Waiting for the Sunshine

We had a spectacular summer with record breaking hours of sunshine. Now its Fall and I've been waiting for a just few minutes of sunshine to take some pictures. Our house is surrounded by tall trees so this time of year the light is a rare commodity. Yesterday morning it appeared and brightened up the studio so I dashed in there and started snapping away. (Good thing I did too as the sun hasn't appeared again since!)

I will be sending away a number of my handwovens to a sale held by the Shuswap Spinners and Weavers Guild in Salmon Arm, BC at their  beautiful and historic Art Gallery and the shawl went from here, to being folded and packed away. This was my only chance to get some pictures of the shawl as it might not come home again after the sale.  The low lying morning sunshine lit the whole studio in a golden glow. It just invites you into the space and encourages you to take a seat at a loom and start weaving.

The second shawl is the same magenta as the first but this time I used  navy blue 8/2 tencel weft.  There is some iridescence but its not as prominent as the dark teal and magenta shawl. This shawl is more subtle. It makes a statement but it leans more to quiet elegance.

Once again, I tried the sticks at the beginning and again, it worked beautifully. The scrap gold cotton above the sticks just lined up neatly and it even seems to minimize draw in.  Once under way, I did use a temple as I don't like the floating selvedge being rubbed and fraying through. This was more of a preventative and it seemed to work!

Twisting the fringes took some time and again, no beads. I do have some fine fine navy blue seed beads but it just felt better that the two shawls stand on equal terms together. Does that make sense?

You can see the iridescence in these two pictures above. 

I'm going to weave another shawl like this one again, but for me... and in time for our 30th wedding anniversary in 2015 (if not sooner!) There better be a party for me to go to wearing it,  or at least dinner at the Empress Hotel !

Another warp has gone onto the Louet Spring...     I have an inquiry on the Woolhouse loom for sale which *may* blossom to something nice for both me and the potential buyer. Nothing concrete as yet. So, please continue to spread the word!

Some parcels arrived with more goodies. These warps were meant for the Woolhouse loom but they will keep in the queue for the Louet Spring.

These are painted warps by Kathrin Weber's  Blazing Shuttles  and her  FB Warp of the Month Club.  They are 8/2 hand painted cotton and you are looking at October's "Winter Blue Berries" on the left and September"s "greens, golds, magenta and rust" on the right.  Quite different and I love both for many reasons.  Click on the links to learn more about the sizes available and more about this growing on line business!

These will evolve into kitchen towels and one will most likely be loaded just before my first surgery in the spring. The simple act of a simple treadling pattern will be therapy much like last time when I got a hip replacement (which was 12 years ago on November 7th! Has it been that long already?)  I want to insert  8/2 black cotton 'dividers' to delineate the towels, work with a structure and make the colours pop.  The threading and treadling must be a straight run for ease... and pattern in the tie up. I'm thinking my old friend "breaks and recesses". The weft colors would be any colour you see in the warp. Just an idea and I'll look around for another possible draft.   If you can think of something you feel fits the criteria (easy straight run treadling, 8 shaft preferably and something that shows off the colours!), please let me know in the comment section. Thanks!   I'm leaving the warp bundles hanging up as I love the punch of colour in the studio. 

I'm going to load up the Jane table loom as well with something simple in case my lower half isn't cooperating with post op rehab and my urges to weave again and Now!   I'm going to set up the tablet cards and maybe even the inkle loom so I have all the bases covered. 

{Now having said that, I'll probably be laid up on the couch watching Netflix marathons and re-watching all three movies of the Lord do the Rings!}