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Friday, July 25. 2008

Back at the loom again

 

 

 Here I am, back at the loom, after a long (too long) pause.

 

There was a time (gosh...almost 20 years ago!) when weaving was my main textile activity. Looking back, I‘m even a little surprised at all the things I wove – curtains, rugs, fabric for clothing (for myself and for the other members of the family), blankets, wall-hangings, etc., etc. I used many different types of fibers (wool, cotton, linen, rag strips), but almost entirely natural fibers. I even sold things occasionally and, strangely enough, that was sort of the beginning of the end.

 

The laws here in Germany concerning craftspeople and who can and who can‘t sell their products are very strict. Germany has a hundreds-year-old craftmen‘s tradtion. If you work in one of the traditional crafts (and weaving is a traditional craft here), you must be a master craftsman (or woman) in order to be legally allowed to sell your work. To become a master craftsman, you must first have an apprenticeship (usually three years) and first become a journeyman in your craft. You then work (for a master craftsman) for a while to gather experience before then completing a master-piece and passing a test to be a master of your craft. Then you can sell your products on your own (and not through a master craftsman). Selling products before you are a master can get you into trouble – and maybe even earn you a juicy fine! 

 

Admittedly, the danger of being fined for selling woven goods was probably never very great – mainly because hand-weaving is sort of a dying craft. But somehow the idea was still intimidating and discouraging, so I concentrated more on patchwork and quilting, since these are not traditional German crafts and are, therefore, not regulated by the laws concerning crafts. 

 

I kept on weaving, as a hobby, but it was no longer my main emphasis – there just isn‘t enough time to actively follow all the textile crafts I am interested in. My smaller loom (I have two looms) had been without a warp for at least the last 2 years – and an empty loom is a sad sight indeed. Then about two weeks ago, I invited our entire local quilters group over for a farewell party for one of our members who was moving (more about this when I find the time....). And for some reason, I just couldn‘t bear the idea of covering the empty loom with a sheet (my friend‘s suggestion). I wanted the loom to be warped! I had three warps that I had already measured (then put in a box) and I decided to use one of them – a striped wool warp in gray and light purple. I had measured that warp so long ago that I no longer had any idea what my plans for it were. I did find a sheet of paper that I had made notes on...but the ink had faded (gives you an idea of how long it had been around!) so it was no longer entirely legible. No matter – a well-measured warp should be able to stand the test of time, and wool is generally fairly forgiving, so I started in. 

 

Not only was the warp itself old, I was also kind of out of the weaving habit, and things that would have been routine back when I did more weaving required a little extra time and consideration. But I did it! I got my loom warped and even wove a few inches (so it wouldn‘t be quite so obvious that I had just started) before my guests arrived. 

 

In my stash (actually, I have several – fabrics, knitting yarns, weaving yarns, etc.) I found wool Swedish weaving yarns in a weight (7/2 for anyone who might be interested) and colors that went with my warp. The length of the warp was one of the bits of information that had faded so I wasn‘t sure how much weft I needed. The best idea seemed to be to use several colors – and to use them evenly in narrow weft stripes – so that is what I did. Considering that the design process was more or less by guess and by golly, I must admit that I‘m quite pleased with the results.

 

I‘m really enjoying weaving again! I try to weave at least 30 minutes a day and the weaving goes fast, so I just might have some nice handwoven wool yardage before too long. And what will I do with it? I have no idea yet – I don‘t even know how much yardage I will have because I don‘t know how the long the warp was, remember? Right now I‘m kind of hoping that it is enough for a light wool jacket...but time will tell and it will be the reason for another blog entry when it does.

 

 

 

 Here you can get a good idea of the striped warp and the 4-color weft stripe

repeat (dark blue, wine red, heathery purple, and dark pink). I haven't the

faintest recollection of why the right side of the warp is solid gray. Did I run

out of light purple for the stripes? Was the gray stripe supposed to work

like a "weight" at the hem edge of a garment? Your guess is as good as mine!

By the way, the feet belong to the photographer.

 

 

 

 A close up of the fabric so that you can see that it is a straight 2/2 twill weave

and also see the stripes a little better. As you can also see, I'm weaving it

fairly open. The idea is that this type of yarn is made expecially for weaving

and fulls nicely (fingers crossed!) the first time it is washed. 

Written by Mary at 21:58 in Assorted textile techniques
Comments (3)

Sunday, July 13. 2008

Sisters and sweaters

I have two daughters – grown women with families of their own. They are (and always have been) about as different as two sisters can be. If you didn‘t know that they are sisters, you might not even suspect that they are in the same family. 

 

They both grew up in the town where I am still living, but the older daughter left right after her “Abitur” (German equivalent to high school diploma, but actually closer to an AA degree). She studied in three different countries (none of them Germany) and has lived and worked in five or six different countries aftering finishing the university. Visiting her at all the different stages of her life has certainly helped me see more of the world than I might have seen otherwise!

 

The younger daughter has always stayed in our town – did an apprenticeship here, worked, here, met and married her husband here, went to university here, had her children here....you get the idea.

 

So... that was the introduction.

 

A couple of years ago when I was in the US, I found (I must admit I don‘t remember exactly how) instructions for what I thought was a very attractive cardigan and it looked like it would be interesting to knit. It‘s the Sunrise Circle Jacket, designed by Kate Gilbert. When I first discovered it, instructions could be downloaded at the Interweave Press website, but it doesn‘t seem to be available any more. 

 

I ordered the yarn while I was still in the US and began knitting the jacket and it was as much of a pleasure to knit as I had hoped. I must admit that the whole time I was knitting I suspected that it might not actually be the most flattering style for me, but it was such fun to knit and I still was really intrigued with the design. When I was finished, I tried it on and sure enough, I might just as well have included neon arrows and flashing “fat hips” signs in the design. Oh well, I have two daughters, both younger and with better figures, whom might enjoy having a new cardigan.

 

I asked the daughter who lives here in town – just because she was closest and easiest to ask. She tried the cardigan on (it looked great!), agreed that it was a nice design and that it wasn‘t the best style for me....but no thanks, she didn‘t think she would wear it much. Ok. No problem. I‘ll ask my other daughter.

 

The next time the other daughter came to visit (several months after I had asked the first daughter), she tried the sweater on. Again it looked great....and she was sure that she would wear it a lot (she works in international relations so she needs lots of suits, jackets, nice sweaters, etc.). It was cool during her visit, so she already started wearing the sweater here. When her sister saw it, she said, “Oh, maybe I would like to have a sweater like that after all!” She was a little sheepish about it – she did remember that she had already turned down the offer once. I don‘t think it was so much that she was envious of her sister, it was just that she saw how nice the sweater was and realized that it would be a good style to have.

 

OK. Fine. I had fun knitting it the first time, so it would probably be a pleasure to knit the second time also. I ordered more yarn (Karabella “Soft Tweed”, a lovely soft yarn – the one given in the instructions for the sweater – the same yarn that I had used the first time, but a different color) and started in knitting again. I was right, it was still fun to knit and paying attention to the increases in every row seems to make it go relatively rapidly. I even had it finished (including seaming and hemming) in time for my daughter‘s birthday.

 

She was very pleased....except when she tried it on, it was a little too big! The first sweater had fit her perfectly. Oh dear. I‘m not quite sure why. I followed exactly the same instructions (for the same size) as the first time I knit it and I know that my knitting tension hasn‘t changed. The only thing I can think of is that I possibly used needles a half-size smaller the first time and forgot to make a note of it – and then didn‘t think I needed to make a swatch first, because I had already knit it once!

 

 

 

I think the sweater looks ok, but she thought that it was a little big.

 

 

 OK, from the back it does look a little big, but you can see how the knit shaping makes a little peplum.

 

 

 

In ths close-up you can see what makes this sweater such fun to knit. All the shaping – like the front curve – is created while you knit. Such a clever idea! 

 

I gave her the option to knit it for her again (!), a little smaller, and she decided that she would get more use out of a slightly smaller size. So....here we go again! I have ordered the yarn (same yarn, different color) and will definitely make swatches first this time. Oh well, it was fun the first two times....why shouldn‘t it be as much fun the third time?

 

In the mean time, I have discovered that this sweater is very popular with other knitters. There are over 300 examples on one knitting website that I looked at! I have also read other people‘s experiences with the sweater and many feel that the sleeves are too long – I agree. So next time, slightly shorter sleeves...and I will probably be shortening the sleeves on the second sweater (first sweater also, if my daughter wants me to).

 

The slightly larger size is also slightly longer, so it looks better on me! And if we ever decided to form a mother-daughter group, we already have matching sweaters! 

 

Written by Mary at 21:31 in Knitting
Comments (0)

Tuesday, July 8. 2008

It happened again!

I don't believe it! It happened again! Something that I couldn't do on purpose if I tried a thousand times! (I seem to be using a lot of exclamation marks...!)

Every morning when I get up, the first thing I do is make myself a pot of tea. Then I start work (computer – translating, website, etc.) and drink my tea while I work. I have the teapot sitting on a tea warmer – a glass base which holds a small candle (a tealight, as a matter of fact) – to keep my tea warm during the time it takes me to drink all the tea.

This morning, the little candle went out, and I wanted to re-light it. I lifted the teapot off the tea warmer, got out a match, and struck it.... maybe a little over-enthusiastically, because the head of the match broke off....and (get ready...) flew right into the spout of the teapot! And into my tea, of course.

The spout of the teapot has a diameter of roughly 1/2 inch (or 1.5 cm). Just think how many things had to be just right for the match head to fly into the spout!

Is there a lesson to be learned here? Not really. It's just that these synchronicities fascinate me! 

Written by Mary at 08:50 in Synchronicities and such
Comments (0)

It happened again!

I don't believe it! It happened again! Something that I couldn't do on purpose if I tried a thousand times! (I seem to be using a lot of exclamation marks...!)

Every morning when I get up, the first thing I do is make myself a pot of tea. Then I start work (computer – translating, website, etc.) and drink my tea while I work. I have the teapot sitting on a tea warmer – a glass base which holds a small candle (a tealight, as a matter of fact) – to keep my tea warm during the time it takes me to drink all the tea.

This morning, the little candle went out, and I wanted to re-light it. I lifted the teapot off the tea warmer, got out a match, and struck it.... maybe a little over-enthusiastically, because the head of the match broke off....and (get ready...) flew right into the spout of the teapot! And into my tea, of course.

The spout of the teapot has a diameter of roughly 1/2 inch (or 1.5 cm). Just think how many things had to be just right for the match head to fly into the spout!

Is there a lesson to be learned here? Not really. It's just that these synchronicities fascinate me! 

Written by Mary at 08:50 in Synchronicities and such
Comments (0)