Scarves

I'm weaving scarves for the craft sale. I'm using the same fibre as I used for my yardage, (50/50 wool/silk blend), but it's set slightly farther apart, so I don't have quite as many ends per inch. That's great, but is decided to make each scarf 72" long. So it's taken me longer than I anticipated. Dressing the loom was a breeze compared to the yardage, so that's a positive. Plus instead of doing a set of three, I'm doing four. Because why the hell not? After talking with a very interesting and inspiring lady, Christine (who has made a living weaving for 40 years) a few weeks ago, I decided to make my scarves into infinity scarves. Which means no fringe, but I will have to seam the ends together.

I think they will turn out great!

E

Coin Purses

From the yardage I wove last week, I am going to be making coin purses. I found some clasps online  and bought 20. I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out, so I didn't want to over buy and end up with a bunch of coin purse clasps I couldn't sell. But now that I've cut up my yardage (surprisingly a lot easier to do than I thought), I have one fully completed coin purse and by the end of today I hope to have 10 made. Production at its finest!

E

Stuffed animals

Another product I'm making for the craft sale are some stuffed animals. These are made of boiled wool. This basically means that I take something that is knit with 100% wool, stick it in the washing machine in a super hot cycle and shrink the bejesus out of it. Something probably everyone's mothers told them never to do. I've been shrinking sweaters and cutting them up and making a variety of animals - elephants, alligators, giraffe/llama/brachiosaurus (depending on your own specific wants), whales, lions and rhinos. They're coming together quite nicely.

Yardage

One of my classes is organizing a craft sale. This will help us to learn about the benefits of productions lines and not just making one of a kind items. Originally, I wanted to just do woven items, because that's what I enjoy the most. But we are supposed to focus on different price points, and woven items tend to be on the higher end of the spectrum. 

But I'm still weaving of course! My first production line on the loom in class was to weave yardage, and hopefully make coin purses out of them. I'm using a 50/50 wool/silk blend. It's quite luscious. I might have gone a bit overboard with the type of yarn I used, but they will be wonderful. I also overestimated the size of the pieces I would need, so instead of the 20 coin purses I plan to make, I could actually make closer to 80 if I so choose. But I only have 20 clasps, so at least that will limit me.

Blankets

I started making a warp for blankets this summer. I'm planning to make 3 and have hen approximately 60" x 90". 

This morning, instead of working on school work, I decided that I needed to make some progress on the blankets. So I spent about 6 hours finishing the threading, sleighing the reed and tying on. Then I was able to start weaving!

I probably completely about double this amount. But I need to start thinking about whether I have enough of my weft yarn or if I have to alternate the brown with something else.

E

Weaving with tencel

 I'm about one month in to school. Already finished a few weaving projects. The latest one is my first 8 harness weaving ever. I did a gamp (a type of sampler) made with tencel. It's off the loom now, but not quite finished. So here's a picture of it in progress.

This gamp has a variety of twill structures. There are so many more options when you have 8 harnesses. Worst part was having to change the treadle tie up. I don't think the loom had even cleaned in awhile. My dust allergies were out in full force.

E

In full swing

School is definitely in full swing now. I'm finally settling in to the routine. I think I am anyway.

I'm really enjoying my weaving class. I feel that from the first moment I sat at a loom, it was like a choir of angels were singing "Ahhhhhh" in four part harmony. It's definitely something my brain understands and is meant to do.

Right now we are still doing 4 harness weaving, which is what we did last year. Really it's so we refresh ourselves after being away all summer and we're learning how to use a CAD program for weaving, so it easier to learn with something we already know.

Today I started planning for my first big production project. We are having a Christmas Craft Sale the last week of November and have to produce things for it. So I was trying to plan what my colours would be and if I could get more than one thing in one warp. I think it's going to work, but I need to do some mock ups first. We shall see.

I will try to take some pictures of my work to date and post them here soon.

E