Wednesday 17 July 2013

Ooops, I told a fib!

The weather and the Interislander decreed that I would not travel to Wellington at the weekend so I was, after all, able to attend the Weavers' meeting on Monday and here are some photos to prove it.  First instalment covers the show and tell.
A most un-Chris colour but her trade mark crackle block weave using soft brushed wool in the weft. It would make a great sit-up-in-bed-and-find-all-the-patterns entertainment for a sick patient as well as being cheerful and warm.   



The pattern of Win's baby blanket looks quite different in the samples from the same warp using different wefts.

Judy has not been spinning long but this ball of Gotland wool is smooth and beautiful.  Her first spinning is woven with singles yarn in warp and weft, fulled in the washing machine and is cosy and comfortable.

Jen is now confident to weave a wool scarf in 8 shaft twill at 20 epi.  Well done Jen.

Judy brought along this sample of defelected double weave which arrived via Cross Country Weavers.  Different from other samples of this technique we have seen, it shows many possibilities.

Nancy is helping along the Creative Fibre project to knit hundreds of baby singlets in honour of The Royal Baby which, at this stage, is yet to arrive.  CF members all over NZ will be donating these singlets to local hospitals and Plunket societies.  Of course, Nancy's are knitted in alpaca yarn.

Betsy's work in progress is a pair of fingerless gloves which she is adapting from a pattern for normal gloves.  The pattern is what I suppose we now call vintage . . . the price on it is sixpence!

More soon about the fascinating things June had us delving into.

Saturday 13 July 2013

 As I won't be at the July Weavers' Group meeting I am posting pics of my show and tell in the hope of earning a brownie point or two.  Two lightweight knee rugs from the same warp which is alternate machine washable and non-machine washable wool.  I wondered what would happen when I washed it but . . . nothing!  I hand washed it and spun it in the washing machine.
 This model is slightly larger than the top one. It confirms my belief that I don't like space-dyed yarns used in the weft.  Perhaps if I hadn't used a definite twill line it wouldn't look as though the weft streaks are fighting with it.  Or if the colour range had stayed in the mid-blue range without going so dark I would have been happier.  Lesson learned.
Of course it looks different in use.  The dark throw on the back of the couch is the one which gave me so much trouble on the dark overcase days when I couldn't see what I was weaving and resorted to a head lamp to get it finished. The result was quite OK in the end but I will think twice before weaving dark yarns in the winter from now on.

Have a great meeting.