New Projects

I have to say, I enjoy weaving and knitting, but right now I have been knitting far more than weaving. I have been contemplating the knit ruana for what seems to be ever. I know it's a garment I will enjoy on my yearly travels to NC, of which I'm already planning for next Jan/February. I finally choose the pattern from Folk Shawls,by Cheryl Oberle
Knitted Ruana I checked the book out from the library and now would like to own a copy, I need to wait on that though cause I just spend $$ on yarn. If you like shawls and need some terrific patterns this book is a must. Not only are the patterns beautiful, but the author gives the history and folklore to each shawl. Did you know that in Ireland if the master knitter in the village places knitting needles in a baby girls hand she will be a knitter. I wonder if you placed a shuttle boat in that baby's hand if they'll become weavers. I will definitely put both items in my grand baby's hands a test that out. hehe.

This ruana is going to be another stash buster, according to all the posts on Ravelry, but I have a sweater I knitted and totally didn't appreciate so it's getting frogged and reinvented or is the new p.c. term would be re-purposed . I guess if your really think about it, it would be reused, recycled and re-purposed, wow talk about going green call HGTV I need my own show! LOL. Here a shot of the ruana just started a few days ago with 215 st it's a long knit, but it's mindless knitting so I can actually watch movies, instead of listening to them.

I also started swatching for the Oblique sweater by Veronik Avery from Knitty.com fall of 07' I've been contemplating this sweater since I saw it. I remember downloading the pattern for when I became a really good knitter, am I there yet? I dunno, but I'm going to counterbalance the mindless knitting in the evenings with challenge knitting during my lunch hour at work. I picked a cotton yarn from the Etsy shop Yarntopia - Hand painted Worsted Wt. Cotton Boucle Yarn colorway is Oregon. Most of the knitted items I've seen for this pattern have been in solid colors, but I want to try something different. I will knit the back and see how it looks if I don't like it I'll pick something different and use this yarn for weaving.

Momma's gotta a brand new bag!

I finished the bag this weekend. I'd like to say that I really enjoyed making it but it was nerve racking! I did the fusible backing and that was the best, thank you all for that tidbit of wisdom I appreciate it. I cut my weaving with minimal weaving fallout and that was a relief. Would I make another bag after this venture? For sure, after I finished and looked at my bag I thought that wasn't so bad, some tense moments but all in all it came out really nice and I already enjoyed using it on Saturday night. The DD even said she thought it was really cute and might borrow it, so I'd say it was a successful project. The first pic is of the woven fabric pre-cutting with the fusible interfacing on. This is a shot of the fabric cut and ready to be sewn, it was thick and my poor sewing machine had some snags with it.Sewn and ready to finish with strap and button, I also hemstitched at the beginning and end of each weave for extra stability.Woven interior prior to ironing.Finished and ready for a night out on the town!
This bag was created with help from this tutorial at Lisa Lam's http://www.u-handbag.com/

website, if you haven't been there please visit it's a great site.

Old Weaving, New Weaving and Some Storage for Good Measure

For those of you who are always looking for neat storage ideas. I found these plastic storage boxes at BJ's Wholesale, they were $ 4.95 for two, they are reusable and can hold a lot of yarn. Trust me I fill both up, they're a great bargain for all that they can hold and when not being used can collapse to fit under the bed or the back of a closet with minimal space a plus all around in my book.

Weaving this last week had been slow, I was unmotivated by the warp I had on the loom I tried to experiment with the warp and it really did not live up to my expectations, I wove it off and gifted it to my Mom, she of course loved it so it wasn't a total loss, she says the colors are happy and really sunny. This was to be the dish towels to compliment the place mats I did a few posts back, but I just wasn't really into the whole thing.

I had finished the inkle straps and cut them into 13.5" lengths to weave into fabric for a summer purse. I started last night and I really like what I see.

The first pic is of the front and the second is of the back side, which was fun to see as I crawl under my loom. I read somewhere, I'm sure from someones blog that they keep a mirror with them as they weave to check the underside of the fabric as it goes along. *note to self must get said mirror* I think I will weave this fabric off rather quickly since I feel really excited by it. I'm starting to think of how I will stabilize the straps to sew the purse together. I had some great comments a while back from my eyeglass purse mishap, about using fusible interfacing to fuse my material before cutting and sewing, I checked with my mom,"super seamstress" and she has a ton of this stuff in her wonderfully over stuffed magic fabric closet. She said she told me so the first time and I didn't listen, but really I don't remember the conversation, (mother/daughter selective hearing was turn on) this time I'm listening cause if I mess up this fabric I'm going to be depressed for a month.

SMALL SCARF VIRTUAL EXHIBITION

Welcome, we are so excited that you have joined us. We are Weavers and Fiber Artists from around the world in various stages of weaving experiences, we hope you enjoy the exhibition, please feel free to post comments also be sure to follow the links below to other wonderful small scarf exhibits.

Autumn and Winter
Cotton Chenille in Plain Weave

This scarf was inspired by my trips to North Carolina, reminding me of the many log cabins, and well worn men's flannel shirts.

Spring and Summer
Cotton, Rayon and Acrylic
In Leno Lace and Plain Weave

The inspiration for this scarf is of an early morning in the sand as you look up at the sky it's still pink and cream from the night drifting away.

Here are the promised links:
Crystal, "Baby-Hugs", PA, USA
Terri Bibby, "Weaving a Life", Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
The Big Gallery

One Size Does Not Fit All!!

How annoying is that phrase? I got a pattern for a knitted shawl, it says one size fits all, but really who does 'ONE SIZE' fit. If you buy a t-shirt one size fits all and your a size 2 you look like your wearing a tent with sleeves, if your a large( 10/12) like me, you look pregnant and like your trying to hide the twins, if your tall then you look like your wearing a tent that's too short. So what's my point you may ask, well I'm in search of a pattern for a ruana, or shawl that will fit me, granted I know I might need to make mods, and that's okay, but not a one size fit all type of deal, because I know it is humanly impossible to be one size fits all.

The last shawl pattern I knitted was a shorty, what I liked was that I could modify the pattern, what I didn't like was that it didn't cover my arms very well no matter what the modifications it didn't work. I used it and love the feel of that particular yarn but the fit is not right. So from there my odyssey had begun to find the right pattern . I think the ruana would be a better fit since they seem to have a poncho like coverage with the shawl like opening in the front. I love this one

GU420 Oat Couture Knit Ruana. Would it be large enough for me to throw the one side over the shoulder as I would like to wear it? I love the look of this pattern I've been drooling over it for a while, but I can't see the pattern until I buy it so I don't know if I can knit it and use it as I want to and that's a bummer. So the search continued until I found is this one, technically a shawl, but I like the shape of it, the colors are a bit too much for me, but I think this one would flip over my shoulder quite nicely and offer good coverage.

Fire In The Sky Shawl by Debbie O'NeillKnit from 1 hank of Alpine Baby from Cherry Tree Hill Yarns. Again, I can't look at the pattern so I don't know if I can modify without major issues.

I have looked in the free patterns at various outlets and am not inspired, there aren't many patterns for ruanas, although there is a plethora of patterns for shawls.

While I would like to knit it, I may just convince myself to weave one instead, there is a pattern in the Ashford Book for Rigid Heddle, although still not the shape I like but that can be modified by the width of the warp and length, so that might be the solution to this wee problem.

What do you think, know of any ruana patterns I may take a liking to??

Inkle Bands

I've been working on my inkle loom and making these bands. I have three so far each measure 60" in length and are 3/4" thick. My concept for these is to weave them together to make a purse, I think I will need at least six to seven bands with handles and all. I'm going to start cutting them and hemming them this weekend hopefully I'll not encounter any problems there.

Afghan Update

I thought I'd update you on some behind the scenes knitting, this is my movie watch project, the DH is an avid movie watcher and rents movies at least 3 times a week so when I'm interested in a movie this is what I work on while I watch, aka the stash buster afghan. It's 32" wide and so far only 21" long at this rate it will take me right up until Christmas before it's finished and just in time to gift it to my mom.

I'm not working the yarn in any particular order just trying to get some color in some sort of sequences which it might give the piece a cohesive look I don't know if I'm accomplishing that but I'm into the 15th color and not a repeat yet.