Donkey Blanket

Day 40: In the words of the immortal Donkey, "In the morning, I'm makin' waffles!" Thus this throw shall be known henceforth as the Donkey Blanket. When released from tension, this deeply textured weave contracts into ridges and pits not unlike those found in a breakfast waffle. It makes for a deliciously warm fabric. As weavings go, it's easy to set up on a four-shaft loom, even a table model operated with four jacks. However, this time around, I've warped it onto my floor loom which has the benefit of having six treadles, two of which can be employed both in the textural weave and as tabby sheds (border, bottom). I am using a direct tie-up which is a little different from that shown in Mary Black's "Key to Weaving." Rather than tying multiple treadles to harnesses 2, 3 and 4 as she suggests, I discovered that if a direct tie-up was used for 1, 2, 3 and 4, and treadles 5 and 6 were set to operate harnesses 1/3 and 2/4 (the tabby), by treadling the sequence as 1, 2, 1/3, 1/6, 2/5, 1/6, 1/3, 2, I could open the same sheds. What does this mean? Most importantly, it means that I don't have to crawl around on the floor changing the tie-up I normally have set up! This is another fascinating thing about weaving: there are often multiple ways the same end result can be achieved. This, then, is my own recipe for waffles. Maple syrup, anyone?

The Arnie Blanket

Day 44: It's close enough to the unavoidable moment for me to post this: Park Plant Ecologist and good friend Arnie is retiring, a fact which saddens me to no end. His wife is also hanging up her hat, so we're having a party for them on Thursday. This handwoven blanket will be my retirement gift to them. I also made a matching scarf for Sara, and Joe Dreimiller mounted photos of Team Biota's most memorable finds in a large frame. During his too-brief stint at Mount Rainier National Park, Arnie has been very supportive of me and of Team Biota. He has also helped me become a better scientist, teaching by example, gently correcting my errors, guiding my focus to the finer details of botany. We had some good days in the field (most of which wound up with me as the punch line when I sunk thigh-deep in mud or took a tumble into a bog), and I will forever be grateful for the hours he spent listening to me rave about a certain rare fungus, absorbing every word and then coming to me at some later date with printouts of research papers on the subject in the hopes of providing further insight into its special ecology. His support has meant the world to me, allowing me to "do science" on the Park's behalf. He will be missed by many people in the Park, but I think none quite so much as me.

Ah, yes, the blanket. It was woven as a double layer on a four-foot floor loom, and the design was based loosely on the famous "Hudson Bay" blankets of yesteryear. I used standard "fabric store" knitting worsted for warp and weft, and finished it with twisted fringe. I'm sure they'll enjoy it during chilly nights at Crater Lake where Arnie plans to continue working as a VOLUNTEER!

Warp Speed, Aye!

Day 340: "Warp speed, aye, Captain!" I measured the warp for this project on September 13, a mere five days ago. On the 14th, I spent all day putting it on the loom, i.e., mounting it on the back beam, threading 502 heddles, threading the reed, winding it onto the beam. I made a few passes with the shuttle that evening just to be sure I'd threaded the double-width draft correctly and satisfied that I had, I went to bed with the backache from hell. On the 15th, I wove for a few hours after a work party, and then again for a few hours during the morning of the 16th. Yesterday, I got serious, and by the time the day was done, I had put an additional three feet on the project, leaving only two to go this morning.

The weaving is done, but the blanket is not yet complete. The ends need to be hemstitched before the fringes can be twisted and knotted. I've just recently started using twisted fringe to finish projects and feel that they give a more elegant touch to my handwovens. This style fringe is time-consuming, though, especially when you're talking about 502 threads on each end which will be twisted as two pairs of three or four threads each. It will probably take me longer to finish the fringe than it did to weave the coverlet.