At the Loom

I haven't posted many weaving projects lately. I've been focused elsewhere, but here are some things that I've finished.

I wove 16  baby blankets on a mostly blue warp in May.

This one isn't weaving but it is a textile project. My friends found out that I planned to  sew flower girl dresses for my granddaughter and the other flower girl in my son's wedding. They offered to help. I am grateful that they did because it took three of us all day to sew two little dresses!

This view shows the back and the front of the dresses.

Unfortunately I never got a good shot of both the girls in their dresses.

Back to weaving.

The wedding colors were navy blue and yellow and I wove a chenille throw in those colors as a wedding gift. Another friend suggested some how using wedding details in the weaving. I used the date (5/20/16) to design the stripes. The yellow stripes have 5, 20, and 16 threads (doubled and reversed for symmetry).

Next up was a rug for my daughter. My friends always hear me say "I am not a rug weaver." I think there is a special skill needed to weave a really good rug, but this one turned out OK and it was a fun project. Two years ago we had a baby shower for my daughter and I bought fabric to cover the outside tables instead of using plastic tablecloths. The colors were those that my daughter was using in the new baby's room (kind of a forest scene with pink). My plan was to make a rug for the baby's room. That didn't happen before she was born. It didn't happen before Christmas, or the second Christmas. I finally wove it and was able to give it to my daughter for her birthday in June.

The little bits of yellow were leftovers from the flower-girl dresses.

Next project is to weave a vest using handspun yarn that I just finished. That will be another post.

Soft Scarves and a Soft Lamb

On Friday I wondered "what was I thinking?" when I set up a class for the middle of lambing time. Some days in the last two weeks I have spent most of the day in the barn but luckily the class went smoothly with only a few barn-check breaks while everyone was working on their looms.This was a class about weaving with rayon chenille, a yarn with a reputation of being difficult to work with.  I set up 4 warping frames on temporary structures and the fifth person used the one I have mounted on the wall.After the looms were warped and ready to go I was surprised that it wasn't all that crowded with five looms. Each person chose a different combination of colors for their scarves:

We did take a barn break or two. One lamb was born during class and two more right afterward.Everyone finished weaving in the class time (although fringes will be finished at home) and all were pleased with their scarves.