Upcycled bag............

My recyled guild challenge is finished - I think it turned out just fine and I ended up liking the lining fabric I bought although I was questioning my choice yesterday. It's a huge tote bag - perfect for it's intended job of toting things out to the RV for weekend trips.......longer trips I use a bigger duffel. I can see things I would have done differently colorwise now that I know the clear plastic bags add a lot of  'white' to the weaving. Before I did the sewing I had visions of making lots of these bags, although a more normal size tote, since I seem to have a large growing supply of the bags from my fiber orders...........but the sewing wasn't all that much fun so will have to think more on that idea.

The other guild challenge is due in June - that one we have to create something inspired by a scent we received - I have cinnamon. I do have my idea for that - just need to execute and hope it works - pictures to come when I get around to it. First it's back to weaving - scarf inventory is getting a bit low.

Recycled weaving revisted..........

So I finished weaving the fabric for my recycled weaving fabric a bit ago - it's 3/2 perle cotton warp crossed with a plastic bag strip weft - the plastic bags are what my Ashland Bay orders come in - each color in a bag by itself. So, I searched and searched for a fabric lining and decided on the cotton fabric on the right. Well, that searching was done with just pieces of the chartreuse & black perle cotton, I didn't take into account how much lighter the woven fabric looks with the plastic bags....guess I should have just schelped the woven fabric with me to the store. If I have something more suitable in my fabric stash I'll use it, otherwise I go with this. The hold up for starting to sew was weaving the matching inkle band for straps. I want the straps to go all the way down the sides of the bag to the bottom so it's stronger. I'd pretty much been ignoring the warped up inkle loom until this afternoon when I wove like crazy to get the almost 5 yards of band woven. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to the sewing machine.

I'm back.........

I'm back, been absent this week attending a Summer & Winter weaving workshop taught by Linda Davis of Sisters, OR. I learned a tremendous amount about designing and some of the many different treadlings available to use with this weave structure. My samples are still on the table loom as I want to try out some other treadling variations. Hopefully I can get to that early next week since I need to get that warp off the loom and the next one on for a doubleweave workshop with Jannie Taylor (instructor for AVL) in 2 weeks. Maybe next year my two guilds will communicate better and not have workshops this close together.

So today I need to get the inkle loom warped up to weave the handles for my recycled bag project - will do the actual weaving in the evening. Then it's back to the chenille throw warp, need to finish weaving it off, wash the throws and twist the fringes so they get to the customer who ordered them.

I've still got a sale going in my etsy shop on hand-dyed roving - these are the last of these colorways. They're in the Sale Section of my shop and are marked at 25% off. These are pix of some of what's available. There is also lots of other roving in the shop that I have larger quantities of.

Recycled weaving and current socks on the needles

Lynette asked if the tracking in the towels from my post Sunday remained after ironing. Yes, it has, not to the extent it was fresh out of the dryer but it's still there - I love the effect.

I put this warp on the loom today - it's 3/2 perle cotton sett at 8epi for a big tote bag. What's different is that the weft is recycled plastic bags that I've cut into 3/4" strips in a way that makes a continuous weft out of each bag. You can see at the beginning some red weft, that's just my spacer weft, the black will be turned to the inside of the bag, perhaps a bit showing at the top of the bag. What looks like white weft is actually the clear plastic bags. I'm a dealer for Ashland Bay Trading Co roving, when I receive an order each color is packaged in these bags. Of course I've been reusing the bags for different purposes but when the guild challenge came up to do something recycled I immediately thought of them. So, a huge tote is in the making. I'll line the bag when finished. I haven't decided yet if I'll inkle weave the straps or buy commercially made webbing........leaning toward weaving my own but I'll see how time goes. Each bag weaves around 4" - I have a lot of bags so I can see this project won't even touch my supply........outdoor placemats for summer use would be another great project.

Since I finished up the other socks I had to get a new pair on the needles, can never be without socks in progress to work on here and there. This is one of my favorite patterns - slouch socks. I love the ripples. These colors are great go with blue jeans socks.