Towels in Use

My friend, Shirley, bought two more towels at the Medieval Market and just sent me this photo of one of them on her table at home. Like so many people, she said "I could never dry my dishes with this lovely towel!" But I think, and hope, that many dishes and hands eventually meet up with my towels.

Thanks for this photo, Shirley!

Medieval Market a Huge Success!

What a great weekend that was! Thank you to .... all who visited my booth, other vendors for their company and good advice, and the organizers and many volunteers for another fantastic medieval market. I enjoyed having my own Cariboo Handwoven booth with many friends stopping in to chat and browse.

Here are some photos (all by P. Teti):

Columneetza students with the 10:00 am line-up waiting to get in

Stretching out a wool and alpaca blanket with Michaela

With another friend, Rick, looking at cotton towels

Youth fiddlers on Saturday - music all day through the Medieval Market

Quintet Plus sang both days - thank you!

Magical Jesaja - this guy is GOOD

Two of the Patenaude girls - Pharis Romero and Marin Patenaude. Pharis and her husband Jason recently won  New/Emerging Artist of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards

Thanks again to everyone, and a quick thanks once again to Pat for all his help. :-)

Ready for the Medieval Market!

The Medieval Market is this weekend in Williams Lake at Columneetza Secondary School. It has a new website with lovely graphic design. Hours are 10 am to 4 pm both Saturday and Sunday.

Set-up for my booth went well early this evening, after a trial set-up in my studio this week to figure out how to arrange and display all my blankets, towels and scarves in an 8x8 space. Thank you very much to Pat for his essential help today. :-)  And thanks to Janet, my booth neighbour (and friend) for her typically great ideas that helped me out.

Thank you also to Josh and Tom at Speedpro Signs for banner design and production, and special thanks to 100 Metre Woodworking for my beautiful blanket rack, cash box, stool and postcard display.

Two other weavers are selling their products this year: Eva Hoelzler and Laura Fry. I'm looking forward to an exciting weekend at the Medieval Market!

Seven Scarves

Seven scarves are ready to go. Three are pure cotton (on the top of the rack) and the other four are silk and cotton. They all include gradual colour shifts in the design.

All of my scarves are generously sized: these are 25-26 cm (approx. 10 inches) wide and 155-180 cm long - long enough to wrap around the wearer's neck a few times and still drape down each side.

They're off to the medieval market this weekend ... let me know if you're interested in more information.

A Memories Blanket with Many Memories

Cariboo Handwoven Memories Blankets began as baby blankets that I wove over many years and gave to family members and friends with a new baby. I usually produce them in classic waffle weave which forms insulating air cells, and always in 100% cotton that can be machine washed and dried - good thing, considering how they are used! I've modified the colour scheme to reduce the pastel baby colours while staying with soft shades that suit many ages. These blankets are enjoyed and admired for many years by the parents and the growing child.

My friend, Diane, recently posted this comment and sent me these photos about her well-loved blanket:

"I can sooo vouch for these blankets. We are fortunate to have one of Jane's that is now 23 years old. It was so cozy to cuddle up in for those late night feedings when you didn't think you'd ever get 8 hours of sleep again. Two children and dozens of washings later, and it has only gotten softer. It'll be used with our children's children next ... "

Thanks, Diane!  

The Scarves Continue

I've now woven a few scarves with lovely silk in three colours: navy, magenta and mauve. They combine with the navy, purple and burgundy warp really nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing how they work when fringed, washed, pressed and ready to wear.

It's snowing lightly here this morning and it's beautiful outside, but good weaving weather to be inside.

Medieval Market

The Medieval Market is fast approaching on November 24-25 in Williams Lake. The organizers have done a great job again on the poster!

Silky Scarves

My latest project on the big loom is a series of cotton and cotton-blend scarves in undulating twill. I used to weave scarves often, and usually in very fine cottons and silks. It's good to back.

The warp starts with dark blue on the left, then morphs into purple, then morphs again into a bluey-red on the right. This is producing a beautiful effect of colour blends. The weave structure is undulating twill, which lives up to its name by producing dreamy waves across the cloth.

At 32 threads per inch, the cotton is very fine and not much thicker than thread. These scarves are taking awhile to weave! But I think they'll be worth it. The pure cotton scarves will be very silky, and then I am also planning to weave with bamboo (first time) and silk. At the second scarf, I'm already keen to finish all eight scarves, fringe them, wash them and see how they look. Typical for me ...

Here are two samples on the loom:

Shipment to Ottawa

Today I finished organizing all the items and paperwork that my sister will need for her open house in Ottawa. Tomorrow I'll ship her six wool blankets, six cotton blankets, 20 towels and 6 towel sets of two that go together. Some of the invitees have requested certain items to view first, and that's all organized for her.

Here's the stack of things that I packed in two boxes. (I still can't get a vertical photo to insert properly in a blog post - sorry!)