Tag: Glimakra Standard

What You Can See Through the Fringe

Karen

We are so close to seeing the full width of this blanket! When I finish twisting the fringe across the bottom layer, the scissors are coming out to cut off the warp. Woo Hoo! I will still have the fringe header to secure and error floats to repair; and then, wet finishing and brushing. But the reward of a finished blanket will be worth it.

Upper layer of twisted fringe on double-width wool blanket.
Colors of the lower layer of the double-width blanket are visible through the upper layer of twisted fringe.

Looking through the fringes on the top layer gives us our first good glimpse of the colors underneath. This makes me excited to see the full expression across the double-width warp for the first time, when I unfold the blanket. I don’t think we will be disappointed, but how can we know for sure until we have seen it?

We hope for the best as we make personal resolutions toward positive changes. Asking God for help makes a difference. We see what he has already done, and we look through that and get a preview of what is ahead, knowing his faithfulness. He is able to do super abundantly more than we can ask, or even think to ask. God can do more in us than we can imagine. Imagine that!

May you face the near future with eager anticipation.

Hopeful,
Karen

Welcome! Come On In

Karen

This has been another good year! It is sweet to have friends from all over the globe who walk with me in this handweaver’s journey. Thank you for joining me here. We examine the meaning of life together, along with exploring the technical details of making cloth. I appreciate you, friend!

Double-width blanket on the loom.
Double-width blanket continues.

Thanks to my talented videographer son-in-law, Eddie, you now have a video that brings you into my weaving studio for a visit.

Video filming for Warped for Good.
Camera, lights, filming equipment, the works! After filming many clips of weaving in action and views of yarn and threads, Eddie interviewed me with pertinent questions. He compiled and edited the best shots, and added music, to create a short video describing Warped for Good.

Come on in…

This welcome video is now at the top of the Warped for Good About page.

 (If you enjoy the video, share it with friends by moving your cursor over the “paper airplane” near the top right of the video.)

May your friendships blossom throughout the coming year.

Your friend,
Karen

Quiet Friday: Double-Width Blanket Progress

Karen

Do you ever feel like you are just not making progress? Stopping bad habits and starting good ones can feel like that. Or, what about that craft project you meant to finish before Thanksgiving? The loom is one place where progress is visible. You can’t fool yourself; the cloth beam shows you how far you have progressed. I find it encouraging to see the fabric that has been woven. What starts with an idea shows up as cloth.

Blanket idea with eleven colors of wool.
It all started with an idea and eleven colors of wool.

As we settle into the very end of this year, we know that time keeps rolling on. The warp keeps advancing. This is a great time to look at the cloth beam of our life and see the progress. Like this blanket, much has been accomplished, but there’s more work ahead before it is time to cut it from the loom.

Bottom layer of double weave blanket is spread on the loom.
Bottom layer is spread on the loom.
Upper layer of double weave is spread on the loom.
Upper layer is spread on the loom; and the two layers are combined on the back tie-on bar. Two sets of lease sticks keep all the ends in order.
Beaming on double weave blanket with warping trapeze.
Beaming on two warps at once. After removing the choke ties, I beamed on with the warping trapeze, slowly and carefully. I stopped every few inches to check everything, to make sure nothing was getting hung up anywhere.
Threading heddles for multi-color wool blanket.
Threading heddles.
Sampling helps determine optimum weft colors.
Sampling helps determine weft colors, as well as checking the sett and weft density.
Warp ends ready to tie onto front tie-on bar.
Sample is cut off and warp ends are tied in bundles, ready to re-tie to front tie-on bar.
Wool Blanket sample piece after wet finishing and brushing.
Sample piece, after wet finishing, air drying, and brushing.
Fringe, twisted on the loom, at the beginning of the wool blanket. Follow progress.
Fringe, twisted on the loom, goes over the breast beam as the body of the blanket is being woven.
Pics show double weave blanket progress on the loom.
Progress is revealed. The beginning blanket fringe has reached the cloth beam! The fold edge of the blanket is in view.
Dusk dims, yet enriches, the colors. Karen Isenhower
Dusk dims the colors, yet enriches them at the same time.
Hand-carved Nativity on handwoven bound rosepath. The Isenhowers.
Glad-hearted Christmas to all! The camel is this year’s new figure in the hand-carved Nativity by Steve Isenhower. Bound rosepath provides the backdrop.

May you enjoy reflecting on the progress you have made this year.

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year,
Karen

Hold That Twist

Karen

Have you tried twisting fringe on the loom? I haven’t done it before now. You will find out with me how well this works, because I will show it to you when the blanket is woven and cut from the loom. A doubled warp thread runs through the fringe lineup, holding the twists in place. It is an amusing sight to see these yarn “toy soldiers” all lined up in color order. I know this should work. I know a lot of things; but my knowledge isn’t always as important as I think it is.

Blanket fringe is twisted on the loom.
Upper and lower layers of a double-width blanket are seen in the twisted fringes. Care was taken to not weave the two layers together accidentally.

More important than what you know is who knows you. Everyone longs to be known. We want someone to know we are not just one of many in a lineup of nameless toy soldiers. God knows those who love him. He satisfies our desire to be known. And that reminds me that I really don’t know everything.

May you successfully try something new.

Happy Christmas,
Karen

First Glimpse of the Blanket

Karen

Look at the double-width blanket that is finally forming on the loom! And you have been waiting to see which colors I chose for the weft… First, there were eleven colors to select for the warp (I Forgot the Weft). And then, after dressing the loom (Brave Enough to Weave), I sampled possible weft colors (The Weft Question). That led to questions about the density of the weft and the evenness of the folded edge (Quiet Friday: Blanket Sample Thanksgiving), being my first ever double width attempt. Ta da! Combined teal and blue are the weft winners!

Wool for weft to use in double-width blanket.
Skeins of Borgs 6/2 Tuna Wool for blanket weft. The weft is doubled, so I will wind quills using the two colors together.
Winding wool skeins into balls using old Beka yarn swift.
Wool skeins are first unwrapped and wound into balls using my old Beka yarn swift.

I am pleased with the first glimpse. I feel like I have captured my own personality and it is being woven into the cloth. Like this weft, you will not see the value of your gifts until you unwrap them and use them.

First few inches of double-width wool blanket on the loom.
Very beginning of the wool blanket gives encouraging results. The teal/blue weft begins after the first few picks that space the warp.

Just as cloth reveals the nature of the weaver, gifts reveal the nature of the giver. God has prepared things for us that transcend human perception. Things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man… If aspects of my personality are embedded in a handwoven blanket, how much more is God’s character woven into the good gifts he imparts to us?

May your journey hold many good gifts to unwrap.

Thinking of Christmas,
Karen