Aid for Haitians

Everyone who watches the tube this past week will understand the heartbreak of watching Haitians trying to survive the disastrous earthquake that has destroyed their country. Igor and I realize that probably the only thing we can do is to donate money to an agency that can help these people get the food, water and medical attention they so desperately need. We have decided to donate the proceeds from the sale of the Dream Web scarf/shawl (above) and the Purple Wave shawl below to the American Red Cross when they are sold through Shawls Unlimited.


Dream Web is woven in leno lace by Igor with some special novelty yarns he found at our local yarn store. Purple wave is a summer and winter weave using purple rayon and a great variegated purple chenille that is almost gone from my stash (darn!). It also has a great elastic quality that hugs the wearer's body.

I'll update this post once the shawls have been sold.

The Whole Nine Yards

These three shawls were on my loom for a very long time but were finally finished the later part of October and I'm just getting around to putting this blog post together. Nothing but procrastination here! The shawl in the photo above is called Morocco Sands and I was really excited that it turned out well because I took a leap of faith when I chose the weft color. The warp for all three shawls was a rayon boucle in a dull rose and a 16/2 bright coral ring spun rayon. I had a chartreuse boucle on my shelves that appeared to be just about the same value as the combined warp color, so I went for it. Irridescence was achieved and I was so pleased that I got it right!

This shawl is called Glen Eagle and is one of my one shuttle plaid designs. Actually, the plaid is in the weave structure which is a networked twill threading and treadling. The tie up was 3/1 and 1/3 twill blocks. The twill blocks are shattered in the weave structure and fade in and out on the shawl.

This last shawl is called Esperanza for "hope" in the cure for breast cancer. I'm donating the entire amount of my sale proceeds to Susan G. Komen for the cure.

North Columbia Schoolhouse Craft Sale

Holiday Craft Faire at the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center
Dec. 5th & 6th from 10am to 4pm
Fine handmade goods and warming foods
17894 Tyler Foote Rd., Nevada City (on the San Juan Ridge)
530 265-2826

I don't get out as much as I would like to the local craft faires during the holiday season. However, I do try to participate in this lovely "back to the real meaning of handmade" craft fair that takes place every season. So, God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be selling caps, towels and scarves. For every $50 you spend in my booth, you get a handwoven bookmark.

Turned Taquete on 8 Shafts

I wish I could remember or find the original source of this turned taquete draft so that I could give credit where credit is due. I had it tucked away in my weaving files and had been looking at it for a while thinking that it might be something fun to try. Also in the back of my mind has been using up small amounts of 8/2 and 10/2 cottons and this draft really fills the ticket in that respect.

What a joy it was to watch the complex squares change and morph into four towels and a couple of smaller pieces of yardage.

The real secret to the color symphony, seems to be value. I look at all the colors I want to use in my warp through a quilting tool called a ruby beholder and then combined two colors that were close in value for every stripe.

The next time you are looking to use up some of those pesky cones with not much yarn on them, try this draft. I have plans for a series of wool shawls using the same draft and have all the cones stacked out and ready to wind the warp. I do hope they will be as successful as the towels are.

It's Payback Time

I have been going to the gym for a workout several times a week in the past few months. One of the things that helps keep me from getting bored is listening to recorded books. The most recent book I listened to was Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It was one of those books that I had been intending to read for a long while, so when I saw that I could check it out of the library in recorded form, I jumped at the chance.

As I pedaled and listened, it gave me reason to think about my own life and what I could do to give back something to the world and its peoples. For over a year I have been giving small loans to Kiva and now I started thinking that perhaps I could give more and make more of a difference. What if I took the profits from my weaving business and made loans with that money? Once a loan is paid off, the money goes back into my Kiva account and can be reused to make another loan. The whole idea seemed to be a good fit for me.

So I have resolved for the year 2009, I will donate 100% of the profits from my business to Kiva loans. The gesture isn't nearly as large as the one that Greg Mortenson is making, but it's a start.

Rayon Chenille "Skinny" Scarves

Variegated rayon chenille scarves -- two of em! I never do plain weave -- well almost never. But I decided that I had so much stash of chenille that I really had to do something with it. So, I consulted with Su Butler on Weavolution's Rayon Chenille Forum and she suggested 18epi. The warp was 6 yards in length and I had just about 1 foot of waste for the two scarves. Not bad. They are narrow and long. Weavolution lets me put down the details of projects - so here are the nitty gritties.

My biggest problem was the twisted fringe. I ordered Su's CD which is due out sometime this month (Understanding Rayon Chenille) and there are supposed to be detailed instructions on doing the fringe and an alternative which doesn't leave any little naked beards at the ends of the knots. For these scarves I decorated the fringe with beads which probably took more time than weaving them. Every time I had to rethread the beading needle, it took forever to find that tiny little hole.

So, the goal is to make quality chenille scarves with twisted fringe finishes that will hold up to washing and drying. I certainly have enough chenille to do a full scale study on the subject.

Time to Organize

I have accumulated an amazing amount of weaving information over my 15+ years of throwing a shuttle. Truefully, it isn't all that well organized as I found out today when I went on a search for the details of a piece of handspun tweed cloth I wove 5 years or so ago. I spent the better part of an hour looking in this binder and that and never came up with the pertinent details. Some of the details I can recreate -- the draft and possibly the number of ends, sett and length of the warp. But there are specifics that I can't remember and it is frustrating because I know I have them stored away -- somewhere!

I've been thinking about this dilemma for a while and have a plan. I have lots of binders full of woven samples from having participated in sample exchanges with Complex Weaver study groups for many years. Also there are lots of design papers written by members of the Computer Aided Design Group. So today I started on a big reorganization binge. Lace weaves were the first binder I tackled and now I've got my samples, my lace weave design papers and my own notes all in one binder. That was easy. Twills will have to go into multiple binders and are a bit more complicated.

All of these wonderful references are the most irreplaceable things I own (with the exception of family photos). It's satisfying to put them in good order.