2022 May Show & Tell and “Spring” Challenge

Waking up for Spring. Needle felted bear sitting on a wet felted and needle felted mossy patch.

Inspired by a presentation by Melissa Dunning on Catalogne, which is a French-Canadian rag rug/blanket/coverlet.  I wove this with 8/2 cotton for the warp (16 epi), and a thick-thin weft using strips of cotton fabric (thick) and 8/2 cotton.  It was woven in two panels and then stitched together.  The cotton fabric was sliced into 3/8” strips from some leftover batik yardage that I had, plus old clothing destined for the rag pile.  The final dimensions after finishing are 58 inches by 70 inches, and it weighs 3 pounds.  The colours remind me of Springtime in my garden! 

A scarf with a blue gradient in the background and squares of colour next to vertical dark grey stripes. The weave is turned twill in 8/2 cotton and 10/2 mercerized cotton. The scarf is finished with a twisted fringe. My inspiration: Spring in my garden.

"Ragnhild, who was wise and intelligent, dreamt great dreams. She dreamt, for one, that she was standing out in her herb-garden, and she took a thorn out of her shift; but while she was holding the thorn in her hand it grew so that it became a great tree, one end of which struck itself down into the earth, and it became firmly rooted; and the other end of the tree raised itself so high in the air that she could scarcely see over it, and it became also wonderfully thick. The under part of the tree was red with blood, but the stem upwards was beautifully green and the branches white as snow. There were many and great limbs to the tree, some high up, others low down; and so vast were the tree's branches that they seemed to her to cover all Norway, and even much more."[15]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnhild_Sigurdsdotter

Passementerie inspired Scarves I made some scarves inspired by the talk last year about passementerie. I was intrigued but wondered how I could use this method to create a useful article. I decided to make a scarf using the techniques (at least those I liked and remembered). I used very fine cotton as my warp, set at 60 ends per inch, and made it 4 inches across. For the first, I used 2 novelty yarns (beige and orange) as my two loops of different lengths, and some mercerized cotton as my tabby weft. I was quite pleased with the result but...there were now other things I'd like to try. Then came scarf 2 which used 3 yarns (beige, blacks and green) and 2 widths of loops, so the beige and black used both outer and inner loops but the green always used the outer loop. Scarf 3 used 2 threads (brown mohair and orange ribbon) and only 1 outer loop. The brown made 2 loops between each orange loop. I also used a very fine cotton as the tabby between. I then washed (by hand as the loops could get caught on the agitator of the washing machine), spinning in the machine and drying in the machine (to shrink the cotton). This was a fun spring project for me. Weaving is meant to be a fun and learning experience.

340 cm x 36 cm, mixed fibres but quite a lot of linen and rayon, spring colours destash! SAORI loom and style. It may become a vest showcasing the clasped weft.

A new baby granddaughter, left-over waffle weave handwoven fabric and a vintage stuffed animal pattern that I'd made originally for my sister a long time ago. Waffle weave fabric woven with recycled cotton  (approx 8/2) and Maiwa fabric for the underbelly, soles of the feet and the inner ears.  Except for the fact that sewing stuffed animals can be challenging (all those clipped seams), it was fairly easy to make.  It did take way more stuffing than I had anticipated.

2 block turned twill, 8/2 cotton Wanted to use an unusual colour combination. 
Turned twill towel using the graphic and warp colours from JST, Season 5, episode 1

Twill tea towel with 8/2 organic cotton 
Saw the draft on FB and loved the size of the X's and O"s. 
This was an amalgamation draft from handweaving.net #79657. Added tons of colour and plain weave stripes to accentuate the X and O's and the graphic quality. It is on 9 shafts and was a little tricky to weave because of the long treadling repeat. The plain weave sections tended to flair a bit which annoyed me at first, but after putting them in the cupboard for a couple of months, and then seeing them with fresh (ie less critical) eyes I am no longer annoyed and figure it is just the way it has to be. In the piece I've submitted I treadled the striping sequences between the X & O's using a partial section of the complete treadling and this solved the wavy edge issue.

From raw fibre - Romney x Merino.  Dyed with home grown woad and weld.  Woven 15 epi.  Inspiration was just working with colours from my dye garden and working with finer fibre.

Japanese style fabric scroll (wall hanging). Woven fabric, linen warp and shifu (Japanese paper, cut and spun yarn) weft. Stripe dyed with sumi ink. Silk fabric, folded blossoms with antique button and bead centers. Quote is from Yoko Ono  " Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence".

I had a limited amount of the colours of yarn for this blanket and this simple design was the result.  The yarn no longer had a maker's label but I think it was Briggs and Little, although lighter in weight than their usual worsted.  The finished blanket was very open in structure when it came off the loom but after fulling in the dryer is stable.  While still wet, I brushed the blanket which resulted in a lovely soft nap.  Weave:  plain weave.  Sett: 6 epi.  Width in reed:  45 inches

West Coast Hand Towels I wanted to weave some hand towels that meant 'west coast'. I decided that trees would be the subject of the towels. The warp is made of both white and beige as a background for the tree bark. The wefts are all different combinations of beige and browns. I wove with 2 or 3 threads wound on the bobbin but not plied. By not plying, I could get the random appearance of the colours as you would find on the bark of a tree. I had never done inlay weaving and thought this might be a good time to try. I made a white band near one end and wove 3 trees into this space. I also wove a row of yellow (daffodils) and blue(camas lilies) spots as they also represent the west coast. I set out 3 trees on each towel and varied the placement of broad or thin trees. I had paper cutouts to decide the base length and had hoped to be able to use marking chalk to draw the complete shape but it didn't work. So I free handed the inlay weaving with the paper samples in sight, which proved better as trees are not 'perfect' in shape. I also varied the threads used for the trees. I had some thick green as well as thin threads to insert. I kept track so each towel would be unique with the colours and shapes of the trees.

4/8 cotton sett at 12 epi - The colours of spring tulips Is this item to be entered in the Challenge? Yes References: Notes from the Fell, Handwoven Nov/Dec 2016 by Tom Knisely

Two hangings and a small runner – woven for an "Understand Double Weave" course taken February/Mark 2022. The leftmost piece was the initial series of sampling, with the fringed edge reflecting the start of the course. As I wove, I tried to shift colours and format borders with the hope that the piece could serve as a wall hanging (of sorts). After completing the padded tubes and blocks exercise, I wove in several inches, including a tube for a hanger of some sort and then cut the piece off the loom and carried on with sampling (right side runner). The centre piece was my final 'design' project. I was planning on a formatting it as a(nother) runner but ended up a couple of inches short of warp, even with the apron rod practically in the heddles. The fringe was all that was left of the warp. "Understand Double Weave" course offered online by Cally Booker. Fantastic course!

Fibres are synthetics of some sort that I got (free) from a de-stash. The solid colour fabric is a basic huck weave. Your Inspiration:
I wanted to try cutting my woven fabric and sewing with it.

Tapestry weaving approxi,ately 5" x 9.5". The warp is cable cotton and the weft is mostly hand dyed (from my mothers dye sample bundles) silk with a small amount of cotton. The colours of the yarns and the natural enfironment are m inspiration. As I weave a bit of colour into the warp this colour forms the choices for the colours to come. As I weave, I follow a path in my mind, a walk through a forest, a walk along a beach, seeing sunsets, no on in particular moment by a meld of many. http://canadiantapestrynetwork.com/

Socks knit from handspun Cheviot yarn.  The singles were spun with a short forward draft and then plied to make a very elastic 3 ply yarn.

My friend's late mum's stash also gave me a huge amount of rough spun wool from salt spring sheep.  I decided to try making a carpet with it - a bit of a challenge on a 60 cm wide SAORI loom!  It came out great, very cuddly like a Cowichan sweater for the floor. Finished size 95X150 cm.

A friend on Saltspring used to have sheep.  She had them shorn and the wool processed into rovings about 10 years ago thinking she would start spinning when she retired.  Five years after retiring she realized it wasn't happening so she gave them to me.  I sold most of the wool as a benefit for Ukraine, and spun the rest.  I made both warp and weft from what I now know to call "energized singles" (instead of desperately overspun).  Mary is coming by next week to pick up two of the four cushions I made from her sheep's wool, a nice remembrance for her of her long passed sheep.

I got scores of spools of sewing thread as part of a friend's late mother's stash.  I spun them together then used them in warp and weft to create a really interesting, textured and subtly multicoloured cloth.  I then made it up into four little purses, one for the friend.

This is similar to the first saori garment I ever made (since sold) and I wanted to see the effect of the clasped weft as part of the design

This was a commission from a local rabbi.  It's made of a torn up sari  (black and gold colour) and a variety of black yarns (mostly cotton and rayon).  The  collar piece and corners are from the edging of the sari which was gold metallic thread.  I'm really happy with how it came out, as was the rabbi.  I also wove a separate piece to made a cloth pouch for it

I have done a lot of weaving over the pandemic.  Some of this is my newly acquired spinning habit, lots is based on what I see in my cupboards and drawers, I rarely buy specifically for a project unless it's a commission.  So there's a lot of fabric here that needs to tell me what it wants to be!

Handspun yarn created with thrums from my weaving, knitting and crochet projects, saved up over the past 4 - 5 years or so.  I had been saving the pieces of left over wool in clear iced coffee cups with the hole in the lids.  This made it easy to save the bits and pieces and I could see the colours. I ended up with around 8 stuffed cups and was running out of space for them so I decided to take the plunge.  To prepare for carding, I cut the bits of wool into pieces about 1 - 1.5 inches long. Using a drum carder I started with layers, first fleece, 2nd the bit of yarns, and lastly with a layer of fleece on top.  I removed the batt and put it through the drum carder once more. I spun the yarn on an s10 Louet, and then I plied it with a fine 2 ply silk. (Just to be sure it all stayed together, which it did!  :). )  Your inspiration:  Years ago a coworker had told me that she cound remember when her family would send their used wool garments out to be shredded and remade (possibly felted) into wool blankets.  I found this fascinating and this began my curiosity of taking yarn apart and respinning it into new yarn. 

Four of a set of twelve. Inspired to create placemats for Christmas/Holiday. Yarn 2/8 cotton and mop cotton. Sett 36 epi. Total ends 490 Width in reed 13.61 inches. Length warp 8.5 yards for 12 placemats

Coast Salish child's cardigan. Yarn: Prairie Wool - Custom Woolen Mills

Designed in response to a friend's request for towels in blue and taupe. 8 shaft turned twill in 8/2 cotton, 20 epi.

No special inspiration for this except an abundance of green Briggs and Little yarn and a love of goose-eye twill!  For this blanket I decided to put the "eye" at the boundary between the blocks instead of centering them.  Weave:  goose eye twill. Sett:  6 epi.  Width in reed: 45 inches. Fulled in dryer.

The inspiration for this project was to use up my stash of limited amounts of handspun yarn that I have been accumulating over many years.  I put together colours that I thought would work together and used the McMorran balance to roughly calculate the yardage I had of each. From that information I came up with a design for the blanket.  Weave structure is twill.  Sett is 6 epi (I had to use an 8 dent reed).  Width in the reed was 30 inches, woven double.  To full the finished blanket, I soaked it in soapy water for about 30 minutes, rinsed it and wrung out as much water as I could by hand.  It was still pretty drippy wet when it went in the clothes dryer with a couple of bath towels.  It took about 15 minutes.  I hung the blanket over a shower rail to finish drying.

Inspired by using up my stash and liking these colours together. For those who would like to know more about your article/technique/process etc.  These towels are similar to ones made in 2012.  I wanted to make waffle weave again.  They are set at 24 epi and I used the design principles Jane Stafford talks about in her online weaving courses.  I chose colours  from my stash which were bright and fun (wound in January) and shockingly very little was used up!!  In the weft I tried DD/LL, D/L, DD/L combinations using the warp and other colour combinations but decided the look was good but it was a lot of effort.    I liked the stripes as well but that took longer to weave as well. The hems are woven with a much finer weft and were either a straight twill or diamond pattern.  Overall I was very happy weaving them and with the results.  My sister-in-law really loves hers because it is so absorbent.

Tuesday Spinners - Challenge to  our group to make a hat using their handspun Inspiration: photo of Christmas lights at Butchart Gardens

 Blanket, four inch pin loom woven squares. Handspun yarns, wool, silk and mohair, all natural dyes. Using up small amounts of leftover yarns. Crochet edging.

Tiny knitted orange sweaters. Handspun wool and natural dyes, madder and brazilwood. Measuring approximately 3"x2". Inspired by the Tiny Orange Sweater Project, supporting orange shirt day.