At the Loom

I haven’t posted many weaving projects lately. I’ve been focused elsewhere, but here are some things that I’ve finished.

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I wove 16  baby blankets on a mostly blue warp in May.

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This one isn’t weaving but it is a textile project. My friends found out that I planned to  sew flower girl dresses for my granddaughter and the other flower girl in my son’s wedding. They offered to help. I am grateful that they did because it took three of us all day to sew two little dresses!

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This view shows the back and the front of the dresses.

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Unfortunately I never got a good shot of both the girls in their dresses.

Back to weaving.

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The wedding colors were navy blue and yellow and I wove a chenille throw in those colors as a wedding gift. Another friend suggested some how using wedding details in the weaving. I used the date (5/20/16) to design the stripes. The yellow stripes have 5, 20, and 16 threads (doubled and reversed for symmetry).DSC_9761-2

Next up was a rug for my daughter. My friends always hear me say “I am not a rug weaver.” I think there is a special skill needed to weave a really good rug, but this one turned out OK and it was a fun project. Two years ago we had a baby shower for my daughter and I bought fabric to cover the outside tables instead of using plastic tablecloths. The colors were those that my daughter was using in the new baby’s room (kind of a forest scene with pink). My plan was to make a rug for the baby’s room. That didn’t happen before she was born. It didn’t happen before Christmas, or the second Christmas. I finally wove it and was able to give it to my daughter for her birthday in June.

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The little bits of yellow were leftovers from the flower-girl dresses.

Next project is to weave a vest using handspun yarn that I just finished. That will be another post.

Soft Scarves and a Soft Lamb

On Friday I wondered “what was I thinking?” when I set up a class for the middle of lambing time. Some days in the last two weeks I have spent most of the day in the barn but luckily the class went smoothly with only a few barn-check breaks while everyone was working on their looms.IMG_9554This was a class about weaving with rayon chenille, a yarn with a reputation of being difficult to work with.  I set up 4 warping frames on temporary structures and the fifth person used the one I have mounted on the wall.IMG_9581After the looms were warped and ready to go I was surprised that it wasn’t all that crowded with five looms. Each person chose a different combination of colors for their scarves:IMG_9578

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IMG_9555We did take a barn break or two. One lamb was born during class and two more right afterward.IMG_9585Everyone finished weaving in the class time (although fringes will be finished at home) and all were pleased with their scarves.