Long week of weaving

I am still weaving...

Moved the big loom into my sitting room as Togo has a weird thing about the dining room, since we put the new floor in, he will only go into it when we have guests. So, he has happily rested by me as I weave. Now, for those of you who have seen my tiny sitting room, you'll be wondering how on earth it all fits. I'm still wondering, but, when I had the loom made I did measure the small distance between the settee and wall to ensure that it would fit. Just.

So, the pic above is 8 metres, I am now working on the next batch, 9 metres using the same brocaded motif, but closer together on a burgundy ground. Which means it is taking twice as long.

In an effort to cheer myself up a bit, I watched The Duchess the other night. Another woeful lack of Leek buttons I have to say, though I'd need to watch it a second time to really pay attention to the detail. However, what grated throughout was Ms Knightly. Too skinny - she'd have made a good peasant at that weight, and bad posture. Someone teach that woman to stand properly the next time she plays aristocracy. Her shoulders were far too rounded. And I reckon it was emphasised even more by the corsetry holding her back straight.

Thanks for your good wishes for Togo. He's doing ok. He has some trouble panting properly, and we've figured out that this becomes worse if he has a full stomach (besides of course getting too excited or exercising too much) so we are now encouraging him to eat more in a 'little but often' method. A client of ours who imports products gave him quite a few new toys the other day and he really cheered up - he loves new toys!

Projects update

A few more finished projects - Worsted wool tassels. The large pair are for use as girdle tassels and have a bullion skirt and hand-spun silk gimp for the knots. The little tassel is for a paternoster; again, with hand-spun silk gimp knot. Of course, black just doesn't photograph well, but you get the idea.






Below, is a silk tablet woven ribbon, its eventual use will be to trim a tunic circa 1180s - originally a fully brocaded ribbon was wanted, but the timescales are too tight for that, so the threaded-in design using golden yellow silk was decided on. This was lovely to work with everything else I have been worrying about. My husband likes this band better than anything else I've done (looks like I finally know what to weave for him to use as a guitar strap then...)

Sad news

My lovely eldest dog, Togo (the black one in the photo) has been very ill. It has been confirmed that he has cancer, and at 14 there's not too much that can be done without alot of stress to him - and then really for no real guarantee of success. He could have days, weeks or months - hopefully the latter. As we pretty much thought we would be saying goodbye on Tuesday, its nice that we aren't - the treatment from the vet has meant his appetite has returned, as has his bark (albeit rather quieter than it used to be) and he's doing doggy stuff again - he has even been playing a bit. So long as he is comfortable and enjoying his old age than we'll be 'happy'. But its very sad knowing we could be saying goodbye at any time. Its a good thing I do have so much weaving to do really, it means that he can sleep quietly without feeling he has to be up and about doing things - if I wasn't weaving I'd be gardening, and he'd be insisting on following me round the garden.

A few more projects completed

Finally took some of the pictures off of my computer! So, here's just some of what I've been working on, and why I haven't posted in a while.

The new loom, warped up for tablet weaving - this was for a silk girdle. Unfortunately, the pictures of the finished girdle are blurry, but I've been promised some when the mounts have all been fitted.

This is a 3 metre warp, and because of the distance between the tablets and back beam, the twist did not build up too quickly, so I only needed 1 reversal.

Lots of tassels! (But not quite all of the ones I'm working on, they haven't all been delivered yet!)

The black & gold, and peach & gold are for use as girdle tassels. (A very popular item this year; I've had a few orders, and luckily every one has been different)

The tassel warps for the girdle tassels were all measured up on the new loom as well - no need to get out individual warping pegs and clamp them to the table and work surface. Very handy, especially with the bullion tassels, as I needed warps of 6 metres to create the bullions.

And the second gold plate brocade. I really do like it in the red - it's quite surprising how the same design can look so different due to the ground colour, because of the way the gold reflects the colour.

I am now working on gold & silver braid - tabby woven, and on the new loom. The order is about halfway complete.

I have also been spending lots of time sorting out silk supplies for a big, very rushed job. Discussions began in Feb, but nothing was finalised until the end of last week! Of course, the date they are needed by hasn't changed and so I truly will be weaving like a lunatic when the silk arrives - a week has already been lost sorting that out.