There is something very comforting about a full set of shelves

Well, I have sorted through half the cones of yarn Dawn gave me and this is the stash: bottom up - Silk, Tencel, cotolin and fancy yarns. 

The 8/2 Tencel cones I bought from Dawn yesterday.

The rest will fill another two of these shelves. Loads of cotton of every gauge, beautiful swedish linens (I love linen) rayon boucles and a dozen large cones of cashmere from Elgin, which I shall save until i am ALOT better :-)

Shadow Weave Shawl in Tencel

Finished the shawl. It's the first thing off the new Megado so very pleased indeed with the quality and especially the edges, considering I only wove about 2" test strip before I hemstitched the tassles. 

It has a beautiful drape and it feels simply GORGEOUS!

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I love Tencel. This is 8/2 (40wpi). Vivid colours; lovely sheen; silky touch and eco friendly. It's brilliant for colour and weave. I have some lovely linen (C4 Texere Yarns) which yields the same effects but Tencel is soooomuch easier to work with.

A blind man would be happy to see the shaft selection error

Dawn, from whom I bought the loom and who kindly gave me the yarns, has another 13  250g cones from Camilla Valley Farms range - lovely colours so I am buying them from her.

Camilla Velley Farm's Tencel Colours

Transformed Selvages

Two things on this amazing piece of kit have have transformed my selvages - using the temple and the flying shuttle. The entire piece on the loom was woven from the start using the temple. Once I got used to it ( would have happened a lot quicker had  I watched a you tube demo) it really is the perfect tool for ensuring totally consistent width at all times. Why haven't I used one before, I ask myself?
Half way through this piece I changed to using the flying shuttle. It's shadow weave  (so two weft shuttles) so I have to throw one and fly the other, but once the fly shuttles running tension was set, the consistency of edge tension is amazing.

Chance of a lifetime Realised! A Megado 130, 32s electronic

Yesterday I collected my new loom. A Louet Megado 130; it's the 32 shaft Electronic version and today it is proudly assembled and ready to go in the workroom area of our big kitchen.
I can't really believe that an opportunity like this actually came out of the blue. Pinch me!

It is in beautiful condition as if it had just come out of the box and with every accessory going, some of which were, literally, still sealed inside their box.

It included Louets fly shuttle kit, second beam, sectional beam kit and 6 reeds from 5epi to 18epi. Also included and still unpacked, 2 temples, Louets 32 spool sectional warp rack and tension box!!! ....oh yes, and 50kg of yarn thrown in: silk, linen, Tensel and cotton mostly....just what I tend to use most :-). I am a lucky boy :-)


Ironically, I was most pleased that it came with Louets magnificent  bench; I have always coveted one of these since I first bought an Octado and have had 'the mick' taken out of me many times for being pictured weaving standing up....well NO MORE! :-)

SECTIONAL WARP WITH TENSION BOX AND SPOOL RACK

FLY SHUTTLE....not that I shall use it much so it's back in the box for that, but nice to have especially as Gail wants to make some fabric in quantity.

PS. Thanks to Dawn for trusting me to make good use of it...I will do my best!

Expo Marche des Tisserands, Chateau de Varaignes 7.8 & 9 June 2014

This years Theme is "Au fil des Contes et Legendes" which means "Over the course of Tales and Legends".  Brilliant theme :-)
Last year the theme just didn't inspire me to anything at all, but if I can't come up with something on this theme within my weaving envelope, then I may as well give up designing and weaving altogether!!!

In order to do something before the deadline I need to:-

1. Start now!
2. Choose a technique in which I am already proficient.
3. Design tightly around this technique.
4. Don't delay the start of weaving by procrastinating over which design to choose
5. Go for the Wow! factor :-)

First thing is to order a new copy of PCW as I have a new computer and can't print from my old copy.  I think I will use my warp painting technique as the start point for this, so sticking with PCW makes sense as I know how to superimpose drawings onto the weave structure with this - this makes it much easier to get a feel for what the finished item will look like.

Onward and upward! I start today!!!!!!

Still here!

But not posting - sorry! Will sort stuff out some time soon :-)

At Last! The OCTADO is completely finished ( well almost!)

Yes it is finished and ready to warp up. (well shaft N'8 is missing the wooden top rail as I have run out and need to buy some more) It is working perfectly with the mechanical dobby and if anything, it is smoother and definitely lighter to operate than the original. I selected the springs myself and they are variable pitch, so are much lighter to operate in the initial press of the foot.

 8 shafts, like the original, these were (surprisingly) the most difficult part to replicate and not the piano-key mechanism. 8 shafts in less than 80mm of width all operating smoothly was a tall order. They are weighted (like the originals) and the whole castle assembly is built around roller bearings and texsolv like the original...smooth as a nut!

The business end of the dobby. I made the castle and got this working before I made the frame. The tolerances on the wooden piano keys had to be 0.25mm on the width. I also soon found out why every little detail of them was important - my keys ended up identical to the originals- every slope and cutaway as crucial to ensure 100% accurate selection by the dobby and the transfer to the knife.





I am incredibly pleased with it. Total cost of materials was less than 500 euros  ( I did of course have the dobby mechanism already). I have have a quote from the USA to ship a new electronic interface to France for an all-in price of 1000 euros, which is exactly half what Louet want from Holland or any of the UK stockists can offer me delivered within the UK...good old US of A!!!! But fr now, I am happy with the mechanical dobby for the work I am now doing.....the enforced sabbatical from weaving has generated a large backlog of design ideas.