The Luxury of Handwoven Wearable - Scarves and Shawls

The January meeting brought many of us out to share a bountiful supply of Handwoven magazines, donated by Barbara to the members of our group.  I think everyone went home with a few treasures.  But our members also had treasures for Show and Tell.  Above is Diana's braided twill scarf.  The draft for this scarf is #356 from A Weaver's Book of 8- Shaft Patterns.  If you are lucky enough to own a copy of this book, you will see the draft shows lifting 7 shafts on treadles one and two.  Diana wisely reversed her tie up and wove the weft faced fabric on the upper side.  The yarns used in the scarf were two rayons from Diana's stash and the sett is 20epi.

Betsy had a couple of shawls that she wove on a cotton warp.  The shawl shown above used Alpaca weft yarns for a lovely Southwestern look.  The shawl below used a variety of yarns from Betsy's stash, including a variegated yarn that makes an intriguing little pattern of its own.  Enlarge the photo to get a good look.

Dee broke out of her traditional color mode and wove a two block twill in dark wools.  The spark of color comes from the weft sock yarn in oranges and browns.  The warp is two colors - the first a very dark charcoal and the other dark green.  The difference in warp colors isn't obvious to the eye, but lends a depth to the shawl that probably wouldn't have been achieved with just one color. 

There will be more show and tell items in the next blog post.  Stay tuned with information about our group challenge for 2011 weaving.

December's Meeting Part II

Jackie has been devloping her skills in rug weaving and almost met her match with a design from Swedish Rag Rugs. The English version of the book is out of print - and what a shame, because it has some lovely  rugs and ideas in it.  Back to Jackie's rug.  She tried this tied weave draft which the book calls "tied triple weave".


For each block (there were three in Jackie's rug) you thread every other thread on the shaft assigned for that block and alternate them with the tie down warps on shafts 1-2-3.  Notice that Jackie wove a three color sequence in this part of the draft.  She used a skeleton tie up and a countermarche loom, but I used  the jack loom tie up here.  I really want to try this draft out with lighter yarns to see how it looks and works in a more flexible textile.

 Jackie's rug is wider than she expected - but it is a real beauty. Notice the difference between the solid color front face and the less defined pattern on the back.  I like both equally well.   Jackie said that it was a very slow weave and she only accomplished several inches a day. 

Not being able to waste a bit of warp, Jackie wove off it off with this short piece of rug and made a case for the load levelers on her travel trailer. Isn't that a spiffy idea.

Ingrid has been working on ideas for more towels with rosepath borders.  She worked out this design on her computer - but not with weaving software.  She uses Excel! 

We have a member (Sharon) who doesn't get to come to meetings very often because she lives in Nevada State - not Nevada County!  But Sharon weaves a lot and recently completed a baby blanket with lots of color and great design.  She bought the yarn and pattern as a kit, but the skill in weaving is all hers.  Click here to see pictures and read all about it.  If you keep on reading the blog, you will also come to baby all wrapped up in the splendor of a handwoven blanket. 

At the January meeting, we will have a big Handwoven magazine give away.  Barbara has parted with her collection and some of us are filling in the holes in our personal hoard.  What a wonderful group we have.