Handwashed, Hand Carded, Handspun, Handwoven

I've been working with local fleece for quite awhile now and am always on the hunt for something new and interesting. A new relationship and friendship often develops as the producer and I get to know each other over the years. The Cariboo hosts a variety of sheep breeds that produce some very high-quality wool for spinning, such as Icelandic, Shetland, Romney and Texel. And lately I've been finding new producers, including one in the Chilcotin, to the west across the Fraser River.

I've said for years that I'd rather spin with roving that's ready to go rather than mess around with dirty fleeces through the washing and carding phases. But to support local producers, I need to be a little more resourceful and do a little more of the work. And that work is actually proving to be pretty fun and fulfilling.

A local spinner has been linking wool producers with spinners and fibre artists for a mutually beneficial arrangement. Sheep need to be sheared every spring anyway, and she is helping spinners connect with local producers who have some beautiful fibres to work with. Here's how she puts it:

For me it is the tactile feel of the fibre. From the greasy, dirty fleece - you can almost feel the life of the animal - to spinning the fibre and either knitting or weaving the yarns into something you can wear. It is a wonderful journey.

She came over this spring with all her washing bins and equipment, and she showed me how to wash fleece: hot water with Dawn detergent and minimal agitation, followed by two rinses.

Then hang to dry in a flower/herb dryer (a perfect design for wet fleece).

Once the fleece is dry, it is handcarded, spun and often-but-not-always plied for weaving. That's a fair bit of effort but I find it enjoyable.

Here are three blankets I wove this year. I love them all!

253 | 100% wool with about 50% Icelandic handspun from "Dimayo" | Sold

253 Detail

254 | 100% wool with about 50% Icelandic handspun from "Coco"

266 | 100% wool with about 50% handspun from Icelandic sheep in Horsefly, BC

The first and third blankets have beautiful striations of dark and light shades that really add depth and interest to the finished product. These blankets will last for ages and look beautiful through their lifetimes.

A Wedding Blanket

A big fan of Cariboo Handwoven bought a wool blanket in January for her son and daughter-in-law for their wedding in late April. She and I met for lunch and had a lovely time, and I delivered the blanket then at the restaurant table.

I remembered the date coming and wished her well before. A few weeks later, I learned that everything went off without a hitch and it was a lovely wedding and wonderful family celebration.

I couldn't help but wonder how the blanket was received - well, this couldn't be nicer to hear:

I wanted to let you know that the blanket was a huge hit - apparently the ones I have here have been secretly coveted (I admit having suspected as much). It will enjoy pride of place in their home for many years to come.  

Thank you for the care and talent you put into your art. 

Best wishes to the new couple!

Six New Wool Blankets

I usually weave wool blankets through the year and I finished my latest batch in March. Now they're all fringed and ready to go; one has even sold already. This batch has a very simple pattern of a wide centre stripe in charcoal flanked in light grey, with wide white edges.

Cariboo Handwoven wool blankets are really my classics. They are beautiful in the home, cozy and warm for reading or watching a movie, and they last for years and years - decades, I would say. At this time of year, people looking for grad and retirement gifts might find one here that could suit their needs.

Here they are, the first two with handspun wool with the sheep's name added:

253 | 100% wool (50% handspun from "Dimayo") | 172 cm x 132 cm (67.5" x 52") | Sold

253 Detail

254 | 100% wool (50% handspun from "Coco") | 178 cm x 135 cm (70" x 53") | Sold

255 | 100% wool | 179 cm x 127 cm (70.5" x 50") | Sold

256 | 100% wool | 180 cm x 125 cm (71" x 49") | Sold

257 | 100% wool | Sold at Handmade in the Cariboo

258 | 100% wool | 200 cm x 123 cm (79" x 48.5") | Sold

Let me know if you're interested in any of these blankets!

"Coco" Blanket

I first introduced Coco with Nancy and Carmen in an earlier blog.  To add to the "Coming Home" and "Beetle Kill" blankets in this year's Artwalk, the Coco blanket is the third blanket I am presenting.

Coco's fleece was produced locally, just up on Fox Mountain north of Williams Lake. The producer is a friend, and we have a good relationship through my fleece purchases and what I spin and weave.

SH233 | 100% wool | 180 cm x 135 cm (71" x 53") | Sold

Detail of Coco blanket

Artwalk finishes on Saturday and has been very successful again this year. Thank you to Arty the Artwalker who did all the organization and to my hosts at the Raymond James office on 3rd Avenue.

"Beetle Kill" Blanket #2

Further to my last blog about the "Coming Home" blanket in this year's Artwalk, here is a second blanket I have on display at Raymond James in Williams Lake.  Artwalk is going really well again this year, and the different displays are very good.  Enjoy it if you are here!

OK, here's my second Beetle Kill blanket and its story:

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Lodgepole pine forests in the Cariboo were hard hit by the mountain pine beetle over a decade ago. Bark beetles burrow beneath the tree’s bark and mine through the underlying phloem layer while also introducing a fungus that additionally kills the tree and stains the outer sapwood blue.  Vast areas of the Chilcotin now have many dead pine trees that have decayed and fallen over.  This is all part of the natural cycle.

From the bottom of this blanket, the design depicts the lush greens of the lodgepole pine forest with some scattered darker spruce.  One pine is attacked by the mountain pine beetle and shows red needles, then more trees turn red, and within a year the entire stand is a bright reddish shade. The needles fall to the ground and the forest looks grey.

The trees become standing skeletons that rot and fall over, but the forest responds with the increased light to the forest floor.  New plants pop up and thrive in their brighter environment: lush green shoots of pinegrass, bright golden flowers of heart-leaved arnica and goatsbeard, mauve showy aster with its golden centres, and splashes of bright purple vetch.  As the dead lodgepole pine fall over and their cones release seeds that germinate, the entire stand is renewed to a healthy forest, as shown at the blanket’s opposite end.  

SH244 | Beetle Kill Blanket | 100% wool | 178 cm x 126 cm (70" x 49.5") 

Detail of beetle attack in lodgepole pine

Detail of attacked stand showing new growth of pinegrass and wildflowers

This blanket sold at the UNBC Artisans of the North craft fair in October - thanks!

"Coming Home" Blanket

I set up my Artwalk display this morning and joined the start of the tour to view some of the artists' work in their venues. Artwalk is a month-long exhibit of mostly local artists in various businesses and offices in Williams Lake. My location is Raymond James again this year on 3rd Ave. between the Cariboo Regional District and the Bean Counter (open Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm).  Thank you for having me back!

I have three blankets in this year's Artwalk and I'll present them in three blogs.  The first is my "Coming Home" blanket:

SH242 | "Coming Home" | 100% wool | 178 cm x 126 cm (70" x 49.5") | Sold

Here's the story that goes with this blanket:

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I grew up in Ontario and my family is still there.  So, in my almost four decades living in Williams Lake, I’ve made many trips east and back west, all by plane.  And once I’m on the plane in Toronto to fly west, I can’t get home fast enough.

I’ve always liked maps, and I can get a bit transfixed with the plane’s route over western Canada.  Prairies and grasslands in Alberta transform to the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains past Calgary.  Mountain ranges are crossed in BC before landing in Vancouver on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.  

This blanket was designed to represent that sequence through western Canada: the soft shades of the prairies and grasslands, over snow-capped mountain ranges separated by wide river valleys, and west to the deep blue Pacific.

No matter how special the family visit was, this scene while in my plane seat comforts me that I’m returning home, home to western Canada and the Cariboo.

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If you get a chance to see this year's Artwalk, I highly recommend it. Take your time and enjoy all the great work.

Meet Nancy, Coco and Carmen

Nancy, Coco and Carmen are three ewes (female sheep) from the Cariboo whose fleece I've spun and woven into beautiful blankets. I'm proud to present these on behalf of both the wool producers and the weaver. All three of these blankets are a little heavier in weight than my usual wool blankets. They're woven in simple diamond twill patterns and expected to last for decades of use.

Nancy and Coco are both Icelandic sheep from Fox Mountain, just north of Williams Lake. Long-time blog readers may remember Nancy from an earlier post with her rich, very dark brown fleece. The pattern I wove is a series of large and small diamonds from one end to the other.

SH232 | Nancy 2 | 100% wool | 180 cm x 143 cm (71" x 56") 

Coco's fleece is what I call butterscotch pudding, which is a warm, creamy brown that blends well with the black, greys and white in my first blanket with her handspun wool.

SH233 | Coco 1 | 100% wool | 180 cm x 135 cm (71" x 53") 

SH 233 | Coco 1 | Detail

And Carmen is from Tyee Lake, a little further north of town. I believe she has some Friesian blood but I can't recall the details. What I do remember is her incredibly long and silky fleece. After some quick carding of the raw fleece, it was a dream to spin. This is another very beautiful blanket.

SH234 | Carmen 1 | 100% wool | 178 cm x 127 cm (70" x 50") 

SH234 | Carmen 1 | Detail

All three of these blankets have sold to very enthusiastic buyers.  The Coco blanket was the first to go - at the Williams Lake Farmers Market in September.  Then the Nancy and Carmen blankets sold on the first day of the UNBC Artisans of the North craft fair.  Thanks, everyone!

Studio Visits

Studio visits are one of my favourite ways to show off my work. (Craft fairs have become a close second.)  As well, visitors sometimes bring something for me to see that I find interesting and artistically expanding. Most often I will receive a request from a friend or new person about a certain item, or just to see what I do with all this weaving stuff I talk about.

Earlier this week I had a memorable studio visit by a woman from the Arctic doing a short-term work stint in my community. My first question when she arrived was what brought her to Williams Lake, and my second question was how did she hear about me?

She said she'd searched online for weaving stores, so calling me that was a nice start.  She wanted to look at travel shawls and I had them all out for her to see (a huge advantage when there's a visiting plan, as I have out what's requested and the studio is reasonably tidy).  Once she'd seen them, she meandered over to the blankets and I returned to what I'd been doing before she arrived. But almost immediately she started gushing over the Resilience blanket, which I wove last fall and blogged about in December.

She loved the colours, texture and everything about it, and knew it would be far more useful for her than a smaller travel shawl. Then I told her the Resilience story and she loved it even more. It was a very quick and definite selection.

On the way out to her car, she met the Resilience image photographer and told us more about her life in the Arctic. As she drove out the driveway, he and I were already looking at the map.

The Resilience blanket story was really important to her, which is important for me to remember - the story part. It was so gratifying for me to see someone fall in love with my work right in front of me. Business is always secondary when that happens.

Enjoy and stay warm!

One - No, Two - of My First Blankets

I visited a friend recently and spied a vintage piece of my work, her well-loved blanket, a housewarming gift from almost thirty years ago. She had it hung perfectly neatly on a blanket stand and it looked great.

This had to be one of the first blankets I wove on my Leclerc Colonial I loom. I bought that loom in Vancouver, used, in 1988 and had it shipped north by a moving company. I was dying to expand my projects from my 36" Artisat loom to a 60" loom and with the extra four harnesses I added to the original four.

This blanket would have been woven pretty soon after setting up the Colonial loom and starting with some small projects. The weave structure is turned twill, which I call twill blocks - the threading alternates between 1234 and 5678 to create blocks, with different weft colours to highlight the differences.

I looked up the blanket in my big binder of vintage projects, and there it was. The project of seven blankets took from Nov. 1989 until the following September. My notes itemized all the problems I faced, the delay while I pondered what best to do, and how long it took me to warp and then weave each blanket. Wow, I am quite a bit wiser and more efficient now, good to know!

Anyway, this blanket looked great, all fringes still tightly twisted and knotted, and the owner loves it.

It washed up well and feels much softer and nicer. I did an overnight soak, lots of gentle washing and rinsing, and hung it up to dry outside in the Cariboo sunshine. I returned it to my friend yesterday and was rewarded with a nice latte and chat together.

Update: Coincidentally, I spied this blanket at my brother's house.  With a much busier household than my friend's place, this blanket has taken a bit of a beating but it's held up well.  I fixed some fringes and enjoyed giving it a little TLC.

The light in this image really shows the slightly bubbling mohair stripes, which didn't pull in as much as the wool woven in the rest of the blanket. It's a nice effect though.

Amazing and very interesting for me to see these two very early blankets within only a week or two.

Less is ... Fine

When I wove this blanket I wanted to place the five beautiful greens and blues consecutively in big diamonds. Normally I would add narrow lines of an accent colour between, as Cariboo Handwoven followers may know by now I like to do.

I had the five shades lined up and they looked beautiful together. In big diamonds of what I call rough and smooth twill on a warp of wide grey stripes, this would look very well for a blanket that would have a certain soft boldness to it with the heathery tones. I just needed to choose an accent colour for narrow lines between the colours.

I had a lighter shade of green ... no, too green.
A lighter shades of blue? ... nope, too blue.
Use the light grey from the warp stripes? ... too grey and bland.
A lighter shade then, say, of a heathery beige? Still too bland.

Oh, I know. If in doubt use white. So I wove the first narrow stripe after the first big diamond in white, actually a beautiful cream.

But that was way too bright and sterile, it just didn't work. I unwove all the white.

My solution? No narrow lines between the five shades of heathery greens and blues. Just let the colours mix together, transition in big diamonds from one shade to the next.

SH200 | 100% wool | 187 cm x 130 cm (73.5" x 51") | Private Collection

Problem solved. Less is fine a lot of the time.

Designing a Custom Blanket

Two Williams Lake friends who moved to Victoria last year ordered a wool blanket in the fall. I thought I'd share my process from start to finish in designing a wool blanket for their home, as well as our enjoyable collaboration through emails and photos back and forth.

They wanted the blanket for their den with this mottled carpet of light and dark shades of greyish-brown:

And the blanket was to go nicely with a favourite pillow:

The pillow's background is that it was created by a cross-cultural project of contemporary Aboriginal art, called the Kaltjiti Arts, owned by the artists. The paintings are created by artists in central Australia and then the designs are woven into pillows and rugs in Kashmir. This design is based on the Tali Tali Pompey painting.

The blanket warp consists of wide lines of dark brown, medium brown and a lighter heathery shade. I wove the blanket ends with a line of diamonds in very dark grey (almost black) then there are alternating charcoal and red diamonds. The charcoal has a narrow line of white; the warm red has light grey to avoid a ‘candy cane’ look. Crossing the warp of brown tones with greys helps to bring out the pattern nicely but subtley, and will complement the carpet.

When I sent this photo of the blanket on the loom, it was to ask if there was too much red or anything that should be addressed in a second one (I knew this one would sell if the friends didn't like it). 

But I received this reassuring response:

We LOVE our blanket....please carry on weaving!!  It is simply splendid!

Then I sent a photo of the blanket right off the loom, unfringed and looking stiff and raw.

Again, more lovely reactions:

We are sending a Definite Yes for the beautiful blanket so it can almost 'officially' be ours.  We do love it!  

And here's the final version, not too surprising after all the lead-up.

And then the grand finale email:

Your parcel arrived this afternoon, was signed for, and opened in great anticipation!  We have to tell you that we absolutely love the blanket you have designed and woven for us. It is truly beautiful!  We couldn't be happier with the lovely colours and patterns you have woven into it. 

Jane, I also want to thank you so much for all the enjoyment I have felt as you and I corresponded through the exciting course of planning the blanket.  It was a unique and rewarding experience. 

[We] have certainly been able to see how much thought and heart you put into your weaving and your art. It must been very hard to part with your creations!  We are grateful that you are able to do that! 

Expect us to send more weaving projects your way!

You can tell that these people are very positive. Every email they sent was fun to read and I found the whole project from start to finish very fulfilling and inspiring.

What a great way to end the year.  Thank YOU so much.

Update from the blanket owner in 2019:

I have been meaning to write to tell you how much I enjoyed your Cariboo Handwoven article describing your weaving of our beautiful blanket.  It was such an enjoyable experience with all our emails back and forth during that time.  It allowed us to see your artist's eye and creative process at work. Your blanket has warmed us and our grandchildren since our move to the island.  As people at the coast like to say, it is a 'damp' cold here so it goes to your bones!  Not to ours when we have your blanket to ward off the wet west coast cold!

And one more - thank YOU! :-)

Cariboo Resilience

This blanket has a story, a fairly long one, depending on how you want to look at it. But I'll keep this short.

I blogged through the summer about the British Columbia wildfires and their effects on my community, Williams Lake, and on my friends and family. In some ways, the summer seems a long time ago; in other ways, it doesn't seem that long ago to others.

Pat Teti, my husband, took this photo north of the city in the White Lake burn on the Soda Creek Road. He called this image Resilience and I gave out these postcards at the Medieval Market in November. The photograph shows sprouting Douglas maple in the very recent burn. People loved it.

Then I thought that a Resilience blanket might be a good idea. My plan was to emphasize the charcoal grey with the charred black stumps, and add a splash of the Douglas maple colours roughly in the middle.

SH205 | "Resilience" | 100% wool | 183 cm x 130 cm (72" x 51") | Sold

"Resilience" depicting charred soil surface and blackened stumps

"Resilience" blanket depicting sprouting Douglas maples

Cariboo Resilience will continue in different ways for all of us in 2018, I am quite sure.

Three of My Best Wool Blankets

Today I delivered three wool blankets, all generously sized, fringed, soft, and ready for years and years of use. They cover a range of natural shades of wool from the Wenger Sheep Farm north of Williams Lake, BC. I know the Wengers from years of fleece sales and spinning tales, but they no longer have sheep and so their last fleeces were really special to me.

These three blankets have a warp of Shetland wool threaded in a series of diamonds in what I call smooth and rough twill. Each blanket is woven with a variety of the five shades I spun - from white through light grey, two browns and a dark brown.

This is where I stood back and thought - "Wow, I love these blankets!"

Three wool blankets with handspun weft from the Wenger Sheep Farm

Wenger Blanket #16

Wenger Blanket #17

Wenger Blanket #18

Blanket Spa

Cariboo Handwoven not only produces wool blankets, but I offer free handwashing to blanket owners, whether it's local pick-up and delivery or through shipping. Recently, I found it necessary to do a little rehab work on a well-used blanket. I had the satisfaction of doing some minor repairs that will prolong the blanket's life, appearance and usefulness.

Two local friends, a couple, bought blankets for each other several years ago. I remember well the studio visit and then the Medieval Market visit at my booth a year or two later. Each of them took time to select the perfect blanket for their spouse, and they obviously chose well.

I'd heard that their blankets were two treasures they'd packed for the wildfire evacuation this summer. It really warms my heart to think that their unique blankets were so personally important for their function as well as their connection to home. I recently emailed them about washing their blankets while the September sunshine lasts, and here's what I heard back:

Boy, during the fires, those blankets got dragged around from Gavin Lake to the evac centre in Prince George, Chetwynd, Moberly Lake and Aleza Lake Research Forest and back home finally. They were really nice to have along.

I picked up the blankets on Friday and was gently warned that the Georgian Bay one had seen daily use in years of ownership. Yes, how true, I noticed ... little pulls from cat claws, a huge pull that had been knotted tight, and I later found a missing fringe.

The little pulls I gently eased flat with a darning needle, the huge pull I unknotted carefully with a sharp sewing pin (please don't do that again!) and eased flat, and the missing fringe I fixed:

12 new threads were spliced into the blanket and then twisted as fringe.
The ends at the top were trimmed after washing.

Then both blankets went into a laundry tub of sudsy water, not too hot and not too cool. I let them sit and luxuriate for quite awhile to bask in the suds and ease away all that travel dirt and stress. After several rinses, they had a machine spin on gentle, and then went out on the line to dry by soaking up some moonlight overnight and the next morning's soft sunlight.

Left: Georgian Bay wool blanket showing the layers of water with whitecaps and then rock.
Right: Wool blanket woven in twill blocks with approx. 50% white handspun wool/mohair.

Out in the studio the two blankets each had a good pressing with the iron. Up one side, down the other. Turn over and repeat. I fixed any last little pulls I'd missed and trimmed the top of the new fringe. Then the blankets were placed flat on the floor to cool and rest. This is a blanket spa after all.

I'm returning the blankets today. The Georgian Bay blanket looks vastly softer and fluffier, and the other one in twill blocks also has a rejuvenated look and feel to it.

I learned a few things from all of this and was delighted to take on this little task, especially for friends. And I was lucky to receive a container of home-grown honey in appreciation - thank you back!

A New Georgian Bay Blanket

My latest presentation of new wool blankets omitted the last one which was waiting to be fringed and finished, but it is ready to show now. This one depicts the colours and scents of Georgian Bay, a special place for all my family as well as many Canadians and others.

The blanket's design emulates the blue waters with whitecaps, the grey rock with orange lichen, Georgian Bay's windswept white pines, and the deep blue sky and puffy clouds above.

SH187 | 100% wool | 175 cm x 127 cm (69" x 50") | Sold

SH187 Detail | Water and rock in the Georgian Bay blanket design

As with the other six blankets, the blanket's weave structure is lengthwise stripes of plain and advancing twill which give a nice contrast of distinct and wavy lines.

My Georgian Bay blankets and towels have been much-appreciated and admired in the time I've been making them. They remind the user of those special fragrances of the sun-warmed granite and white pines, and many carefree summer days.