About a week after hers came off the loom I went upstairs and retied the warp to the breast beam and started in on mine. I had a spurt of weaving and the rug was done in a couple weeks. Unfortunately, my lumbar back went bezerk during that time, and near the very end of weaving I stood up from the loom's bench and could barely stand! I've never felt like such an old man!! The pain lasted a few weeks and has finally died down. I think it may be related to the fall I took last year and it's on my mind to have the doctor poke around to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be. It was very, very bad for a good 2 weeks. Also, at the same time I sometimes felt a little under the weather, and funny thing is I usually felt down when the pain was less which makes me think it was cold and when the cold shifted out of those muscles, I felt a tad bad. Anyway, that's past and the rug, as I say, is complete. I am thrilled with it! Perhaps I should have used brighter colors? More color?
Like Kaffe Fassett says, when in doubt add 20 more colors! I love this rug very much, it is definitely me. It currently sits in front of the hutch in the dining room.
I'm in the process of warping the 8-shaft loom--now in the kitchen (hutch moved to dining room)--for a summer-and-winter scarf for the kitchen table. I'm weaving it in 2 shades of green; cotton tabby and wool pattern. Pics when done.
Loom is now in the kitchen corner. I'm getting a new wood stove this spring so the loom had to come off the hearth (which has been empty since I gave the original wood stove to my neighbor (who used to own this house) because her's was not faring well and I wasn't using mine.):
The hutch which was displaced by the loom, is now in the dining room. Seems a right and proper location for it! And there is the rug!
After the table scarf is woven, my neighbor and I will be weaving kitchen towels in a pinwheel pattern. These will be on the 8-shaft in the kitchen. It's quite nice to have someone coming in to weave for a few hours at a time. We'll share the towels.
Now that the 4-shaft loom is, as they say, 'naked', I will warp it for a double-width blanket. I'm getting a small refund from the government this spring and I'm going to use a bit to buy enough yarn to make a blanket that is at least 80" wide. Although my 4-shaft loom is only about 42" wide, there is a weaving technique called "double weave" in which one weaves two layers of cloth at the same time, one above the other--and if one edge is woven together the cloth can be unfolded at the end of weaving and will be twice the width of the weaving! Very clever. The trick--I have learned from reading--is to weave the fold in way that does not draw in when unfolded. That will be the challenge. I want to weave it in Harrisville "New England Highland" wool, and I'm thinking of weaving a plaid.
... Bought several bundles of fabric at the thrift store recently and I'm making simple, everyday placemats from it. I'll be making 3 more like the 1st photo.
Our orchestral concert is tomorrow. My latest poster for the event. It is a fantastic program; we had dress rehearsal Wednesday evening and it was fabulous! It's going to be good.
A photographer was at dress rehearsal and took many pictures. Here is our group picture. Photo by Rob Klein. (As always, click photos to enlarge.)
I think that's it for now. Except... waiting:
We had more snow overnight! And it was really starting to feel a bit spring like in air quality. Soon. Very soon I think. I'm itching to get in the dirt again and I'm dreaming about all the beautiful flowers and delicious food to come.
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