Harmonies in Yellow and Green

Time to try out a striped warp for the first time! I decided on a wool warp in a fine 3 colour stripe, which included selecting the correct yarns for the warp. This was tricky as I found several of the colours I wanted to use broke much too easily. I eventually settled on a bottle green (ex Wangaratta Woollen Mills - doubling it up for strength), a pale avocado (Bendigo Woollen Mills 2 ply current colour) and two single ply soft yellow/pale gold (origin unknown, also doubled up for strength,).

An 8-shaft pointed twill threading, making sure to calculate the colours of the stripe to sit exactly into the threading repeat. I've now learnt to make sure there are enough heddles on each shaft before I start. Still managed to make the warp wider than I intended though - simple basic arithmetic gone awry once again!


Threaded, beamed and ready to start

This project was an adaptation from Margo Selby's book "Colour and Texture in Weaving" but with completely different colourways and yarns.  After getting the hang of the patterns Goji and Grape, in between bands of tabby, I decided to be brave (or misguided) and design a pattern repeat of my own! Looking carefully at the effects of lifting different shafts in different combinations - and writing it down - I came up with my own pattern which I incorporated into the project.

Bands of Goji & Grape on tabby

Section of plain weave with the beginning of my design

Currently called Pattern "H" (until I think of a better name), it gives an interesting texture and intersects with the warp stripe in quite a different way to the bands of pattern previously woven in the same piece. Staying with this pattern now for the main body of the piece, I then finished off with variations of the highly textured bands of Goji and Grape once again.

Here it is, fringes finished, washed and steam pressed. A lovely drape and soft feel with balanced scale of the stripe within the width of the piece (27cm wide x 180cm length).

Purple Peacocks Plus

I have always been drawn to peacocks - well, specifically their colours. In my studio (on which I hand-painted a peacock on the outside wall), hangs a single peacock feather that has been in my life since I was a teenager. The iridescence of its colours never fails to enchant me and has been the inspiration for quite a few creative pieces over the years. 

With plenty of the deep olive warp still on my loom (see previous post), I set out to select an array of colours which would drift across the surface of a plain weave, constantly change their relationships to each other and be a woven reminder of my favourite peacock feather.

Selecting yarns from my stash is always for me like mixing paints, so I pulled out an array of silvery-sea greens, golden oranges and coppery bronze yarns to add to the purple I was already using in the weft.

Twisted fringes finished it off, and after a gentle wash and steam, it's already had its first autumn outing in early April. I know there's not really any purple peacocks, but .......... wouldn't they be fabulous!

The Next Challenge

I have a long history of never taking the easy road in anything I do. To make sure my brain and my skills are stretched yet once again, I decided to find a way to weave a wavy design (continual S curves) along the length of a fabric. This search brought me to network drafted advancing twills. Now, I can understand each of those words in isolation, but as a phrase, that was another thing altogether!!

Reading and re-reading (more than a couple of times) an indepth article on WeaveZine by Bonnie Inouye titled: Flowing Curves: Network Drafted Twill. I discovered how to do what I wanted on my table loom with six shafts. I took me quite a while to work out the process and I sure don't fully understand how to design my own weaving drafts, but I got to work deciphering the information. Bonnie is a highly experience weaver, so I was worried I may have been way out of my depth.

This meant a 42-thread repeat on the warp threading and a 100 pick (row) repeat in the weft weaving. And in between each of these pattern picks, were alternate odd & even tabby (plain) rows. Attention to detail at every level and step of the way was paramount to the success of this weave structure and design, but I was determined.

It's now complete.  A 2 metre scarf using a deep olive warp with purple and seafoam green weft. The set was possibly a little coarse and using finer yarns would have defined the pattern more, but it has a lovely soft drape. Once I got the hang of it, it was however quote boring to actually weave. I wasn't making moment by moment decisions about colours and different yarns and textures and all the things I really enjoy about weaving!  By following this weave pattern to the absolute letter (essential for the outcome), I became an extension of the loom. This process has produced a fine looking scarf, but without the personal input to design. To me, it doesn't have the life and energy that I bring to my art weaving.

Tiring of the repetitious weaving and abandoning the advancing twill pattern, I went on to have a bit more fun with a short scarf, introducing a multi-coloured yarn along with some silvery highlights. Just because I could!

Because I put on a 6 metre warp, I plan to move on to another 2 metre length which uses simple tabby weave BUT represents something much more, with use of different colours, yarns and their ever changing interactions.............

my next post will explore the outcome of that adventure!