Friday, April 10, 2009

Can't Tell You If I'm Lying or Just High...

Peg doesn't believe I'm weaving 160EPI. To tell you the truth, neither can I; it sounds too crazy for me.

I uses cottons sold as 2/60Nm in size from DEA Yarns & Fabrics in Levin, New Zealand, even though their URL resides in Australia. I don't know if it is the same size as what you call 60/2. A while back I was told 110/2 for wool is a New Zealand-only specification, and so I stick to my vendors' descriptions rather than translate into international standards in case I get them wrong. I don't teach nor write articles, so as long as I can figure out suitable setts/picks, it doesn't matter to me what they're called. Unless you think we're using something similar and have specific questions, and then I lift my unsmall tush to try to find the Interweave book on yarn sizes I bought ages ago. Which I can't do now because half the living room resides in my stash room.

I have 16 ends in each dent, and this is a 10-dent reed, and I know this because I own only two reeds that are approximately the weaving width of my two floor looms, 10DPI and 6DPI, and I found the 6DPI, spacier one leaning against the wall on the side of my 2/20 stash the other day to my shock and horror.

And this is the best of about 20 pics I tried to show the ends. My hands just won't stop shaking after a day of hard scrubbing.

Meanwhile the second sample didn't come out as nice as I had imagined; it looked oh so much better on the loom, but hubby reckons it's good to go.

I can't help you any more, Peg. I've been high on Mr Muscles oven cleaner this afternoon, and reckon there'll be more of the same in coming days, with washing the walls, painting, Ben varnishing, and Universe only knows what else.

8 comments:

  1. perhaps cookie baking. I plan to post a recipe because you asked for it lady!

    give me a little time, it is still 7 am here.

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  2. Just wrote down your recipe, Dana. Thanks very much. They'd be the first coming out of the super clean oven!

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  3. Thank you for the details, Meg. Now I am really confused about the yarn! I think it must be a great deal finer than what we in the states know as 60.2 cotton. The results, by the way, are beautiful! Are we to see more of this?
    Sorry about your shaky hands. I have just recently found in my dottering years that I have had to add hand strengthening exercises to my joyous morning exercise list.......sob.......

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  4. Thanks, Peg. I feel terribly irresponsible saying I don't know the exact size of the yarn, but those semi-technical aspects of weaving (including worsted vs woolen) always confused me so they've been in the Way-Too-Hard basket to the point I don't even think about them. (I haven't even kept my weaving records in more than 18 months so one day all of this is going to come and bite me on my unsmall you-know-what as well!)

    In our home, I replaced all household cleaners with plant-based products about nine years ago, and it's been wonderful except I have to clean more often and to really clean the oven once every few years I do get the lethal stuff. I hadn't realized how sensitive we have gotten to the smell of these products and we were palpitating and shaking all afternoon. Unfortunately, to finish off the kitchen/living room project to our liking, and to save $, we have a few more weekends of cleaning the walls, varnishing the kitchen floor, painting the ceiling and walls, and cleaning all reachable surfaces, but I'm looking forward to the tidy and clean home.

    Thanks for your comments, Peg. I hope I didn't sound rude or anything. Like weave structures, it's a part of my weaving that I knew I wasn't paying much attention to and felt guilty about. But it won't be remedied this weekend, hee hee...

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  5. be careful with the scrubbing, seriously!! You can't afford to damage your hands.

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  6. Yes, and all the nerve gas! Thank you for the tutorial about oven cleaners and waterways. I do feel slightly better, but won't go to the third can this time around.

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  7. How are you able to concentrate to thread something like this? I can't imagine it. I make mistakes on every warp I make, which have to be redone at least once.
    And mine are plain weave warps, with never more than 24 epi. Is there a trick--or a trance? Really, to me it seems like you have a super power

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  8. Susan, it could be a trance of some sort. I just tune out and concentrate on the task at hand. Often I have the radio on really low, or the same CD playing over and over and over again. Nothing overly exciting or interesting, just something that keeps me working at a steady pace.

    I'm getting very good at this tuning out thing, too. It took a while, but it's as if my brain turns into a ping pong ball! I wouldn't be surprised if I keep talking to myself, either, but really don't know...

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