New Midland Plaza Arts and Crafts Fair in Alcoa, TN

Gary and I had a booth this past weekend at this Crafts Fair.  It was a nicely run event and nice to be back in Maryville and Alcoa for a couple of days.  I lived there for several years back in the late 70's.  The county sure has changed!

This is a farily new event, only a few years old.  All booths were set up against the buildings under the covered walkway.  We had some new equipment this time.  I now have the ability to accept credit card payments and used it with no problems at all.  Plus, Gary designed a more effective way to display my weaving supplies.  We now have what looks like a fruit stand with the antique hanging scales that I bought at the Clinch River Antique Fair last Spring for my sock rings.  The signs on top of the display say:  "$8 per pound"  "Weigh your own sock rings"  "Pick your own colors".  I also now have wool sock rings to go along with the cotton ones.  As usual, the sock rings and potholder looms attracted many who remembered making potholders as children. 

I had pretty good sales for this fair and met some really nice people.  I'm very glad that we went. 

 

Now, it's time to get some more rugs and scarves made and finish those bags I have in the works.

My new Log Cabin "v" scarf

I finally finished this "V" scarf last weekend.  This one took a really long time to finish.  It started as a project at the Tuesday Weavers.  First, I had threading problems.  I had to rethread almost all of it.  (That comes from listening to all of the fascinating conversations that go on there at Tuesday Weavers!)  Then, once I finally got it treaded right, I sat down and starting weaving this beautiful warp...and it started breaking.  I'd weave a couple of shots and several ends would break.  Fix those, weave a few more shots, and more ends would break. I walked away from it several times. See, I really wanted to make this scarf.  The color mix is one of my favorites and the feel of the warp was terrific.  I just knew that this would end up as a nice scarf.  So, we bought some lovely inserted eye metal heddles for my loom at the center, thinking the old metal heedles might be the problem.  Once I got the new heddles on, I had to, yes, rethread again!  (Can you feel my frustration?)  And, once all was rethreaded, and I threw a few shots,  can you guess what happend?  Yes, you're right!  Broken warp threads, yet again.      

 

That did it.  I sat there for a few minutes.  Steam was probably shooting out my ears!  Then, I cut the beautiful warp off, chained it up, put it in my bag and took it home...where I glared at it for several weeks. 

 

Then, I opened up my table loom with the texlov heedles, threaded the warp, and started weaving that beautiful warp yet again.  And a few weeks later, here it is, a beautiful, so soft to the touch, scarf.

 

 

I really do love to weave!

 

Andy

 

 

Oh yes, I'll have a booth at the New Midland Center Arts and Crafts Fair in Alcoa, TN this weekend.  Come see me if you're there.

The AVL is haunted!  As soon as I got  it all set up and ready to start weaving that luscious shawl warp, it stopped working.  I only got 10 shots in before the dobby started acting up.  First, it was a couple of harnesses not lifting, then the back half of the harnesses, then none of them! 

Good thing we don't have guns in my house. That would have been one dead loom!

On a better note, the 10/2 cotton Huck lace that I made to use as lining for my chainmail bag, turned out just too pretty to use as lining.  I turned it into a really pretty bag.  She's all ready except for the frame.  I have 2 different frames that fit.  One's plain, the other is fancy.  I havne't yet decided which to use.  I've nearly finished the timy chainmaille bag with some hand woven teal twill for the lining.  All that's left to do is the chain.  It's large enough to hold my iphone, some money, and my keys. Cute,really cute.

I hope to see the Tuesday Weavers on Tuesday!

It's the 2nd week in July. Sometime in August, there is supposed to be another Jury for Foothills craft guild. So, I'm weaving up a storm. I can't seem to decide on which 5 project I'll pick to use. I have 4 really pretty bags ready, and a great scarf. But, I also have some terrific warp on the big loom ready to become a large fall shawl and another that will be a large bag. I guess time will tell.

Elm Grove Alumni

I am proud to be a member of a group of people who attended or worked at Elm Grove Elementary School in Oak Ridge, TN.  We have had an active Alumni group and website now for 4 years. 

Last weekend, we had our 3rd Homecoming on the grounds of our school, now called Elm Grove Park.  45 former students and teachers were there from a wide range of ages.  We had members who had been some of the first students in the school in 1943 and others who had been some of the last students in the 1980's.  There were several there from the Oak Ridge High School class of 1952.  Thee was also one who had traveled the furthest, coming to Oak Ridge from Miranmar (formerly known as Burma).

Each year, I've considered not organizing another one of these.  It takes alot of time and effort to get this party going.  But, the looks on the faces during each Homecoming and the comments I get after, keep me doing it.  Thank you to all of you Elm Grovers out there for keeping our group alive and keeping the memory of our school fresh in our minds.

This morning at around 8:30 am, I turned 60!  How can that be?  I remember thinking that anyone over 20 was ancient. 

Today, I took the day off and spent the day doing some things I've been wanting to do.for a while and putting off.  It was great. Then, when I got home, Gary had the grill going for dinner.

Throughout the day, I've received lots of birthday wishes.  My little phone has pinged me off and on all day long.  It's good to know that my friends and family have thought of me today.

It's been a great day.  It's helped me turn an important corner. 

Watch out, world! 

My friends Linda Baldwin and Linda Nichols and I had this booth Saturday, 5/6, at the Spring Clinch River Antique Fair in downtown  Clinton, TN.  Squishing all 3 of us into one 10x10 tent was risky, but the rain stopped early.  Thank you, Mother Nature!  We had a combination of Linda B's finely woven rugs, linens, scarves and hand-spun and knit hats, Linda N's beautifully hand-embroidered prayer flags and  always terrific beaded jewelry, and my woven bags, scarves, rugs, dyed loopers and Potholder looms.  I have taken the advise of my friend Ann, to trade in the store bought chains I had been using on my bags and exchanged many for some of my own handwoven chainmaille straps.  They seemed to attract some attention, too.  For the first show of the year, it was a really good one.  We had a steady stream of traffic once the rain stopped. 

I had a terrific time and hope the 3 of us will go together on a booth again.  Maybe next time, though, we'll get a double booth.  Then, we'll have more room to demonstrate our crafts. 

A few weekends ago, my husband and I spent the weekend at a very spiritual place, called Heavenly Mountain.

On the drive there and back, I wove the pieces that would make this pretty spring bag. I think the serenity that can be found on Heavenly Mountain helped form this pretty bag.

Once we returned home, I put the pieces together and wove the front button and chain strap using annodized aluminum wire rings. The pattern I chose for the chain turned out to be great fun making, too.

My bleeding looper problems are solved!

    After treating all of my RIT-dyed loopers, I decided to make some more looper rugs and test their color fastness.  Here they are.  These 2 rugs were woven with Natural colored rug warp and Retayne-treated, RIT-dyed loopers in bold colors. 

After finishing them, I mashine washed them in cold water and machine dryed them.  Good news!  The treatment works. Check out the warp and the white and natural loops.    There was no bleeding!  Yea! 

I'm thrilled.  I much prefer the intense colors like these that I can get by using RIT dye on these loopers.

I'm sure the occasional polyester and acrylic threads in the nearly all cotton loopers causes the fiber reactive dye to not be as intense.   RIT, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a problem with those threads.

So, I have a solution to my dye bleeding issues. Finally!

I just found the coolest tool at Weavolution.com.  It reads as if it's a new thing, but who knows.  It's a Weaving calculator.  For those of us who are becoming more and more math impaired, this is a good thing.

http://weavolution.com/weaving-calculator

Thank you, Weavolution.  And by the way,  I really love the Cyber-Fiber weaving class idea.

Andy

I've been dying more loopers.  This time I'm using Procion MX dye.  I love the colors, but the process is tedious, so far.  Got to figure out an easier way to do this. 

Last night, I took one of the more natural colored loops and one of the natural loops that has a grey strand running through it and pulled them apart to look at the fibers.  Then today, I called the manufacturer to see what those fibers are.  As I suspected, the fiber in the more natural loop is polyester.  The grey strand in the other loop is acryllic.  That's why it doesn't take the dye very well.   So, now time to research to see what kind of dye might work better on the mix of cotton and acryllic.  Or, maybe those will just remain natural and grey.

Good news from the manufacturer:  They're starting to weave some wool socks.  I'm told that they are also a natural color with a little yellow tint to them and they are "mostly" wool.  So, must have some poly or acryllic in them. 

I'm thinking that I'll be ready to make another run to the plant in a few weeks.  Wonder if anyone will want to go with me this time.  Think about it.  Wool loops!   I wonder.. can you felt a looper rug?  

Lessons from the Jurying process

I have just recently tried for the 2nd time in my weaving life to join an organization that requires you to turn in samples of your work which are scrutinized (Juried)  to determine if your work is up to the organization's standards.  And for the 2nd time, I didn't make it.  My reaction this time, though, was entirely different. Thank goodness.

Last time, I was devestated.  They didn't like my work.  I vowed to never go through that experience again and was depressed for months.  How could they not like my cute bags, I thought.  Then, I pulled out the documents that I had been given which described the jurying process, what items I should submit, and what materials were acceptable and not.  I had failed to pay close attention to these documents befoe turning in my sample bags.  And, there was my problem.  If I had read the materials list, I might have made better choices when finishing each bag.  For each of my sample bags, I had used a material that was prohibited. 

That takes me to the present, it's been several years since that experience, and after bolstering up my courage, I submitted 5 samples of my work to be juried for membership in a large regional guild.  I have just this week been notified that again my work was not accepted.  But, here's the change.  This time, I disappointed, but eager to learn what had prevented my selection and what could I do to change my work in order to gain acceptance next time.  I an energized and ready to start 5 new projects.   I like making  and showing my bags.  They're different from what you normally see at craft shows.  Plus, they sell, which tells me that people do like them. I even get special orders for a several of my more standard designs.  But, here is what I learned (Hopefully!!) through this week's experience:
 

It's all in the details!

I find that I get so close to an item as I make it, that I just don't see the little things that ultimately made the difference this time around. So, I'm going to fix the details that were in need of fixing for each purse and will post them for sale on my Etsy.com shop (andylyle.etsy.com).  Then, it's time to get back to the design table to make plans for 5 new projects, which I will turn in on the next Jurying date in the fall.  And, this time, I WILL make it.

ARGGH!  My beautiful looper rug!  The loopers in my rug, when I washed it, bled.  The overall color faded as a result.  Major bummer!  That meant that my loopers are not now washer safe.  They used to be.  When I was getting ready to start selling my hand-dyed loopers, I researched dyes and made several sample dye baths.  The kind of dye I decided to use was the least costly and most convenient to use.  And, none of the loopers or potholders bled!  Now, they do.  Bummer!

So, I set up a little science project in my kitchen window.  I wanted to see which of the colors was bleeding and if the bleeding was caused by my failure to rinse off the unused dye.  I filled 16 glasses with hot soapy water and added 3 loops to each glass, 1 glass per color of looper. Then, I waited to see what would happen.  1 hour later, all 16 glass has colored water.  Dang!  So, I emptied the glasses and manually washed each looper by color with hot soapy water and rinsed them over and over and over until the color stopped.  Then, I set the glasses up again.  1 hour later....more colored water.  Double Dang!

Then, I went online and found the culprit - the dye maker has recently changed their dye formula. (That would have been nice info to have, when it happened!) There is a fix, though.  Thank goodness!  Anything that has been dyed with this product can be washed in a "dye fixer".  After that, as long as the item is washed in cold, and never in hot water, the dye will no longer bleed.   

So, here's my solution.  I'm spending this weekend treating my existing loose loopers and all of the looper-made items.  After my first load, I put my science project back up on my window sill.  YIPPEE! No bleeding!  I'm going to write to my looper customers and let them know that I'm sending them some of the dye fixer and how to use it.

From here forward, I well be dying with a fiber reactive, color-fast, dye. 

For those experiencing something similar to my story, here is where I found the answers I needed.  It's a terrific site.

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml

My rug still on the loom

After it's first wash.

Namaste,

Andy

Viola!

I am weaving a rather pretty looper rug on the AVL, thanks to the suggestion from LouAnn. I also had to change the way I beat the rug.  I have to "Pull" on it, rather than "Beat" on it, in order to keep the tension.  So far, she measures 37 inches wide and 15 inched deep.

I'm finally weaving on the AVL! I decided to try the sticky beam first, before trying to use the automatic cloth advance system. (I've been fascinated with being able to cut off my project without having to retie everything, since I took my first tour of Churchill Weavers in Berea, KY.) That is what has always attracted me to the AVL. So, I wove a few inches of simple plain weave using a fine variegated weft.  You can tell how great she is by the way she lays in the weft.  All I did was one light beat and the thread was in the right place.

 

 But, then I shifted to the loopers.  I had tension troubles immediately.  The warp became loose.  I tried to tighten it up and it just rolled forward more.  So, I went to the rear and manually rolled the warp beam back.  It rolled forward again as soon as I let it go!  Shee!

And, then there was the drawing in from the loopers.  I used my temple  with the finer thread, but it wouldn't hold the loopers.  I guess they're just too thick.  I got so frustrated that I cut it all off and went about fixing a couple of threading problems I had found.

Once I had that done, I re-"tied" the warp to the sticky beam (This part is just so cool!), being careful this time to really make the warp tight, and wove an inch or so before rolling the warp forward a bit more to lock it in place.

Gary tightened the rear spring that is attached to the tensioning device and also tied the secondary weight up with the primary weight to add more weight.  That made the warp's tension much better.  By then, it was after midnight, so we called it a night.

Today was Tuesday Weavers day.  I love Tuesdays!  I always come home,  ready to weave a storm.  Full of new ideas.  Today was no different.  LouAnn suggested I try another thing to help with the tension.  She suggested that I put the lease sticks back into the rear warp.  Such a great idea! Thank you, LouAnn.

Here is where I am now.  The AVL is sitting there waiting for me, calling my name!  She's ready.  I had to jump on my computer and my phone as soon as I returned from the center and worked steadily until a few minutes ago.  It was a very productive work day!

Once I get our dinner cooking on the stove, I'm heading back to the family room to answer the AVL's call!  We're going to insert the lease sticks and give the loopers another chance!  Cross your fingers and toes!!!

Andy

I finally started weaving on the AVL yesterday evening.  I started out using a fine weft thread. She weaves so smoothly.  The tension worked great after my first few shots.  I had to get up and tighten up the warp from the rear of the loom a few times, though.  It went from having a firm tension to really loose and hanging all on its own.

Then, I switched from the fine weft thread to a chain of loopers.  I would reallly love to make large looper rugs on this loom.  Weaving with the loopers proved to be really rough.  The loose tension won't let me beat the weft as tightly as you need it beat to form a good rug.  So, I cut off what I had woven and have now wound up the warp on the sticky beam again, much tighter this time.  I have also tied both of the tension arms together to provide a stronger weight on the warp beam.  I hope this will do what I need it to.

Work is progressing smoothly on getting the AVL up and working.  I'm really hoping to be able to tie up the warp that was left on the beam by the end of this week. 

I recently sent an email through the AVLusa.com site, asking for some help in putting the AVL loom together.  Based on what I had read online and heard from others, I really wasn't expecting to get a response.  Word is that the AVL organization isn't all that concerned in helping.  SO WRONG!  Not only did I get a fast response, it was from the President of the company!  Read...

From: "Bob Kruger" [bkruger@avlusa.com]

Date: 12/09/2011 12:48 PM
To: andy@kitcabin.com

Subject: RE: Contact Us Form Submission
Dear Andy,

You have a Production Dobby Loom, 48", 16 harnesses, polyester heddles, 1-box flyshuttle, bottom swing beater, plain beam and raddle. The loom was made in 1981.

We don't have on-line copies of manuals for looms that old. The closest can be found at: http://www.avlusa.com/resources/library/

The Production Dobby Loom (PDL) was originally designed by Mr. Ahrens about 20 years before the founding of AVL. This was one of many different looms he designed, but it was one of his most versatile and loved. The PDL was the first design Mr. Ahrens transferred to AVL for mass production. AVL made its first PDLs in 1976 and its last in 2002. Over the years of production there have been some changes to the loom including width, depth, and materials. However, the loom operates in exactly the same way as it always has, with the exception of the cloth storage tension system. The PDL manual in our library has a much different system. Yours is actually the same as the modern A-Series system, with the exception of where we mount the pulleys.

The loom appears to be correctly assembled, though there may be some small details I have overlooked. The turnbuckle is too loose. At arm up (shed closed) cam should be rotated such that the cable comes off at its lowest point.

The treadling action you observed is correct. The weight of the harnesses is causing the shed to close automatically. However, the dobby arm will stop moving upward where it is lift by the harness movement. The left treadle is there to move the arm a fraction of an inch up, and this little movement is where the dobby gets its cue to change shed. So, while the amount of work done by the left treadle is very small, it is very important.

The shed can be held open foot-free by inserting a pin in the hole located at the lower rear of the dobby head.

Best of luck!
Best Regards,

Bob Kruger
President
AVL Looms, Inc.
2360 Park Avenue, Chico, CA 95928
direct: 530-893-4915 ext. 233 fax: 530-893-1372
http://www.avlusa.com/

The AVL Loom Model 00150

Here are some pictures of the beautiful AVL loom Gary and I are trying to set up.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 View from the right side.

 view of the rear from the left side

 View of the rear

 Plaque on the loom

 Dobby

 View of the right treadle, not depressed, shed is closed

 View of the harneses, shed open

 Left treadle close up, not depressed, shed is closed

 Dobby Cam when the treadles aren't depressed and the shed is closed

 Side view of the dobby cam, shed closed

 Dobby, shed closed

 Dobby, shed open

 Dobby Cam, shed open

 Dobby cam cable to the treadle

 Dobby cam cable to the turnbuckle

Do