Delightful ideas fell out of February’s Tip Jar

* When tying on a new warp to previous project warp, leave the old warp though the heddles and the reed. This will help the new warp from tangling while winding it on!!

* Beat is very important in weaving. If your draft calls for a square pattern, you need to regulate your beat so that the packs per inch roughly equal the ends per inch so the pattern comes out square instead of rectangular.

* Picking washed fiber can be done with no tools but using a dog brush or a flicker will produce fiber ready for roving See: flicking

For more techniques on preparing fiber see: prepare fiber

* To get some beautiful shades of gradual color change in your yarn, ply in a prescribed sequence. For example in a 3 ply blend Yellow, Blue and Red like: Y Y Y, Y Y B, Y B B, B B B, B B R etc.. A sequence can also be a warp or weft structure.

If you would like stripes see: stripes

* In Sheep to Shawl at the Washington State Fair the weft is produced the day the shawl is made, so tends to be the same color. A tip the weavers heard from a judge is to use the color of the weft for the warp floating selvages. It makes a nice edge and the weft and warp bury down in together. In “Let’s talk color” they used this idea when there were color changes in the weft and they have other related tips when the weft changes color. Check out:
lets-talk-color

For more ideas on good selvages see:
improve-weaving-selvedges

* Tamie said she swore by weaving programs when designing for Sheep to Shawl. If you are interested in using computer programs talk with Carrie about what is happening in the Weaving Design Software Study Group.

* Two person warping is a great practice and can catch errors early in the process. Invite a friend to help and have a warping party. Wine after warping is recommended.

* Did you enjoy the oatmeal black walnut cookies in February? Someone did and the let the Tip Jar know.

TEN DOZEN OATMEAL COOKIES

2 cups shortening
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda
6 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Beat shortening, sugars, eggs and vanilla until creamy. Add flour, salt and soda and mix thoroughly. Add oatmeal and nuts and mix. Form into rolls 1to 1-1/2 inches in diameter, about 12 inches long, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill completely. Slice with sharp knife about 1/4 inch thick. Bake on non-greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, then remove to cooling rack.

Note: I use more nuts than called for. This time I made 1/2 the recipe and used 1 cup black walnuts. It is the black walnuts, as opposed to regular walnuts or pecans, that give the cookies their particular flavor. Sometimes I break the big batch into several smaller ones and add different things to each part, such as chocolate chips, raisins or date pieces. I think you can do pretty much whatever sounds good.