sábado, 9 de julio de 2011

In Between Rows.

So I promised that my next post would be to show my finished "Pumpkin" Sweater but I thought that as I am far of less than 20 rows to finishing it, in the meantime I could upload a post that I think would be of interest to weavers out there.

I have been weaving for almost 11 years and I know that no matter how much I may practice I will never finish learning, the picture below is of me practicing on a "Dorothy" loom by Leclerc. It was taken at the National Tapestry Workshop in Mexico City, April 1999 founded by my teacher and mentor, Mrs. Bertha Preciado and her husband Pedro Preux.



So after more than ten years infront of a loom I am still surprised by new techniques I can use at weaving. One of my many sources has always been Interweave with its fabulous magazine "Handwoven". And just this month I took the chance to acquire a highly advertised DVD made by its editor and expert teacher, Mrs. Madeleine Van der Hoogt. "Warping your Loom".



Warping: always such a challenging task that I believe is the main source of producing magic at the loom. This is why it is so important, and I am always open to learning new and easier ways to doing it, not only for me but also to pass along to my students.

My opinion on the DVD: Mrs. Van der Hoogt is always an excellent teacher but if you happen to work on a warping mill rather than a warping board, and more than this, you have a 68" wide, 12 shaft floor loom, with a 53" depth and a net weight of around 221 lbs. like I do, then this DVD is not for you. Everything on the DVD and her tecnique is based at a much smaller and simpler warping board and loom. Yes, probably for the majority of weavers this DVD works fine, but I believe that advertising it for all weavers is not accurate.

Although I learned from some of her experience, I realized that the method I learned from my mentor together with what I added up from my experience suits my work better, as I think happens to anybody who tries to master a particular applied art.

More on the current weaving project I am working on later!

To freshen up things a bit here, don't you love roses? I do. This is a picture of my Burgundy Rose.


Thanks for stopping by!

2 comentarios:

Whims of the Well-Styled dijo...

Hi Marie, would you consider doing a youtube video on the berry-in-the-box stitch. I am at a loss.

Thanks.

Lesa

marie c. dijo...

Hi Lele, thanks for visiting my blog. I am sorry you have been having some trouble with the "berry-in-the-box" stitch. Last year I did go through some trouble myself while following the instructions published at Interweave's "Knits" for a vest that used such stitch. They were too "complex" and I was able to actually knit that stitch because I worked on it before following much easier instructions from another source for the very same stitch.
The key to the stitch is that you will be adding more stitches to one single stitch (so as to make a bobble) and then knit them all together (to close the bobble). I will try to make a video of the stitch on YouTube and will let you know when its on through my blog, ok?
Happy Knitting and thanks for stopping by!