Conclusions ...

There have been a number of conclusions recently. The table runner is done. The boys from NYC have gone home. Both big projects have come and gone. Both were wonderful experiences, both had their challenges (in a good way, of course), both were rewarding, and I hope I've grown from both.

I was able to weave while the boys were here, and I'm especially pleased the runner was finished during their stay so they could see the fruits of my efforts. The process definitely piqued the interest of one young man. You may recall the challenges I had setting up the warp: One bout ruined, and the discovery that I had not correctly calculated the number of heddles required (not to mention what that did to my estimated width). But the project was saved and the actual weaving went pretty smoothly--only one broken warp during the weave. Broken warps are no big deal and quite easy to accommodate, as long as there aren't a ton of them.

The final challenge on this project arose during the finishing stage. As I soaked it in a hot Eucalan bath, I noticed the red was starting to bleed! This thread was given me, and not knowing it's age or history it would have behooved me to test it for fastness beforehand. Live and learn! I drew it out of the water immediately to halt the bleeding process. The consequences are not bad, the bleeding did not get intense enough to make a mess. In fact, I rather like the result as it makes the piece look a little bit antiquated! Very pleased with his table scarf:



This morning--after much perusing of drafts, surfing of www, and thumbing through books--I decided on an 8-shaft project for my new loom. I will weave some kitchen towels in a 2 block, broken twill. Details soon.

Will report on the boy's 9-day visit in a separate post.

Progress ... and Happenings ...

I am making progress on the table runner. I forgot how good it feels to sit and throw the shuttle, beat the weft, and treddle the heddles. Weaving, like spinning (and knitting, and making quilts) is one of those essential life arts that, being entirely pragmatic and utilitarian, are at the same time very artistic and full of deep meaning. Such very wholesome arts; sad to think that not too many people get to indulge in them. The victory of commercialism over meaning. Sure, it takes longer to make something oneself, but that's entirely not the point. When one weaves a beautiful table scarf, or knits a gorgeous shawl, or pieces an intricate quilt, or spins a fine thread, one gains not solely the finished object. The soul is nourished, the deeper meaning of life--raison d'etre--is fulfilled. To create!

The table runner is coming along nicely. I'm happy with my choice of color, and 22 ends per inch was a good decision.


There is excitement in the air tonight! Tomorrow afternoon I will drive down to Concord to pick up 2 boys from NYC whom I will be hosting for 10 days on The Fresh Air Fund. I applied to be a host last summer, albeit it was late. I was visited, interviewed, vetted, and accepted. Even though it was late, they matched me to a young boy, but at the last minute--the day before the bus was due to leave New York--the mother cancelled. Alas, not meant to be. This year they matched me to two boys (12 and 13, unrelated to each other).

I am very much looking forward to showing them the beautiful natural surroundings here. The White Mountains will figure in our week of adventure, a climb up one of the less strenuous peaks, some hikes if they are up for it. If they are interested, I can teach them about several different crafts--not only those I enjoy, but those of my friends and acquaintances whose classes I have taken. We'll have a party Saturday evening (I hope the weather is good!). I'll drive them back to Concord on the 18th where the bus to NYC will be waiting for them.

We have lift-off ...

After a number of challenges winding the warp and dressing the loom, my new overshot project is off the ground. Yippee!

It feels good to be throwing the shuttle again--honestly, it's been a while!

I think this is going to be just fine, with it's reduced center panel. Should make a lovely table scarf.

Musical happenings ...

July and early August brings us the NH Music Festival, an extraordinary event--and so close to home, which thrills me. I went to opening night this year. The deciding factor was Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto. If you have never heard this, do yourself a favor:



If nothing else, listen to the 2nd movement. Image yourself lying supine, floating around the heavens on a cloud... it starts at 21:10 in the video.

The evening was sheer pleasure. Opening night at the festival includes--gratuitous with ticket--wine and/or champagne, cheese, crackers, fruit--as you will. Pre-concert and during intermission. Very impressive. Before intermission, the orchestra played Handel and Haydn. Bliss. Beauty. Perfection.

I attended my second concert last Thursday: Brahm's Requiem, formally: Ein Deutsches Requiem. Oh my word. To begin with, Brahms is one of my favorite composers. One of the very first pieces I ever taught myself was his Lullaby. It was in a book of music we received from my Aunt Emma. I well remember sitting at the upright in the living room--with it's missing keytops and a few broken keys--but hey! It was better than nothing!!--learning how to play it. It sounded so fresh and beautiful and deep and meaningful. A fabulous, fabulous concert. Overwhelmingly powerful at times with the orchestra and choir at full throttle. Honestly, I was drained when it ended. Drained in the best possible way.



On a smaller scale, we held our summer concert this afternoon. It too, was full of joy. We played in a new-to-us venue: A Unitarian Universalist meeting house in Norwich, VT. Very serene, joyous space designed in an almost Shaker-like simplicity. High cathedral ceiling; great acoustics! We enjoyed standing room only! Golly. Much, much fun. Cookies, fruit, and juices post-concert. Lovely community gathering.

Now I can bring my energies to focus entirely on my lesson material: Bach's Arioso.

A Wee Problem ...

Oh, oh. It's evident I'm a little out of practice at the loom! As I was threading some heddles just now, I realized that I neglected to distribute them evenly on both sides of the central hooks which hold the bars which hold the heddles. It's no big deal, I can bend the bars that hold the heddles just enough to get them off the hooks and thereby allowing me to shuffle the heddles from one side to the other. But in the process of thinking it through, something made me look at the draft again. Oh, no!

Two things: 1) As it was I had just enough heddles to thread this draft: I have no extras floating around; and 2) looking at the draft again I realize that I missed the fact that the corner block threading was given only once (it's not quite obvious unless one is really alert) and I should have counted it twice (because I need one on each side of the center panel). Oh, no!

Some tense moments. What to do? I would need to order some more heddles, wait for them to arrive, and get them on the frames. Ordering isn't a problem, but there's no way to add heddles after threading has begun. Not on this loom, anyway. Oh, no!

"Think of a solution," I thought. "Make it work," as they would say on "Project Runway". Could I make up some string heddles and get them on the frames? Ooh, that would be a lot of work and I'm not sure what the result would be. Should I order some more heddles and cut the top and bottom loops so I can get them on the frames? Seems such a wasteful thing to do. Oh, no!

I came close to deciding to scrap the project. Start over with something new--or the same draft--but start over. I decided to hold off a bit. Maybe a solution would come. But what? What can I do? Oh, no!

Well, a solution just came to me. It's not a perfect solution, but it's a solution I can live with... The center panel of the draft is a motif of 24 threads repeated ten times. That's 240 threads, hence 240 heddles. If I repeat the motif only 4 times (e.g. make the center panel quite a bit narrower) it would free up 144 heddles--the corner block requires 140. It works. Oh, yes!

So my runner is still going to be the width I had planned on, only the center panel will be narrower. Will it look unbalanced? Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell. (I think it probably will.) At any rate, I think I will still enjoy it, and I will enjoy the process of weaving it, for sure. And I think it's better than starting over and losing all the work I've already done. Oh, my!

Live and learn.

Orchestra Summer Concert ...

When the winter season came to a close with our concert back in March (or was it April!?), a plea was made by the conductor looking for volunteers to take over some of the tasks of running the orchestra. Hence, I joined the executive committee and offered up my experience with graphic arts and made myself available to help with promoting the orchestra. We've been meeting every other week since then, discussing ways to grow the orchestra, acquire some name recognition, and lure people to our concerts. I was promptly set to making a membership drive poster in an effort to attract more instrumentalists.

Summer orchestra rehearsals began 5 weeks ago with the same guest conductor we had last summer. The music we are playing is fun, beautiful, and exciting. Handel (Oh, how I love his music.), Bizet, Rossini, and Sibelius. Selections from The Water Music, Intermezzo from l'Arlesienne Suite, No. 2, Barber of Seville Overture, and Valse Triste. A relatively short, pleasant, satisfying, summer concert. The concert is next Sunday. We have our final rehearsal Wednesday and will have a pre-concert warm up to review a few sections.

In my new capacity doing promotional material, I designed a poster. The background image is my back yard! :)

Sleying the 8-shaft

There are so many possibilities in the craft of weaving--endless--I sometimes have difficulty deciding what to weave, in which structure, in which colors. So, so, many possibilities.

To be sure, one of the projects I have in mind for the 8-shaft is double-weave color blocks. So very beautiful and full of color. But I'm not starting with that. What I'm really in the mood for is another overshot pattern, but overshot really only needs 4-shafts not 8. No matter, I'm going for it. I'll use only 4 of the 8 as an exercise in getting to know this new-to-me-loom.

So I've decided on an overshot with border draft called "Norse Kitchen" as a table runner. I'm using 10/2 white cotton for the warp and weft tabby, and 5/2 cotton in a burgundy color named "lipstick" for the pattern threads.



I couldn't decide on an epi (ends per inch) for the warp. I found some overshot patterns in the same yarn weights I'm using calling for 24 epi, and I saw some for 20 epi. Originally, I opted to go with 24 but I kept going back to the examples of other weaving I'd found and just couldn't get settled with it. I finally, in my final decision, decided on 20 epi, only to discover after doing the calculations that it wouldn't fit in my loom! So I compromised and went for 22 epi. Glad that's finally settled.

I wound the warp yesterday and proceeded to completely mess up one bout by losing the lease cross. Oi! So I made a new bout this morning and finished sleying the reed this afternoon. Post inspection, I found 3 warp ends hanging around on the wrong side of the reed. La dee dah! Drat! Toughie, this one. One of the ends had simply slipped out of it's reed, and that was an easy fix. The other 2, somehow, had been missed, so I had to re-sley half the reed to make room for them. Well golly! But now it's done.

I have started threading the heddles and discovering the difference 8-shafts makes in dressing the loom: A bit more reaching. I hope to have it all threaded in the next day or so (there are 458 threads).

We had a very pretty moon this week. These pics taken a day apart ...