Handwashed, Hand Carded, Handspun, Handwoven

I've been working with local fleece for quite awhile now and am always on the hunt for something new and interesting. A new relationship and friendship often develops as the producer and I get to know each other over the years. The Cariboo hosts a variety of sheep breeds that produce some very high-quality wool for spinning, such as Icelandic, Shetland, Romney and Texel. And lately I've been finding new producers, including one in the Chilcotin, to the west across the Fraser River.

I've said for years that I'd rather spin with roving that's ready to go rather than mess around with dirty fleeces through the washing and carding phases. But to support local producers, I need to be a little more resourceful and do a little more of the work. And that work is actually proving to be pretty fun and fulfilling.

A local spinner has been linking wool producers with spinners and fibre artists for a mutually beneficial arrangement. Sheep need to be sheared every spring anyway, and she is helping spinners connect with local producers who have some beautiful fibres to work with. Here's how she puts it:

For me it is the tactile feel of the fibre. From the greasy, dirty fleece - you can almost feel the life of the animal - to spinning the fibre and either knitting or weaving the yarns into something you can wear. It is a wonderful journey.

She came over this spring with all her washing bins and equipment, and she showed me how to wash fleece: hot water with Dawn detergent and minimal agitation, followed by two rinses.

Then hang to dry in a flower/herb dryer (a perfect design for wet fleece).

Once the fleece is dry, it is handcarded, spun and often-but-not-always plied for weaving. That's a fair bit of effort but I find it enjoyable.

Here are three blankets I wove this year. I love them all!

253 | 100% wool with about 50% Icelandic handspun from "Dimayo" | Sold

253 Detail

254 | 100% wool with about 50% Icelandic handspun from "Coco"

266 | 100% wool with about 50% handspun from Icelandic sheep in Horsefly, BC

The first and third blankets have beautiful striations of dark and light shades that really add depth and interest to the finished product. These blankets will last for ages and look beautiful through their lifetimes.

Another Guest at the Blanket Spa

At the local farmers market a few weeks ago, a musical couple I know visited my booth and talked about their favourite cotton blanket. 'He' bought it for 'her' at the Medieval Market several years ago. They'd taken it on their recent summer vacation through western Canada and north into Yukon. It had endured some pulls in a few threads and they weren't sure what to do. I said "Bring it to me!" Then I could fix it and return it to its original condition.

I've talked earlier about what I call my blanket spa. Any well-loved and well-used blanket or anything from Cariboo Handwoven that needs a little TLC I love to restore and return to happy owners for further use.

Once I had it at home, I examined it carefully and used a darning needle to gently bring pulled threads flat.  This is a delicate procedure that requires pulling the loose thread from both directions and flattening the thread back into the cloth on either sides of the pull. One very large pull had not wrinkled the fabric on either side and was not going to easily fit back into the cloth, so I cut the thread, spliced the ends together and trimmed the emerging ends.

The blanket had a good wash and then went out on the line to dry in lovely Cariboo sunshine on an early fall day.

Then it went for pressing, with any other pulls fixed that I'd missed, and I laid it flat on the floor to rest.

It is rather fascinating to see my early work. Some of it's not bad! What really heartens me is to know that owners are totally happy with their blanket and it's become almost part of the family. I knew I had to return it quickly because it would be missed.

Another guest leaves the blanket spa - restored, revitalized and ready for more years of service.

Less is ... Fine

When I wove this blanket I wanted to place the five beautiful greens and blues consecutively in big diamonds. Normally I would add narrow lines of an accent colour between, as Cariboo Handwoven followers may know by now I like to do.

I had the five shades lined up and they looked beautiful together. In big diamonds of what I call rough and smooth twill on a warp of wide grey stripes, this would look very well for a blanket that would have a certain soft boldness to it with the heathery tones. I just needed to choose an accent colour for narrow lines between the colours.

I had a lighter shade of green ... no, too green.
A lighter shades of blue? ... nope, too blue.
Use the light grey from the warp stripes? ... too grey and bland.
A lighter shade then, say, of a heathery beige? Still too bland.

Oh, I know. If in doubt use white. So I wove the first narrow stripe after the first big diamond in white, actually a beautiful cream.

But that was way too bright and sterile, it just didn't work. I unwove all the white.

My solution? No narrow lines between the five shades of heathery greens and blues. Just let the colours mix together, transition in big diamonds from one shade to the next.

SH200 | 100% wool | 187 cm x 130 cm (73.5" x 51") | Private Collection

Problem solved. Less is fine a lot of the time.

Designing a Custom Blanket

Two Williams Lake friends who moved to Victoria last year ordered a wool blanket in the fall. I thought I'd share my process from start to finish in designing a wool blanket for their home, as well as our enjoyable collaboration through emails and photos back and forth.

They wanted the blanket for their den with this mottled carpet of light and dark shades of greyish-brown:

And the blanket was to go nicely with a favourite pillow:

The pillow's background is that it was created by a cross-cultural project of contemporary Aboriginal art, called the Kaltjiti Arts, owned by the artists. The paintings are created by artists in central Australia and then the designs are woven into pillows and rugs in Kashmir. This design is based on the Tali Tali Pompey painting.

The blanket warp consists of wide lines of dark brown, medium brown and a lighter heathery shade. I wove the blanket ends with a line of diamonds in very dark grey (almost black) then there are alternating charcoal and red diamonds. The charcoal has a narrow line of white; the warm red has light grey to avoid a ‘candy cane’ look. Crossing the warp of brown tones with greys helps to bring out the pattern nicely but subtley, and will complement the carpet.

When I sent this photo of the blanket on the loom, it was to ask if there was too much red or anything that should be addressed in a second one (I knew this one would sell if the friends didn't like it). 

But I received this reassuring response:

We LOVE our blanket....please carry on weaving!!  It is simply splendid!

Then I sent a photo of the blanket right off the loom, unfringed and looking stiff and raw.

Again, more lovely reactions:

We are sending a Definite Yes for the beautiful blanket so it can almost 'officially' be ours.  We do love it!  

And here's the final version, not too surprising after all the lead-up.

And then the grand finale email:

Your parcel arrived this afternoon, was signed for, and opened in great anticipation!  We have to tell you that we absolutely love the blanket you have designed and woven for us. It is truly beautiful!  We couldn't be happier with the lovely colours and patterns you have woven into it. 

Jane, I also want to thank you so much for all the enjoyment I have felt as you and I corresponded through the exciting course of planning the blanket.  It was a unique and rewarding experience. 

[We] have certainly been able to see how much thought and heart you put into your weaving and your art. It must been very hard to part with your creations!  We are grateful that you are able to do that! 

Expect us to send more weaving projects your way!

You can tell that these people are very positive. Every email they sent was fun to read and I found the whole project from start to finish very fulfilling and inspiring.

What a great way to end the year.  Thank YOU so much.

Update from the blanket owner in 2019:

I have been meaning to write to tell you how much I enjoyed your Cariboo Handwoven article describing your weaving of our beautiful blanket.  It was such an enjoyable experience with all our emails back and forth during that time.  It allowed us to see your artist's eye and creative process at work. Your blanket has warmed us and our grandchildren since our move to the island.  As people at the coast like to say, it is a 'damp' cold here so it goes to your bones!  Not to ours when we have your blanket to ward off the wet west coast cold!

And one more - thank YOU! :-)

Going Back in Time

Taking a break from the major interruption in so many lives - yes, I am still evacuated and unable to be in my studio ... so let me go back in time for a moment.

When you've been pumping out a lot of handwoven blankets and towels for the last few years, I guess it's inevitable to look at something from earlier and think ... "Wow, that's not bad." Or, "Hmmm, I actually did that?" Most of my projects are original patterns designed from scratch because if I want to continue a design into another project with new colours, by the time I get to the actual warp threading I'm on to something new, something I just must try, something (maybe?) better.

Recently I took a big cotton blanket from my studio that has a lengthwise threading error and started using it in the house. I always want to know how my blankets and towels 'work' in daily use, beyond all the really nice comments I receive. I need to know for myself. So this slightly flawed work I took out of the inventory to test and scrutinize in regular use.

I looked at it after awhile and thought - that's not bad. It's just herringbone in alternating colours in the warp. It's so simple and yet so rich and interesting. Hmmm, maybe I should go back to that and see what I can do now?

That's inspiring! Hope I'm back in my studio before long.

The Misleading Simplicity of "Evacuate"

My last post was about British Columbia's war on fire but our love and understanding for each other. Thanks for all those pageviews, I loved to see every one. :-)

But when things get really smoky and imminent, you make the voluntary decision to leave before it's mandatory. There's not much I can do to prevent my house from burning, but to get out of the smoke and risk as easily and safely as possible is probably a good idea. My studio essentials were packed last weekend in a handmade grass bag from Ghana - which represented about 1% of all the material there. Here's that special 1%:

Twill Thrills, edited by Madelyn van der Hoogt.
I think I'm almost ready for this, so better take it!

Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland is a classic among artists.
I've read it several times and highlighted all over it.
The View From the Studio Door is not quite as essential, but it's worth taking.

The recent Susan Point show Spindle Whorl at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
This book has a lifetime of inspiration for me.

Carol Strickler's contribution to the weaving community is a new classic.
There's even a Facebook group for weavers to post their projects using drafts from this book.
They give the page and number for the draft to share with other weavers.

As well, I brought:

• My big hardbound notebook with notes like randomly entered projects, heddle counts on each harness for the two looms, price comparisons for different yarns, some recent thoughts and observations on differences between 3-3-1-1 and 3-2-1-2 treadle tie-ups, various lists and other critical information to help me get back on track later
• Personal photos of special people in my life
• Handwoven wall hanging from Peru that Pat brought back from one of his trips
• Wooden cash box that Pat made - it's perfect for craft fairs and I'm kinda proud of it
• Chequebook and 2017 files for expenses, vehicle, bank
• A likely lifetime supply of Cariboo Handwoven labels to sew onto finished items. Even a small box like I have will last a long time (you know how when you order anything printed and for about another $10 you can get another, like, 500 - so why not?)
• Two skeins of recently finished handspun wool from local fleece ready for handwashing

Then things then got bulky after what I next crammed into my car:

• Three big bags of local Icelandic roving, the last available from a friend's flock, one bag with me and two stored in the city - I cannot bear to let this stuff go without a struggle
• A few bags of wool blankets
• One bag of cotton blankets
• Armload of 70 or so towels in a big bag
• Bag of hemmed but unwashed towels
• Standing rack - currently a great clothes hanger in our Prince George bedroom
• Short blanket rack - another item made by Pat that I won't let go of easily without a struggle

The interesting thing about evacuating is how personal it is.  After the obvious essentials like some clothing, toiletries, important documents and any medication, each of us makes countless decisions as we roam through our house. (And ruminate in the middle of the night with a promise to add one more small thing in the morning.) I've had an evacuation list ready each summer probably since the fires of 2003, but this one got more serious.

Some people focus on memories, others on having what they need for the future.  I think I'm in the middle. :-)

The actual simplicity of evacuation though is really how little we need when we have each other.

Weaving by Trail or Bushwhacking

I've enjoyed different forms of transport over trails and I've also worked in the forest, creating my own path through the woods to take measurements or mark plots. I find a huge mental contrast between following a trail or 'bushwhacking' on my own. Both are nice, but they are just very different. This even applies to weaving.

Taking a trail when I weave means creating a pattern in my mind and then following it to the end of the fabric's length, whether it's a blanket, scarf or towel. I might have a set of colours and weave patterns in mind and then change them as soon as I begin, but it's a trail by the time the design is established, and then I simply follow what I've set for myself. Like this:

In contrast, my artistic blankets and towels are like bushwhacking. I have to create my own path throughout the full length of the fabric. This means having a picture in my mind, such as my Georgian Bay blankets and towels, and needing to loosely plan the proportions of water, rock, trees and sky. Then I must determine what colours to use, how to make possible colour gradations, and how I show wavy water, smooth rock and big sky with the weave patterns I have available.

And - how do I make the current piece a little different from all the others? That's all the bushwhacking part.  It takes more physical and mental energy but it's totally worth it. I just can't do a lot of it.

This concept of trail versus bushwhacking probably has endless other applications - painting or stitching geometric images versus abstract, cooking creatively versus following a recipe (someone else's trail), and much more.

Notice that people may wish you "Happy Trails" but never "Happy Bushwhacking"?

The Winter's Tale (of Spinning)

The Winter's Tale is the last Shakespeare play I saw, in my very limited experience with (and knowledge of) Shakespeare. I was a groundling in London at the Globe Theatre 12 years ago. That meant standing for the performance down in front of the stage, but it was worth it - and affordable!

My winter's tale of spinning, or part of it, includes two local fleeces. The light grey is the last roving from a Romney flock in Beaver Valley, east of here. It has a lovely lustre and was gorgeous to spin. The dark brown is from the Wenger's sheep on Fox Mountain quite nearby my studio. I loved working with these fibres; I know both producers and the relationship I have with each is part of the very fulfilling experience for me.

Both yarns are two-ply, meaning that I spun two separate yarns and plied them together in the opposite direction to the spun direction of twist. The two strands want to do this anyway. I find two-ply more stable in finished cloth and it's worth all the time. I figure I spent about 40-50 hours to spin and finish each of these two projects.

Local fibres woven into blankets are growing in popularity. The last blanket I sold with local handspun Icelandic wool generated interest from the skeins when a studio visitor spied them. And that's where the blanket went!

One Weaver's Interpretation of the Johnston Tartan

A long-time friend has lineage from the Johnston clan of Scotland, and he requested a wool blanket in the Johnston tartan colours. At first I thought he was talking about me weaving the tartan itself, with all its intricate complexity and specific pattern. That I cannot do! But no, he just wanted a blanket with those colours and I was free to create something that might interest him.

He had a tie of the Johnston tartan, which I used for colour selection.

The blanket warp was stripes of black, charcoal and light grey and the weave structure would be undulating twill. The suitable weft colours I had on hand were black, dark blue, limited dark green, and yellow.

At first I tried to repeat the sequence in the tie with two shots of this and four of that - but that did not suit undulating twill and started to drive me crazy. So I unwove that and thought hard about my next option. And what you see on the dark green cone was all I had. Hmmm.

What I ended up doing was weaving the blanket ends in predominantly dark blue, then the entire blanket with alternating stripes of the dark green, all with yellow stripes edged in black throughout.

I'm not sure how I came up with this plan, but I was pleased with the result. And, as always, the blanket looked better off the loom and stretched out, then better yet when washed and pressed. Here it is with the tie:

And ... what did my friend say about the blanket?

"I love the blanket. We both do. Thank you for exploring this design."

This was actually not an easy challenge, but what challenge is? I like the final product and my friend knew he was under no obligation. The Johnston tartan colours are so nice that as a muse they've helped create a beautiful blanket.

Ask Me Almost Anything About Advancing Twill

I've been enjoying advancing twill patterns in my blankets and towels over the years. An article a year ago in the premier issue of Heddlecraft encouraged me to work with it again for a towel project. When I say you can ask me almost anything, I have to emphasize 'almost' because this blog's title is meant to be a bit silly ... and readers know by now that I absolutely adore alliteration. :-)

So, if you want to know anything more than the little I share here - definitely go to Heddlecraft or explore advancing twill another way.

In these towels, I designed the threading for the 26" width and used different treadlings with a twill tie-up of 3-2-1-2 for the eight harnesses. It's exciting to create different sequences and see the results. The selvedges took a bit of a hit in their quality, and I had to do some manual improvements at the end of certain sequences when the edge thread was not being woven in. If I missed it for awhile, that edge thread forms a small loop, but is likely to shrink in with washings and not be too prominent. The antidote to that problem is to use a floating selvedge, I know.

Anyway, here are some of my experiments ... using bright colours in cold and dark January to brighten things up.

Fringing Travels

Not being one to sit around for too long without doing something, and with some quiet visiting coming up on my calendar, I wove six wool blankets earlier this month and brought four with me. Three are almost done, just one left to finish up sloooowly. :-)

Here are the blankets, all Shetland wool.

SH163 | SH161 | SH162

All blankets were woven in undulating twill which gives them beautiful wavy lines. But they're so stiff (and a bit whiffy from the raw wool used right off the cones) that I'm dying to wash them when I'm home. They will soften up and smell much better after then.

Here is one wrapped around a little garden angel. In this blanket, the soft tones of rich dark gold and reddish-rust go really well on the warp of browns and greys.

SH163

All this fringing progress would not be as quick and efficient as it's been without my handy fringe twister. Many weavers will recognize it.

I used one for many years but it actually wore out and broke. I thought I could manage with twisting all the fringes manually, but a weaving friend ordered one for me as a surprise gift. Now I wonder how I could ever do without one!

These blankets and more will be posted when they're finished and ready to leave my studio.

A Local Source of Icelandic Fleece

I'm celebrating Icelandic wool on Canada Day!

Almost a year ago, I posted a blog about local Icelandic fleece and I was back to see Donna last week. I had spun her Icelandic fleece that had been processed into beautiful roving. I wanted to show her my spun wool and we talked about some upcoming ideas and plans together.

Last year I bought two lots of Icelandic fleece: the first was beige and when spun I wove it into a blanket - which later sold in Ottawa.

SH137 | Shetland wool and handspun Icelandic wool | 175 cm x 138 cm (69" x 54.5") | Sold

Donna told me that the darker wool I'd spun was from Nancy. I still have it ready for a special blanket. Here is Nancy and here is what I spun from her fleece:

Nancy

Plied wool spun from Nancy's 2015 fleece

Last week I bought two washed fleeces. One is from Coco -

Cocoa and one of her lambs

- and the other is from Dimayo, the herd's ram. Dimayo is a noble character who was seeking shade on the hot day. He's considered a badger colour because he has cream-coloured fleece with strong elements of beiges, golds and even black. This wool will be stunning when spun and woven.

Dimayo

I am so delighted to have a friend with a local product that I want to buy from her, work with and add to my own products. To me, this is the heart of a local economy. Add Donna's small-scale farming practices and this weaver's artistic input - and it's a really exciting partnership.

Warping Towels

Experienced weavers will probably find this post a big hohum, unless you can help me become more efficient and don't mind letting me know. I've just woven two table runners and always like to involve a customer with the steps to produce the project; this is what I sent her yesterday.

Each inch of warp has 24 threads, which come from the bobbin rack,
through the tension box and then onto the back beam.

 

Here are two views from the back.
I warped on about 20 metres so that I can also weave lots of towels.

Glimpse of three cones of cotton on the bobbin rack feeding into the tension box.

Each thread goes through one metal heddle on one of eight harnesses.

The threads are gently knotted in 1”-wide clumps.

Then each thread comes through the metal reed.  The reed has 8 spaces per inch,
so there are 3 threads per space at 24 threads per inch.

The warp is tied on and a header woven to start the cloth and check for errors.
Note the t-pin in the middle anchoring a fixed thread.

This warp is almost completed, and I'm eager to unwind the table runners as well as all the different towels I've woven.

Looming Changes for Cariboo Handwoven - Part 3

The new loom is up and running. But boy, what a process for me and what a change from the old one. There are some significant design changes in the Leclerc Colonial v2 compared to the original version although it's still the same model. However, if you've ever become very physically comfortable with some sort of machine or process, and then make a change like I have ... well, I had some doubts. But my doubts are over.

As I've already noted, the v2's back beam is higher, so warping with the sectional and moving the tension box for each section is easier with less bending over. There is less room between the back beam and harness block though, and the raised treadles take up a lot of that floor space.  Confession: I've been threading at the back to the front, which I was taught long ago, and now I have to learn to thread from the front. There's another looming change for me ahead.

Once I started weaving, I quickly found that the handle on the beater bar helped reduce every little stretch to grasp the top of the beater and pull it back into the cloth, which keeps me more upright in the process, too. My back thanks Leclerc for that improvement.

The treadles - wow, quite a difference. I often used the front base to rest my feet but that base is no longer there. The whole treadle mechanism has been improved but that takes some adaptation. I need a lower bench because when I press down on any treadle I am almost sliding forward.

Has anyone been through this, too? Maybe you're smiling to read about my little trials and tribulations, and thinking of your own ones. But it's just that habitual thing that we get so into - then we change some significant part of it and have to relearn some of the muscle processes.

I'm weaving a set of towels to get to know the new loom.

And those are enough looming changes for me for awhile!

Looming Changes for Cariboo Handwoven - Part 2

Following last week's Part 1 post, the new loom is assembled and ready to go. The old loom in its new location has already pumped out 12 bath towels, and I'm looking forward to continuing on it. Many of the bath towels are custom orders, the most I've ever received at a time.

The loom assembly went pretty well. Leclerc had included all the required screwdrivers and a wrench, but some of the assembly really needed an electric drill - and drill operator. Thank you so much to Pat for all his help. Final stages were done with Jon's help and his natural ingenuity with the important brake system. Thanks, guys!

You can see the differences between the older version of the Leclerc Colonial loom below:

... And the v2 model shown in the next two photos. It has the treadles mounted at the back, not the front, and a totally revamped jack loom assembly with nothing in the centre of the warp. The old loom has always worked well for me but I'm very curious to find out how the new version works.

Winding first section onto new Leclerc Colonial v2 loom

The Colonial v2 has a completely different harness assembly from the original model

I've already noticed that the v2 has a higher back beam which means less bending over to fuss with the tension box when warping. Already a good start.

What a great time for me in my weaving career. To those who have asked if I'll use the two looms - you betcha! Or at least that's the plan now. I hope to stagger projects on each, so when I need a break from warping one loom I can weave on another. I rarely want to go from weaving to warping, but that will be necessary at times. Or, I can have a really long towel warp on the old loom to pick at when the urge strikes. We'll see how it goes.