Monday, December 12, 2011

On The Move

This will be the last post I'll be doing from this house!  In a way it's really sad to leave a home that has served us very well for 20 years. This photo is from my back deck looking north as the sun is setting.
These four walls have seen us go from the pinnacle of our careers to retirement and have seen our children grow from adolescence to adulthood!  This photo is of our cul-de-sac and the wonderful neighbours we'll be leaving. I'm getting a bit weepy just thinking about leaving, but the house will have a lovely young family in it soon.
Everywhere I look today I see boxes....stacked to the ceiling in several rooms!  Where did all this stuff come from?  I'm known for tossing things out on a regular basis, but right now I feel I've not used a heavy enough hand!
We have decided to leave the looms pretty much intact during the move - it just seemed to me there was much more chance of damage if they were in small piles - I really hope this is the right decision, we'll know soon enough because the big move is in two days!  We have boxed and sorted for what seems to be weeks now, and on Wednesday morning the movers come and it's out of my hands.
To get the loom empty I had to bite the bullet and cut off my latest warp.  It's a great looking project, but I just couldn't concentrate on weaving, so I did the nasty deed and cut off the second runner's warp...I will definitely do this warp again, but not until I can settle into the new studio.
I'm calling it a studio, but in actual fact my new space is the huge living room in the new house.  The house is set out with the kitchen leading into the dining area and into a huge family room and that's where I think we will do most of our daily living ~ so the living room is mine, mine, mine (at least for now)!

The built in desk is something I will really miss, I had so much fun writing this blog and playing with my weaving program Fiberworks PCW, it looks so forlorn now!

The new house will be our very first brand new home and frankly I'm really excited, only 2 more sleeps ~ the only down side is that the appliance package that I ordered will not arrive until after we do, so I guess we'll be doing the 'inside camping' thing for a few days.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Lemonade out of Lemons

I made a little mistake when I pulled the warp for the polka dot scarves.  I had changed the draft making the scarves narrower than the originals that Mum made, but I forgot to change the corresponding information in the notes.  So I pulled the warp with the original numbers of ends.  Unfortunately I didn’t figure that out until I had threaded the loom and found that I had 42 ends extra.  It was too much yarn to throw away so I had to use it. That’s how these wonderful scarves started out!

I found a Fancy Twill on 12 shafts and 12 treadles with a really interesting motif.  The pattern repeat is huge, about 10 inches, so careful treadling was required.  But the motif is really worth it, very sophisticated looking.
I love the large scale of the pattern repeat and the colour combination of lemongrass and navy.  The lemongrass really warms up the navy warp.     
The second scarf was going to have a different intricate pattern repeat but with the house being sold there just wasn’t time for it.  So I went with a Point Twill treadling and powered through the scarf in two days, a couple of hours per day. 
The silver of the weft just gleams against the navy warp.  The diamond motif is very striking.  The treadling wasn’t my first choice but I really like it. 
I would definitely use this draft again and I think that there are a lot more variations to be discovered.
These are the last scarves to be woven at this house.  The packing has started in earnest and there is no more time to weave until we get to the new house in only a few days time!