A Happy Blanket

A friend of mine bought a wool blanket back in March 2013 and has used it lots and enjoyed it a great deal. I was really happy to see a photo on Facebook in which she and her two young grandkids are cuddled up under it and reading together. This blanket was woven in twill blocks and the weft has two colours going all the time, giving it quite a textured and interesting look.

Here it is before washing:

My friend was recently at my studio to buy some towels, and she'd brought her blanket after remembering my offer to all blanket owners that I'll happily hand wash it when they'd like. I have to officially recommend dry cleaning, but gentle and careful hand washing is actually better for the fibres, and it will plump them up and soften them a little.

This was all very helpful for me to see: a blanket after over two years of use - very nice, no wear or problems - and how it looked after another washing. Even better!

Update: The blanket owner emailed me after receiving her blanket back and said: 

"The blanket looks better than ever (if that is possible). I can’t wait to snuggle into my favorite chair with it this evening. Thanks for the tender loving care, Jane."

One Woman's Trash is Another Woman's Treasure

Busy weavers accumulate a fair bit of "trash" in the form of empty cones and bobbins and extra yarns from loom waste. I hate the word "trash" because I always try to find a use for anything and at least recycle the cardboard cones and bobbins.

But my supposed trash is actually a friend's treasure. She is a pre-school teacher and she loves my trash!

Empty bobbins from cotton are used to build things.

Shetland wool cones are great to turn upside down to make ice cream cones with a pom-pom on top.

Loom waste, called thrums, is already knotted into groups for each inch on the back beam, so they're pretty tidy. And my thrums come in lots of colours. :-)

My friend has raved about how valuable my studio waste is for her young children and all their activities. She's delighted to receive my trash - and I am even happier!

The Creative Itch - Or Is It A Curse?

One of the big parts of being an artist is letting one's work just happen, and just go in whatever way it seems to want to go. This is one of the most amazing differences I've found between the professional, science-based, collaborative work I used to do with what I do now. Some of the most challenging and really difficult parts of being a weaver are also the most exhilarating and intriguing. And some of the most exhilarating and intriguing parts are also the most challenging and really difficult.

I recall making photographs for the Birch Card - posing the blanket in so many different ways on the birch branches, camera on tripod trying to capture the perfect pose. Ha, impossible. It was so difficult to get what I wanted - as if I even knew what I wanted (I didn't), but just what seemed right. But then it turned out not bad.

In a recent project of cotton blankets, I wanted to use colours that worked together as similar tones but which avoided my usual palettes of red/blue/purple or green/blue/purple, although they are just fine, and add some sort of new life to what I was creating.  I had so many colours on my work table, and I would group them and start weaving with one ... then I'd change it all by the second colour. And still not think it was right. It was like an itch I couldn't get to - like right between the shoulder blades.

Then the blankets were all unwound from the front beam and stretched out on the studio floor to be cut apart.

Oh, WOW.

The blends are fantastic.  I love purple but I know not everyone does. However, what I've done, I think, blends in the purple very easily with blue and two close shades of red. It just totally works.

I should probably relax the next time I feel that unreachable itch, but I probably won't. I'll know though that I really thought out what I produced, or let it do its own thing - and at least I did my best.

Big Cotton Blankets in Blues and More

This latest project was initiated by a request for a custom tablecloth. Along with the tablecloth, which would be woven at over 3m long, I decided to make more cotton blankets in the big diamonds and herringbone I enjoyed in my last towel project.

One more blanket is being fringed; all of the blankets below are hemmed, so easily machine washed and dried.

First, here's the tablecloth:

C232 | 100% cotton | 277 cm x 135 cm (9' 1" x 53") | Custom order

The other five cotton blankets are:

C229 | 100% cotton | 175 cm x 135 cm (69" x 53") | Sold

C230 | 100% cotton | 183 cm x 135 cm (72" x 53") | Sold

C231 | 100% cotton | 186 cm x 135 cm (73" x 53") | Sold

C233 | 100% cotton | 175 cm x 135 cm (69" x 53") | Sold

C234 | 100% cotton | 188 cm x 135 cm (74" x 53") | Sold

The last blanket will be personally delivered to Ottawa today for "Meet the Weaver" on August 14 at Alison's house. Let me know if you want the location and time to stop in.

Georgian Bay Blankets in North Vancouver

A friend of a friend of my sister was very interested in the idea of Cariboo Handwoven blankets from the Georgian Bay collection. We had a lovely email exchange for a few months (and got to know each other a bit in the process) and I designed and created two blankets for her.

Each blanket begins with shades of blue with whitecaps, then into grey granite with that bright orange lichen, then the evergreens - clumps of cedar and those beautiful solo windswept white pines, and then blue skies with puffy cumulus clouds. That's the sequence from one end of each blanket to the other.

One blanket is pure Shetland wool:

And the other is mixed with handspun mohair - I did the handspinning over the last long while and found lots of suitable colours from my archives:

(Both photos show the water, rock and tree sequence and miss all the sky.)

The blankets arrived in North Vancouver today and here's what the buyer emailed to me:

I confess to high expectations, but must say that the finished product has exceeded them - I am thrilled beyond measure. The online photos do no justice to the colour saturation, nor to the texture of your work.
I will give you some respite, but you have not heard the last of me as a customer. 

I was so thrilled to read her wonderful response!

I know I need to post better photos and I'm working on that, believe me. And, I have a new policy that anyone ordering from me can receive a full refund if what they receive is not to their expectations and they contact me right away and return the item quickly and in good condition. That means they can take the risk and only pay the shipping to and from their location. 

Anyway, feedback like that means a ton to me!  Thank you so much!! :-)))

Three-Twill Towels

Blog readers know how much I enjoy designing and weaving towels. People love them, they're great as gifts or for the buyer's own use, and they give me lots of inspiration and opportunity to try new ideas. I'm always thinking about towels, it seems.

I just wove 23 towels, some in three twills after I rethreaded the centre two inches into a very wide diamond. I love the look and used it for the next set of towels which are at the hemming stage.

Here are some samples. If you're interested in any, they're about 65-70 cm long (26-28") and 57 cm wide (22.5"). All are 100% cotton and can be machine washed and dried. (Machine drying may shrink them a bit though.) If you have a favourite colour or two, I can send photos of any that may meet your needs.

A Local Source of Icelandic Sheep Fleece

I recently learned that a local friend has Icelandic sheep with fleeces processed into roving that's ready for spinning.  As far as I know, Icelandic sheep are pretty highly renowned for their fibre quality. The fleeces have long fibres that are great for spinning.

I'm always on the hunt for local suppliers because I strongly believe that we should support each other and help develop our local economy, even at a very small scale. On that note, I hope to continue to do business with Heritage Valley for their gorgeous alpaca, and the Wengers for their beautiful Romney wool. And, the local economy and doing business among friends is really positive and just plain fun.

Anyway, last week I visited Donna on Fox Mountain and met her sheep and their valiant guard dog.  I bought over a kilogram each of two shades of brown roving, which is cleaned and carded fleece that's been processed into a long strand that only needs drawing out as much as the spinner wishes. Donna and I, along with her daughter, have great plans to combine my handwoven wool cloth with her expert sewing into some useful and classic designs. This is a big part of the fun for me.

Here are the Icelandic sheep and their fearless protector:

And here are some samples of Donna's roving, nicely packaged into big balls of 200 g and 600 g.

Donna has more roving available, so feel free to contact her at dfdonnafroese "at" gmail "dot" com if you're interested. I highly recommend it! Just be sure to leave me more. :-)