charity knitting

Bears and babies!

Pink Hat!

Swedish Weave and Cookbook

At our January 2017 meeting, Diva Linda, shared her exploration with "Swedish Weave". She found that it appears to be an all encompassing, almost the 'mother' of decorative weaving. She explained 'drall', 'true drall', 'simplified dralls', 'daldrall', 'salldrall' and 'kuvikas'. Her samples were great and her handouts were very informative. This blogger was so enthralled in her program she forgot to take pictures!

Also at the meeting we were given a 'cook book' compiled by Kayla. This had the recipes for food brought to the Christmas party along with pictures of members from throughout the year. A great memento to keep for years to come.

And just to add a bit of color. Here are tiny bears I am knitting for charity.

16 Shaft Twill

You have all heard about 'shaft envy" ? No? Well, it is where someone (Marilynn) has more shaft than you (smile).

The lovely 16 shaft silk twill scarf is her latest. The drape and colors in this scarf makes us all want to go out and buy a 16 shaft loom. She did say she used only 8 treadles for the design. And who doesn't love silk?

Twills are characterized by diagonals called wales going across the fabric. Usually a one shuttle weave without tabby. Using more than 4 shafts and threaded 1-16 in twill progression gives the weaver lots of ways to skip, reveres, or tromp as writ to achieve lots of design potential.

Shikori and Saori

 Janice is explaining to Carol about Saori and Shikori. Both are simple plain weave in structure with a simple tie down. Shikori requires scrap fabrics cut into fine 1/4 inch strips or less, prepared similarly to rag rug preparation. (Two weft are required.) The second weft is usually a fine 10/2 yarn or less. The 'yarn' that Janice used for this purse she dyed this past summer.

Janice also shared her felted braceletts. They were a big hit and if there had been 8 more we would have all went home with one. (smile) 

Summer and Winter

Carol has always wanted to weave these 'trees'. This summer and winter runner is the second one she has woven. The first one I received at our December guild meeting as my exchange gift. And I agree with Carol, this draft is awesome. This, along with mine, will be treasured for many years to come!

"Summer and winter is a name traditionally, in the US, given to a Compound weave having patterns formed by a supplementary weft, closely held in a 3/1 weft float over 3 and under 1 warp end, or conversely, under 3 and over 1 warp end."  Summer and Winter and other two-tie unit weaves- by Harriet Tidball.

The great thing about S&W to me is the different effects you can achieve by playing around with the tabby order or the tie-down order, not to mention the color choices in warp, wefts, and even tabby. A subject worth years of study. This and overshot might be my favorite go-to weaves!

Kumihimo

To say that beads and Rossanna go together like peanut butter and jelly is one true fact to take to the bank!

Here is another of her awesome kumihimo creations. For anyone who has tried this technique with beads they know it takes time and attention to detail to achieve an awesome item like this. Rossanna uses a kumihimo disk to create her items. She is planning on learning to make her own beads in 2017.