A stroll up to the snowline

 A Sunday stroll with Sheri and Michiel from col de la Trappe up to Prat Mataou (Guzet). Pistes are nicely prepared and waiting for the snow, some of which arrived last night!

Red billed leiothrix

 These beautiful little birds (passerines) are still about

Quadruple weave bags

 

Off the loom and finished

Autumn starts to give way to winter

The weather is turning, the air is cooler and rain and snow are falling. In the fields the bramblings are abundant and stocking up for harder times ahead.

 

Exploring quadruple weave

With doubleweave one weaves two cloths one above the other, normally on four shafts.These cloths can be joined at the selvedges as you weave to create either a tube or a double folded cloth (joined at one selvedge only). With eight shafts one can weave four cloths and this opens up many possibilities.

Whereas a cloth in 8/2 cotton might have 25 warp threads per inch width (10 threads per cm), weaving four cloths one on top of the other means there are now 100 threads per inch (40 threads per cm) - which makes dressing the loom a little more cramped to say the least!

these first explorations are just to try the different techniques and structures so I've been easy on myself colour coding the warps for each of the four cloths and starting with a 5.5" (12.5cm) wide warp a couple of meters long.

The first section is weaving a tube within a tube - effectively a bag with a lining. Next I brought the lining to the outside and the outside to the inside. Still a single bag but with a "waffled" wall. 

With two layers to the walls of the bag, I tried a bit of leno lace. Hand manipulation of the outer cloth warp threads to create an open structure which allows you to see the cloth below peaking through.

Next I wove four separate layers (4 rather than 2 shuttles required) to form a pair of open ended tubes around the top of the bag to accept a pair of drawstrings.

Finally, a pair of tubes side by side that when turned inside out into the bag already woven will create double lining divided into two sections.
 

Before Susie got back I had time to refresh our kitchen table, which I made exactly 16 years ago. I've refinished it a couple of times, but because of some incompatibility between varnishes, its become slightly sticky recently. I replaced the central (floor) boards and upcycled the old ones to make more shelves in the utility room. The perimeter boards were planed down then painted with chalk paint (blue rather than the old Basque red). This was then waxed, whilst the central wood was oiled.

Chalk paint covering well

                    

All finished

At 4.50 the following morning, I was woken by a scream that sounded like a child. I rushed outside with the torch and immediately picked up the eyes of a fox in the field and Mr Clinton our cockerel! Clinton had obviously fallen asleep in the hedge and when I locked the chickens up for the night, I hadn't noticed he was missing! The fox had found him and snatched him from his perch whilst he slept. I kept the fox away from him with the torch and a few shouts whilst I put on wellies and then rescued him from the field. He'd lost a few feathers but seemed to have gotten free from his attacker without much physical injury - he's a big bird. I bundled him into the henhouse, then chased the fox through the woods for 10 minutes until he realised I meant business! Clinton stayed in the henhouse for three days somewhat traumatised, but now seems to have recovered.

A few days later in the morning Shelley our oldest hen (6 years old) was slumped on the floor of the henhouse. She didn't want any food or water so she lay cradled in my arms for a couple of hours until she died peacefully. I think she had a great life and she's now buried next to Mr Quincy who she was devoted to.