Messing Around

Don’t let a little warp at the end of your project go unwoven—there are ideas waiting to happen in those last 12”. I just discovered this—again!—as I was finishing up my “Orange Pillow” project that will be featured in the upcoming weaving issue of Craft: Magazine! I tried a different weft—but offset it with a couple of rows of contrasting color. I then experimented with a different float pattern than I had been using. I used several strands of white wool and then I felted the whole thing, clipping the floats after washing.

Ideas I’ll use: the single line of white, the three rows of yellow dividing two sections of color, the varied float pattern, though I’m not sure what kind of project these ideas will show up in. Remember, the idea is to mess around, just try things out, don’t think too much. React. Play.

Confessions of a Novice Weaver--Part Five

I find the weaving part of weaving to be pretty easy once you get going. It’s the terminology that I can’t seem to get my head around. Dirty sheds, sleying reeds, warped looms? Sounds like a B rated horror movie. Of course it’s all slowly starting to make sense as any set of terminology does when you’re learning something new, but goodness.

So it was with much interest that I approached summer and winter. Not content to live life as seasonal extremes, they found a way to be relevant all year long.

Confession # 8

I ended up frustrated because first I overthought my pattern, and then I chose material that was very fine and, therefore, time consuming to weave. Not good choices for a week where I was already feeling time challenged.

This was the project that changed my approach to weaving class homework. I decided that the goal of my weaving class should be to learn the basic techniques. Certainly it’s always good to challenge oneself, but it’s also important to feel balanced. I find so much joy in the weaving process – the creation of fabric from its basic elements. I don’t ever want to lose that feeling of excitement. Next time, in addition to calculating warp and weft requirements, I’m also going to take a stab at estimating time required. I’ll keep track of actual weaving times, and hopefully over time I’ll get a much better sense of how long a project will take.

I wove a separate, plain weave flap for this clutch, folded my sample end to end, stitched along the bottom and up one side, and then attached the flap along the top edge. Finishing touches were simply a button and a quickly knit I-cord to loop it closed. Winter on the outside, summer on the inside.

--Melissa Ludden

Winding Bobbins

I’ve been working on a two-heddle scarf project for the next issue of Weavezine. www.weavezine.com

As usual, I’m not as ahead of schedule (e.g. I’m behind) as I’d like to be. But having a deadline is a good thing—and sends me looking for ways to be more efficient. Here are a few of my current discoveries.

• You can never have enough bobbins.
• Time is money—invest in more bobbins.
• If you do need to unload yarn from a bobbin hold it on a pencil to prevent it from hopping around on the floor where it quickly wraps around the table leg, loom leg, your leg! Hold the pencil in one hand and use your other hand to make a small ball using a ball winder.
• I could never live without my electric bobbin winder.
• Winding ribbon yarn from a cone onto a stick shuttle builds up twist in the ribbon. I solved this problem by securing the ribbon to the shuttle with a butterfly clip and then letting the shuttle dangle to untwist the ribbon.
• A slim boat shuttle works well with the rigid heddle loom and is more efficient than a stick shuttle. Pointing the side slot where the yarn exits the shuttle towards the reed is faster than facing it towards you.

As I worked I also realized how much I enjoy the process, the tools, the yarns. I thought these yarns prepared for weaving looked just beautiful. Check out my Spring Breeze Scarf in the next issue of Weavezine to see how these yarns weave up.

Confessions of a Novice Weaver--part four

This is the fourth installment by new weaver Melissa Ludden of our sales and marketing department at Schacht Spindle Company, Inc.

With several weeks of weaving under our belts, Judy took this week to review our progress to date and to teach us how to read drafts. She also gave us the week off from our weaving assignments, so I took the opportunity to reflect a bit and also to work on developing some project ideas.

As a new weaver there are many questions that arise with each new technique learned, project completed, idea discovered. Does being a good weaver mean I have to follow the rules? Does following or even using a pattern really matter? Is there a right or wrong way to weave? It seems to me that each technique I learn gives me a better understanding of my loom’s capabilities, and that the creative possibilities can be as varied as one weaver from the other.

I find myself drawn to the idea of creating cloth which can then be sewn and transformed into objects for daily use or wear – a bag to fit my bicycle basket, a fun skirt to welcome spring, an apron with pockets and loops in all of the right places. As a spinner, I am also intrigued by the idea of integrating hand-dyed and handspun yarns into my weaving projects.

For some time now, I have been collecting images that inspire me – color combinations, textures, scenes in nature and daily life– and I look to these for ideas when planning a new project. And while I may still be a very new weaver, I am looking forward to expanding my creative process beyond the pattern books.

--Melissa Ludden

Confessions of Novice Weaver - Week Three

This is the fourth installment of Melissa Ludden's experiences learning to weave.

As much as I wanted to weave more plaid, it was time to focus on twill. Judy, my instructor, had given us the lecture on floating selvedges and how they prevent floating warp threads when weaving twill, but I was making a scarf for my father, and I wanted the pattern to extend to the edge of the scarf. I decided that if I did four picks each of alternating colors, I could simply carry the colors up the side, which would catch any bits that wanted to stray and eliminate the need for the floating selvedge.

Confession #6

Wrapping every other pick to carry each color I was using up the side of my scarf was a real drag. Certainly it was less of a drag than cutting the yarn after each section of color, but I didn’t enjoy the process. With each week of class that passes, I am feeling more and more certain about the type of weaver I may be. I say may because I am in the very early stages of learning to weave, but I’m also old enough to know a few things about myself. But more on that at a later date.

The nice thing about weaving this scarf was using baby alpaca, though I ended up with tumbleweeds of alpaca fluff all over my craft room. It’s so soft and will be warm enough to handle the coldest winter.

Confession #7

I was off on my warp and weft calculations and ended up not only making a second trip to Shuttles to buy more material, but also integrating some baby alpaca I had in my yarn stash that was almost the same color as one of my original colors because the project was starting to get a bit expensive. I’m starting to feel like a bad example, but at least I learned a lesson or two. Weaving a sample is sounding more and more like a good idea, especially when using a new, not to mention pricey, material. I ended up beating harder than planned and liked the look, thus the need for additional material.

I’m starting to get antsy for class to be over so that I have time to explore weaving on my own terms, exploring new patterns and techniques and using traditional materials in non-traditional ways.

Rebecca Bluestone

Today I took off a couple of hours from work to go hear Rebecca Bluestone talk on the subject of “Intuition and the Process of Creative Expression”. I was interested in her talk both because I admire her work and because her topic is something that I lecture about too.

Rebecca Bluestone is a contemporary tapestry weaver living in Santa Fe. Her tapestries are contemplative color studies woven in her own hand dyed silk and according to Bluestone evolve intuitively. Her work is included in an impressive roster of collections, including the Denver Art Museum, the Chicago Art Institute, and the private collection of Robert Redford. To view her work and learn more about her: www.rebeccabluestone.com

Here are some of the nuggets I came away with that are important to think about.

“Imagination is the link between our internal world and our external world.”

“You don’t think up creativity, you access it.”

“When you can link the conscious with the unconscious, life gets very interesting.”

“When you are connected you are fully alive.”

It was Ms Bluestone’s comments about the importance of engagement that spoke to me. That is, it is the level of your engagement that is the judge of whether you are on the right path. Your system (the unconscious) knows if what you are doing is what you should be doing long before your conscious self catches up. Paying attention to your engagement is key to finding your intended path. When fully engaged, we are fully connected and alive. I believe she is right about this. And as creative beings, this is a recipe for all parts of our lives. I thank Ms Bluestone for this insight.

BTW: Rebecca weaves all of her pieces on a 6 ft 4-shaft Cranbrook Loom. I felt humble and proud to have this legacy in common.

The illustration above is an outtake from my book Time to Weave. It is a Turks head knot holding a pine needle bundle. I include it with this entry because it was one of the pieces I did for my book that seemed particularly contemplative.