Winter meeting at Ingrid's

December found many of us without a project to show for our monthly meeting - maybe because the weather has been pretty awful, but mostly because it seemed like a good time to do other things than weave.   But, there were some nice pieces and lots of conversation to keep the ball rolling anyway.  Gus brought her latest shawl which is featured at Shawlsunlimited.  She recently purchased weaving software  from PCW Fiberworks and was pleased when what she designed on the computer closely resembled the finished woven piece. 

Gus had been given a yarn store gift certificate and found some luxurious Merino/bamboo yarn which she combined with a bamboo ribbon, making an ever so soft and warm shawl. 

Diana also used the same bamboo ribbon as one of the warp threads in her Christmas scarf.  She used a Swedish lace draft for texture, some very fine gold metallic thread and threads of red and green for the Christmas touch.

This scarf has a wonderful sparkle, mostly because of the Henry's Attic Sarafina yarn of rayon and cotton  which was used in the warp and weft.  The gold metallic yarn effect is very subtle.

Lake Wildwood Sale

Five Not 2 Square Weavers purchased a double booth at the Lake Wildwood Craft Faire this past weekend.  The weather on set up night was very stormy, but we all sallied forth and put our booth together.  It was smaller than we purchased, but after a bit of adjustment here and there, the organizers let us move some of our stands out into a larger area.

Dee couldn't be at the event, but here is her rack of handwoven scarves.



These are some of Sue Habegger's chenille scarves and she also had a colorful rug that caught the public's attention.  Somehow, Sue managed to escape the eye of our cameras.  Darn, I was sure I snapped a picture of her during the event.





Here I am (Beryl) in front of my shawl and scarf rack.  To the left of me, you can see some of Gus' scarves and towels.




And this is Gus in front of our sales table.  The colorful socks are her hand dyed "Happy Socks" which proved to be big sellers at the event.    Knit caps - not so much in demand!

 

 



Ingrid poses in front of her baby blanket rack.  On the other side of the rack were her Christmas towels.

Here is Igor in front of my rack, and not his own handwovens.  He did sell a very nice scarf during the event, and then was a bit sorry he had parted with it.  He gets very attached to what he makes.



October's offerings - napkins, shawls and towels

Diana spent a large part of her summer in Maine this year. Her daughter and her family live there and her daughter's inlaws have a summer lake cabin. Diana noticed that everyone was reaching for paper napkins and paper towels while staying at the cabin and decided that what was needed were cloth napkins - each different so that people knew which one was theirs and could use it for several days. When Diana finally arrived home, she set up her loom to weave 12 napkins. Her four shaft draft came from the Handweaver's Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon and is Overshot:  Small Honeysuckle on pages 104-106.

Some of the napkins have an alternating tabby and some do not.  The dozen serviettes are destined to be Christmas gifts; what a great way to introduce using resuable over throw away.

Betsy brought a shawl she wove using bamboo in a shadow weave design from Marian Powell's 1000+ Patterns in 4, 6 and 8 Harness Shadow Weave.  Betsy's shawl is an 8 shaft design with a lovely feel and drape . Isn't shadow weave just the best!

Gus wove a shawl as well. The warp is ramie and silk (mostly silk) and the weft was cotton. It is now for sale at the Shawlsunlimited website where it is called Silver Lake Blues.  The 8 shaft draft for this shawl came from A Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns edited by Carol Strickler, page 52 #206.

Ingrid was weaving towels in preparation for selling at the Winterfaire craft show.  Since the show is now at the end of October, she decided that maybe pumpkins were better than Christmas trees (although she made both).  Here are two styles of pumpkins and they were a big hit at the sale (but so were the Christmas trees).

There are six of us in the Not 2 Square Weavers group that will be selling at a double booth at the Lake Wildwood Craft Faire in November. Lake Wildwood is a gated community and the sale is primarily for residents.  We have high hopes that even bad weather won't keep folks away! Several of us that sold at Winterfaire experienced what it is like to try to sell handwovens when there is a record rain falling outside  and the parking lot is flooded.  Umbrellas might have been popular!

Our September Show and Tell

September finds many weavers thinking about how and where to sell some of their handwovens.  Our group is no exception and the longer a person has been weaving, the more eager they seem to be to find a market for their textiles.  This year the group has reserved two booths at the Lake Wildwood Craft Faire.  This is the first time for many of us to participate in this fair, so we aren't sure what to expect.

Dee brought scarves that she will be selling - 12 of them that she wove in just one month!  She used the same diamond pattern and wove two scarves per warp.  They were all so different in different colors, that you would never have realized they were the same weaving draft.

Ingrid is using up stash and weaving baby blankets for sale.  Stripes of all sorts - and again, each one is different.

But, not everyone was weaving items for sale.  Marcy brought a baby blanket in which she used a wool warp and a Henry's Attic Queen Annes' Lace cotton as weft.  Notice the nice treatment she gave the fringe with a double knot.

Sue R. brought a scarf with a story.  At a conference Sue attended, there was a weaving demonstration using a variety of knitting yarns in the weft.  By the end of the conference, there was still a lot of unwoven warp on the loom.  Sue unwound it and, heaven knows how she preserved the warp order,  brought it home and painstakingly wound it back on the back beam of her four shaft loom.  Then she wove the rest of the warp as a sampler piece - using bits and pieces from her mother's stash of knitting yarns. The result is a very beautiful scarf - maybe table runner piece.  This reminds me of the saori technique of free style weaving and Sue's piece is beautifully done.  It gave many of us the inspiration to rummage around in our stash to pull out bits and pieces of yarns too short for most purposes and weave them into something useful and beautiful.

That's just about all for this month.  There should be pictures to share from our sales events in the coming months.  Wish us well.

Ah, the luxury of handwovens for the home.

Betsy Abrams entered a couple of table runners in the fair this year.  The one below has a blue ribbon peeking out from under her entry card.  Congratulations, Betsy!  I haven't seen this particular piece, but it looks like Summer and Winter.  We will have to ask her at the next meeting.

This next table runner is also woven by Betsy and looks like overshot to me.  Hopefully if I am wrong, Betsy will fill me in on the details.

Then, there were towels - and some nice ones too.  Carol Phillips received a second prize for some natural colored cotton towels.  The cottons were from Sally Fox and  the colors in the picture are hard to pick out because they are subtle.  There are browns and greens in addition to the white cotton.

Ingrid received a third place ribbon for her towel, also woven with Sally Fox cottons.  Here you can see the different shades of brown. 

Very colorful and interesting entries from Marcy Elliott are pictured below.

And here is a lovely towel from Dee. I love how the structure hides the weave pattern in the dark areas and lets it pop in the white stripes.

 Sue Habegger's towel entry is an interesting plaid.

And, last but not least these great placemats woven by Gus Young that received a second place ribbon.

All in all, it looks like our group did themselves proud at our latest county fair.  I want to congratulate all the winners for their ribbons, but also for entering their items.  Making the public aware that handwoven is something special and beautiful may give us an edge in the marketplace when we are selling our wares this autumn and winter.

Fair Scarves

Diana Abrell wove a gorgeous scarf from a rather complicated turned taquete draft.  It was a blue ribbon winner and the judge was convinced that it was woven on a multishaft loom.  Actually, Diana wove it on her 8 shaft Mighty Wolf - and isn't it lovely!

Carol Phillips knit one scarf and wove another for a couple of interesting entries.  The knitted scarf is all handspun yarn - Golden Retriever/wool.  The other scarf is rayon chenille, however this is no ordinary chenille scarf.  It is double weave and Carol wove the fringe using two fishing line selvedges a few inches from the body of the scarf.  Very original and  interesting scarf.

Then there was the shawl/throw that Carol wove from the Golden Retriever/wool handspun yarns.  It is a lovely piece destined to be given to the owner of the Golden Retriever; a keepsake to remember a beloved pet.

And then there was Dee's scaf designed with "Big Pond" painting in mind seen here sporting a nice red ribbon!

Next post - towels and table runners!

Exhibitors and their handwoven entries.

I thought that followers of our blog might like to see a few of our smiling faces.  Ingrid shared these photos with me, all taken at the Nevada County Fair. 

This is Sue Habegger along with her handwoven top.

Here's Gus Young showing off her handspun/handwoven silk top.

Marcy Elliott with one of her great towels.  I just love the pattern in this one.

And Ingrid Knox, with a white on white towel from her loom.

Nevada County Fair 2010 - Blue Ribbon Winners

The Not 2 Square Weavers did themselves proud at the Nevada County Fair.  Ingrid took lots of photos and tried to identify all of them so that I could give credit where it is due.  There were lots of blue ribbons and I'm not going to get all of them into one post, but I'll start with some of the big winners.

Dee Jones Best of Show vest.  Handwoven with a hand painted lining.  Just gorgeous, and obviously the judge thought so as well.

Ingrid's handwoven linen runner (canvas weave) won a blue ribbon in the bast fibers category.  Her mother cross stitched the Egyptian figures on the runner.  A stunning piece.

Betsy Abrams won a first place on her overshot wall hanging.  Glorious design work.

Sue Habegger won a blue ribbon for her colorful top. What fun this would be to wear. 

Gus got a first on this decorator pillow - deflected double weave face and plain weave back. 

Sue Robertson's first prize art skein.  Hand dyed soy silk and sewing thread.  I wouldn't mind having this skein in my stash!

Gus has another blue ribbon on the handwoven shawl in the foreground.  The weft is handspun mohair.

Many more pictures to come. 

Treasures from the loom

Sue R entered this perfect little purse in the Nevada County Fair.  I haven't heard if she won any prizes with her entry, but this gem certainly deserved a blue ribbon.  The front of the purse shows the flower done in knotted pile.  The back is a plain weave extension of the knotted pile front.  The band is cardwoven.   A tour de force of craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Betsy shared a couple of her handwoven scarves with the group at the last meeting.  On the same warp, she wove a table runner and beat it harder so that it would be a firmer piece for the table.  This was given as a wedding gift (lucky couple), so we don't have the benefit of seeing it here.  Isn't it amazing what can be done on a single warp!