Echo Weave Scarf #2 Beaded and Pressed

Today in Coldstream, in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, it’s hot, hot, hot! We are sitting at 37 C in the shade, but of course, around my house there is no shade! Seems that we’re either too hot or too cold, it’s never just temperate!

 I’ve done the bead work on Echo # 2 which I’ve renamed Manley. Why, you ask? Well, it does remind me of the colours of Manley Harbour in Australia, but also I think this scarf would look great on a guy. The diamonds are very graphic and the colour is stunning, there is just enough beading to make it interesting and who says guys can't wear beautiful scarves anyway! Again, my camera just doesn’t do it justice.

This is the weft faced, lemongrass side which is just the reverse of the blue warp dominant side.Side by side you can see the difference and the iridescence. I’ve finished the selvedges with a blue Tencel cord and then lightly beaded the fringe with green and blue beads. A much understated finish for me!

Do you remember this Tencel undulating twill scarf? Well I just wasn’t thrilled with it; there was nothing particularly wrong with it, but nothing particularly right either. Since I’ve now decided that embellishments will be a part of my “brand”; I pulled it out and made it ripple. I inserted a doubled weft thread at intervals; I secured the first edge with 3 beads then wove through to the opposite side and anchored with another series of beads. I then drew on the thread to scrunch the scarf in from 6” to 4” wide. I’m calling this my Cayenne Ripple scarf now, and I think it has some real pizzazz!

Michael, my hard working fella, has finished the front deck rails even though our days have been sweltering. He’s been out there in the full sun slogging away. Now that the railings are up we are ready to begin the next stage. See the round posts in the carport? They are getting cedar cladding on them to make them square as we are changing the whole style of the house from West Coast Contemporary to a Modified Craftsman. Who says’ we don’t have big plans! It’s going to take a while, but all things come to he who waits…as the adage goes.

Things I Know
Some cotton yarns can be very sticky and a twizzled fringes tend to bridge or stick together, choose another fringe treatment if possible or use beads to help keep them separate.

More Echo Weave

It just dawned on me that I have never shown you my Echo #1 Scarf, so here it is on my Judy…

This is the weft dominant side or as someone called it the snakeskin side! The sheen is wonderful and very
iridescent.

This is the warp dominant side and it appears to have a purpler cast even though it is blue and green. The pattern is completely different than the weft side and reminds me of brocade. I’m gob smacked with Echo Weave and the extended parallel treadling, although it was very slow going on a foot treadled loom. The weave method is really suited to dobby loom weaving with lots of shafts. I have finished this scarf with a twisted cord down each side. I used the same burnt orange tencel as used in the weft to try and make the weft associated more with the overall scarf. I then beaded the cord with large glass iridescent beads in green and purple and cut it off shorter than the rest of the fringe to add interest. Here’s a quick look at both sides of the scarf beside each other – totally different! My camera just doesn’t do it justice; I can’t capture the glow at all… I have Echo #2 scarf – the lemongrass weft on my drying rack as we speak and it should be beaded and pressed tomorrow. The straight advancing twill is much easier to treadle, but doesn’t give the same enormous bang as the parallel treadling. So photos of the completed project will be featured in my next blog post. And here is Echo #3 on my loom. As you can see, the three of them are radically different from each other.....it's amazing to me!I have changed the weft from 2/8 Tencel to 2/20 Mercerized cotton in a mid range coral colour, a very brave choice for me. I have kept the same threading and tie up, but have changed the treadling to an extended point twill which is very similar in structure to Echo #1, but the pattern repeat has been reduced from 78 pick to a pattern to 64 picks to a pattern.

We are still in the midst of home renovations…we have added a number of new features to our deck plans, so it’s a slow painstaking affair. This evening we will go and pick up the deck railings and make a start at putting them up tomorrow. It’s really hard to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having when we work like little bees all summer.

Things I Know
Warp faced fabrics (more epi than ppi) will drape better.

Home Again

We got back from our flying visit to my friend Susan's on Vancouver Island yesterday where we had wonderful time. We traveled over some amazing country on our way home via Whistler B.C. where the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held, it’s simply beautiful… We had lunch at Joffre Lake and saw an amazing glacier hanging over a turquoise lake....and I didn't take a photo! Damn!

It was so much fun catching up in person and exploring yarn shops with a kindred spirit. Susan actually understands when I go into raptures over yarn and all the wonderful possibilities.

In a wee shop in Duncan called Looms I found this amazing yarn, and various other yarns that I won’t bore you with. Suffice it to say, there will be socks on the agenda, lots and lots of socks!
This yarn is made in Chile and is 100% sugar cane fibre. I have no idea how it will weave up, but it is the same grist as Bambu 7 and a by product of the sugar industry. I chose a lovely variegated pink and blue, just yummy! We took a lovely drive in the cool West Coast drizzle and stopped at Cathedral Grove, on the west side of the Island. I took this photo of typical rain forest scenery, so lush and verdant isn't it. Without being maudlin, this little bit of rain coast was almost magical. On our final day we found our way to Victoria and went into the largest bead shop I have ever seen, far, far, far too many choices…..Amazing how much you can spend on such tiny little things! I got loads of very interesting embellishments.

My final photo is a close up of my birthday present from Susan. This Irish Linen runner is so amazingly finely woven....and so very special for having come from such a dear friend.

Things I Know
When using a fancy yarn in your warp, sley it in the same sett as used for the background and the fancy yarn will sit up on top of the cloth and show better. Don't give it more room than the background, that will just blah it right out.

Attaching a Raddle to the Castle and Mommy Mummified

What is the first thing that should be done with yardage? Well if it is a +30 C day, you wrap your Mum in it to see how much yardage you have woven! I will always remember my first yardage now!
So to start at the beginning . . .

Last time I warped the Minerva I used a large dent raddle from a larger loom which worked but it could have been better. Therefore this time we tried something a little brave. Mum had an extra 5 dent reed so it was cut in half to be used as a raddle. First we placed it on the back of the castle, but the threads got caught between the wood and the raddle which just made a mess. Then the raddle was placed behind the castle (like in the photo) and it worked like a hot damn!
The yardage is intended for napkins and is a 1,3 twill on 8 shafts and reminds me of grapes. The warp is a 2/8 cotton in plum and the weft is 2/8 cotton in dusty rose. I ran out of weft so the last quarter is 2/8 Orlec in a similar dusty rose except it has a fantastic shine that the cotton doesn’t. I used a temple as the fabric pulled in; but since I like to use a temple it was not an inconvenience and made the selvedges great.
It was an easily remembered treadling and so I was able to sit down for hours with my iPod on and just weave (and sing along). It was great fun, it had a fabulous rhythm and each pattern repeat was an inch so the 6 yards seemed to go fast.

Echo Weave Scarf Number Two

I’ve cut Echo Weave #1 off the loom and am now in the middle of finishing – an even longer process than usual since my first idea didn't work out well. Here's a peek at Echo Two.
This scarf has the same threading and tie-up as Echo One but I have changed the weft colour from Bronze to Lemongrass, still using 2/8 Tencel. It really pops and is much limeyer than the photo shows! I’ve also changed the treadling from an Extended Parallel to a straight Advancing Twill. Needless to say it’s weaving up much faster now. Each pattern repeat comes in at an even 5 inches. I'm still not sure how the reverse looks, but that's half the fun.I’m really in love with this Echo Weave on 12 Shaft project; it’s giving huge rewards for the warping effort.I’ve also been trying to revamp or rework my leftover projects from December and I’m pleased to say that I’ve finished another one. This Merino Curly Twill Scarf was a bit bland, pretty but bland; now with the addition of a wrapped big buckle I think it’s got pizzazz! It also makes the scarf much more versitile to wear.I’ve completed another little project, setting up my Studio Shop! I’ve always hated digging around in plastic containers to show folks what I spend all my time doing. I often feel that it puts them in the awkward position of feeling that they have to make a purchase after all my effort to pull my weaving out of the abyss. My answer is this standing rack which shows a selection of my work and has the prices clearly marked. Hopefully, this will make it easier on both my Studio visitors and me. I have a shelf in my studio that has 5'6" to the ceiling and this 5' rack snuggles right in there keeping my fringes off the ground nicely.

Things I Know
To make a special yarn stand out, place it along side its’ opposite – thick/thin, fuzzy/smooth, shiny/matte for example.

Echo Weave on 12 Shafts

I was really stoked on Echo Weave after my session with Bonnie Inouye at ANWG, so here is my first attempt with this weave method. I laboured creating this pattern in PCW and I must admit that only having 12 shafts was limiting. I put on enough warp for 3 72” scarves and each will have a different treadling and weft colour. This scarf has an exteded parallel treadling, but otherwise follows the Echo Weave rules.I’ve used alternating blue and green 2/8 Tencel sett at 40 epi, the colours are of the same value. I have used a dark orange for the weft and I am beating it in at about 20 ppi. This is the weft dominant side, so all three of the colours really show almost equally. I can’t begin to describe how the colours are relating, but when you viewing it on the loom I seem to get five colours! I can’t get photos of the warp dominant blue and green side yet, but since it’s weaving up fast – I’ll have it in a few days. We’ve jumped into summer with a bang this year. Literally, we banged off our front deck railing yesterday and now we begin the process of remaking it. Our old deck was made with the house in 1976 and was completely solid. You can see what we started with; this is an old photo with some of my handspun hanging out to dry! And now it looks like this on day 1 of my husbands summer holiday - yup he's a real worker!
I can’t wait to see what it looks like with the new railings! Frankly, I think it looks better already!
Things I know
Floating selvedges should always be hung so that the yarn hangs S twist as you look down on it from your weaving bench, if you hang it Z twist, each beat will abrade the yarn slightly and can result in yarn failure.

Fancy Twill for Eight Shafts ~ Blue Framed Scarf

I’m so pleased with the newest scarf off my loom! It’s the same 2/8 silver Tencel warp as the last scarf, but this time I used 2/8 Blue Bamboo for the weft.

I changed up the treadling and tried a computer generated network treadling. I used PCW Silver and just kept fiddling until I got a design that pleased me. I must admit that the treadling sequence was fiddly though. I wanted to try a completely different finish, so I made a 4 yard cord of the same Tencel as the warp. I twizzled two bouts of 5 ends 650 turns to the right then combined them and twizzled 450 turns to the left…..a lot of twizzling! This cord was still very soft and flexible when I stitched it to the selvedges of my scarf. I think it really frames the scarf. I allowed the cord to hang beyond the scarf and to become a part of the fringe.

I then beaded what was the previous last bout of the fringe with # 8 seed beads and finished it off with a silver butterfly. So sweet!
I’ve got to do some major research to find more Weaving Words, so in the meantime here’s…

Things I Know
Warp floats shine more than weft floats.