Category: travel

Lizard Tapestry Disruption

Karen

I started the Lizard tapestry right before our big disruption. Selling your house means that every in-process project instantly becomes vulnerable. Yikes! After a sleepless night, I contacted my friend Joanne Hall. Can this weaving be saved? Yes!, she assured me, as she gave me instructions for dismantling the loom.

Getting ready to dismantle loom for relocation.
Yarn supply is packed up, including all the wool butterflies.
Getting ready to dismantle loom for moving.
Cartoon is removed.

Everything is logical about the process. Undo things, tie parts together, take things apart. And I don’t have to cut off the weaving? No. Remove the beam cords from the cloth beam. It’s that simple.

Lamms and treadles removed for moving the loom.
Lamms and treadles have been taken off.
Moving a loom without ruining a tapestry in progress!
Beam cords are removed from the cloth beam.
Removing the warp beam. Relocating the loom.
Steve unscrews a bolster that holds one side of the warp beam so I can remove the warp beam.
Warp beam removed! Hope to put this back together.
Holding the precious bundle!
Taking the loom apart.
Taken apart. Tapestry, reed, and shafts are rolled and bundled up in the fish beach towel.

Now all I have to do is wait…

Relocating my loom.
Everything fits in the car, ready for transport.

All the dust has settled, the house transaction is done, and the loom has been re-located and put back together. It’s the first thing you see when you enter our ground-floor apartment.

Getting ready to re-assemble loom.
New location for the loom is in the living room of our apartment.
Simple Swedish loom assembling.
Simple Swedish loom assembling.
Re-assembling my loom after relocating.
Re-attaching the bolster to hold the warp beam.
Re-assembling loom after relocating.
Tapestry in view.
Using a spare heddle as a cord threader.
Spare Texsolv heddle works as a cord threader (I forgot to pack the “real” cord threader) to re-attach the cords on the cloth beam.

What about the Lizard? Can I resume where I left off? Good news: IT WORKED!

Ready to weave after relocating the loom!
Everything is put back together. Beam cords are re-attached. Yarn is unpacked. Warp is tensioned.
Lizard four-shaft tapestry.
Lizard foot grips the breast beam as weaving resumes!

When have you had to wait? Something you dearly long for is unreachable for a while. Waiting for the Lord is always waiting with hope. I trusted my friend’s advice. So, my hope was strong while I waited to see this lizard take shape again. In a similar way, I can trust the Lord when there is a disruption. Wait with strong hope. Wait for the grace to begin again.

May you wait patiently.

Happy Weaving,
Karen

Looms in Transition

Karen

July was a roller coaster that took off before I had a chance to buckle my seatbelt! As you may recall, I had just disassembled my Glimåkra Standard loom at the end of June. Happily, that loom is now set up in our Texas hill country home, with a few heddles already threaded. Next, we sold our Houston house. I had prayed that the house would sell quickly. But I was as surprised as anyone when the house sold in one day! Now, a few short weeks later, the house stands empty, ready for a new family to call it home. And, Steve and I are enjoying apartment life in this transition season.

Swedish looms are basically portable.
After all the boxes are unloaded, the loom parts are put back in the trailer to take to the house.
Loom is placed where grand piano used to be.
Loom is reassembled and positioned in the area where previous home owners placed their grand piano.
Reassembling the Glimakra Standard loom.
Little by little, the loom is put back together. Warp beam has a cottolin warp on it, wrapped in a sheet for the move.
Twelve shafts for this double-weave project.
Twelve shafts for this double-weave project.
Threading twelve shafts.
Threading.
Threading 12 shafts. View from the back beam.
View from the back beam.
Threading 12 shafts for double weave.
Twelve shafts–much like threading three four-shaft looms right next to each other.

The Ideal loom with the Lizard tapestry had to be dismantled for moving… (more on that in future posts).

Getting ready to dismantle this loom...with the tapestry on it!
Ideal loom with the Lizard tapestry, before dismantling…

Pray. Abiding prayer is that ongoing conversation we have with God as we face the roller coasters that show up at our doorstep. He invites us to bring everything—big and little. Selling the house quickly is a little thing. Saving people is a big thing. Maybe sometimes God answers the little things to remind us that He is here for the big things, too.

May you pray big things.

In Christ,
Karen

Dismantled Loom

Karen

As June comes to a close, it’s time to sign off for a short while. Meet me right back here the first Friday of August! And head on over to Instagram ( @celloweaver ) to keep up to date with all my daily happenings on and off the loom!

Some things are on hold right now. My “weaving studio” suddenly looks like the spare bedroom it used to be. The big loom is dismantled! Fortunately, it is not a problem for this smart Glimåkra Standard loom to hold onto the warp that I’ve already wound onto the warp beam. The good news is that this cherished loom is being relocated to our Texas hill country home, where it will take the stage as if it were a grand piano.

Preparing loom for dismantling with warp on the loom.
White sheet from my box of old sheets (for scrap rag weft) is used to wrap the warp on the warp beam. It is tied securely with some long fabric strips.
Dismantling my loom for moving.
Shafts are tied together at the ends with seine twine. Fabric strips are tied around to hold the shafts together in a bundle. The bundle of shafts is placed on an old Flintstones beach towel, and then wrapped up like a big burrito and tied up with more fabric strips.
Dismantling the Glimakra Standard.
Piece by piece, loom is dismantled.
Relocating this Glimakra Standard loom.
Fully dismantled, the loom becomes sticks and pieces of wood. Ready for relocation!
Boxes labeled "KEEP WITH LOOM," for loom being relocated.
Loom essentials are in boxes labeled “KEEP WITH LOOM.” The wooden mallet will be one of the first things needed.

Hold. Several meanings for this word come to mind. Sometimes our familiar patterns of daily life are on hold. There’s a pause, a held breath. But during that pause, our plans and threads of normal practices are securely and lovingly wrapped up on a strong beam of hope. Wrap the spare cloth securely over your precious warp ends so that when it’s time, you can unroll the warp and finish dressing the loom for spectacular twelve-shaft double weave towels. Hold fast to Christ as Christ holds all your interrupted threads of being.

PS The Lizard tapestry is in full swing on the not-dismantled Glimåkra Ideal.

Lizard tapestry on Glimakra Ideal loom.
Lizard tapestry on the Ideal loom now has my singular attention. Thirty centimeters complete.

May you have a fantastic July!

Lovingly,
Karen

Tapestry Portrait Beginning

Karen

I started with a photograph of seventeen-month-old Lucia sitting in her grandad’s lap after eating lunch at Culver’s. Her pouty bottom lip and her serious brown eyes caught my attention. It seems an impossible task to replicate the charming expression in yarn, but it doesn’t hurt to try. I enlarged the picture, and then cropped it to fit a four-by-six-inch “canvas” of 12/6 cotton warp. I also reversed the image, since I am weaving this tapestry from the back. The weft is one, two, or three strands of Fårö wool yarn, depending on the degree of detail.

Grandad and granddaughter.
Steve and Lucia enjoying each other.

Here is my beginning attempt at a portrait, accomplished during our car ride home from Texas hill country, after spending time with Lucia and her cousins for the Christmas holidays.

Travel tapestry loom is warped before hitting the road.
Loom is warped before hitting the road.
Tapestry portrait in progress.
Shapes are slowly filled in with yarn. Paint stick serves to hold the cartoon in place.
On the road with a little tapestry weaving.
On the road with a little tapestry weaving.
Attempting to weave a tapestry portrait.
Beginning the blue and white polka-dotted dress. Inlaid magnets hold the blunt tapestry needle.
Weaving a tapestry portrait in the car.
Dusk has arrived, so it is time to put the weaving away for now. Good lighting is a must.
Checking progress on a small tapestry loom.
Before putting the loom in the bag, I turn it over to look at the right side of the weaving. Progress!

May you attempt the impossible.

All the best,
Karen

Discovery Towels Workshop in Eureka Springs

Karen

Seven enthusiastic weavers came to the Discovery Towels Workshop I presented a few days ago. We had three wonderful days together. Thick and thin threads can do spectacular things when you combine them in the warp and weft. And Eureka Springs, Arkansas is the ideal setting for such a weaving adventure! This is a unique, quaint little town like none other. The Victorian-style homes, and the twisting, winding roads that follow the hillside contours make you feel like you are in a storybook village. We happened to be there at the same time as the annual Volkswagen Festival and Parade, which defies description. You just have to experience it for yourself.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Debbie Davis of Red Scottie Fibers, our gracious and knowledgeable host, provided the perfect setting in The Shoppes at Fleece ‘N Flax. Her classroom space is full of Glimåkra countermarch and counterbalance looms. What could be better?!

Weaving workshop with Karen Isenhower.
Discovery weavers!

You will be amazed when you see the beautiful towels that these seasoned and not-yet seasoned weavers produced! It was a joy to have some time with these enthusiastic discoverers.

May you enjoy the thrill of discovery.

~~On a personal note, regarding hurricane Harvey, Steve and I tried to drive home to Houston on Sunday, after our stay in Arkansas. We were unable to return all the way home because of flooded roads and highways, so we diverted our route to drive out to our place in Texas hill country. So far, our Houston home has not flooded, but our loved city is suffering greatly. Please keep these brave people, including many of our dear friends, in your prayers.~~

Yours,
Karen