Around the world blog hop

I was asked by my cousin Claudia over at Creative Upcycling to take part in a blog hop. When I saw the questions I was to answer on my blog about my creativity I was a little intimidated but then I thought oh push out of your comfort zone and go for it.

In turn I am to find 3 other bloggers to do the same, so far I'm only come up with 2 that have time to ponder these questions and post to their blogs on June 9th but that's ok......life is busy, especially this time of year with traveling, houseguests and such.

So here are the questions posed and my thoughts on them, hope I do this blog hop justice, if not, just bear with me.......or not..........

Question #1 - What am I working on?

I have just come off 4 days at the NWRSA conference, that's Northwest Regional Spinners Association - an incredible gathering of spinners, weavers, knitters, dyers, all around fiber fanatics. We take classes, sit in spinning circles learning, gabbing and just having an all around great time.

So, what am I working on - it's been spinning wool and dyeing.

Currently I'm spinning a merino/bamboo/tussah silk blend that I hand-dyed in roving form - it's a dream to spin - not sure what it will grow up to be when it's plied - maybe something woven, maybe something knitted.

I had just started spinning a very fun Crosspatch Creations blended batt on my Turkish spindle but then friend Margie mentioned running short on a project using the same exact colorway, which was a limited colorway for the 2006 NWRSA conference so I gave it to her and she bought me this fun bling batt......so I'm spinning it now. I am loving this hot pink riot of textures, sparkle and color.


I took an all day class with Nancy Roberts on Friday learning how to dye knitted blanks to use in weaving and knitting - I am so inspired and enthused and can't wait to weave something with the silk. As soon as I figure out a weave structure the silk will be going on the loom.......not sure what I'll knit with the wool yet. I'll show my dyed blanks another day as they're still packed. The wheels are turning in my head on what can be done with this dyeing technique.....there will be more to come on this. Check out Nancy's gallery on her website - it's a riot of creative color.

Question #2 - How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Oh, this is a difficult question as some of my weaving is very similar to that of other weavers. There are traditional patterns that many weavers use, nothing different there. What I'd like to think is that my hand-dyed/painted warps that I weave in various twill structures are what sets some of my work apart from others. Many of scarves, or shawls, are easily recognized as my personal style. And now that I'm designing on a 40 harness/shaft loom I'm moving toward more pictorial designs in twills such as my gingko, vines & leaves and dragonflies. There is more to come that will hopefully set my weaving apart from others...........or maybe not........it really doesn't matter, I just want to enjoy doing what I do, being creative every day. I don't need the validation/recognition/kudos of others.....I do it for myself....and I hope that others will love my weaving enough to wear or use it.

Question #3 - Why do I write/create what I do?

This is pretty easy - because if I don't create I feel empty - it's that simple. Art/craft has always been a huge part of my everyday life from the time I was a young child. From a very early age I've been creating....fine line pencil drawings, lithographs, etching, silkscreens, sewing, embroidery/stitching, quilting, surface design, knitting, crocheting, beading, spinning, felting, dyeing but most of all weaving. Weaving fuels my soul.

Question #4 - How does my writing/creating process work?

This is another difficult question as my creative process is all over the place.

As I'm weaving I'm looking around the studio at a rainbow of cones of yarn planning future projects.....the mind wanders from what I'm currently weaving to what I'll be weaving next, it never stops. As I'm driving, waiting in line at the grocery store, watching tv, sitting in a meeting, whatever,  I'm thinking about designing new weaving drafts.

Pretty much my mind is always percolating, planning projects to come no matter what else I'm doing.....the creative part of my brain is always busy. My biggest problem is that I can't turn it off for any length of time, it never stops, I have never been able to figure out how to come up with more hours in my day, days in my week, weeks in my year and years in my life to do a fraction of what I want to. So, in the meantime I'll design that project for the newly dyed silk (setting aside all those other projects waiting in the wings) and get to work on some new weaving drafts that have been rattling around in my head for a few months - no hints on what they will be - I'll post after I fine tune them and start to weave.

So, I've done my best to answer these questions, good or bad....if you stuck with this long post I hope you'll take time next Monday, June 9th to visit these 2 blogs.

Lucy at How to Knitting for Beginners: Using the Continental Method

Benita over at Basically Benita