… is about all I’ve been capable of lately. I’ve done a little refashioning, but forgot to take a before photo. I’ve done some weaving and machine knitting, but haven’t finished anything but a small inkle tube.
It being December, it’s the time for looking back over the year and considering what I’ve achieved. This is what I listed in my plans for 2012 post:
Work Stuff:
Editing & proofing of the previous book – done
Get most of the next book written – well, half way
Write short stories – one, I think
Do another ten character sketches – done
Be a great guest of honour at the New Zealand convention – well, it felt like it to me!
Get to more Aussie conventions – done
Non-work Stuff:
Kick RSI, or at least don’t let it get so bad I can’t write – the latter
Try portraiture – a year’s worth of life drawing classes spent doing heads
Read books in the to-read pile – yep, as well as some new ones
Weave and use the knitting machine more – yes in that I tried many new methods and learned a lot, but didn’t produce a lot
Survive the new garage build & old garage conversion – done
I also:
* got most of my family history information into a genealogy program, did a little research and made a couple of discoveries
* saw Roger Waters: The Wall Live
* bought a Passap Duomatic 80 knitting machine so I could knit socks, and made a few things other than socks
* made a macrame owl
* joined Pinterest
* got menopausal
* went to the Handknitters Expo, Craft & Quilt Show and Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show
* made a lot of jewellery and tried Japanese beadwork
* joined the Handweavers & Spinners Guild and Machine Knitters Association
* rearranged the workroom again
* saw Philip Glass and friends play the soundtrack along to the films Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi
* met Kevin McCleod
* met a whole lot of fans, writers, artists and actors at Supanova in Brisbane and Adelaide
* fixed the dodgy retaining wall and rescued a whole lot of rose bushes
* made lots of stamps and used them to print wrapping paper
* participated in Blogtoberfest for the first time
* culled my wardrobe again and refashioned some more clothing
All in all it’s been a pretty good year. More relaxed than previous ones, since the only deadlines I had were editing ones. No major overseas trips, though I went to New Zealand twice.
The year isn’t quite over yet, of course, but at the moment all I hope to do in December is get beyond struggling to tread water and start feeling like I’m heading somewhere. I suspect I won’t get there until Christmas is behind me.
Wow, I’m exhausted!!!
Hello, it’s lovely to find your site.
I’m a relatively new weaver. Last semester, when I told my instuctor I wanted to do a table cloth using double weave, she suggested a log cabin pattern. This semester, (after a summer off), the same instructor told me a log cabin pattern wouldn’t work in a double weave. I was very happy to find the photo you had posted of David & Lisa’s baby blanket.
It turns out, my instructor had, in the past, woven a cape in the log cabin pattern, using double weave, but she’s forgotten some of the fine points, and so my practice project did not turn out in log cabin pattern. I think I’ve figured out what went wrong, but I would like to run a couple of things past you to verify, if you don’t mind:
When I wound the warp, I did it two threads at a time, one dark and one light, alternating every 24 turns. However, when I sleyed the reed, the result was that all the light threads were on one layer and all the dark threads were on the other layer, alternating across the loom. So, I thought I should have wound four threads at a time, two light and two dark, so that the light and dark would alternate in each of the layers. Is that what you did?
Secondly, as I started weaving and alternating light-dark, I found I was weaving a tube, rather than being open on one side. I was weaving top layer then bottom layer in light, then switching and doing bottom layer and top layer in dark. I think we figured it out, though. To get one side open, I wove top layer, bottom layer, bottom layer, top layer in light, and then switched to dark for top layer, bottom layer, bottom layer, top layer. Again, is this how you wove your baby blanket? (I know there are proper terms for this, but my weaving book is in the weaving lab, out of my reach.) I hope my explanation is understandable.
Thank you for posting your photo – it is a beautiful project and an inspiration.
Best Regards,
Dana
Hi Dana!
I’ve checked my notes, and unfortunately I didn’t write down the warp threading. However, I do remember that I threaded and tied a small section of warp and used it to test with first, weaving and unweaving until I had the right threading and heddle sequence. Unfortunately I didn’t spot the problem at the fold when I did this. I’m guessing it wouldn’t have happened if I’d put the fold at the edge of a square rather than in the middle.
Actually… there was a double weave log-cabin blanket project in Handwoven around the time I did the baby blanket. Looking it up it’s… the Jan/Feb 2012 issue. Page 32.
Other tips I can give you: insert a finger down into the fold as you beat to ensure the ends there don’t bunch together, occasionally run your hand between the top and bottom woven fabric to make sure you haven’t got the sequence wrong somewhere, and keep a mirror on hand to check the underside now and then.
Best of luck! Log cabin impresses people when it’s really only plain weave. And it looks great, so it’s worth the extra brain work setting it up.