And the winners are… Continue reading
Author Archives: textillian
Quick Reminder
Just a quick reminder that the raffle for those that sponsored me in Race for the Cure is Sunday at 5 PM Eastern. If you have not received confirmation from me (either in person or via email) of the number of tickets that you have in the drawing for the scarves, please contact me via email or comment to this post.
I will be using Random.org’s sequence generator to pick the winners. Of the four scarves, three are complete and ready to be delivered. That last scarf is going on the loom now. It will be the winner’s choice whether they want instant gratification or not. (I am really liking this last scarf!)
Remember, 5PM Eastern on Sunday is the deadline.
Thanks!
Copyright 2008 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com
Run It!
Well, I did run in the Race for the Cure on Sunday, I just didn’t run the 5K I thought I would be running in. Continue reading
Looks like We Made It
First: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Continue reading
I’m Coming Out
Who are we kidding? That happened a while ago. Reference
First, I have a few thank you’s to make. (Sounds like I am about to make an acceptance speech, doesn’t it?)
Thank you to Jane for giving me the I Love Your Blog Award. (Hmmm. Maybe it is an acceptance speech. And yes, I am very slow on the uptick, here.) I am due to update my blogroll, so when that happens, I will give special notice.
Thank you to Adrienne for giving me her French curves. (People! People!) She doesn’t want me freehanding my curves for the armholes on any future patterns I may draw up.
And thank you to all of you that have already sponsored me in Race for the Cure. If you mailed in your donation, it may take a while for it to get through the mail system and posted to my sponsorship page. If you still haven’t gotten a thank you (by email or in person) that confirms the number of tickets that you have in the raffle by the time of the raffle, email me to let me know that the check is quite literally in the mail. I don’t want anyone to miss out.
With all of the weaving that is going on, I am still getting some knitting in there:
Yes, the Pride socks are done. They are bright, aren’t they? The yarn is Dave Daniel’s superwash merino in the Kaleidoscope colorway. With all of those colors, they go with everything, don’t they? Just like me! (Stop the snickering.)
Copyright 2008 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com
Silky Soul
Ok, so maybe you want a little more information about the scarves that are yet to be. I understand. Here is the one that is currently on the loom.
The yarn for both the weft and the warp is silk fingering weight yarn dyed by Dave Daniels. I have it sett at 18 epi on my 8 harness Baby Wolf loom. Here is the drawdown for the design in the scarf, to give you a better idea of what I am doing.
The reason why you didn’t see this in the previous post is because I was still working on what design to use. This is the third design I have woven on this warp, and I am finally happy with the resulting cloth (at this point, anyway.) In my first design attempt at weaving the warp, the design got lost in the changes in color in the warp. My second design attempt (that was actually on the loom in the picture for the last post) had float in the design that were too long for the size of yarn that I am using. In this one, no thread goes over more than three threads in the perpendicular direction. (I am losing the non-weavers, aren’t I?)
In any case, progress is being made on it now.
One tip that I can give is that to keep the continuity of color changes in a varigated weft thread, I try to wind all of my bobbins at once, threading them onto a string. The first bobbin on the string is the last bobbin used, and the last bobbin wound is the first bobbin used for weaving.
One more thing: I am adding another scarf to the raffle.
And it is a prize winner, too!
Copyright 2008 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com
Ready or Not
Remember this?
I wondered who it was going to go to. Well, as you may have guessed, I knew all along who it was going to go to. It’s going to YOU!
Well, one of you, anyway.
Yes, it is that time of year again: time for Race for the Cure. Last year, I raffled off yarn to those that sponsored me. This year, it is my weaving that I am raffling off. Here is how it goes:
For every $5 that you sponsor me for, you get a ticket in the raffle. Sponsor me for $5, get one ticket. Sponsor me for $25, get five tickets. Sponsor me for $50, get ten tickets. And so on and so forth.
You can donate one of two ways: online or by snail mail. To donate online, go to my sponsorship page and doing the transaction there. To donate via snail mail, print out this Race for the Cure donation form and mail it in with your donation to the address provided on the form.
The race is October 19, and the drawing will take place on October 26 at 5 pm Eastern, so have you donations in by then to be eligible for the drawing. First prize is first choice, second prize is second choice, and so on.
“But Tex, there is only one scarf?”
There is only one scarf now….
There is more to come.
Thank you for your support.
Copyright 2008 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com
Feels like the First Time
Remember that shirt I was going to make for Mr. Penney? Well, I finished it last week. Here is the result:
And here is the review that appears on Pattern Review:
Pattern Description:
Men’s button front knit shirt based on this Banana Republic shirt
Pattern Sizing:
A men’s medium, with an addition inch added to the chest
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
It looks pretty close to the shirt that it is based on.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
To get the pattern, I followed the instructions in David Page Coffin’s book on shirtmaking. This was pretty easy to follow.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I wish I had used a straight edge and a french curve to make the final pattern. I freehanded it the whole way, mainly due to lack of patience.
Fabric Used:
A red cotton/lycra knit from Gorgeous Fabrics.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
After making the initial patterns following the method in DPC’s book, I added an inch to the chest at my other half’s request. I cut the front and the back pattern pieces and redrew them with a quarter inch gap where the cut was made.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I would use DPC’s method of copying a garment again, but it will be a while before I make this particular shirt again. This was my first time sewing with knits. The problem I ran into was sewing interfaced areas with non-interfaced areas, like the buttonbands on the front. The non-interfaced fabric would not feed evenly because of the drag of that fabric against the surface of the sewing cabinet. I eventually corrected this problem by sandwiching what was being sewn between two pieces of wax paper. I don’t know if there is a better way. I sure hope so.
Conclusion:
It turned out ok. It was definitely a learning experience, mostly with sewing knits. I need to go back to taking baby steps.
I will eventually post a pic of Mr. Penney wearing the shirt. He has tried it on and it fits, but I did have a camera around at the time.
Copyright 2008 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com
Try Again
You may have thought from all of the weaving posts that I had given up on knitting. But no, that is not the case. The knitting has just been going on behind the scenes when I would go to Sip ‘n Knit and when it would get too dark for me to weave.
And since I hadn’t posted about the diamond brocade sock in a while, you might have assumed that I had given up on that.
Olympic Theme
Well, the Olympics are over. Kind of sad. But the happy part is that I did actually get something done during that two week period.
Call it a shawl if you wish, but I prefer to think of it as a Super Scarf! The fiber is a Romney – mohair blend that I got years ago at the MSWF from the Barefoot Spinner. I spun the fiber into a two-ply sport/worsted weight yarn a few years ago. It has been sitting around on a shelf, after the move here, waiting for this moment: its chance to shine.
I used the thinner of the two yarns as the warp yarn, sett at 8 ends per inch (EPI.) The thicker yarn was used as weft, woven in at 8 picks per inch (PPI.) The weave structure is a dornick twill (what none weavers will think of as a herringbone.) The weave structure doesn’t really stand out in this because of the weft and the warp being the same yarn, but there is some evidence that it is there.
I am pretty happy with the outcome. The tweedy look of it is something that I always like.
Where will the Super Scarf! go? Hmmmm….
Copyright 2008 by G. P. Donohue for textillian.com