Handweaver and 'cellist, married to Prince Charming, mother of three superheros and three superhero-in-loves, and Lola to nine little princes and princesses. Life is a handwoven treasure, filled with hidden melodies.
How should I arrange eleven colors of wool for the warp of a double-width blanket? By “intuition?” Why not pull yarn snippets out of a hat in a random sequence? I do have resources on color theory I could consult. Best yet, I like the idea of viewing snapshots to compare various arrangements. This is play!
Eleven colors of Borgs 6/2 Tuna Wool. Trying out different color arrangements for a woven blanket. Back to front – option 1 and option 2.Two more possible arrangements of color. Adjacent colors will be blended together where they touch, to make smooth transitions across the warp. Back to front – option 3 and option 4.
You could make any arrangement work since the colors will be blended from one to the next across the warp. The color that makes the biggest difference, however, is the weft color. Just now, as I write this, I realize that I forgot to purchase yarn for weft. Oops! How did I miss that?
Grace and truth give us a fresh start. Grace gives me choices, and makes something beautiful, even if I get colors in the “wrong” order. Truth kindly shows me what I am missing, and what I need. Grace and truth are brought into our lives through Jesus Christ, and become a framework for life’s fabric. Grace brings forgiveness. And truth brings freedom to begin.
Of the four arrangements of yarn colors pictured, which one do you prefer? I would love to hear what you think. Leave your “vote” for option 1, 2, 3, or 4 (back to front) in the comments.
Can you imagine weaving in a place where you have access to fully-stocked shelves of colors and fibers? Or, imagine someone with excellent color sense setting up a warp-faced project for you to weave, giving you the freedom to simply focus on pattern. This is what it was like at Vävstuga Weaving School for More Swedish Classics.
Set up on a four-shaft loom, band weaving with pick-up is simplified (or complicated, depending on how you see it). Five treadles are used to raise and lower threads. A pick-up stick is used to lift pattern threads, and a band shuttle stick is used to beat in the weft. Being a warp-faced weave, all the color is in the warp, and the weft is mostly hidden.Becky’s Rep Weave in Four Blocks on Eight Shafts. I took this opportunity to experiment with patterns. You might call this “playing with blocks.” Again, being a warp-faced weave, the color is pre-determined by the arrangement of the warp ends. The thin 16/2 cotton weft alternates with a thick weft of mini string yarn, giving the characteristic ribbed surface.
Worry happens when I don’t think I have what it takes to do the job, or when I think I won’t have enough of what I need. When Becky Ashenden prepares the warp, I certainly have no worries about choosing colors. And, with an abundant supply of 16/1 linen, I can combine three shades to produce a gorgeous, rich red, with no fear that the color supply will run out before I finish.
Deep red, burgundy, and coral 16/1 linen are wound together for the pattern weft in Smålandsväv. The warp is 16/2 line linen. This is the project in “More Swedish Classics” that gave me the most pleasure AND the most angst. …but that’s a story for another day.
We have a Father in heaven who knows all the things we need. All he asks is that we get to know him so we can learn to do things his way. It is much like weaving within the guidelines of the studio where we’ve been given the privilege to weave. Is that too much to ask? For his part, then, he sees to it that we have everything we need, giving us access, through his Son, to his great supply closet.
May your needs be amply supplied.
In case you missed, here is what I posted last week while I was at Vävstuga in beautiful New England:Vävstuga Autumn and Vävstuga Autumn II
Once again, Becky graciously allowed me to sit down with her to ask a few key questions. I am excited to share that conversation with you soon! Stay tuned… (Remember last year?)
Five days of weaving, learning many new things. It’s a wonderland of sights and sounds, colors, textures, fabric, looms, tools. The people I get to enjoy this with are as much a treasure as the skills I develop. Becky Ashenden’s cheerful teaching style makes the experience fun, and she stretches us to our limits so that we leave knowing more than when we came.
Here is a small sampling of my week. I’ll show you more after I get home.
It is the little things that make the biggest difference. The how-to’s and simple solutions. And it’s the big things that make a difference, too. New skills and new friends.
I am having a delightful time at Vävstuga Weaving School this week, learning and practicing. It’s a bonus that I get to be here in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts at such a beautiful time of year.
If you are a weaver, you know this thrill. I weave the very last pick, and then I hold my breath as the finished cloth is unrolled from the cloth beam. All ten meters / eleven yards of it! I don’t usually have an audience for the unrolling, but this time I want to share the experience with you, my friends.
If you stay to the end, you will see the cap I made from the sample pieces at the beginning and end of the warp.
And, one more thing, I added a little 3 1/2-minute time-lapse video at the very end. I hope it makes you smile.
Final pick in place.Release ratchets on cloth and warp beams to loosen warp tension.Get out the big Gingher shears and start cutting.First good view of the last towel on the warp. The last shall be first…The Nine Color Towel.Keep unrolling.Still more to come..Each one is different.Seeing brown now, so we know we are getting near the end/beginning.Finally, we made it to the tie-on bar!I love the final sound–warping slats falling to the floor as the last round of cloth is pulled from the cloth beam.There it is. Now I want to get something else on the loom so I can do this all over again!Ta da!
And now I invite you to join me as I weave the Nine Color Towel. Remember that this is time lapse–I really do not weave this fast.
