, Sacramento, Calif.

Jingle Bells and Holly Berry

2010-12-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

I was given the bird this season. Meet Jingle Bells. He is a yellow Pacific Parrotlet. He's a little bitty parrot the size of a budgie (parakeet). He likes to ring the bell hanging in his cage. He was given to us by a friend last week. Well, my lovely wife bought for me a female yellow parrotlet. Her name is Holly Berry. We are so clever with pet names. Right now they are living in separate cages but next to each other until they get used to each other. I've always enjoyed birds and I am thrilled to have a pair of birds again in our little condo. These birds are captive bred since restrictions prevent them from being imported (USA) from South America.

They are in separate cages while they get used to each other. So its no pictures together for now. Here they are in their separate cages.

12/23/10 EDITED TO ADD:

Second try at pairing them. This time I moved him to HER cage. Now they are behaving in a friendly manner.

Have a good day!

Designer Yarn From Lumpy Wool

2010-12-11T17:48:00.000-08:00

Betty Chu is the breeder of top of the line English Angora rabbits. She is also
an accomplished spinner, knitter, weaver and designer of custom yarns.

Betty takes wool from combings and clippings that may be a little felted from
the sides or bellies or armpits on rabbits and then she spins it as a lumpy
yarn. Then she dyes some of it and knits hats or sweaters with it. Nothing like
an angora hat to chase away the chill.

Some knitters love the yarn because it is uniquely handmade. If they want fine*
yarn, they can buy commercial, but Betty's fun yarn is different.
(*Betty does know how to spin fine yarn)

It's no secret how she does it, but it fascinating that she can take wool that
many of us would throw away and make designer yarn with it.

I've seen Betty's yarns and knitted goods for years so when I wanted to find
some pictures of Betty's hats, I went to the weblog she manages for Northern
California Angora Guild.

Here are links to blog posts that show some hats and other goods.

You can click on the pictures for larger views.

Betty's Fiber Display at Monterey Fair
(click the pictures!)
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=Betty%27s+Fiber+Display+At+Monterey+Fair+

Show & Tell at Cow Palace (see two of Betty Chu's hats)
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=Fiber+Show-%27n-Tell+At+Cow+Palace+

over dyeing angora yarn - see Betty Chu's hats
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=over+dyeing+angora+yarn

Check out these dye jobs - see a Betty hat
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=Check+Out+These+Dye+Jobs+

Angora caps in July
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=Angora+Caps+In+July

Head for hats
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=head+for+hats

Useful empty kleenex tissue box - with a hat
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=empty+kleenex+box

Doggie fashion - a Betty Chu dog sweater
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=Doggie+Fashion+

Angora dog sweater - a Betty Chu dog sweater
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=angora+dog+sweater

How many pounds of wool? Classifying angora wool.
http://ncag.blogspot.com/search?q=How+Many+Pounds+Of+Wool+Are+In+The+Boxes%3F+

Have a good day!

Note: Originally titled "Designer Yarn From Junk Wool" titled changed to "Designer Yarn From Lumpy Wool" because it implied that Betty's wool was junk, which it definitely is not. - FR

Twine Too Many

2010-12-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

(click pictures for larger image)
Twining continues on the train and the bus. From bottom row, the orange, light brown rows have one row of S twine followed by Z twine. From the lowest black row, up to the next orange, those are Z twine. Above that is all S twine.

Notice how the sides of the bag kind of bulge out. I have too many warps on this bag. So when I twine it causes the bag to spread. I did not need to pack in as many warp colors as I did. I could have easily left off five warp pairs and it would have fit more snugly to the cardboard frame. I also think after I put the straps on the sides nobody else will notice.

Sometimes while I twine I turn the card sideways. The yarn falls down out of the way and it goes better sometimes.

Have a good day!

Caught On The Web - Dec 2010

2010-12-05T16:14:00.001-08:00

Here are a few websites of interest I found while surfing the web:

Eva's Weaving Blog
http://evasweaving.wordpress.com/

Extreme Sheepherding with electric lights (reprise from 2009)
A youtube video "What Welshmen do when they're bored"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGOGOxtN2lM

Inagaki Kiryou Weaving Supplies, Japan
Be sure to check out the spinning wheel for cotton
under the group of Cotton Tools
http://english.inagakikiryou.com/index.html

Weaving on a forked stick - kids project
http://naturalsuburbia.blogspot.com/2010/08/weaving.html

News article:Santiago Morales, weaver of pine needles, baskets, etc
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/entertainment/santiago-97624-reeds-top.html

Check it out! Back issues of Weaver's Journals
available for free download. This is awesome!
http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/wj.html

A Weaver's Album: Pictures of Looms, Spinning Wheels, and more
http://elaine899.tripod.com/aweaversalbum/id6.html

A blog from Europe? Interesting colors and a couple of looms?
http://tejedorassayaguesas.blogspot.com

guatemala info with textiles
http://abovefault.net/category/travels/guatemala/

Mademoiselle Chaos blog, pastry, spinning, knitting, crochet
http://mademoisellechaos.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-favourite-pastry-recipe.html

reference book for double weave
http://www.haven2.com/proc/html/a_reference_book_for_double_we.html

Tangled web blog
http://www.austintapestry.blogspot.com/

tri loom instructions
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/triloom2.htm

How to knit to wristwarmers bangles on doublepoint needles - very unique!
http://www.ahousecallednut.com/a_house_called_nut/2009/04/bangle-wristwarmer-tutorial.html

Fabric Follies Two - interesting postings and a list of more blogs to visit
http://fabricfolliestwo.wordpress.com

EDITED TO ADD MORE LINKS 12-11-10

Pretty scarves knitted from lumpy angora rabbit wool
Good idea for spinning angora "second" wool
http://angoraandmore.blogspot.com/2009/03/angora-scarves.html

Prussian sash in Sprang (oblique interlacing)/German Language
http://blog.wirweben.de/wordpress/

Google translate can convert this to English or other
http://translate.google.com

Ears of Corn Placemats
http://janie-bell.blogspot.com/2010/11/ears-of-corn-placemats.html

Kathe Todd-Hooker, MorningStar Studio
http://www.kathetoddhooker.blogspot.com

Kathe Todd-Hooker, Fine Fiber Press
http://www.finefiberpress.com

Nadeau Hand-Skill Loom seen in Popular Mechanics Jan 1955
http://books.google.com/books?id=aN4DAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA197&dq=handweaving&pg=PA197#v=onepage&q=weaving&f=false

Waaban Aki Crafting - Eastern Woodlands (US)
See twined cornhusk bottle in middle of page
http://home.cshore.com/waaban/dolls&figures.html

How to make and use a floor loom for twined rag rug weaving
http://craftydaisies.com/2008/07/23/how-to-make-and-use-a-floor-loom/

Twined bags for sale - check out design
http://www.barkingrock.com/bags.htm

Weaving World
http://www.weavingworld.ca/tips.htm

Language of Native American Baskets
http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/baskets/subpage.cfm?subpage=tech_tech

Primitive technology
http://www.primitiveways.com/basketry2.html

Basketmakers.org - Information and many links
http://basketmakers.org/

newspaper basket
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/47658/the-times-they-are-a-changing-how-to-make-a-basket-from-a-newspaper

Lots of woven baskets and some good design elements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_arts_by_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas

Rigid Heddle Weaving - and more!
http://rigidheddleweaving.com/

Doni's Deli blog - great monk's bag tutorial
narrow cloth woven on rigid heddle makes a fast bag
http://donisdelis.blogspot.com/2009/01/little-tutorial.html

Fibers Of Being - a blog with nice pictures
http://fibresofbeing.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/more-freestyle-rosepath/

Daryl Lancaster's blog
See how she plays with cloth
http://www.daryllancaster.com/wordblog/page/15/

Have a good day!

Off Loom Woven Scarf

2010-11-28T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here's the stash I bought. See the fat yarn called Sumptuous? I'm weaving a scarf with it. Since it's too fat to fit any of my rigid heddle looms, I'm going to weave it off loom or free hand.

Here I am warping it about 7 foot long of the brown and tan yarns around a couple of chairs. Winding with continous warp will create finished edges on both ends, no fringe to be worked.

Hanging it from a wire cut from a wire coat hanger, I started weaving it, using my fingers to pick the warps and pushing the weft through. The weave is warp faced weaving to get the horizontal bars to show. This is not a tight warp project. Firm but not tight. Just finger tight.

Here is about half way done. It has a good simple look to it and it's going fairly quickly with the fat yarn. I'll start and end with that coat hanger wire and will have finished edges on both ends, so no fringe on this. The ends sticking out are at the spot where I added weft (yarn) and I'll trim those off after the wet finish of the scarf.

This is wonderfully low tech.

Have a good day!

Vertical Twined Bags - Twining On A Train

2010-11-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

First let me share this link to the post of a virtual version of a recent Textile Museum "Rug and Textile Appreciation Morning" program by David W. Fraser on "Vertically Twined Plateau Bags," an American Indian format. The pictures and text are wonderful and a beautiful example of using the internet to share knowledge and art. Check it out.

http://rjohnhowe.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/david-w-fraser-on-vertically-twined-plateau-bags/

Next, my humble twined bag adventure continues:
(click on pictures for larger image)

Twining on a train. Here is the current bag in progress. I wanted to see what a lot of stripes would look. Here it is. The warps are tied over a double strand of yarn. I wanted to get a fatter edge to the top and it worked well, showing off the different color warp yarns. The stripes are tedious with changes every two rows.

Here is how I wind my butterflies for twining. Upper left of the picture is the train seat in front of me. The right side of the picutre is the floor of the train. Sacramento has a light rail system that I use to commute to work and the light is good enough for pictures without using flash. I can work on small projects if I can get a seat. I should probably keep a drop spindle handy for days when I have to stand.

Here I am starting a new color. I start the twine around the last pair from the back side (orange) of the cardboard so I get a secure change on the side of the bag. Then twine the first pair from the front side (yellow). Of course the front and back sides change every time I flip the cardboard.

I am ending the rows on the sides of the bags with a square knot. Because it ends on the side I can cover the knots with the strap for the bag later. Even so, I try to hide the knots. The white plastic bag is for transporting the work. I stuff the cardboard with twined bag into the white plastic bag and slide it into my red bag that I use to carry my books and lunch to work. I try to pre-cut my yarn so I can pull the next color out of the bag to keep twining. So I leave the big skeins of yarn at home, I carry only enough yarns for a days' work.

Here is the square knot at the end of the color change (circle). I start the color on the side opposite the knot from the end of the last color. This way I can trap the loose ends from the knot. Here you see I am twining around three strands of orange, one of which is a strand from the knot. I'll trap the other strand from the knot on the other side of the cardboard in the next pair.

When I finish the next row (yellow) I'll tie it off then go to the side where the orange strands from the square knot are. The strands (marked with X) from the square knot (arrow) travel under the yellow rows and are hidden. I'll cut off the orange strands and start another color.

After my train ride I transfer to a bus for the second half of the ride to work over the Sacramento River into West Sacramento, the light is not as good on the bus so no pictures of working on the bus. But here is a picture looking out the bus window at the flag at 500 Capitol Mall Tower, where strong winds are making the large flag stand straight out.

Have a good day!

Tinkuy Peru 2010

2010-11-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

The above picture is from Laverne Waddington's blog "Backstrap Weaving"

Can't let this month go by without mention these beautiful articles posted on the web regarding Tinkuy de Tejedores 2010 which is a conference celebrating traditional weaving and textiles. It's four days of weaving, spinning, knitting, singing, dancing, storytelling, and conferencing. Not just weavers from Peru, there are weavers from Guatemala, Bolivia, and all over the world.

Laverne posted a couple of articles on her blog.

You can read the articles at the following link. There's lots of pictures and there are two articles because of all the pictures.
http://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/backstrap-weaving-tinkuy-de-tejedores-2010/

http://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/backstrap-weaving-more-tinkuy-and-experiments-with-new-techniques/

Blogger/weaver Beth Smith and her daughter Maggie also attended the Tinkuy and posted an article on her blog "Three Sheeps to the Wind"

You can see the article at:
http://threesheeps.blogspot.com/2010/11/peru.html

The event was organized by Centro de Textiles Tradicionales de Cusco (CTTC) or Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, dedicated to the preservation of local traditional fiber arts.

You can visit their website;
Spanish: http://www.textilescusco.org/index.html
English: http://www.textilescusco.org/eng/index.html

What a wonderful gathering it was. It's wonderful that these ladies took the time to share their trip with us so we can travel with them through their pictures and words.

Have a good day!

Roses

2010-11-19T20:10:00.001-08:00

don't tell the roses the winter is coming
see how they raise their flowers to the heavens
smell the air rich with fragrance that is pleasing

don't tell the roses the winter is coming
with rain that batters the petal and leaf
with ice that coats the stem and thorn

don't tell the roses the winter is coming
they cannot hide or raise a cover
they can be roses and nothing else

don't tell the roses the winter is coming
they already know the seasons
because they are roses

Have a good day!
My corner of the world
Capitol Park, Sacramento, Calif.

Twined Bag 2

2010-11-14T08:47:00.001-08:00

(click picture for larger image)
Here is a closeup of the latest twined bag. The basic weave is twine around two warps. The middle detail is two rows of three strand twine around warp pairs. The last row is twined around single warp to make a tighter bottom for the bag.

The bag is twined around cardboard frame and goes around both sides. The warp will be knotted at the bottom to close the bottom of the bag. Next I have to make a strap for it.

Have a good day!

Rain

2010-10-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

My Corner Of The World - Rain

(click picture to view larger image)

Today we are having rain all day. It seems to be end of summer for sure. Above is a view outside our front door. You can see the other condominiums on the other side of the street. Our unit looks just like those over there. Since we don't have room for a regular garden, we garden in a wheelbarrow. Normally the wheelbarrow sits by the front door, but since it was raining, we moved it to the lawn for the water.

Dinner for tonight is homemade chicken vegetable soup and corn bread muffins.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
Sacramento, Calif USA

Twining - Part 2

2010-10-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

(click pictures for larger image)
The twined bag is almost complete. It needs a loop and button on the opening to close the top and it should have a lining. I have some old shirts that I can use for lining. I also need to trim the fringe.

I'm happy with the pattern that I just threw together as I went.

Here you can see the bag and more of the strap. I made the strap from six strands and used finger weaving to make it.

Here is a closeup of me twining the fabric. With big fat yarn like this the process is very quick. Notice how I pull up to the right to place the weft. Later I used my fingers to push the weft tight.

I don't have a big needle to use for sewing on the strap, so I wrapped some plastic tape over the end of some yarn to stiffen it and I used it like the end of a shoelace to push the yarn through the bag fabric and the strap.

Have a good day!

Twining - Part 1

2010-10-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

(click pictures for larger image)
My friend Laverne has been working on a twining technique inspired by Montagnard weavers. She about it posted on her blog Backstrap Weaving.

Twining has been on my fiber adventure list so I moved it to the top. This is the first part of a twined bag I am making. Twining is an old craft that can create fabric without a loom.

Twining is usually started by stringing a line around two poles. I wrapped a string around some cardboard that is 8 1/2 by 11 inch. This makes it portable enough to carry. Then I attached some warp threads down with a larkshead knot or loop.

The first few rows I misread the directions and I twined around each warp with white yarn. Then I realized I was supposed to twine around warp pairs, so I started with the yellow yarn.

You can see how the yarn is twining around the warp pairs in this picture.

Here is a closeup of how I tried to pull up on the weft to keep it tight. I twine all the way around both sides of the board so I will have a bag when I am done. The yarn is labelled Rug Crafter's Rug Yarn, 100% acrylic and I bought it cheap at the thrift store for this kind of project.

Here is a link to a PDF file that will tell you how to start twining.

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/lily_bag.pdf

And some more links of interest.

http://www.santacruzhandweavers.org/twining/demo2007/index.html

http://www.ohs.org/exhibits/online/native-american-basketry.cfm

http://www.nativetech.org/weave/falseembroidery/index.html

http://twinedbags.com/twining.html

http://halcyonyarn.com/designcontest/wild/wild2.html

http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/baskets/subpage.cfm?subpage=burden

http://www.barkingrock.com/bags.htm

http://www.uwlax.edu/urc/JUR-online/PDF/2009/karoll-amyARC.pdf

Have a good day!

Sprang by Comb and War Shirt

2010-09-28T07:07:00.001-07:00

Interesting links

Sprang technique by means of comb
Anita Rašmane, 2006
http://www.senzeme.lv/Sprang.htm

I also found the "war shirt" article very interesting. It looks like a finger
knitted coat, no loom and no knitting needles.

http://www.senzeme.lv/Pakulu_krekls.htm

Translate to english: http://tinyurl.com/WarShirtLatvia

And translate to english Senzeme main page: http://tinyurl.com/Senzeme

I used Google Translate to convert from Latvian language.
Have a good day!

Edited to add:
Ieva contributes this link: http://zagarins.net/Latvjuraksti/index.html

Google Tranlate to english: http://tinyurl.com/LatvianSigns
Be sure to click on "Shirts articles etc"

Lambtown USA Oct 2 2010

2010-09-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

Oct 2 - The Dixon Lambtown, USA Committee has planned another great Lambtown Festival for your family this year. The festival will be held at The Dixon May Fair Grounds, 655 South 1st St., Dixon, CA, on Saturday, October 2, 2010, from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. Admission is just $2.00 for adults. Children 6 - 13 $1.00 and kids 5 and under are FREE! For your enjoyment, you will find more focused craft and fiber booths, competitions, and as always, a variety of great food celebrating the lamb industry and the rich agricultural heritage of the region. This year's live entertainment will feature music and an evening street dance. Parking $5

http://www.lambtown.com/info.html

Rancho Cordova CA Fiber Arts meeting report 9/24/10

2010-09-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

Rancho Cordova CA Fiber Arts meeting report 9/24/10

6:30pm Arrived at library to set up the room. Laid out some woven items, a
Cricket rigid heddle loom, an Erica rigid heddle loom, a Harrisville lap loom, a
couple of drop spindles, some handspun yarn samples, some samples of
fingerweaving. Posted a couple of notices on the glass doors.

7:00 Open door to meeting room that connects to the library. People were
wandering around the library. I pulled out a drop spindle to spin while I
waited. Meeting was scheduled for 7:00 to 8:30

7:15 First visitor showed up. Two kids who wanted to see what all the stuff was
for. So I showed them the stuff, answered questions, showed them how to use a
drop spindle, how to use the Cricket loom, and the lap loom. One girl took to
the Cricket loom right off because she said she had seen it done before.

7:30 Another kid shows up and she starts working on the lap loom. By this time I
am realizing I need little cardboard looms for kids to use and take home with them.
I'll try to have some next time.

7:45 An adult woman drops in to see what I was doing and said she couldn't stay
but she grabbed an information flyer and said she'll try to be back next month.

7:55 Library closes at 8:00 pm and the kids have to go home with parents. So I
start putting stuff away since there was no one else there.

8:10 Take stuff to the car and go home.

Notes: Need to advertise the meetings. Need to have some prepared projects for
visitors.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
Rancho Cordova Fiber Arts Coordinator

Upcoming events:

Sacramento Weavers & Spinners Guild
Sat Oct. 23. 10:00 am to Noon
Arcade Public Library, 2443 Marconi Ave
A resource for spinners and weavers
http://www.directcon.net/weaver/

Church of the Nazerene -
Fiber Arts Presentation by Franco Rios
Sept 29, 2010 Wednesday evening 7 pm
3520 Bradshaw Rd, Sacramento, CA - (916) 363-0364

Next Rancho Cordova Fiber Arts meeting
Oct 14, 2010, Thursday, Spinning for Beginners, drop spindles, plying,
Nov 15, 2010, Monday, Weaving for Beginners on simple looms
Dec 2010 Holiday Break (no meeting)
(schedule updated 9/10/2010)

The Fabric of Mayan Life - An Exhibit of Textiles

2010-09-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

"The Fabric Of Mayan Life: An Exhibit Of Textiles"

http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/collections-research/cr-sub/ethnology/mayan/Home.html

Found this article on the web.
Lots of examples to look at and some background info.

Courtesy of Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Have a good day!

$2 Thrift Store Loom

2010-09-19T13:50:00.001-07:00

(click pictures for larger image)

Back to the fiber adventure. Above is a needlepoint stitching kit I bought for $2.00. It has a mesh background with a printed pattern to follow that is tacked to a wooden frame measuring about 10 inch by 8 inch on the outside. It includes over a dozen hanks of embroidery floss. I bought it to make a loom out of it.

Here is the wooden frame. I attached pencils with clear plastic tape to raise the warp and give me some room for tension adjustment. If the tension gets too tight, I'll remove a pencil to give some slack.

Here is the frame with a continuous warp of #10 cotton crochet thread, about 100 ends. I tried to weave some floss with a crosstitch needle. I quickly realized the warp was too close and many of the warps were crossed over each other.

The warp is wrapped around the front and back of the frame. I followed the warp around and around the loom making sure all the warps do not cross over the one next to it. Once it was straightened out, I set the cross using pencils and safety strings. The knitting needle was helpful in picking up threads.

Once the crossed warps are straightened out, I need ot spread out the warps. So I put three rows of twining on the warps. This spread the warps very well. You can also see the string heddle on a pencil.

In this picture you can see I am using the knitting needle to open the shed to make room for the ruler I am using for a shed stick. When I turn the shed stick it opens the shed (spread upper/lower warp apart) so I can push the shuttle stick, which is the pencil with the red floss wrapped around it.

Here you can see the pocket comb I am using as a beater to push the warp into place. Right now I'm getting a very uneven spread of weft, too far apart then very close. Very gauzy in spots so I now have one way of doing gauze which is on my list. I am thinking I should use double floss to fill in the weaving more.

Have a good day!

Weavezine - Syne's Back

2010-09-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Syne's back!

Two articles in last 3 days posted on Weavezine

What I Did Over The Summer 2010 - Syne Mitchell
http://www.weavezine.com/weavegeek/what-i-did-over-summer

Weaving Handspun Singles On A Rigid Heddle Loom - Syne Mitchell
http://www.weavezine.com/weavegeek/weaving-handspun-singles-rigid-heddle-loom

Weavezine is the online magazine for weavers

Have a good day!

Living Crafts

2010-09-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Another fun link: Free Patterns from Living Crafts
http://www.livingcrafts.com/page/Free_Patterns

Have a good day!

Hair tie

2010-09-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick project. Please excuse the blurry phone camera picture.

My niece Maggie had her birthday party last month. I wrapped her gift with paper and tied it off with 4 strands of #3 crochet thread in different colors. After she unwrapped her gift I told her to save the threads and get a safety pin. Using the safety pin to anchor the end to a tablecloth, I tried to show her a four strand braid, but for the life of me I couldn't get it to work!

So I showed her how to fingerweave it. She made quick work of it, weaving up a 4 foot long band which she used as a hair tie. 12 year olds can be so crafty.

Have a good day!

Farmers Market

2010-09-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

My corner of the world: Sacramento Farmers Market at Sunrise Blvd and Highway 50
Every Saturday the light rail station parking lot is converted to a farmers market where farmers bring their products to sell direct to the public. Vendors are certified as actual farmers who work in the surrounding area. As you can see there is a lot of produce for sale.

These are herbs for sale.

These are buckets of flowers for sale. There is a black bumblebee browsing the flower in the center under the little white arrow. These flowers are fresh.

Often there is live music for enjoyment. Today is a 3 piece band with bass, guitar, and accordion.

Here is our stuff from the farmers market. Got potatoes, squash, cherry tomatoes, sour baguette of bread, oranges, a plant called hummingbird sage which I bought because it attracted bumblebees while it was on the table. We bought white peaches and yellow peaches. We also bought some organic eggs (not pictured).

It was a busy day for us. Our chihuahua, Paco, needed to get his shots. The mobile vet trailer is where we get shots for our dogs. The two men on the left are veterinarians. There is a table to the right where people get their paperwork filled out and pay for the shots. It's cheaper to go to the mobile vet clinic than a vet's office.

And there is an airshow going on this weekend. Overhead there was a Stealth bomber, an F22 Raptor, a squad of L39 jet trainers, a couple of acrobat flyers, but none of those pictures came out. I did manage to get a couple of pics of these P38 Lightnings.

It was a good day!

Paper Reed Basket

2010-09-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

This is Laverne's basket which she shared last month in My Corner of the World. She made it 7 years ago using rolled up newspaper for reed to weave it.

And now, because I am not afraid to try something new, here is my first attempt at basket weaving!

As you can see, it's very rough. The good news is that I'll get better.

My lovely wife Tracy saw this and said she did baskets like this in Campfire Girls. She hasn't thought about it in years.

Laverne said to get a full sheet of newspaper (2 pages) and tear it down into thirds. Then take a knitting needle and starting at the bottom left corner at about 30 degree angle and start rolling sideways to make a long tube. Keep the first few rolls very tight. Use a bit of white glue to hold the last bit. You'll get a tapered tube that is smaller at one end and flares at the other. You can push small end into large end to as you go to add more tube.

So I made some tubes at work and made the above basket just to start getting the feel of it. I did not have a knitting needle so I used a nail from the work bench. No white glue so I used some cellophane tape. What can I say? It's got to get better.

I have to go surf the web for basketweaving info.

Have a good day!

Maiwa Supply

2010-08-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

While checking different websites I will see references to links for other websites.

This time on Weavolution, Deb McClintock was answering a question about ikat tape. Ikat is a dye resist technique. She posted a link to Maiwa Supply and said to look for the instructions page for PDF instruction sheets. I looked and there was info on batik, blockprint, indigo, and more.

Here is the link to Maiwa Supply
http://www.maiwa.com/stores/supply/instructions.html

Have a good day!

Failed Towels

2010-08-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

(click pics for larger image)

This is a failed warp. I started it in June. It was supposed to become some more dishtowels on the backstrap loom. See this link. I had problems with loose warps from the beginning. I tried to adjust the tension. That did not work. So I tried to work with it to see if I could "force" it to behave.

On this closer look you can how this bad warp could not be fixed. The floats. The uneven fell line. The crooked shape. The uneven tension. So I will unweave this warp and wind up the yarn and put it aside for a while. I can't fix this even though in my mind I thought I could. I'll start over again and this time warp it properly instead of just throwing it together. It was impatience that got me started off badly.

In the words of Harry Callahan "A man's got to know his limitations."

Have a good day!

Rancho Cordova Fiber Arts

2010-08-21T19:45:00.001-07:00

Rancho Cordova Fiber Arts is starting!

Rancho Cordova Fiber Arts is a dedicated to the exploration of fiber arts
including, but not limited to, spinning, dying, weaving, knitting, crochet,
braiding, embroidery, sewing, fingerweaving, sprang, and other crafts.

Meetings are scheduled for the Rancho Cordova Library community room in Rancho
Cordova, on the third Monday of the month, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Meetings are open to the public. The purpose of the meeting is to share fiber
arts for the people in Rancho Cordova, California and Sacramento County. The
goal is to introduce fiber arts and make it accessible to everyone.

Schedule
Sept 20, 2010 Fiber Arts discussions and demonstration
Oct 18, 2010 Spinning for Beginners, drop spindles, plying,
Nov 15, 2010 Weaving for Beginners on simple looms
Dec 2010 Holiday Break

The library is located at 9845 Folsom Blvd, Rancho Cordova, Calif 95827

There is a yahoo group setup for discussion
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ranchocordovafiberarts/

You are welcome to use this yahoo group to discuss fiber arts, and events
around the area. Anyone may join this yahoogroup, new members are subject to
message approval until determined to be on topic.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios
Rancho Cordova Fiber Arts organizer

Structo

2010-08-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

(click on picture for larger image)

This is a Structo Artcraft Loom I bought tonight on Craigslist for $50.
I've heard about these and now I have one. Now I have to find out how to weave on it.

It has the number 600-15660 written on it.

Another adventure.

I think I am missing handles for the beams. It's about 20 inch wide inside the harnesses.

Edited to add:
There is a yahoo group for discussion of Structo looms
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_things_structo/

Have a good day!

Sprang Sweater

2010-08-01T08:13:00.001-07:00

Sprang Sweater - crafted by Carol James
(click pictures for larger image)

The above sweater is not knitted, it is not crocheted, it is not woven. It is created with an ancient process called "Sprang", a form of oblique interlacing or plaiting.

Here is the message Carol posted on yahoogroups "Sprang_List" along with these pictures.

Carol writes: Inspired by images of Egyptian work on the site Den Blauwen Swaen, I decided to try my hand at a sprang sweater.

I selected a fiber that seemed smooth, promising easy shoving of the twists. My daughter came along to advise me on color selection. Together we chose an orange egyptian cotton. I added some sparkly Patons yarn that I had in my stash. In the end I used ten 50gm skeins of the cotton.

I calculated the distance from hem of the sweater, over the shoulder, and back down to the hem, plus some more for 'shrink'. This ended up being about six feet.

Spranging began, working from the hem up. For interest, and another challenge, I added a bit of a diamond design, working S and Z in the same row. At 'armpit' level, I added on more warp on each side for the sleeves. A few inches later, I began a slit for the neck hole.

I thought I'd go for a lacy design around the shoulders. Now that the garment is finished and I've been wearing it, next time I think I'd put the lacy bit lower on the garment, and use singles at the shoulders for a bit more stability, not so much sag at the shoulders.

I sewed up the side seams, a crochet chain uniting the loops along the edges of the sleeves. The side seams in the body of the sweater were joined with an 'invisible seam': I carefully un-spranged the end thread (start and stop of the original rectangle) to the armpit, and then re-spranged using a large eyed needle, uniting front and back.

A 'safety cord' prevents the garment from 'un-spranging', going from wrist to wrist, passing behind the neck. My daughter tells me that an attachment behind the neck in a deep-V neck is commonly seen in current fashion.

I wore the sweater to the Handweavers Guild of America Convergence in Albuquerque.

Just wanting you all to know that it can be done, as the frequent comment in Albuquerque was "I thought all you could do with sprang was bags."

Here are some more pictures from Carol's posting:

This is the initial rectangle on the sprang frame.

Adding warp for sleeves, creating shape of the garment, notice the slit for the neck hole.

Spranging in sections. The knitting needle is only used to pick up strands that are laced over each other, this is not knitted.

You can see Carol's blog at: http://sashweaver.wordpress.com/

You can see Carol's webpage at: http://www.sashweaver.ca/

Carol writes books and gives classes on fingerweaving. She needs to start teaching sprang.

Den Blauwen Swaen (english version) can be seen here: http://www.denblauwenswaen.nl/engels.htm

The Sprang_List on yahoogroups can be found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sprang_List/

Have a good day!

My Corner Of The World - July 2010

2010-07-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

(click picture for larger image)

My mother in law has a bird feeder on her patio and it recently started attracting this colorful guy. I think it's called American Goldfinch. The bird is a little bigger than a sparrow. My niece Maggie parked herself in a chair and waited to take pictures of this bird. She had this picture as wallpaper on her computer and I asked her to send me a copy. My MIL lives in Gold River Calif, just outside Sacramento, Calif.

*You can click on picture for larger image*

Have a good day!

Tessellation

2010-07-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

While surfing the internet, I look for patterns that might work for weaving. This a pattern I created using a tessellation generator found at this website.

http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/tess/tess.htm

It took a very short time and I think I could make some very nice patterns with more thinking about it.

I found this tessellation technique referenced on this website article
"Designing Tesselating Knitting Patterns"
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/07/designing_tessellating_knittin.html

I like looking in on Craftzine to see what crafters are up to.
http://craftzine.com/

Have a good day!

Backstrap Towels

2010-06-27T22:01:00.001-07:00

I want to make some more towels with cotton yarn. I use the thick Sugar N Creme and Peaches and Cream yarns. The towels are part of my apprenticeship as a weaver.

Above are the sticks I'll be using for my backstrap loom. I plan to make two towels. The ends tied to the loom bars will be twined for a finished selvedge. I'll weave halfway through and turn the loom around and weave the other half. Then I'll cut in the middle. The towels will have three finished edges. The last edges will be hemstitched and fringed.

Using 24 inch hardwood sticks clamped to the chairs, the warp is wound at 56 inch. You can see a metal box that was jammed between the chair and table to keep the spacing constant. The tight continous warp wants to pull the chairs together. The sett will be 10 warp per inch. There is 6 inch of variegated pastel, then 4 inch of white in middle, and 6 inch more of pastel. The finished width will be 16 inch. And I put safety strings to hold the cross.

I'll twine my piece tomorrow, so I just rolled up the warp with the flat sticks and put it in the bag. I love this part of backstrap weaving. I was actually going to use a rigid heddle loom, but my heddle is missing! It's nice to have a backstrap loom as a backup loom!

Have a good day!

Shelf Help

2010-06-06T18:54:00.001-07:00

Today's entry is some pictures I took a six months ago. When we first moved into the condo, we have fewer closets than the last house. So my fiber stuff kind of piled up in the living room next to the television cabinet.

Here is my craft frame, my bag with a backstrap loom, the Cricket loom on a table, the empty Cricket box, bags of yarn, and boxes of stuff. Big mess!

So we went to IKEA and bought this 8 hole shelf unit for about $70. Then we bought six fabric baskets for $30. All the yarn and stuff went into the baskets. The Cricket loom on the folding table is just off to the left. The empty Cricket box is going to the outside storage unit.

This shelf unit has been a great place to organize yarns, hide tools and books. Even though the Cricket still sits out on the folding table when in use, having the other items out of sight is a big improvement. The craft frame hides behind the shelf unit when not in use.

We left the upper two holes open for displaying knick knacks. The top is good for displaying pictures.

This was definitely worth the expense. Having the extra storage in the condo is great. I like having it next to the television so I can grab stuff when I find myself with empty hands.

So that's it for now!
Have a good day!

Luann's $3.50 Rectangle Loom

2010-05-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

Luann's $3.50 Rectangle Loom - picture & text used by permission
(click picture for larger image)

I wanted to share this picture I received from Hand Prepared Fibers on yahoogroups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/handpreparedfibers/message/38741

Luann says: This is what I have been doing today. I made a loom. The nails are 1/4 inch a part and it measure 32 x 16 inches. Not sure how big the piece will be when I take it off but I am hoping putting them together will make a nice table runner or maybe place mats. Rae, thank you so much for helping me with the dimensions on it. It's going to come out just right without adding the 1 extra nail. Don't ask me why.

I got a window at a yard sale for $1 and took out the glass and them trimmed one side with a table saw to even the sides. My husband did that for me. Then I stained it with walnut and the clear stuff. I wasn't sure I could do it or not but it came out right to my surprise. That's a lot of nails but I used a 1/16th inch Dremel tool (drill) to get the nail started so the wood wouldn't split.

The nails were $2.50 and I used all of them. Had the other stuff like a little 1/16th inch drill, hammer, stain, and that clear stuff you spray on the stain. I did all the staining the other day. So today all I had to do was put in the nails.

They are 1 inch finishing or panel nails. They have little ridges on them. They are black and you get them in a package in the hardware store. They come in other sizes too so be sure to get the 1 inch. The stand is also a handmade loom. I got it and a 7 foot tri loom for $100 a few years ago. - Luann

Thank you Luann!

Rectangle loom weaving and triangle loom weaving are generally done as continuous yarn weaving. It's a straightforward weaving technique that is often done with one yarn rather than separate warp and weft yarns. You can take the woven triangles or rectangles and sew them together to make larger pieces like shawls or table runners. Or you can make a larger loom and do one bigger piece.

Note: Panel nails come in different colors. I have seen comments recommending the use of black and white nails alternately to help keep track of warping. I will probably do that when I make one of these looms.

You can find files on making and using triangle and rectangle looms on the TriLoom yahoogroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TriLoom/files/

You will have to join the above yahoogroups to see messages and files. To reduce spam, memberships have to be approved, but usually they are approved promptly. There is no charge to use those yahoogroups.

Or you can search for "triangle looms" and get a ton of hits.

Thank you again Luann for sharing that picture and info. $3.50 for a loom fits a lot of our budgets!

Have a good day!

Peruvian Cross Rep Variations

2010-05-08T19:49:00.001-07:00

Peruvian Cross Rep braid variations. There is something wrong with this picture. The last red cross is not covered by white on the outside. The pattern is supposed to be created by pulling the red yarn through the white yarn. On the last switch, I goofed and pulled the white yarn through the red.

Here is the braid again. The left side is correct. I pulled the red through the white. The right side is pulled through the red. Which is incorrect for this pattern. But look below.

A mistake done on purpose becomes a design feature. The braid begins with white covering the dark.

In the middle area, white covers red on left and red covers white on right, forming a pattern where red and white stripes meander down the braid together.

Then I reversed the pattern and red covers white on the bottom section of the braid.

Click here for Peruvian Rep braid

Click here for Peruvian Cross Rep braid

Have a good day!

Peruvian Rep Braid

2010-05-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Based on book by Alta Turner in "Fingerweaving: Indian Braiding",
this is the Peruvian Rep Braid, page 36.

(click here for Peruvian Cross Rep Braid) -(click pictures for larger image, back to return to blog)

Set up on a dowel from left to right, 4 dark, 4 dark, 4 dark, 12 light.

Pull left side 4 dark through shed of 8 dark and 12 white. Let it sit to the right.

Pull next group from left side of 4 dark through 4 dark and 12 white. Notice how the dark weaves through the white in an "over-under" process. Leave the dark to the right.

Pull the last group on left through the white group, again it is woven through the white. Leave the dark to the right.

Now we start going to the other side, pull 4 dark from the right side, through 8 dark and through 12 white. Leave it lay on the left. See how the dark weaves through the white.

Pull the next group of 4 dark through 4 dark and 12 white, weaving through, leaving the dark laying to the left.

The next group of 4 dark is woven through the white, leave the dark laying to the left.

Starting back the other way.

Here is a shot of how I use my fingers to weave the strands and create the shed.

Here is the band forming with the river pattern. Please note that the dark yarn is always going through as weft. The light yarns are always woven over the top as warp.

You can join us on the yahoogroup Fingerweaving
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FingerWeaving/

Have a good day!

Peruvian Cross Rep Braid

2010-05-07T22:22:00.001-07:00

Peruvian Cross Rep Braid based on Alta Turner in "Fingerweaving: Indian Braiding" page 38
(click here for Peruvian Rep Braid) - (click picture for larger image, back to return to blog)

Set up 4 dark, 8 light, 4 dark

Take left dark 4 and weave through left white 4, let left dark 4 wait left of center.

Weave the right dark 4 through right light 4 and through left dark 4 to make the first cross in the middle. In this setup, the darks will be woven through the light except in the middle cross.

After snugging up the tension I'm ready for the next level.

Left dark is woven through the left light.

The dark right is woven through right light.

Right light is woven through left light.

Snug it up and you can see how the light yarn forms the pattern.

Once again left dark through left light, right dark through right light then through left dark cross.

Left dark woven through left light, right dark woven through right light, right light woven through center forms cross. Repeat until happy.

The light yarn can be thought of as the covering yarn, it usually goes over the dark yarn except in the middle cross where it covers itself.

The dark yarn is the covered yarn, usually covered by light yarn except in the middle cross where it covers itself.

Have a good day!

Keys to Weaving Pics

2010-04-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

I found this reference on the Schact Spindle blog:
http://www.schachtspindle.com/blog/labels/Mary%20Black.html

Jane Patrick writes:
Anyway, I was lamenting to a friend about all of the great weaving books that are now out-of-print. She mentioned a bit of good news: The photo illustrations for Mary Black's New Key to Weaving can be found on-line through the Canadian archives.

Here's the link. http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/black/Results.asp?Search=cs

The REALLY good news is that these photos are in color and better than the original printed book copy.

Rigid Heddle Beginner Project info

2010-04-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

*from my Weavolution Weavealong of Sept 09*
http://www.weavolution.com/node/5563

Welcome to the Beginner RH project

We're going to create something using warp stripes. The concept of warp stripes is to warp your loom with a base color to use as warp and weft. But to add some visual interest and style, we will use a contrasting color for some of the warp threads and will create warp stripes.

First thing is to decide what yarn will you use. If you use cotton, you can make place mats or dishtowels.

If you use wool, maybe you would like to make a scarf.

If you use acrylic, maybe you would to make a scarf, or place mats, or fabric to sew into a bag?

The following is from my blog, where I posted some of this info prior to this weavealong.

Here's the beginning of my next project. I'm going to make some cotton yarn dishtowels/placemats. The real goal is to get some practice on making nice edges and to get some pictures I can use for a weavealong tutorial. I'm going to weave the towels 16 inch wide by 27 inch long with the fringe. With about 10 percent shrinkage during wet finish (washer/dryer cycle) I'll have towels that are 14 inch x 24 inch.

The supplies: Erica rigid heddle loom, 8 dent heddle, two shuttle sticks, a pick up stick, white Peaches & Creme worsted cotton yarn, Sugar & Creme Hot Green, Hot Orange, Hot Blue colored yarn for the stripes. I used up a lot of green and orange on other projects, so I'll be trying to make minimal stripes on this project.

The project is 16 inch wide x 8 thread per inch for 128 ends. I'm going to have 4 ends each of each color for a small stripe x 2 stripes for 24 ends of color and 104 ends of white. I started out by measuring out the warp on the warping chairs.

*continued from previous message*

These are my warping chairs. I'm going to weave two towels on this warp, 28 inch long. That's 56 inch. Plus 18 inch loom waste. That's 71 inch per warp thread. The top chair posts are 18 inch apart. The tops of the chairs have been moved to 53 inches apart. Each time I go around the four posts, I have enough yarn for 2 warps. 12 times for the colors, 52 times for the white.

(sorry for the fuzzy pictures) Here I have cut the warp at the corner post and I have all my warps cut to the right size.

Then I hang the warps on a hook on the wall. The way I warp is probably more labor intensive than others, but it works for me.

I am working from the back of the loom toward the front. I take a warp off the wall, loop it over the back loom bar, dip the cut ends into the glass of water, make a point on the end of the yarn and thread through the hole and slot in the rigid heddle, working from the middle to the outside.

Here it is all threaded up. There is an 8 thread white border each side, 12 threads of color each side and all white inside. The weft will be all white. It takes about about three hours from beginning to this point. Save until tomorrow.

Next, I laid out the warped loom on the floor. I open up some brown paper grocery sacks and cut them up so I can use them to wrap around the warp as I roll the warp onto the loom. As the warp goes around the loom bar, having paper to separate each layer helps the warp stay on the same level, allowing for even tension on the warp. Without a separator, the warp can be high and low on the loom bar, allowing for uneven tension.

So I comb out the warps with my fingers to be sure there are no tangles before I roll the warp onto the loom bar.

In order to get some resistance, I tied the warps to a weight (the bar stool) so the warp has something to pull against while I roll the warp onto the loom bar. I am warping on the floor this time. I usually enlist the aid of a boy to assist me while warping on the kitchen table. I can usually find one of my sons in the kitchen or on the computer, but I'm trying to do this solo as to explore possible solutions to problems.

This worked okay. In the past I've tied soup cans to the warps bunches and hung the warps over the edge of table. That was okay, but not great. If I find a great way to get resistance on the warps by myself, I'll post it. Spent over an hour playing with the paper and rolling the warp. Call it a day.

After a few days not weaving, I jumped back to the loom and started off. I forgot to take pictures of how I did the tie up on the loom. So here is the front loom bar. Notice the big loops?! That will come back to bite me later at the other end of the warp. Because I came up short a few inches on the other end! Because I used so much warp here on the tie up I ran out of yarn on the other end of the warp. So remember to wind your warp up as high as you can with as little knots on this end as you can.

I wound the warp on as tight as I could to the warp beam (the far one). Then I tightened the knobs on the cloth beam (the near one). Then I tightened up the warp beam again. There was a little bit more slack in the warp beam then on the cloth beam.

I use shoelace knots when tying onto the cloth beam so I can untie and re tie as needed. Its very important to get the warp as evenly tight as you can. Uneven tension leads to uneven weft rows and wobbly selvedges on the sides.

Especially important is the outside inch or two on each side of your work. So be sure that your warp stays straight on the warp beam and that each warp layer is firmly on top of the layer below it under the paper. If the warp spreads out, the top layer has no layer below to support it and it falls down, creating loose warp on the outside warps.

So take some time to work on good tension, getting it evenly across the whole width.

That's it for now. You can read the whole weavealong on the Weavolution website.

Go to http://www.weavolution.com and register (it's free)

Then join the Rigid Heddle group to view this thread

http://www.weavolution.com/node/5563

Have a good day!

Clasped Weft

2010-04-25T21:31:00.001-07:00

Continuing the sampler weft from the class I took at CNCH.

One of the techniques practiced at Syne Mitchell's class was Clasped Weft. A weft comes from the right side, grabs another weft from the left and pulls into the middle. Loom is a Schacht Cricket. The Clasped Weft has two wefts in each pick so the weft color dominates. My camera is still failing me, so I will describe.

The pink weft from the right goes through the shed to the other side. The pink now grabs a loop from the blue and pulls across to the middle. By moving the meeting point you can change the spot where color change happens. Because of the two threads looping each other there is usually a bump where the two wefts meet.

As you can see, I kind of fooled around with placement of color. I had to change a weft in the pink and that is the two ends you see that have popped up. After I wash this piece I will clip those threads off. The left edge selvedge is fairly straight, but I am having a bad time with the right edge. Somehow the warp got loose on about twelve threads.

I have pushed a ball point pen onto the back beam to take up some of the looseness. It helps, but I may need to put a thicker pen for the next round. I will be weaving about 10 inches of each technique until I get to the end of the warp.

Have a good day!

CNCH Rigid Heddle Sampler

2010-04-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

(click pictures for larger image)
This is the sampler I wove in Syne Mitchell's class at Conference of Northern Calif Handweavers conference at Santa Clara. The class was called "Rigid Heddle: Beyond Plain Weave"

We were told to bring a rigid heddle loom warped with 3/2 perle cotton on a 12 dent heddle or whatever we have, 8 dent with worsted yarn is fine too. I warped up with 3/2 cotton. Loom is a Schacht Cricket.

I used a #3 crochet yarn as weft. I just grabbed these colors since they were the right size and looked like they would go together. One of the other weavers called it the "Hello Kitty" sampler.

Syne is a very good teacher. The mistakes in the weaving were all my fault, not a reflection on the skills of the teacher.

Syne started with Leno lace and Brooks Bouquet which are weaver manipulated weaves. The split level bouquet is a variation I haven't seen before and I think I want to try that. The Spanish Lace is badly done, but that's my fault, not Syne's. I included a picture below of Linda's Spanish lace which looked like it is supposed to.

The clasped weft is easy and fun. The sides are kind of loopy, but I was trying get a feel for how much weft to weave in.

This is Linda's Spanish Lace with ribbon which looks like it is supposed to. Linda also has some Brooks Bouquet at bottom of picture done every four strands and in middle of picture is Brooks Bouquet again as intermittent accent.

This next group is made up with pick up technique. The trick is to pick up warps from behind the heddle with the heddle down and only warps in slots, not holes.

The warp float mistake is what happens when you leave the heddle up for pickup. It doesn't look that bad actually. It could be a feature in another piece.

The next item is Warp Float Lace, 1 warp up/1 warp down.

Window Pane is same but 1 warp up/2 warp down.

The warp float lace won't look right until it's wet finished. I have a couple more yards of warp to weave before I cut it off and wash it.

Next is a supplemental weft technique using extra yarn for added interest. The extra yarn is laid down under the warp floats (1 up/2 down).

The Honeycomb technique uses 5 up/5 down with a thicker supplementary weft yarn inserted.

So these the techniques beyond plainweave and I'll be practicing in the future.

That's all for now.
Have a good day!

CNCH Santa Clara Vendors

2010-04-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

Did somebody say Alpaca? There were vendors covering everything from A Star Alpacas to Yolo Wool Mill. These alpacas are taking a break. They worked very hard.

This is Unicorn Books and Crafts.

This is Gilmore Looms.

This is Glimakra USA. That loom in the front right is the Julia. I think I might need one.

This is Northwest Looms. I think I might need one of these too.

I forgot whose display this is, but this is only one of dozens of wonderful yarn displays at the hall.

Following standard procedure for looking at a show, I walked all around the floor to see all the booths before going back to linger at the ones that piqued my interest.

I took a lot of pictures, many did not come out. They were blurry. I need a new camera. CNCH had a great fashion show, weaving competition, craft demonstrations, spinning demonstrations, a boutique with items by CNCH members, and more.

Edited to add:
I forgot to mention that The Braider's Hand (braidershand.com) from Washington state was in attendance with an attractive display of tools, yarn and thread.

There was also a very talented woman who was demonstrating how to braid using loops. Ingrid Crickmore is a member of the Braid Society (www.braidsociety.com). Her samples on display were fantastic. She had people braiding good looking cords in minutes. A good teacher.

You can find a list of the suppliers on this web page
http://www.cnch.org/resources/suppliers/

Have a good day!

CHCH Santa Clara

2010-04-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

Conference Of Northern Calif Handweavers had their annual conference and show this weekend. I went on Saturday to attend a class and check out the exhibits and vendors.

I met Laverne Waddington there who made it possible for me to attend a rigid heddle weaving class taught by Syne Mitchell. (thankyou-thankyou-thankyou Laverne!).

A lot of nice people in the class. Peggy Osterkamp (yeah, Peggy who writes weaving books) was at the table in front of me with a Cricket rigid heddle. Those of us with Crickets were thrilled to be able to show her a tip on using string or a rubber bands on the heddles to keep them from tipping. A trick I learned from Patty Anne's Place, see the video a Cricket Loom Fix.

I had a problem with camera again and did not get all the pictures I tried to get.

So I'm going to borrow a couple of pictures that Laverne took.

Here I am weaving on my Cricket rigid heddle. That's Linda sitting next to me. She's an experienced weaver on multishaft looms, but she has this older model Erica rigid heddle that she is weaving with Sugar and Creme cotton yarn on a 8 dent heddle. Erica's are a cool little loom if you can get past the eccentricities. I had one in the past and I found it was good for weaving towels.

Linda's experience in weaving really comes through in her RH weaving, because she knows what she wants it to look like and she makes sure it looks how she wants it. (Did that make sense?)

This is a picture of me with Syne Mitchell. She's holding my clipboard loom and she's telling me she would have liked to put that on Weavezine as an article! So if I have another good idea, I'll have to talk her first. You can check out Weavezine at http://weavezine.com/

Here is my latest trick. The 59 cent loom bag from IKEA.

If you shop at IKEA you can buy these big plastic shopping bags for 59 cents. We have a few at my house and since I did not want to take the Cricket loom in box, I put it in the IKEA bag.

As you can see, the loom fits, as well as some sodas, some trail mix, my clipboard loom, extra yarns, the books I bought, some fruit, and a sweatshirt. The bag has short handles and it has long handles that I was able to sling over my shoulder, even though I’m an Extra Large shirt kind of guy

I brought home literature, some books I bought, some catalogs, and a Weavolution pin! I also got to meet Aunt Janet and Tien from Weavo!

More pictures later.

It was a good day!

Drum Carder - Strauch Petite

2010-04-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

*from Jan 2009 notes*
I hand carded with big slicker brushes for dogs.

Then I gave my lovely wife permission to buy a Strauch Petite drum carder. Great little drum carder. It's also the lowest cost (new) model Strauch makes.

We watched for used drum carders on the internet but apparently no wanted to sell a used one when we wanted to buy one last year.

So we bought it new with the brush attachment. I really like the brush attachment.

We wanted fine teeth (standard on Petite) because we have angora rabbit wool to blend.

Also works with angora goat (mohair), sheepwool, alpaca fiber.

Have a good day!

Graciela Foradori Blogs - Sprang, Gasas & more!

2010-04-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am moving this comment from Graciela Foradori of Argentina to the top of the blog.

Hallo Franco!!!I am working on sprang
I put a cord after any interloking o interlacing sprang.but I remove them after the work ends. Only the last cord remains to hold the warps.
I invite you to look at my blogs.
Have a good day! Do you speak Spanish?
Graciela, from Argentina
Te invito a visitar mis blogs

http://www.gracielaforadori.blogspot.com/
http://gracielaforadoritecnicastextiles.blogspot.com/
http://vistiendoarte.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gracielaforadori/ (sprang, gasas/gauze)
Back to Franco: I have spent the last hour reading the blog and enjoying all the photos and information. There is sprang, there is old backstrap weaving pictures and sculpture, there is gauze (gasas, leno lace).

There are purses, bags, shawls, vests, it is like a candy store for the eyes!

Bravo Graciela!
And thank you for sharing these wonderful things.

For the NorteAmericanos like me who have not learned Spanish yet, you can use internet translation services like Yahoo Babelfish or Google Translate for translations. It is worth it! I am going to learn Spanish now because there is another world on the internet that speaks Espanol!

Have a joyful day!