Another Article on The History Bog about Textiles

  This time the article is about Peruvian textiles. I love history!
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/30833
   Make sure you click on the pictures, you can see them a lot more clearly.

A Bit of Textile History

  I find the history of weaving fascinating, for obvious reasons.  I also just like history, and The History Blog.com is an excellent source for interesting history articles.  This one is excellent: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/30728.
   Just thought you might be interested.

Behind in My Reporting

   So, the taquete rugs was a couple of projects ago.  Let me catch you up.
   I finished the rugs on March 3. As I previously said, they didn't come out the way they were meant to, so I probably shouldn't continue to call them taquete. Blogging isn't the only thing I am behind on, as I haven't gotten these in my etsy shop yet either.  Soon.

   Eventually.
   Next!
   I have been doing more baking lately, especially bread, and I don't really have an apron.  I was washing dishes, and hunting for a kitchen towel to dry my hands, and I thought "I should combine a towel and an apron!" The kids, as usual, had made off with the towel.  I don't know what they do with these things.
   I already had a band at work on the inkle loom with no pre-set purpose, just making a pretty pattern in red and yellow linen.  I warped the rigid heddle loom as wide as it gets with some red, natural, black, and yellow linen in wide stripes for the main part of the apron. It only took 21 days for me to finish the band, the apron panel, hem and sew them together. Eldest Daughter liked it so well she now wants me to make one for her, but in colors she can see (she is red-yellow colorblind).

   Eldest Daughter's apron will also be linen, in teal, black, natural and lime-y green. I wove the band in nine hours, the simple pattern making it easy to get done quickly. Her apron panel will be wider and denser, which means it needs to be on the floor loom. I have the short warp measured, I'm just waiting on a couple of straight hours for me to put it on the loom.
  Those are my weaving plans, currently. I have other plans, non-weave-y, which I will share soon.

Something's Not Quite Right

  The taquete rugs I am weaving right now, don't look right.  This is what they are supposed to look like (blue = light yellow):

  This is inspired by a project in Issue 160 of Handwoven magazine.  This is what my rug looks like so far:

   This is supposed to be a weft-faced weave, so you shouldn't see anything but white and yellow.  Also, one line of weft is getting packed up under or over the previous one.  This will make for a nice, thick rug but not the blocks of color I was going for.

  This was part of the instructions for the project.  I found it very confusing so I just ignored it.  This may be why it doesn't look right.
  Just maybe.:)

GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

  I was going to use some handspun and store-bought yarn on my rigid heddle loom to make a log cabin patterned scarf, but the yarn was too thick to go through the holes without shredding. This should have been my first clue.
  I took it off of the rigid heddle and put it on the big loom. I started weaving and it looked great, if I do say so myself.
  It ended up looking like this:

   

 

  Those ends? Those are the ends I had to weave back in when they snapped.  You know the proverbial "last straw that broke the camel's back"?  Let's rephrase that to "the last thread of warp that made me cut it all off from the loom before it was done"!

  Notice what color these snapped ends (mostly) are? Guess which yarn is the homespun.
  AAAAAAHT. Wrong.
  The homespun is the colored. The store-bought is  a non-plied wool that just. Kept. FRAYING!
  Deep breath in.
  Deep breath out. I'm better now.
  So now I have a really short scarf that I think I will put a button on and market as a neck-warmer.
  Now I can put the taquete rug on the big loom.
  Lesson learned: Don't use a non-plied yarn as warp. Also, weave thin yarns on the rigid heddle loom.

After the Baby Shower Blog

   By the time I publish this, my co-worker, who I made this for as a baby shower present, will know what it looks like first hand.  The likelihood of her reading this blog beforehand is astronomically small, but still.

   Isn't it lovely?!  The pattern shows up pretty well, and the colors look good together, if I do say so myself.  The Orlon was pretty easy to work with too, no tension issues to speak of.  I put enough warp on the loom for two of them, so I will be listing one soon on Etsy. 

Secret Baby Blankets

The baby blankets are well underway on the floor loom. The  pattern is called Star of Bethlehem and the yarn is something called orlon. My mom has heard of it from Way Back When, but I haven't.  I usually don't like to work with unnatural yarns, but I thought it would be good for this project. Wool would have been too hot for a Spring baby in Alabama, linen is too scratchy at first, and cotton is too....boring. Also, I had already bought the Orlon and just needed something to do with it.  The colors are a little odd for a baby blanket, but I wanted ones that would go for boys or girls. I have a co-worker who doesn't like the green, she thinks it is too dark.  I think this works, though.