PROGRESS REPORT 28

A L I S A

I have three puppet heads and three puppet bodies. I have zero time to work on them now because of a large amount of spinning homework I have to do by the end of the month. Right now, I would rather be working on my puppets, but I must push on with homework. My one indulgence during homework time is that I still go to the weaving studio. These little guys will have to keep smiling at me from my desk as I spin… I'll reunite with them first thing in February! 

J E N N E

My worktable today.  Felt, Felt, more felt, designing, stitching, planning.  Little dolls, Chinese New Year decorations, lots of little things for celebrations this year.  The word for this year is INTENTIONAL and in the realm of my craft its focusing on what is relevant to our lives and what makes my heart sing.  Looking forward to the first warp of the year on the loom this weekend, making lots of real food, and making by hand the little things.  Happy new year!

PROGRESS REPORT 27

A L I S A

This is a progress picture of a tapestry weaving I'm working on. I'm very happy with all the techniques I'm using to create it. There's coiling, knotting and colour blending. It's about three feet wide and 4 feet tall. The progress pictures I'm taking are not the best as the studio has fluorescent lights. I will document the whole piece nicely when I'm done, but now I like to take a picture at the beginning and end of each session so I can note my progress. I'm enjoying the process so much and love learning from Ixchel who is a wonderful teacher!

J E N N E

I did not mean for this weaving to take so long, but considering half of it was woven with a severely bruised wrist and hand I am so happy to have finished it at all!  I love the interplay of warp and weft - a subtle stripe and also variations in texture. Also I have to figure out how to get a floor loom, Saori or otherwise.  Weaving on the rigid heddle loom works well but I really just want to fly right now. I can get into a good rhythm but its a bit slower than my hands and heart want to work at.

PROGRESS REPORT 26

A L I S A

I finally finished and blocked my Camino de Santiago cowl by Danielle Kassner. I started it last year when I was visiting Cal at Hodge Podge Farm. It's made out of a variety of yarns from my stash and is super warm and cushy and perfect for the impending winter. It's done in tapestry crochet and I have to say that this is one of my favourite techniques. I cannot wait to use it more and make up my own patterns. The only thing about it was that it was a difficult project to carry around because there was a chart and several balls of yarn on the go at once. I'm thinking of digging out my fingerless mitts to finish - a pattern by the same designer. 

J E N N E

Last week I almost totally destroyed my left hand in a fall at my daughter's school. Thankfully, after xrays nothing was deemed broken, just a lot of pain, bruising, and a sprain. My doctor's prescription was normal daily activity in moderation, and when I explained that that for me was alot of handwork she said yes. My hands were used to the work and it was important to keep the muscles moving in the ways they are used to. Alisa sent me a message that Laboradite would be a good stone to hold in my hand to help heal, so I spent the last week weaving and knitting on this vest, alternating with rest holding my favorite blue flashy stone in hand. And today my hand is so purple, turning yellow, in the clearing up stages of bruising and looks terrible but feels totally normal. Thank you craft. Thank you hands.

PROGRESS REPORT 25

A L I S A

Yesterday I went on a little outing with my little knitting/crochet group. We went to this very nice store called Camilla Valley Farms. It's an amazing little store in an outbuilding on a farm about 45 minutes away from where I live. The two best things about it are that they carry every colour of Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift - looking at that wall inspired me to pick up some yarn for a cardigan that I fell in love with. The pattern is beautiful and kind of different that what I usually make. I don't want to post a picture yet… I'll post my progress. The second amazing thing is that they are a weaving supply place and, holy moly, I'll be returning soon! I wish I could teleport Jenne here to visit the shop with me!

J E N N E

Sometimes it is like a domino run, one craft bumps into another craft, start working on a project and hey, I want to do this to use it in that.  After the halloween costume making hurricane that consumed my studio last week, I did a big clean up and picked up one of my spindles and felt like spinning again.  I found this electric pink roving that I had put in the sell/trade bin now it makes all the sense with the technicolor palette I am weaving now and started to spin it up.  I am rusty.  I dropped my spindle a lot.  But I spun enough to realize that its going to be my morning ritual - waking up early making tea and spinning for a half an hour before everyone is up.  Making the yarn I want.  Maybe to get to a goal of 100% handspun for weaving.  Slowly, with little steps.

PROGRESS REPORT 24

J E N N E

Halloween said hello and consumed my studio time this last week and as much as I felt like I was cruising along with the weaving I had to take a break to make this come to life.  Cotton Flannel, Silver Lame, Sparkely Yarn, this was 100% my daughters input at the fabric store and I either was not paying attention or was super tired and came home with these materials.  Next day reviewing the project and, whoa.  Yet somehow, flannel is a perfect backing and support to silver lame.  Not hard to sew at all.  Wings, a hat with a mane and a braided tail, no jumpsuit as in the pattern but please a pink dress and tail the same as my favorite denim dress.  Yes, of course, Happy Halloween my little pink pegasus.  

A L I S A

I have been studying tapestry weaving with Ixchel Suarez for about four months. In mid-September I started a larger piece, moving on from my samplers. It's been wonderful because I'm able to incorporate all the textural techniques into it that I love! This picture is to show one of the techniques that I love the most - knotting! It's great because you can go back to the area and cut/trim it to suit the piece. This part is much longer than it will be in the finished piece. I'm done this area and moving back to a flat weave to fill in around it. It's labour intensive as an art form and I'm enjoying taking pictures of the piece at the beginning and ending of each session. I would say it's about 2.5' x 4.5' ish, so it's quite large. I'm missing working on it this week, but I'm teaching a doll making class which is also very fun…. one can't do it all!

PROGRESS REPORT 23

J E N N E

Playing with color - its way too fun.  Whats not so fun is warp threads snapping which is what you see there on the left.   I cut this piece off the loom and am going to explore sewing with it. Felt it slightly to lock in that warp snag and tranformation into... pillows, hood to a jacket?  Yokes of dresses, pockets?  And then back to the loom, to weave more yardage.

A L I S A

"When in doubt, start a Wingfeathers Shawl", that is what Cal told me and I agreed! Cal is, among other things, a crochet goddess and this is her pattern. I had this beautiful yarn laying around that my mom gave to me and I needed a "mindless" project to work on while I concentrate on bigger things (like a large tapestry weaving I'm doing that is really hard to photograph at this stage). I have to say that the yarn and pattern work really well together and I know I'm going to love this shawl! It's also one of those situations where you want to keep going to see what the next colour looks like - total motivation to get it done!

PROGRESS REPORT 22

J E N N E

I love weaving.  The rhythm and the wordless consideration of what color change to do or how far to pull the clasped weft is meditation for me.  I love weaving at night it is the perfect way to end the day and I love waking up in the morning and peeking in my studio to see the colors in the sunlight.  The warp is still crazy, and last night two warp threads broke so I was up super late getting through the rough parts.  No big deal,  tie on a connector through the heddle and move on.  In my mind I was hoping to get to this technicolor place, the warp creating a background of light and dark (there is some brown in the honeycomb color yarn)  and this is exactly it.  

A L I S A

I finally finished my Pop Spots Siamese Cat shawl and I love it! I decided to put a crocheted edging on it instead of the knitted one called for in the pattern, mostly because I love crochet and love adding it to knitting. I was chose a clover pattern which goes with the personal theme of this scarf (I even added a four leaf clover as a surprise). I was getting a little worried towards the end that it wasn't going to be very big as the pattern structure is quite collapsable, but it blocked out quite a lot. I just love how big and cozy this shawl is and how my nearest and dearest had a huge hand in the making of it. It's going to be my fall go to.