Lesson Four! I finished a wider band with an 8 revolution border flanking each side of an 8 revolution pattern. There are 2 more techniques in Lesson Four that I will cover in the next blog post.

Anyway, I had some revelations……….

I should not do string heddles at night when I am the least bit tired. I had to redo them so many times, I can’t even tell you, and then I did the string heddles once on just the pattern and forgot the border warps, ugh!

I was really happy with my weaving, my edges are really nice, that takes a lot of work! My major revelation has come with the use of the upright loom. When you use an upright loom, the warp is under constant tension. I have a feeling that the patterns above have a stretched out look that they would not have if I had woven on a backstrap loom setup.

My next sample band will be done on a backstrap set up!

My Backstrap Weaving Set on Flickr.

Now things are getting exciting! Moving on into Lesson Three I have strung a wider warp and started using 2 background colors. The picture above shows the front of the band on the left and the back of the sample band on the right.

I am also actively reading charts now for the different patterns, and the best part of all is that I used string heddles on these bands for 2 of the sheds. I didn’t take pictures of the string heddles for this lesson or for the next, but I will try to take pictures of further projects in process.

I am still using my Upright/Navajo Loom for these projects, but now getting a hankering to switch to a backstrap. I am also confident about where I am in pattern, for example, if I set my project down, in the book Andean Pebble Weave, Laverne explains how to identify what row you are on.

The hearts are adorable and I am really having fun with this technique!

Lesson 2 - Finishing The Band For Lesson 1 & 2 Using Pebble Weave, and X & O Pick Up Technique. The left side is the back of band and the right side of band is the front

Continuing on with the band I was working on in Lesson 1, I learned how to do a weave, Xs & Os using a pick up technique.

Left: front of band. Right: back of band. X & O pick up technique from the book Andean Pebble Weave.

I finished off this band, staring at how the front of the weave looks one way, and when you flip the piece over there is a mirror image with the colors reversed. How cool is that! Off to Lesson 3.

Front Of Band- Lesson One - Andean Pebble Weave

I had stumbled upon Laverne’s Backstrap Weaving Blog some time before going to Convergence, but after meeting and seeing her work up close, I was definitely intrigued. I had to try this type of weaving! (PS – There is a picture of me taking a class at her blog!)

I took a peek at her book: Andean Pebble Weave at Convergence, and after wishing I purchased it then, I went home and downloaded it. I had to start right away.

To digress a bit, for the longest time I had resisted weaving. Years ago when I learned to spin my own wool, I met many people who wove (in New York), but it was on large looms, and honestly I didn’t know it I wanted to make that commitment. Ironically, a friend and neighbor gifted me her Aunt’s Union Rug Loom, which I did not start actively using until recently.

Mostly, my weaving was restricted to my inkle loom. And I also do card weaving. These types of weaving are very portable and do not take up space. My large weaving experiences did not occur until the second time I lived in New Mexico and my husband and our friend Ron built me a small Upright/Navajo Loom (without any modifications, I can weave a 14 inch length by 20 inch wide rug, and with modifications a wee bit more than 24 inches in length).

I still consider myself a beginner weaver on the upright loom, as there are many, many techniques. And my rug loom is just that, a two shaft loom for simple plain weave.

Realizing I really love the smaller and portable type weaving I was really attracted to Backstrap Weaving.

I’ve started with Lesson One in Andean Pebble Weave which covers set up and understanding the concepts of pebble weave structure. It is a warp faced weave. And not having a backstrap yet, I decided to string up the warp on my Upright/Navajo Loom.

Front And Back Of Band - Lesson One - Andean Pebble Weave

The picture above shows the pebble weave in progress, the patterned area is called a two revolution/4 warp end pattern. The band on the left is the front of the weaving and the band on the right is what the band looks like on the back.

I studied the book, learning how to read charts and manually pick up the pebble weave. Now off to Lesson Two.

such a happy little dude!

i was having so much fun that this was the only picture i snapped, needle felting at esther's place

Today I went to Convergence 2010 (Handweavers Guild of America) here in Albuquerque at the Convention Center. I signed up for a couple Art Sparks Classes and wandered around the Vendor Hall. Tomorrow, I will spy the exhibits and attend the TWIST Meeting. I would have loved to sign up for one of the more serious classes, but was glad I didn’t, because Mom broke her hip this week and we are really wrapped up with that!

So my first stop was a Navajo Spindle Class. Althou I know how to do it already, I needed a refresher, and learned a couple tricks. We hand carded wool (I learned a little nifty trick with that) and then spun on the hip/lap spindle (and I learned a trick there too). I was really happy with my class. The class was taught by Kathy Lambert of Rancho Borrego Negro. Here Etsy site is here. I did head on over to her booth and was enchanted by the cotton sliver, and purchased some to try out. BTW, her fleeces and roving were beautiful!

organic cotton sliver fromrancho borrego negro

Then I scooted off to a Backstrap Weaving Class. This was really interesting. It was taught by a gentleman from Harrisville Designs, and we used one of their products that is designed for kids. Their Backstrap Loom Kit was really cute and I would highly recommend it! Anyhow, we wove a sample, and to get accustomed to the setup we did an open weave (warp and weft showing), then moved onto the traditional style warped -faced weave. I set my weft in relaxed at first, then tightened it up, and experimented with pick-up stitches.

woven sample made on harrisville designs backstrap loom kit

While we were weaving a woman came to take pictures and I thought I might know her from the internet, and now I am sure I do! Laverne Waddington (blog) was visiting, and her weaving is beautiful and inspiring! She has a book available called Andean Pebble Weave. Her backstrap set up is what I will be aiming for shortly, and it was so nice to meet her.

Next to her in the booth was also something that caught my eye. Linda Hendrickson of Laurelhurst Fiber Art Studio & Urban Farm had the coolest handwoven baskets, and I automatically thought about the yucca presentation I saw, and thought that would be a great way to use the yucca rope produced.

I stopped by the Diné be’ iiná Booth and picked up a pamphlet about the Sheep is Life Celebration. I REALLY would like to attend next year.

Then off to Snipes Booth. I have a couple Snipes forks already, but got a cinch batten and a inkle shuttle. I am thinking I might get one of the fancy forks that fit perfect in your hand for Diné/Navajo Weaving. Snipes specialize in handcrafted wood navajo weaving tools, and it was nice to meet the owner, Al Snipes.

"inkle-type" shuttle made from osage orange, and a "cinch" batten

My main purchase that I knew before hand that I was going to make was a gadget to speed up making twisted fringe on the belts/guitar straps I have been making. I found one at Hillcreek Fiber Studio! It is called KZ’s Double Fringe Twister. I was so excited when I got home, I twisted away (small things make me happy).

fringe twister, i'm in heaven

I visited the Ashford Booth to talk to them about my wheel’s little quirk, and for fun, tried the double treadle Traveller – I now know I love my single treadle Traveller, but their double treadle spun beautifully.

Lastly, I was drawn to a group of women and a man needle felting. I stopped and joined in making a cute pin, and I have to say I LOVE the booth. Natasha Lehrer of Esther’s Place had the most beautiful felting kits. I finally got an assortment of colors, and the price was fantastic. I also got this cool sparkle stuff and some lincoln locks. I am going to have fun felting!

a very generous felting sampler from esther's place

beautifully dyed lincoln locks from esther's place

sparkley stuff to use in felting, i could not get a great picture of this at the moment, the one on the left is deep green and golden yellow, and the one on the right is a goldish type

So that was my adventure in the Vendor Hall! I am now inspired to finish building my warp pegs, and get onto to backstrap weaving

Dodecahedron Star Lantern lit with a candle.....

I love to linger over at the Childhood Magic Blog and I just had to try and make a Dodecaheron Star Lantern. Unfortunately, my son does not have the dexterity to help me with this project, thou our whole family was able to enjoy in it’s beauty.

Dodecahedron Star Lantern made with watercolor paper and painted with watercolors.....

The only major difference that I did from the tutorial is I coated the inside and the outside with Glossy Modge Podge. Modge Podge is non-toxic and non-flammable, so I thought it would protect it a bit. Interestingly, the Modge Podge brightened the paint colors, which was fine with me

just beautiful......

The tutorial can be found here.

Chilled Chinese Noodle Salad

For Washoku Warriors Challenge #11 we had two options and I decided to try the Hiyaski Chuka. First, I want to say I love chuka soba and use it for our stir fry all the time (the dried variety). The original recipe call for ramen, which I am sure is equally yummy, but I was eager to have another opportunity to use chuka (besides, my life is made easier because my son LOVES chuka soba).

noodle salad with toppings

I opted to make the Clear-Style Dressing because it was a bit quicker to make and it is terribly hot in New Mexico right now.

Besides garnishing with all chilled: cucmbers, ham, soy simmered shiitakes (p.188), thin omelet (p.290), grape tomato, toasted sesame seed, and green onion, I added a briefly sauteed carrot because I thought the addition of this color and flavor would suit this dish.

THE VERDICT: Delicious beyond belief. My husband had 2 servings! I also learned about “aku nuki” removing bitterness from cucumber. Five star meal!

delicious!

balls of yarn all dyed with natural materials

I know I have overloaded you with pictures of Golondrinas, but I have more! On June 19th & 20th was their Dances With Wool Festival. I tried to take pictures in very low light inside the museum, but I was not happy with any of the pictures. I don’t think we were allowed to use flash photography (even thou there were a few who were), eventually deciding against it for I don’t like any pictures that I do take with a flash.

freshly shorn churro wool

Inside the museum was a textile collection: rugs, robes, and colcha embroidery. Many of the rugs on display were on loan from the Todalena Trading Post (the reason why I went to the festival) and many of the robes were woven in the Rio Grande style indigenous to this region. At some point (I’m hoping for the fall) I would like to take a road trip to Todalena to view their rug collection. I did try to find the trading post when I was there last year and got terribly lost on the reservation. Thou a beautiful ride thru Diné (Navajo) country, my passengers kept falling asleep and  were not up for the adventure.

Miscellaneous weaving in progress in #6 Dispenza (Storage Room) in La Placita

Anyway, most of the colcha embroidery that I posted here was located in # 14 Sala de Fundadores (Founder’s Room) in La Placita. There were some newer and older pieces on exhibit, I did try to take pictures, but in the low light they did not come out as I had hoped.

Blurry, but still useful, were the few photographs I snapped of Eric Blinman’s presentation. This was also the biggest surprise, and most useful (for me) in learning about the origins of specific fibers.

a very blurry photo of eric blinman scraping yucca leaves to reveal the fiber strands inside

Eric Blinman is the Director of the New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies. He did a presentation called: Before There Was Wool There Was Yucca…. Or, It’s More Than Just A Nice Shampoo. You gotta laugh! He had a great sense of humor! For those of you who may not know, the roots of the yucca plant make a great natural shampoo.

He went on to explain with slides that textiles/weavings were often made made solely with plant fibers and not wool. Clothing, blankets, sandals, etc, were made by friends or relatives, and were made with beauty. These items had meaning on many levels (something we don’t do very often now).

Yucca is at the top of list for fiber material in the southwest. Not only were the roots used for shampoo, the flowers and pods were a food source.

He made a very interesting point, while we were all oooohing and ahhhhing at the beauty of the items and how they were made, that before we were genetically the modern humans we are now, we would have undoubtedly learned this skill, it was part of every day survival. Interesting.

Other interesting facts: Yucca almost was the choice of fiber for military ropes, but hemp won out, being just a tad bit stronger, but mostly hemp can be cultivated practically anywhere as yucca can not. Yucca ropes were the foundation for rabbit and turkey feather blankets, turkey feathers being the cadillac of blankets for its heat retention. Pueblo people used to keep wild flocks of turkeys for this purpose.

singles plied into a 2 ply rope

I listened very carefully on how to process the yucca leaves (they needed to be “cooked” for 2 days) and then used immediately (or frozen – he does this so he can demonstrate – apparently they rot quickly and smell horrible). The outer tough skin is stripped away and the fibers are revealed. He then pre-drafted out the wet fibers, and put twist into two strands with his hand on his leg. He released the singles and they plied back onto themselves.

All I can say is, awesome!

I am going to try it as soon as I have a chance to go foraging for yucca (I see it in my neighbor’s yard, maybe I’ll ask for some leaves) and I will let you know how it goes.

Anyway, there were about a 100 other interesting facts from an archeology point of view. If he lectures next year, I will go back to ask more questions. I did ask him about the turkeys. Unfortunately, turkeys are pretty non-existent out here (unlike like the over abundance we had in the northeast).

I have been using some of my turkey feather stash for some completely different non-weaving related projects that will be in another post.

close up of colcha embroidery on a pair of leather chaps

Then I moved onto listen to a lecture by Nancy C. Benson, author of New Mexico Colcha Club: Spanish Colonial Embroidery & The Women Who Saved It. It was extremely interesting to learn about Spanish Colonial life here in New Mexico and how valuable items with colcha embroidery were worth.

Lastly, I got a snack of green chiles and freshly made bread, and trotted off to the vendor booths to visit Weaving Southwest. Their skeins of weaving yarn are to die for!

Just a few more non-wool-related pictures!

kettle - i think it's located somewhere around the blacksmith's

window - La Escuela de Raton (Raton Schoolhouse)

La Escuela de Raton (Raton Schoolhouse)

#41 La Herreria Manuel Apodaca (Manuel Apodaca Blacksmith Shop)

#41 La Herreria Manuel Apodaca (Manuel Apodaca Blacksmith Shop)