There’s Actually Weaving Going on Here

Okay – not a huge amount, but with the snow last weekend, there was a good move forward.

Bamboo

Before we left, I did cut all the bamboo that I had cleaned and finished.  So it was waiting for me very nicely laid out on the floor.  Some of the bamboo is not straight, or has zigzags in it.  I chose to take smaller, thinner pieces to fill in those gaps.   The picture above is a bit dark because I took it from underneath the loom.  I was able to “weave” in enough to need to advance the “fabric”!  I pulled out some old towels to cushion between the bamboo and the loom – both at the front and at the back for winding.   

The Joy of Silk

Before we left, I also made a bit of progress on the Christmas  “Joy”.  This is my first time working with a cartoon.  I was enjoying the results so much I found I had the weaving bug just when we are about to head out!  I found the same joy when I returned and wove without abandon this weekend.  Again – not much, but I am pleased with some progress at this point!  I think the piece is turning out to be a bit “folksy” with the thicker black lines.  Part of that is likely the scale, but I still am happy with it and it will likely make a good present for next year.   But shhh  - don’t tell anyone!

The Blues

First off, a family of blue birds has decided to come live in our yard. We had built a 16 apartment birdhouse for purple martins on the porch of the garage many years ago. Starlings have been the only ones checking it out and not even every year. The blue bird has decided the bottom right apartment is theirs. He's been checking out the domain and generally bullying everything that moves.

Blue-green has made the scene on the wedge weave. Progress is going, but just not as fast as earlier this year. That's okay - there's plenty of time, but I'm more concerned about running out of the blue yarn. It's going to happen, but I think it'll make it through the blue-green blended section. I was planning to change the colors back on the other side of a plain green block. So soon I shall make a trip to Asheville!

Lastly, I am blue over the fact that I really do have a string thing! I thought I had control, but when I heard $0.50/lb for silk - I had to go! It turns out there is a yarn distributor about 1/2 hour from me and he normally works in truckloads for all sorts of industries. A friend's aunt found him and he had told her to come by. The friend invited me along and I was eager to see what could be. It turns out the distributor has a number of samples and basically wants to give them away. When he was pulling out a few cones, he kept saying "There's not enough on here to really do anything." All I thought was, "That spool is lifetime supply for me!"

I have 5 cones of silk that likely was for upholstery. They are in red, gold and white. They scream Christmas to me. Then, there is the space dyed silk that is blue, lavender, mauve and khaki. My friend was getting samples for his aunt. I told him I would glad share this one with her. I'll never use all of it. Lastly, there is the spool of white fine silk . He had a few more of it, but I don't know that I'll use more than one. When I asked what to pay him, he just said for me to take it. Here they all are, my latest yarn acquisition with no projects planned! Oh I'm in so much trouble!!!