inspiration from early spring

improvisation with yarn

Another off-loom bookmark in progress. Fun improvisation with yarn!

intersection with inspiration

first sample off-loom bookmark

My first sample bookmark for an off-loom weaving class for high school students. This was woven on a frame loom made of 14" x 14" stretcher bars. Still not sure if knotting the fringe or hemstitching is the best way to finish it off. It's fun to try different yarn combinations and the sky is the limit here.

Weaving off-loom bookmark samples for a 3-hour weaving workshop for high school kids. It's been years since I've taught anybody anything! Very interesting!

bookmark cards

I weave them one by one.

They can be sent as a card and hung on the wall.
Or the bookmarks can easily be detached from the card
and hold your place in a book.

more handwoven mugrugs

finished the shawl last week

I finished the shawl last Tuesday. The weft, about 9 p.p.i., is Henry's Attic "Queen Anne's Lace." The warp is about 11 different yarns from my stash. I might go back and twist the fringe. Right now, it is in the gallery of the Visual Arts Alliance of McPherson.

still weaving that shawl

I'm still weaving that shawl, but I've been sidetracked a lot. Will post photos soon.

another shawl in the works

Finally, I began another shawl last weekend...

I attached my handwoven bookmarks to cards, which can be mailed in a business-sized envelope. The bookmarks are easily detached. Three have already sold at the Visual Arts Alliance of McPherson gallery. I'm eager to make a few more.

one of my mugrug sets

just one of my mugrug sets

shawl #1 is finished...

Shawl #1 is finished and on display

at the Visual Arts Alliance of McPherson gallery

with a necklace by Susan Shepard.

Just before I cut it off the loom

The winding on...

I kept the warp chains separate as I wound on...

It was very slow.

I ran out of packing paper for the warp on the back beam,

so I used red Christmas wrapping paper,

which seemed to work OK last time.

Finally, the multi-texture shawl warp is wound on the loom.

All set to begin weaving, but first,

need to choose the weft.

Tying on...

Tying on 11 different yarns of the new shawl warp, 32 ends of each, onto the tiny ends of what's left of the old shawl warp, then pulling the new warp ends through the reed.

Separate warp chains for each of the 11 different yarns

still working on warps

Last weekend I finished winding the scarf warp, and now I'm working on a shawl warp using 11 different yarns from my stash. I love texture and variety, and this will have lots of both. Texture and variety, like Life.

just for fun...

Just for fun, here is my fuzzy mug rug.

Needed to finish off a group of mug rugs so that I could warp this loom with scarves. The other mug rugs from this group are pretty normal. It was fun to try a weft I had never considered before...

new warps in the works...

I'm working out some new warps for shawls and scarves. No photos yet. Has it really been that long since my last post? Where did August go?

pin weaving

Last Saturday, I finally tried something that I've been curious about: pin weaving!

Been weaving...

Been weaving, but no photos yet. Coming soon.

collage fun

A small collage I did today in Andrea Fuhrman's Mixed Media Workshop, sponsored by the Visual Arts Alliance of McPherson. It was so much fun!

Here's another bigger one:

"Weekly Routine"

winding a skein into balls

Saturday, while I worked my turn at the VAAM gallery, I wound this skein into balls. I don't remember where I got this skein or who dyed it, but the colors are so beautiful, I wanted to have lots of photos to remember it by. I probably will like it more as a skein than whatever I will weave out out of it (?!??). Warning: more photos of this skein are coming! I really must learn to dye my own.

It's all wound into these two neat balls.

The short wrap (fringed shrug?) shown with Susan Shepard's beautiful necklace.

Finally wove off the scarf (or is it a small wrap?) and cut it off the loom tonight. Now, for the knotting.... On Saturday, I'll be helping with a watercolor painting workshop taught by Carolyn Loutzenhiser, sponsored by the Visual Arts Alliance of McPherson. Something completely new for me!

I'm back to my loom with the leftover shawl warp. Don't know how much is still there, but probably not enough for another shawl...maybe a 30" square? A table shawl? We'll see.

I've been curious to try this little "Loomette" given to me almost 15 years ago by Cher Olson. After carrying it around so many times and saying I'm going to make time for this—yesterday, I finally did it.

After using floor looms, weaving on this tiny little loom was so interesting. I'm not even sure I did this correctly, but I finished the little square, removed it from the loom, and it didn't fall apart! Now, for yarn variations and uses for the little squares!

David Brock made this nice rack for displaying scarves.

A simple cream scarf