The painting I'm working from is hanging over the top of the loom. I'll move it once I've woven up to the point visible. I've got it rolled and pinned at the backside so it won't slip off.
Here's a detail of some of the beginning few inches. It's starting out with a neutral blend of four strands and lines will be introduced, then the solid areas will begin to appear.
The warp is 12/12 cotton seine twine, sett at 8 epi. I'm using 4 strands of Vevgarn as weft. The Vevgarn is a 50/50 wool & Spelsau blend from Norway, imported by Norsk Fjord Fiber.
I've used Vevgarn for many years now and love the yarn. Noel Thurner started the business in the 1980s and I began using the yarns she was importing from Norway immediately. Now, Noel has passed the torch of NFF along to a new owner. But don't think Noel's going to be sitting on the sofa, eating bonbons now that she's not busy packing and sending out orders of yarns all over the country!
Her work with Parker, her therapy dog, continues to be an important part of her mission in life. She's also deeply involved with the Carolinas Bearded Collie Club (read some more of the Beardie therapy stories about Noel and Parker at the CBCC website linked above). Add to that, growing and then preparing much of the food for the family as well as aiding her husband's efforts with biological control of the hemlock wooly adelgid (his website is Saving Hemlocks). In what "spare time" she finds, there's always spinning and knitting with dog hair (Chiengora) to keep her hands busy!
I'm very happy that NFF will be continuing--check Sidsel's website and give her a call! She's quite an expert tapestry weaver herself who's used the yarns for years. I'm sure Sidsel will enjoy NFF as much as Noel did, bring her own knowledge of Scandinavian fiber traditions into play, and provide yarns for the masses! In fact, I've already placed two orders with her in the past month. What can I say? I love that yarn!
I've used Vevgarn for many years now and love the yarn. Noel Thurner started the business in the 1980s and I began using the yarns she was importing from Norway immediately. Now, Noel has passed the torch of NFF along to a new owner. But don't think Noel's going to be sitting on the sofa, eating bonbons now that she's not busy packing and sending out orders of yarns all over the country!
Her work with Parker, her therapy dog, continues to be an important part of her mission in life. She's also deeply involved with the Carolinas Bearded Collie Club (read some more of the Beardie therapy stories about Noel and Parker at the CBCC website linked above). Add to that, growing and then preparing much of the food for the family as well as aiding her husband's efforts with biological control of the hemlock wooly adelgid (his website is Saving Hemlocks). In what "spare time" she finds, there's always spinning and knitting with dog hair (Chiengora) to keep her hands busy!
I'm very happy that NFF will be continuing--check Sidsel's website and give her a call! She's quite an expert tapestry weaver herself who's used the yarns for years. I'm sure Sidsel will enjoy NFF as much as Noel did, bring her own knowledge of Scandinavian fiber traditions into play, and provide yarns for the masses! In fact, I've already placed two orders with her in the past month. What can I say? I love that yarn!
Tommye, what sett are you weaving at to be able to use four strands of the Vevgarn?
ReplyDeleteI love the irony of weaving hard stones in soft fiber!
Kathy, I'm using 8 epi with 12/12 cotton seine twine. It's pushing the coverage ability of that sett to use 4 strands of Vevgarn but since there's going to be stone color throughout the piece, if there are peeks of the warp showing I won't mind too much
ReplyDeleteYes, irony of hard into soft!
So, dumb question but I figure Tommye and Kathy can handle it. !2/12 is thinner than 12/6, right? So at 8 epi if you use 12/12 you might be able to push it to 4 strands of Vevgarn? I've never been able to use that many but I think my warp is fatter.
ReplyDeleteKeep posting about this one Tommye! I love seeing how you weave.
Hi Rebecca! About the size of the seine twine. 12/12 is thicker than the 12/6--about half again thicker since there are 12 of the #12 size cotton strands plied together. You probably have a similar size to the 12/12 that you're using, I'll bet. The 4 strands of Vevgarn is very hard to cover at the 8 epi but, like I mentioned in reply to Kathy, I'll not mind some peeks of the warp.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, in some places I'll drop the number of Vevgarn strands to 3 (the darkest areas where I want absolutely no warp to show)
I get most of the cotton seine twine I use from Joanne Hall at Glimakra USA.