What Weavers Wear

And during our July meeting, some of the weavers wore their own creations. Here's Anne's scarf:


Jenny's scarf and knitted alpaca jacket.


And Win's hand-painted scarf.


by Rose Pelvin

July Meeting

A daytime meeting was a good idea for July. The sun shone and we enjoyed sitting outside for our lunch.


And just so you know a nice chat is not all we had, here's Noeline looking on as Anne-Marie shows Joan how she does leno on her rigid heddle loom.

by Rose Pelvin

Resuscitation, by Rose Pelvin

In a recent tidy up I unearthed this shawl which has been skulking in the back of the cupboard. When I first made it I thought I was clever picking out in mohair the colours of the flecks in the wool boucle to outline the darker grey stripes. It didn't do much for it; in fact looked a bit pathetic in my opinion. I decided to breathe a bit of new life into it and replaced the three colours with red (mohair again), then added bulk and texture by doing a whip stitch over each two rows of plain weave. It has perked up considerably and looks much healthier. The handle is soft and light - and so warm! If it doesn't sell this time I will be happy to use it myself.

by Rose Pelvin

Profile: Dot Fowke

This winter seems to be the season for looms to be brought out of storage and resurrected. Dot Fowke was valiantly trying to tie up a countermarch loom for a friend of a friend. As she hadn't met either the F of F or a countermarch loom before, Joan and I called for a visit to lend a hand. I let them do the crawling around the floor bit while I took photos. That's Dot's back view in the top photo, and Joan looking as though she really knows what she's doing. Between us we had some success and were rewarded with a cuppa, drinking in Dot's view at the same time (bottom photo), and admiring her working space and marvelling over her loom (centre right photo). It is a unique model, surely one of a kind, made by someone with serious engineering design skills. It can be easily "unlocked" and folded up to be moved. Having been bought at auction it has come without stories - what a shame - I'm sure it could tell a few.

Dot lives at Rarangi in a two-storey house with windows looking out over most of Marlborough. She has a sea view out over Cloudy Bay, the Vernon Bluffs and the Wairau Bar, and also looks south to where Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku can be seen peeking over the Wither Hills (centre
photo). A very quiet member of the group, Dot's weaving is restricted to the days she is unable to get out into her extensive garden. She has recently completed an Agribusiness course in commercial horticulture and has a certificate to show for it - and another on in plant propagation.
She has propagated about 90% of the plants in her garden - and it's Large! and it's Full! She weaves for family who appreciate her blankets and throws.

by Rose Pelvin

More Sauce for the Gander, by Rose Pelvin

While I was reasonably happy with my "Sauce for the Gander" scarf I didn't think it was special enough for an exhibition with a capital E run by the Alpaca Association. So I mucked around with it! I agonised for ages trying to decide what to do - even pestered my daughter for advice. Thank goodness I took it. As the scarf was quite wide I narrowed it down by embroidering a row of square stitch along each edge, placing a tiny pearl bead at each square. I then took a deep breath and cut off the edges which were not all that neat because I had woven with two shuttles. I fringed the long sides, but not the ends, having been told "No, Mum, it would look like a fluffy table runner."

I bundled it up, sent if off and heaved a great sigh. This is my one finished project in about six weeks. Selection time came and went and I had no confirmation that it had been accepted, someone else had, so I accepted the fact that it had not been selected. I wasn't too surprised. Imagine my delight then, when later I had a phone message to say I had won second prize! (All that worry wasted.) So you get to see the scarf again.

The 100% alpaca handspun yarn in the scarf was spun by Nancy Taylor from fibre from her alpaca named "Inca Sun" so I called my entry "Inca Sun's Hidden Pearls."

by Rose Pelvin