It's a Scarf Bonanza! [Guest Scarf 4]

When I first got the idea to do these guest scarves I wasn't sure that anyone was going to be into it. I hit up my Mom for the first one (moms are so reliable that way) and was thrilled when first Margaret and then Beth offered up their current scarfy projects for our consumption. And then, a couple of weeks ago, the greatest thing started happening: pictures of scarves started appearing at random in my inbox! First Linda sent me some pics of her scarf projects, then Christopher, then another Linda and then Dave... there was a lull for a bit but then just this morning I got mail from Patsy.

This. Is. So. Great! Thank you, thank you, everyone who's sending me pics and the scarfastories that go with. I love to see what everyone's up to, and they're all so varied and FAB! I will keep posting them in the order I get them so please keep them coming!

Now, when I say that Linda "sent me some pics," I'm not kidding. This woman isn't messing around - she just learned to weave a year ago and she sent me pics of nineteen (19!!) scarves! There wasn't a whole lot of details to go with them apart from what she said in her letter and filenames of her pics, so I've turned those file names into captions. If you want further details, you'll have to ask her yourself in the comments. :)

FYI: I considered creating a collage or contact sheet or something of all her pictures so this post wouldn't be forever long but then all the pics would have been itty bitty and you want to see these babies up close and personal, so I've gone with a slideshow. Hope that works okay for everyone out there - if you have trouble viewing the slideshows, please to let me know, okay?

So here you are - a veritable smorgasbord of scarves, all woven by new but obviously very talented weaver, Linda Gettman:

---

"I'm a new weaver, taught by Syne [Mitchell] at last year's Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in Tacoma (2-08) and bought the rigid heddle Flip loom and brought it home that day. We made a scarf from some of her hand dyed wool yarns that day in the class and I've been going crazy ever since. I've also taken her pick up stick patterns class at the Seattle Weaving Works shop. Made some samplers, played around, made some placemats, talk about making a table runner, and have actually made a BUNCH of scarves -- so here are some of my pic's. I am an avid knitter, so I have and am always on the lookout for interesting yarns to use and find the novelty yarns and soft alpacas catch my eye for scarf wefts.

This year at Madrona I bought some interesting yarn from a gal (Chris Conrad in Everson, WA) that dyes it using a Japanese technique, kakishibui (www.kakishibui.com), it's the juice from persimmons! Anyway, I bought some of her bamboo for the warp which was stiff and hasn't softened up much in a couple washings, and used the cotton/linen blend as weft, it's nice and soft. I like to experiment with different fibers, and I love NORO yarn, so I've made some scarves using that as weft to get the wonderful color gradiations."

---

Aren't they lovely!? My fave is her first scarf, the one in blue wool with what looks like a space dyed or possibly ikat warp that must be the one from Syne's class at Madrona. I must say, though, I'm quite enchanted by the title of the "Noro niji beigey scarf" - I just like the way that rolls off the tongue. ;) I love the look of both the Noro scarves as well, of course. Really, what's not to love about Noro?

I'm curious about the interesting detail near the ends of the "multi-brights with black" and the "sari with black suede yarn" scarves - how did you do those, Linda? Is it the same technique in both places? And that black suede yarn, what's that about? Is it really strips of suede? What was it like to weave with? Inquiring minds want to know!

I've never really been that attracted to the idea of weaving on a rigid heddle since it seems so slow and I've always been more of an instant gratification weaver. Lately, though, I keep hearing more and more good things about them and seeing more and more projects woven on them that I love, like Linda's scarves, plus I'm really trying to slow down and savour the process of weaving more than I have in the past. PLUS I'm minding that I can't just take my weaving around to my fibre friday gatherings (which I missed again today - gaaah!) or my spining group the way I can pick up my knitting or my spinning wheel... so maybe it's time. I dunno. Definitely food for thought.

Anyhoo, I tried to find some associated links for you guys, and ran across this review of Chris Conrad's Kakishibui book on Syne Mitchell's WeaveZine site - how's that for a meeting of minds? There are actually loads of links about both women; you need only to pop their names into Google to see how prolific they both are.

And there you have it! Please, if you're out there reading and you've got a scarf project on the go, take some pics and send them along! I love getting random photos of scarves in my email - really makes my day every time one arrives. :)

Next week I'll be posting a scarf that Christopher Netter and his wife made together. Wait 'til you see the beeeooootiful dye job on this one! MmmMMmMmmMMMM.