Further Progress

I have made a bit of progress on my small tapestry.  I decided to weave the bluefish as they would be seen from underwater, just a bit like shadows passing in the distance.  I have approximately 6 1/2 inches finished on a 10 inch tapestry.

I will be making eel grass leaves from silk organza to sew onto the tapestry.  Here is one of the photographs I used for inspiration.

The fish in this photograph are not bluefish, but I did learn that bluefish are often seen near the eel grass and can use it as a nursery.

One thing that has really helped me crank on my weaving for this tapestry has been Craftlit.  I have to say that I did not know about this service until I read My Lift is But a Tapestry's blog post.  What fun it is to listen to a book while weaving.  I have tried this before with books on cd, but never found any at the library that I actually liked listening to.  I LOVE Heather Ordover's podcasts.  I have been listening to Jane Eyre, a book that I love and haven't read since I was a teenager.   It is fun to return to the book and listen to Heather's comments on the book, the Bronte's, and life in general.  If you haven't tried them, go on over to Craftlit and check it out.  They have a lot of classics on podcasts and also interviews of knitters and others which you can skip if you are not interested, but I have learned all kinds of interesting things through the interviews, such as why you want to use Eucalon to wash your knits and lingerie with.

Now, back to Jane Eyre and weaving....

Back to Weaving

After a snowy week that included a kid with the flu, then having the whole house come down with it in a range of severity from mild to severe, all are back to work and school and I must get back to weaving if I am to finish my piece for Convergence.  The snow is still with us and we got another light dusting last night, but it is melting more quickly now that the temperatures are going up into the 50's today.

In the meantime, I will share a couple of shots of the snow.  Here is my little snow muppie (a very Muppet-like, not so little 70 pound Spinone Italiano) Giallo in her element in the snow.  She is standing in the footpath we dug to get to the barn to feed horses.

Now for weaving,  I have decided to stay in the theme of fish.  At the last convergence I sent a piece I wove with a rockfish and kelp leaves.  Because our tapestry group chose the theme Virginia Blues, and I wanted to stick with the theme of fish, I decided to look for fish that were native to the state and that swam among grasses.  I dithered between bluegill and bluefish, but decided on a school of bluefish as seen through eel grass.  I since learned that eel grass is being threatened in the Chesapeake  Bay.  I also learned that it is a very important part of the Bay ecosystem in that it is a nursery for fish such as the bluegill.

Here is my start to the tapestry.  

What I see when I look at the photo, which I suspected, is that the tail is WAY too dark.  I am going to take the weaving out of the fish and work on it.  I do want them to be kind of shadow-like in the background, but they are too dark currently.

In the meantime, have a lovely day and just remember, come August when it is close to 100 degrees with 95% humidity, we will look back with fondness on these snowy winter days!  (The snow I can take, it is the swampy mud that follows that I am not so keen on.)

Help Needed! Moving a Loom

During all the very VERY cold weather we have been having, the pipes to our laundry room froze.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that a few years ago we renovated our 1967 ranch house, opening it up and getting rid of painted faux paneling and covering up the old black industrial type tile on the floor with beautiful bamboo flooring and painting everything a lovely MOMA white (yes, we used the same color as MOMA in NYC).  Well, I went to take my daughter to art class and pick up my son from school at 4, and everything was fine, and at 6 when we got back there was water flowing out the back door.  We had a burst pipe in the ceiling of our laundry room.  I panicked, we finally got the water shut off, my 13 year old son stepped up to the crisis and ran to the barn and came back with a large push broom and swept 2 inches of water out of the house (who knew so much water could come from one small pipe?) , and I called the plumber and the insurance company.

Now what?  After a week and a half, the house is dried out, and 1/3 of our flooring is torn out.  Which leads me to my request for help.  The flooring in my studio is totaled.  They pulled out the worst, but it will have to be replaced.  I moved my loom so they could get the worst of it out, but now I have to empty my studio.

My question is this.  I have a Macomber loom with two tapestries on it.   One is finished and one is 1/3 of the way done.  I cannot get the loom through the door without folding it up which is going to seriously release the tension.  Is it possible for me to move the loom without losing the unfinished tapestry on the loom?  Has anyone done this?  Got any tips?  I am not sure where I will be moving the loom since most of the floors in the main spaces of the house are going to be replaced, but first I need to get it out of the studio.

I would appreciate any insights or thoughts.