I'd like to Introduce you to Dorothy

This is Dorothy and she lives near Lockerbie, Scotland. Then, here I am way over here on the west coast of Canada.....so how did we meet? Well, the internet of course! I have a Ravelry account under the name 'weever'. Ravelry recently made it possible for weavers to list their projects under the heading of weaving over the previous two catageories of knitting or crochet. We may be a smaller group there but we're now bonafide! (Basically infilitrating knitters from the inside out :)

This past August, I received an email from Dorothy via Ravelry's message mail. It seems she liked the way I finished off my handwovens and she said:

" I am just about to start a 10/2 tencel project, probably a scarf as that seems like a manageable first time fine weaving exercise. My loom is a 4 harness 6 treadle harrisville 36” wide so not nearly as sophisticated as yours. Would you advise me to use a twill pattern with a tighter sett or a plain weave on 24 ?"

Dorothy had also seen the eight shaft snowflake twill runner in my gallery there and was pleasantly surprized to hear that she could weave a snowflake twill on four shafts! I photocopied a draft by BC master weaver Laura Fry from an old Weavers magazine and sent it to Dorothy, along with some samples. We have been exchanging emails since and sharing ideas on weaving. We're also getting to know one another and becoming friends and who knows, maybe one day we'll meet!

Some of Dorothy's questions were about weaving with tencel as she has some special cones and never woven with tencel before. Judging by these photographs she sent me, she's comfortable with it now! It would also seem that I have started something in her home as she's acquiring new tools to finish her handwovens and her dear hubby is helping and recently bought her a new sewing machine! ( now, he's a keeper!) He's also a great photographer....

The shawl looks lovely! Wonderful job Dorothy. Below is a close up of the pattern:

The last picture shows how Dorothy took my fringe twisting tutorial to heart! She bought the foam board and a fringe twister and got busy!
(I'd love to hear from you if you have tried any of the methods decribed here and how it worked for you. My contact info is listed on the right hand side. )

I am so happy to find that what I share here is actually helping people. Most satisfying! I feel like a proud Mother Hen :)

I invited Dorothy to be guest on the blog and so I will give Dorothy the last word here!

Hi there ! My name is Dorothy Stewart and I live in south-west Scotland in a place called Lochmaben, very close to Lockerbie.

I am a self taught weaver of five years, using a 4 shaft Harrisville 36” floor loom. My weaving has been very intermittent and based on wool scarves and shawls interspersed with tea towels ! Very basic stuff and my daughters are now dreading this year’s model of tea towel !!

I have always had a yearning to do something much finer and on a visit to Halcyon Yarn about 3 years ago I bought two cones of 10/2 Tencel, one purple and the other slightly off-white. They have stayed on the shelf until now as I didn’t really know what to do with them.

I found Susan on Ravelry earlier this year and signed up to her blog, which I found fascinating. The pictures of her weaving projects on Ravelry were just amazing and something I longed to be able to do myself. I learnt so much from the tutorials on her Blog.

In August, I plucked up courage and rather cheekily e-mailed Susan to ask for advice. Her response was amazing ! A parcel arrived at home with copies of the Snowflakes and Stars draft for four shaft looms. They had been prepared by Laura Fry and published in Weavers. I was instantly inspired to get started with my Tencel. Susan has provided loads of support by e-mail and over the last few weeks I have managed to complete two Tencel scarves using the quite complex twill draft.

I was able to follow Susan’s detailed instructions for fringe twisting and finishing from her Blog and as a result have two very professional items of which I am very proud.

I will never match Susan’s level of expertise nor the degree of complexity she demonstrates in her amazing weaving projects but I have certainly moved up a level from my rustic woollen scarves and tea towels !!

Susan has been a wonderful mentor and it is amazing to think that many thousands of miles apart we have established such a friendship. The power of technology nowadays is something else. It is so easy to keep in touch and share experiences. I certainly hope to continue to develop, in fact, my next project will be place mats in Bird’s Eye Twill. This was another draft in my ‘surprise parcel’ from Susan !

Suddenly, I am motivated and inspired to do more weaving and my thanks must go to Susan for this change. Knowing, that she is at the end of an e-mail is just wonderful and I feel very honoured indeed to be invited to be a guest on her Blog.