So Many Colors, So Little Time

What I sold most of last weekend was guitar straps, so I set out to replenish my stock this week. Playing with yarn is so much fun! Most commonly, I use 3 colors for a piece because it is just easy to design with three. There is no rule and more can be more interesting. Once I get started, more color combinations occur to me.
Here are the ones I actually got around to weaving this week.

This last one is still on the loom.



Of course, there are more cued up in my head. This being Monday morning, however, I will be expected to show up at work today, so playtime is over.
Until I went to photograph them just now, I didn't realize that they all contain blue! What if someone doesn't like blue? Better weave more.

Good Show!

I was feeling nervous about doing shows after the disaster of the last one. Here's the short version: It wasn't cheap to get in, my borrowed pop-up tent blew over twisting the metal frame and I paid the owner for it. There was only one sale all day which didn't begin to cover the costs. Talk about disappointing!
Since I work a 40 hour a week job, I have a few hours a day to prepare and last week all of these were used to get ready for the Carmel Homecrafters Marketplace yesterday. I had never been to this one before, but it came highly recommended from a friend.
The weather was perfect after rain the day before. My 2 daughters graciously agreed to get up at 5AM so we could leave at 6, and off we went.
Well, this show made up for the last one. Sales were terrific and people were interesting to talk to. I bought from and traded with other artists. As always, I had my inkle loom and was demonstrating weaving. It is especially rewarding to show kids how it works; some have never seen a loom of any kind before and don't even know what to call it. At the end of the day someone bought the guitar strap that I was weaving.
Here is the really funny part, though. One absolutely sweet lady spent a long time shopping, trying on scarves and visiting. What she really wanted was a belt for her jeans. When I showed her the one I was wearing, she asked if she could buy it. Would my pants fall off, she asked? No chance. So I agreed to sell it to her. Then she decided that she also wanted the scarf I was wearing. Fine. I can easily replace them. (I'm glad that she didn't want anything else I was wearing like my sweater or shoes or anything really critical.) She wrote me a check and I hope that it is good, or the joke will be on me.

Christmas Bookmarks

I always enjoy weaving strings of bookmarks before the holiday shows. A fine cotton crochet thread is used, such as Coats and Clarks Knit Cro Sheen or Aunt Lydias Crochet Cotton. Some of these are available with a little mylar or lurex for sparkle.The sparkly ones make a perfect addition to bookmarks woven for holiday gift giving.
On my Schacht looms I can weave 12 at a time. This photo shows the Ashford Inklette, which can hold up to 7 bookmarks.




To make them, I weave for 6", cut the weft, put a 2" piece of cardboard in the warp for a spacer and begin weaving again. When I cut the whole thing off the loom, I use a needle to weave the weft back onto itself and cut the unwoven portion of the warp midway between the bookmarks, leaving a 1" fringe on each end.

Basket Weave

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know how fond I am of baskets. You may have read this previous post.
Recently a friend prompted me to weave a strap based on patterns of the Ohlone Indians of Central California. This past week, I took a stab at that. Here are two results, but now I want to keep going. They will either be made into guitar straps or multi-use shoulder straps (for: laptop/briefcase/camera/luggage/messenger bag, etc. ).
Post a comment to let me know which one you like best and why.

I Feel a Scarf Coming On.. The Sequel

Remember the sari silk yarn that got ruled out for the first scarf?
I didn't want it to feel neglected, so it is featured in the next scarf , paired with some of that mauve bamboo. Click on the photo to enlarge for a closer look.

This time the solid color forms thicker stripes surrounding the variegated yarn. This makes a sort of dotted pattern rather than an all over pebbled one. I'm happy with this one, too, and hope it finds a good home and a happy neck.
I will tell you that this particular skein of sari silk yarn had lots of long threads sticking out, which wreaked havoc with the weaving process and slowed me down to a crawl. Yet, I can't fault it for this. I knew it's nature before I started. It's made from shredded silk fabric re-spun into yarn. It's recycled and fabulous and still my favorite yarn. If you didn't read my previous post about this yarn click here.

I Feel a Scarf Coming On.. Part Four

And...

Here is the finished product. I enjoyed weaving this one because the yarns felt so nice to my hands. Which means, that it feels good on my neck, too. Because of the rayon boucle and the chenille, which is thicker than the other yarns, it has a somewhat pebbly texture to the touch as well as visually.
After cutting it off the loom, I got out my little fringe twisting tool and finished the ends.

All in all, I have to say that I am happy with this one.
To the Etsy shop it goes!

I Feel a Scarf Coming On.. Part Three

Here is what the yarns look like on the loom. As I often do with scarves, I mixed the five yarns at random when warping. There are no solid areas of color, just small spots of each as I switch them up every warp.
Since I wove this one in the evening, I had to use the camera's flash to get these pictures and I'm afraid that it doesn't give the best representation of color. It does, however, illustrate how well the rayon rickrack, or boucle, throws light.
Tomorrow I'll show you the finished scarf.