Heat Wave

We're in the middle of a heatwave here in the Denver area, it's been at or above 100 degrees for most of the week. Last night’s rain gave us a respite, but it is heating up again today. No yard work for me! I've been watering the pots and planters once or twice a day and then skedaddling inside. Got caught up on my microeconomics homework, cleaned the house a bit, and even had time for some fibery fun.

Last weekend I managed to wet-finish and press the first 7 warps of the sock yarn project. I have a couple more weaving errors to attend to but feeling very pleased with how everything turned out. This week I hope to sew them up into scarves and various other things.

One of the things I have been enjoying about this project is learning to design around the inherent constraints. All the warps are 3 yards long, but there is not a lot of any one yarn and each warp has a different number of ends. Part of the fun and challenge is coming up with color and texture combinations that work, and designs that are interesting in plain weave. I know I could do other weave structures on the rigid heddle, but I just don't want to. I have other looms for that.

warp #1

Warp #1 came out colorful, fun, and has fabulous drape! It has 2 solid warp threads, a red and a pale green threaded (mostly) in the slots, and a variegated yarn of sherbet colors threaded (mostly) in the holes. The pale green was also used for the weft. Unfortunately, this is the warp with the most mistakes and the least-even selvages. There was quite a difference in stretch between the warp yarns, so there are a bunch of skips I didn't see at the time. This is before I figured out the window blind slat trick (see this post) to avoid skips. I’ll have to measure and see how long a length I can get out of it. Might have to be sewn into smaller projects, we’ll see what happens.

warp #2

Warp #2 is lovely, and sooooo soft. I chose sky colors for this one, several kettle-dyed yarns, a variegated with purples and blues, some white Panda Silk, and a solid blue-grey. For the weft, I paired a pale green wool from Silk City and a sky blue Kid Silk Haze that gives it a slight halo. This one is far better technically, with good edges and just a few skips to repair. Definitely long enough for a nice long scarf, and maybe a little something else too.

warp #3

For warp #3, I used a variegated sock yarn in colors that remind me of early autumn and a solid medium green, set into somewhat random stripes. I raided the stash and found a cone of Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight in a darker green and used that for the weft. The heavier weft gives it some substance, and I think the color scheme will appeal to both men and women.

warp #4

I had more green yarn and another variegated yarn in springier colors, so for warp #4 I decided to try to gradually shift from one color to other over the width of the warp. I got my calculator out for this one, as the number of warp ends available were not “nice” numbers. The Brown Sheep made a great weft for this one also, yielding another (maybe) unisex scarf. Found another skip as I went to photograph it, but was glad to see that I could not see where I fixed the skips I found before wet-finishing. 

warp #5

Used the Brown Sheep as a weft for warp #5 also. The warp is a marled Wildefoote and some solid green Froehlich sock yarn (how I miss this yarn! Probably my favorite sock yarn ever). I decided to play with texture this time, threading narrow stripes of single ends of marled yarn between stripes of doubled solid yarn. There is just enough contrast, I think, to show off both yarns to good effect. I like the subtlety, and while it looks rather heavy it's actually quite light and pliable. 

I'm going to stop here now, save some for next time. Warp #8 is on the loom as of last night. I tried a couple of weft yarn and wove about 8" before bedtime. Hemmed warp #5 today, getting a couple of others ready to hem so I can put them in my carry-around bag. Good to feel like I'm making real progress. It'll be nice to have some new items in the Etsy shop, and I need to start building up an inventory for the guild sale in October/November. It's always sooner than I think.

Dr. CricketLove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love my Rigid Heddle

First 6 warps for my sock yarn destash project

For the past few weeks, all I want to work on is my sock yarn warp projects on the rigid heddle loom. Most of my other projects have fallen by the wayside. That surprised me because I did not always enjoy rigid heddle weaving. I found it clumsy and imprecise compared to weaving on a shaft loom. The stick shuttle frustrated me, and it took a long time to figure out how to beat evenly with an unfixed beater. Direct warping is very efficient, but it didn’t work well for what I found myself wanting to do. I kept putting the RH away, then picking it up again. Over the years, I discovered some workarounds that suit me very well.

First thing to go was the stick shuttle. I did not enjoy unwinding it every pick or so, and when I got caught up in the weaving I often forgot and wrecked the selvage. I decided to use a boat shuttle instead. It seems odd to use an 11” boat shuttle for a 10” wide warp, but it feeds evenly, holds a lot of yarn, and easily moved through the shed without getting caught on warp threads.

I often use the slats from 1” mini blinds as warp separators. They work well, but also have another use on the rigid heddle: I use one to get a better shed. Sometimes the warp thread bundles twist when winding on the warp. When the weaving starts, sometimes that causes some of the threads in the slots to stay low, making it easy to skip over them and causing a flaw in the cloth. Easy enough to fix, but better to prevent it! With the heddle in the down position, put your hands between the two yarn layers behind the shuttle and sort everything out. When the proper threads are all up, slide a mini blind slat under the top warp layer and move it back until it rests on top of the back beam. It won’t interfere with the “up” shed but will make sure the slot threads rise high enough for a good “down” shed. Slide it back onto the beam when you advance the warp.

My favorite warp separator lately is a strip of woven beach mat I bought at Walgreens a few summers ago. I cut it to size using regular scissors, the same width as the warp beam. It fits rather snugly so threads don’t slip off the edge, and as it unrolls while you weave, it is easy to tell how much of the warp you have woven so far. Best of all, the entire mat cost about $2 on clearance. I got 2 strips from one mat, more than enough for any length of warp on my Cricket.

Another tip I heard online somewhere, don’t recall where. Someone said they take the core of a paper towel roll, cut it to size, slit it from end to end and place it on the cloth beam to cover the knots. Works great! The knots no longer distort the cloth as it winds on, and that helps a lot with maintaining even tension. I used to put the mini blind slats into the cloth roll as they fell off the warp beam to help with tension, but I no longer need to bother with that. If anyone knows where this tip came from, I would love to give credit!

Lastly, I have given up direct warping. Since I have other looms, I already own a warping board. I much prefer winding a warp and then threading the loom. It takes up much less space so I can do it when other people are home, and I simply prefer to design that way. It seems to suit my thought process better. If I want a stripe to have an odd number of threads, it takes no extra thought or effort. It also makes it easier to change my mind partway through.

Just one of these changes make a small difference in how much I enjoyed my RH. Taken all together, they transform frustration into joy. If you would like to share any tips that make weaving on your rigid heddle more enjoyable, please post them in comments.

Next time: more on the project!

Cure for Society’s Ills: The Arts for Everybody

Hello! As some of you may know, I am going to Front Range Community College part-time to earn an associates degree in business. This spring I decided to get my English credit out of the way. I signed up for ENG121 with Andrew Blade and rediscovered my love for the written word. What follows is the persuasive essay I wrote for that class. I thought it was worth sharing. Enjoy!

Cure for Society’s Ills: The Arts for Everybody

            Violence. Misunderstanding. Bias. Hatred. They are all around in our culture. Something isn’t working, and we all suffer the consequences. How can we better prepare our citizens to be caring, productive members of society? Surprisingly enough, the answer may be engagement with the arts.

            Exposure to the arts encourages the “…balanced intellectual, emotional and psychological development of individuals and societies.” (UNESCO). It helps us to think critically and creatively, learning to think for ourselves and see a range of possible solutions for any given problem. Frustration and despair can be products of restricted thinking: if you cannot see a way out of an unpleasant situation, or if you can only see one way out. That often leads to discord and violence. Practicing any of the arts, however, gets people in the habit of stepping back, assessing the situation, and reflecting on possible solutions. It is simply part of the process of making art. A society of people who habitually assess and reflect cannot help but be fundamentally different, responsive rather than reactive.

            Data collected from art programs in prisons bears this out. Studies of California’s Arts-In-Corrections (AIC) program show that inmates who participated in the arts had statistically significant increases in “life effectiveness skills measured by the attitudinal scales: Time Management, Social Competence, Achievement Motivation, Intellectual Flexibility, Emotional Control, Active Initiative, and Self-Confidence.” (Brewster). The longer they stayed involved in the program, the more they improved and the better able they were to rebuild their lives after release from prison. Artist-prisoners were also much more likely to seek out other educational opportunities available to them.

            There are also benefits for people who are exposed to the arts without actively participating. The experience of taking in a performance, piece of writing, or a physical piece of art such as a painting or sculpture “presents a perspective on reality that challenges preconceived ideas and makes kids look at something from outside their comfort zone.” (Smits). Seeing the world through someone else’s eyes, trying to understand their experience, what it must be like, can only lead us to become more compassionate towards others. If we learn to imagine ourselves in another person’s situation and understand how they got there, it is much more difficult to hate them, no matter how we feel about their actions. Compassion seeks to understand and assist, very different from judgment and condemnation.

            Children and teens who are involved in the arts are more likely than their peers to finish school and be successful. According to Karen LaShelle of Creative Action, “Those who participate in the arts are more likely to do well in math and science and be involved in civics. They benefit from social-emotional learning that helps them manage their emotions, be aware of themselves and succeed later in life.” (Smits). That can make a huge difference, since “72% of business leaders say that creativity is the number one skill they are seeking when hiring.” (Americans for the Arts)

            I know a lot of people think that the arts are a waste of time and money, especially when budgets are strained. There are many other, seemingly more practical subjects we can invest in, like science or vocational training. Those subjects are valuable and should not be ignored. But a balanced approach that includes education in the results in citizens who know how to think and feel, solve problems, express themselves, and actively contribute to society on every level. Involvement in the arts “enhances social adaptability and cultural awareness for individuals, enabling them to build personal and collective identities as well as tolerance and acceptance, appreciation of others.” (UNESCO). Aren’t these the qualities we would like to find in our neighbors, children, co-workers, ourselves?

            The next time funding for the arts comes up in conversation, think about what it means for us, as individuals and as members of society. Are you satisfied with the status quo, people reacting with little thought and no awareness of how their actions might affect themselves and everyone around them? Would you rather see another school shooting or a student production about the difficulties of navigating our culture? Will you support practices that help all of us become better human beings and more conscientious citizens? Like everything else we value, it does cost money to fund the arts. Take the time and energy to talk about this vital issue. Can we afford to support the arts at all levels, for all people? We must find a way. It costs us too much as a society not to.

           

Works Cited

Americans for the Arts. https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-topic/arts-education/10-arts-education-fast-facts. 6 November 2013. 24 March 2019.

Brewster, Larry. "http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/brewster_prison_arts_final_formatted.pdf." 2014. cjcj.org. 23 March 2019.

Smits, Jill Coody. "Why all parents should care about art education." The Washington Post 28 July 2017.

UNESCO. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/creativity/arts-education/. 2012. 22 March 2019.

Hello!

It's been a while. Suffice to say the past few years have been interesting. :)

I've been (trying) to work through my stash of leftovers and single skeins lately. Basically, I got the bin and warping board out, made a bunch of 3-yard warps, and wrote down how many warp ends wound up were in each one. When it's time to warp the rigid heddle, I rummage through the warps and combine them to fill the full width of the loom, or as close as I can get. Here's one of the results.

Hoping to have this wet-finished and photographed soon. In the meantime, I hope you have all the fiber fun you wish for yourself!