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Monday, March 2, 2020

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I like numbers; I keep track of things. I confess I did not for a year or more after the TBI, but I'm sure we all know that. The Mira came back to me three months ago, early in December. Since then I have woven 120 towels. I'm almost to the end of the second warp on the Mira.


This is the warp remaining of one hundred turns. The next time I turn a warp, it probably will be 110 turns. A turn is a complete revolution of the beam, the predetermined number of times. 

The beam will hold much more, and I wish I could do it. But thread is heavy. Back when we did shows, and I off loaded all the clothes and rugs, I said in the next life we would weave with feathers.

I took off the plum towels yesterday, and they are on the blog.


I also took a short sequence of pictures to show how I go from one color towel to the next.


When I cut off the plum towels, I tied slip knots in the warp. This keeps the threads from being pulled out of the reed, or worse, the heddles. That can make any weaver, man or woman, cry. 


Starting in the middle, the threads are tied to the cloth (or breast) beam, alternating to the next bout left and the next bout right. Some weavers start with the outside bouts and work to the center.

Next, idle weave, to take up the inverted V between each bout. I use a coarse cotton twine for most of the idle weave, and finish off with the white idle weave I will cut when I cut off the towels.



So, tada, the next towels will be this marigold. And the last set of towels on the current warp, is on the shelf of many colors. I'm thinking the darker lavender on the extreme right.

35 comments:

  1. My brain struggles with your explanation - but I love (and admire) your industry.

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  2. I do like that lavender color! I did wonder how you did switch from color to color :)

    betty

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  3. I do love technical talk. Your answer took up ideas I couldn't formulate as questions. Great.

    That sequence of threads on the upper shelf, of green, blue, gold, is lovely.

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  4. I like that marigold colour and I like seeing the steps needed to make the towels.

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  5. This is all amazing to me. I understand the basics of weaving but how you set up the loom to begin weaving is beyond my understanding. You are magic - right?!

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  6. This sounds complicated to me; the plum towels are very pretty. I am amazed at your talent.

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  7. That must be a good explanation because even I could understand it - thank you for that.

    That dark lavender makes my heart go bumpity-bump.

    Is the plum as dark as it looks in the photo? I thought the cream would make it appear lighter than it did on the spool/cone or whatever those are called :)

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  8. Interesting colors....The plum looks rather brown on my monitor. I wonder whether that is the real color. You are so diligent!

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  9. I tend to get dizzy warping and end up feeling ill, think it is going backwards and forward. But I do persevere and enjoy the end results. Love your colours, they are very strokable.

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  10. The colors are so beautiful and the weaving looks like a miracle to me.

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  11. Hari OM
    A wonderful view into your world!!! any and all colours are gorgeous - but the reds and yellows do attract my eye... YAM xx

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  12. If you need an unsolicited testimony on the good quality of your very well made towels, here it is.

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  13. Wow, Joanne - those colours look lovely! Bright marigold would suit Easter well!
    I use your lovely towels a lot: often for travels (you know: I have to).
    These days I thought: I would like to be able to weave (as child I had that little weaver-board you could put on a table) - but I am not megalomaniacal - it is a skill and an art, and you did it for many years, with so lovely results!

    PS: I am the second person who gratefully gives "unsolicited testimony" on the good quality of your towels - added: and scarves! - and added: and their haptic and beauty.

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  14. It is an amazing job that you do, Joanne. i have only known one person with a loom and what she could produce on it was spectacular. I am not sure I could ever have mastered it.

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  15. Wow Joanne, you lost me halfway through your detailed explanation and I'm a knitter and sewer and one time spinner. But weaving absolutely frightens me. I've watched in awe and admiration though.

    Marigold is such a lovely name for a colour.

    XO
    WWW

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  16. Of course I remember Teddy Bears Picnic

    https://youtu.be/uxFIGWm9M6w

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  17. More and more, I find myself wanting a tiny loom.

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  18. your control of the tension as you throw that shuttle back and forth is what amazes me.

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  19. "The shelf of many colors," LOL! Weaving sure is a complex craft.

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  20. The process of weaving is beyond me, Joanne... seems a bit complicated for my simple mind. But I agree your towels are wonderful - love the feel and the quality. And I too love the picture of all the spools of color!

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  21. A good explanation of the process.
    My grandmother taught me to spin, weave and sew.

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    1. I had to teach myself spinning and weaving. Fortunately I had a good sewing teacher, my mom.

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  22. I like Marigold (Edith's daughter on Downton Abbey). I like your marigold, too.

    Love,
    Janie

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  23. You always make it sound so easy when we all know how how much skill is involved. Marigold's just the colour to welcome Spring (we hope).

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  24. How beautiful! I think this is very difficult. It's a gift I do not have...

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  25. That shelf of colours is a work of art in itself.

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  26. Beautiful colors! It all sounds very complicated, the process of weaving.

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  27. The process is so interesting.

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  28. The language of weaving is all double-dutch to me. You are extremely clever. I have been looking at your blog and am really pleased that you seem to be in full production.

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