MAD Weave!!

Many moons ago--1984 to be precise--I was fortunate enough to share some time with a fabulous basket weaver. She came to visit our state and I played chauffer & hostess to this delightful lady as we toured the state seeking unusual basket structures. We visited numerous museums and stopped in to visit native tribes and local folks who had knowledge about this fascinating weave. This lady was Shereen LaPlantz.  Shereen is now happily weaving baskets in heaven and her legacy is continued by her husband David.  Recently, there has been talk about "Mad Weave" or triaxial weave.  In that regard, memories flooded back.........................At one time, I was conversing with a gentleman who was working on a triaxial weaving loom--looks like he got a patent too!  And the memories continue!!

Most weaving is done with two elements--

but, with triaxial you use three elements, at 60* angle. 

You can use two colors or as in this sample three colors or just one color

 

This is one of my prize possessions--copyrighted in 1984, self-published by Shereen.  There was a period of time, I taught this interesting weave at guilds, workshops and conferences.

Fortunately, there is a new publication Hex Weave and Mad Weave by Elizabeth Harris and Charlene St. John. 

Here is a photo of the back of one of my indigo dyed silk vests, using stripes of silk fabric

The variation in the fabric gives unique texture

The front panels I used ribbon and you can see how different placement gives you different looks

 

Now we have the accessibility of the internet that leads us to instruction of 'mad weave' and understanding of the uses of 3D weaves.  Just type in triaxial weave--you can even WATCH and learn!  We can thank Shereen for the research on this topic and her love of weaving baskets. 

Let's Talk Thread Count..............................

Our Way Out West Weavers met recently and our topic, of course, was thread count. Never can you see a hand woven article and not asked these questions--what is the fiber content?, what is the sett?, what is the weave structure?, what dent reed? how many beats to inch?  We are anxious to learn these things as we admire the latest textiles off the loom.

We are so proud of our member, Pam!  She has been struggling for the past year with extreme breast cancer and then she conquered that to find that she had a brain tumor!  But, though all that, she always went to her loom to give her comfort and strength to continue the battle.

Pam came to our meeting to share her latest "loom art"

It was hand painted warp (cottolin) sett at 20 epi twill structure.  And she wove and wove this yardage.

You just have to admire her courage as she tromped at the loom to strengthen her determination!

These will be turned into some wonderful hand towels for her kitchen.

Way to go, Pam! 

Barbara had this lovely tencel scarf to show off.  It has such drape and handle! 

Just great weaving--she used black weft to cross over the colorful warp

This was the second scarf from the same warp--interesting how a different treadling and weft color will change the weave look. 

After a "show and tell", our discussion moved onto our yearly study subject--Traditional Swedish weaving.  Gerry brought some samples from her vast collection of textiles to give us a different look at this interesting topic.

Huck lace used in design work

traditional for sure

Karen had these samples, fresh off her loom, of another Swedish weave structure--will need to update this as I have forgotten what she called this--it came from "The Big Book of Weaving"

These will be hand towels for her daughter, who is marrying in May

 

I think this will be a welcome addition to her daughter's kitchen.

Then Karen presented her Boundweave runner as her Swedish weave--what colors!

This is her weft

and her warp

She has set the bar high for us to achieve an interesting textile for our study! 

Chalk Art!

A walk along the sidewalks at our local town center on this perfect Spring day was the best way to spend our Saturday afternoon! There was live music and ART--Chalk ART!

Tools of the trade! 

A smart way to preserve the artists drawings too--four sheets of wall board.

We have visited other chalk art celebrations where the art was actually drawn on the sidewalk or roadway and then by morning, the cleaners came through with water and washed it all away......

this is a much better way to show off your talents.  There was the opportunity to vote on your favorite or even purchase one that you liked

These artists were doing fine work in such a short period of time

Really good artwork too!

Lovely pieces to enjoy

colorful!  I'm glad we took the time to stroll through these creative pieces.

WOOF, WOOF--SPLASH, SPLASH!

So Happy! Happy! Happy! I've finished two quilts! I'm so excited to have these blocks together!

"WOOF! WOOF!"  These doggies will bring comfort to a child--hopefully, a child that loves dogs!  A whole year of building dog blocks--so happy to have these fellas finished and ready to present to the quilter.

"SPLASH SPLASH!"  Thank you Sindy of Fat Cat Patterns for these delightful patterns.  Once again, 15 months of swimming with the fishes--no sharks allowed though!  Out of the sewing room--hurrah!!

Knit, Purl, SLP, PSSO

Can we say--we're knitting.......slowly, we are knitting!

This project will take all year--definitely, all year long!  As it is project from Elizabeth Ravenwood and is called 2014:  A year of lace scarf--so far, I've done three of the patterns--makes sense, it is late March after all.  This is in the group--Big Comfy Doghouse--on Ravelry.

I'm using handspun wool that has beads spun with the ply yarn.  I'm not happy that the beads aren't showing up, but you can see them up close and there is the hint of sparkle

I needed a hat--special reason I needed a guy's hat too.  Waffle Hat pattern is free from Gail Bable.

 

It's an easy knit pattern and I used another handspun wool for this comfy hat.

Love these mitts!  These are from Ravelry Group, Ryan Eejits And Those That Fit In The Group (I know--crazy, but fun group!) We are doing Christmas in 12 Months.  Each month we receive a new pattern--so far, I've knit scarf, hat and now these mitts.  The mitts are single silk yarn--soft, cozy and very warm! 

Westside Weavers Discuss Turkish Towels, ETC

Recently, one of our weavers, Scharine, had an extended visit to Turkey and she brought back various sundry textiles she found.  As weavers, our eyes are always on the search for different and unusual textiles.

Scharine had her bowl of bath supplies--and she described how you take a bath at the Turkish Baths

She was privileged to visit with weavers on her visit and she found this delightfully soft cotton Turkish towel to add to her collection for her redo of her bathroom

Along with the colorful towel, she found other woven wonders to add to her bath collection

Once home, she was looking through her stash of hand-woven towels and came across this one she had woven last year--bingo!  excellent color to match her colorful towel!

And here you have the label of the towel weaver, Jennifer Shamam

Cotton Towel

The combination of Scharine's hand woven towel with her Turkish towel will brighten up any bathroom 

She also found this colorful towel in her stash--

In this February issue of complex Weavers, you can see Scharine's hand woven heritage cloth on the cover and inside you can ready about her technique

While in Turkey, Scharine took a felting workshop--

Silk on wool!

Susan had finished knitting this lovely shawl

and she also had this Pear shawlette to show off.  I thought it looked at hearts--nicely done Susan!