Weaving, Weaving, Weaving.... Pt. 2

Tomorrow I'm doing an art fair to try and sell some work. Not weaving or fibre art this time. Like before at Art on the Prom, I will be selling small paintings and drawings. Its at the UCS Waterfront building 10-3pm. Scary, but I have a small knitting project to keep me occupied. I have learnt to use double-pointed needles! So I'm going to try and make some chunky legwarmers....

Anyway to continue my weaving post....

My 3rd piece is where I had problems with my warping. I used a wool that was very fluffy the first time I warped the loom for this piece, the fibres stuck together when I tried to move the heddle and actually weave. It was really frustrating and after a few attempts to weave with it I got cross and took the whole thing to pieces. The next day I warped up again using a bog standard acrylic I had lying around. It works. Which is ace and I worked on it for a couple of days, and created 2 lines of Brooks Bouquet (which I am proud of). I also made some loops to give the piece some texture. I tried clasped weft again, which turned out well.

The piece is for Wool Against Weapons which is a very worthy cause. The piece needs to be 60cm x 100cm. Since my loom is 50cm across, I thought I would make 2 pieces at 30cm wide and then sew them together. My piece is a little short (my measurements were clearly inaccurate) but maybe I can crochet an extra bit onto it once its all done. It needs to be done in all pink. Which I am definitely struggling with. There is a bit of blue in my first piece 'cause I wanted to make big bobbles with this ace yarn which has bits of pink in it. I think it will be ok as there is only a bit of blue. Enough blathering, on to the piccys.

The 2 lines of brooks bouquet. So pleased with the way it looks and how stable it feels.

Clasped weft and some white bobbles.

The blue-ish bit with pink bobbles.

Another close-up of the brooks bouquet. Just 'cause I can.

Clasped weft up top and at the bottom.

The 1st piece in full. On my washing line in the garden.

Hope you like it. I will start the 2nd piece on Monday with any luck. And have it all done by the week after if I work hard. I will update you asap.

Sleepy now.....

Weaving, weaving, weaving...... Pt.1

Since my last post, I have got myself a lovely loom. Actually, it was bought for me by my partner (even more awesome). Its an Ashford Knitters Loom (50cm), like the one I used on my course but 20cm's bigger. This is ace 'cause it means I can make a piece of fabric up to 50cm in width.


It looks like this. ^ It folds up so I can carry the loom around and weave pretty much anywhere (if i can figure out how to do it properly).

I have warped 4 times so far, 3 times successfully. One attempt was thwarted by a particularly difficult wool, I didn't know until I had finished warping and started weaving that it wasn't going to work. I swore at it a lot. Warping is still a bit of a struggle with only 2 hands but I seem to be getting the hang of it.

My first project is going to be a cushion for my partner once its washed and sewn. I call it the 'Hobbit' 'cause I warped up while watching the film and Rob (my partner) is very fond of LOTR.

I had a go at clasped weft and adding bits into the weave. Its pretty cool for a first go.

My 2nd project was a shawl for me during the autumn/winter time. I based my palette on the film 'Chocolat'. I love the brilliant colour's of Vianne's cafe. I wanted something comforting, rich and bright. I made it predominantly out of a nice brown wool from my local shop Jenny Wrens Yarns . I had a great time picking out yarns.
 I found out, after running out of wool, that you shouldn't start a piece using remnants of wool you find in charity shops. You cant get the wool again unless it has a label, so you shouldn't base a whole project on it! I wont do that again. You will notice on the pictures that I started with a lovely dark chocolate brown, but had to change to a lighter shade because of this incident. In this piece I varied the colours on my warp so I could create small blocks of colour within the piece. I also added skull beads to enhance its Mayan feel.

As you can see, I need to weave in the ends and wash the piece. I haven't been able to wash them yet because of a sprained knee, but I am itching to do so.

I will write about the 3rd piece in pt. 2 of  'Weaving, weaving, weaving.......'.