dog rescue, pets

Goodbye Kylie

6 Comments

Nearly five years ago, we took in a dog someone had thrown away along a highway in western WI. Part Husky, part Shepherd, she came to us via a rescue group, and we named her Kylie. The vet figured she was 7-9 years old, and had a bad leg (ACL). Not long after coming to us, racing around the yard, she tore her other rear ACL and had surgery and had been fine since. She had a great mother instinct, taking good care of kittens we took in, licking them, cuddling up with them.

Older now, she had gotten very deaf, only hear very loud sharp noises, and recently had developed the canine version of dementia. She still knew us, her family, but wandered around, standing in corners, getting tangled up under looms constantly, either restless or sleeping. She was getting meds for both her bad leg and the dementia. About a month ago, she was let out at night, wandered from the yard and was out overnight, lost in the dark. We found her at 7:30 AM the next morning, caught in some dead lower pine tree branches, unable to get out, not far from our home on the county land next to us.

I had boarded both dogs at our local vet’s office for the weekend, because of people/cars coming and going for the Art Tour, and keeping everyone safe. My daughter Sarah, who works at the vet’s office, called at 10 AM to tell me Kylie couldn’t get to her feet, couldn’t stand when helped up, and wasn’t eating, and Dr. wanted to know if it was okay to put her down. It’s the second day of the art tour and I need to be here all day, so I’m feeling very sad. I have known this day was coming for some time now, but feel very bad I’ll never see her again, can’t go in to give her a hug, tell her goodbye, and how happy we were to have her with us these past five years. She was a real sweetheart. I’m so sorry I have to do this Kylie, Goodbye, we love you.
Northwoods Art Tour 2009, rag rug

Northwoods Art Tour, Day 1

1 Comment

Today was my first Art Tour day, lots of fun, great conversations with visitors, and good questions about what I do. One woman, though, said it all,… “This woman has thousands of dollars worth of looms, and we’re all fascinated by the sock machine!” Totally True!

I had about 20+ people here throughout the day, more than I expected, given this is my first year, and sales were better than I hoped they would be, so feeling good about both. A number of pairs of socks sold, along with four towels. Tonight, I’m wishing I had had a lot more socks done to sell, but I wanted so badly to get the drawloom going that I gave that priority.

For myself, a good part of my reason for doing the art tour was to provide an opportunity for people to see the looms, spinning wheels, and sock machine, and ask questions/get answers. Sales of my work are just a happy bonus.

I did get three socks cranked today while demonstrating and talking with people, along with demonstrating weaving and explaining the drawloom. There would have been a fourth sock, but one of the yarns caught, snagged and broke while finishing up the toe, darn!

I have Art on Main coming up on Aug. 9th, Art in the Yard on Sept. 19th, and the fall art tour Oct. 2-4, so sock-cranking will be a high priority in the coming weeks. With the coming cold winter weather coming, there will probably be even more interest in wool socks.

Today, between visitors, I started my first rag rug. The stripe warp has been sitting on the CM loom patiently waiting, so I’m now looking forward to my first rag rugs. The drawloom is nearly ready to go, the reed is half sleyed, though I’m considering waiting and ordering a 15 dent reed on Monday which would be here probably by Thursday.


The lighting isn’t great on this, given this is a dim log home/studio, with an Ott floor lamp for light. These rugs will certainly go faster than some of the weaving I’ve done lately, at least the weaving part, not forgetting there is weft prep, too. I do like the effect of the “ticking” stripe in the sheeting as it is woven in, with thin random green stripes coming to the surface.

So, I’m looking forward to Days 2 & 3 of the Art Tour and meeting more people with an interest in, or curiosity about fibers, looms, and sock machines.

Glimakra single unit drawloom

Drawloom Progress Continues

Leave a comment

While working on the drawloom, two days ago the lamms were added, as were the treadles, and all Texsolv cords, and 8 shaft satin tie-up was done, and…

the heavy counterweights were hung which help the ground shafts go back in place.

Last night, I finished threading the ground shafts (long-eye heddles), with Noah feeding me the threads from the maillons. It goes much faster with someone helping!

So this is where I am right now, about to lash the tie-on rod to the apron, and then sley the reed. After that, I’ll start tieing on groups of threads, hoping to get that job done yet tonight. Tweaking will likely wait until morning.

The countermarche is ready to weave on, the spinning wheel is ready as is the sock machine. Weaving and socks will be set out in the morning. The brochure racks are filled, for the Art Tour, Artistree, Pigeon Road Pottery, Circle of Life Studio, Arty Fridays, and of course, Shuttle Works Studio, including a new sock brochure created today in my “spare time.” Now, back to more cleaning, then the drawloom!
Northwoods Art Tour 2009

Northwoods Art Tour Begins Tomorrow

1 Comment


The Northwoods Art Tour begins tomorrow and lasts three days, Friday thru Sunday, July 24-26, 9 AM to 5 PM. I am looking forward to visiting with people on the tour and sharing my love of fiber arts, and demo’ing weaving, spinning, and sock cranking.

Although my studio/home is not hard to find, we are 1 1/4 miles off the highway. Art Tour banners will help people find their way, and today we added something new, a wood sign made in town by Doug Scheffen of Chisler Sign Carvers, River Run Gallery, in Eagle River, WI. It’s set up at the top of the driveway, and will be up from now on, mid-May thru mid-October.

Time to get a warp tied on, take care of some more cleaning, and pull a few weeds. What do they always say?… when you’ve been putting off cleaning, invite some people over? Well, I did!

drawcords, drawloom, pattern heddles

Drawcords Tied to Pattern Heddles

Leave a comment

Today, the drawcord warp ends, those needed for this warp, were tied to the pattern heddles. You may recall the (overhead) drawcord warp was made the weaving width of the loom, and those cords not needed for this weaving will be pulled up and out of the way.

In front of the weaver, there is a wood bar with several “hooks.” This is to hook individual or groups of drawcord warps which are pulled, according to the charted design, raising those groups of threads up above the rest of the warp, weaving proceeds, then they are released and lowered again. I’m looking forward to showing these things with actual weaving, but for now, trying to give a simple explanation with words of what you are seeing in the photos.

I also cut Texsolv cord in the two lengths needed for the treadles, in this case, 16 cords (8 long and 8 short) and singed the ends to make them easier to pass through holes in the lamms and treadles. Unlike a regular countermarche loom, the drawloom will have only two ties on each treadle, one to raise, one to lower, the other shafts stay in a neutral position.

This evening, I ran into Fiona and son Luke at a store tonight. She had looked at this blog again today and said she now has a whole new appreciation for handwoven textiles, and the preparation needed to make them. They are coming to the studio Friday morning, on the art tour and I am looking forward to their visit.

I was hoping to get more done tonight, but I’m going to get a good night’s rest so I can start early and do a lot more on the drawloom tomorrow. In the morning, we’re putting the center cords back down through the shafts, adding the lamms and treadles, and tieing up the treadles for the 8 shaft satin weave. Then I’ll thread the ground shafts (long-eye heddles). I’m getting a step or two closer every day.

drawloom, pattern heddles

Pattern Heddles are Done!

2 Comments

It is 3 AM, early Monday morning, and I just finished threading the pattern heddles on the drawloom, refusing to go to bed until they were done.


Today, after I get a few hours of sleep, I need to tie the drawcord warp ends to the tops of the pattern heddles, add the lamms and treadles (and Texsolv cords), tie up the treadles, and hopefully thread the ground shafts in an 8 shaft satin, or at least get started. The counterweights also need to be added to the loom. After all that is done, it will be time to tweak things to make sure warp is running where it is supposed to, and get a decent shed. I expect all this will take the better part of two days or more, depending on interruptions.

I have so much weaving and sock cranking to be done, and need balance back in my life, but I can’t seem to stop working on this drawloom.

drawloom, pattern heddles, threading

Threading Pattern Heddles

Leave a comment

This is how the threading process appears from inside the drawloom. I sit on a chair just in back of the ground shafts, and thread pattern heddles in order off the lease sticks. I’m working from the center out to the left, then will go back and work from center to the right. The pattern heddles are on four wood rods, and when threaded are arranged in a straight twill, 1-2-3-4.

Tonight, I decided to thread all 8 threads of each unit into each maillon instead of splitting them into half units, at least for now. I can always re-thread later if I want. It is rather slow going. My goal is to have all the pattern heddles threaded by tomorrow night so I can begin threading the ground shafts which have the long-eye heddles on them.

The chair shown in the photo is how I climb into the back of the loom, not an easy task at the moment, with lease sticks, two warp sticks supporting them, etc. in the way.

Above is a close-up of the threaded maillons, 8 threads in each.

Doesn’t this warp look like a think of beauty? Just hoping it weaves as good as it looks now! .
CW Double Harness Study Group, damask shuttles, drawloom, fine warp, single unit drawloom, warping

Drawloom ~ Beaming the Warp

2 Comments
In my previous post I wrote about making a fine warp on a warping mill. Yesterday, the warp was beamed. It took four hours or more because of an unexpected “problem,” but after receiving some advice from other drawloom weavers, it was resolved and things went fairly smoothly.

Details: The warp was 20/2 mercerized cotton, 64 ends per inch, 16″ wide, and 18 yards long for a total of 1,024 threads, and 18,432 yards. The warp was made on a warping mill, and made in 4″ sections of 256 threads each. I warp back to front.

I should explain, the reason you will see five warp chains in this photo is one day I started making a section, with not enough time to finish. With cats who love nothing better than to play in yarn/thread (or chew through it), I couldn’t leave it on the mill, so finished two inches, tied it all off, and removed it, which meant making another two inch section another day. The two on the right are equivalent to the others.

The warp was placed on the back wood rod, each one inch section put in its place in the raddle and held down with rubber bands. Beveled lease sticks were placed into the cross and the ends of the lease sticks tied to each other to prevent one (or both) from ever dropping out and losing the cross. On the CM loom I sometimes use the lease stick holders, but on this particular drawloom there is no upper structure over the long back extension to tie them to. When removing choke ties, for example, and no tension was on the warp, two longer warp sticks from the wider CM loom were used as supports under the lease sticks, then removed when tension was again on the warp and we were ready to continue winding on.

When everything was prepared, with my son holding and applying tension on the warp bouts, I started to turn the warp beam but the warp would not move, would not flow over and under the lease sticks! I’ve had an occasional sticky warp before, but never like this. When I learned to make a warp, long ago, I was told “you do not handle or mess with the threads!” I could see no other choice.
So off to the computer to email the Double Harness Study Group and ask if anyone had experienced this and did they have any suggestions. Sara von Tresckow wrote saying this happens with fine warps, but it would loosen up and improve as more warp was wound on, and to try wiggling the lease sticks (which I had tried). To start, this would have to be done in small increments.

There was nothing left to do but take each inch section and pull up and push down to move the cross one to two inches, across the width of the warp, do it again and again, then wind on, and repeat, which we did, and let the lease sticks do their job of evening out tension. Kati Reeder Meek suggesting rocking the lease sticks up on edge to help separate threads, which also helped at times. Later, wiggling the lease sticks back and forth at an angle (like a flattened X) was finally allowing the cross to move, and I could move the cross forward about 18″ at a time.

The two photos above, taken early on in the beaming process, show this lovely, fine, 20/2 cotton warp, purchased not long ago from drawloom weaver Nastche Milan. In just a bit, I’ll start threading the maillons on the pattern heddles, so more photos in a day or two. When that is done, the drawcord warp ends will be tied to the pattern heddles, then thread the ground shaft heddles will be threaded, then the reed. Also to be done, at appropriate times will be add more parts to the loom, the lamms, treadles, and counterweights, and tieing up the treadles. Then, we’ll see what other adjustments are needed for this to work/weave and give an acceptable (though narrower) shed.

Damask shuttles are low-profile due to the narrower shed on drawlooms. The two shuttles on the left were recently purchased from Catherine in Brooklyn (Hi!), and the three on the right were purchased from Sara von Tresckow (Woolgatherers Ltd) at the WI Sheep & Wool Festivals. I’m looking forward to stopping at her booth again this year. Meanwhile, the damask shuttles are waiting.
1000 Markets, drawloom, warp, warping mill

Warping Behind Schedule

2 Comments

I started this warping process with a fine 20/2 cotton thread about three days ago. Things were going well and I made the first of the two warps which will only be about 5″ wide, sett is 36 epi. Two nights ago I decided it will be beamed onto the Glimakra table loom.


Above, is one-fourth of the drawloom warp, counting thread on, and just before adding cross and choke ties. I’m making it in four 4″ sections, 64 epi, and 18 yards in length. The overall width will be 16″ for a total of 1,024 threads, placed on the warping mill one thread at a time. I’ve already decided I’ll be experimenting with making these warps perhaps 4 threads at a time using a fixed warping paddle.

This mill is 3 yards around, so to make the warp in two sections, I would have had to shorten the length of the warp. Since my drawloom has the long extension on it, and I did not want to re-warp and re-thread right away, I decided 18 yards would be good. Trying to squeeze more threads onto the mill would, in my opinion, be risking tangling of threads or worse.

So, why am I not done? I’ve been distracted! A couple weeks ago I’d started to set up an online shop on 1000 Markets, and submitted it for approval on July 4th. Three days later an email arrived requesting I retake photos of the towels in natural light. So I spent two days taking photos of both the towels and socks (might as well do them over, too), somewhere over 100 photos. After deleting most of the pictures and keeping those I thought were okay, I resubmitted for approval again a couple days ago.

Last night, around 10:45 PM, an email arrived saying my shop was Live! Now, I’m busy learning my way around 1000 Markets, reading in the Forums, browsing through Markets to determine where I might fit, and so on. Today I requested being part of two markets, and heard back from one almost immediately. I still need to set that up, and perhaps post a first blog entry there, hopefully tomorrow.

So in-between all this online time, I have been working on my fine warps. Half the drawloom warp is done, and I’ll be back at the warping mill again tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to threading, though I’m thinking when that is done I’ll definitely need new glasses.

It’s cool again tonight, around 50 degrees out, but the Whippoorwill has been singing away since just after dark. He sings me to sleep every night, just under my bedroom window.
.

20/2 cotton, fine threads, fine warp

Fine Warps, in Progress

4 Comments
A full day at home today gave me time to work on these fine warps. Though both are being made with 20/2 cotton, I’m starting with the 36 epi warp, 5″ or so wide and only 4-5 yards long.


Here is perhaps the first inch of warp on the warping mill. Time to add my counting thread.

I have rug weaving friends who marvel at my weaving towels with 22/2 cottolin. The cottolin feels downright coarse compared to this cone of 20/2 cotton.

Running the cotton through my fingers, it’s almost like there is nothing there. This is my introduction to finer threads, and this isn’t as fine as some of the linen and silk samples I’ve seen, not to mention a couple samples I’ve seen that have sewing thread for warp and weft.

Here are a few of the colors of 20/2 cotton I have available for weft. I’m really looking forward to this weaving, following the treadling variations given in the book, and then seeing what I can come up with.

Now, back to my warping mill.

Studio Life of a Weaver, Spinner, Dyer