Alpaca Weekend

I had the opportunity to sell some of my things last month at A Star Alpaca in Grass Valley, CA. It was during a ranch tour. As you can see the alpaca are lovely animals. It was a great weekend.

I was with two other weavers for the two-day event. We had a great set-up.

I had baby blankets
and towels for sale.

The Holidays Will Be Here Soon

I started work on the Christmas towels. I've got the warp on the back beam. It is a 12/2 unmercerized natural cotton, so it doesn't show up well in pictures - certainly not much to show yet. It is there on the far right of this picture.

But for this pattern I have to do a bit of re-chaining under the loom. Yikes - not a very big space and it gets harder every year...

Finished Blankets

I was able to get 3 2/3 blankets out of the current warp. I have several less than full blankets sitting around. I am trying to figure out how I can sew them together for regular sized blankets or maybe do something that could be doll-sized. Not sure.

These did turn out very nicely and I like the colors - mostly pink, but with some purple and a little green and a hint of orange as well.



There are two closer looks.
These are very simple - plain weave sett at 10 epi with a variety of cotton yarns for the warp and synthetic yarn for the weft - Mostly baby yarns.








Next project is Christmas towels.

Blankets for Girl Babies

Started with a pile of pink, white and purple yarns and found some nice combinations for baby girl blankets. There are two on the way imminently

and I don't have any blankets I can give. So have to get busy.

The warp is all cotton, except for a couple of small sections which use a cotton/synthetic blend for one of the pairs.

I am still lashing on, but I am hoping to be weaving soon.

Finished Towels

I finished the cotton/linen warp with a potpourri of structures. Several were extended point twills using the same yarn as the warp. One was woven off with medium brown Foxfiber cotton and another 10/2 yellow unmercerized cotton.

The ones that were woven with cotton/linen yarn were less dense than the M's & O's, but still nice.

Next project is pink baby blankets...

If It's August, It Must Be Fair Time

After several years of not bothering (or not having anything novel to enter) I entered three pieces in the County Fair this year. Two towels and a table runner - one of the cotton/linen M's & O's towels and a twill Foxfiber cotton one. The latter was using natural as the weft rather than one of the two shades of Foxfiber from the warp. That one got a third place ribbon.

The table runner was one I wove several years ago. The structure is canvas cloth (4-shaft lacy structure) with a basket and plain weave border. My mother cross-stitched the Egyptian figures. The cross-stitch design was from a British publication called "New Stitches". There are 14 figures representing Egyptian gods. It was a fun collaborative project. This piece got a 1st place blue ribbon and almost got a Best of Division prize. The winner of that is a fantastic weaver. A nice honor to some in second to her.

More Towels

After the four M's & O's towels, I rethreaded the warp to a point twill design. I have one towel finished and maybe three more to go. The white on white is hard to capture but you might be able to see the diamond pattern on the bottom photograph.

Detail of the point twill design. 4-Shaft / 4-treadles; 24 epi and approx. 24 ppi

70/30 Cotton / Linen in white