January 1st is more than just another day, isn’t it? It’s a time to review the past year and bring new dreams into the year ahead. This pivot point calls for gratitude. I am especially grateful for friends like you who walk with me on this weaving journey!
Thick and thin cottolin towels on this warp. One towel to go!The end is near! The end of the warp, that is. Almost ready for the final border of the halvdräll table square. There will be just enough warp left for a short sample piece.
First up in the new year I have thick and thin towels to finish, and the halvdräll is oh so close to the end of the warp (didn’t quite make it for Christmas). And one little girl is off the small tapestry loom, waiting for final finishing, mounting, and framing.
Little girl small tapestry. After finishing the ends, the piece will be mounted on linen-covered foam board and placed in a frame.
Do you remember this sturdy linen cloth, that I wove months ago, with the wonderful wool and linen rya? Yesterday I made it into a classy pillow. First, I fashioned the pillow cover, with invisible zipper, and all. Hollow by itself, the pillow cover needs an insert to be usable. So I made a muslin insert to fit, filled lightly. Now I have a cloud-soft rya pillow. (Read about weaving this fabric in Rya, Rya, How Does Your Garden Grow? and Now What Are You Counting?)
Fabric is two-sided point twill with rya knots. 8/2 linen for warp and 8/2 linen, doubled, for weft produces a sturdy base fabric for the hand-tied rya knots.Pillow insert, lightly filled with down-like cluster fiberfill, fits perfectly inside the pillow cover.
This new rya masterpiece makes a perfect lumbar pillow for the antique rocking chair in my living room. This was my great-grandmother’s chair. One thing I know about my great-grandmother is that she was a praying woman. I love to imagine that she rocked her babies in this chair, praying for them and for her future grand- and great-grand-children. She may have prayed for my life in advance.
Each rya knot includes a combination of threads–Åsborya wool, Mora wool, and 16/2 linen.Great-Grandma’s rocking chair. A reminder of love that reaches to the next generation.
I want to be more than what others see on the outside. I need the Lord on the inside. I yearn for God to hear me and for me to hear Him. Without that connection, life is hollow. Prayer is a two-way conversation. That ongoing conversation keeps me from being empty. When I am filled, I am at my best. Could that be an answer to my great-grandmother’s prayers?
You will not often find a bare loom here. But every loom has its phases. The “Big Loom” (Glimåkra Standard 120cm) is in the empty phase right now. I finished weaving the coarse linen twill with rya knots. Now, I wait for the 16/2 linen that I ordered for the next project. Big Loom, don’t worry; you’ll be dressed again soon.
Rya pieces ready to make into interesting shaggy pillows.Affectionately known as “The Big Loom.” Seldom seen undressed. Glimåkra Standard Countermarch Loom 120cm / 47 inches weaving width.
The “Baby Loom” (Glimåkra Ideal 100cm) is in the weaving phase. It has plenty of warp on it, so I am still happily throwing a shuttle. I should get two more towels from this warp.
Color stripes of brown and gold break up the red in this towel on the goose-eye warp.
I want to start weaving a band to match the towels on the “Baby Loom,” for the towels’ hanging tabs. That means I need to put more attention on finishing up the current warp on the “Band Loom“ (Glimåkra two-treadle), so I can start the new warp. This is the hurry-up-and-finish phase.
Band loom is situated for weaving in short bursts. I often stop and weave for a few minutes on the way to the “Big Loom” or the “Baby Loom.” Three sisters look on from the stairway wall. (One of those girls is a younger me. Can you guess which one?)
May you make the most of the phase you are in.
Happy Weaving, Karen
(The discount coupon on my About Page is good for another week. Thank you!)
Have you noticed how much counting there is with weaving? I am constantly counting something! This time it’s rya strands. Wrap three threads around a four-inch cardboard template, counting eighteen times around; cut the ends; repeat. Separate into nine groups of three strands each. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine groups. Tie rya knots–one knot, two knots, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine knots; repeat.
Åsborya wool, Mora wool, and linen are wrapped together around a template, and then cut. The group of threads is held together in a clothespin until ready to use.
I like to count the good things that touch my life. Family, friends, health, beauty in nature, and pleasant adventures, to name a few. These are the things that shine through, even in difficult times. These are the things worth counting.
Group of natural color threads are separated into wool-wool-linen triplets for rya knots.
Thankfulness to God acknowledges that the good things woven into our lives come from his benevolent hand. God is always inviting us to walk with him. Thankfulness steps us into that inspiring walk.
What are some of the good things you’ve been thankful for lately?
May you have more blessings than you can count.
Thankful for you, Karen
(There is a discount coupon code on my About page just for you, my reader friends, to use in my Etsy Shop during August, 2014.)
Resourcefulness, make-do ability, outside-the-box thinking, solution-minded questions, and a little stubbornness. These are some of the best things to keep in the weaver’s toolbox. Jury rigging is an old nautical term having to do with sailors improvising the replacement of a damaged mast and sails, using only tools and materials that happen to be on hand. You could call it makeshift repairs or temporary contrivances. That describes what I did this week as I came near the end of the linen warp. And, like a sailor, I was working with wood, strings, and cloth.
Warpends on the sides have become looser than the warp that has the rya knots in it. That’s not good. Tension needs to be even across the warp.
I needed to even out the tension across the warp ends, because the outer edges were not taking up at the same rate as the warp in the center, because of the rya knots. The pictures show how I jury rigged a warping slat, empty thread tubes, S-hooks, and 2-pound walking weights to adjust the tension so I could continue weaving.
Adding weight to the loose sections of the warp.Two-pound walking weights are easy to hang from S-hooks. Using empty thread spools was a short-lived solution. That had to change when I advanced the warp.Changing the slat so it is over the loose warp ends enables me to hang the weights directly on the slat with S-hooks.View from underneath, walking weights hang from warping slat to increase tension on the loose warp ends.
May you know when to make a temporary, but useful, contraption.
All the best, Karen
(~My thank-you to you, my reader friends–a discount coupon good during August 2014 toward anything in my Etsy Shop. Find the coupon code on my About Page.~)
