the lonely loom

things to do and have done

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Mon, 21 May 2018 03:39:00 +0000

horizons cotton wrap

silks from Habu Textiles

cotton warp / wool weft

friendship towels, yarn hand dyed in Guatemala

tea towels, waffle weave and twill

beautiful Noro yarn on a rigid heddle loom

crochet mittens - these are wooly and warm

overshot - I beat a little to hard here.

wonderful 8 harness waffle weave (i know this was in the previous post, but i love waffle weave)

more and more weaving this year

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Sun, 25 Feb 2018 14:31:00 +0000

I'm still not weaving great things, but what I am weaving is improving. I can't complain about that! :)

note: i want to apologize for the awful images, i can't seem to get it right lately

such beautiful yarn from a family owned mill in Florence sold by Gist Yarns, it's linen cotton blend (the yellow is 100% cotton Bluegrass Mills from The Woolery)

waffle weave lemon ice towels spa set for my friend - the wet finished towels are wonderfully 'squishy' and absorbent

ten towels on one warp, sorry so blurry

cream wools and wool blends (silk, bamboo, some beaded

crackle weave (Jamtlandsvav)

overshot baby blanket from Tom Knisely's book

grab bag from luntatic Fringe yarns

warp, AmercanMaid color grown cotton

deflected doubleweave instructions from David Xenakis

Tencel is slippery and so easy to work with - a promise of spring twill scarf

broken warp, I had too much weight on the floating selvedges

winding and chaining warp fusing Mayan Hands cotton yarn for towels - the yarn is dyed botanically

it's a

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 12:55:00 +0000

new year, I hope it brings beauty and enlightenment. But I think those are things we have to get for ourselves aren't they? :)

weaving four layers (double width x 2) 😉

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 00:56:00 +0000

I've finally done the four layer weave that I've been thinking about for ages. It wasn't bad. As with all things, you just have to think about it and pay attention.

Many of these images are quite blurry, sorry about that. I didn't notice at the time.

I've posted images of the threading, tie-up and treadling at the end of this post. (scroll down)

Weaving the layers:
Layer 1, first

Layer 2, first

Layer 3, first

Layer 4, first

Layer 4, second

Layer 3, second

Layer 2, second

Layer 1, second

Width in loom:

More images on the loom:

Images off of the loom
I had the treadling wrong for the third layer. As you can see, there was no weaving.

Here are the images for the threading, tie up and treadling.

transparency

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 20:11:00 +0000

The warp and weft are gray 22/2 Cottolin. The graphic is fingering weight wool. I'm using an Ashford Rigid Heddle loom with a 15 dpi reed.

I really like the process and the gauzy effect. I plan to do more of this.

Also, I bought a 25 dpi reed for my Glimakra loom.

And lastly, wool, alpaca, silk from Pittsburgh Knit Crochet Festival; Projects coming soon. :)

wool blanket wip, two finishes, muffins, and pillow covers

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 11:26:00 +0000

(photo quality isn't that great here, sorry)

16/2 color grown cotton tea towels and some bright 8/2 cotton, except I beat them a little too hard. Next time I will do 20 dpi instead of 30 dpi.

Here is my third and final cotton blanket. I only wanted two blankets, but decided this would be a great way to use up all of the Peaches n Cream cotton I had. :) And it was.

A bright mohair and viscose scarf on the cricket loom

Valentine's Day baking

Grapefruit muffins, just substitute grapefruit for lemon next time you make lemon muffins

it's hard to not like pink, I think

airmail & travel theme

Glimakra loom and first cotton weave

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 13:05:00 +0000

I think this loom is so elegant. There is a simplicity to it that is just right for me.

The yarn is from Lunatic Fringe Yarns and is color grown cotton. Color grown means that the cotton hasn't been dyed, it grows that color naturally. I find that fascinating.

This will either be four longish tea towels or two tea towels and a runner. I'm not sure yet.

two finishes, handwoven blankets

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 11:27:00 +0000

cotton

I decided on a simple single crochet border in red rather than satin blanket binding.

I'm really pleased with this. It washed up beautifully.

The panel seams are not all that noticeable even though my weaving wasn't as uniform as it should have been.

I love a cotton blanket, but it is a bit heavy

I'm going to do more with wool in the near future.

wool

I had a lapse in judgement and bought some yarn because it was a good price. I very rarely do that, I'm not sure why I did it this time. Most of it is wool and I don't have a wool throw. So I wove it all up into this weird throw.

Most of this yarn is bulky wool and some of it is mohair with metallic. I don't even like metallic most of the time. What was I thinking? I also have some roving leftover from when I made felted crochet hot pads.

If nothing else, I'm sure it will be very itchy! :) This is before wet finishing. I plan to full it quite a bit, because that will make it even weirder. haha!!

But in the end it was fun to weave. I did doubleweave, double width on an Ashford 32-inch rigid heddle loom with 2.5 dent heddles. And I really don't mind its looks.

weaving a cotton blanket

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 14:04:00 +0000

I am weaving a waffle weave cotton worsted weight blanket. The colors are white and cream. It's a loose weave.

I'm using a 5 dent reed. I like the simplicity and openness of it.

I used Peaches n Cream cotton yarn in cones.

I plan on adding binding to the top and bottom or maybe some crochet border. At first I was thinking of the satin binding you usually see on blankets, but now I'm thinking of using a regular cotton fabric.

This is woven on a 32" Ashford rigid heddle loom in plainweave. I'm weaving three separate panels and then sewing together. It will come together and possibly shrink a little once washed.

So far I'm very happy with it.

I want to work more with wool, but I do so love a cotton blanket.

and such

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Sat, 13 Aug 2016 12:30:00 +0000

A quarter of the year has passed since my last post. I didn't notice and it's likely no one else did. But that's okay.

I have been weaving mostly:

Bailey is 16 years old now, he most likely won't be with us for much longer

This is made with the Ashford Vari-dent reed. There is so much potential with this. I haven't even started with this yet. This reed makes it possible and easy to use any size yarn that the loom can use, super bulky, worsted, lace weight, fingering, etc. At first I didn't like this fabric, but it seriously has grown on me.

Tea towels!!

indigo dyed superwash bulky wool yarn (i know i posted this before)

throw from above yarn

mohair and metal

lately

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Sat, 30 Apr 2016 12:48:00 +0000

I haven't posted in a while. I don't think anyone notices as I never promote this site and am not at all consistent with it.

Here are images of lately.

a double weave blanket of sock yarn for a friend, made using two heddles on my ashford rigid heddle loom

a very wide shawl of yarn leftover from other projects

cotton and cottolin tea towels, these are made using three heddles on my Ashford rigid heddle loom
so early in and already an error

I am making a blanket (using two heddles for double weave) for a gift, I am also dyeing yarn for the first time, I used indigo

And Margarent Fox's Amazon Chocolate Cake, it's eggless and if you bake, you most likely have all the ingredients. It's a fun cake when you need something with ingredients on hand. I was surprised at how moist, yet sturdy it is. But for some reason, I decided to drown it in glaze. It has a moat.

my first double wide double heddle throw blanket

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:25:00 +0000

This is my first finished project of the year. I am destashing (my stash is a joke compared to many people). This is a mix of worsted, lace and fingering yarns. I wanted a looser weave, so I used the 7.5 dent heddle. The width is about 59" and since it was double weave, no seam. I'm thrilled with that.

I am not thrilled with the mistakes I made. Mostly because I didn't even know they were there until it was off of the loom. But now I have a much better idea of what to watch for.

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 15:40:00 +0000

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas gifts for friends and family

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 23:33:00 +0000

the mossy woods blanket is finished

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 15:01:00 +0000

The next one will be one piece on the loom. I'm still trying to figure that out. I have the article, but I need to try it. :)

This is nearly the last of the acrylic yarn. I'm ready for wool now, I think.

mossy woods blanket

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 12:13:00 +0000

This is my most largest project to date. I do love weaving.

This is my first time using a warping board. I liked it much better than the direct warping method. I felt that I had more control over tension and it takes up so much less room.

I learned this method from Angela Tong's Rigid Heddle Weaving classes on Craftsy. I use a different loom than she does, so I modified my Ashford rigid heddle loom by tying the permanent apron rod down and then adding a removable dowel. This way I don't have the added step of cutting and tying each of the warp threads to the back apron rod. I'm not in a hurry, really, but I don't want to be slow either. :D

I've used almost the entire width of my 32" loom. I'll do two of these at 90" - 100" long for a blanket / throw. I'll be sewing these together.

The next time I try a blanket, I'll be using both heddles and weaving two sides of the blanket at once. - at least that's the plan!

I'm just using some yarn that I'd bought 'just because'. It's acrylic. I'd like to work with more natural fibers in the future. I'm much more confident thanks to Angela's class!

This looks messy, but it isn't. Everything is tied together and secure.

This yarn is a bit ridiculous, I think. But that's what's fun about it.

the finished curtain

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 13:09:00 +0000

It doesn't look stable, but it is. I didn't like it while working on it, but I do now. I wanted to use up some yarn and I did. yay

This would make a great shawl if made from a softer yarn. Silk would drape wonderfully.

open weave curtain / hanging

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 14:59:00 +0000

It's a very open weave experiment. It should be stable enough for a curtain.

There are five picks of plain weave and then a leno.

I also am hoping to use up yarn here and not need to buy more. :)

weaving, crocheting for the kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 17:40:00 +0000

handwoven cotton tea towels:

There are a lot of imperfections, mistakes, miss-weavings and so on, but I'm thrilled with the result. I'm going to try some black and white stripes now.

This is using two 12.5 dent reeds so I will have 25 epi. It's still a little open, but it should close up once it's off the loom and washed.

I'm really excited by this, it's something I've wanted to do for years.

The yarn is 8/2 cotton in cream and red from thewoolery.com

Crochet:

I love pot holders. I love to make them as much as I love to look at them. these bobble stitches are fun.
I also love the bordered tea towels. I remember my grandmother having these.

the heart of darkness less traveled

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 12:24:00 +0000

aka, second fabric from the ashford loom

I'm experimenting with the camera and the loom. :)

The yarn is acrylic that I gathered and / or received from various places. I'm not nuts about the color scheme, but I really need to experiment and this was a nice cost effective way.

The size is ~30" x ~68". As you can see, like the "heart of darkness", I've made this a sort of sampler.This one I think of "the heart of darkness less traveled". Partly because I used some of the same yarns from "heart of darkness" and partly because I don't know why.

I love leno and plan to make a curtain this winter using natural and off white colors.

The warp is acrylic crochet thread in a size 5. I didn't even know they made crochet thread in acrylic. That will teach me to assume things! It wasn't bad, though.

plain weave on the new loom

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 14:52:00 +0000

The yarn is KFI Koala and is a blend of cotton, bamboo, linen & silk. I used the 7.5 dent reed for this and got a nice loose weave. I should have warped it longer. It's only 47" long. But it's nice and wide at 20".

The yarn is variegated at regular intervals so the scarf has a bit of a pattern.

This loom was so nice to warp. It's always true what they say about better equipment.

I really enjoyed this project. The new loom is so much easier to warp.

It’s a loose weave and very soft.

I plan on weaving many more projects in the near future.

Ultimately I want to weave tea towels with double heddles using 8/2 cotton. I’d like to try 16/2 cotton when I’ve got more experience.

ashford rigid heddle loom 32"

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 15:35:00 +0000

It's waxed, polished, assembled and ready to be warped. I have the double heddle kit, two 12.5 dent reeds and will be thrilled if I can successfully weave at 25 epi.

But first I'm going to use the 7.5 dent reed to get some practice. I find weaving to be difficult. But I'll get there...

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 12:24:00 +0000

safari friends by sandy chidester

Via Flickr:

I've finally finished the zebra (punda milia). I rather enjoyed these. I'm not good at this, but they are so cute anyway. :)

Pattern at http://www.knittingatknoon.com/FSsafarifriends.html

extra granny square pillow

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 14:52:00 +0000

The pillow is made of natural color medium weight linen. I even made a fold over closure. I still need to add a button. :)

The squares are of more than one color because I wanted to use all of the beautiful color grown yarn.

These are the granny squares that were left over from this: afghan.

mini trees

noreply@blogger.com (sandySTC) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 16:09:00 +0000

I love mini. I like tiny, too, but that's a bit more challenging. :) I like to do these trees in white or cream. It reminds me of snow. They are about 4 1/2 and 6 inches.

This is another great thing to use up little quantities of yarns.

Free pattern here