Inspiration...

When I was in Portland last week, I went to the Portland Handweaver's Guild show in Multnomah, courtesy of LindaLou's tour guide service.



Their sign is woven - it's very, very cool.

There were lots of very, very well woven (and felted) pieces. I was amazed. The first one you saw (after the sign above) was this robe. Made of cotton, chenille and maybe silk, it looked like a wearable hug.

Back in 1998, I wove a really lovely piece of fabric - it's a mixed warp of cotton, cotton/linen, cotton/rayon and rayon with a silk weft, which looks mostly turquoise. After washing and drying, I have about 3 1/4 yards. I have yet to cut into it to make something.  I admire people who can!!

One of the pieces is cardwoven. Here is a whole shot and a detail - incredible:

Linda had a couple of pieces - here's one:

There were a number of scarves, in different, interesting colors, weaves, etc.:

This is a detail of a cocoon-type jacket. The ruching is actually wool in the weft, which, when wet finished, fulled. Very clever, and really effective use of different fibers!

Last night, we were sitting around talking about an up-coming Farm Day at a nearby dairy. The subject of weaving came up, and I thought of a small loom that I used to have.  When I had retrieved my loaned reed from the new owner awhile back, she said she hadn't woven on it.  So, I called her to see if she would be interested in selling it back to me - she was!!  So I'll be getting it back this week. It's a Dorset Loom, sort of a precursor to the Baby Wolf. It weaves 25-26" wide, and is 4 shaft direct tie-up.

I'm excited! I'm thinking I might put a couple of scarves on it for the farm day and see how it goes!

Now I just have to replace the dowels that inadvertently got pitched in the move so I can use my warping reel again...