I've been busy, just haven't been documenting or posting or even hemming and fringe twisting.
End of July I went to a Dimity workshop at Pinson Mound State Park hosted by the Jackson weavers and presented by Pat Donald (formally from Jackson).  Nice workshop and came home appropriately tired.

All towels are Washed - - but   are  NOT   IRONED.

Really a peachy/coral  colored.  Only 4 of these. Had a whole section of the medium peach color in the warp that just shattered.  I remember being frustrated with the tension in the replacement area and 3 other places.  Don't really know what caused the other areas to be soft.  I was trying to use the warping trapeze and the little handle on the BabyMac back beam just isn't designed to wind a full width tight warp - - it will wind one section quite nicely from the AVL WW  - - not a 20-21" warp.   - -  well, it IS a sectional beam.

Lemon with white or natural - - - should have looked since I can't remember

 Last one treadled as twill and is quite drapey.  (??not a word ?)    5 towels

All greens, even the pale stripes  =  5 towels

Reds with natural -- 5 of these; different wefts

So far, that's 19 towels needing ironing and hemming.

3 scarves on the M & W interlaced threading with sides changed to a point instead of the M or W 

How did this yield 7 towels AND a bread cloth ??

Borrowed this idea from a towel I purchased and got a fair replica.  Would like to try some more along this line with tripled threads, but for enough emphasis they need to be quadrupled.  You can't see here that in each stripe there are 2 tripled threads - probably because they are not ironed.  

These were inspired by a Pinterest post.  Yellow, blue and white.

19 plus 12 more =   31  towels woven      whew, that's a lot of ironing !

Can't decide what's next.

One photo of the 'spring' scarfs.  Hand dyed greens with variegated pink stripes.
I'm not thrilled with these - -  



Orange stripe 8/2 cotton warp from Oralee.  Wish I hadn't used the brown looking color.  5 colors plus natural.  Wefts varied from flake to orange same as warp.  One photo on the loom and the other off the loom but not washed.

     must be the last one - - there is a line of 'fraycheck'.



Had a terrible time with the loom (see previous post).  Was able to weave off the 4 remaining towels in the same amount of time it had taken to weave towel #1.

Blue stripe 8/2 cotton warp - - also from Oralee.  4 blues with pale blue stripes in between.  Wefts are one natural and one blue flake plus 3 blues from the warp.

April has come and gone . . . .
Finally finished the green scarf warp with the variegated stripes shown March 16th.  Photos later.
In the first part of April, Angela and I went to Oralee's to get the yarn from the attic.  We got 2/3 to 3/4 of if down and loaded into our cars.  Freda helped get part of it out of the car and then I sorted it by color.  Put most of it in the front hall on shelves borrowed from upstairs.  Selected several orange/rust colors to weave kitchen towels.  Got the color order worked out and decided that since I'm going to do several towel warps, the extra heddles needed to be removed.
Worked several days winding the warp.  Made many mistakes trying to get it beamed - trying a different procedure.  After rolling forward, then back, it was threaded, tied on and ready to weave.  With great difficulty towel #1 was woven.  In taking the heddles off, the harnesses weren't put back in the same order. (don't know how when I thought I was being so careful)  Harness 3 was catching on Harness 2.  Took over a week to get that towel woven and I couldn't stand the thought of trying to do 4 more the way it was.  So - - towel #1 was cut off.  Was going to turn H 3 around and re-thread 1 thru 3, but after a quick review, just took H 2 off and turned it. (now 1-3 are reversed) Treadled quite a few tabbies to see if that was going to work and not once did it catch or sound like it rubbed.  Only had to re-thread H 1 and 2 - - much better than having to do 3.
Got the warp re-threaded, dented and tied on to the front beam.  (front tie-on cords needed some repair which entailed shortening all the cords to match one that had been damaged)  At 5:30 towel #2 was started (orange flake). Wow! what a difference.  By 6:15 it was done (over 500 picks).  Started towel #3 (beige flake) and even with a short break it was done by 7:15pm. Started towel #4 (white flake) and got 12" done.  Should be able to finish it in the morning.

While waiting to go to the Bartlett Bell practice...  I'm threading a set of cards to make sheep - - it's a draft dated 1996 and probably got at a conference.
The Mullarky workshop was really good and he explains things thoroughly - with reasoning behind it.  Saturday went great with only 1 hour sleep.  Sunday was a disaster and by 2:00 I had really lost all ability to concentrate and pain everywhere.  Couldn't figure out how to correct something and broke into tears.

Back to this new sheep draft - - there are arrows slanting up or down to designate which way to thread the cards, but I don't know which is S (from back) or Z.  Will keep you posted.......

It's been longer than expected since the last post.  Had a few false starts on the warping board.  Plans were to use a two-colored silk like ikat.  Had it on the board and really wanted it to work, but the color length was just not working.  There were equal amounts of both colors in about a 24" span that just wasn't going to look good in a scarf without re-thinking how to use it.  Next time.....

The next experiment was with the pink/green silk blend.  The multi-colors were in a shorter color length.  Then I had to dye some rayon/bamboo to go with it.  That took 3 attempts.  The pattern on the screen was promising, but sett was too wide and weft was too light.  Another dye bath on the lightest of the group produced a dark green - photos later.


While the darker green was drying I re-worked the center design and re-dented to make 20 epi. (from 15)   Still a decent width for a scarf at 6".
Like the darker green better than the very light, but it's still not hitting a "pleasing" zone.
Getting ready for the John Mullarky workshop Saturday.  

No weaving, no hemming, no ironing, no photos, but ---  I've been working on putting things away in the kitchen.  Sounds simple, but I don't have good places to put some things and they take brain storming trying to come up with places to put them.  Then there's the part about not being able to stand very long without consequences of hip pain or other un-niceties.  Just haven't learned how to pace my efforts.
Went to Penzey's this afternoon - - it was their last day today.  So far, they have no place to move into.  They had no cocoa - - well, I found one very small jar, so I was trying to find something else to make the trip worthwhile.  At checkout, I was informed they had no internet/phone and therefore could accept no credit card sales.  I had to forego one item due to not having enough cash (I rarely keep much in my purse).  So, that was a little embarrassing.
Found meatballs in the freezer, browned them a bit and added sauce.  Tried one just to test whether I would buy them again.  When I cut it open, I realized they were not cooked even though they *looked* fully cooked.  So, into the microwave it went to finish cooking enough to eat it right then.  Will have to try them tomorrow, but I don't think I'll buy them again for myself - -  in the sauce, they looked nice for company.

Another week (almost) gone by and still no weaving.  No repairs, either.  Only a few fringe twists on a silk scarf.
Yesterday Freda and Lisa and I were supposed to go to Caritas Village for lunch (scoping out the place in hopes of having the birthday lunch there).  At 10 minutes before Freda was to pick me up, she called and said Preston forbade her to go there - - ever.  His friend Raymonds' son was beaten to death about 2 blocks from Caritas Village a few years ago.  After I recovered, I called her back and we went to Panera Bread.  which was so-so.  Ordered the chicken salad and don't think I'll order it again. Bread is always good.
PT yesterday was a relief and was given an exercise for the hip and sciatic pain - two different pains. Finally got some quality sleep.
Freda had invited me to dinner and I debated, but at 6:45 I called and asked if I had missed dinner.  She said it was in the oven -  come on.  Nice dinner company and evening. She had Lisa make a peanut brittle batch - - Lisa had just learned.  Then Mike (Lisa's son) made a batch with pecans.
Will try to make rolls today, but it's already 3:30pm and motivation hasn't struck!
Tomorrow is Mahjong at Barb's.  Barbara Bilson is bringing her great quiche.  Rolls would be nice to take if I get them made.

The never ending towel warp is done.  On this section of warp there were 7 towels woven plus a bread cloth length - didn't cut them apart or hem before washing this time (don't know why).  7 previously woven towels are hemmed; everything is washed and the hemmed ones are ironed.  Goofed and added fabric softener to the wash.  The towels are already very soft and didn't need any more help in that department.  They also didn't seem to iron up as nicely with the fabric softener. (the already hemmed towels were washed again)  If I run across the spray starch, I might test that out the next time the iron is fired up.
The pattern wefts all squared at the 24 epi sett, but am wondering if it should have been sett closer - - the cloth is soft and sheer.  The weft was beaten in firmly.  I'll have to actually USE one - test its absorbency - and do more thinking about *why* they are soft when the warp is cotton/linen (no % of each given).

The 'girls' have a birthday lunch/craft day planned for next Saturday - - the 27th.  That gives me 7 days to get things in order.  Will decide tomorrow what gets done *first*. That actually means something major has to get done everyday whether I feel like or not !    Finally figured out I'd made an error - - was a week off.  Have 14 days to get things cleaned up.
Dyed some yarn today to go with a variegated silk purchased a few years ago.  Strange colors and don't know what they looked like online, but I can't believe I would have intentionally bought this skein - - - apple green and magenta. Tomorrow I'll be able to tell how close I got to the intended colors.  More on that later.
Thursday the car battery was dead, dead.  I left the heated car seat plugged in - - drats !  Couldn't go to Bartlett bell practice. Was about to call AAA when Freda called re: the birthday plans.  At the end of the call, she asked why I had to call AAA.  Preston volunteered sending someone over to jump it off.  Scott and Freda came, started the car and said to let it run for about an hour - - which I did and then went to the grocery.  Thankful I didn't have to go through the ordeal of dealing with AAA - and at the same time, I'm thankful I have the service.

Sunday the Covenant bells play - - glad it's only one service.
Also on Sunday the Bartlett bells are playing (without me).  They have a processional that sounds rather nice.

Blogger doesn't seem to like transferring photos from Picasa3 - - it crashed - - TWICE.  couldn't find either post to update/work on it, so started this one and later they both showed up of course.
These are towels 1 thru 5 that I didn't take photos of at the beginning and hopefully they're in the correct order:
  

 


1 and 2 have hemp weft, 3 is terracotta mercerized 10/2 cotton, 4 is yellow singles linen and 5 is dyed hemp (red box burl from Mark Maxwell).

This is last one on the warp:


weft same as warp - - last 3 in all-over huck - it's not lace.

Well, here it is Friday.  Have been amiss to write all week.
I was on towel #10 thinking that was the end of the warp.  ha!.  I *thought* the warp was 10 yards.  I'm now on towel #13 and I think there is enough for #14.  #10 was done with thicker white cotton with red stripes at each end in an effort to *hurry up and get this off  I'm tired of this warp!*.  #11 was done with weft same as warp in a huckaback (?) design.  #12 has huck lace all over and decided to do #13 the same.
I WILL take pictures when I'm done with the whole warp.  Then there's documentation and photos of all of them.  Also, have only 5 or 6 hemmed, so there's hemming to do also.  At least, the previous ones are washed.
I see a slight chance #13 will be finished today - - slight..
So figure a 12 yrd warp - - 12 x 36 = 432"    (at an avg 32" per towel)
= 13.5 towels.  Maybe #14 is going to be a bread cloth !!!

#9   It's really dark chocolate.


Will have to go upstairs and decide what #10 - - yes, 10 - - will be.  It *looks* like there is enough warp left for a full towel, but we'll see. Also may change to another pattern - - or maybe just stay in this rut er-uh  comfort zone.

Got a few books put on shelves yesterday and there's an empty spot on the table upstairs.  Hope to get a little more done today.  If I could just do a little bit per day, it will eventually add up to big progress !  (same for the kitchen)
Have clothes to wash, clothes to fold, dishes to put away and some to wash.

Looks like #7 , but it's not.  This is aqua - #8.


Started #9 with a dark chocolate brown dyed with Rit on cotton/flax (same as warp). Feels a little harsh - must have been too much salt. Hoping it will soften up when washed.  Although, I used a little soap to get out excess dye when it was days soaking and still had dye.
On the social front - -
Didn't go to Tuesday group.  Had a sleepless night Monday, plus not hearing from ANY of the group - so was not in a good mood.  In fact, it was a crappy mood and was a bit miffed with them (no, not Barb).  I apologized on Wednesday to Barb and feigned feeling bad.  Took some of the rolls to her on Thursday along with a card I had made with Wendy and Debbie sometime last year.  Took a photo of it and would like to make a few more.  The glue had not held so to re-stick it I used the 3M glue sticks purchased from Sam's (split with Freda) - - did not hold.
Thursday morning bell practice at Bartlett went well.  I keep telling myself not to get bored - - some day I'll be thankful to play at all.
Shirley sent a text saying she was in the hospital. Wouldn't say where - she didn't want to see anyone - feeling miserable. She called today and may be released Sunday or Monday.  Pancreatitis due to gall stone.  Will do surgery in 4-6 weeks when inflammation has calmed.  So far today the jello, broth and tea have stayed down.  They won't release her until she can eat and not throw up.
Scott and Lisa should have loaded up the car and driven about half way today.  Freda will be so tied up with them next week I won't see her.  In fact, she'll be helping for several weeks. They really got a bargain on the house with large workshop in Country Wood or behind Country Wood.

Another one done........ #7



Woven with denim blue mercerized cotton.  Not enough left to do another one.
Next one is aqua in the #1-4 pattern.

Took 6 towels to guild meeting on Saturday - - not all were hemmed yet. Also took the chenille scarf from MJ's warp.  The program was on kumihimo done on various devices.  Learned how to use the disks I got cheap from China and no shipping (surprising).  There were 2 handouts for designs.

Tomorrow is Barb Konrad's birthday with the Tuesday Group.  Haven't heard from any of the other members - - asked by Barb 2 weeks ago to come for lunch.

Towel #7
dark emerald (?) mercerized cotton

Finally discovered what was making a dark shadow on close photos - - the flash is to the right of the lens and causes a shadow.  Solution: to back up and use the zoom feature instead of getting physically close.

Next weft is dark blue mercerized cotton.  Think there is enough warp for 3 more towels.  Put in 2 sticks between 10 rows of tabby - - waiting for Fraycheck to dry before cutting off  #'s 4 thru 6 and re-tying to the front beam.  Too much bulk on the front beam to add another towel.

About half way on this one.

Guess I got tired of all the previous ones done in neutral colors.  A bit drastic, though.  When I saw this pattern on the PC screen, it looked very inviting compared to all the diamonds I'd been weaving.  Half way and it's quite boring to weave. 1-2-3-4-3-2

End of towel #5 using the dyed linen/hemp in red box burl liquor.  Might be more of a rosey color than here.  Dyed 400+ yds and used all but a few yards. The last few yards had knots from trying to use the Silver Needles cone winder.

Did some figuring - -  20" in reed /  19" in web
weft shot = approx. 19.5" at 24 epi  =  13 yds     x    30" ish woven = 390 yds.

Busy day yesterday, but no weaving.
Robin's birthday breakfast 9:00 at Shoney's.  Home for a few minutes and then off to Barb's for lunch and mahjong.  Played 'til 6:00pm - whew.  All our minds were tired and should have stopped before that last game.

Towel #5 half done.
Freda and I went to a noon music presentation at Bartlett Methodist.  I asked the music director Tom Wilson, if they had an adult bell choir.  The answer was that there were 3 - - THREE.  The one that had an opening is a level 2-3 that meets at 9:00a on Thursday. Will go tomorrow and see how things work out.
Karen xxx is the organist and in charge of this group. She showed me where the practice room is and which door to enter.  
The other (not beginner) meets on Monday night and doesn't have an opening.

Finished towel #4

Certainly will work on photos !

This is almost the end of towel #4 - showing the beginning of the hem.  Weft is yellow linen singles purchased on eBay a couple of years ago.  The yellow is close to what I got from osage orange wood shavings on bamboo/cotton.

Have dyed 400 yds of the natural hemp with Red Box Burl liquor from Mark Maxwell's donation of wood shavings.  It came out more pale than I'd hoped, but it will make a nice subtle towel.

Haven't decided whether to use this pattern again or try a new one.  That will come later.

Thursday, but technically it's Friday (12:03am)
Today Freda took Madge and I to lunch. First we tried Carraba's, but they are only open for lunch on Saturday/Sunday.  Ended up at Longhorn and each of us had a hamburger with soup. Wish I'd ordered the steak.

No weaving, but am almost 2/3 into the 4th towel.  Not getting much done this week.
Tomorrow (really today) there is the 'creativity group' gathering at Ria's.  Hope I get there - - need people.  Need to get the first 3 towels pressed for hemming.  Not getting up at an early hour any day this week doesn't make it look too promising for tomorrow. But...  it's on the list.

PS to previous post

Saturday the 3rd towel was finished and cut off.  The tension was adjusted, warp re-tied and the 4th towel begun.  Never have taken pictures and should have.

January 4th.. already !

Only a few inches woven today.  So far, the tension is tolerable.  Will never plan another 10 yard warp and wind it on sectionally.  The only way it *could* work is to wind it on with sticks. The warp beam is just too small in circumference.

Not making much headway with the fringes, either.  Have washed 2 scarves and put them in the stack ready for fringe trimming and pressing.

Yesterday was "craft day" at Wendy's and Debbie's birthday.