debor048

I've been busy.  Real busy.  New baby, a recovery from major surgery, and my hubby changed jobs.  It's been both hard and easy to get back on my feet. But that's not why I've been gone. Before the baby was born... like way before... during the time I was doing electronics, I was hit hard by a very mean comment left by an internet bully.  It blew me over and I almost shut down the blog over it.  I think it might have been pregnancy hormones, or just the fact that my sensitive feelings were severely hurt.  Some of you asked where I was and I told you about my confrontation.  Many of you apologized for this idiot, but it still hurt.  In fact, I was so hurt that I went through the blog and deleted all head shots.  I felt insecure and violated.  I turned off comments and completely walked away from the blog.  Well... can't say I'm completely "over-it", but it's nice to face it and be back.  Don't worry, you haven't missed any of my ...

I have enjoyed the Tuesday Weaver's blog for quite some time now, and we've even enjoyed exchanging Christmas cards for a few years!  I've never had the chance to meet them, but I want to someday!!  I would love to see their studio and meet all the weavers!  Anyway, a wonderful shoutout of THANKS to them for their lovely package for the baby!!  It was full of all kinds of goodies!!!  When the postman brought it by, I was on the phone with my mom and told her what was left on the doorstep.  She wanted me to make sure I tell them that we have relatives that are from Tennessee! Thank you Tuesday Weavers!!  I love it all, and so will the baby!!!! We are feeling more and more ready for the baby, who should be making an appearance in the next month or so.  We are very excited!!  I should also mention that I am super excited to get my body back after the baby comes!  I haven't said much yet about my weird pregnancy symptom because I got my blo...

The blanket was 44" square before washing, and 43" square after washing. Here is the worst part of the center fold, before washing: Same area, after washing:  Washing definitely brought out the best in this blanket and relaxed some areas like the center fold.  I think this little section is so small that it will be overlooked.  Best of all, is is even softer than it was before, which I didn't even think was possible!

I almost ran out of yarn on this one... wow, I really cut it close! On the last stripe, I ran out of blue, so I had to substitute in a few shots of teal.  I don't think anyone will even notice, and I think it looks cool that way, anyway!  It's a good story! The warp was plenty long!  I advanced it a little bit more before cutting it completely off to make the fringe a little longer.  I actually cut the fringe off 8 strands at a time, and then tie it right then.  Otherwise, the weft just pops out of place so quickly!  One thing I liked about having a slightly longer than needed warp on the doubleweave was the threads not sticking together in the end and causing seriously bad floats.  I had one float I had to deal with, and it was so easy to fix because it was near a short piece of yarn anyway. Lots of work to do when it comes off... it took awhile! But good thing I had Scout to help keep me company! I love the way it turned out!!! It looks great with ...

This blanket is almost done!  I love how quick these blankets go.  I can usually whip out a doubleweave worsted weight polyester blanket in 24 hours time, but I'm going a little slower than usual lately!   Here is a list of the order of colors.  I tried not to repeat too many colors in a row, but I was also rapidly running out of a few colors, so I had to use them wisely in some of the smaller sections.  I wish now that I would have not used the skeins to make some last minute Christmas scarves, or replaced what I had used, but I think I am at least going to make it to the end of this project without having to buy more yarn!  Total skeins used: 6.  Total cost: $12.

 This is for my little boy!   I love this weave so far! I love the deviation from my usual same sized squares!  I did find that the folded edge still had some weirdness going on with it, but after really thinking it through, I did figure it out.  I have to go back and weave the yarn back in for about 3" of the blanket, but I don't think it will be all that bad!  I'll just count over 4 warp threads and follow that thread down to match the pattern.  It does work now!   I had to thread the end as 1 turquoise 2 blue 3 turquoise 4 blue 5 turquoise 6 blue 1 blue 8 blue I love the colors so much!  I am only using 6, and I did use some yarns before hand to make a scarf for someone, so some of the colors are getting sparse.  I'm not sure yet if I'm going to replace them or just keep going, even though the balance will be off just a little tiny bit.  The original price for this yarn should have been $24, but with my coupons for Hobby Lob...

... and ready for threading! Threading is not my favorite activity, but it should go fast now that I figured out a new way to do it!  Also, 418 with worsted weight polyester is not as bad as the blanket made from 12/2 cotton!  I don't even remember how many heddles was on that one...  I think it was well over 1,000!

I don't usually draw out all of my plans completely before I get started, but this time I wanted a whole visual to make sure I really was seeing everything I needed to.  I also wanted to make sure that I had all my numbers correct.  For my warp, I wanted numbers that were divisible by 8 because I am going to be threading it 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 and then on the next round, it will be starting half way (at the 4th heddle) and working its way opposite, so 4-3-2-1-8-7-6-5.  I just thought it would be so much easier to make it all divisible by 8!  My baby wolf loom can handle 204 threads across, so 416 for a doubleweave blanket.  Fortunately, all of this can be divided by 8.  Here are my plans:   Last baby blanket I made for my niece was a 2 yard warp, and it was just a little too small. A 2.5 yard warp makes for a good sized adult throw, which is too big. So I am going to make this one peg larger than a 2.25 yard warp and hope that it’s perfect!!...

I haven't liked what the middle fold section is doing in this sample piece I wove.  It looks like the fold area has a double thread going on, like this: If I add a thread to the 4th heddle, I now get this: This is closer, but still not spot on.  I want this: But I can get it two ways.  I can get it by adding one to either side.  I'm not sure which is better, or if I can add one to each color, or do I need to add two threads to just one color???  This is the other way I can get the same design, but it will make the other side two threads bigger. So can I add one thread color to each side and get the same thing?? I think the answer is no: The pattern color needs to change at the point of the design change: Now the question is, where do I add it to the doubleweave pattern?  So far, I have added one to heddle 4, and it is working, but not quite there.  If I continue down in the same order, that means I have to add one to heddle 3 of the same color and have...

It's almost right!  Something about the center seam doesn't seem quite right... the twill doesn't do the reverse thing quite right, but otherwise, the sample looks great! Just need to tweak it a little bit and it will be perfect for a blanket!

I had a friend try out the doubleweave pattern I used for the other blankets and she didn't like how the threading bounced around.  Originally, the threading was to help make sure you threaded the lights and darks on the correct heddles.  But she was right, it was a pain in the bum bum!  While working on the 4-shaft doubleweave project, I thought and thought about re-vamping the entire thing.  Here is the pattern I have come up with.  When you weave it, you will also have a straight treadling.  This is just showing the separation of the 2 layers. Here is the pattern in the way I want to thread it and weave it.  Between the small stripes would be a perfect place to hide the middle fold in the blanket! When unfolded, each layer should weave up to look like this: The tie-up was the most confusing part to come up with, especially if we are keeping a straight threading and treadling.  Here is an easy way to see (and draw) the layers yourself: #1. ...

I have been planning this blanket ever since I found out I was pregnant!  Even before I knew it was a boy, I planned and purchased these yarn colors, too!  The colors I want to use are blues and greens. I am using soft polyester yarn from Hobby Lobby. I am also buying the yarn one at a time with 40% off coupons. I’m glad it’s taking me awhile to get all the yarn together because I have a huge to-do list and I want this to be one of the last weaving projects before the baby comes in April!  I have almost collected enough yarns for it.  I haven't been as diligent lately, so I will need to get on it again because I need to add some yellow, navy, gray, and possibly an orange to spice it up a bit.  This is what I have so far:   I have been diligently practicing my doubleweave skills for quite awhile now, and I feel that I've gotten pretty good at it all.  However, I am ready to branch out and make a somewhat new design based on the old one.  Thi...