Remembrance of Not 2 Square Members and Mentors

 I searched long and hard to find the photo of these three weavers who were part of Not 2 Square at its beginning.  It was taken at a gathering of Foothill Fibers Guild at the home of Sue F.  Actual date, unknown.

Left - Barbara Woodward (obituary)

Middle - Dee Jones (obituary) (our memorial post)

Right - Carol Phillips  (our memorial post)

All are now gone, but certainly not forgotten. May this post help to keep them in our memories.

 

Warping: The Gospel According to Dee

I ran across this file that I had saved long ago and decided that it was time to send it into the public domain.  I'm not sure when this was originally written, although we put a copyright on it in 2002 when she shared it with the Not 2 Square Weavers.  Dee passed away a couple of years ago, but her advice and humor live on in everything she wrote.  If you find her advice helpful, then her mission will have been accomplished.  Weave On!

 

Warping: The Gospel according to Dee

Most of the information I’ll give you is from the book "Warping All by Yourself" by Cay Garrett. This is probably the best value in any book anywhere and is available from Unicorn, or even better, try your local book store. Some of the things I’ll show you were shown to me by Harold Dickey, a production weaver. Some I have stumbled on myself. Remember that there is more than one way to do anything. For better or worse, this is mine.

On warping board or reel, set up guide string for warp length. Wind as many chains as you have pairs of different yarns. I often put a bumpy yarn with a smooth, or a thick with a thin, or a matte with a shiny. Or not. Wind 2 yarns at once (cuts winding time in half!) Important: keep your index finger between them so they don’t twist. After every 5 pairs on the last peg, twine a ribbon yarn for easy counting. One 5 pair group = 20 ends.

Ties: Tie a 6-8" string at the cross, loosely. Loop a tie at each end of the chain. Now put a long tie, 24" or so, about 32" from the last peg of the cross, using a surgeon’s knot (wrap twice). The place where you tie will depend on your loom. Measure from front beam through heddles about 12" plus enough for a knot. If it’s a wide warp, add about 3". This will become clearer when we get to the loom. I’m calling this group of threads a chain, but I don’t actually chain them because I feel it gives more opportunity for tangling. If I were doing very long chains, 15 yards or so, I might actually chain them. On the rare occasion when I wind a warp that won’t be woven immediately, I would chain.

Tie the chain to the loom with the tie at the 32" position. Secure beater in upright position, close enough to be comfortable as you dent the reed. I mark my reeds at the center and align with the marked center of the beater. 98% of the time I have 2 ends per dent in the reed. Cuts denting time in half.

Threading will be more comfortable and accurate if done at eye level. Find a stool or build one. Count the number of heddles needed in a 2" section or if it isn’t an even number, the heddles needed in approximately 2" of pattern repeats. For instance, straight twill sett at 16 epi would be 32 ends, divided by 4 harnesses would be 8 heddles per harness for a 2" bout. In a point twill: 1-2-3-4-3-2, you would have 5 on harness 1, 20 on each harness 2&3, 5 on harness 4 = 30. Close enough to 2" and easier to keep straight. The advantage to this is that you can easily see if a mistake has been made in threading. Got a heddle left over or one short? Now’s the time to investigate. Counting heddles is easier for me if I look at the top rail (what is that called?) instead of at the heddle eyes.

I start threading at the center and go left to the selvedge so I don’t have to count heddles for the whole project. After the aforementioned 2" or approx 2", I tie the group together with an overhand knot. At the left selvedge, I leave one end as a floating selvedge (through the reed, but not through a heddle). Starting at the center again, I thread right to left, reversing heddle order and thread order. So now it’s 4-3-2-1, or whatever and if I first did bumpy, then smooth, now I thread smooth then bumpy. Clear? When I’ve finished threading, I corral the remaining heddles with a paper clip gate so they can’t dance over to party with the working heddles and fray the edge threads.

Doubled cords from the back cloth beam are looped with a lark’s head over the beam and are long enough to come up over the back beam and reach to just behind the heddles, knotted at that end with an overhand knot. This knot is fastened with a lark’s head around the 2" knotted section of warp. Pulling on the knot will loosen it when you want to untie.

At the front beam, untie the cords holding the chains. Raise one set of tabby harnesses, insert a lease stick in shed behind harnesses. Repeat with other tabby shed. Secure in place with a cord thusly: Doubled cord in a lark’s head around front beam, knot at beam, loop goes through a dent in the reed and in a figure 8 around the leases sticks. Do this on the right and left sides of the warp. Then raise the first tabby again and put another lease stick in front of the heddles, behind the reed. Leave this tabby raised. This lease stick will separate the 2-to-a-dent warp threads. If it turns up on the edge, heads up! Time to Address the Situation.

When winding on, I don’t comb because I think it makes more tangles. Instead I yank on the chains and separate the ones that want to involve themselves in an unhealthy relationship. Wind a foot or so, pull on the chains and repeat until there’s about 18" left. Pull out the lease sticks, comb out with the fingers so the ends hang reasonably straight, give the loose ends a haircut.

In 2" bouts, tie to front rod. Tie from center out, one section on right of center, one on left. Then right, left, right, left. Separate bout in 2 equal parts, go under rod, over rod on either side of bout, criss cross underneath (exchange groups from hand to hand) pull snug and tie a single knot on top. On a wider warp, after every 3^rd pair (6 sections total), tighten the brake one notch. On the selvedge, give an extra tug on the outside half of the bout before tying so it will be a smidgen tighter. And, I try to make that outside section narrower than the others for the same reason. For the rest of the warp, remember it’s not how tight to tie, it’s how even.

Check threading by lifting harnesses one treadle at a time, weave in a header: 2 or 3 picks heavy yarn and about 1" of a paralyzed bobbin in a contrast color. If you throw the shuttle twice or three times before pulling the beater, it evens the spaces more quickly. Now Go For It!

© Dee Jones - Nevada City, CA 5/2002

The Results Are In

The Nevada County Fair is winding down tonight and many of our Not 2 Squares entered items in the "Wool Division" and came away with ribbons.  Everything looked great - formal winner or not.  Over the next several posts, we'll share these pieces with you. 

Our Friend Dee was a weaver to the end.  She asked that the last scarf she wove be put into the Fair, in the Recycle Fiber Class of the Woven items.  

This fun scarf was woven with strips of cloth from an old dress.  Lovely colors!  And it earned a first place in the class.

The group setting up the room created a loving tribute to Dee.  They displayed some of her jackets, scarves and shawls.  There was also a pictorial remembrance of this wonderful lady.

Beryl  submitted two scarves in the Nevada County Inspiration Division.  These two scarves were the result of the colors found in our beautiful area.  The first scarf won 1st place and best of Division in this category.  It is a beautiful, shimmering piece with a unique design.  The colors were inspired by the Yuba River.

The second scarf had colors drawn from the flowers of the Big Leaf Maple tree.  This lovely scarf was the 2nd place winner in the Nevada County Inspiration Division.  It is made of various silk yarns and a variegated ribbon from Dee.  It is a combination of 2-2 twill and broken twill woven on 4 shafts with the ribbon as supplementary warp.  The draft is at the bottom of this page.

draft for this scarf is here at the bottom of the page

Congratulations to these winners.  More will be posted soon.

Scarves a' la Dee

The group continues to work on their scarves for the group challenge.  When she learned she was too ill to finish her challenge scarf, Dee asked Beryl to take the yarns she had chosen.

Dee Selecting Yarn

Dee's yarns

 

 The yarns in the bag were a green rayon (used in the warp and sett at 20 epi) and a wool/rayon blend used as weft. The supplementary warps were soy/silk space dyed and put in a separate dent and weighted separately off the back of the loom.  (Dee often used ribbon or other accent yarns to make a piece more snazzy.)  Beryl also used a pink nubby rayon and 16/2 cotton weft yarns from her stash.

 

Beryl wove three scarves with the yarn.

 

 

The first scarf is a turned twill - one of Dee's "Go To" structures.  The weft on this one is the wool/rayon from the challenge bag.

Scarf 1

Scarf 1 Detail

The second scarf was woven using the second treadling above with a pink rayon yarn from Beryl's stash.

Scarf 2

Scarf 2 detail
 

The third scarf is woven in plain weave with the 16/2 cotton.  

Scarf 3

Scarf 3 detail

I wish the photograph colors did better justice to these three lovely scarves.  I think Dee would be pleased with the results.
 

Not 2 Square's Tribute to Dee Jones

The Not 2 Square Weavers lost one of their founding members this past week.  The slide show tells a little of Dee Jones'  story.  The tributes from our members (below) tell more about the woman.  The ending photo in the slide show is of Dee when she worked as a fire lookout on Pegleg lookout in Lassen National Forest with her husband, Pat.  He spotted the fires - she called in the coordinates!
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Every time I was with Dee i thought of what an extraordinary person she was. She never spoke ill of people, even when they hurt her. Dee was very giving with her time, knowledge, and expertise - whether that be with individuals new to the craft (weaving, spinning, knitting, sewing) or experienced; always time for a quick question or to provide specific help. She was fun, serious, and easy going. Dee enjoyed life, appreciated those that became her friend, always had a compliment for whatever project in progress or finished. I will miss her at my table and among my circle of friends, remember her with love, and drink a bubbly toast to a very gracious lady. - Marjorie McConnell

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Her kindness, humor and interest in others captivated me from when I first met her at one of the Virginia City retreats, and I was lucky to spend a couple of retreats with her. One morning a group of us were all knitting Falling Leaf samples for Sara Lamb's SpinOff article and chatting like monkeys. Sara noted that her sample seemed to be growing and held it up for us to see, to which Dee asked with that famous twinkle in her eye, "Might this be a good time to count your stitches?" I marveled at how kindly she corrected the teacher.

I know she read my blog and periodically she'd email me. I visited her several weeks before her death, and she wanted to know all about what I was doing, how I was going and was so happy to see me. She was so excited about my upcoming Handwoven article and wanted to see the pictures on my cell phone. When we arrived she was reading the latest Handwoven issue. I hope I can pay it forward what Dee paid to me. - Sharon Campbell

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We are so going to miss Dee. She was an adventurous and inspiring weaver and I want to share the last thing she said to me, when I visited her 6 weeks ago.

"Yes, [weaving] is an adventure. But it’s a bit like learning computer. Just try it, push a button. The computer is not going to break; although you may not be able to retrace your steps with the computer. One thing is different with weaving, there is always a string to hold on to to find your way back."

I hope there are some angels with big strings pulling Dee into her new adventure.
-Wendy-Marie Teichert

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We share the loss of Dee with her family and many friends. We will miss her extensive weaving and fiber knowledge; her willingness to share and help anyone with a question as well as her sense of humor and kindness. She had a grace and graciousness that are so rare. Dee was also just really fun to be with. I hope that I will carry just a little of her goodness with me to share with others.
- Ingrid Knox

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In my 36 years of knowing Dee, she never failed to be upbeat, helpful, appreciative, and kind. However, she did not suffer fools and her insight was sharp as a tack.

Her vast knowledge not only covered many areas of fiber arts but also the world. Her appreciation of humor, both bawdy and not, was a delight. She had many wonderful stories to tell of her life : as a child living in a caravan pulled by horses while her father worked on building roads in Wyoming and her mother was the cook for the road crew, to living on the French Riviera, to being a fire lookout near Susanville, to living full time in Nevada City. She was a great conversationalist. I treasure the car rides to events when just the two of us were together and would talk of many things. She personified the way life should be led, including how to die gracefully. I loved her and will miss her always. I hope to live my life in such a positive way. - Lindsey Cleveland

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The last few days it has been very hard to accept the fact that we now live in a world without Dee Jones. I first saw Dee at a CNCH Liaison meeting - maybe 1997? She was decked out in a big straw hat, wearing bright colored clothing (probably handwoven) and enthusiastically talking to all of us about the reasons we should get our guild members to come to the conference in Grass Valley. A couple of years later, when Igor and I moved to Nevada City, we met her officially and started a friendship that lasted until she moved on to her next big adventure this past week.

Dee was everything that has been posted here - a talented, fascinating woman who put a positive spin on almost everything. She had the rare talent of making you feel good about yourself. She was a critic, but always a very gentle one who could  find something good to say about your weaving or knitting disaster or at least get you to laugh about it. Dee was also a talented story teller who loved to talk about her rich life experiences and ended most stories with a great punch line.

I will never possess the rare qualities that made Dee so special. But the time I spent with Dee, taught me what it is to live life to the fullest and then accept death with grace and courage.  I will miss you Dee.
- Beryl Moody

Dee's daughter, Jill, has written a wonderful remembrance of her mother that appears in the Union Newspaper.
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For Dee, with all our love.

 When our group learned that our cherished friend and fellow weaver Dee was seriously ill, we pondered just how we could let her know, within a short time frame, how much we loved and cared about her.  At our Tuesday meeting, we came up with a plan to make a lap robe with squares of handwoven cloth from as many of our members as possible.  The handwoven pieces were all delivered to Marjorie (our quilter) by Friday noon.  On Sunday, this lap robe was complete and today (Monday) was delivered to Dee.  Marjorie tells us that Dee was delighted and was in fine spirits with many an anecdote to tell her visitors.   Later in the day, she plans to knit socks on No. 2 needles!

Weavers names top row starting at the left side.  Marcy, Sue H., Beryl, Betsy.  Middle row Wendy-Marie, Igor, Mardi, Jackie Bottom row Ingrid, Diana, Marjorie, Eileen.

Many of the pieces came from tea towel warps.  Here are a few comments about the squares  and quilting process from the various weavers.

 

Ingrid The sample is the end of the warp of the set of towels that were woven as the last of the original calendar inspired towels. The picture was of yellow lady slippers against a bright green leafy background.     It was woven with 10/2 perle cotton sett at 24 epi.  The threading was an 8 point twill and woven with a 3-2-1-1-1 8-shaft twill pattern.

 

Wendy-Marie  a twill made of cotton (5/2, I think), when I was studying at Ruthie’s in Portland, OR. At the time, I was just experimenting with stripes. For Dee, I picked the zippiest part of the cloth, the part that was most lively and interesting — like Dee.

Beryl  This was the end piece from a towel warp where I do my experimenting.  I have always liked the colors in this piece  but there was not enough to make anything  until now, when it  has found its perfect home.

Igor  I wove this some time ago when I was experimenting with ikat dyeing in the warp and weft.  The cloth is rayon/silk and the ikat dye was local Black Walnut.

Marjorie    inside each square is same design - hearts and squiggly circles (better seen from back). the inside sashing is a combination of leaves, squiggly circles, and hearts; the outer border is leaves. there is a label on the back that simply says: Dee, April 2015, Not 2 Square Weavers.  

now, if you find that you want to do another in the future . . . i cut the squares 10" x 10". the sashing and the outer border were both 3". the finished lap throw is 36.5" x 48.5". washed and dried it is not as pliable as i expected so i am really glad i used flannel on the back to give it the softness we wanted. at the same time, i like "weight" when i grab a quilt or a blanket (often use several to get desired effect) so i think we are good all the way around.



Detail of the quilting on the back of the lap robe

Detail of the quilting on the borders

Handwoven cloths to dry your salad greens!

What does a weaver do when she runs out of drying cloths for her salad greens?  Warp up her loom with 16/2 cotton (from a couple of over-sized 2.5 # cones)  and experiment with lace weaves.

Jackie has a lot of skill in designing lace, so in the planning stages for designs for salad green cloths, she devised several variations that could be woven on the same warp.  She was undecided about the sett, but finally settled on 26 epi for these regal additions to her kitchen!  Some of the cloths are a bit crisp and we wondered if one of her cones had some linen in it.  Might make the cloth just a bit more thirsty.

Jackie isn't the only crazy weaver in our group.  Recently Dee's granddaughter told her that she never uses paper towels to mop up messes - always rags which she washes and reuses.  Dee's gift to her granddaughter was a collection of handwoven rags.  Overcast edges rather than hems, but still! 

September Meeting Part III

Mardi has been experimenting with waffle weave and towels.  She bought a towel kit from Halcyon Yarns that included 8/2 yarn for 4-shaft waffle weave towels. 

Two waffle weave towels

 

 

Three towels and small sample of weft

She wasn't wild about the colors but has enjoyed experimenting.


 

                                                                                                      

Dee brought in several scarves she wove in the month preceding the meeting.  Not all of the pictures turned out, so here is a sampling:

 

The warp for several of the scarves were dyed on Dye day that the guild sponsors.


Dee also brought in some towels she wove with 8/2 cotton and carpet warp.

 

Dee brought a finished bag.  It is made with cottolin and cotton yarns.  The border is sari silk.

These photos weren't the best and the background of carpet didn't really help to do justice to these nice pieces.  Hopefully our regular reporter will be back at October's meeting.

Dee Jones and Her Bounty of Fair Entries

There is nothing quite as nice as a collaboration between two textile artisans.  The lovely prize winning scarf with yarn spun by Sue Flynn and woven by Dee Jones is draped around a special jacket woven and sewn by Dee Jones.

Dee wove this shawl with April and Forsythia in mind for the Nevada County Inspired category.  She knitted a special loopy trim to finish off her asymmetrical garment.

Dee spun textured purple yarn for these two inspired scarves.  The left photo is a knitted lace and the second photo shows the yarn used as weft in a twill design.

Dee always makes the best bags and this year she really got inspired with her long handled tote shown on the left and upper right (with a blue ribbon).  The story is that she wove what is now the handle of the bag as a scarf.  Finding the fabric too stiff to use as she originally intended, she turned it into the long, over the shoulder strap for her tote and finished up with a row of beads!  The bottom purse has lovely details of beads and a special button closure.

Then, there are all the rest of Dee's entries - most of which received blue ribbons.  Clockwise from the upper left is a supplementary warp design that Dee loves to make in all varieties.  Her twill towel is woven with 50% linen and won the blue in the bast fiber category.  The shawl is elegant and warm - another blue ribbon winner.  And finally on the right corner is some bright red yardage that Dee wove with a top in mind.  Now she is thinking maybe another shawl -- we shall see what kind of magic touches she will add!

Lap Robes for Holiday Cheer

 

It's Holiday Cheer time again in Nevada County.  Each year the visiting nurses in this county collect Christmas gifts for their homebound patients.  For the past few years, the Not 2 Square weavers have been putting together lap robes to help warm the heart and the body!   This year there were a total of 10 lap robes, several knit hats and a knit scarf in our donation bag.  What follows are photos of some of the lap robes donated this year.

 

Dee Jones wove the striped material in both of these quilted covers.  She artfully combined a variety of commercial fabrics with her own hand woven to make generous sized lap robes.  There will be a couple of very happy folks when the nurses deliver these.

Diana Abrell wove the overshot top of this lovely blanket.  It is lined with a striped material and bound with satin binding.  Diana then secured the quilt with ties.

Igor Raven wove this lap robe double width on his Baby Wolf loom.  The binding was woven by Beryl Moody to match the throw.

Ingrid Knox donated three lap robes this year.  Pictured  are two of them.  Ingrid used a variety of yarns in beautifully designed stripe combinations.  All of her lap robes are easy care and will keep their recipients warm and cozy this holiday season.

Jackie Hervey wove this two block 3/1 twill throw from a variety of rayon yarns in her stash.  It is a nice weight and lays very comfortably over lap and knees.  Don't you love the color contrast between the two sides?

Members of the Not 2 Square group often donate items to older teenagers in foster care as well as this Holiday Cheer project.  We find it is a great way to work down the stash, try out new ideas and techniques and give back to the community.

Plaza Jacket, Ikat Top and Rag Rugs at our September meeting.

At Not 2 Square meetings, Dee is often the one who has a new garment to display.  Here we have her version of the  "Plaza Jacket" and Sue Robertson is the perfect model to show off its lines. We decided that this particular jacket shape is called a huipil, but the Sewing Workshop pattern has more width to it than the traditional blouse tops by that name.

Sue Habegger has made a top from  ikat yardage she had woven some time ago.  She experimented with the ikat dyeing technique while in collage using Lydia Van Gelder's book as a reference.  Notice how expertly she has placed the ikat stripes on both the front and the yolk of the top.






Jackie Hervey's ingenuity amazes us all.  She used alternating reds and greens in her rug warp.  Then she alternated picks of fabric with a pick of fine cotton.  This made all the green warps prominent on one side of the rug and the red warps on the other side. The pictures show the green side on the left and the red side on the right, in case your monitor didn't detect the difference!

 

There is more to come from September's meeting.  Stay tuned for another post soon.