Sample of Color Blends

My husband was excited when I finally brought out some colored yarns! I bought some small quantities of primary and secondary colors just to see how far I can take blending. I want to know how many colors I will want to buy when I get the serious quantities for bigger pieces. So I wanted to have a record of different blending techniques and even thought about the shading. I started with red, yellow and blue and blended by

• hatching


• two colors on the same bobbin keeping then straight


• two colors on the same bobbin letting them twist

and compared with the secondary color. Just for kicks I then blended the secondary and primary colors to see how far that would go.

Lastly, I wanted to understand my options for shading. My colored pencils class years ago taught me to use the complmentary colors to make the main color pop. Would that work with yarn?

It was a good exercise because it only caused more questions!

Get My Angle?

I have an enormous list of things to try since my class. Coming up with ideas is one of my gifts. I've just over the last few years gotten over the fact that they all won't happen! It's just means I've become more selective about my time. So the first sampler from my first loom was chosen to be ....... a study of angles! We learned in class it matters how one creates an angle - whether it's smooth or jagged. Neither is right or wrong, but I just need to make sure I get what I want. So I went to my CAD package and created an image complete with a grid. I hoped to have a smooth and a jagged angled line side by side for direct comparisons. That could have been on either side of the white. The first thing I learned is that CAD and math don't always translate over to the loom - and the second thing is that despite working hard to not have the weaving narrow in (as my piece did at Arrowmont) I overcompensated and it expanded - consistently! It's all about learning!