Weaving and More Weaving

What a precious time this is! I'm taking this time to get projects on the looms, to finally come to grips with all the stages of weaving. I've never liked warping. It's daunting.  All those threads going more or less helter-skelter.  George built me a warping mill for the stand he built for my rigid heddle looms. It's WONDERFUL!  It spins back and forth.  I can measure out the warp with much less effort and much faster than I can on the warping board.  I've disassembled the warping board.  I won't sell it just yet, but the day may come.  The tensioning device he built me for warping is a dream.  It lets me work with the warp threads much more easily than ever before so I feel myself relaxing more.

Linda's Shawl

My dear friend, Linda Permann, saw the bamboo shawl and asked if I could make one for her out of some Malabrigo Lace yarn she had in her stash.  How could I refuse??  I got the warp measured out a couple of days ago on my spiffy warping mill.  George cleaned and waxed the 36" Schacht Standard loom.  I want to weave more on that loom. I've had it the longest of any of my looms - 25 years or so - but I haven't woven much on it.  I can't imagine why I haven't used it more.  It's the most comfortable of them all, I think.  Anyway, that's where Linda's Shawl is going.  I'm enchanted with the yarn.  Anything Malabrigo is soft and wonderful in the hand. The subtle tonal variations of the yarn are beautiful.  I'm hoping they'll be visible in the weaving.  If you look carefully, you can see it in the detail photo:

Second Mitered Scarf

I really like this project.  I admit I had my doubts about these yarns when I got them warped on and started weaving.  I'm over my doubts now.  The long slow color changes in the Mini Mochi are gorgeous.  And the subtle sparkle of the Starry (on the right) is gorgeous, too.  I admit the colors are muted, but I like muted colors.  Warping this baby was a nightmare.  I chose not to wait for the Warp Tensioning Device.  I should have.  I don't know why this would have been so much more difficult than the last scarf I warped on, but it was.  I think I was just tense yesterday and that didn't help.

Off to Austin now!  We're going to see Cirque du Soleil's Dralion and we have killer seats!  We all adore Cirque du Soleil and I think Dralion is either my first or second favorite of their shows.  Woot!!