snowballs in spring

Here is the latest runner on the 10 yard snowball warp. This time i am using the star treadle sequence. I think it is weaving up nice and square. I know my friend will be thrilled with this for her piano :)

This is the beginning of what i hope to be a 3 ply weft yarn. I really love this Falkland top. It is spinning up easily.The color is called daylily. At the time i bought it, i thought it was very different than the colors i usually choose. Now that I'm spinning it i realise that its the same yellow and green i am always drawn to, just a darker muted version is all. 

I don't care, i still love it! 

P.S. that is my soon to be 11 year old son. Isn't he handsome? :)

one done,and other begun

Whig rose is off the loom. I liked it so much i never got a chance to weave it in star fashion. Here it is just off the loom. I always like to spread out and admire the length of woven goods. Don't you? I think its a quirky thing most weavers do. Its just so satisfying to see.

This project was supposed to be for my new house but i already gave the red one away. I do that all the time. But, here are the other two in action. Yellow pattern weft and green tabby. I was inspired by the daffodils that the area i live in is famous for. Plus i personally love yellow and green.

And finally, the green one: just in time for Easter :)

My next project is another overshot project that will be a narrow dresser/piano scarf that will go to my mom for mothers day.(i still give my mom mothers day presents. Its a tradition i have always kept.)

I really liked this pattern on page 181 in "the green book", but for a narrow piano scarf it needed to be simplified. Less border and more middle was what i wanted.

 I kept looking and found this lovely pattern in the Nov/DEC 2010 handwoven. But i still wanted something with smaller borders.

Then i found this one by Gene E Valk in a handwoven ebook for top ten overshot projects. And its just right.

I'm warping up 10 yards in white and plan to play with several different colors. I have 2 house warming gifts to give in the near future so i decided to get a little more mileage out of this warp. I usually don't do warps that long because i tend to get tired of doing the same pattern over and over. I also plan on breaking out of my usual warping habit. I'm a front to backer. Its how i learned and it works well for me. But my Norwood loom has 2 inch sections on the back beam. My plan is to warp 2 inch bouts on my warping board and beam them individually. Lets hope it works and i can get uniform tension! 

More Turned Taquete

I thought i would continue with some pictures of my tie/beam process.You can see that the ends are bundled into 1 inch sections i attach 2 sections onto the leaders with a larks head knot(my sectional beam is in 2 inch increments) 

Next, I tie onto the front apron rod. This is where I adjust the tension and get my warp nice and even. Note the old repurposed broom stick. It is made of hard wood, and other than being a bit bulky going over the front beam at the beginning of my project it has never given me any trouble.

When the tension is as good as i can get it,this is how the back looks. This colorful waterfall of cotton is a thing of beauty!

And here is the turned taquete! I love how beautifully square this is weaving :)

Here is a close up of the weave structure. It is just lovely :) For the weft  I'm using a slightly greyed blue called "heather" from valley yarns. This color combo is ok, but I would like more contrast and the colors are a little "muddy" The next towel I plan to try a deeper more saturated color and see what that produces.

And finally a parting shot of the current view from my loom.Traditionally we pack up our Christmas decorations on New Years day,so today is the last day to admire our beautiful Christmas tree. Out with the old and in with the new :)

May God bless you and send you a happy new year!

a twisted end

                                                    Does this ever happen to any one?

This never happens on my Murphy counter balance loom because it has an apron. It always happens to my warp ends on the Norwood.

My Norwood loom has a 2" sectional beam and every time the warp ends travel over the back beam the twists surface. It is total operator error i know. I have paid close attention and tried to prevent this, but these pesky knots and leaders always twist on me. I slide the lease sticks in to keep the cross and it allows me to weave to the end of the warp.Some how, this narrow sample warp twisted particularly bad.

The overshot sample is cut off the loom and being finished. no pictures just yet. The loom is sitting naked amongst boxes at the moment.

why???? 

Because we are buying a new house! we have long grown out of our little 900 square foot starter. The new house closes just before thanksgiving and is over double the space! Most importantly, it has a formal dinning room that will hold both my looms and all of my weaving equipment :) Dear hubby has started calling it Heathers loomy bin lol. i have plans to install an 8 shaft loom in the next year...shhhh i haven't broken that particular news to the hubby yet. lol baby steps.

so no weaving going on at the moment, just packing and more packing.

my overshot samples have been washed and are waiting to be pressed and sewn into little pincushions. I packed all my yarn shuttles and books first because i know a new warp would have snuck its way on the Norwood. Thats all for now.I have to get packing. So much to do in the next few weeks.