17 Nov 2016

Magic Dobby’s Grand Day Out

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Last weekend I took part in a Meet Your Maker event at the National Museum of Scotland under the banner of #StylingtheNation.

We had to set off early on Saturday morning to get to Edinburgh by 9 am.

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My station was on the north side of the Grand Gallery facing into the middle…

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…so I had the most fantastic views.

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I had a grey linen warp on the loom, and visitors rolled the dice to determine the weft colour – red, blue, yellow or green – and whether there should be one, two or three rows of that colour, where a ‘row’ is five picks since the pattern was a five-end huck. I was quite tickled to find a three-sided die, which looks a bit liked a half-sucked sweetie. When there was nobody there to roll the dice, I wove in grey.

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I started out keeping a written log, but kept forgetting about it. However, from my partial records I reckon that over the course of two days about a hundred visitors contributed a random element to the weaving – mostly children, but only because their adults are too shy. And I spoke to several times that number, so is it any wonder I was tired by Sunday night?

The grey linen frayed a good deal more than I would have liked, so I cut off Saturday’s piece and wove Sunday’s separately. I need to finish them both, just as soon as I have finished this pile of scarves over here…

“Magic Dobby’s Grand Day Out” was posted by Cally on 17 Nov 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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11 Nov 2016

Tying on

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Meanwhile, in the studio I have been tying on a short warp of chocolate brown merino/silk to weave a limited edition of zig-zag scarves for the Tea Green event in December.

As I have already said (probably several times), I don’t like tying on a warp at the back of the Megado as my knees and the warp beam want to occupy exactly the same space. And the warp beam always wins. So this time I tried tying on at the front – all the while fighting down my apprehension about beaming the warp through the reed and heddles, as this is a yarn that can pill itself together just from being looked at.

To my amazement, the knots travelled from here…

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…to here

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without so much as a twinge of a hesitation. Smooth as butter, and the whole warp was beamed in no time. I’ve begun weaving scarf #1, while at home I have started on the inevitable.

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“Tying on” was posted by Cally on 11 Nov 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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11 Nov 2016

Styling the Nation

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I’ve packed up the Magic Dobby and tomorrow morning we will be up early to drive to Edinburgh for #StylingtheNation at the National Museum of Scotland. I’m taking part as one of two makers sponsored by Craft Scotland in the Meet Your Maker programme, and I’ll be inviting visitors to determine what I weave by rolling the dice…

If you can drop in at any time over the weekend, I’d be very glad to see you! There’s a lot going on as you can see on the Museum website or the event Facebook page.

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“Styling the Nation” was posted by Cally on 11 Nov 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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7 Nov 2016

Shade cards

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They’re addictive!

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I’ve spent hours playing games like this, but finally came to a decision today. Now awaiting a large box of yarn….

But more scarves have appeared on the loom too. I’m steadily working my way through those little bits of leftover merino/silk, but I don’t believe I will ever quite exhaust the supply. On Friday I wove this one…

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…and started this one.

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Couldn’t resist that low angle, which makes it pop into 3-D! Once I have finished it, I think there may be one more scarf in this warp.

“Shade cards” was posted by Cally on 7 Nov 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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1 Nov 2016

Time Passing

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Last week I was away, visiting. I visited like a champ: old friends, new friends, family, cats (old and new too) – I visited them all. I stayed in three homes and had meals with seven different groups: not bad for five days. It was quite the visiting marathon, although the pace was not too hectic so I didn’t feel rushed. Well, only when I was changing trains (there was quite a lot of that) or dashing for a bus (a bit less of that).

One of my schoolfriends, whom I have known since we were 12, was celebrating her 50th birthday – a somewhat disconcerting milestone – and some major life changes, so there was good cause for all of our little group to converge on London and celebrate with her. It’s a long time since we were all in the same place (not since last century, even) but none of us are really very different from our teenage selves. A bit more confident in our own skins than we were then, which is all to the good, but otherwise much as always and still bagging the back seat upstairs on the bus.

As I am the baby of the class, I’ll be the last to achieve the half century and won’t be quite so disconcerted by the time I get there. I generally find that I get so used to the ‘new’ number over the course of all the other birthdays, that by the last couple of months I am already claiming the extra year.

I got home late on Saturday and collapsed into bed. What a joy it was that it happened to be the night the clocks went back, so I had an extra hour to sleep off my travel exertions. I love that hour and look forward to it every October, even though I don’t much care for the sudden shift towards darkness in the afternoons.

Photographically, I don’t have much to show for all my shenanigans. There was a lovely pair of swans on the Kennet & Avon canal, but I only caught one on camera…

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…and I liked this garage door, next to a friend’s house in Hammersmith.

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As I discovered, they have the same pattern on the plastic tea trays in the café in Finsbury Park. Now you know.

And now I am back in the studio, weaving zig-zags again. Here’s the latest colour combo.

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After consulting various wise people, I decided to dye all the warps grey rather than leave them undyed. I need to get a move on as there is the limited edition to do next.

“Time Passing” was posted by Cally on 1 Nov 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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