Weaving Retreat #3- The Rest

It's amazing how much time I have for picture taking when I don't teach...

Anyway, here's the rest of Saturday...(and again, sorry that some of the pics are less than wonderful- it's the photographer, not the camera).

 Here's where we were- a wonderful big old building at a Youth Camp. The morning started out beautiful and clear, but by evening, it was sprinkling and dreary. Outside that is, inside it was wonderful.

 I went up into the loft to get a shot of the spinning circle below. Look at all those spinning wheels!

 The longer shot shows the tables, more looms, and the kitchen.

 Sara gave a presentation on the history of women in Fiber Arts.

 While she spoke, I finished spinning a little batt of wool and silk and sparkle. In this crowd, it is not considered rude to spin and listen at the same time.

 Here's a shot I should have included yesterday- Connie taking warp off the warping board, as Jill watches.

 And another one I overlooked yesterday- Marie and Lyla warping a rigid heddle loom.

 Kelley did some organic dyeing. Look at those wonderful colors!

 Betty showed off a few of her little weave-it squares. Most were made from handspun yarn. She makes the most adorable flowers with these squares.

I won a Nostipinne as a door prize. It was made by  woodcrafter David Lindquist. Don't know what a Nostipinne is? It's a device for winding a center pull yarn ball, like so. I have always wound my center pull balls with a ball-winder or by hand- it will be lovely to have this tool at my disposal.

Next year, I hope to stay the whole weekend, or at least overnight. I missed out on the evening shenanigans (pajamas and wine... woohoo!)

For another take on the Weaving Weekend, check out Connie P's blog. She stayed the whole weekend, and her pictures are much better than mine!

Weaving Retreat #2- Warped Minds

I was able to spend a lot of Saturday watching real weavers do their work. It was amazingly instructive just to see how people who know what they're doing, do what they do. I am all for winging it (it's my Standard MO), but when I can learn, I am happy to do so. I was especially interested in learning about warping a loom (warping is to weaving as steeking is to knitting- scary for many people).

Connie spent much of Saturday using a warping board to wind warp for her 8 harness floor loom. I'm sorry for the quality of some of the pictures- sometimes my phone takes great shots, other times, not so much (which tells me it's the photographer, not the camera). A warping board allows the weaver to wind hundreds of lengths of warp, many yards long, without having to walk around a building to do so.

 Anyway, Connie wrapped and wrapped and wrapped fine green thread around a complicated systems of pegs (It wasn't just wrapping, there was some looping involved). She was doing some counting, so I did not want to disturb her to ask silly questions. And I'm sorry that I didn't get a closeup of the warping board. Here's picture of warping boards, all loaded up.

I also didn't get a picture of Connie taking the warp off the board- she hand chained it to keep the strands from tangling. Then she spent the rest of the day, threading each thread (hundreds and hundreds of them) through metal reeds using little white threads. I wasn't able to stay until Sunday, but I imagine she was able to start weaving by late evening on Saturday.

This is what she's making- wonderful wonderful tea towels and runners with SHEEP WOVEN INTO THE CLOTH!!!!!!! (Connie apologized for not having the towel ironed first- but you can see that there's some really intricate woven texture there...)(apologize... pfft... when you can do work like this).

Sort of makes my beginner band, woven on the warp that came with my Beka loom, look sad. It certainly looks like a first try, though I'm pretty proud of it anyway. I finished weaving that band, and took it off the loom, and then took a deep breath and started to warp my loom (with a lot of advice from the others).

This is handspun organic cotton- I have a lot of it, and I decided it would be serviceable warp and weft for a future bag.

 I only needed 20 warping strands, and my loom will only handle about 12' of warp, so I didn't need to use a warping board. I looked around and improvised- my warping board was an upright table stand. I wound the yarn around the upper and lower legs 20 times.

 Closeup of said warpage.

 And then I cut the strands and hand chained them (they managed to tangle anyway).

 I fed the individual strands through the holes in the heddle (I don't know if they have a specific term) with a teeny little crochet hook. Every other strand went through a hole in the center of the reed (I think that's the term), so that the strands (the shed, I think) can be lifted and lowered for weaving. The warp was then pulled straight (untangling what was tangled) and wrapped around the backboard (not the right term, I'm sure).

Update: Connie P just told me that the long skinny holes in the heddle are *slots* and the ones with a hole in the center are called *dots*. Woohoo for correct terminology! Thanks Connie- and thanks again for the encouragement!

 Voila! All by myself, no less!!!

 And here's some of my first weaving with the cotton yarn. It's a nubbly, thick and thin yarn, which accounts for some of the unevenness along the selvedge edge. But it only accounts for some of it. The rest is all me (and since I spun the yarn, it's all me anyway). I am packing the weft fairly tight for this strap, because I want the fabric to be firm and sturdy. I'll weave the body of the bag a little looser because it will be lined.

And here's what I wove on Saturday afternoon, before my back gave out (there's a lot of Leaning Over in weaving). I am thrilled. Totally thrilled. By the time I get this warp all woven, I'll be ready to tackle a wider project- which will be the body of the bag. I have a lot of this handspun cotton on hand, in several colors (white, dark brown, blue, green), so I think I'll make the body plaid.

The loom came with an 8 dent (8 holes per inch) 4" wide heddle, and a 10 dent (10 holes per inch) 10" wide heddle. I want to weave the body of the bag on the same size heddle as the strap, so I've ordered both a 4"- 10 dent heddle, and  10" 8 dent heddle. By the time I get this part done, the new heddles should be here.

Part 3- everything else, tomorrow.

Weaving Retreat #1- Looms, We Gotcher Looms Right Here!

I was only able to spend one day at the Weaving Retreat this year, but oh, what a day it was. I came home with several days' worth of posts. It was such fun (and so relaxing) to go to a retreat as a student and a participant (I teach at most of the festivals I attend). I learned so much just by watching the other weavers, but I learned even more with their kind help and advice. Also, we laughed. A lot.

But more about that tomorrow. Today- the looms (and this is not all of them- a couple of the pictures came out too fuzzy, and I'm sure I missed a few). In addition to knitters and crocheters, and at least a dozen spinning wheels (including my own), and lots of good food, there were looms. Everywhere, looms. Which was pretty intoxicating to a new weaver.

 Connie P had a little vintage 4-harness table loom. It's all metal, and look at the amazing towel/runner she's weaving!

 Kelly was using Kauni to weave a lacy shawl on this triangle loom.

Connie H spent the day warping this huge 8-harness floor loom. Tomorrow, I'll show you how she did that, and what she makes. Prepare to be blown away.

 Betty wove on this teeny little Weave-it loom (it's about 2" square).

 More little looms.

 Lorna wasn't sure that she was going to like weaving, or her vintage 4-harness table loom, but she fell in love.

 This is the Ashford Knitters Loom- I am currently lusting for this exact loom, but I am being good and learning the ins and outs of my own little loom first. I deserve a prize because the loom was right there, in front of me all day, on sale... and still I did not buy it.

 Candy wove a laceweight triangle on this loom- I think she plans to sew a lot of them together, patchwork style for a shawl.

Jill wove an amazing band on this inkle loom.

I believe this is a also an Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom- a fairly wide one- at least 24". It was also on sale, and I did not buy it.

And this is my little loom, a Beka Child/Beginner loom. I finished weaving the pre-warped portion, and with the advice of the wonderful weavers, I was able to warp it with my handspun cotton all by myself. Which I will show you tomorrow, along with pictures of the wonderful Weavers, and the fun we had!