Time flies when one is on vacation! It seems like I’m on vacation here at my friends house out at the beach. They live in a beach community, typical as many other beach towns I’ve been in over the years, but they lack the tourist. Tourist head to the famous beaches apparently. That’s ok with the locals.
I’ve also spent a ton of time on the phone trying to find a Michelin dealer in Jacksonville, as nothing out here on the beaches deals with light trucks or RV’s. Having talked with Michelin headquarters more than a few times, they were now telling me I needed to go to Tallahassee or down to Gainesville, as the one place in Jacksonville had not returned my call. I started this process before I moved to my friend’s driveway, but just found someone. So thank heavens, as I will be getting 5 new Michelin tires for my rig, and I can send my paperwork in for the ones I had done in New Mexico in October to get a refund. Its been a hassle but I will end up with 7 brand new tires on my rig without costing me a dime. Gotta love it!
And discovered I can’t get medical care, lab work or anything outside of my home region unless I switch regions and you have to show you are staying in the new region by being there a month before you can get in. Weird. So I went to Lab Corp for my annual lab work to be drawn. I have no intention of switching regions… and life goes on.
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| Bev and Norm |
This is my friend Bev, she comes over in mornings to visit. Norm & Tucker are instantly excited when she comes. As you can see Norm grabbed her lap first, but a surprise awaited him.. See that stone necklace? He was not a happy kitty with that thing around him, but he held relatively still while Bev had him, hence the photo.
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| View from my RV |
So I haven’t posted to my blog for a long while… besides relaxing…and phone calls….I’ve been working on my loom and as of today, finished the woven piece. I had taken couple of dozen pictures on the steps to dressing the loom, etc, but decided you may not be interested in that aspect. But I do want to share my boo-boo. Its a classic boo-boo of beginner weavers, that I had never done, and I’m by no means a beginner. So a frantic call off to my Alaskan friend, Cheri, when I could not open my shed to weave. As I was talking to her… I looked around to the back side of the loom (first photo below) and started laughing… I took the yarn straight off of the beam, I did not go over the warping beam, see its buck naked there. The second photo as it up the proper way. I still laugh that I did this.
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| buck naked back beam |
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| Rear of loom – done correctly |
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| Front of loom done correctly |
Now all this black yarn (it looks blue in these pictures) is the warp for the rag weaving I’m doing. Its actually called California Weaving, as one weaves a strip at a time directly off of the fabric. Normally, one uses big bold prints, no paisley or calicos as you lose the color. So was surprised to get this pretty fabric from Carol. Its an over all print, but a big print… so was clueless if it would work out ok. Sure enough, its beautiful.
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| Fabric chosen, cut in strips |
Carol and I did a trade of sorts. She altered my vest I had made previously, and I made this yardage for her to make a vest. Hopefully, she will send me a photo I can post of the finished product when she is done. So onward…
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| woven strips at bottom, the new one not yet beat in |
When weaving the strips right off the original cloth, it allows a new creation be formed. As shown above, I have several rows already woven in, at the top is the next strip to be beat in. I adjust it how ever it fits best.. then throw a shot of black yarn to secure it in place.
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| Finished yardage |
Woven Trails 
The yardage looks great! Did you cascade black silk as the warp and as part of the weft? I guess the pattern works because the pattern weft is always in the same shed. I actually never put that together before. How big is the yardage, I know it was 26″ wide, but how long? You really wove with great speed, to have the yardage done already!
I wove at the yarn shop today…..and think that when we get the towels done I might take advantage of the 24 harness loom and weave a silk scarf using all 24…..what do you think? Or a shawl. I would love to do it at least once….weave with that many shafts….and I vaguely recall aa 24-H pattern in one of handwovens books. Will also look online. I would probably need to order the yarn, as I doubt I would have enough in my stash…..or, I could use bamboo, or tencel or other. Know of any patterns?
What will be next on your loom? The Picts of the Floral yardage were great! It will be a gorgeous vest!
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Thanks Cheri! The black is 8/2 cotton and yes, the pattern weft is always in the same shed, ditto to the tabby weft. Watch the edges if you do this, they have a tendency to miss a thread or two. Haven't measured yet, but will let you know. For you, I'd make myself a shawl on 24 harnesses or a blanket. Maybe not a blanket, you don't have a sliding bench on that big loom. Use the Griswold weaving patterns – sorry don't have link handy – to find 24 shaft patterns. Or just do a google search. Baby blanket is going on next for me, since I need the full width of my loom, figured get that done before I put the heddles back on the last 4 harnesses.
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need an update this is 10 days old…..
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