July 13, 2004

Greetings from the sunny south and welcome home to all of you returning from Convergence.  Hope you have returned invigorated and ready to start back creating beautiful textiles.

Debbie Stringer, a fellow weavers' guild member, and I just finished teaching a surface design workshop to our guild this past weekend.  There were 13 in attendance besides us plus a visitor and a member who could not make it as she had catching up to do at work after Convergence.  Hopefully, I will get pictures of finished projects from some who participated.  All were encouraging as I laid down my first brayer of fabric paint on a laheria-dyed, handwoven scarf!  They continued to encourage as I fretted all weekend with it and finally was delighted with the finished product.  The picture is at Other Inspirations.

On the knitting needles are three projects!  Included is HeartStrings' Reversible Lace Cables in a new cotton/rayon I'm hoping to offer.  The pattern is holding its shape very well in the knitting process and I think it will be a beautiful scarf when I'm finished.

On the second set of needles (Size 36!) is a triangular shawl/beach cover-up.  It is moving along at lightening speed in the cotton chenille.

And on the third set of needles is a new silk/rayon that will be offered soon in a limited supply.  It has a little more sheen than the last silk/rayon, doesn't split on the needles and the silk is carded well so that it is a very smooth yarn with a delightful hand and heavy drape.  It is approximately the same grist or maybe just a little finer.  I think it will be lovely in a shawl.  Look for a special announcement soon at a special introductory price.

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

In This Issue:

• Painted Warp Options
• More Color Tips
• PayPal Options - Did you Know?
• Shopping/Ordering/Contact Information

Painted Warp Options

There have been some recent inquiries as to whether I plan to offer the new, 8/2 tencel painted warps as kits or whether there would be patterns available.  I thought it would be best to leave the options with you!

If you have limited time and like options, the hand painted warps are for you!  Just beam, thread and enjoy the weaving process.  I warp from back to front and was very satisfied in the warping and weaving process.  This tencel scarf is dramatic with lots of color, drape and tying options.

What are your purchasing options?

You may purchase any of the items separately!  Don't like the suggested weft?  Select another weft on the page.  Like black with everything?  Buy black and two warps in different colorways as there's enough tencel on one cone for two scarves.  Want a shoulder wrap or shawl?  Buy two or more warps of the same colorway and one or two cones of tencel.  Have your own idea for patterns?  Then you might not want to purchase the pattern.

Finished size of the scarf:  approximately 9" X 80" depending on structure chosen plus a 10-12" fringe on each end.

Equipment needed:   four to eight shaft loom, shuttle and bobbins.

Suggested sett:  20 EPI for plain weave, 24 EPI for twill and 30 EPI for advancing twill

Experience level: beginner to intermediate

Yarn requirements:  1 Heritage Yarns 8/2 tencel handpainted warp/3 yards-240 ends; 8 ounces Heritage Yarns mill dyed 8/2 tencel for weft.

What are the options in the pattern?

Optional structures given are plain weave, two simple four-shaft twills including Garden Maze, a combination straight and advancing four-shaft twill and a two-block eight-shaft twill, a total of five choices of structure with suggested sett for each structure.

You may view updated selections and pictures at Painted Warps.

More Color Tips

From RK VanOrsdal with additional side notes from Tommye Scanlin

There are two quick visual tricks I learned about mixing colors. Lorraine Jones at the old Yarn Barn in Canton, Georgia showed me the first. She would pick up four or five threads and slightly twist them together. One could tell at a glance if one color overwhelmed the others. She suggested you could eliminate that one color or use it sparingly.

The other hint came from my weaving and color theory professor, Tommye McClure Scanlin, at North Georgia College and State University. Her suggestion was to squint at your color selection. Pile the yarn on a table, walk back from it and squint. Everything will be unfocused so that you can see how the colors work together.

(Tommye adds: squinting lowers the light quality by which you're seeing things and should make nothing in the grouping stand out as either lighter or darker.  However, if one wants to have something *contrast* then there should be something in the grouping that stands out distinctly as darker or lighter when using the squinting technique. Another way that I sometimes try to illustrate that is to turn off the overhead lights and have dim lighting...same issue then...does something stand out as darker or lighter, or do all things blend into an overall tone.)

(RK continues.)  There are a few things to remember when putting color together. Color comes in four groups: true color (hue), shade (color + black), tint (color + white) and neutrals (color + its complement).  Select colors within groupings.

Get yourself a color wheel.  You can combine colors within color schemes, which are:  monochromatic, complementary and split complementary, analogous, triads and tetrads.  When combining colors within a scheme try to mix them in the groupings (hue, shade, tint or neutrals).

If you are interested in reading about color, Josef Albers wrote Interaction of Color. It is probably the most influential book on color theory written this century. (Anni and Josef Albers were part of the Bauhaus movement who fled Nazi Germany and settled in the US. He was a color theorist and she a
fiber artist. Both taught and wrote books which have influenced their fields.)

There are also a series of books called The Designer's Guide to Color. These books were created as a professional tool for designers, especially printers. Anyone can use the books to check or make color choices.  Each book is filled with color combinations.  There are at least four of these small paperback books.

If you still have color questions you can do one of my favorite color exercises. Pick up a print ad and cut out the color sections and lay them on a piece of paper.  Black paper will intensify the color while white will diffuse it. Graphic designers are attempting to entice you to buy their product and usually don't want to jar you visually.

You can use artwork instead of a print ad. In lieu of cutting up the print, use colored paper like Pantone, Color-Aid or, best yet, free paint chips from the paint store (Martha Stewart even tells you what accent colors go together to help in your selection of color). Find color chips that match the painting.  Again adhere them to either a white or black paper.

Both exercises allow you to create a library of colors to use in your weavings.

PayPal Options - Did You Know?

Do I need a PayPal Account to pay my seller?

No. If your seller has the PayPal Optional feature turned on, you will not be required to create a PayPal Account to complete a purchase.

And, yes, the PayPal Optional feature is turned on.  Thanks for your patronage.

What is PayPal Buyer Credit?

PayPal Buyer Credit is a convenient, flexible, and safe way to make any PayPal purchase more affordable. It provides you with a line of credit (subject to approval) that you can use to fund your PayPal purchases. PayPal Buyer Credit also gives you opportunities to take advantage of promotional financing offers, including deferred-interest and fixed-pay promotions.  PayPal Buyer Credit is a safe, convenient, and flexible way to fund your purchases made with PayPal, allowing you to shop now and pay later.

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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