Friend Evelyn

Day 75: After a false start in which I determined that a sett of 15 epi was too loose for this draft, "Friend Evelyn" (A Handweaver's Pattern Book, green edition, p. 142) is under way. I had woven one full pattern sequence and had even done the hemstitching across 412 threads by fours when I said, "Nope, this just isn't going to do." I picked out the hemstitching, unwilling to simply cut the piece off the loom and thereby waste the thread, and then carefully unwove my work. I rethreaded at 18 epi and started over, and by bedtime, I was back to the point where I'd stopped, including the hemstitching. "Friend Evelyn" had been established officially as my "Christmas Weave." The colour looks a bit off in the image. The ground/tabby displays fairly accurately, but the forest green pattern threads are a bit bluer in the photo than they are in real life. What I love about "Friend Evelyn" is that each full treadling sequence creates four distinctly different motifs in a 2 x 2 square. Two full sequences are shown here. The yellow thread at the top of the cloth is my measuring device. I will weave the next repeat and measure from it to be sure I have 3.5 inches or "close enough" (i.e., within two threads). Minor adjustments can be made when stitching panels together, but if there is too much variance, no amount of wishing and/or washing will make them match up. If the measurement is not "close enough for gov'mint work," the sequence will have to be unwoven and redone. Long years of weaving and joining panels have taught me what I can get away with, and what I can't. When finished, "Friend Evelyn" will be a coverlet.

Max's Christmas Weave

Day 74 (bonus edition): I've been working hard all day to get to this point. Max is fully warped, and I've run several throws of slicky cord to establish the width of the piece. This is my customary way of starting a piece of weaving...no toilet paper, no sticks, no rag strips...just six or eight throws of a nylon cord to space the warp. After I have woven an inch or so with the threads I am actually going to use, I will hemstitch over the first two true throws, and then I'll pull the slicky cord out. There is very little waste doing it this way. I have a selection of nylon cord in various diameters to match the threads I usually use. In this case, I'm going to be using 5/2 cotton for the overshot and 8/2 for the tabby. I chose a slicky cord similar to the 5/2 cotton. I'm pretty tired now, so I may not start the actual weaving until tomorrow, but at least Max is ready for his Christmas Weave!

Christmas Weave With Help

Day 73: I had intended to wait until I had a few throws or even a full motif on my Christmas Weave, but I had so much Help while warping that I simply couldn't wait until I finished threading the loom. I use poster board (one of the thinner types) to pad the warp as I wind it on to prevent the threads from sinking into the previous layer, and as they peel off the warp roller during the weaving process, I stow them behind a sheet of plywood against the wall to flatten them out a bit for the next time. I'd pulled out several sheets and dropped one of them as I walked around to the other side of the loom to run the crank. Merry, good little Weaver's Cat that he is, wasn't in his box when I turned around again, and then I noticed that the curled-up piece of poster board I'd dropped was wiggling. I peered inside. Yep, he was at the far end of the tunnel, so I grabbed a camera, but this is what greeted me when I came back into the room. Needless to say, I left this piece 'til last. Max is partially threaded, and I'll be done in time to put on an inch or three before bed tonight...with Help, of course.