Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Weaving silk and memories

I've taken a break recently from my other wonderful time consuming distractions to finish a weaving project for a much loved friend. While visiting with her in Boulder late last year my friend asked me to weave her something. Usually I beaver away for a while and then bestow a gift on someone with a ..."here, have some of my hand made crafts." So it was wonderful to be asked to make something. I also (happily) got to drag my friend along to the yarn shop I had been eyeing off but avoiding because like most knitters I am drowning in yarn and really don't need any more...although beautiful, it can start to become a bit of a burden. So, off to Gypsy Wools we went. I am so glad we did, Gypsy Wools has a glorious array of all hand dyed yarns.... and I really can't resist what I call gourmet yarn from a local crafter/artist!


It took a while to get into this project, but with the help of lots of cups of tea and a lovely crafternoon I managed to get into the swing. I do love these colours, and when the silk yarn catches the light it is truly beautiful...a little like spun gold. So now, after a brief stint in the southern hemisphere, this yarn is returning to its place of creation...I really quite like that.







I had really enjoyed the weaving again, and we are coming into the autumn here in Canberra, so I straight away warped up the loom with a scarf for myself...with all my favourite colours. One thing I love about the knitters loom is that I can use all the ends of balls from finished knitted goods. For me all the yarn in my stash has a little history and that is woven (literally and figuratively) into the new project. My autumnal colours scarf has some hand spun yarn from an amazing spinner in Tasmania, some boucle and cashmere left over from a baby wrap jacket for a friend in the UK, some gold silk given to me from a friend in Alaska, and some of the lovely wool chosen by my friend in Colorado. And I think that makes it extra special.


Thanks to brown paper bunny for these lovely photos : )

2 comments:

  1. Emma, this is a lovely post - your textile work is yummy, and I love that term, "crafternoon"!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog - I replied to your post there, but wanted to make sure you got it:

    "Emma - I know what you mean...I get mixed reactions when I tell people I have a drawing blog. No matter, the people that get it are the ones that really know us, I think. The paper I used is from a pad of Strathmore 500 Series Charcoal paper, that I've had for ages. There are assorted colors, but I think that one is called Golden Brown. I chose it because it was close to the natural wood color of the blocks which meant that I could achieve that warm wooden look without a lot of layers of pencil. Somehow, out of that pad, I always choose that color! The paper has a raised texture on one side that gives a nice cross-hatched look with some soft media, but I read somewhere that the back side is smoother to allow the artist to have both options. (Not sure I'd noticed that before.) So, on this piece, I used the smoother side, as I thought the textured side wouldn't be compatible with the wood image."

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  2. Oh, lovely! I really enjoy seeing weaving projects. I did some when I was younger... may decide to take it up again this winter when the snows start falling!

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