It makes me sad

to learn that the National Guild is going to abandon the Weave of the month after five years. The reason is, I heard, lack of contributions.

This idea was mine to begin with. Or, to make the story somewhat longer: in 2004, my (then) guild decided to compile a calendar. The idea was not mine to begin with, but I ended up doing most of the layout work. The calendar was a success - we (almost) sold out at the Glimåkra days when we first presented it. (It can still be read online - follow the link above, then click on the pictures to see them bigger.)
After that success, we talked about doing it again, but somehow, it never happened. (Ours was a small guild, only about 30 members, of which some were not very active.)

A little later, I suggested that the National guild should add some "weaverly" content to the new website - like, perhaps, a monthly "weave" (could be a recipe, an idea, something inspiring weavers both new and old - and, perhaps, inspire more weavers to become members.) After lots of discussion the idea was turned down, with arguments from "nobody wants to share their secrets" to "but if it is 'open', why should ppl want to become members, as they get the benefit for free". (This last is a valid argument, it is always a thin line to walk: how much do we want to give away to "anybody" as compared to our members, who, after all, pay. Not always easy, to find a balance between "inspiration" and "free learning".)

Anyway, the idea took root, and 2010 the Weave of the Month started. As it was an idea from my guild, we took it rather too seriously - we (still only 30 members) contributed 4 weaves that first year. It was an immediate success, but the willingness to contribute was rather smaller than I had anticipated. With some persuasion and some more contributions from us, 2011 went by. For 2012, we agreed to publish several weaves from a handwritten notebook one of us owned - that saved 2012. (To see all contributions from us, look here.

Since then I have left he guild (for reasons mostly personal). And now I see that W-o-t-M is going to be abandoned. Apparently that first argument ("nobody wants to share their secrets") was so much more valid than I could ever had imagined. (The National Guild has some 1600 members total.)

It makes me sad that so many weavers do not want to share... sharing does not have to mean a complete "recipe", including colour numbers.

Some inspiration:

Wristwarmers, sewn from a piece of differentially shrunk fabric with fringes:

A dräll "flower". As I only have 16 shafts, it is constructed of five blocks of 1/2 twill. Note: the repeat ends at the red line(s).

What it can be used for?
Well - by expanding the blocks, and using fat yarn, it could perhaps be made into a rug?
Or, with fine linen (and several repeats), it could make a tablecloth? Or a towel?
Or...

Bling

(part 2 - or maybe Time travel, part 2)

The reason I went to Town was the Gaultier retrospective. There are many, many (better) pictures out there on the 'net, but these are the things that I will remember. (Again out of focus, but flash wasn't allowed. I, unlike some, respected that)

First impression: you can bling just about anything, crutches included:

Second came attention to detail:

(I like the Swedish text better - it says nothing about painted and printed)
Another fantastic detail - a tartan that is not (click to enlarge):

(There was also a leopard skin mantle that on closer inspection turned out to be embroidered of seed beads. I guess it would be way out of my budget, but also way gentler on the leopards...)

Another idea, possible (probably?) inspired by the London Pearlies

All (all!) the white blobs are m-o-p buttons, graded in size... (did I mention "attention to details"?)

An original upcycling idea: what you can do with all your old (analoguos) films, and all those old and worn measuring tapes:

At the exit, there was an opportunity to try on a Real Gaultier Outfit (I know I was there, so it must be me!):

Now I have may blinging ideas.... watch this space!
But before that: the water spout:

(Yes, you have seen it before, from another angle)

Inspired by...

Sally's architectural challenge (another version here, I took this photo while waiting for the library to open:

Back home, I played with it. Some examples:

(I used the blue and turquoise to ensure I got the structure I wanted. All of the above are completely reversible)
The fat yarn could be, well, a fat yarn, or a bunch of finer yarns bundled together.

My idea is a lot less thought-about than Sally's, though...

I left the piece of wall for another day. It is a sort-of-cousin to the "damask fence" - maybe they can be used together?

Airplane upholstery

(yes – now you know just how cheap I am – if you don’t, well, I’m not telling... But they tend to be on time, which is A Good Thing when in a hurry.)

Warp is dark grey and orange, weft is dark and light grey.

When I "photoshopped" a dark picture, suddenly some stitching points appeared (click to enlarge):

Definitely not something to try on a 16-shafter, I don’t think.
And why isn’t there any stitching of the orange warp? Or is it just the angle? Had I got a pic perpendicular to this, perhaps there would have appeared more stitching points?

I’m not sure about the light grey frames – does it really add anything to have some in twill, some in plain weave?
(BTW, all visible twill is 3/1, or 1/3)

Chicken! Chicken! what a sight...

Yesterday we had to do a "utility outing". As it was sunny (for the first time in ... ages) we extended it with a small pleasure trip. We went to Huseby to see the chicken exhibition, and saw these:

(a golden sebright)

(a silver wyandotte)

Later, at the café, I found a couple of chairs:

Hmmm...

As I don't have more than 16 shafts, I have to settle for less details

(OK, so this only takes 13, but it was just a quick doodle. A chicken can never be an alternative to a tiger...)

Another trip

to another Big City (well – the biggest one we have, here, anyway): Stockholm.
The purpose for my trip was to discuss the changing of the by-laws for Riksföreningen för handvävning – and discuss we did! Among other things we discussed whether we (the assoc) should spread knowledge about the cultural history or just the history of weaving. Myself, I think that other aspects of the history of weaving are as important (the importance of weaving for economic purposes, for instance) as are the cultural aspects. (And I won! That is, I wasn’t alone in my opinion even from the beginning – so I’ve better write WE won.)

After the conference, we all went to see an exhibition: Royal Vintage at Livrustkammaren.
Lots of draped dresses:

The last one is not vintage - it is "inspired" by the exhibition.
(yes, it was ok to take photographs)

And... the waterspout:

There is another interesting exhibition in Stockholm now, but I missed that. (Hope to see it later.) It is at Hallwylska palatset – and here are more photos.
It would have been very interesting to see these clothes, especially as I have the rest of the (wool) yarns... my friend and I bought the left-over stock (close to 1500 kg, IIRC) many years ago, and I still have some of it. (I remember, when we came home, we counted to something like 120 different clours, or I should say nuances. Enough to sample “unlikely” colour combinations, anyway. And so many of the “unlikely” combos have turned out great!)
The yarn has figured on this blog from time to time – for instance here, but also here.
I think all of my vadmal was woven with this yarn (not all fabric in the pictures are mine – but both the brightest green and the red are), also the blankets here. And all the V-shawls, and... and, in fact, most of the wool fabric I have made since I bought the yarn!

A chair

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the whole chair - a nice lightweight white one.
But it had a nice fabric:

It wasn't professionaly upholstered, which means I could get a small portion of the other side, too:

Lastly: another pic from the shop - this time waay bigger that it could have been, had I had access to a 'puter with a photo handling program...