A Knitting Project Completed

While waiting for the ecclesiastical stole to go through the washer and dryer, I finished the final seam on this infinity scarf:

You can wear it as a long loop, or double it up to make a cowl/neckwarmer:

Thickish yarn in an acrylic/wool blend with nice color transitions, size 10 (US) needles, moss stitch... an easy knit. The recipe called for a provisional cast-on with waste yarn (no problem) and then a double-needle cast-off (which I had never done before). At first I didn't like the resulting ridged seam very much, but after spraying it with water and stretching and squishing by hand, it isn't so obvious. Next time, I'll try the Kitchener grafting method and see if I like it better - Kitchener is more difficult than the double-needle castoff, though.

Cutting Off Ceremony

The stole is woven, and none too soon! Turns out that 4 yards was just about exactly the length I needed for the project, as you can see by the position of the sectional knots in this photo:

 Tomorrow, I'll put both the old black warp ends and the newly finished white warp ends onto one set of lease sticks. That will make the tying on process for the next warp (all black, btw) simpler, with less hardware in the way.

Here's the front view:

 And a glimpse of the cloth, with the dove showing.

 Also on tomorrow's agenda is to mend anything that needs mending with needle and thread, and then to do wet-finishing.

There's still quite a bit of work to do - creating a pattern for the back-of-the-neck piece, applying interfacing, and sewing on lining. I think it'll be a plain white muslin - we don't want anything slippery on the underside, or it won't stay in place during services!

Back at the Loom...

... after a variety of interruptions. The Contemporary Crafts Market was last weekend, then we spent much of Monday with DH's parents in the LA area before driving home.

I'm back in the studio, but finding the going very slow. The unmercerized cotton warp really does prevent hooks from doing what they should. At this point, I'm trying to complete a yard of "plain cloth" to finish off the cloth for the stole for Uncle Jim. Yes, I'm still trying...

Here's what "plain cloth" looks like - a nice 6-end false satin, woven with the weft-faced side up:

At the left side or the right side, you can just make out the little zig-zag pattern of the false satin. It's slow going because on nearly every other pick, one or more hooks refuses to lift. Sometimes, it's only one misbehaving:

Sometimes it's more:

When that happens, I have to reach in between the modules, and manually lift the recalcitrant hooks so their threads will be in the right position:

In the photo above, it's about the sixth hook from the front. Unfortunately, the space between modules is guarded by some very sharp brackets:

Those brackets are placed perfectly to slice into my hand as I reach in between:

Small cuts, but blood is hard to wash out of white cloth. I usually devise a makeshift bandaid out of scotch tape and a small scrap of kleenex.

Only 4 inches still to weave, and then I can cut this off the loom and begin the assembly process! Can't wait!

Contemporary Crafts Market...

...is this weekend (Friday, June 7, through Sunday, June 9) at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, located at Pico Blvd and Main Street. If you want to attend, you can find a guest pass here, which you can download and print at home. Just bring it with you to the show, and 2 adults will have free admission.

Our booth will be mostly DH's lathe-turned wood, with only a few pieces of my jacquard weaving. Hope to see you there!

Woven Together: Firestorm

I'll have two pieces in the exhibit. Designing Weavers will be very well represented in the show:  several fellow members of that group will be showing work, too. Look for pieces from Nicki Bair, Michael Rohde, Mary Saxton, and Deborah Shoenberger. Other familiar names on the artist list are Tien Chiu, Deanna Deeds, Rebecca Mezoff, Alice Schlein, Kathe Todd-Hooker, Barbara Walker - it'll be a star-studded event!

If you're anywhere near Colorado Springs/Manitou Springs, Colorado, between June 21 and August 3, 2013, please be sure to see the exhibit. I'd love to hear a review if you go.

Ecclesiastical Stole : Last Two Design Elements

This afternoon, I wove design motifs 4 and 5:

This is the Jesuit logo, with the letters IHS plus some other motifs - a cross extending upward out of the "H" and three small "nails?" below the letters.. I worried that it wouldn't be "readable" in the cloth, but it looks like it'll be fine.

The uppermost motif is a Celtic cross, and it seems to read well, too. The cross should fall below the shoulder after the stole is assembled and sewn. Over the heart is what I'm aiming at.

And here's a look back at the Dove motif, seen under the cloth beam, where what's "up" is the "right" side of the cloth. (I'm weaving "back side up.")

This is how I envisioned the cloth, with the motifs in lustrous yarn against the matt ground.  I think it will be stunning in the final, finished stole. Even more visible than I had hoped!

Now all I have to do is weave 12 or so inches of "plain cloth," meaning only weft-faced 6-end false satin. As I said before, this loom doesn't like "plain cloth" so it'll be slow going...

Plus, there will be lots of mending with needle and thread after the cloth is off the loom. Oh, well. I can do that.

Hopefully, the heat will abate some - today was over 100*(F) but it's supposed to be cooler for the next few days. More humidity would be nice, too, as we've had less than 11% a couple of days recently. Much of California is supposed to be desert, after all, so it's not a surprise when the desert-like conditions prevail.

Ecclesiastical Stole: Three Down, Two to Go

The loom was apparently feeling more cooperative today, and I was able to complete both the second and third motifs of the design.

These are shown in the order I wove them, not the order they'll appear on the stole. On the jacquard, one always weaves from the bottom upwards.

Early in the design phase, I trawled the 'net long and hard for appropriate images. The ones I've chosen are all included for a reason. For example, the Jesuits are very often scholars and/or teachers (Uncle Jim has been a teacher in many different environments: Loyola High School in Los Angeles, English as a second language to Spanish speakers, etc.) so the book (which could be a textbook or a bible) belongs there.

The next design motif is the Jesuit logo, which consists of more fine detail than the ones I've woven so far on this project, so I'll be interested to see how well it "reads" in the cloth.