Starburst Shawl

I while back, like in 2013, I had a little play with Snowflake Twill by way of the Starburst pattern which first appeared in Weavers magazine, Issue 13, 1991.  The article has been reprinted in the book "The Best of Weavers Twill Thrills".
http://loomtalk.blogspot.co.nz/2013_01_01_archive.htmlh
Recently Sophie asked me to share the draft:
Hi Dianne, may I ask you to share that beautiful Starburst weaving draft? A friend of mine found your post, and we both loved the Starburst! And now we want to weave it :-) 

This pink picture is as seen in the book Twill Thrills

and below is my interpretation showing quite a difference in the star but still recognisable as Starburst to the point I feel copyright would apply.  What do you think?

This is an 8 shaft draft plus I used an extra 4 shafts for a basket weave selvedge.

Snowflake drafts are formed by combining various twills.  They include an area of advancing twill, usually reversing in the middle but in this draft the advancing twill does not reverse and the runs are lengthened to widen the rays.  Areas of point and straight twill are used along with some satin.

"Twill Thrills" includes a very good article on composing Snowflake drafts and would recommend the acquisition of the book.

Congratulations Pauanesia

Pauanesia, a boutique store in High Street, Auckland, celebrates what is unique about our country with a unique line of goods inspired by the coast, native bush, our stories and the spirit of New Zealand.  

This year Pauanesia turns 21 and to help celebrate it has been my privilege to design 21 scarves telling the story of our wonderful country in one day. 

The series has been woven with lambswool merino in a 5 end extended threading.  The feature is the hand dyed yarn so although each scarf has a unique treadling it is the colour which tells the story.

                                                                                                                                                                     

Lets start with Night and Day:

The second part of the brief was Dawn to Dusk.

Sunrise just east of Tuhua Island, my view most mornings.

 Dawn brief

 Sunset brief

Congratulations to Heather, Nigel and Staff and thank you for being so supportive of us artists.

Magic Yarns Workshop

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a workshop organised by the Bay of Plenty Area Education committee called Magic Yarns presented by Rene Corder Evans.  This was the only workshop I'd really wanted to do at Festival but missed out as it had filled very quickly so was delighted to have a rerun available.

Rene has an impressive stash of unusual yarns, many of which we don't have the opportunity to see or use so to be able to sample without an expensive outlay for yarn was wonderful.  Of course texture in our weaving was the objective.

My warp is ramie Nm 15 sett at 30 epi.  8 shaft loom threaded two blocks, straight draw, 12 threads per block.

First sample is Habu silk (69%)/stainless steel (31%)

First half of sample tabby then 3:1 1:3 blocks.

I can see this being fun with a shrinking yarn like merino with just a few threads of the stainless

or knitting machine.

 Sample 2 Hanji paper, tabby didn't allow much texture but more within the blocks of twill. 

The skipped floats were me using pickup to see what happened but it was taking too long in the workshop.

 Next I tried copper wire (about 37 gauge) on the ramie, when wet finished in hot water the ramie did all sorts of hijinks.  Scuptural forms come to mind with this.

 Chizimi, product of Husquavna Viking, is a polyester which shrinks about 30% when steamed.  When I handle the sample the first instinct is to stretch that wonderful texture but there is no stretch in the Chizimi.

 Colcolastic on the other hand has lots of stretch.  The bottom band is tabby and the other two stripes are twill, by this time I was hurrying so samples were 2x2 twill.  (I believe Agnes at Fibreholics stocks Colcolastic.)

 The sixth sample is Sanjo silk lycra and it has the most pull in, bands top and bottom are 2x2 twill while the middle band is tabby which is almost covered by the ramie.

 And the last sample so far is Z twist single.  This would have been interesting to see in the block weave or alternated with the S twist thread but was beaten by Father Time.

I still have some threads of my own I want to sample like elasticated wool from DEA and some overtwisted merino from Anne Field.

Would recommend this workshop with Rene to any weaver though those in Canada might need to plan ahead as the stash is in NZ.

Pounamu blankets

Sunrise with cloud formation over Tuhua Island.

If you follow diannedudfield'sweaving on facebook you will know that a while back I wove a blanket dyed in the colours of pounamu (greenstone) to compliment the By Nature Exhibition now showing at Inspirit Gallery, Tamahere.  This partner will soon be in Pauanesia in Auckland.

 This closeup shows some of the nuances of colour, one of my favourite blankets so far.

  

 I'm in the middle of a big secret project which involves over 50 metres of weaving, all threads hand dyed first.  This probably explains my absence of late.  Come June quite a bit of work will be able to be revealed.

Anne's sliver

About this time last year my friend Anne passed away having put up a grand fight against cancer.  

I was gifted some of her stash (thanks Peter) including this sliver of 75% corriedale, 25% silk from Anna Gratton Ltd.

I spun a single and plied it with navy cashmere commercial yarn.

I don't know what this style of spinning is called (except not very good) but I held the commercial yarn straight and let the handspun semi wrap around it; except when Blindspot got exciting or when I fell asleep and then I found myself reverting to regular spinning.  

What, don't you keep spinning while you sleep?

My plan is to knit myself a Pfeilraupe wrap so I'm off to make a tension sample.

Ann's kitchen towels

This post is really a record for me.  The photos are awful but if you look at the light stripe on the outer edges you will see the treadling line followed.  Threaded in 6 shaft echo, 28 tpi, 2 threads of 20/2 cotton together, charcoal and rust alternating.

My brief was the colours in these bracelets.

 Below, echo weave, pohutukawa green weft. 2:1 twill

 Below, turned taquete, apricot weft, two shuttles one with single thread the other with double thread.  The pattern is not very distinct.

 Below, 4 colour double weave with white and green in weft.

Below, 4 colour double weave, apricot and green in weft 

 Below, apricot weft, echo.

 Below, echo, white weft, treadling line same as threading

 Below, echo with 2:1 twill (which I just read is called jeans twill)

 Below, echo with pale green cotton/linen weft

 I think this last is echo again with a cream weft. 

 I seem to have missed photographing one which I'm sure was 4 colour double weave.
 Out of 9 towels there are just 2 left, 5 will go to the States and 2 are off to France.

Bottom of the pile!

I'm pretty sure something I want to use is in that banana box at the very bottom of the pile.  

Question is, how much do I want it??

And know, I don't have a chain saw in the cupboard but no clue what's in that box.