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Orange Marmalade

Using my leg-elevated-while-weaving setup, I was able to get some weaving done by working in short spurts.
bamboo handwoven scarf, orange marmalade

These scarves were handwoven from that beautiful hand painted yarn from Yarntopia Treasures. Although I got this marvelous color combination in both 100% bamboo and in Tencel, I chose to do the bamboo first. Why? Because it’s a little thicker than the Tencel, which translates into less time at the warping board, less time threading heddles and reed, and less time weaving. All of that was important to me in getting some weaving done while babying my knee.

I really like the many shades of orange, from a pale, true orange to a deep, salmony pink. These scarves are very bright and cheery.

On the right is a plain weave scarf using the variegated warp and weft. It has quite a pink cast to it. The other two scarves were woven on the same warp, but with a solid apricot weft. In the middle is a simple point twill, and on the left a diamond twill. Because they’re bamboo, all three are really soft and drape beautifully.

I don’t have these handwoven bamboo scarves up on my website yet, but I plan to do that soon.

Your turn: what’s brightening your life lately?

More Victorian Ornaments

I can weave some now, but not for hours at a time. When I need to stop and put that leg up, I go back to making my hand beaded Victorian Christmas ornaments.

I just finished these two.

2 Victorian Christmas ornaments

I’m really happy with the ornament on the left, which is over-the-top ornate. I’m calling it Louis XIV for the moment. It’s a good thing I wasn’t keeping track of the number of hours I put into making it — I’m sure it’s huge, with all the netting, and the 66 bi-colored loops. It reminds me of one of those super fancy lamp shades.

On the right is one of my regular double swag patterns. I usually make them with silver-lined bugle beads in various colors, but this time I used an interesting blue opaque bugle that I ordered just for this purpose. Paired with a pearl ceylon seed, I think it turned out great. And I just happened to have some larger focal beads in an identical color to finish the look.

You can see all my Victorian Christmas ornaments, and make purchases if you’d like, on my website.

Your turn: has anything over-the-top come into your life of late?

Sandra’s Amazing!

Sandra Bell Lundy's cartoonI was going to post my latest Victorian ornament today, but then I went and read one of my favorite blogs, by Sandra Bell Lundy. Not only is Sandra a great cartoonist and a terrific artist, she’s just generally an amazing woman.

Do yourself a favor and check out her latest post about her self-confidence. You won’t be sorry.

Lavender Cashmere Scarves

These were the last four scarves I finished weaving before the knee surgery.
handwoven cashmere silk scarves

I’m still finding beaming the fine gauge cashmere-silk blend (6,000 yards/pound) a challenge, so I’m still preparing warp for just two handwoven scarves at a time. This photo therefore represents two separate warps, two separate threadings.

At the far right is a Swedish lace scarves woven in alternating windowpane blocks. That was warped with the tabby at the bottom left. Second from left is a huck lace in woven in rectangles of different widths, which was warped with the scarf at the top left. Also a plain weave, I did a hand manipulated leno at the ends: 3 bands at each end. Since it’s hand manipulated, leno is time consuming, but I do like the way it looks, lending a great airiness in a little space. With a few bands at the ends, I think it adds a lot of class to a tabby weave scarf.

I must admit, the lavender color is substantially lighter than shown in the picture — I tried several different camera settings to get the color accurately, all unsuccessfully. You’ll just have to take my word for the color.

Can’t Wait To Weave

While I still must have my leg elevated most of the day, I figured that doesn’t mean I can’t weave at all. Particularly on my wonderful counterbalance loom, I do the majority of my weaving with my right foot, and can do all if it with my right foot if need be.

So I merely had to overcome the technical challenge of how to prop up the left leg while sitting at the loom. I decided to make some of my product storage containers serve another purpose.
how I propped my leg
I do have to say that while this setup got my knee at approximately the same height as my butt, which was the goal, I had to have my body at a twist that wasn’t very comfortable. I could only weave for about 1/2 hour at a time, and then take a good long break before I could go back to it. But still, I didn’t have to forgo weaving altogether.

Your turn: what kind of unusual setups have you devised to do what you love?