Silk Scarf

I put the warp on the Cranbrook loom using a draft for the 8 harnesses in February.  Since I usually put on a warp for more than one item, this warp was long enough for two scarfs.  I finally finished the first scarf the end of April/early May, and then got busy and finished the second one a few weeks later.  The draft is complex -- 94 picks (going one direction with the weft) to complete one pattern. If you look closely, you can see that there are many repeated patterns.  I finally got it down so that I was weaving about 7 inches an hour, but I could only keep that intense concentration for a little over an hour at a time before needing a break!  But it is beautiful!  I sold the first one and kept the second one for myself.

60/2 Silk Scarf

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Silk Scarf

Weavings from Rorkes Drift, South Africa

Rug from Rorkes Drift, South Africa

This is a rug that was woven in Rorkes Drift, South Africa at the Lutheran Arts and Crafts Center.  In Oct. 2012, when I went to the Bishops' Consultation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Southern Africa, the first portion of the meeting was in Rorkes Drift.  I was thrilled that we had a chance to tour the facility where the weavers weave.  The Swedish Lutheran Church provided teachers in the 1960's to train people in Rorkes Drift at the Swedish Mission Station in several art forms, including weaving.  In the weaving studio, there are about 30 two harness looms.  The women dye the wool for the weft and use linen for the warp.  What I found to be fascinating was that some of the designs were very geometric and reminded me of weavings from the southwest.  There were also some weavings that were more mural-like and depicted life in Africa.  I bought a small simple weaving to bring home as a reminder of what I saw.  I will post a picture of that one soon.  This one below was part of a three panel piece that was on display.  Rorkes Drift is well known in some art circles as people were trained as artists.  Some items from Rorkes Drift have been displayed around the world.  There are also people who create ceramic pieces and print fabric at the complex.  Their challenge today is getting what is made to a market and the Arts and Crafts Centre focus is now more on production than art.  Their work is beautiful!

Tapestry Rug at Rorkes Drift

Update On Weaving Projects

Bison Rug

If you look back a couple of posts, you can see the picture of the rug I made with the Bison silhouette.  I ended up donating it to the "Build a Better Wilsall" Auction last weekend and heard from several people last week about how much they liked it.  I also heard that it brought in quite a bit of money for the community in Wilsall.  Since I really didn't want the rug, but also didn't want to try to sell it with the broken warp thread, this seemed like a pretty good win/win situation.


Here is a picture of my Rio Grande Walking Loom that is warped and ready.  I just don't have any clear inspiration of what to begin.  It is warped to about 45 inches wide; wider than I have done on that loom so it will be interesting to get going on it.  I'll keep you posted about what I start.

The Rio Grande warped and ready to weave... just waiting for the right inspiration!

After finally getting the Bison rug off the loom this summer, I was motivated to get all three looms warped, so I put the blue warp on the Cranbrook for the scarf for my son, and then also put a rayon chenille warp on the Allen loom for a couple of shawls.

Rayon Chenille with Railroad Yarn... quite a bit like one I did last year.
Have enough for 2 shawls and am planning to do the second in more of a burgundy color...

After I cut off the blue scarf from the Cranbrook, I wound an off-white / white warp from 10/2 cotton for a scarf for a friend of my son and a scarf for my high school age son.  We decided that something more feminine would be good in the off-white, so I tied on the warp to what was already threaded on the Cranbrook and wound on a warp for the 2 scarfs.  I am using the same advancing twill structure for the scarf for his friend and am pleased with it so far.  The fiber is quite a bit finer than the 8/2 cotton, so am feeling like it will drape nicely and be really pretty in a very subtle way.

10/2 cotton for a scarf for Liz

I am hoping to get this finished this week and then get started on the scarf with the same warp for my second son.  The weft for his will be black.









I also have two other scarfs that I will be making as commissions for a couple of people that I am planning to make using 60/2 silk.  It is a really fine fiber and should be interesting to use.  The scarf I made from 20/2 silk was really nice to work with, so I am looking forward to this.  But in order to use the draft that I am planning to use I am going to have to die some silk yarn that I have on order.  That will be another adventure in my weaving growth, so I will try to chronicle that process.  That will have to be in September,  so stay tuned for that.

Scarf for Son

I finished a scarf for my college-age son this week.  It was made with an 8/2 cotton warp in a light blue and an 8/2 cotton weft in a medium blue.  The pattern was an advancing twill.  I had not used the draft before so had to do quite a bit of reading and studying to understand the draft and process, but it was very interesting to do a block weave.  I even figured out what a profile draft is and how to use it.  (Sorry to use the technical language for those who are not weavers.)  Let me see if I can explain that in a way that would be understood for those who don't weave...  A twill is a way of switching the harnesses in such a way that the fabric appears to move in a diagonal way as it is woven.  The advancing twill moves not in just one way, but a few ways.  I used a design for pillows from the Nov/Dec 2011 issue of Handwoven Magazine and tweaked it to make it narrower for a scarf.  I also added in some back and forth patterns to have several 5 inch segments of a design of what looked like stripes interspersed in the scarf.

I was concerned that the scarf would be too stiff using the 8/2 cottons.  I had searched in a number of places and saw some in a lighter weight 10/2, but wanted to use the blues that I had on hand.  After cutting it off the loom and finishing the ends and washing it, I am pretty pleased.  It seems more masculine and although it is somewhat wide, I think it will drape well for him.  And the blues look fairly neutral so should be good to wear with quite a wide variety of colors.

It seems to drape pretty well; hope he will enjoy wearing it!

Here is a view of the pattern in the weaving.

One last note: I did hurry to get this finished so that he could take it with him when he leaves in a few days!

New Rug -- Bison Tapestry

Bison Rug

Finally finished this Bison Tapestry Rug.  100% wool warp and weft.  Turned out pretty well.  But in the interest of full disclosure, there is a broken warp thread that I didn't fix about 2/3 of the way through the weaving.  It isn't very obvious, except to me, but still there.  Finished dimensions are 24" x 45"  plus fringe.  I think it would work better as a wall hanging rather than a rug, but could be used as a rug with a floor pad underneath.  I did learn a lot about tapestry and finally figured out how to do it and not go crazy...

Hanging from the neighbor's fence....  Looks pretty good!

Sampler woven at Weaving Southwest in Taos, NM

In late April, I took a quick trip to Taos, NM to weave with Theresa Loveless at Weaving Southwest.  I said that I wanted to get better at weaving tapestries and that I had some hope to weave silhouettes of animals from this part of the country into rugs.  So, we started first with the arrow at the bottom and moved to the green diagonal to practice angles, then moved to the bear (that I brought as a template based on a cookie cutter that I traced onto the warp threads), then the eagle in the nest on the top.  I have it hanging in my weaving room now.  It was very helpful to go and work with Theresa and I feel much more confident now on working on tapestry style weaving!






I think the bear is very cute!

Sampler before the finishing....

Black/Off White Shawl

I wove this as the second shawl on the warp that I put on the Allen loom in September, 2011!  I like it!   I hope the woman who bought it likes it too!

New Scarf

I wove this scarf as a gift.  A sage green weft and the sage and a brighter green and a evergreen along with a colorful railroad yarn in the warp.  It ended up about 9 inches wide and 70 inches long.  I have been twisting the fringe on the last several shawls and did that again here.  It was good to do in that the warping went on quickly and the weaving also.  I am thinking that this could easily be an item to have at Farmer's Markets and those kinds of places in a variety of colors.