What Next?

First, it's time I did some finishing of my PhDs (that's projects half done). Four of my six grocery bags have now been completed and a couple pressed into service. There are a couple more to come but I reckon this is enough to be going on with.

I am also working on two other projects and hope to have photos to post before too long.

Giving me inspiration to get to the loom again are some lovely luxury yarns I couldn't resist. They have been in hiding for a few weeks now so I decided it was time for a warping day.

This should make a fabulous throw - can't wait to weave it.

Long enough for two scarves - love the blending of the blues. This yarn is wool and soybean protein.

Really couldn't wait to start this one. It's on the loom already. It's lambswool and mohair and feels wonderful.

That lot should keep me happy for a while.

Back to weaving

In March the local Rural Women's group (formerly WDFF) organised a large wool promotion event. Of course Creative Fibre groups were encouraged to attend, display and, if it was cool enough, wear some of their work. The proviso was that items included should be at least 80% wool. When I looked at the weaving I had been doing over the past few years I was surprised to find that there was not a lot of wool involved . . . so I warped up for a fabric in two different weights of wool. I had tried the technique before and was keen to do it again. Slower to weave these days, I didn't get to make it up or wear it but at least I had a wool fabric to display . . . along with quite a few other lengths, woven and stashed away, waiting for a tailor or seamstress or a fairy godmother to deal with them. At least some of them had an outing.

Because of the difference in the two yarns I used the two warp beams on my loom

The same two yarns were used in the weft 

I was no surprised that the take-up was different with the two warps but didn't expect it to be quite as much as this. I don't like to think how the fabric would have turned out if the two warps had been beamed together.

The finished fabric has an interesting. "random" thick and thin texture . . . and it is 100% wool.

Off on a tangent

I happily spent time over the holiday period leaving behind the intense concentration of my lace projects and working on an easy pattern I have used before. This time I used a larger scale and thicker thread (yes #20 crochet cotton is "thick" in the lace world.) I used a part ball of multicolour thread from my stash and just kept going until it ran out. Here is where it ended up.

The hat band was planned from the start. The leftover piece was put to good use on a floaty summer top which I really like except that it had a strange piece that looked like a facing put on the outside instead of the inside. It really annoyed me that it was finished with a white overlocked edge. I had just enough lace to cover the white stitching and make it look as though it was meant to be there.

Then, always up for a challenge, I took part in an exchange along with dozens of other tatters around the world. (No, it is not a dying art.) It was a quick and easy one with the topic being a tatted heart prior to Valentine's Day. I don't do many hearts, preferring snowflakes or stars, but there are dozens of patterns available. I was paired with a woman from Minnesota and here is what I will be sending her along with a few bits of kiwiana. It is two heart motifs joined together at the edges to make a little basket.

Now I wait to see what she will send me.

Another Blend of Oddments

There are three leftovers in this scarf. Two are thick and very stretchy as they are actually knitted tubes, and the other is a thick, fluffy but non-stretchy yarn - all are wool to the best of my knowledge. I knew there was a possibility of "something" happening because of the difference in the yarns, and I expected some ruffles.

For a weft I used a fine black yarn which I believe is also wool but plied with gold lurex. It looks good but is inclined to be scratchy. I hoped it would be cushioned by the fat warp yarns. 

Certainly something did happen, but in the opposite direction to what I expected. The warps "collapsed" together to make a narrow pleated scarf, about half the width it had been in the reed.    When I got over my surprise I decided I like it and it has already been claimed by one of my daughters - yes on a sweltering 30 degree day!.

Enough scarves for now. I am going to hide in my corner and make some lace, and when I weave again I will be looking at wool (or linen . . or alpaca).

Seasons greetings and much creativity to one and all.

Challenges

A fundraiser supplied $10 with a challenge to take it away and use it to increase its value.  For a warp I used some fine wool (no label) a friend found in a charity shop. I wove two scarves using silk weft for both but used a different twill variation for each. I finished them with my usual Philippine edges and twisted fringes.

That was the easy part. Now I have to sell them and try to make several 100% for the charity - that's the hard bit. TradeMe, here I come.

A challenge of a different kind is one I can't resist - "What can I make of the leftovers?"   A little bit of this and a little bit of that can, with a bit of juggling, be made into something with a bit more character than each yarn on its own.  These two "scraps" together were not quite enough for my scarf length so I unwound the warps, shortened the length and made a shorter scarf. That's two little oddments that I didn't have to add to the scrap bag. Weft is a very fine blue cotton stranded with mother-of-pearl.

Grocery Bags

As a result of a challenge in our Weavers' Group I used stash - in this case carpet wool - to weave half a dozen bags suitable for grocery shopping now that plastic bags are no longer acceptable.

Weaving is one thing - sewing up is another. This is one I finished before the last meeting of the year. The rest are in various states of manufacture

Oh well. another UF for the UFO pile.  I can see I will need a sewing bee soon.

More scarves - more "comfort weaving"

I have decided I really like alpaca for scarves. Here are three in slightly different weights, just finished. I have been casting around for just the right specs for a man's scarf. Any of these three would serve but I have chosen the dark navy one for a family member's special birthday.