Looping method of adding new yarn to tapestry

What I do is to fold the yarn, which doubles the strands. One piece of yarn becomes two strands. Two becomes 4, etc.. It works best when you have an even number of strands. One end of the bundle has 2 cut strands, the other is the loop. When I get near the end of a looped bundle, I thread the new bundle into the loop. When I come to the end of the cut strands, I splice (or overlap, or tuck in the ends, whatever method you use when changing colors or continuing colors).. If I'm done with a color before I get to the loop, I'll snip the loop and splice. If you​ don't want the "jag", then you'd have to splice unless you get lucky and the loop is at the end/beginning of a pass.

Little Boxes part 2

In my post about my Little Boxes tapestry, I wrote "Some Little Boxes Videos", and then I only put in one. One of my FAVORite ones is by Walk Off The Earth: The tapestry I did in 2020 was based on Pete Seeger's color order. I may do another based on the other 2 listed above, starting with pink. I warped my Crisp Student loom this morning, stay tuned!

Tie Dye Bandanas

Last week I dyed a few bandanas, 2 different sizes: 22" and 27". 100% cotton. Professional dyes. They're on sale in my Etsy shop, c'mon over! First I washed the fabric. I made the various mixtures that I needed: soda ash and water to soak the fabric in. I mixed the dye powders in water. I soaked the fabric. I twisted each fabric. I applied the dye. I put them away to rest for several hours. I unwrapped and rinsed each bandana...and washed and rinsed some more... and dried them. Some tips: It's important to wear protective clothing: these items are not necessarily in order of importance, just in order of what tumbled out of my brain: 1: Wear clothes that you don't mind getting dye on. I don't think I got any dye on the clothes I wore, which would be amazing, knowing me (can't take me anywhere, can't wear light colored clothes in public unless I want to let the world know what I ate). 2: Wear gloves. I have a box full of nitrile gloves. They're comfortable enough. 3: When working with powders, wear a mask. It doesn't matter how careful you are, wear a mask. I'm comfortable with wearing mine now after wearing masks for 2 years because of covid. Once the fabrics were washed and soaked, I started twisting them into different shapes, mostly following spiral or mandala patterns. (I'd love to try some of the patterns that make specific designs like peace signs and whatnot. Maybe I'll tie dye a cat portrait! Maybe I'll dye a pair of stained jeans to give them a new life, with DIFFERENT COLORED LEGS! Maybe stripes! Before I started twisting and tying fabric, I settled down with a few YouTubes to refamiliarize myself with the process. Riah's Tie Dye is my favorite. I learned that you can not only dye fabric with mixed liquid dyes, but you can also sprinkle dye powders onto the fabric, then put ICE on top of the powder and let that sit for 24 hours. I NEED MORE FABRIC! People, buy my bandanas (and looms and yarn) so I can buy more fabric to try out some of these cool techniques and make tie dye paintings, and also pay a bill or two... and food. Some people call them tapestries, but as a tapestry weaver, I'm hesitant to do that. It's complicated, and it's controversial ... until I get this sorted out in my head, we can call them TIE DYE PAINTINGS!! Enough of the babbling. Here are some photos.

Ta ta my pretties!

Tapestry Weaving Resource List

 

Rebecca Mezoff's online classes: Rebecca's online classes

A good one to start with is her Little Looms course.

Here's a YouTube video of how to warp a Hokett loom (or any similar slotted loom.)

There's a tapestry weaving group on Ravelry and there are other groups that discuss tapestry weaving,
and several 

on Facebook... 

Book list (not in alphabetical or publishing date order):

Kathe Todd-Hooker, Tapestry 101.

 (to see my sampler based on Kathe's book, go here: 

   first post: https://weavingrainbow.blogspot.com/2013/09/sampler-under-way.html

   to follow progress, go to the October page and start at the bottom and work up... the finished photo
is here:

    https://weavingrainbow.blogspot.com/2013/12/finished-sampler-photo.html

   

Kirsten Glasbrook, Tapestry Weaving

Nancy Harvey, Tapestry Weaving

Carol Russell, Tapestry Handbook

A quick tutorial can be found in Threads Magazine #41. You can find them on eBay, or you can join for
$5.99/month 

(as of December 2019), to see and download the archived article.. you can find it here.

 

Rebecca Mezoff and Sarah C. Swett, The Art of Tapestry Weaving: A Complete Guide to Mastering the
Technique 

of Images with Yarn.

Tommye McClure Scanlin and Rebecca Mezoff, Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond: Planning and
Weaving with

Confidence

 

 Tommye McClure Scanlin and Phillis Alvic, The Nature of Things: Essays of a Tapestry Weaver

 

Joanne Soroka, Tapestry Weaving: Design and Technique

 

There's a book list on the Tapestry Weaving forum on Ravelry as well as on Rebecca's page, but
the above are my

 favorites.

Book reviews on Rebecca Mezoff's blog here

Rebecca Mezoff has several online courses (linked above) that are pretty good. I have her Little Looms
course & love it. 

Tissart assembly getting closer!

Early July, the floors upstairs were completed...yay! I've started to set up the studio...

 First up will be painting the walls white (from some offwhite-beige-y color), cleaning the floor, & deciding on lighting...right now, that room's lighting sucks: the lighting in the (large) room outside the studio (currently a junk landing room, I guess we can call it a game room) is connected to the light inside the studio..also both rooms may need a second air conditioner vent. I'm not sure what's involved with that, although it seems like the game room may be picking up air conditioning from the upstairs, so that may be a good thing...

Once the first section of the studio is painted, I'll move the metal shelves in & start setting up the clear plastic tubs... once that's done,I can paint the other half of the studio and set up the looms. The LeClerc Tissart tapestry loom will need to be assembled. I'll take pictures & maybe I'll even do a video of the process... the Hammett loom will need to be slightly disassembled to get it into the room from the garage... the other looms are more portable. I also have a spinning wheel, which will need some repairs before I can use it again...

Last month was a rough one. Last week, we were rear-ended in rush hour traffic, which resulted in the car being pushed into the car in front of us, messing up both ends. Insurance declared it a total loss, paid the loan back & I was able to put down the same amount for a down payment for another Subaru Forester. The other one was a 2013, this one is a 2015.

Then on Wednesday July 14th, at 3am, one of our cats, Bartleby died. We were trying to get him to emergency care when he passed. We were 2 minutes from there when he stopped breathing. If your cat is spending a lot of time around the litter box, take them to the vet asap.

Then Gary said he was having bad chest pains, so off to the ER we went. To make a long story short, he got another stent.  While Gary was still in the hospital, I buried Bartleby under a tree in the paddock.

Today I'm going to be doing a few things around the house...progress photos as soon as I have something to show!

One of our cats, Benzie, has severe skin issues, which we've been working on with our vet... he's been wearing a cone 24-7 and last night I put a onesie on him (not snapped).... this past weekend, he managed to get the cone off. I found something that he'll be able to wear that hopefully will help and allow him to spend some time cone-free... the reason for the cone is he goes overboard with the bathing & has torn himself up pretty badly. He's also taking some medications... but we're weaning him off the prednisone so that 6 weeks after he's been prednisone-free, the vet can do a skin biopsy & hopefully we'll have some answers. Poor guy! It's definitely not fleas, or else our other cat, Othello, would also be having issues & we know that there are flea products that fix that... 

LeClerc Tissart Tapestry Loom

ANYWAY, some cool news: I found someone that's Giving AWAY my dream loom... it's a Leclerc Tissart.. it's 45", I would have loved a 60", but it's free.. (well mostly, I'm having it shipped through uShip.. got a bid on it today, which I accepted).. 

It'll have to be assembled and I'll need another part for it, and I've spoken to someone who said I probably can get it easily enough.. we'll see when it gets here...
I say it's my dream loom, but I've never met one in person...

 

Home Renovation

Work on the upstairs has gone well so far... all that's left is to pull out nails in the sub-floor and finish pulling out the old flooring in the rooms we haven't already pulled them out of... clean up and then put the new flooring down. We have plank vinyl for the upstairs rooms. Then the baseboards/trim, new lighting & the boys can move upstairs and I can start setting up my studio.

WIPS

Knitting wips: 

  Haunted Hanukkah shawl (Forbidden Fiber)
  Slipstravaganza (Westknits)
  Thick socks (generic socks, toe up.. working on the leg part now)

Cross Stitch wips:

 Wakanda Forever
 Mandala SAL (Nichole Young)
  Random French knots in a Hoop
  Beside the Sea SAL

 

 

Hanukkah Cross Stitch Patterns, House Reno, Weaving & More

 I found several cross stitch patterns, there are many more, but these are some that I found on Etsy.

 This one is ready to start, it's called Peace & Light by Satsuma Street on Etsy:

Peace & Light

 

 

 

I haven't started it yet, but I plan to. I have all the called for threads. 

 

I have a Hanukkah needle minder from MadForMinders on Etsy:

 

 

Here's one from Demented Stitchers on Etsy:

 

Hanukkah Gnomes 

 

I have all the threads, but have not decided on a fabric. I'll be doing skin color conversions.

 

Here's another from Mkissa Creations on Etsy:

You Spin Me Right Round

 

 Next up is from The French Giraffe on Etsy:

Happy Hanukkah

 

 

This is another from Demented Stitchers:

 

Happy Hanukkah 

 

 

 This evening I found a new (to me) pattern from Khanna and Ilan on Etsy:

 

Hanukkah Menorah 

 

 

I'm waiting for a Hanukkah yarn kit from Dyetastic (on Etsy) called Eight Nights of Yarn... thanks to post office problems, the kit is not here yet, but it is what it is! I'm not upset about it because a lot of people are having issues with mail slowdowns. Tracking shows that it is nearby (in Fort Worth) and once it gets here, I'll post photos!

 

Knitting

 

Meanwhile, I've started the Haunted Shawl, which I'm calling the Haunted Hanukkah shawl.. designed by Leann of Forbidden Fiber... 

Here's my start:

I have 9 colors... the pattern calls for 13 (20 gram/87 yard skeins). I don't know if I'll buy the other 4 (hopefully from the same designer, JulieSpins on Etsy)... or dip into my stash. It depends on whether or not I have any leftover from Slipstravaganza, which is a fingering weight yarn, but it's not a singles yarn like this one.

 

Here's the whole set, plus there's one more not shown, it's a lime green that I had Julie add:

 

 I started with the one on the far right...

 

Here's Slipstravaganza: it's not up to date with my current progress, but it's the latest photo:

 

 

House Renovation:

 

I posted about buying a house on my other blog I bought the house in June, and in August, the roof was replaced. The upstairs ceiling collapsed in 2 rooms, and tomorrow, there will be workers doing the demolishing that is needed to be done, in preparation for new sheetrock, which will be followed by painting & then the boys will move upstairs. Once that happens, I'll be able to start setting up the downstairs room for a studio & move my big Hammett loom inside. I'll probably blog & maybe vlog about it as well...

I haven't decide if I'll give the loom some kind of spa treatment: a gentle sanding & some kind of new finish to protect the wood... I think I will!

 

Weaving Looms & Tools

As some of you may know, Jeff Johnson is no longer making looms and tools, but before he closed shop, he sent me a bunch of log looms, small inlay looms & shed sticks. He also sent me several shed stick blanks, which need to be sanded & finished.  We still need to buy a sander. I also have several 3/4" shed stick blanks from Jim Hokett... I am also hoping to buy some other tools so that I can learn to make looms...

I plan to put what I have on Etsy. They are on my website, Weaving Rainbow, just click on looms & tools. 

I'm also going to add Briggs & Little yarn Buy links back on the website as I found a provider! 

 

Until next time:

 

Stay Safe & Wear Your Mask In Public... 

 

 

 

 

Ta ta my pretties!! 

 

 

 

Update for YTZ

 For some reason, Ravelry isn't letting me upload photos.. maybe a glitch, so I'm trying here...

Renditions

addendum July 12, 2022: I added a couple more videos to this entry as they somehow didn't make it in. On Monday, March 31st (and some of Sunday, the 30th), I spent most of the day trying to get a tapestry ready for the ATA Renditions show.. originally I wasn't going to enter, but when I found out they weren't going to do a physical show, just an online show, I thought, hey, why not, and I started my tapestry on Sunday... crazy, right?? It's about 5" by 7" and I used a C. Cactus loom...

I wasn't sure what I was going to weave at first, I started out with some handspun singles, which I bundled into 3 strands, and started playing with some wedge-weave-style techniques. I decided to base the piece on the song Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds...

Malvina Reynolds - Little Boxes

Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of tickytacky
Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

There's also a small section inspired by the Rolling Stones song "Paint It Black"...

I had trouble finishing the last few rows, and found out in my Ravelry Tapestry Weaving group that I should have woven a few rows from the top down to make it easier to get those last few rows in! I'll try that next time!

I ended up making a hem at the top...

More information about the tapestry:

Sett: 10 wpi
Warp: Jaggerspun wool warp
Weft: varying yarns, mostly handspun, some Jaggerspun Zephyr wool-silk/wool.

Some of the yellow was handspun on a spindle on the 31st... took 20 minutes. It had a LOT of live twist, even when I put 2 strands together, but seems to have settled well on the piece.

I did some wedge weave (for the hills and sky), and soumak for the top & bottom.

Some Little Boxes videos:

Rustic Log Looms!

We have new looms coming to the website soon! They are I-shaped, and come in 5 or 8 dent, in 3 different sizes: 4" by 6", 4" by 9" and 8" by 10". Custom sizes are available as well. Email me if you'd like one before I get them on the website.

The last photo has a weaving in progress with a 4" weaving needle. I'm using an emery board to hold a place for one shed... a shed stick, a double pointed knitting needle, a bamboo stick, popsicle stick, and other things would all work for this purpose. I like the emory board because it's light and can open the shed a little bit. I discovered it when I was on the plane last spring and realized that I didn't have any crochet hooks,shed sticks or bamboo sticks with me. The only thing I could find that would work for the purpose was an emery board! If I'm using a crochet hook, I don't need anything to change the shed she since I can pick the shed with either end of my crochet hook...

I've also been spinning in the Spin Off Mitt-along! 

I'm spinning using the POF (ply on the fly) method: I'm spinning the singles "Z" and chain plying "S".  I'll do another blog post about this soon!

I'll be starting another spindle for the other mitten. Stay tuned to find out what pattern I decide to use for my mittens!

Happy Weaving & spinning, etc.!

Weaving info

Weaving info

If you have a small loom similar to one of the looms I sell or a Hokett loom or other small loom, here's a page with some info links and youtube videos for weaving, mostly tapestry:

Rebecca Mezoff's online classes: Rebecca's online classes

A good one to start with is her Little Looms course, but they're all good.

Here's a youtube of how to warp a Hokett loom

There's a tapestry weaving group on Ravelry and there are other groups that may discuss tapestry weaving, 
and several on Facebook... any other groups/links, please let me know in comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNWJNZOL2NU&t=74s how to warp the loom.

Book list:

Kathe Todd-Hooker, Tapestry 101.

 to see a sampler I wove by following Kathe's book, go here: 

   first post: https://weavingrainbow.blogspot.com/2013/09/sampler-under-way.html

   to follow progress, go to the October page and start at the bottom and work up... 
   the finished photo is here:

    https://weavingrainbow.blogspot.com/2013/12/finished-sampler-photo.html

   

Kirsten Glasbrook, Tapestry Weaving

Nancy Harvey, Tapestry Weaving

Carol Russell, Tapestry Handbook

A quick tutorial can be found in Threads Magazine #41. You can find them on eBay, or you can join for $5.99/month (as of December 2019), to see and download the archived article.. there's a 14 day trial and you can find it here.

There may be other tapestry weaving articles, but the one in Threads #41 is what got me started. I even made the loom in that article several years ago! I no longer have it, so no photos of mine exist.

Rebecca Mezoff has a book on Tapestry basics, you can find it here. From her website: "It is not a comprehensive technique book (that is coming later). It is an adorable and fun look at a few tapestry tips.  The illustrations are so great, you might want one for the children in your life."

There's a book list on the Tapestry Weaving forum on Ravelry as well, but the above are my favorites.

If you have any suggestions for anything I should add (or change) from the able, let me know!

New Looms are HERE!! Knitting socks... and figuring out which heel I like!

For those who are waiting: new looms are here. I will start shipping Monday.



Sock Heel Issues



I've got 2 pairs of socks on the needles. I'm ready to do the heels on one pair, but before following the instructions for the Sherman heel written in the pattern "Tintern Abbey", I wanted to try the heel out first, and a couple of other heels... I've got one Sherman heel on the needles & since the instructions in the pattern are set up for DPNs, I'm having to convert the instructions to use with Magic Loop...

This turquoise piece is a trial of the Sherman heel. So far only the gusset is done and ready for the heel turn, but I'm having trouble with the instructions...I think I need to do the heel turn on half the stitches, but will watch some YouTube videos first.

A Neat Fix for Loose Warps:

The other day, I was weaving in one of my bookmark Arch looms, and the warp got loose, so I threaded some Seine twine through the loops in the back and that fixed the problem! I'm pleased as punch with this solution!

This size is not yet on the website, but if there's any interest, let me know and I'll get you one or more. They come in 5 and 8 dent like the other arches. Weaving width is about 2", length is 7-8".. the postcard loom is 4" by 6-7".

weaving

I've been playing with my arched looms:

The piece on the left is experimenting to see if my 2 ply wool warp yarn would work with Waverly yarn using all 3 strands. It works alright, but I think 2 strands might be better. I'm playing with weaving from the back...that's why there are so many strands sticking out.

The piece on the left is yarn that I handpainted YEARS ago... tapestry doesn't need to be done on any specific colored yarn because the weft is supposed to totally cover the warp. I decided I wanted to try using the same yarn for warp & weft thinking I would try doing wedge weave as a plain weave,but it didn't want to work. I'll just press on until I run out of warp & then I may try doing the same thing again with proper warp yarn with this weft.

I'd love to find a wedge weave class so I can learn more about this technique. I was really hoping to be able to take a class in Rio Grande tapestry weaving at Estes Park next week, but that didn't work out.

I have some new products that will be on the website sometime in June: new forks, some straight handled, some curved handled, an arch loom that would make a nice sized bookmark.They're around
3-1/2" by 7". It might be fun to weave words on it!

A recipe for baked oatmeal

here ya go!

What I like may be different from what you like, so please don’t look at this as a “be all end all must follow exactly” kinda recipe, it’s not. I did what I always do, started with something for a base, then experimented and made changes until it was what I wanted - for example, the original recipe I got had a TON of sugar in it, so I experimented with healthier ingredients until I found what worked for me.

Mix and match your spicing – mine is drastically different from what the original called for.

I added the apples in addition to the craisins called for because I like them – take them out or add a different fruit – make it your own! You can just eat it warm, or with a bit of milk drizzled on it. A certain man in my house likes to eat it cold from the refrigerator – cuts a square, and heads out the door for work. (I confess to having tried it that way too - not bad, but I prefer it warm.)

Dani Arnold’s Baked Oatmeal

Minutes to Prepare: 10 Minutes to Cook: 40

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats - NOT instant or quick oats!

• ¼ cup brown sugar

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• Freshly ground nutmeg to taste (I'm a huge fan of nutmeg so I use quite a bit)

• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup milk of choice (plant for vegans!)

• ½ cup pumpkin puree

• ½ cup applesauce

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup dried cranberries (craisins)

• 2 pink lady or granny smith apples, peeled and chopped (or pears! or both! whatever you want)

• nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350

Mix dry ingredients, and then mix in the wet ones.

Stir until blended, and then stir in the craisins, apples, and nuts (if desired)

Put mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan, and bake for 40 minutes.

Refrigerate to store when cool (if it lasts that long)

Number of Servings: 8

Happy Thanksgiving!

 I made a vegan roast... we'll see how it comes out. It's from one of my favorite YouTuber's, The Vegan Zombie... from his holiday series... roast & gluten free stuffing.. (which is weird because the roast is NOT gluten free, but the stuffing is GF.. and it is SOOOO good.. cauliflower, carrots, onions, celery, spices...maybe someday there will be a gluten free roast..)

Here's a photo of it before baking:

And after, but before turning it over & covering it in parchment paper & wrapping in aluminum foil:

Later, when we get to our friend's, we'll remove the cheesecloth & reheat it... it looks dry, but this is before turning it over, which basted it. I also added the rest of the stuffing to it...the basting broth tastes a little spicy. I'm curious about how the roast tastes. That mini roast is for testing... I may try it before we go.

I read other recipes & rejected them for different reasons: mostly because of comments from others that made it. If I have time before we go, I may make a seitan only roast, or may save the comparison testing for another time.

Projects:

I hope to get some knitting, spinning, and weaving time today... I want to finish the tuck scarflette, and work on Beekeeper's Cardigan, which I'm not sure I still like...I'll try to get someone to take a progress photo of it on me..and maybe swatch for Penguono...do a little more spinning for the Shetland socks, and maybe do a little weaving on the arched loom... wedge weaving perhaps, or a postcard...the arched loom makes a good postcard size, and if you're careful, you can make it sort of fringeless, or you can make a lot of fringe by warping around the loom. I'll post photos of it in a few days.

Did I mention that I still have some of Jim Hokett's cocobolo kits? They're 8 dent, and are the 'regular" 7" by 8" size. If you're in the US, you can order yours at this link.  You can also ask me about Cottage Creations patterns: I have a few left.

If anyone wants Jaggerspun yarn, now is a good time to order it as the prices will be going up around the middle of December... 

Photos from Archie Brennan/Susan Martin-Maffei workshop April 2015:

On Rebecca Mezoff's blog post here, she talks about meeting Archie & Susan, and others have talked about their experiences meeting them. Here's what I wrote:

"I went to a workshop in Weatherford, OK in April of 2015, at SWOSU, Southwest Oklahoma State U... He spoke with my son (then 13) about his unicycle for a bit on the last day.. my son also wove a bit with us that day.. Good memories!
Can we post pictures on here?"

Here are some photos:

I'd love to know who's following this blog! Leave a comment!

Random thoughts: wildfire,

Random thoughts:

On April 9th, 2009, the day we lost our house to a wildfire that claimed 9 houses in our town... If I had to do things over & grab 6 or 7 more things (I could have, the fire wasn't near our house yet), that loom would be one, my guitar, my Hagen loom, some yarn that I hand painted, and a little journal my mom wrote, and my computer... I was burned out on weaving, but it still would have been nice to have had that loom.

No one told me how hard it would be when kids moved out...especially when they live far or decide to estrange themselves...you get so involved with caring for them, doing stuff with them, etc.. and then one day they're off. I'm proud of my boys, they've been through a lot, learned a lot...

I feel reasonably healthy & hope I don't find out I have some hidden cancer or something with a harsh treatment that'd ruin my health overall... my roommate, not so much.. last month, he had his gallbladder removed, and is still figuring out what's possible diet-wise... he had a quintuple bypass (traditional) last year.. has trouble breathing from emphysema..

Projects:

I'm hoping to get some more natural colored fiber for my 2nd sock. I have about 250 yards spun so far, I think it's sport weight, so I'll need more yarn to finish this up.. I just found 3 colors that I need on eBay & hopefully I'll find some Ashland Bay grey shetland as well... I think I found some, but hopefully the seller will sell a smaller amount.

I'm further along now than the collage shows, have approximately 1/2 spun for the 2nd sock:

I've started a toe on the first sock:

Beekeeper is quiet, I want to finish it, but am not sure how long to make it before starting on the ribbing... I'd also like to make Stephen West's Penguono:

and have been collecting some older Chelsea silk yarns for it: 

 

plus a few other colors...pink, pale yellow, greens, blues, etc... the skeins from the photo above have been "put away" in a "safe" place... not sure where...

I also have a scarf in progress... anthro inspired scarflet:

This isn't an updated photo... I'm about 3 or 4 inches beyond the slit. Before I embarked on knitting, I tried on a size 6 and 7 needle, and liked the 7 better...

Tata for now, my pretties!