What to Weave?

Progress is being made in getting my hybrid weaving and painting studio up to full speed. I am painting again and that part can be found on my "Art = Life" blog. I have been getting things put away in the weaving part of the studio and re-configuring my spool rack to work in the new space. It is a bit of a tight squeeze but it is working so far. I also need to find my electric bobbin winder!
In the meantime, I have unpacked my two bins of yarn. I hadn't seen the contents for a few years and I groaned when I saw this huge, and I mean huge, cone of cotton yarn. I vaguely remember getting it at one of those weaver's yarn stash sales thinking that it would be good rug warp or something. Don't laugh when you read the next part...I don't weave rugs! Oh, I thought I would try to but never could get into it in spite of how much I admired the rugs woven by my weaving friends. Here is what I mean:

The cone is about 16" tall and probably weighs 2 or 3 pounds. The cotton looks to be about a 5/2 weight. The two cones in front are some of Jane Stafford's lovely 8/2 cotton. I have a few cones of some odd colors of that in my stash too.
So, I have been debating what to put on for my first welcome-back-to-weaving warp. Common sense says I should put on something easy to get reacquainted with my loom and the weaving process. However, what I really would love to put on is a linen warp to try to weave my own painting canvas! So do I play it safe and sensible or do I throw caution to the winds? I have to think about it, and what in the heck am I going to do with that huge cone of cotton yarn?
Oh yeah, the weaving the painting canvas part. I am sure there are some who cringe to think that I would weave this gorgeous linen fabric and then...paint on it. So, I will explain a teeny bit. One of my favorite old master painters is Diego Velazquez. Rob Liberace, an artist I took a painting workshop from this summer, is teaching a workshop next summer on the painting techniques and materials that Velazquez used in his work. I did a little online research of my own and the canvas he used is mentioned. It is different from what you can buy today and well, as a weaver, you can probably see the attraction of the idea of weaving something like what is described. Apparently some of his canvas had a weave that had little crosses. Not only that but thinking on it, there was a time when all painting canvas was handwoven! There are some rather intriguing possibilities here.
Back to my relaunching warp, I have been thinking that I would start with simple tea towels. I have the 8/2 cotton which I have used for tea towels in the past. I also found these samples from a Jane Stafford color workshop:

They will be a big help when trying to figure out how to use the odd colors of the 8/2 cotton I have.
What am I going to do with that huge cone of yarn? One idea I had were to weave cloth for rugged shopping bags to sell. Honestly, I like to weave with much finer yarns. Perhaps I will experiment and sample since I have plenty of yarn. I might even have to get out the dye pots. Sigh. I do want to use up as much of my stash as possible before ordering any more yarn. Fortunately it isn't a large stash, just challenging. I have some very nice linen yarns for some fine table linens and a painting canvas or two (oh yes, I will weave a canvas and paint on it, just watch!).
Well, I will have to decide this week or as soon as I find that errant bobbin winder. I would love to hear any ideas for using that huge cone of cotton out there. Perhaps a contest? The winning idea gets a something woven from it? Will think about that too!

Phoenix Rising

Happy New Year! Guess what has been added back into my life for 2012? Give up? Nah, you probably guessed. I am bringing back weaving into my life after a few years off. I took a couple of weeks off to think about what direction I needed my life to go. We have had such a roller coaster ride the past few years and settling here on the Oregon coast has allowed me to catch my breath and re-evaluate. My loom has been in pieces and has been in storage and then stored in places here and there in the house. I came to the conclusion that I needed to either sell it (try to sell it, again that is) or use it. The problem is, the loom is not exactly...um...compact. Before I share the pictures, I have to break off a minute and give a shout out to the weaver's spouse everywhere. I have found that in general they are wonderfully supportive of their weavers and put up with tripping over a lot of large equipment and fiber. My spouse is definitely one of these. The only way I could set my big loom up was for us to move out of the lovely large upstairs bedroom and into what was previously the painting studio and a wee bit smaller. He didn't even blink, in fact, he was the one who suggested it. A weaver's hero!  I have spent the last week packing, scrubbing carpets and walls, moving it all upstairs, setting up our bedroom downstairs and rebuilding the loom. Our "new" bedroom is cozy and clean and the loom is built. I still have stuff to put away but I will be able to paint tomorrow. Here are a couple of photos:

Oh yeah, for those who don't know, the loom is a 60" AVL modular production loom with 8 harnesses and a single box fly shuttle. The loom grows up to be a 16 harness dobby loom with the addition of some rather expensive parts. I hope to eventually acquire those parts but that is a future post.
Up until now, she never had a name but now it is obvious, her name is Phoenix.
The loom was in even smaller pieces than what was originally shipped to me. I am the one who has built it, deconstructed and packed it, and then rebuilt it. I believe it is important to know how my loom works. The re-building went faster as I knew how it was supposed to go and I did a careful job when I took it apart. Everything was labeled, hardware was bagged and labeled and not a piece was missing. Nothing was broken, dented, or scratched, which was rather amazing. I have a couple thousand texsolve heddles that I had carefully removed and tied. They went on fairly easy but, there are a lot of them so it took a bit of time. I am pleased to say my hands remembered exactly how to handle them fast and efficiently. The feet of the loom are cushioned with layers of non-slip padding and area rugs protect the exposed wood floor.
So, I had hoped to be able to get the warp on tomorrow but I still have a few things to put away and I have to rebuild the spool rack and find my bobbin winder. To start with, I have two 18 gallon bins of yarn, all of it cotton, linen, or rayon. I am going to be focusing on plant fibers and some of the human constructed fibers such as rayon and bamboo.
I still have a lot to say but I will save that for future posts. Renee Weaves! is back in addition to continuing my art blog (click on the "paint" link above). The weaving blog has a new look and will have a slightly different focus and direction. It is a new year after all! I have removed the glossary and a few other things and will be adding different things along the way. Most of all, I will be posting about weaving and selling handwoven items.
Thanks to those who hung in there, and to those who are returning or are new. Please feel free to leave comments and stay tuned!
Until next week,
-Renee

Colors of August

This is the first time I have participated in Sue's Colors of the month on Life Looms Large. I hope to be able to participate more in the future as I enjoy this feature (amongst many) on her blog. August has been quite a contrast for me. From everything gold, brown, and dusty to everything cool, gray, and misty as I bounce back and forth from one end of the state to the other. I decided to feature our future home as we will be there soon.
Here goes!

Twill burns bright in sunset colors by the sea. She wears them well!

A glorious ocean sunset. But then, aren't they all?

A quick update. I still have my AVL loom. Alas, I will not have room to set it up. I think the universe is telling me that now is not the time to sell it. My heart tells me that too so it is no longer on the market. My Jane loom will be set up and re=warped once I get settled in. Post for this blog and my Art = Life blog will be a bit spotty as I am transitioning, yet again. Now, I really must go catch up on my blog reading!
-Renee

Moving Sale

I had a moving sale here this weekend! I am pleased to say that most of the stuff I put out is sold. I would like to thank those weavers and fiber people who came out and bought! Thanks to Cindie K. as well for spreading the news for me. If you haven't read her blog yet check it out here or go to my fiber links column.
To all my fiber friends up north, I am pleased to say that my yarn stash has finally been reduced to two bins of yarn and one bin of spinning fiber. I think I am good there.
I also made enough money from the sale to give a nice chunk to my young (25 years old) cousin who is fighting an aggressive form of breast cancer. The rest will go to buying the tools I need to study on my own next year.
I do still have a few things for sale. I am down to one alpaca scarf. I still have the AVL loom for sale. I also have the yarns I listed in last post. I will have just a few more things to post for sale over the next couple of weeks but that is basically it!
I know I haven't done any weaving, and very little spinning over the past year. It has been a crazy year. Once we get settled on the coast, I plan to get back to weaving. I want to focus on linen, cotton, bamboo, and other such fibers. It shall be a lot of fun.
I don't really have an appropriate picture to post here so I will leave you with this, the main street of our future hometown. You can see straight down to the sea.

Renee

Ongoing Fiber Sale

Hi again, I have a few updates. Some of the items have sold and I am adding a few more things. I will put the new stuff first. Before I get to that, I want to mention to those in the Ashland area that I am having a moving sale on July 10th and 11th from 9-5 at my house. I will have a lot of fiber, fiber magazines, yarns, a couple of looms (three including the AVL), and assorted tools in addition to general household items. I will post the sale sign on the blog this week as well as around town.
Now a couple of new items:

These are handwoven 100% alpaca scarves. I made a lot of them and these three are all I had left. Actually, they were the ones that weren't perfect but they are still lovely. There are two black and white ones and one dye painted one. The dyed one is a grey/blue/pinkish. The dyed one is 56" long and 7" wide with a 4" fringe. The black and white ones are 60" long and 7" wide with a 2" fringe. The price of each on is $12 which includes shipping by first class mail in the US. Outside US would be more.
I am putting clearance prices on everything as I really don't want to have to move all this stuff again! We cleaned out a lot as my weaving friends up north will remember but I still have way too much.
Here we have:

To wonderful imported Japanese books on handmade felt. The top picture is of the book fronts and the bottom is the back covers. Each book is 8 1/2 x 7 1/2 and about 78 pgs long. The text is in Japanese but there are step by step pictures for every wonderful project, which is one of the reasons I purchased them. The projects are unusual but not way out there. The pictures pretty much explain it all. I would say these are for intermediate felters. Each book cost about $20 (I paid sales tax too). I am selling both books at 2 for $20, so half price, plus shipping. These books are not easily found so that is a really good deal!
Ok, I still have the AVL loom for sale:
8-H, 60" wide, AVL modular production loom. I will have to sell this locally as shipping would be far to challenging in the time I have.
Here is a picture of it set up in our old house:

 It is currently dis-assembled and well wrapped. I will help reassemble the loom for one day and will be here to consult. So the price? $2500.00. It comes with 2-60" reeds (10 and 12 dpi), has a single box flyshuttle with flyshuttles, and other basic accessories. I have more pictures if interested.
 I also still have the drumcarder for sale:

A Strauch Petite with basic accessories and free wool fiber. The drumcarder 
is equipped with the #05 (128 psi) fine carding cloth on the large drum and their unique "Slicker-Licker" cloth on the small drum. Designed to handle ALL fibers.including Merino, Llama, Alpaca, Cashmere blend, dog hair and other exotics. Strauch now sells the drumcarder with the brush attachment for $460. This one is gently used and does not include a brush attachment (can be purchased from Strauch for $75). I am asking $225.00 plus shipping (UPS starts at $11.27 depending on where you live). I had the drumcarder packaged in a double box at the UPS store so it is secure.
I will take a personal check or can send a Paypal link.
Finally, I still have a bit of fiber left:

Above is Henry's Attic Carrerra Yarn. It is 51% silk 50% merino. There are 2 lbs with about 1/2 pound being in 1 oz plus skeins. The yarn is 2000ypp. $85.00 for the lot.

 Here is Henry's Attic Nantucket II. This bucle yarn is exquisite. It is 50% Mohair, 23% silk, 18% wool, and 5% nylon. 1 lb. $36.00

 Above is Henry's Attic Australian 54's wool roving. Smooth and lovely. I have 8 lbs of it and am selling it in 1 lb balls for $12.00/ lb.

So, I have gone through the bins in the studio room and have lots, including weaving books and magazines, for the moving sale here in town. Next room will be the spare bedroom which is really a storage room for us. That contains my AVL, a huge warping mill (not for sale at the moment), a 56" Hammet 2 harness tapestry rug loom which will be for sale next weekend, and a cute little metal table loom. Of course, there are plenty of bins to go through again. I think I have another bin of good wool and silk yarns in there too so keep checking back!
-Renee