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Mixing It Up

10/29/2019

 
Picture
When last we saw this tapestry,
half of  it had been transformed
from woven cloth
into fragments of flax
(now settled into my compost pile
amidst cabbage leaves
and other garden tailings).
Picture
Since then,
the warp has sprouted
a couple of tiny houses
​and the beginnings of a recipe.
Picture
Well, actually the end of a recipe
given the bottom to top
 nature of weaving tapestry,
​but I'm sure you know what I mean.
Either way, it is not evolving as I planned.

Picture
My original intent
(with the now composting linen)
was to mimic the paper
on which the recipe was written--
a thing I've done before,
so version 2.0 presented a dilemma.
If no longer repeating something I know how to do,
what?

The same thing again only with wool?
A different piece of paper?
Forget the paper idea
and let my hands choose
 yarn and direction?
Picture
Needless to say,
the latter felt the most delicious
even when,
given that my long-time
​and oft-stated preference
is to work with two strands of singles,
my hands chose the small ball
of  mill spun
two ply Harrisville Flywheel
left over from from 
the long Sarah-Dippity Skirt
I wove last winter
(which just happens to be
what I am wearing today).

Geez.
Give my hands a choice
and anything could happen.
 But since I'd rejected coolness and relevance as a guiding principle
 it did seem like a good idea
to go for the feeling first,
and let the 'concept' follow
(or not)
​as it would.
Picture
Picture
What bliss to have a warm, blanket-like (yet stretchy and fluid) skirt for perching in front of a loom when the thermometer reads 9F as the sun comes up).
So -- with the dark (stonewall)
woolen-spun Flywheel
for most of hte letters
and two strands of hand spun 
 madderroot-dyed Targhee/Debouillet
for the RED letters
(cuz of the red roof on the little house),
 I marched the few blocks to my LYS
The Yarn Underground,
came home
with more of the Harrisville 
in a slightly lighter value 
(driftwood, a warm-hued woolen cousin
of the hand spun linen
at the bottom of hte tapestry),
and dove in again.

Dan's Digestive Biscuits 2.0
here I come!
Picture
Weaving tapestry with knitting yarn
presents many challenges:
stretchiness, packability etc
(type "weft yarn"  or "tapestry weft"
into the search box at the top of the page,
and/or on Rebecca Mezoff's blog,
for more info on this topic),
and I find myself enjoying it immensely.
Not only is this the perfect weight
for my sett (10 epi),
but it is also kind of fun
to contrast it with the red hand spun.
Sometimes one seems easier to work with,
sometimes the other. 
Who knew? 
Picture
But there we go again --
assumptions
--for food
for tapestries,
for how one's days unfold--
are merely a starting place,
don't you think?
What joy
to mess around with yarn
change my mind
and adapt.

Also -- a gal can buy some really nice yarn.
It surprises me every time.

ps -- speaking of changing/trusting one's mind,
there were a few questions/comments on last week's post
about ripping out, making the decision to do so,
and​ how to have/develop confidence in one's choices.
Rebecca M wrote a great post about this
(with a video!), which I highly recommend.
The link is HERE.

lap full of fragments--or the sunk costs fallacy strikes again

10/22/2019

 
Picture
You know how it goes.

​Of course you do:
it's a NEW PROJECT
alive with the thrill
​of beginning.
Picture
You do a bit of sampling--
(but not much).

After all,
​you've worked with these materials before--
(on a much smaller scale).

You know what's what--
(mostly). 
​
For sure they are
wonderful materials:
interesting, elemental,
and related ​to everything
​ you've been talking about
for months and months.
Picture
The hand spun linen is lovely,
though you're not positive you love
working with two strands.

-tap, tap, tap--

The warp-weft relationship
could be a little... different.

-tap, tap, tap--

You'll get used to it.

-tap, tap, tap--

Who is ever sure of anything?

-tap, tap, tap--

​This work could be
relevant,
and important.

-tap, tap, tap--

Besides,
it looks wonderful.

-tap, tap, tap--
Picture
Except,
that two strands 
of  white mill spun linen
is less pleasant
than the hand spun.  

-tap, tap, tap--

And  the half-assed attempt
to repeat the tape thing
you've done before?

-tap, tap, tap--

And oh,
there is a lot
of empty warp
up ahead.

-tap, tap, tap--

Now HUSH.
--tap--
You made a decision.
-tap--
It'll be SO COOL.
-tap--
​It'll BE FINE.
​-tap--
Picture
It'll be fine?

Did you hear that? 

Oh no
.
It'll be fine
is the kiss of death.

Does that mean you have to rip it out?
Nah.

-tap, tap, tap--

Really,
who wants to decide what to do
all over again?

It WILL  be fine.

-tap, tap, tap--


You go away for a week.
Come home. 
Weave a little more.

Sure is nice sitting at a loom.
If only...

Never mind that.
Go for a run.
Take off your shoes.
Wade through some muddy puddles.

Oh my, does this feel good.

Oh.
Right.

But I've woven so much.
And I LOVE how it looks.
And the waste.
And....

--SNIP, SNIP SNIP--
Picture
​Relief.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

library of days

10/8/2019

 
Picture
Yesterday, I made a new comic diary --
Picture
The front cover 
is a four selvedge tapestry
(woven hand spun coffee filters),
and the back,
a scrap of stiff cardboard
(it is nice to have something to lean on).
Picture
The paper inside
is Rives Lightweight printing paper.
It's got an odd texture for drawing
and is hard to erase thoroughly,
but I love that it is both thin
(I can get lots of pages in one book)
and highly absorbent
(I can slop watercolors and black ink
on both sides of every page
without any show through). 
Picture
This time, as the drawing says,
I decided to use a four needle
Coptic binding --
well actually it is a two needle technique
(one needle on each end
of each piece of waxed linen thread),
and I did it twice.
​Here is a link to the instructions
(thanks for the link Velma!),
which are wonderfully clear and easy to follow.
Picture
It occurs to me now
(just a little belatedly)
that if I'd followed the binding directions as written,
I could have had a four color binding
instead of "just" two.
​Phooey.

Picture
Not that I'm all that wedded
to binding perfection
(as you can see from the pics),
but it is fun to mess around.
Maybe next time.
Picture
I do try to draw in these diaries every day,
and with the decrease in size
of these last two books
(from 5" x 4 1/4" to 3" x 2 3/4"),
it's amazingly easy to fill four to six pages 
without even really noticing
(rather than than one or two as before),
so if I keep this up
"next time" could come fairly soon--
even with the extra signatures
I added onto this new version.
Picture
For comparison,
the big diary on the bottom 
lasted for almost four months,
while the one in the middle
won't even make a month and a half.
Picture
It could be that my life
has suddenly gotten MUCH more exciting.
Picture
It could also be
that the smaller pages
have influenced my style.
Picture
Or maybe its the influence
of the tiny houses--
​though I'm not quite sure how.
Picture
What I am sure of
is that the portability of the smaller format--
now enhanced by the extreme portability
of this teensy pocket palette
filled with handmade watercolors
created by K. Jodi Gear--
makes it extra easy
to have my materials with me
no matter where I am,
Picture
or what I am doing.
    Picture

    ​Sarah C Swett 
    tells stories
    with
    ​ and about

     hand spun yarn. 


    Picture
    Click for info on
    my four selvedge
    warping class
    with
    ​ Rebecca Mezoff  
    fringeless


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