Cell Weave

I was a bit slow getting started yesterday, but I did eventually get to the Cell Weave sample. Here it is: So different from my Huck Lace! This one is woven in a fine wool with the combination of dark and light threads outlining the "cells".

There's another version of Cell Weave on the list of projects, but also several completely different weave structures to tackle today. My plan is to do the most different ones first and then come back to the ones that are similar to what I've already done. Of course there will be a bunch of other people all with their own priorities, so I'm hoping for a bit of cooperation and expecting more than a bit of chaos today. If I can keep my head straight, I might even get all the required samples done by the end of today, but I'm not counting on it. We'll see how the day goes. For now, my priorities are porridge and coffee so I'll be ready for the day.

Next!

I picked up the loom, yarn and instructions for the next sample in my Shared Project yesterday: My task for the morning is to decipher the instructions and weave my sample. Then I'll be ready to do it all again tomorrow with several more weave structures. From here on I have the advantage of seeing what someone else has done already, so it's not quite so cryptic as it was for my first sample. Tomorrow's going to be an interesting exercise in group dynamics as well as weaving--ten students each trying to move around ten looms . . . oh well, at least I get to do this one in the peace and quiet of my own home.

Happy Huck

At the risk of patting myself on the back excessively in public . . .My Huck Weave sample is woven. That means I'm ready for Saturday's class and it's only Thursday. Wooo Wooo:) The even better news is that my weaving buddy, Amber, is also done already on her sample. I'm going to swap looms with her this afternoon. If we both manage well tomorrow, that will put both of us ahead for our weekend class. To explain the extent of my jubilation: this time last year I was stressing over putting the warp on for our shared project and arrived in class to find I'd made a fatal error and had to do all my threading again. So being up to date is a big relief.

Now just to keep things in perspective, I do still have an entire Summer and Winter sampler to do, which I missed out on during my flooring chaos, and there's a lot of fine spinning on my "to do" list, but I think the sunny yellow has got into my heart--I feel as if I've got some good momentum going here.

Unidentified Visitors

My friend V came over for coffee yesterday morning. She brought her applique and stitched away while I threaded up my loom. It was great to have some company and the small amount of distraction was more than compensated by the large amount of motivation and good-will.

One of the distractions was trying to identify a little honey eater who has been visiting my grevilleas. There were two of them there the other day and I'd managed to get a fairly clear picture without scaring them off. Usually as soon as I move to get my camera, my dogs jump up. Since the grevillea is just outside their favourite sunny window, that usually means that my shy little visitors take off. But the dogs were particularly lazy the other day, so I got a couple of good shots at them before they saw me and flew away--the birds, that is, not the dogs.
Now V knows a lot more about identifying birds than I do. To prove the point, she just happened to have a Field Guide to Australian Birds in her car! We decided that my little visitors are probably New Holland Honey Eaters, though one of the identifying features--a white tip to the tail--doesn't match up with the details in my photo. I'll have to have another good look when they next come along. Observing little details like that is easier said than done, since the honey-eaters bob and flit and fly off quite quickly, but I'll have a go.

Well Dressed

My loom is dressed!

It's one of the expressions in weaving that I find amusing--the process of putting the warp on the loom is referred to as, "dressing the loom". I guess an empty loom does look kind of naked, but this one is now clothed in 172 threads of yellow cottolin. Just so you can appreciate what I've been doing all morning: each thread has to be pulled through a loop in a wire heddle--those are the heddles hanging on the frames in the middle of the loom. Of course the threads have to go in a particular order. Then another lot of threading to get the threads through the gaps in the reed. That's the metal comb-like structure at the front of the loom. The heddles determine which threads are raised while weaving the pattern. The reed spaces the threads evenly and determines the finished width of the fabric.

It's fashion week in Melbourne this week and the papers are full of slim young models . . . I don't think my loom will be gracing the catwalk any time soon. Its figure is a bit blocky and its clothing rather scant. And I'm glad it doesn't have the attitude that seems to go with fashion presentations. I'm happy for my loom to just sit nicely on the table and let me tell it what to do.

Now I'm going to abandon it for an hour or so. I need to fill up the car. The tank's nearly empty and I don't want to run out on my way to class tonight. Hopefully I'll make it to the petrol station without too many hiccups, but I'd rather have any drama this afternoon than this evening.

Sunny

I finally got on with some weaving yesterday. I've been a bit overwhelmed by the number of projects I need to work on. For a while there I got stuck worrying about it all, rather than getting it done. But yesterday was a good day for making progress. I finished off my samples on the double cloth--more about those later. I got that off the loom and started putting on the next warp. It's the Huck Lace for our Weaving Class shared project.

Now lace would traditionally be done in a light-neutral colour, but this warp is nearly 4 metres long and there just wasn't enough white or cream yarn of the right weight in the teaching stash at the Guild, so I've ended up with Sunny Yellow.
It's a cotton-linen blend yarn and I'm getting fond of the warm colour already, although at first I was rather unimpressed with it. I've made my first threading error, but thankfully I'd only threaded about thirty ends, so I can pull it out and try again this morning. If I can get a good run at it today, I'll be very pleased with myself. I also need to prepare for the last of my Triangles classes at the Neighbourhood House tonight.

Welcome Spring

Most years I'm a bit skeptical about welcoming Spring on the 1st of September, but this is pretty convincing:

That's my Silver Princess gum tree. Look at all that beautiful new growth! There are dozens of delicate little tips like that all over the tree. And yes, the sky really is that colour blue this morning.

Now remember, this is Melbourne and the forecast is for 16 and partly cloudy, so who knows what will happen next. There was snow overnight in the mountains. I've got my heater on in the living room and crocheting a wool blanket which is draped over my legs as I work is quite comfortable, but despite all that, it does feel like spring. Maybe I'm finally getting used to what Melbourne spring feels like after more than ten years away from Sunny Queensland.