Leno Lace, Beads & Inkles

I started working on the table runner and finally decided how I was going to incorporate the beads into my leno lace work. I did a generous 4 x 4 leno, which open up some really great space and inserted the beads in between the spaces. I really like the way it looks and the natural wood beads really go with the beachy, sea foam theme on this one.

After the leno beads I did a more conservative leno in 2x2 above it. Since it's a table runner and my SIL loves to put a lot of tchotchkes on her tables, I have to limit the decorating touches to the ends. But I think I may take liberties with the extra warp and do some serious bead enhancements, I'm thinking of doing some squares of tabby and squares of beads, I really do like the effect and it's fun to experiment. I love when I work and get a creative influx of ideas, this time around though I writing and drawing as I go, it makes for slower weaving but I tend to lose the creative thoughts after I finish the actual piece, this way I can keep a record of what my mind is visualizing as I'm working. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but I'm hoping it will help me concentrate and keep me focused on what I want to do next.

I really enjoy the closeup on the camera, really gives you a good look at what's going on.

Along with the table runner, I started warping my inkle for what I'm calling a baja bag. It's a small bag to carry around a cell, id and some cash and lip balm what more can a girl want? Small, compact and flirty. I started with some black, variegated yellow, royal blue. I have neon pink to add and maybe some purple not sure yet. I'm trying a new technique on my loom since it's not open on one end I always run into a warping issues. I'm warping individual strands tied together, it's slower but the tension seems to be better and the ends are really tidy, which I like.

What's the Skinny?

I finished my Skinny Scarf and wore it on Saturday, I loved the colors and technique Then I went into one of my Betty Davenport books to find that I didn't do the Brook Bouquet the way it's suppose to be done, so I kind of screwed up. No big deal I love the way it turned out so we'll just keep that to ourselves and not over share.

I'm planning on a throw for my SIL's Christmas present and I would like to do the brook bouquet on the edges with some Leno for the design. I have some cotton chenille that will work out really nicely for it, I'll start warping tonight and hopefully finish dressing the loom.

New Projects

Remember my last purchase of the year for yarn? The wonderful Alpaca Cloud? Well I found the perfect pattern, but first I had to wind the hanks in to cakes. I opened the hanks and placed them on my tinker toy swift (I lurve this thing) . It took me 20 mins to wind 4 hanks of 440yds each into neat little cakes for knitting during my lunch hour at work. (Isn't this table a riot, takes me back to the early 70's).

The Sweetheart Cardigan, by Iris Schreier from the book Lacy Little Knits is the pattern I picked for this yummy yarn. I started knitting and it seems to be an easy knit, I plan to work on this one when I go to Knit Club since the conversations are always very lively I can't get too complicated with my knitting.

I also started on this Brooks Bouquet & Leno skinny cotton scarf. I was gifted the yarn in a swap on Raverly and didn't quite know what to make with it. It's Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc Peaches & Creme Ombres 4 ply cotton which is used for dishcloths but I loved the colors and thought it could be more fun than a dish rag. I figured since I live in South Florida we seldom if ever use scarves, but a thin fun scarf of cotton is lightweight enough to wear as a fashion accessory so I warped. I'd forgotten how fun it was to do the Leno Lace and this is the first time I try the Brooks Bouquet, which is fast becoming a favorite. While I weave my creative mind starts to wander getting new ideas, I think I may want to weave a short shawl of entirely Brooks Bouquet. I have to give it some thought on how I would work it out, but it's the next project for the loom.

Barely Made It!!

This picture is definitely a weaver's nightmare, I'm at the end, the very end of my warp and have 11 weft shots to go. At this point every warp thread is hand manipulated, because there is almost to way to tension it properly. Since I was so close, I needed to finish it.

Of course, not with out some fretting and slow as molasses picking, but the results were well worth it.

Here they are, before cutting them apart, now I have to hem and wash them. I have to say I really like the hem stitching it was really worth the time and effort it took to get it done, the edges are really neat and should easily sew up I also did the white header/ender to turn over. I will do a step by step for Leigh who did the best post on Hemming Hand- Woven Fabrics, which taught me a lot from the post and comments everyone gave.

The details are:

Before washing:

Size off loom: 15 1/2" x 23 1/2" I estimated they would be 16 x 24 so closed enough with the take up of 1/2"

Materials: Peaches and Cream 2 balls of 2 oz color Bubblegum weft, and White warp 1/4" of a 1# cone @ 112" measured warp.

Lost Studio, Found Inspiration

I also lost my studio,waaaahhhhh!! sniff sniff. My youngest step son move back in, so I've been downgraded to the seldom used dining room . Yes, I miss my room.

After all the feeling of loss and grief, I decided to try and turn it into a productive weekend, I organized my weaving journal and notes not a heavy task, since I haven't been weave long, but I noticed that on some items the notes are detailed other vague, some of my notes are in various notebooks, so I sat and printed pictures, wrote notes and details and I even wrote down some tips to remind myself how things work and how not to go down a path that didn't work. I'm not a neat freak by far, but I like to have my crafts organized, I always feel that I'm more productive in my thinking, creativity and vision of what I want, when I have what I need, where it should be. (my mom always said everything has a place and everything in its place, is the order of the universe, I use to think that was a load of crap, but you know, as always, true wisdom comes with age, now I truely listen when she sputters pearls of wisdom or should I say purls, hindsight is 20/20) Thank God my DH understands my need to create, because he's a neat freak, but not with my crafts that he leaves alone. The the garage is his domain, the rest of the house is mine :) love how that works, what's yours is yours and what's yours is mine LOL.Once I organized my work space I felt compelled to warp my loom after not working on it for 2 months, this felt really good and it eased my sense of loss.

I figured I wanted to try some lace patterns, I warp on for some place mats to play around with, since I can use them later I don't mind fiddling with them. I like they way they are turning out, I'm on the second mat with the first sequence of my pattern. I also hemstitched the edges, they look really neat and tidy, this is the first for both techniques and I'm really appreciating the process. I have already started thinking about doing the lace shawl, with the crochet cotton I was trying to knit in this post, since I love the colors and can't figure out what to do with the yarn I might as well try weaving something lacey and delicate. I downloaded this tutorial which is great, and it answered most if not all the questions that were in my mind.

You can see the hemstitch on the top.

On the right I have 2x2 leno

4 weft rows and 1x1 leno.