weft prep

It is fascinating to me how much a woven piece can change its look merely by changing the weft prep.My first three rugs woven on my current warp were carefully ironed using the handy, dandy bias tape maker. Actually, my last dozen rugs were made this way. I am really tired of all that ironing ... a minimum of 130 yards per rug. My friend Bev loaned me her book of Swedish rugs.







Rug woven with the above weft. These are 2" strips ironed into oblivion, or 1/2". Nice, neat, tidy, all raw ends tucked inside of this ridiculously long strip. Makes for a nice rug with very distinct colors.








This rug is being woven using 1/2" strips, unironed. It was woven willy nilly, meaning it made no difference if the right or wrong side appeared in the shed. I love the muted appearance. Yes, a thinner rug, but the Swedes seem to weave thinner rugs. Some of the rugs in the book had two 1/2" strips in the same shed, others only one. It does pack down more easily.
I doubt I'll have enough warp left to try the two strip trick but will on the next warp I wind on. I have woven using 2 strips, each 1.5 o 2" wide but set at 6, ends doubled. I'm really curious to see the difference with rugs. Oh! I also changed the dreaded hem treatment on this rug. I threw 4 shots of tripled rug warp followed by 4.25" of 1/4" wide fabric. I do hope this works well as I'm not that crazy about the other hem.

Every morning Barn E. Cat climbs into bed, right about the time I'm going to make it. I gently pull the covers up and rearrange the pillows. I try to do this all in such a way so as not to "bother" the cat. We do this each morning, and every morning, as I am in the final stages of bed making, Barn E. jumps off the bed.

Why do I bother........

Why not just jerk the covers up and let the cat be catapulted?

Remember the red and white star towels? This is another variation, but in blue and white (no!) tied onto the other warp.

Here is cotton weft, folded in bias tape fashion and ironed, ready to go.

I'm about 24" into the rug. It looks something like this.

Did you ever read a hint or idea on a List, only to later forget who shared the idea and which list it was on? See yesterday's post of No Brain. Last week I read a great hint on how to successfully tie the warp onto the cloth beam without having to adjust! Her tip * works like a charm and I'd gladly clean her bathrooms for sharing this with the population of which ever weaving list I read. So, whoever you are, and if you're reading this, thank you!

*tie the two outside bouts onto the bar of the cloth beam so the tension of the 2 feel about the same. Tie into square knots and advance the cloth beam one click. Tie the next two bouts and advance the beam one more click. Continue until all bouts are tied on. The tension is magically even across the warp. No more readjusting to the point of tears.

One Morning...

I woke up old and without a brain.

I was reduced to rolling balls of thrums because

my brain had turned to this

Luckily I got the final two rugs completed before I woke in such a state, or non-state, depending on your point of view.

My spirit is a black void, much like this warp

Five Purple Rugs

Stack of 5 purple rag rugs completed the other day.
Over the past week I've woven one rug per day.













All are 36" wide,
varied lengths.





There are two green rugs that were completed today, but no photos until the batteries are recharged.

Happenings at Chez Funny Farm

Chop off a honkin' part of the root of a horseradish plant and wash well. Peel said root.








peeled roots









set up a work station in front of a window with a large fan venting OUT. Your eyes will thank you.










Grate the root into a food processor then put in a chopping blade and chop the grated root. Add vinegar until the horseradish is smooth.
Now go buy a few steaks and grill until the beef can only say "moo". Serve with your Powerful Horseradish".



Collect the sap from about 30 trees over a period of weeks and pour into containers located in someone's neat and tidy kitchen.




Mr Princess proceeds to drive his to drive his Betrothed nuts and brings in no less than 9, varying sized containers into the kitchen (where she had been keeping a variety of large weaving tools). The containers were filled with sap, sugar, yeast, and in the large white container (formerly a feed bin) with corn, sap and yeast and sugar.




Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.........................