Monday, February 9, 2009

Incorporating Memories


I have been noodling around with my next projects and I am working on the idea of taking some t-shirts that had been my mother's and incorporating them into a rag rug. I haven't been able to wear the shirts, so this is probably a better use for them.


So I have been cutting them up. I also found some that had been my father's and some old ones of mine to use. As you can see this is going to be pretty colorful.


I have more to cut up. I am still thinking of how I want to weave it. I also have some pretty colorful warp that I plan to use.
More later...

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

It's Working



Well, I have the loom all put together and finally have the right version of Fiberworks PCW on my laptop AND have the settings right. The loom works great! (I think I know now how Dr. Frankenstein would have felt after assembling the monster. :-) )


I still have to figure out how to put a pattern on the Compu-Dobby itself or on the cartridge I got with the loom, but maybe later. Running the loom off of the laptop seems very easy and straightforward.



I put on 10/2 white unmercerized cotton, sett at 24 epi, for some playing , sampling and eventually towels. I threaded the warp to a 16 shaft point. (I know I've got 24, why not use them all.) The design is one I saw while taking JoAnn's Diaper class and I wanted to try it out.




Here is a close up of the design. It is really very nice. I'm not sure if it will work for towels with this grist. There are floats that are 5 or 6 threads long. I'll see better after washing.
I am going to try some more designs I am finding in my books while planning some designs of my own. This will be a good time to experiment designing using the "Magic Box". More on that later. I probably need to put something on the Cranbrook so it doesn't get jealous.