My show last weekend at Chautauqua Institution was great! The weather was perfect, the location is marvelous, the crowds come and are respectful and pleasant.
And interested in buying.
Clearly this is the year of shawls. At the Roycroft show in June I sold 4 shawls – 1 rayon, 1 rayon chenille, and 2 silk (woven just before the show). So before the Chautauqua show I wove 7 new shawls – 5 silk and 2 rayon.
I sold 7 shawls – 1 rayon, 1 rayon chenille, 1 cotton, and 4 of the 5 new silks. Plus a committed order for another silk shawl, exactly like the silver lilac silk & linen with the beaded fringe, and, if I can find the right color yarn, another silk shawl. One of my customers from this weekend has also expressed potential interest in the one silk shawl I have remaining.
Wow, wow, WOW!
So because I have another show in 2 weeks and the yarn for the next baby wraps isn’t here yet, I’m getting 3 more silk shawls on the loom now. I’m going to use that snowflake twill and do the 1 committed order in silver lilac (I’ll need to order more crystals for the fringe), weave the second in twilight, and weave the third with a different treadling pattern.
At the top of this post is the draft I used last time and will use for the first 2 shawls in this run of 3. To be honest, I like snowflake twill better in computer draft form than in real life – the Xs disappear in the actual weave. So I want to modify the draft for the 3rd scarf. I played with Fiberworks, my weaving software, ultimately coming up with this draft. It still has the Xs, although they are smaller and rather broken up, while the stronger, more distinct elements take center stage.
I have to name the files in the computer to save them, so called this one playing with snowflakes. Initially it was just because that’s what I was doing – playing with the draft – but I like it as a final title, too. I wonder how it will look woven up.
I’m not sure if I’ll weave the 3rd in twilight or if I’ll use a winter blue I have in the silk-linen blend. We’ll see.
I also need to weave bookmarks – I sold 20 of them this past weekend and only have a few left.
And I’d love to weave 2 of my cotton & rayon huckish shawls. Do you think I need to sleep?
Thanks, guys. Unfortunately, when I’m tired I’m likely to make mistakes, so sleep is relatively important to me. We’ll see what I can get done before the next batch of babywrap yarn arrives.
Judy – You stolded my line – you nasty line stealer! She’s right, though, Peg. Sleep IS highly overrated. You do such beautiful work – maybe Red can help? Can Michael develop an automated process for you? Oh, yeah, I guess they wouldn’t be hand custom woven if that were the case. Maybe cooking, eating, bathroom breaks can be cut back?
Seriously, I’m not at all surprised that the shawl went so well — they are breath-taking. Applause, applause for you!!
Congratulations on a wonderful show Peg! That’s all very exciting news!
ps… sleep is over-rated. : )