Yarn

,

Warp and weft: a cooperative relationship in tapestry weaving

,
Warp and weft: a cooperative relationship in tapestry weaving

In tapestry weaving, the relationship between warp and weft is an important one. How to reach a happy consensus between these two elements of your piece is not immediately obvious.

These questions might sound familiar:

What warp should I use? How do I even decide with all those numbers?
Why is my warp showing?
Why does this weft yarn look so bad woven when it is so pretty in the skein?
Why is my fabric so loose?

The warp has a big job. Warp is the ground of your piece. It is the tightly-held strings upon which your image is built. The warp is completely covered in traditional tapestry weaving, yet it is the necessary core of the structure.

,

I'm in the dye studio.

,
I'm in the dye studio.

I've spent much of the last week in my dye studio. I will likely spend another couple weeks there. I do love the dyeing and putting together colors for a new project is a whole lot of fun. And global warming has hit Colorado and it isn't even that cold for January. This particular tapestry will need about 25 pounds of yarn, but since there are so many colors and I hate running out, I always make enough extra that I won't. I suspect in the end I'll have dyed about 50 pounds. I don't like games of yarn chicken and the extra yarn is always welcome in the tapestry classes I teach or for my next piece.

What makes a good tapestry yarn?

What makes a good tapestry yarn?

If you're newer to weaving, you may not realize that not all yarns are made equal. In fact, there is so much variety in yarns it is rather hard to qualify what are the best combination of characteristics. And it can be even harder to purchase yarn that has those characteristics. Throw in the need for a large color choice for tapestry weaving, and the options do narrow somewhat.

I live in the USA, so I mostly talk about yarns that are easily available here with one favorite exception from the UK.

So what does make a good tapestry yarn?

Can you use knitting yarn for tapestry weaving?

Can you use knitting yarn for tapestry weaving?

Growing up, I thought yarn was just yarn. I was perfectly happy with a big skein of Red Heart and my crochet hook. Then I learned more about yarn and dyeing and I became a little snobbier. I do apologize for that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Red Heart yarn and a crochet hook. But I maintain that if possible, there are better yarns for tapestry weaving.

Knitting has been very popular over the last decade and yarns made for knitting are everywhere. There are so many indie dyers out there creating incredible yarns that it is hard to resist them when it comes to choosing yarns for tapestry.

But resist you probably should.

,

A tapestry project for the holidays

,
A tapestry project for the holidays

This time of year I start asking myself serious questions about the holidays.

Do I really want to spend half of my Thanksgiving vacation at Dallas/Fort Worth International potentially sleeping on the floor with thousands of other people who were trapped due to a freak snowstorm in New England and the resulting air traffic nightmare? 

Do I really need another stack of things to take care of in my life or could Christmas money go toward helping others or purchasing experiences? (I'm no saint. Santa already told me he is bringing me a drum carder. But he needn't bring anything else. I have plenty of fleece, thanks.)

The holidays are certainly a time where I love cozy time on the couch, good food, friends and family, twinkly lights, and a mug of hot chocolate that might just have a little cake vodka in it. In my head it feels like it should be a time of love, expansion, and joy.

But in reality, the holidays are often a time of tension and of unattainable expectations from others (and ourselves if we're honest).

I think we should use making and craft as a gift to ourselves. Sure, we can make things with the expectation that the final product will be a wonderful gift for someone we love. But make the process of creating it a time for you to experience the joy of making. Have you ever experienced that state your brain enters where you lose track of time and are just enjoying the thing you're focused on? Some people call it flow. Tapestry weaving is especially well suited to creating this state. And we all need a little bit of this in our lives every day and more so during the holidays. 

Some optimism remains

Some optimism remains

Spinzilla 2017 came and went and I didn't reach my goal but I did have a great time and my spinning improved.

I showed you my pile in the "An Optimism Problem" blog post so I thought I'd better fess up and show you how the week ended.

I made a rather random goal of spinning three miles, forgetting that in the past I had only spun a bit more than one mile in a week. I came a bit short of two miles and nowhere near three. Next year, in case you hear me say otherwise in which case you should remind me, my goal is two miles.