Hi Lisa,
It worked. It took a little finagling, but it's on the loom and lookin' good. I asked a neighbor if she could come over and hold the braids while I wound on. I was able to get it wound on nice and tight in not much time at all and while enjoying a good conversation. I finished warping the loom a little while ago and wove the spreader. Now I'm ready to start weaving the sample. It sure is a pretty warp. Love the colors on a chilly, dreary Seattle day!
Kindest regards,
Cynthia
Congratulations on a good outcome Cynthia! Happy weaving!
Hi Lisa,
The sample and towels came out nice. I didn't notice any problems with tension on the stripe threads. It was fun to weave and the red and purple perked me up during a spell of cold, gray weather. Two towels came out particularly well - just simple blocks of red separated with stripes. I sent the to a cousin as soon as I finished hemming them and with the final press. Unfortunately, I didn't photograph them.
I threw 2 sheets of Dr. Beckmann's in the wash for the second (fulling) wash and noticed that they came out light pink.
I was quite delighted with the olive green. I like olive green a lot, but I wasn't sure about it here. It blended beautifully with the other colors.
Now I'm going to start warping the Stripes lesson. It was really hard to tell the two yellows apart. It will be interesting to see what goes on the loom: Lemon-Lemon-Butter or Lemon-Butter-Lemon, or Butter-Lemon-Lemon. Whatever way, it sounds pretty tasty (especially with the "parsley" zingers).
Congratulations Cynthia! Glad all worked out well
Slowly catching up - I've finished my Plaid sample. Pretty happy with the results. These are in the order woven. I started playing around with different color and patterns and didn't like some of the results. But, experimentation is the purpose of this, right? So I pulled back a little and re-watched Jane showing samples, and followed that a little more closely. On the very last sample, I had the end of the warp so close to the heddles, that I could barely get a shed. You can see some of the shuttle misses at the end.
Ooh, I like that last one!
They look great, Jason and will a wonderful resource when you start designing your own cloth!
One of the things that I'm less familiar with is making it up as I go. I've been weaving for about 18 years, mostly rugs. Most of my weaving has been very structured, and I tend to plan it all out beforehand. What was particularly helpful this time around was to weave a little, then go back to the Samples video for ideas. And I'm seeing now that I ought to go and look at everyone else's weavings, too - there are some really great ideas here! So, thanks everyone for sharing and offering inspiration.
I just completed a number of the Plaid samplers - experimenting and learning. And then...
I am so excited (well, I'm always excited with each new lesson from Jane!) First time to ever work with silk! I had the Tiger Lily for the zinger stripes, and Buddha Berry, Dragon Fruit & Ariel's Voice for stripes. But I didn't have a 3rd "stripe color" (a deeper orange). The only other 20/2 silk I have is Margaretta Violetta. (I only bought it because it looked so pretty!)
Before taking these lessons I would have NEVER mixed a soft violet color with all of these other colors. BUT - so far every color mix has produced amazing results AND I'm actually eager to try more and more combinations of colors! I figured I would do some stripes with the soft violet, and then determine what color to use for the weft for the "nonstripe - solid" half of the shawl. Hands down winner - the violet color. It creates amazing mixes with all the other colors - especially the olive green! Who knew??!! 😁
(It was really difficult to capture the colors and sheen of the entire piece...and the photos don't do justice to the real thing.)
Kerry , this is gorgeous and looks great on you!
Thank you so much Cheryl! I appreciate your kind words!
Your excitement is infectious, enjoy!
It's beautiful, Kerry!
Thank you Sandra!! I have never owned or worn scarves or shawls (even the warm scarves in the bitterly cold winters here in Iowa!) Just not something my family did. And my "wardrobe" doesn't lend itself to these nice pieces....thus, many friends & acquaintances are becoming recipients of my new love for weaving!