debor048

... are driving me crazy!  What I really want to do is just weave a one shuttle weave right now!  I am getting tired of stopping to change colors after every 8 treadles.  Ugh!! However, while I was weaving, here are some other delightful combinations I came up with, not that I'm chomping at the bit to get started on these or anything!  But I am tucking these away for future reference! #1: red, orange, red, orange, yellow, green, yellow, green, blue, purple, blue, purple: #2: red, orange, red, orange, yellow, orange, yellow, orange, yellow, green, yellow, green, blue, green, blue, green, blue, purple, blue, purple, red, purple, red, purple I liked this idea I came up with for the above combinations, so I thought since I was getting tired of the color changes anyway, I would try something like it on this latest towel.  I used several colors in a row before changing them out.  It made for less floats on the sides, AND I could weave through the rest of this one...

I decided to start with experiment #2, which looks like this: So far, I love it!  It's neat to weave something you created... well, as far as I know I created this.  Who knows, maybe I am just re-inventing the wheel!  It's hard to tell with weaving because it's been around for so long and so many great brains are thinking things up all the time!   I really love the texture!  It's really neat!   One side of this weave has an emphasis on the warp, and the other side emphases the weft.  It almost reminds me of a lace weave, but not quite. And we'll wrap things up with a little bit o'David!

I'm kind of an ADHD weaver.  I weave, think, get distracted (usually by the computer), and then weave again to start the cycle all over!  I don't really ever sit and weave for more than probably 10 minutes at a time because I think too much and distract myself! Let's put on our thinking caps: Here's the current project.  It's very smooth, however, it is loaded with 4-thread floats.  Because of this, the threads also pack together really well, too well, and take away the squareness.  With the pinwheels from towel #1, it was hard to get them square because there is a lot of tabby structure to it.   It is a really neat weave, and I do like it, but I kept thinking what would happen if I combined just a little bit more tabby into the structure? Here are some things I was thinking of while working with this current project.  I have the threading set, so I can't change that.  I also like the 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 straight treadling, so I don't want to change t...

Trying out the new tie-up and it's closer. The colors are a lot more concentrated. David is growing so quickly that I had to take a time out from weaving and sew him a new sun hat to wear outside! And an online friend sent me this very cute knitted apple hat!  I think David looks adorable in it! The appleheads... 

I decided to utilize ALL the shuttles I had on hand, which added up to be 13.  I divided it almost in half of dark and light yarn and then I have been randomly using rotating through the darks and lights.  I think it looks better with more colors!  There are more pinwheels popping out. I tried following the colors in a specific order, starting at the right but it didn't seem to make a difference one way or another.  I think the thing that makes it look better is the amount of colors available to rotate through.  I still want to try the original pattern that my friend used though.  I'll get this part long enough to call it a towel after it's been washed and then I will re-tie up the treadles.  Or maybe I'll aim for more of the half way point because I do like what I'm seeing now!  Here's the other pattern I want to try: This other pattern allows less "plain weave" in-between the pinwheels that exist in the pattern I'm using now.  I think that ...

 Good news!  The more I weave, the more I like these towels! They play tricks on your eyes.  Sometimes you can't always see a pinwheel, but if you look at it differently, like closer or further away, you can see them.  They kind of pop out after awhile!  It's pretty neat.  And colorful!  I have to admit, I like the original pattern I saw more, but this isn't bad for just using what I had on hand.  I'm not one to go out and buy a bunch of yarns for a project... right now anyway.  Maybe someday! Also, it's good to note that the original design was woven in a slightly different pinwheel pattern.  Once I finish this particular pattern, I might try the same pattern my friend tried.  It might make all the difference and I might be even closer to matching it.  Also, the original design weft followed the same warp color order.... which also might make a difference, but that's an awful lot of thought to put towards it. I'm kind...

So far, I'm not putting much thought into the color rotations, mainly because the baby has sucked my brains dry right now, and I just don't want to put a lot of thought into it anyway.  I just like the whole free-range weaving theory... just let it go.  "Light, dark, light, dark" is all I'm working about right now!  It's summer-time weaving... my favorite season!  Although I'm not sure I told you the good news yet!  I'm going back part-time next school year.  I am going to job share with another teacher who also had a son 6 days before me, and she too named her son David!  What a small world!  We also went to the exact same university at the exact same time!  She's also from Arizona, and her mom and my mom have the same first names.  I'm sure there's more, but we'll have to discover it as we go along.  Anyway, I will work 2 days, and she'll work 2 days.  It will be WONDERFUL!  I can already tell by my stress levels being s...