Warp 3 Woven

This is a section of Warp 3 woven up. The pattern is supposed to come and go and is probably best scanned in. A photo taken head on shows very little. This at least shows where the pattern is!

It is weaving up without too much trouble which is just as well as I want to finish it by Wednesday night.

Today I spent five hours writing the lawyer a letter, looking up customer numbers and scanning in invoices and statements. I see him tomorrow. But before that I have to search our safe deposit box at the bank to see if some missing documents are there. It bothers me that things are so complicated for me and I am not exactly your little old lady widow. I suspect a lot of people don't even know that they have got it wrong.

Stripes

This is the third multicoloured warp using the ghost warp. It is wound from two different space-dyed Tencel yarns supplied by  Just Our Yarns. The warp is Fibonacci striped and it has provided a gradation from one colour-way to the other. I did think about the stripe width when designing it but I do wonder if the stripes should have been thicker. Oh well, it is too late now. After the warp was on, I put the colour stripes into Fibreworks on the selected draft and I am sure would have noted the effect of the stripe width because it is quite obvious. Moral, put the correct colours and thicknesses into the draft.

The warp is tied on but I still have to check the threading. The Tencel pilled a lot and I have bust four threads in the winding on which I have to replace.

Today I went to a Braiding Society Day at Aldbourne. Very pleasant and I got on with my kumi-himo braid which has been around for too long. Back home across the Cotswold where the trees are out and England is clad in many shades of green. 

In conversation with various members of the weaving group, I have promised to work up a plan for us all to do woven shibori samples. So I came home and read bits of Catherine Ellis's book and am dismayed. I can't do any planning until I have done it myself. So the 'Weave some Shibori' project has just moved from the 'Maybe sometime' list to the 'Urgent' list.  First thing to do is to read the book from cover to cover and then sort out what yarn to use.

I found a young weaver, Emma Shannon, whose work is very much to my taste. My sister, Dorothy, who was subjected to a disquisition on the excellences of this weaver when she was staying with me, has been to an exhibition in Glasgow and met her and her work. She says it is even better than the photos!!! Do have a look at her blog.

I did a bout of paper work this morning before leaving for Aldbourne and felt  virtuous but I have an incomprehensible form from Michael's pension people. So I will have to see the lawyer early this week.

Forest of Dean

We used to live on the edge of the Forest of Dean and I loved it. So I took everyone there last Wednesday and we had a lovely lunch in a pub in Longhope and then walked in the woods.  The wild daffodils were still out up there.

Away in the misty distance, you can see the scarp of the Cotswolds across the Vale (Severn Valley to outsiders). There are a few daffs in the foreground but if you turn around - -

I took many photos of trees and bark. Thinking about a piece based on bark. Maybe. Later this year.

Everyone has Gone

They have all gone. My sister went off with Jake, the collie cross, at 0530. Robin and Chris (son-in-law and grandson) left for Heathrow at 0630. They will be on their plane to Kuala Lumpur by now.  And I have a new life to start. Though the old one keeps surfacing. A lot of time was spent this morning loading the washing machine and ironing. I then realised that there were none of Michael's shirts to deal with. 

Yesterday Robin and Chris helped to fill the last of sacks of paper to shred - this is old work stuff and nothing to do with Michael. This morning, the sacks were collected. I went to the charity shop (MacMillan's of course) with a carload stuff and the garage is beginning to surface. I have also done a huge amount of telephoning and paperwork. Now I  have been to see the bank etc and have made appointments for an interview.  The lawyer I talked to on the phone and then we had an exchange of documents and that's it for the moment. He has provided a check list of what documents he wants to see. Looks like a lot of work.  But I will tackle that tomorrow.

 The multicoloured warp (No 2 in wool and silk) came off the Megado yesterday. Here it is but not yet washed. The horizontal line is just a fold line. The fabric is very soft and I think will crease badly unless I use an iron-on lining.

I have cleaned up the Megado and resleyed the ghost warp from 16 per inch to 40 per inch. I have also created yet another draft.This one is better than the previous ones but I would not like to say it was perfect until I have woven a few inches.

I intend to wind a warp this afternoon.

Poking about the web as one does, I came across this blog by Emma Shannon. Lovely designs/drafts. Just my sort of thing. I have not investigated carefully enough yet to discover what she intends the fabric for. Looks like it could be upholstery fabric. Very desirable and a name to remember.

Today my sister is off to Cambridge to lunch with some old friends leaving Madi and me to look after her dog, Jake. Except that Madi is going home with her Dad mid-morning. Robin and Chris return here for two days this afternoon and Dorothy is back this evening. And if you think 'That's Piccadilly Circus', it feels like that occasionally. Meals vary between being for me and the dog and six or seven people. A major session with the washing machine is scheduled for Thursday after everyone leaves.

This morning before breakfast, I tied on the red/white wool/ silk to the ghost warp at the end  and I have about a yard of warp left to weave which I would like to finish today. I  have been upstairs to admire 'THE STUDIO'. It has definitely been promoted and is very pleasing AND I only have one empty drawer left now.

Springtime

I promised photos of the garden so here is Iris Lilac and Lavender. It's about 9 inches high.

And this is Erythronium japonicum. I raised it from seed from Wisley many years ago and got six bulbs. Since then they have seeded all over the garden.

And here is a close up of the flowers.

I am getting on quite well with the Megado weaving. I can see the end of the warp. Should be done tomorrow.

My sister brought her dog, Jake, a collie cross, with her and Madi, my grand-daughter is staying with us and loves taking him for walks so we have been to all sorts of places on the Malvern Hills I have never been before. Madi's other function is to give me a hand to clear out a bit, especially work-related files. We have filled seven plastic sacks for shredding today and also bought some drawers for the studio upstairs and installed them. For the first time for weeks I can walk around upstairs as the floor is clear! And I still have four empty drawers!!

A New Life

The tumult and the shouting dies
The captains and the kings depart

Well my king and captain has departed, taking with him the regrets of a lot of people. Lots of people I did not know turned up at the funeral - all people who knew him through his work.

And now I have to remake my life which all seems very odd. We (my sister, her daughter-in-law, her grand-daughter, Anne and her family) all met up at the Cotswold Wildlife Park yesterday and spent a very hot day there. We inspected the meerkats and the parrots and the reptiles and took a train ride and had a Mr Whippy cone plus chocolate flake.  No pressure to get back home or phone up to find out how Michael was. But a tendency to weep for no good reason.

The family is determined to keep me occupied. I have a feeling that this may not work but we'll see. Today Anne and family are here for lunch, my sister is still staying with me and my life is mapped out until next Thursday.

On reviewing the status of textile projects, I find I have to meet three deadlines by May 1st and there is another deadline on May 5th. So I have been working hard on the Megado. Except that I have had to unweave bits which have errors. I inspected all the shafts carefully but could see nothing wrong. After weaving a few more inches, I was exasperated enough to have another closer inspection and found a long length of thick cotton twined round the bottom of three of the shafts. There have been no further mistakes but I have only done about six inches. But I live in hope. I need to wind the next warp soon so that it is ready to tie on to the ghost warp on the Megado on Tuesday. My plan is to have it tied on and ready by Thursday, 14th and off the loom on Sunday, 17th I have ordered and received the cotton for the warp after that and need to wind the warp and have it ready to start on Monday 18th. Well we'll see, won't we. The time scale seems a bit ambitious to me.

So no pictures this time but the garden looks very fine. All the camellias are out and the magnolia too.