This photo has been sitting on my desktop for quite a while now, since right after the last post when I was weaving it. I couldn't capture the iridescence in this scarf and the sequins don't sparkle as much as in real life. As I said in my last post this is my guild challenge - use gold to celebrate my guild's 50th anniversary. 

 I originally thought I'd weave a second scarf but then came to my senses and cut this one off to finish it. Since I'm no longer selling my handwovens what would I do with 2 scarves with sequins, even if I did use a different weft. I suppose I could have rethreaded to a different draft but still, I just don't need more scarf inventory, still have quite a bit from my selling years.  Instead I tied back on and am weaving using different variegated tencel wefts to create fabric to make notecard inserts. I will use notecards......I'll be using a dragonfly punch for the cardstock. 

It's snowing this morning - so nice to see some snow. It won't amount to a whole lot by the time it's over but it's covering the ground and is so pretty even though it's still dark out. 

Sparkle.......

It's not evident in the photo but those are sparkly holographic sequins in this tencel scarf on the loom. The Saturday Handweaver's Guild will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and our challenge for the year to weave gold. Hopefully there will be an exhibit along with other celebrations. 

At first I was going to weave this with gold warp & weft but in my sampling it looks so flat so I started trying out different wefts. I really like this greyed teal weft. I put enough on for 2 scarves, still trying to decide between a few colors what color the weft will be for the next scarf. 

This is plain weave with double weave pockets that I slip each sequin in and then close them up on the next shot thrown. I made some scarves many years ago using this technique. This scarf will have a repeat of 5 rows of sequins on each end. For a conference exhibit (2001) on recycling I wove fabric with bigger pockets and slipped small circuit boards in them. This is a 6 harness weave. At some point I'll need to figure out how to weave a fancy twill with pockets........I'll add that to my very long to-do list. 

I tried out 3 different styles of gold sequins when sampling. They all happened to be from my way too large stash of specialty sequins. These are square and holographic gold. I buy my sequins from Cartwrights Sequins. I don't know if they still have these, haven't explored their website in quite a while since I have such a huge stash in a multitude of colors, sizes and shapes. 

This project is a nice break from working on quilt blocks. I've made 40 of the 72 needed - they are slow going. I'll get back to them sometime this week. 

More weaving - whoo hoo!

It's been a great 4 days - other than running orders to the post office I have spent 4 days at home weaving. This makes me so happy, it's where I want to be, nesting at home, nesting in my studio.

This morning I tied on another painted warp and auditioned wefts. I decided to go with, from the top, the forest green and the deep red/rust just below it. The first scarf was the deep red/rust weft woven using the treadling that creates the above pattern............of course, I forgot to take a photo of it.

Here is the scarf using the forest green as weft and a change in treadling. I decided to see what would happen if I wove 2 repeats of the treadling and then reversed it for 2 repeats and kept repeating that - I liked it. I'm actually thinking I may like this for a towel warp. This scarf is much prettier in person, it's kind of washed out in the photo.

Although I have another painted warp to go on the loom it won't happen until sometime next week - life is interfering and I won't get much time in the studio, maybe a little here and there so I can get the warp on but probably no weaving.  It was great while it lasted..........

 💘💘💘  Happy Valentine's Day  💘💘💘

I'm on a roll............

I'm on a roll with these painted warps. Although I'm not excited with the autumn colored ones I'm going to knock them out. These 5 painted warps have been sitting on the shelf for too long so it's time to get them woven..........then I won't feel guilty when the weather warms up and I want to paint more warps!

Here's the second scarf on yesterday's warp - got it woven off this morning

And this afternoon this painted warp went on the loom. I'm ready to start auditioning wefts for the 2 scarves on this warp - so far I've got 5 colors to try. This warp is tencel like the one above.

Next painted warps up are a silk one in golds/purple and another tencel one in autumn colors. I'm taking advantage of time I'm getting in the studio this week - it used to be the norm but life seems to have gotten in the way the past couple of years. And with this time in the studio I decided it was time to start listening to an audio book, #4 in the Outlander series, Drums of Autumn - there are 38 discs - I've listened to 7 so far.

Another painted warp

Another painted warp on the loom....this one tencel....2 scarves worth.....first scarf woven

Finally weaving.........

 I finally got some time at the loom to weave this 3 scarf warp off. I painted/dyed the warp months and months ago, it's a cotton/rayon blend. I used tencel for the weft in all 3 scarves. These are a bit thicker/heavier than I usually weave scarves but I'm sure they'll be lovely once washed. Above a rust weft.

 Here's a tan weft

Here's a mauvey/rust weft

Finally.......something on the loom......

 It's been a while but this afternoon I put a painted warp on the loom. This one a cotton/rayon blend. Here I've got it wound on the back beam. I've got 4 or 5 painted warps in the studio that have sat neglected for a couple years - not sure why other than the fact that they all seem to be autumn colors and I haven't been in the mood to weave those colors.

Threading the heddles

Auditioning wefts, not the green at the bottom, that was just waste yarn to spread out the warp. Will think on this a bit longer before deciding which 3 I'll use, or maybe just 2 of them making 2 of the 3 scarves the same.......don't have to decide that tonight.

First scarf woven

First scarf woven off the warp I put on the AVL last week.

Patina......again.......

 Here is one of he finished Vines & Leaves scarves. The photo doesn't do it justice. The combination of 3 colors of copper in the warp and dark teal in the weft creates the most incredible iridescence. I wasn't sure if I'd like them or not but I like them so much that I'm considering keeping one for myself. This one is now listed in my etsy shop.

 Yesterday I blocked the shawl I started back in May. It really looks more pink in person than in these photos. I'm not quite sure why I'm having trouble of late capturing accurate color.

Here is it worn around the front as I so often see shawls online and in magazines these days. Usually it's too much bulk......in my opinion......but this shawl is so light and airy that it feels great wearing it this way........yes, I did put it on to test it out.........

This afternoon after I finished twisting the fringe on the scarves and taking photos I looked over at my shelves of handspun and decided I need to get brutal about going through it. Much of it that has lingered is from when I first learned how to spin, and it is lovely, but it's mostly Romney wool from a former local sheep herder and just doesn't suit the type of projects I care to do now. There are some really lovely singles I had originally planned to use as pattern weft for overshot afghans.......but I no longer have those colors in my house so go they must. So, I pulled everything down and have piles sitting waiting for photographs so I can move the yarn on to someone else......and then other bags that I will give away. So, how come I'm moving out all this yarn and the shelves still look stuffed??? 

Tomorrow I'd like to wind a warp to get on the AVL but I could easily get sidetracked taking photos of this yarn.........I'll see how I feel come morning......

Patina

I just finished weaving a couple of tencel scarves in my 40H vine & leaves pattern. They're soaking in a sink right now. I used 3 different shades of rust/copper in the warp and used a dark teal in the weft. This photo doesn't do the color combo justice - it makes me think of copper patina. Do I like the way they turned out? Don't know until they're dry. There will be some iridescence in them.

Packaged and out the door........

 It's always a rush to get something packaged up and out the door to the post office. I know I could do better but I strive to mail out an attractive package without too much additional cost. First almost all my items have this hangtag on them. It's a folded hangtag with item details and washing instructions on the back and a small story about me on the inside. The only items that don't go out with these labels are my embroidered towels and a few other small items, they have miniature tags.

 Here is the scarf wrapped in tissue with a reusable gift tag ready to mail. I also put a thank you note in the package and place it in a reusable plastic bag to protect against damp/wet during shipment, then into the shipping bag or box. My reusable gift tags are newer to my packaging - I created them using a tag punch with cardstock and then gluing on a piece of handwoven fabric.

I stitched up a couple of these towels the other day just because I thought they were so darned cute. There are two of them for sale in my etsy shop now. I haven't spent much time at the embroidery machine lately but need to get back to it because I've got some great new designs. I buy my digitized designs from Embroidery Library and Urban Threads.  If anyone is ever interested in a particular design please let me know, I'd love to stitch it up for you - my only restriction is that it must not be larger than 4" x 4" as that's all my inexpensive little embroidery machine will stitch.  Look how cute that towel looks with my tea mug, total coincidence - hmm, I might have to stitch one of these up for me........

Pastels and food

 The pastel scarves have their fringes twisted and are ready for sale in my etsy shop. Pastel is not something I usually think of for a handwoven scarf but they turned out lovely. This one has a pale lavender weft...........

.........this one has an ecru weft. A customer of mine requested a pastel scarf in these colors, one of these may or may not fit the bill, it's her decision.

Today I met friend Theresa over in Medford to shop Top Stitch, our local Bernina store, that was having a fabric sale - yikes. Then to lunch at The  Ram Restaurant and Brewery - I had a great Asian salad with macadamia crusted chicken. It doesn't look like a big salad in this photo but believe me, it was huge........and good. The Ram is a chain that recently opened in our region, I have regularly eaten at one of the other locations up in Salem. They brew beer too but I'm not a beer person so I can't review that - the food is wonderful. Theresa gifted me with a box of bamboo from her late father's stash, so in turn, with trying to make room for the bamboo I gifted her with a bag of linen which she loves.

Big storms yesterday afternoon and evening - many fires being chased down today from the lightning strikes. Have I said yet this year that I hate fire season???  And the wind did a number on my fig trees - sure hope it didn't hurt them because they're loaded with figs this year.

Lavender Fields Scarves

New hand-dyed, handwoven, tencel scarves in my etsy shop - a turned twill design



Love/Hate relationship.........

I'm having a love/hate relationship with technology right now. My little inexpensive Brother sewing/embroidery machine that I bought only for embroidery is not wanting to do any embroidery, correctly, at the moment. I had taken it to a get together where others were using it (as a regular sewing machine) and lo and behold when Sam was working on it he found a pin (not one of mine) down near the bobbin case and a needle had broken off after it went through the bobbin case - argh.  He's worked on it and it's better but still not good enough. I haven't figured out what to do yet as the repair may cost as much as a new machine...........will be thinking on this for a while.  All I'm thinking is thank goodness I didn't bring my expensive Bernina for others to use............

Then my AVL was acting up.......but I did get the last scarf woven on the Iranian Tilework warp. They are soaking as I type. And my desktop keeps getting stuck in Explorer and I'm having to do hard shutdowns - it must have been last week's update, usually they come in on Tuesdays so hoping there's a patch for the issue. I'm thinking after 3 days of dealing with issues with computerized machines tomorrow I'm going to do something that's more 'old fashioned', no technology required.

A bit of weaving...........

The AVL was working much better today since I replaced the USB cable - at least that's what I'm assuming the issue was for it going wack-a-do. It worked fine all afternoon so hopefully that was it, those cables do go bad. There's still the issue with harnesses not raising occasionally but I've had that issue for 4 years. In March AVL admitted that was a problem and will fix it when I (and others) send back our dobby boxes for repair. I'll do that as soon as the loom is empty.

This is one of my original drafts - a 32 H twill based on Iranian Tilework. Next scarf on the warp will have a golden/mustard weft. Then the final one will have a pale lavender weft...........unless I change my mind before I have time to get back to the loom..........

In two days we have gone from winter to summer - what happened to spring???  Temps are supposed to come back down by the weekend, I'm hoping that forecast is right as I'm not ready for summer yet, I want some beautiful spring weather.

Photography work........a challenge.........

I think photography will always be a challenge for me. Perhaps/maybe if I took a course in it I'd do better but I'm not sure where I'd fit that course into the limited hours in my life. We can't all be good at everything and photography is one of my downfalls - I can accept that.  I did get these 3 items listed in the shop..........there's still a chenille scarf needs it's photos re-done - instead of turning out hot pink, they turned out red and no amount of editing seems to help so I'll try again.

Here is one of the echo weave scarves. I love it. Since it is so dense warp wise it is heavier than my usual tencel scarves but it is still lovely and drapey and I'm happy with it. I love the iridescence in this scarf, it makes me think of peacock feathers. The other one was just washed this morning and is hanging to dry, I used a red weft in that one.

This is another one of my rayon flake shawls in silver and white. It's been sitting waiting for the fringe to be twisted for a long time. Since the other one recently sold for a wedding I thought I best get to finishing this one up and get it listed in the shop. This shawl makes me think of liquid silver, it's incredible feeling.

And here is a baby blanket - I love the way it turned out with the bright colors.

There are sewing updates but no photos. I went to the American Sewing Guild local chapter's Make It Take It event on Saturday. What a fun day. I was able to take 3 two hour classes for $15 (plus a few small material fees) and it included lunch. Many thanks to the group that put it on.

I took my small Brother machine that does embroidery and regular sewing - I only use it for embroidery so it was a challenge to figure out how to work it as a regular sewing machine going from settings to settings. I didn't want to cart my more expensive Bernina to classes. Looks like I'll need to spend some time learning all the features the Brother has other than embroidery if I'm going to use it for classes........or eventually buy another machine, maybe keep my eye out for a nice used machine to use for carting around.

I took a class on free motion quilting - oh my gosh, it was wonderful. I learned so much from the instructor and I can see doing many projects in the future using this technique..........of course there will be lots of practice before an actual project happens. I took a class called quilt as you go - it was a bit hard to follow as I had no clue what we were doing but once I got my samples made I can see using one, possibly two of these three techniques in the future, especially for the community sews donation baby blankets. And then I took a non-sewing class - a 3D star made from fabric. I have not unpacked anything so no pix.

Echo weave

I finally got back to the loom and started weaving on the echo weave scarf warp. It's very hard to see, especially when I'm looking at it straight on while weaving..........and much attention needs to be paid to the treadling sequence. I don't know if I'll like the hand of these scarves, it's a very close sett, not as many ppi and I'm even doing less than I've seen in other echo weave projects using 8/2 tencel. I feel like these may not be as drapey as I like to weave my scarves but maybe I'll be surprised.

Back to the sticky warp

Today I was able to get back to the rayon flake scarf warp. This is the second scarf on the warp, I'm using an olive tencel for the weft. Weaving is done, washing and twisting fringe up next.

I just updated my 'Other Stuff for Sale' page on the blog with a couple knitting items - the Carmen Bananas Knitting kit from Knit Picks and a Noni Just Pockets pattern and 19 zippers to knit and felt little bags. I'm really trying to clean out my studio and be realistic about what I'll actually get to in my lifetime. When I determine something needs a new home it will show up here on the blog and/or in my etsy shop. I'm not on a all out cleaning out binge, when I come across something I re-access if it will actually get used here or not. Both of these are also listed in my fiber etsy shop and be bought there or by contacting me directly.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

 Here's Day 11 - I can't believe this fun is almost over. But then I do get to ply all of it as soon as I figure out what I'm plying it with..........

 ..........someone should give me a pat on the back for not peeking ahead in the packages and staying with the program........I didn't have to, I could have done what I wanted, but it was kind of fun to do what the plan was for this fiber.......my friend Kathy who had it all spun up really fast and is on to plying.......other friend Cathy is drop spindling hers so she hasn't peeked ahead.

Since today was another snow day I wove a couple scarves from a painted rayon flake warp I dyed. I forgot to take a photo of the second warp - I used a royal blue tencel weft for that one. I really like rayon flake but it probably wasn't the best choice for a painted warp. In the painting/rinsing/drying process the flake areas of the warp all stuck together which made this really hard to wind on the loom through the lease sticks........it was slow going..........but the end result will be lovely.

Tomorrow is another snow day for me as I won't venture out on the roads or down our long steep driveway yet. My Outback will drag on the snow on the 1/3 mile of drive and I'm worried about sliding off into the ravine.......but I think by Friday I can get out, I've sure enjoyed being housebound.........well, I guess it's not really housebound, I have left the house, just not the property.........

Seaglass scarves

 Yesterday I spent some time twisting fringe on the latest scarves and doing the photography work. These were both woven on a painted warp which I deliberately dyed very pale seaglass colors. I love the one with the lavender weft above......

 .....and I guess I love this one with the dark teal weft just as much......both are now up for sale in my etsy shop......unless I change my mind and keep one of them.

After I finished with the two scarves I decided to pull out another painted warp, this time to go on the Macomber in a 8 harness fancy twill. I dyed these bouts ombre style but when it came time to put them on the loom I could decide on where two of them should go. The two on the left are so close in color I think they could have gone in either spot........but this is the way they are now. Weaving won't start on these for a while as I'm taking time off for the holidays to do some other things...........although weaving on this warp is looking very inviting.........