A day in the life of a weaver ...

This morning I had breakfast with a friend whose lady friend has split from him.  We had actually had friends for tea last night but as he still seemed rather upset I suggested he stay over.

While talking after eating I sorted the banking for a weaving group of which I'm treasurer and filed an awful lot of papers.  Wrote out cheques to be used at a Seminar next weekend.  Also had a quick read of what workshops I'm doing this weekend and what I need to take with me.  After friend was on his way I put a load of washing in the machine and put a shibori scarf in to soak ready for dyeing.  While waiting for them to do their thing I tried to tidy the length of tassels on the end of a scarf  hoping to get them nearer one length.  I think there was a phone call in here with reference to next weeks Seminar.

Painted the dye on the scarf and while eating a quick sandwich for lunch it steamed.  Whipped it out of the pot and left it to cool while I drove to Waihi for banking and then on to Whiritoa (about 45 minutes from home) to say goodbye to a dear weaving friend who has sold her house and is moving to Feilding (about 5 hours drive).  I will miss our show and tells greatly but it'll still cost exactly the same for a phone call.  When I got home I rinsed scarf and its now drying on top of the hot water cylinder.  While rinsing I'm on the phone to friend who is not at all well (notice a certain amount of multitasking going on through the day).  Finished washing the car about 6.30 and thought I better cook tea.

Am now sorting and packing stuff for a weekend with the Majacraft folks at a weekend get together on the shores of Lake Rotorua.  Can't wait.  I'm going to chill ... zzzz

25 colours

Are 25 colour changes enough in one blanket, especially when woven in two layers in this order!

Concentration is the key.

Woven textile exhibition

A friend has asked me to direct you to a facebook page about their upcoming exhibition.
www.facebook.com/natureinthemaking
Nature in the Making - Geology interpreted through woven textiles - A joint exhibition by weavers Stacey Harvey-Brown and Agnes Hauptli

The exhibition will be shown in a couple of places in New Zealand before heading to the United States where it will show in Tacoma before heading elsewhere and then Europe.

I'm a dinosaur when it comes to social media but this is well worth following and can't wait to see the exhibition.  Thank you for taking a look and clicking "like".

Merino spinning

When I'm on duty at the Cargo Shed I have to have something to do so am taking the opportunity to break into some of my sliver stash.  This is

merino sliver from Treetops of  Perth, Western Australia.  

I split the sliver lengthwise then loosened the fibres by pulling lengthwise.  They were too sticky to start with to use a diz. Spinning was a joy.  I was hoping I could get matching areas of colour.  It isn't too bad, just small areas of bean poling.

The yarn is not the best spinning by a long shot but oh so squishy and soft.  (Click to enlarge.)

I got home from the Shed in time to see a cruise ship passing Tuhua.  I couldn't help yelling out to the passengers - water choppy is it, breeze a bit chilly is it, feeling the chill are you, should have bought a shawl when you had the chance.  (I know, I'm mad.)

Shibori play

Its been a while and I'm not going to look back to see how long ago I last posted.

I have been weaving; two more runners to match the summer and winter grey/white ones and another red narrow one to match the placemats I gave my daughter at Christmas time and a wee square with the leftover warp.

 None of these have been wet finished or hemmed for which I need to set up the sewing machine on the dining room table - hence the hesitation.

Before I take the summer and winter off the loom (forever) I wanted to try some shibori using the S & W threading.

 This is a small sample showing both sides but the interesting thing is it uses a regular S & W threading of 1323, 1424 etc.  Most of the books (and my workshop notes) state that you need to extend the number of threads between the tie down threads i.e. 13432343, 15652565 to get texture.

The reason I wanted to try the shibori was to try some beautiful fine merino thread which a group I belong to, Professional Weavers Network, had made specially for us.  It has a little bit of overtwist and I wondered how this would react in holding the texture.  The above samples have been soaked and rinsed in warm water after the resist threads were removed - success.  More later when the scarves are finished.

I'm working hard to get these off the loom so I can thread for blankets.  I convinced a friend she really didn't need wool/mohair blankets in the middle of January but her patience may be wearing thin.