keeping busy in 2014

 In July I went with members of our spinning and weaving group to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show. We had a great time adding new fibres to our stashes. Above are a couple of scarves I wove, using the same warp, and then added a green wool as the weft to the one on the  left, while the one on the right has the same wool as the warp. Amazing how different they are.

 Above: Some of the stash I acquired on the Bendigo trip. Now I just have to find the time to weave it all.

 We did a huck lace workshop with Liz Calnan in June. The scarf above I did at the workshop, using a fine silk. Then later I did two more huck laces scarves in laceweight yarn, 90% fine merino, 10% bamboo. I dyed the warp and weft slightly different colours, with tea, to make the pattern stand out a bit more.

 This 3 1/2 metre piece was fun to do. I painted various lengths of yarn in different colours. Blues, greens, and a bit of mauve.This was used as the warp and as many elements in the weft. Then I added lots of different yarns to the weft as well - mohair, novelty yarns, sari silk, whatever I could find that fitted. I entered this in the Bendigo show. Although it didn't win a prize, it got a good score, and looked great hanging in the showcase. Now I have to decided what I am going to do with it!

 I acquired a lot of cotton chenille. Had fun dyeing it - above. Then wove the cowl below. 

Still a lot more chenille to work with later.

 The scarf above is woven from a mix of commercial and handwoven yarns.

The pink one below is silk, woven with a huck lace pattern

 The wrap above was woven using up leftovers from my stash. I multicolour dyed some yarn to include in the warp, and added lots of novelty yarns and yarns of different thicknesses. Then I used a fine warp yarn to let the weft yarns stand out.

This scarf was again woven with thick and thin warp yarns, many hand dyed.

The cowls above and below were arm knitted using novelty yarns and plain wool. 

They look great on and are comfy to wear.

I haven't given up beading. I made this bracelet for my daughter for her birthday

Beading fun

Since one of the women in our weaving group introduced me to beading, I have been having a great time playing around with beads. Because of my knee, I am not very active at the moment, so I can sit back in my chair and thread beads in all sorts of styles. There were some more, but I gave them away before I photographed them.

One pattern, three wraps

The first one - I am keeping it for myself!

The second one - requested by one of  my weaving friends. And I had a lot of dyed wool left over from the first one

My favourite. Dyed in bright sunny colours for my daughter for Christmas.

These three wraps all have handspun and hand dyed warps. It took quite a while to work out what colours I wanted, and where they should go in relation to others. But I think they worked well.

A fun few weeks weaving ... scarves and a ruana

I wound a 4.5 metre warp of 8 ply white wool, and then dyed it randomly, using several autumny colours, in the microwave. I added several black and orange bands as well, to get a bit more width. When on the loom, I used a black 2 ply for the weft. I am quite pleased with the result. I made the length into a ruana. I love ruanas. As warm as a jacket,  but easier to take on and off. you can drape them any which way.

The colours don't look quite so vibrant in this light

This is a favourite. The warp is a blend of 70% alpaca, 27% cotton and 3% copper. Yes copper. But it is beautifully soft and silky. The weft is a novelty yarn, mostly cotton but with some other fibres which add the colour. I wove it using a bead leno technique, which leaves it open and lacy. It drapes beautifully.

more scarves

I have played around the past few weeks and woven several more scarves.

A check scarf, slightly felted to give it a bit more body

We did a weaving workshop recently and I wove two twill woollen scarves.

This one used the same warp as the one above, but the twill has a zig-zag effect

Green and white cotton

And a cheerful tea cosy (handspun and crocheted) to keep the tea pot warm in chilly Canberra.

A mistake that pleased Issie

 I was weaving a jacket, but For some idiotic reason I made the warp too short, so it didn't fit me. Issie saw it and loved it when she was here, so it is now hers. The warp and half the weft is handspun merino, and the rest of the weft and the crochet border is commercial loopy mohair.

Footwarmers are still in demand this winter

Bill wanted some new footwarmers, and I was finishing them off while I was in Canberra recently. So I got an order for some from Pete and Kris. Finished the three pair in less than a week.
 Bill has been living in his since the weather has started to cool off. And Kris's are great for chilly Canberra.

A bit more basketry

This basket has a base of pine needles, walls of bullrush stalks, and the top is Bangalow palm stalks.

14 year old enthusiastic weavers

When my Granddaughter Isabelle and her friend Bec were visiting during the recent school holidays they were keen to try some weaving. They both took to it like ducks to water, and were very pleased with their brightly coloured scarves. Ideal for Canberra weather.

I had a ball left over of the multi coloured Murano from Bendigo Woollen Mills which they used, so I also whipped one up as well.

Handwoven silk wall hanging

I wove this wall hanging using silk I dyed with tea, for the light coloured background. The fine silk ( which I bought in Vietnam) is inserted between each background row to create the pattern. As you can imagine, it took a while to weave! The hanging is 1 metre high, and 60 cm wide.

Hooked on silk early in 2013

February 21, 2013.

After a holiday in Cambodia and Vietnam over Christmas 2012, I came back with several hundred grams of beautiful fine silk yarn, and have had a lovely time playing with it, even though it has done its best at times to tie itself and me in knots. (I also brought back quite a few gorgeous silk scarves, clothes and other goodies, but we wont go into that.)

The first silk scarf I wove used many of the autumn tone silk yarns I bought.I had finished it in time for the local Lake Macquarie Show, and it won first prize in its section.

The second scarf, in two slightly different blue tones was a bit more complex, but I am very pleased with the result.

Since I had decided to put some things in the local show, I also crocheted a necklace from bright pink silk I had spun and dyed - it was left over from the shawl I made for Sue. It won first prize in the section for crocheted handspun.

I had also done a wall hanging using various wools, grasses, ropes, twines, sticks etc. It also won first prize in its section.

I had handwoven a set of six place mats, which came second (I had already won first prize in that category). They are linen and cotton, in fawns with red and white slub elements.

The green vest I made last year ( and looks terrible in the photo but works well in real life) also won a first prize. So all in all I was pleased with myself, having entered six items in four categories, and won first prize in each of those categories and and a second and third prize as well.