Second Conference Day

The second day of my personal conference went well. I worked for about 2 hours tying thinly sliced bicycle inner tubing around what will be the weft for my national dress. The photo (which will come as soon as I figure out how to reduce the mb size) shows the set-up I use and you can just see some of the markings in the board and the ties I’m using. The bicycle tubing is powdered and makes my hands dry. It also makes them stink of rubber. After about two hours of that (four groups of yarn, each with thirty ties), I washed my hands and applied hand-cream before spending another hour winding some plain weft that doesn’t need ikat tying before dyeing.

In the early afternoon, I worked on the belt some more. The first photo shows where I began and the last shows where I ended. It’s really difficult to tell that anything happened. When I am able to continue the warp has been advanced so it will look like I’m back at square 1 again. This week I found the routine easier to follow. It’s easier to distinguish threads and I am always working from left to right when picking threads. I eventually got my clamp and clamped the Inkle loom to the board. The board is the same one I use to wind yarn to tie for ikat dyeing.

I went to my sewing class in the late afternoon and continued working on the simple pulled thread design I chose. Note to the world: this pattern is NOT the approved one for this blouse. I am saving my eye (singular) and my sanity. My sanity should NOT be the issue – the blouse is supposed to be more valuable than my sanity. Yes but the official plans specifically state that I can substitute store bought lace instead of the specific pattern… this is more work than store bought lace … No, That’s not gonna fly! Okay, I’ll just go buy the hideous lace from the shop. I can cover this up and no one but us will know it’s there.

Friday I went to the weaving centre and had some help and lots of advice in winding the warp for my loom. The winding went fairly quickly – about three hours – and the warp is long enough and has the correct number of threads! As soon as possible I need to dress my loom (it’s naked!!!). So on my next conference day I will be dyeing and dressing my loom!