Double the fun?

When reading Andrew's musings about double layers and colour, I remembered some ideas I had many years ago. I think I did weave samples, but I can't find them - so maybe I never did?

Anyway, as you may have noticed, I like playing with colour... :) The basic idea was to have two separate layers, one colour per layer, and then slowly changing the appearence of the colours, and in the end getting the the opposite.

So I started to play.... here are some ideas:

These are threaded on 8 shafts, with every other end blue, the other red. The weft order is the same, but, as the weaving progresses, the wefts not always alternate in the layers.
Both start with bringing one end of the other colour to the top, then one pick, next part takes 2 ends to the top etc. Which ends/pick are brought up differs in the two examples. (And yes, I think it would be better with less contrast - gold and yellow, perhaps?) - click to enlarge:

Another approach: here, just the warps that change place - threaded on 16 shafts.
To the left (but needs, obviously, some more work) "going both ways", to the right are both faces of the first half.

(The left needed a lot more contrast to even show at this size...)

Hmmm - perhaps: two warp colours, but only one weft? Would make it a tube, of sorts - but that would, perhaps, make it more useable? Hmm... perhaps I should try it IRW (In Real Weave) too?

???

It has happened again. It has been quite a long time, but now it has happened twice in one month.

I am, as you know, a little old lady having a small business (and a weavery, to boot) out in the rural back-and-beyond.
Now and again, the "state" (or county, or the local something-or-other, or, sometimes, EU) decides to spend some money "helping" such small businesses. Especially if owned by women.
So they device some courses, especially tailored to little old ladies out in the boondocks. "Hmmm – what is it they really really need? Hmmm... ah, of course: they need to be "brought into the 21st century" – let’s teach them how to use a computer. Well, that is, perhaps, a bit too ambitious... but we can teach them how to use a small portion of it: e-mail!"

I guess this is (sort of) ok. (I think I know about 2 little old ladies that do not use e-mail, after all.) However: the invitation to such classes is sent out ... by e-mail.
Thus: in the last month I have had two different e-mails inviting me to a class in how to use e-mail. (And they want me to pay for them, too.)

What to do? Laugh, cry or perhaps start spamming all organisations doing things like that? Just sigh? I find it extremely insulting to get invitations sent out like that.

(But I do remember, after the hurricane, when all 'phone lines had come down. After a couple of weeks the 'phone company started telephoning their customers, to see if their 'phones were working. We had no 'phone for 6 weeks, that time. And the company did not want to compensate us, as we had not ('phoned) to tell them we had problems... Same thinking?)

As I am so very computer savvy (I may have worked computers before some of the "teachers" were born - ), here is a picture, too:

Seersucker mk II

or, the quill buster.

By mistake I warped one turn of the mill less than I thought, for the Halloweave project, so there wasn’t enough warp to make a second shawl.

I decided to use the thrums to see if there was a difference in the “seersucker-ing” if I used twill for the flat parts (here the brown stripes), and to use up as many left-over quills of cotton 16/2 as I had patience to. This would then also become a colour gamp of sorts.

To begin with, I meant to use a broken twill, but when I sat under the loom I completely forgot – and did not bother changing from the straight twill I had tied up for...

(Yes, I could have treadled it, but then I would have had to concentrate – I’m all for doing things the easy way)

I ended up with 11 weft stripes of different colours, all different lengths. Here it is, true-ish colours but out of focus:

Some of the weft colours used:

So, did the seersuckering differ any? Hard to tell:

The difference, if there is any, isn’t big enough to bother with, in my opinion.

And here is the “original”, draped on a dress form:

The too short reed

Laura describes (at Weaving a life) what can happen if you don’t comcentrate, and try to use a reed that is too short for your loom.
When I got my AVL, they had given me another reed tahn what I would have liked (confusion between imperial and metric, no doubt). They would be happy to send me another, but I was eaget to start weaving (well, to start trying to understand this loom, anyway). So I went to the nearest weaving shop to get another, as my old reeds were too narrow to use with a fly-shuttle.
I had seen that the AVL reed was taller than the “normal” (10 cm) reeds, but I did not reflect on tha fact. Home I came, with a “normal” (10 cm) reed in the correct width – proceeded with dressing the loom, threading, sleying the new reed – and could not put the beater top on, as the reed was too short.
What to do? Send for another reed, wait for a week.... ? Or try to fix it?
I bought a piece of aliminum profile, as near to the thickness of the reed sides as possible, and a piece of wood that would slot into the beater top. Glued them together, put the contraption in. It worked, but got a somewhat squishy beat (as the reed could move a bit in the alu profile). So I got some self-adhesive foam (for lining windows to stop draughts) – and I am still using that reed when needed.
(However, when getting new reeds for the AVL I always order 12,5-cm tall, if possible)

Lined with foam:

Slots into beater top: