Short and sweet !

Hi there - my post this week will be very short as I do not have anything exciting to report !!

My silk scarf is now at almost 60" and doing OK, only another 12" to go and the first one will be finished. I am hoping that the warp threads will hold out until I get it finished ! I am weaving very steadily as I have learnt that unpicking 2/60 silk is not a good thing to be doing ! I only do two repeats at a time and get up for a wander then back and do two more !! No listening to anything or talking to anyone either or I make mistakes !

The rigid heddle loom as another eyelash scarf on the go. It is the same as the last one but with a black warp. I have woven almost 60" so have another 12" to go. I am taking it to a craft fair next weekend to demonstrate weaving ! It is a two day craft fair over a Bank Holiday weekend so I thought on Sunday I might finish the weaving and then on Monday I could show how to twist the fringes. I am hoping to sell some of my scarves from my 'woolly phase' of knitting and weaving ! Hopefully I can take some pictures to share with you next time.

The knitting of Tony's cashmere sweater is complete !! Now the sewing up has to be done, not my favourite occupation. This first picture is a bit of a cheat as it isn't sewn up but I put it onto 'Madge' so that I could show you what the neck looks like. A cosy polo neck, looking quite promising.

I have always used a back stitch to sew up jumpers but listening to podcasts and being on Ravelry has taught me otherwise. I have discovered the secret of mattress stitch !! On U-tube I found quite a selection of videos but here is a link to one by BerrocaKnitBits on how to set in a sleeve ! There are plenty of others to be found in the side panel. Anyway, the results of using mattress stitch are quite amazing ! This is a picture of the shoulder seam and you can hardly tell it is there and there isn't a stiff ridge on the inside.

It does take quite a while to do so it will be the job for this week I guess. Hopefully it will be washed and finished by next week and I can post a photo of Tony wearing it !!

Better get busy then, having just set myself that target !!

Happy weaving and knitting to everyone and I'll be back next week !

Who spotted the mistake !!

Hi there - I am wondering how many of you spotted the mistake in my weaving last week ? Worth going back to have a look ! Here's a clue ! It isn't a threading error thank goodness but there is a treadling error about 1.5" down from the fell. I wish I could say that this was a deliberate mistake but it wasn't. In fact, I didn't see it at all in the photo when I posted it. Full marks and many thanks to Susan who spotted it straight away.  That's an experienced eye ! Luckily, the picture was of my sample and not of the 'proper' weaving. It did make me realise that I have a lot to learn when checking my weaving. I really had to go back to the sample and study it carefully to see what she meant. Once I had spotted it it seemed so obvious. Anyway, I think I will be brave and post another picture ! This time it is the 'proper' scarf so hopefully there are no errors. I am 48" into it so it may have to be this way ! It isn't quite so close up either !

I am pleased with the way the silk is weaving although now that I am 48" into the first one there is a bit of wear on the edge warps. Not the selvedges, I think rubbing them with beeswax has helped that problem. It seems to be the third warp thread in from the edge that gets worn and it is worse on the right hand side. I have just added new warp threads and woven the ends in and you can't tell !

Once I get to wind on the 20" for fringes hopefully that might cure the problem until I am well up the second scarf. Fingers crossed !

That is all I have to report on the weaving front for this week. Knitting hasn't been very productive either ! The second sleeve of the cashmere jumper is underway is all I will say !

Last year my younger daughter, Gillian, gave me a rose bush called Dorothy ! I did think I had killed it off over the winter but it must be hardy as it is now in flower ! The flowers are a beautiful deep peach colour and have a very nice perfume. Thought you might like to see what it looks like ! Many thanks to Gillian, it is a great success !

The orchid which Alison gave me for Mother's day has now lost all of its flowers but I have trimmed it off as suggested and will wait and see if a new flush of growth appears ! My fingers are not very green though !

Last week it was five months since Tony had his new heart valve so we decided to treat ourselves to a weekend away ! We went to a very nice hotel in Northumbria called Slaley Hall . Only about seventy miles from home so not too far away. We stayed for two nights and played golf on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We don't often play golf together so it made a nice change. Of course Tony won all three games ! The weather was kind to us with some warm sunshine and no wind.  First picture shows a very healthy Tony who seems to have found a new lease of life !!

There were two courses to play on. We played on the Priestman course twice and the Hunting course once. The courses are named after previous owners of the Hall. They are both championship courses and very hard for us amateurs ! The fairways were tree lined and very attractive. Long walks round the eighteen holes and each round took us about four hours. We both still push our trolleys so no help from batteries or four wheeled buggies !!

We didn't see much in the way of wildlife but while looking for a ball I found this 'toadstool". Alison, if you are reading this maybe you know what kind it is ?

So, we had a lovely time, too much good food though ! We are on short rations this week to recover !

I think that is all my news for this week. It seems like not a lot of weaving but I did say it would take me a while to work up these fine silk scarves. I only do two repeats at a time and double check for errors before I go on so progress is quite slow. I am sure it will be worth waiting for in the end so stay with me !

Thanks again for visiting.

Silk Route continued !

Hi there - this week I can update you on progress with the silk. I haven't got very far but some progress has been made !

I sleyed the 451 ends at 5 to a dent in a 12 dent reed and added a floating selvedge at each side. Not my most favourite activity, it was quite difficult to separate out the five threads as they were tending to stick together a bit. I carefully waxed the selvedges as they will have to work hard and I would rather they didn't break if it can be helped.

First picture shows how I can now sit well into the loom to do the tie up. Tony has raised the 'props' a bit so that I can get my knees in under the front bar. This makes it a much easier task and saves on back ache !

The other thing I have started to do is to insert a garden cane across the loom to rest the untied treadles on for an easy start. You can just see it in the picture above but maybe clearer in this one.

Anyway, enough of the mechanics, what does the silk look like ! Well, I always check the threading with a contrast yarn. I didn't have the same weight so this was quite a bit thicker and the result was a bit strange. It was hard to tell if the threading was correct or not and I didn't like the look of the pattern and worse still it didn't look a bit like the draft on Fibreworks !

Having got this far I thought I might as well do a proper sample and to my relief it began to look the way I was expecting and I didn't seem to have any threading errors. In fact I am quite delighted with the way it looks although slightly daunted at the thought of 72" of this ! Multiplied by two as the warp is enough for two scarves !! The picture makes the pattern look much bigger than it is, remember this is threaded at 60 epi. I had to lean well over to let the light catch the side on view to show the pattern. So that's my sample done and now I am ready to weave !

Next, an update on Tony's polo neck cashmere. I have finished sleeve number one so only one more to go and the end will be in sight !

The eyelash scarf is finished but the bad news is I have enough to do another one ! The next one will have a black warp.

Today I have been to the Pittenweem Arts Festival. This is a fishing village about six miles from Crail and each year the residents open their homes to artists who exhibit their crafts. the whole village is involved and it is an interesting time ! There are many painters, jewellery makers, potters etc but I did manage to find some textile artists.

The Dovecot Tapestry weavers from Edinburgh had a display and this is one of their works.

Then I found a weaver called James Donald and this is one of his pieces.

Then I found the lady who had taught James Donald at University, Jan Shelley. Her exhibit was a stunning example of collapse weave using fine lambswool and cotton in some very exciting colourways. Unfortunately, I don't have good photos of those scarves but I did manage one of anther scarf she had on display.

I think that brings you up to date with my week in textiles ! Wish me luck with this silk next week !

Many thanks for visiting, I will look forward to your messages.

My 'Silk Route' begins !

Hi there - last week I promised more about my new warp so here goes !
You will remember from a few weeks ago that I had been tempted by some 2/60 silk when I was at Woolfest, and it looked like this :

I just love this colour and I found a project in Twill Thrills for a 2/60 silk scarf on page 35. It is a Gebrochene Twill which is the German name for an M and W twill. The draft is by Marjie Thompson. I put the draft into Fibreworks PCW and it looks like this:

I need 451 ends and two floating selvedges, threaded at 60 ends per inch, 5 to a dent in a 12 dent reed. the next picture shows the start of the warp winding. From reading how others managed fine silk I knew that lack of humidity could generate a lot of static but here in Scotland we don't have a big problem with low humidity so I didn't really have any difficulty. I did, however, have a water spray handy and kept my left hand damp while winding on the warp. I found if I wet both hands the yarn was too hard to wind but one hand worked really well.

My warp is only six yards long, enough for two sacrves. I was a bit nervous of a longer warp in case I got in a mess ! I wound the warp in bouts of 100 and then a 51. I had been advised to do plenty of choke ties to keep everything under control ! I have been using 'Klippit' clips for ties for some time but decided they might be too severe for the silk. I found what I call pipe cleaners in a local craft shop and decided to try them out twisted around the warp. I twisted the pipe cleaners around the warp 4 or even 5 times and was pleased with how easy it was. However, when I came to wind on I think I had been a bit overly enthusiastic with the twisting. I have a feeling one twist or two at the most would have been enough to keep things in place. It took a while to undo the 4 or 5 twists !

I placed 12 ends in each raddle slot and left spaces to achieve a slightly wider spread than the 7.5" stated in the instructions. Winding on was quite uneventful and I found myself wishing I had wound a longer warp although I am sure Tony was glad it was only 6 yards ! I had enlisted his help to wind on while I pulled and flicked at the front. Here I am half way across the warp placing 12 threads in each raddle space.

I started on the threading and right now I am about half way across the 451 ends. It is quite hard separating the fine threads at the cross but otherwise no problem.

There will be an update on progress next week but so far so good !

After finishing the Brooks Bouquet scarves I needed a new warp on the Knitters Loom. I had a rummage in the stash and decided something autumnal might be a good idea ! I had two 50g balls of Rowan Lenpur Linen DK weight in a sort of terracotta colour, some black Sirdar Silky Look Dk and three balls of Sirdar Reflection eyelash yarn in a sort of golden/yellow mix. I wound a 3 yard warp with two Terracotta and two black threads alternating. I have found that I get good selvedges on the side where I start with a 'slot' so I decided to end in a 'slot' as well to see if that would help the left selvedge. It does seem to have worked so must remember to do that in future.

The weft I have been doing 2 picks of terracotta followed by 4 picks of eyelash and the result seems not to bad. I don't do colours with any great confidence but this is easy on the eye. I probably won't rush to buy more eyelash yarn though as I am not very keen !  So, must stop looking in bargain bins in wool shops !! Anyway, I am half way up the scarf and it looks like this :

My daughter, Alison, has found me a new friend called 'Madge' ! I think she raided a shop close to where she works and Tony cut her off at the hips to make her more portable ! I found her a black T-shirt and now she is ready to display scarves and wraps ! No more pictures of coat hangers on this blog !!

I think that just leaves me with Tony's sweater to update. The first sleeve is almost at the armholes so looking good for being finished in time for colder weather.

Hope to bring you an update on all of this next week.

Bye for now