Out of the dark

If the 'dementors' were to visit me on friday, they could have sucked the soul out of me easily. It had been one of those weeks, months.
I threw out 2 desserts and barely rescued the third. I cast on 2 items but frogged them as I could not get them to work. Things that usually make me feel better don't seem to have the same effect.

I know that it is up to me to change that feeling from dark to light. I know that it is a matter of time. It is winter. I feel cold and pain. I feel tired and can't concentrate. We are past the shortest day. There are 4 weeks till craft camp.

I need to make something, to weave something. I have been thinking about this piece for a while. I had to ask myself though whether I was just asking for trouble.
I wound a warp with this yarn: 24 epi, 21 inches wide, 504 ends, 3.4m long. I don't know if I have calculated the sett correctly. It will be a light fabric, I think.

It looks beautiful. Like bundles of noodles.

And then I started to prepare to thread the heddles. I don't have enough heddles on some of the harnesses. I forgot to count them before I started...... I am out of practice.

It took me a couple of hours to fix this. I could have threaded the warp differently but I wanted the option to do plain weave or twill. There is enough length in the warp to do some experimentation. In fact, I think that this whole piece will be an experiment. I am halfway through threading. I think that I may be ready to start weaving next weekend......

And the weft yarn - a special hand-dyed yarn ( フリスビー手絣) bought from Avril. I think that this colour way has been discontinued.

Things can only get better. Right?

Still experimenting with more of the same.........

I have been experimenting more with the combination of silk stainless steel, felting wool and non-felting alpaca and alpaca/silk yarns. I am getting to understand their behaviour more and so can control the outcome better. 
Here are 2 scarves that I have submitted to the Scarf Festival at the Wool Museum in Geelong.

Scarf 1

Scarf 2

 .........and some more sampling/experimentation for a submission to another exhibition.

on loom

after washing

Wovember: wool + wove

When I first read the word 'wovember' I immediately thought it was 'Woven in November', not surprising when weaving has been on my mind. Upon reading the contents, I realised that it was about wool.

Beautiful, soft, warm, comforting, are some of the words that came into my mind. So here is some wool content from my world:

When I arrived in Vienna, the weather had just turned cold that weekend, I wasn't quite expecting the chill. Winter had (supposedly) just finished in Australia and mentally I wasn't quite prepared for it.

We found this beautiful shop ( GEA shoe shop) that sold felted slippers, woven scarves, blankets, hoods, hats, socks, and fingerless mitts/gloves. All made of wool, 100% wool. It was a very good idea that we bought some. If we are not heading into Summer, I would have bought a pair of those felted slippers........... 

I have been searching for some 'loom' socks all winter. I don't wear shoes when I weave on 'KaTe' (big loom) or 'Chibi' (Saori loom) and I have been searching for what one of my friends calls 'Yeti' socks. They need to be warm and thick enough. I looked at possum/merino ones but they were beyond my price range. I even thought of taking sock knitting classes and some friends had said that they would show me how but I did not want another 'hobby' to distract me from the already many things that I do.........

These organic wool socks are beautifully made, minimal seams, beautiful pattern and colour combinations and just the right thickness and fit.

Kaz also came down for a 'flying visit' this weekend (yes, there are a lot of short visits at present) and brought along the pre-wound wool warp from Saori that I have been drooling over, ever since I saw it on her blog. The warp is 12m long and 225 ends (approx 50-60cm wide depending on the sett). It is predominantly brown but when you look at it closely, there are reds, greens, yellows, greys and pale blues. It is absolutely stunning! And the variety of textures.......

As usual it was a 'want vs need' purchase. I have no idea what I want to weave with a 12m warp. The thought of the yarn selections and the warping already done for me though is temptation indeed!

We went to the Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia and saw the Tjukurrtjanu, and living water exhibitions. I could see weave designs everywhere, inspired by the patterns and the colours of the paintings and discussions with Kaz ( and Dave) as we wondered around. Some of the work in the Tjukurrtjanu exhibitions had very similar colours to the warp.

I was totally inspired and have some thoughts about what weft colours I can try out: black, whites, reds, pale greys, etc.

I am so pleased to see that she is renovating her studio in preparation for Saori workshops! hopefully, ready for next year......... can't wait!