May 9, 2004

Hi Friends,

Southeast Fiber Forum and the Conference of Northern California Handweavers are over for now and it is back to the dye room for me.  Thanks to Laura Fry who made it possible for me to participate at CNCH.  I am humbled and grateful for your overwhelming response to my products and hope to continue to serve and inspire you with exciting new products and colorways.  Thank you SFFA and CNCH!

Now that the conferences are over, I will share the surprise of which I have been alluding for the last couple of newsletters.  More new things to come; stay tuned.

All the best,
Margaret Pittman <><
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Complex, consistent colorways since 1994
http://www.heritageyarns.com

In This Issue:

• Painted Warps
• 8/2 Mill Dyed Tencel Colors
• Faux Ikat Kits
• Tencel Tips
• Color Tips
• Shopping/Ordering/Contact Information

Painted Warps

Some of you have been asking whether I would ever offer painted warps.  Up until recently I have not been in a position to offer anything in a painted warp due to the time in winding them and concern for quality assurance. Laura Fry has recently offered to wind 8/2 tencel warps for me and I am delighted to say I have woven three of them recently.  Delighted?  Yes!  No time spent at the warping board and no tension problems! In addition, Laura has added stripes to some that are painted right along with the warp.  Along with some old favorites like Day's End and The Days of Wine and Roses, you will see some new colorways that are currently available only in painted warps like Peacock Iridescence, Monarch Iridescence, Rainbow Iridescence and Bird of Paradise.  Warps are 3 yards/240 ends or for one scarf for $36 and may be purchased at Painted Warps.  Depending on the structure you choose, you will weave a nice long scarf that is 8-12" wide.

8/2 Mill Dyed Tencel Colors

Suggested mill dyed 8/2 tencel wefts are shown with the painted warps.  There is enough yardage on one cone for weft for 2 scarves, warp and weft for 1 scarf or warp for 2 scarves.  It is put up on 8 oz. cones/approximately 1680 yards for $12 in order that you may have a variety.  See all colors available at Mill Dyed Yarns.

Faux Ikat Kits

Faux ikat kits are still available in 8/2 tencel.  You get the look of a painted warp, as above, but with one skein, can warp for approximately 2 scarves.  It's a easy technique but not necessarily fast.   The faux ikat technique requires a variegated yarn, hand dyed being easier to match than commercially dyed.  Follow the easy plan to create two scarves with the painted warp look plus one scarf of commercially dyed in a single color.  Or you may select the option of a faux ikat shawl with stripes of commercially dyed tencel. The scarf kit contains the plan for the scarves, one skein of hand painted 8/2 tencel and one cone of mill dyed for $40 .  The shawl kit contains the plans for the shawl, 2 skeins of hand painted tencel and one cone of mill dyed for $65.  You may view colorway options at Weaving Kits.

Tencel Tips

For tencel tips from experts in the field, you may visit Issue #4 and Tencel Facts.

Color Tips

What do a color wheel, a black and white copy machine, the Fibonacci series, beautiful photography, a beautiful yarn, a ride through an scenic area and a small hole in a piece of paper have in common?  These can all be tools for study in color.

In helping a weaver come up with some stripe sequences that were pleasing to her, I thought about my past experiences with color and "tools" I have used to design something pleasing.  None of these are original or hard and fast rules. As for me, a lot of what I know about color is intuitive.  But tools have helped my intuition out a lot of times!

Invest in a good color wheel.  Direct complementary colors are opposite on the color wheel and generally always look good together.  Split complements probably work better to prevent colors from appearing gray or brown.  Triads are as the name implies and make somewhat of a triangle on the color wheel and are very pleasing together, particularly in large pieces.  Analagous colors are next to each other on the color wheel and can be blended in small pieces effectively.  I have found in blending warps and/or wefts that the larger the woven piece, the more one can experiment with color.  The same colors in a small piece can be overwhelming and confusing particularly in pattern weaving.

I took a class from Donna Sullivan once who had us to do color wrappings of yarn on cardboard.  It is a very interesting thing to do to design both symmetrical and asymmetrical stripes in neutrals from black to white, dark brown to beige, complementary colors, split complements, triads, etc.  Use a strip of sturdy cardboard and apply double-sided tape to the back.  Embroidery floss works great for this if you don't have a large palette of yarns.  If you feel uncertain, Fibonacci series to the rescue!  Without going into the history of Fibonacci, I will briefly say that it is a system that can be used to come up with a pleasing color blend or stripe by adding a number such as 1 with itself to equal 2, then 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, 3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 8 = 13, etc.  You may choose any of these numbers in sequence or out of sequence to design something that is generally always pleasing to the eye.

Still something wrong?  Take it to the black and white copy machine.  There was a good article in "Handwoven" several years back and it contained a gray scale.  Colors that are equidistant from either end of the scale work well together.  Making a copy in black and white will give you the overall feeling of a color that is too dark or light for your sequence or if you have used too much of it or not enough.  For example, a little yellow goes a long way. <g>  Sometimes, just 1 or 2 ends here and there of a highlight color will bring a fabric to life.

If you can't seem to come up with inspiration, flip through a book of beautiful photography of scenery.  Colors of nature are in good balance and always pleasing.  Make a wrapping with the colors you see or even one portion of the picture.  This is where a one-inch square hole cut in the middle of a piece of paper will come in handy.  Move the paper around until you see the exact colors and proportions that are pleasing to you and make a wrapping.  No books of photography?  There are lots of sites online including Webshots with wonderful photography.  Or it may be a good excuse to take a ride in a park near you or go for a walk.  Take along your camera, a notebook, colored pencils or some embroidery floss.  If you get caught without a camera, colored pencils or floss, write a word description such as intense sky blue.  It may look different when you get home and pull your yarns together  but chances are that you will like it a lot.

Visit an art gallery and study the colors in good paintings.  What makes them good?  What is the balance and proportion of color?  What attracts you to the painting?  What color(s) surrounds each color?

Or visit your stash of variegated or hand painted yarns that followed you home from some conference. <g> Use the yarn as a jumping off point to design a beautiful piece of fabric.  Pick up solids of some of the colorways that are in the colorway and design stripes featuring the hand painted yarn.  Laura Fry has done this with hand painted 8/2 tencel in Jewels are a Girl's Best Friend and complementary mill dyed 8/2 tencel.  Picture may be viewed at Hand painted Yarns.  Click on the Tencel bookmark in the heading block.

You can also use the hole in the paper to view your wrapping when you're finished.  Look through it with only one eye and block out everything else around the wrapping, i.e., zero in on it and at different angles.

And, by all means, listen to music that inspires you whatever it may be.  There's some color in there somewhere!

Shopping/Contact Information

Yarn shipments are limited to the U.S. and Canada. If you live outside the U.S. or Canada and would like to place a pattern order, please inquire at Margaret@heritageyarns.com.

Visit Knitting Patterns and take a look around at the wide selection of downloadable patterns from HeartStrings.

Purchasing options:  by PayPal shopping cart or optionally call with Visa, MasterCard or mail in a personal check or money order.

Margaret Pittman
Heritage Yarns
5875 Baxter Drive
Jackson, Mississippi  39211-3317 USA

Telephone - (601) 956-1478
Email - Margaret@heritageyarns.com
Fax - (601) 957-2963
Celebrating color in hand painted skeins and warps since 1994

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