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For the 3rd year, I spent an evening with my daughter and her friends decorating wreaths. Everyone had access to the same ribbons and the same dried flowers and other components, and the wreaths always turn out quite different based on individual creativity and style. I feel a little bad about cutting off their heads in the pix, but I didn’t ask permission to post them, so…..in no particular order, here they are.
 Amaranth, hydrangea, pine cones, dusty miller, painted golden rain tree seed pods  Dried hot peppers, statice, crabapples, pine cones, bittersweet  Grasses, painted golden rain tree seed pods, rose hips, pine cones, viburnum(?) fruits  Rose hips, pine cones, painted golden rain tree seed pods, painted milkweed seed pods, beautybush fruits, amaranth, fake little cardinal  Pine cones, mums, grasses, milkweed pods & leaves, crabapples,  Grasses, hydrangea, pine cones, rose hips, dusty miller  Amaranth, love lies bleeding, painted golden rain tree seed pods, pine cones, dusty miller, beautybush  Bittersweet, pine cones, dusty miller, painted golden rain tree seed pods, grasses We had some wet snow last night, and while I was giving Jack his nighttime walk I couldn’t resist snapping a few pix of my lights. First a not-so-well-focused picture of net lights on my dwarf golden spirea. (I also tried to get a picture from inside the house, as I liked the way the snow was sticking to the chain link fence and the lights were shining through, but all of the pictures made it look tacky, not nice.)
And now for my little Japanese maple with an entire spool of 240 lights on it.
Fresh snow makes everything beautiful.
After I get home from getting my snow tires put on today I plan to do a bit of cleaning so I can put up some indoor decorations.
Yep. I’m nuts. A few days ago I decided that I simply had too few towels & I just had to weave a few more before this weekend’s RALA show. I set the loom up for some color-and-weave towels with a natural and a cranberry cotton, hoping that the cranberry was bright enough for the holidays without shouting RED at you. I had (and still have) lots of 10/2 cotton, which makes a thinner towel than I like, so I used it doubled in both warp and weft.
Not only did I decide to make more towels, but color-and-weave towels?? This requires 2 shuttles, which in my world takes more than twice as long as weaving with just 1 shuttle. But it was what I wanted to make. At least I was smart enough to only put on a warp long enough for 5 towels.
These are the first 2 I wove. I kept losing my place in the treadling and likely made some mistakes. I decided I simply couldn’t take the time to go as slowly as this pattern required, plus it didn’t send me.
So I changed the treadling for the third towel. Straight 1-4 treadling. Should have been easy, but you can see I have a few float errors (where the cranberry is darker). I didn’t see them till the final pressing, and decided that I’ll sell them as is since it won’t affect their functionality.
Again, the pattern didn’t send me so I changed the treadling again, and again made 2 of these.
Yesterday I finished weaving, washed, dried, pressed, and hemmed them. Today they joined the stack of all my other recent weavings that had to be measured and labelled.
Several hours later and that unloved task is complete. Now I have to pack all the weaving up, check my list for what all I have to bring, and make sure I’m really organized in the morning. I have, unfortunately, forgotten critical pieces of my display in years past, and had to either be bailed out by fellow artisans or make major modifications to my operation. I’ve done some of both. 🙁
I also finished a chenille ‘extra’ length into a short cowl with a bit of knitting to make it long enough to go over your head.
I have 2 more pieces that I can finish if there’s time. Plus other ideas. I always have other ideas. But I never have a clone, so plenty of things fall away.
Do come and visit me if you’re near East Aurora this weekend.
Another new thing to try for me, suggested by a fellow weaver…using a mixed warp of cottons and rayons for the warp with a bit of rayon chenille thrown in, and then rayon chenille for the weft.
My warp contained four cottons in various sizes and colors, one vintage rayon boucle, and one commercially-dyed rayon chenille. I tried to wind them using a warping paddle, but I had no ‘paddle’ experience and felt like I needed at least one more hand to make it work. Then I tried simply winding all 6 together, but the rayon boucle was behaving badly. So I wound 4 strands of the cottons the length I needed, changing the colors of those cottons to some extent, and separately wound the boucle and the rayon chenille together. I used 2 sets of lease sticks and beamed them together.
Although my weaver friend setts hers at 12EPI, I wasn’t brave enough to go there, so I sett my warp at 15EPI. My friend cautioned me to not beat firmly or my fabric would be too stiff. Hmmmm, I said. I tied up the first piece as a point twill and set about weaving, beating gently.
This shawl is very cushy – thick and warm. I liked the way the weaving pattern looked, but wanted to see more of that warp. Plus the whole thing was darker than I had in mind with that weft, and I was concerned that I had some 4-end and 5-end floats so I decided I’d make this into a typical fringed shawl instead of the jacket I had planned.
For the second piece I changed the tie up so that there were shorter floats – nothing longer than 3 ends – and used an oatmeal bamboo chenille. Ooo la la, I really liked this, so wove enough length for this one to be the jacket. Soooo soft and drapes beautifully.
I had enough warp left for a big cowl. This time I picked a golden rayon chenille for weft, and really like this color, too.
And here’s the conehead picture with the cowl up.
This makes 14 pieces completed this month! And still, from July to now, I’m just on track with my goals, on average. Sigh.
I can’t wait to see what the reaction is to my new pieces at the show this weekend.
I’m weaving as fast as I can, so lots of other things aren’t getting done. Dust bunnies are building up around my house like mad. Seemingly simple things like setting up glam shots for my finished pieces – one piece at a time with a nice clean background – doesn’t happen. The good news is it’s working. I’m getting lots of weaving accomplished. So without further ado, here’s more that I’ve finished so far this month – up to 11 finished pieces – Woo Hoo!
First up are 3 rayon chenille scarves; I’m calling them Paint the Town Red.
I wove these on the Missouri which is stationed at the pop up shop. From left to right is a short cowl, a long cowl, and a long scarf. The long cowl is already spoken for. 🙂
I just finished weaving a rayon chenille warp. Here it is while beaming…you can see the ladder ribbon which I’d planned to use as supplemental warp. Had only done supplemental a little bit before, and wasn’t sure if I’d like it.
I still wasn’t sure as I wove. The ladder ribbon was decidedly un-lovely. But, as it was supplemental (not essential to the cloth; could be removed after weaving without any impact on the fabric), I kept going on it.
Well. I know my newest baby is often my favorite, but I am particularly fond of these pieces. The ladder ribbon ‘jumped’ out during the wet finishing stage, and looks great, IMHO. Here’s the mobi, front and back, on Dolly, who I think wears mobis slightly better than Lady Jane.
And the jacket, front and back, on Lady Jane, who definitely wears the jackets better.
And worst of all pictures, the cowl, up and down. The first one is decidedly not color correct, but it’s the best I could do. I kept it because it does show that I used each of the warp colors in the weft, in a rather random manner.
This cowl may be spoken for. I’ll know for sure soon.
Gotta get back to the loom – 3 more pieces measured, ready to beam!
A woman in my Guild has made a few poseable mannequins for use at our Holiday Sale. I asked if she’d make one for me, and she was happy to do so. Although I don’t generally name my cars, looms, or other inanimate objects, occasionally I do. Dolly has a name. In my head this was the wooden lady. That quickly turned into Lady Jane. Here’s her debut in my newest jacket. A combination of cotton and rayon with a black weft, I’m happy with the odd texture of that novelty yarn.
Lady Jane can rock the mobi, too. The cranberry weft adds an appealing red tint to the whole piece.
She can even wear a big cowl, although it’s not perfect.
Here are the same pieces shown before Jane arrived.
That last pic is the definition of conehead, eh?
Which photos do you like better? Which show the pieces off to their benefit?
I will bring Jane to the show later this month, although that may mean I need to lose one more table. Since I have less stock, that may be just fine. Win-win? I think so.
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