Déjà Vu All Over Again

Some of you might recall the story of our little fawn from a couple of years ago. Well, it seems the little nipper has all grown up and likes to call our yard 'home base'. He's also taken to bringing his girl friends along too. No doubt he's waiting for the blueberries to ripen and so are we... it will be a race to the finish and I have no doubt on who will win! He gets up far earlier than we do.

Peter, our little solitary bunny is no longer so solitary as Bruce has spotted three other friends down in the lower meadow at times. Most likely doing what rabbits do best..... eat. (what were you thinking of ?!)  Peter is the only one who comes right up to the house and sticks around even when we're outdoors. Outdoors here is bone dry. We are under an 'extreme' fire rating and all holding our collective breath. Meanwhile all over BC there are over 300   403 forest fires burning ! (Edited to reflect actual numbers on August 3rd, 2010. It seems 50 new fires are being added daily.) This seems to happen  every summer now unfortunately and I'm not impressed with our new 'normal'. The weather reports says we have rain finally in the forecast come this Friday.

So back to weaving! I promised you the second white shawl debut. The second white 12 shaft snowflake twill shawl was woven using a fine silk and sea cell blend that I bought at Diane Sanderson's Silk Weaving Studio  at Vancouver's Granville Island (beautiful shop... you must go if you come to Vancouver!) The snowflakes were a bit smaller and weaving progressed nicely. It sat in a finishing pile for a time and since I really don't like having a pile like that, I pinned it out on my new foam board. (A large pile of finishing can be rather daunting and seem never ending, especially if you are under a deadline. I'd much rather do it as I go along.)

You can see I'm using new pins with easy pull heads as well. I place one through each warp bout. The grid squares are all one inch. Three weavers went together on one long insulation foam board and so it cost each of us $7.00 for a board that you can use over and over, turn over and use all over again. My pink one is about seven or eight years old. (Then when all used up, you can use it to insulate!) Anyhoo, the fringe twisting went along just fine and now comes the fun part!   If you are new to my method, see here.

Beading!  I want to add a bit of sparkle but not a lot of weight. I want a bead presence but not something that will detract from the shawl's pattern. I chose some small opalescent beads, then a larger opalescent that has been silvered in the bead's centre. It sparkles as it catches the light! A simple arrangement of four small, one large and a final small to catch and hold the grouping, between each fringe bout. Its centred so it will be equally  viewed no matter which side of the shawl is facing out. Again if you are new, check here on my beading technique.

I thought it best to keep it simple given the complex nature of the pattern (see Melinda's shawl, parts 1, 2 and 3 under 'topic shopping' on the right hand side bar) as it also gives the owner more options for what to wear with it.

It's a large piece so after its soaking and gentle squeezing out, I hung it outside over a PVC rod to drip dry. I gently tugged it into shape and untangled the fringe. It was a bright sunny day but under the deck it was difficult to get a good shot. Tickling the picture up later was made harder to do because the background is so much brighter.

Happily, no such camera issues once pressed and hung on Madge Manikin (sure wish she had arms!) The sheen is lovely! The sett was perfect.

Looks very much like the last one that went to my sister, hence deja vu all over again.

This time there is a big difference!  The *feel*. I wish I could share that with you. Its incredibly soft and a delight to touch.  As you can see, it drapes beautifully as well. The silk seacell weft gave the shawl a much creamier colour.

Do you find that you are amazed at what we can create with our hands? Every now and then a piece hits me just like that.