Blown Away!

Dressing the loom in Linda Hurt's Basic Weaving class at The Art League.

A couple weeks after I started posting guest scarves, I got a little email from Linda Hurt: "On your blog you say you’d like to see beginners' scarves. I’ve got several in the making right now. I teach a Basic Weaving class in Alexandria, VA, and everyone has designed her own plaid and is weaving a scarf on a rigid heddle loom. I’d offer up pictures of these scarves for one of your Guest Fridays if you’re interested." Was I interested? You BET I was interested! I answered Linda right away and we agreed that, once her class was finished with their scarves, she'd write up a post about the class and send along some pictures.

I was particularly excited about this 'cause it's been a while since my guest scarf posts have been written by the weavers themselves rather than by me. My original idea for guest scarves was that people would tell their own stories, after all, so I was really eager to see what Linda would have to say. Let me tell you, when the "article" (as she called it) and her pictures arrived, I was totally blown away. Linda and her students put a tremendous amount of effort into their communal guest post. I am so touched that her students were willing to share the fruits of their labours with us and that so many of them took the time to share their thoughts on their scarves and on weaving in general. Ladies, thank you! Your scarves are just beautiful!

Although Linda had already gone well and truly beyond the call of duty where guest scarfing is concerned, I rather sheepishly sent her my short list of questions I'm hoping all future guest scarfers will answer and asked if she'd write just that little bit more for me. The thing is, this list of questions is in the same document as a laundry list of questions that I put together for guest scarfers just in case they suffered from writer's block and needed a little kick start - the idea being that they can pick and choose some questions from the list to answer just to get the juices flowing. I never dreamt that Linda would answer these too but answer them she did - every last one of them! I couldn't believe it. The woman is FAB.

Before we get to the guest scarves and all of Linda's responses to my questions, here's what she had to say about The Art League where she teaches. It sounds absolutely amazing:

"Our objective, as a non-profit art school, is to offer quality classes in several of the visual arts, including but not limited to drawing, painting, sculpture, pottery, surface design, weaving, and glass, at an affordable price to the community at large. We do not offer degree or certificate programs. Our classes are provided as a continuing education program. We also have various community outreach programs sponsored and conducted by our instructor staff, students, and friends of The Art League. We are currently expanding our fiber art offerings to include additional surface design and weaving options, wet and dry felting, knitting, crocheting, and sculptural fiber work. Our goal is to build a fiber art community.

The Art League, Inc., founded in 1954, is a multifaceted, nonprofit visual arts organization based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes.

Headquartered on the Potomac River in Old Town Alexandria (in the Torpedo Factory Art Center), The Art League is celebrating over 50 years of devotion to promoting and maintaining high standards in fine art in the Washington, DC area. The Art League seeks to stimulate and encourage artists by operating a gallery with many opportunities for members, including monthly juried shows of members work, other chances for exhibition of work and many educational possibilities. The Art League also operates a school with 2000+ students per term and a supply store for the purchase of art supplies by students and members. The Art League currently has approximately 1000 members."

Wouldn't you just love to have access to a place like that? The Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design, where I taught weaving for eight years, is a similar organization¹ and has been a cornerstone of the craft community in this region for years. These kinds of organizations are so wonderful to be a part of and are so vital to the communities they serve.

What follows is an introduction to the class itself by Linda, and then the comments of several of the students from the class along with pictures of their scarves. After that are Linda's answers to my laundry list in the now familiar interview format, interspersed with pictures of scarves by weavers who were no less generous with their projects but slightly more shy about writing something for the post. ;)

Incidentally, Linda took more pictures than have actually made it into the post. Each scarf is here at least once or twice, but you can see more pictures of dressing the looms and the scarves before and after wet finishing in Linda's online Picasa album.

And now, without further ado, I introduce to you all Linda Hurt and her co-guest-scarfers: Jan Adams, Melissa Burman, Hannah Chismar, Karen Downs, Pearl Ephraim, Rosalie Hanlon, Claudia Loaiza, Kathy Schneider, Lenora Stephens, Judy Sutton, Joanne Qualey, and Dianna White.

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This week’s Friday Guest Scarfa feature is shared among the Basic Weaving students from The Art League, a non-profit art school in Alexandria, VA. This is a weaving survey class, beginning with tapestry techniques, and moving into pickup stick work, creating decorative floats across the surface of the piece. Then we experiment with open lace techniques such as Leno and Brooks Bouquet. The last exercises, balanced weave and color mixing, are worked into a scarf project. Students’ skills range from minimal weaving experience to none. Some have had no fiber background at all.

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Judy Sutton -

I picked the blanket pattern from 'Rigid Heddle Weaving'² because those are my favorite colors. I should have followed the pattern for all three segments, instead of only doing the outside two, so that I wouldn't have had to match the pattern after the second segment was woven. Unfortunately, they didn't match, but instead of one blanket I got two shawls. One I gave away to someone on the other coast, so it won't be seen again around here.

I loved weaving on the project because the colors pleased me and the weaving was relatively simple. I say relatively because the Harrisville Shetland is pretty sticky and it was sometimes a struggle to get a good shed.


I plan to keep weaving because I love the process, the planning, and the weaving and best of all the finished project. My hope is to master the entire process from sheep to wool, by dyeing the wool, carding it, spinning it, and weaving it. As Syne Mitchell says, "You've got to be warped to weave."³

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Pearl Ephraim -

I did pick the ice blue color for my first scarf along with the stitching detail at the bottom because of one of the projects in Liz Gipson's book, "Weaving Made Easy." The garnet was chosen because it was the most attractive color available out of the wools. I liked it so well I used it on two of my three scarves.

As for what I did and didn't like about them: The first scarf, with the large patch of garnet I wasn't crazy about at first because it didn't look like a true plaid to me. It turned out to be asymmetrical with the lavender disappearing amongst the other colors. But it grew on me and became my favorite of the three scarves.

I tried to correct the lack of symmetry in the second scarf. But except for the golden yellow I thought the colors looked dull. You'll notice that they were my original earth tones. I do like the finish work of the knotted fringe at the end.

As for the third and final scarf, I over compensated again trying to get the look of the plaid correctly. The colors are repeated too frequently and the scarf is too busy. I can breathe a sigh of relief that the Easter egg look isn't so prominent any more. They'll grow on me I suppose. I will probably continuing weaving, at least for a while. I'm dying to try a twill.


I think I picked the colors (light and dark gray) I did because it seemed they kind of blend in with everything and look cool in every sense. The weaving class was a discovery for me as I never did anything like it before. Now that I have ordered a loom, I am looking forward to doing interesting projects.

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Jan Adams -

The course was a great introduction to rigid heddle weaving. I've woven on floor looms, but the rigid heddle is perfect for my small home and it's so portable, too!

The plaid scarf project is something I probably never would have done on my own, so I appreciated the challenge. There were so many wonderful yarn colors to choose from, but I knew I wanted some brown, since I just purchased a brown coat! The blue and yellow complimented it, but jazzed it up, too.


It was especially fun to see the projects selected by the other students, and to confer with them on color choices, etc.


I purchased my own loom and I continue to weave. It is relaxing, creative and fun! There are lots of things one can make on the loom aside from scarves: table runners, placemats, wall hangings, shawls, etc.!

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Diana White -

I took the class because I've always wanted to learn to weave. I'm a knitter, and also thought it might be an alternative way to use up some of my stash (or a better excuse to buy more yarn!!). The rigid heddle loom seemed like a manageable way to get started - small, portable loom and not too expensive. Although we spent more time on the tapestry aspect of weaving that I initially was interested in, I'm realizing how much those skills will contribute to future projects, and how frustrated I would have been had we jumped right in to specific projects. Bottom line, I wasn't ready for the scarf project until we got to it, but when we did, I sailed.


The colors I chose (dark teal, light blue, purple and white) are colors that always appeal to me and I thought worked well together and gave nice contrast. I couldn't be more pleased with the end result. I also think Linda was wise (experienced!) in suggesting we limit the number of colors for a first project. While I may want to expand the selection for future project, four colors provided enough interest, but also helped keep us from a warping nightmare.


I don't see myself moving to a larger loom any time in the foreseeable future, and I'm looking forward to weaving more scarves, napkins, and placemats on my RH loom. Next fall I plan to take another class to learn how to use two heddles for a fine yarn scarf.

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Karen Downs -

I have been knitting for several years and wanted to learn something new. I have been interested in learning to weave for a couple of years. When I signed up for this class I had no idea what a rigid heddle loom was (never even heard of one) and walked into the class with no weaving knowledge at all. I liked learning tapestry weaving. The scarf project was a nice change of pace, balanced weaving is much faster.


I like my scarf but if I did the same style again, I would switch out the yellow for white or cream. I want to continue with the next class but will wait for the fall project class (maybe something like rag rug placemats). I have been involved in quilting too and have a lot a fabric to use up.

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Joanne Qualey -

I loved the scarf project and have so many items in my wardrobe that are red, black or white that I thought a combination of those three colors for my plaid would work for me. I am pleased with the result.


I will be continuing on in the Projects class, and I plan to purchase a rigid heddle loom. I have known for a long time that I wanted to learn weaving and now that my retirement is within reach (probably less than two years away) I want to be sure to have a creative hobby that I can develop more as I have more leisure time. I have always needed to create things to be happy and realize by taking this class that I have stayed away from making things far too long and allowed my work life to become way too all-consuming.

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Rosalie Hanlon -

The pattern I chose is a variation of the MacGregor tartan. I chose this pattern because I thought the colours complimented each other well. I am a stickler for symmetry so even when I made a mistake I made sure to copy it on the other end of the scarf too!


The most difficult part for me was after the scarf was off the loom it was revealed that I had pig-tailed all of my ends instead of weaving them into the scarf. This meant I had to go back and weave them in using a needle, which took a very long time.

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Linda Hurt -

Every quarter for about 10 years I’ve been teaching the Basic Weaving class for The Art League. Each class is so completely different that I just keep right on teaching. The people I meet are interesting and come from such varied backgrounds and professions (students, military, opera stars, physicians, house wives, nuclear physicists, retirees looking for a hobby, etc.) that I am always amazed. I continue to learn with each student from their choice of colors, their experiments, and their mishaps. It is probably from their mishaps I learn the most; it relieves me of the responsibility of having to make them all myself.

The plaid scarf project is a favorite of mine, because I get to see color combinations I might not choose. This is where I’ve learned the most valuable lesson: It is good to keep my opinions to myself sometimes and not influence color choices. (I do limit the color number to three or four.) In all of this time, I have not seen a bad combination of colors, and every single plaid has been successful. I am quite proud of these scarves that were created by this very lively and entertaining class. They kept me hopping for nine weeks.

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JWD: What did you use for warp and weft?

LH: Harrisville Shetland or Highland weight was used for the student scarves.

Melissa Burman's scarf after wet finishing. Love these colours!

JWD: How many ends per inch? Picks per inch?

LH: 8 or 10 epi depending on whether Harrisville Highland or Shetland weight was used.

JWD: What structure did you use?

LH: Plain weave was used for the student scarves. It’s appropriate for a first project. Personally, I think I could weave a lifetime and not exhaust its possibilities. (I’ve got a good start on that!) I do enjoy the game of adding heddles and pickup sticks to the mix.

JWD: How long and wide is the scarf?

LH: Most of the scarves were between 60 – 80 inches long. There was one shorter, because the student preferred short scarves. Then there was one that was even shorter, because we forgot to take into account the loom waste. However, it made the cutest and useful warm collar with a button and loop added. I call this “creative recovery.” [I love that! - jwd]

Lenora Stephen's scarf-into-collar. Definitely going to keep this in mind for my own oops-too-short-scarves!

The scarves were between 5 – 12 inches wide. I find that people from the colder climates prefer wider wool scarves than those from warmer climates.

JWD: How did you finish the fringe?

LH: Some people chose to twist the fringe just so they could use my battery operated hair twisters; some tied short fringe because they decided to weave as close to the end as possible; some wanted to learn how to hem stitch; some just preferred the look of one over the other for their particular scarf. [I have one of those hair twisters. A word to the wise: do not try them in your actual hair. "Ouch" is all I'm gonna say... - jwd]

JWD: What kind of loom did you weave on?

LH: Rigid heddle looms: Schacht traditional; Schacht Flip; Ashford; Beka; Glimakra Emelia

Claudia Loaiza's scarf on the loom. I wonder which type of loom it is?

JWD: How did you warp the loom?

LH: The class uses the “direct warp” technique, which is fast and easy on rigid heddles with short warps. It’s good aerobic exercise walking back and forth too.

JWD: How did you come up with the idea for this scarf?

LH: The original lesson plans I inherited with the job called for weaving a short section of about 6 – 12 inches of a self-designed plaid as a color blending and plain weave exercise. I turned this into a final project, which has been generally popular. I’m flexible. If they don’t want a wool scarf, they can use cotton and make a bread cloth, hand towel, or small table runner.

JWD: Why did you pick the colours/fibres/structure/ design elements?

LH: A plain balanced weave was one of the objectives of this class. Colors were limited to four. Nobody picked my favorite color (chartreuse). Do you suppose they were politely leaving it all for me?

JWD: Is it a present for someone?

LH: So a couple of them said. Then they decided they really liked the scarves themselves. I wonder if they were ever “presented.”

JWD: Were you happy with the project? Would you weave it again?

LH: Everyone in this class was pleased with their scarves. Half of the class made more than one, in fact, one made a whole shawl as one of her pieces.

Claudia Loaiza's scarf after finishing. Look how square her squares are!

JWD: What was your favourite thing about weaving the scarf? Your least favourite?

LH: Most students like the speed at which they can do plain weave as opposed to the tapestry section of the class they had just finished.

JWD: What is your favourite thing about the finished scarf? Your least favourite?

LH: As a teacher, my favorite thing about this project is watching people pick out colors and put them together. I learn a lot here, as many people pick colors that I don’t usually work with. We all have our favorite colors. Some people mix colors I might not, and this broadens my viewpoint on color. I also like to see the smiles as the scarves are finished and people are proud of what they’ve done. Their excitement and pride is my reward.

JWD: Is this scarf like other things you've woven? How is it the same or different?

LH: Generally, I weave for class samples. Many times they’re whole shawls, scarves, table runners, towels, etc. But they are added to my chest of examples.

JWD: Did you do anything unusual (for you, or unusual in general) in this scarf?
LH: These scarves are first weaving projects for most of the class members. They designed the plaids themselves and wove them.

JWD: What do you have on the loom right now, or what's your next planned project?

LH: I have several rigid heddle looms. Though most are empty, I have the following in progress: shawl; heavy twill towel; SAORI banner; tapestry. I also have an overshot table runner on a 4-harness loom. On tablets I have a dog leash, necklace, shoe laces, sample band. On inkles I have a bag for my charkha and an Ikat band. [And she still finds time to teach and write me this amazing post! - jwd]

JWD: How long have you been weaving?

LH: About 12 years.

JWD: Do you weave other kinds of things? What's your favourite thing to weave? Why?

LH: Samples for classes I teach, because my time is severely limited. As I can eek out time, I’m trying to build up a “trunk” of items that showcase what different kinds of things can be done on rigid heddle looms.

JWD: What's your day job and what impact does it have on your weaving?

LH: Computer programmer, which is not a mere 40-hour a week job. It is more like 60 hours a week, and sometimes more. It often eliminates my time for weaving.

Lenora Stephen's scarf on an Ashford Knitter's Loom. This is the kind of loom I'm getting in two (2) days!

JWD: Do you pursue other fibre crafts such as spinning, knitting, crocheting, felting, quilting, etc etc etc?

LH: Oh, absolutely! Spinning, knitting, crocheting, felting (wet and dry), bobbin lace, lucet, Kumihimo, dyeing, tatting, nålbinding, sprang. [I don't even know what some of these are! - jwd]

JWD: Do you pursue other handcrafts that aren't fibre related?

LH: I used to, but there is just so little time. Well, sometimes indulge myself and play with beads.

JWD: Do you sell or exhibit your weaving or other handcrafts?

LH: No. I wish I had the time to make enough to be able to sell it and get a monetary return. At present, I have to be satisfied with hording my weavings for class examples.



And finally, here are Linda's answers to the much shorter list of questions I actually meant to ask her:

1. Do you have a blog or other website(s) I can link to?
   
   No. I wish I had the time to create one and manage it. I keep saying, “Some day.” Teaching fiber arts and working a full-time PLUS job forces me to make choices. Either I weave and maintain a website or I prepare samples, lessons and teach.
   
   
2. What is/are your favourite colour(s)?
   
   Chartreuse. Orange is my second favorite.
   
   
3. What's your favourite fibre to weave with?
   
   Wool
   
   
4. What's your favourite dimension (length and width) to weave a scarf?
   
   72” x 10”
   
   
5. What are the dimensions of your favourite scarf? (the one you wear all the time, handwoven or otherwise)
   
   72” x 10”
   
   
6. How did you find Scarf A Day?
   
   Weavezine. Now I check it frequently.
   
   
7. What are 1-5 of your favourite websites and why do you like them? (they don't have to be weaving related!)
   
   http://www.colorcombo.com/ac.html for web design work
   http://www.tartanweb.org/designer/designer.php an online tartan generator.
   
   There are several on line tartan generators, and my class enjoyed using them to design their plaids. We used to use graph paper and colored pencils. But these programs are much more fun to use and display results faster. “Faster” is expected in this day and age.

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So there you are. Can you see why I was so blown away by all the effort that Linda and her possee of new rigid heddle weavers put into this post? I am SO delighted and SO touched! The guest scarves continue to be right at the top of the list of things I love about Scarf A Day, and this is a perfect example of why.

Linda, thank you! Jan, Melissa, Hannah, Karen, Pearl, Rosalie, Claudia, Kathy, Lenora, Judy, Joanne, and Dianna, thank you. And marvelous job on your scarves, shawls and collars, ladies!

One final related note: as I mentioned in the caption under one of Lenora's scarves, I'm getting an Ashford Knitter's Loom on Friday! Mom has been following along as I've asked for your input into various kinds of rigid heddles and helped me do a little research into the various types... and then, lo and behold, she learned that Donna Kaplan had an AKL that she hadn't ever used and was willing to send to a good home, so Mom nabbed it for me and is bringing it as my birthday pressie. Isn't it amazing how these things work? A couple months ago I had zero (0) interest in rigid heddle weaving but then all these great guest scarves started turning up in my inbox, woven on rigid heddles... then, no sooner do I express an interest in getting one of these babies for myself when a perfect one lands in my lap! And not just any loom, but one previously loved (if slightly neglected) by Donna Kaplan, whose work I just love (and whose workshop I just loved at Convergence 2002). Yay for karma! Yay for mothers! Yay for birthday looms!

You can be 110% sure that I'm taking yarn with me to Halifax and, just as soon as I smooch my dear ol' Mum hello and make sure she's comfy in her hotel room, I'll be warping that loom right in my hotel room. Or hers if she's not too tired!

She's a weaver. I'm pretty sure she'll understand...



1. Albeit on a somewhat smaller scale. Smaller population base around here, doncherknow.

2. I'm not sure which Rigid Heddle Weaving this is. It might be this one, or perhaps this one, or some other book entirely! Judy, can you help me out?

3. This is a reference to Syne's sign-off at the end of every WeaveCast episode. If you aren't already a WeaveCast listener, you should be!

Pretty pressies and Rigid Heddles [Guest Scarf 7]

I said from the beginning that I'd love to post very first scarves on Guest Scarf Fridays and Patsy Morris, bless her heart, took me at my word - Yay! Although I must confess, I'm not sure if this is Patsy's very first scarf or merely the first one she's woven on her new Ashford rigid heddle loom. Judging from her nice even selvages (which she took pains to keep straight, she tells me) this probably isn't her absolutely very first scarf. My selvages didn't look anything like that on my first scarf, at any rate!

A quick note about the following: Patsy and I exchanged emails much like I did with both Chris and Dave but then I also sent her a long list of questions I wrote up to try and squeeze as much info out of my guest scarfers as I can. Inquiring minds want to know, after all! I've woven those questions and her answers into our email conversation - hopefully it doesn't sound too choppy! At the very end are her answers to a few questions that I plan to ask each guest scarfer from here on out. I guess I'll have to go back and ask my former guests the same questions, too!

And now, without further ado, here is Patsy's scarf! (NB: there's a bit more ado after her scarf. I don't like to skimp on ado.)

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PM: Here are some pictures of the very first scarf I have woven on my Ashford RH loom. I used variegated green mohair. This scarf was made as a birthday gift for my very dear friend in England. I hope my edges aren't too bumpy because I took great pains to keep them even!



JWD: Wow, that monogram! Such a neat idea! So, what's the scoop on this scarf, then? Whatdja use for warp? How long did you weave it? How'd you finish the ends - did you hemstitch or sew across with the machine?

PM: For the warp I used beige 100% cotton 3/2 ply I think. It is 48" long, 51/2" wide. The ends were finished by machine stitching. I then used my embroidery machine and monogrammed the initials.

JWD: Is that cute little bag made from the same fabric? Is the bag for SB, too? Lucky, lucky SB!

PM: The little bag is woven from copper wool/tencel yarn on a small cricket loom, which is the loom that got me hooked!!!

JWD: How did you come up with the idea for this scarf?

PM: My friend in England likes the color green, I like the mohair yarns, the beige warp went well with the mohair yarn and I have an embroidery machine so put her initials on it.

JWD: Were you happy with the project? Would you weave it again?

PM: Yes I was happy with it, no I like making one of a kind.

JWD: What was your favourite thing about weaving the scarf? About the finished scarf?

PM: How fast it went and I that I was able to embroider her initials on it.

JWD: What do you have on the loom right now, or what's your next planned project?

PM: Right now I have material strips on it in batiks making a bag.

JWD: How long have you been weaving?

PM: Only a few months.

JWD: How or where did you learn to weave?

PM: I taught myself.

JWD: What made you become a weaver?

PM: My Mom had a small lap loom and I saw some really, really awesome things a friend had made and just loved them!

JWD: Do you weave other kinds of things? What's your favourite thing to weave? Why?

PM: I haven't yet, but I want to weave the plastic bags cut into strips, and lots of material strips.

JWD: What's your day job and what impact does it have on your weaving?

PM: I am a longarm quilter working out of my home so I can do whatever. I usually do my weaving in the evening as my quiet time.

JWD: Do you pursue other fibre crafts such as spinning, knitting, crocheting, felting, quilting, etc etc etc?

PM: I am a quilter and longarm quilter. I also knit.


JWD: What a cute little loom... would you recommend the Ashford?

PM: I definitely would recommend the Ashford, I did a lot of research and read every internet pro/cons about it and the Kromski. The problem with the Kromski is the ratchets don't hold, it does fold in half but my Ashford isn't so large that I can't just shove it in the car and go... I love my ashford and I also got the stand for it. It is super simple to warp up using the peg method and it also comes with the largest range of heddles, another reason I chose it. I love it!!!! The wood is unfinished as opposed to the Kromski but I just oiled mine with furniture polish before I put it together. It comes with a great book for warping up and getting you weaving in no time. I have the 16" with two different sizes of heddles.

[These are (some of) the questions I'll be asking each guest scarfer - JWD]

1) Do you have a blog or other website I can link to?

http://threadsnfiber.blogspot.com/

2) What is/are your favourite colours?

Tea dyes/creams/beige

3) What's your favourite fibre to weave with?

So far any yarns and material strips I was given two boxes full of 100% wool yarn so will be using that.

4) What's your favourite dimension (length and width) to weave a scarf?

About 6" wide, length depends on who I'm making if for.

5) What are the dimensions of your favourite scarf? (the one you wear all the time, handwoven or otherwise)

I don't wear one - too warm here!

6) How did you find Scarf A Day?

On the internet.

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Did you catch up there when Patsy said she's a long arm quilter? She's not kidding - go check out her blog and you'll see all manner of beautiful quilts. Most in the tans and beiges she loves so much but a couple of other colours pop up now and then. Her really nifty embroidery pops up as well, as do other sewing projects.

I have to take a bit of exception to Patsy's answer about her other crafts, though. Yeah, okay, so she quilts and she knits -- but she also does incredible stuff with... tin foil! And old book pages! And bubble wrap! Seriously, people, go check this stuff out. It's wild, and I'm utterly fascinated. If I had half the gumption I wish I had, I'd be trying all this stuff Right Now. As it is, I just boggle at the cool things she's up to. Wowza.

And now that other ado I was mentioning: Patsy's letter and pics got me thinking about getting a rigid heddle loom myself. I can honestly say I've never been that interested in or tempted by them in the past since they seem like So. Much. Work. but lately I find that several things have changed that make them more appealing. Firstly, I'm really trying to slow down and savour the time spent on things. Well, okay, at least a little bit - slowing down is a relative thing! Secondly, I've been heading out to Fibre Fridays at the library now and then and also to spinning gatherings on the weekends... usually I take my knitting or spinning to these but I'd really like to take weaving, it's just too awkward to lug a floor loom around. Thirdly, I've been working on these scarf kits and I think they'd work really well on a rigid heddle but I'd like to actually try it out for myself before I suggest that to a potential customer. Fourthly, I've been trying to think of a way to weave a scarf on days when my floor looms are occupied and I think Ron might balk at the introduction of yet another floor loom into our already cramped house.

So, ever since I got Patsy's letter, I've been pumping everyone I can think of for more info on rigid heddles and their opinions on the best looms on the market. I've asked on Twitter, I've started a forum on WeaveZine, I've asked on Weaving List and I've asked the Ultimate Authority for input.¹ Obviously Patsy loves her Ashford; I've also heard good things about Ashford's Knitter's Loom, Schacht's Cricket, and Kromski's Harp. Just lately I've also heard about Glimakra's Emilia, which intrigues me since my big floor loom is a DIYmakra.

And so now I put my question to you, fair readers: which rigid heddle loom do you think I should get? Here are my criteria:

1) I don't want it to be too wide. Wide enough for scarves and maybe a placemat or runner or something but nothing more than 15" or so.

2) It doesn't need to be very expandable either - if I want to do something fancy, I'll use my floor looms. I do want to be able to use heddles with a variety of dpi, though. Probably 10 dpi to begin with, but maybe as few as 8 or as many as... 12? 15?

3) I want it to be small, light and ultra portable.

4) I want it to be cute. Sounds silly, perhaps, but if it's cute I'll be SO much more inclined to play with it. I like to pet cute things, like my kitties. :) And smooth - I like to pet smooth things, too.

5) I want it to work well, of course. Good tension, of course. Depth of shed in particular - I'd like to be able to use a boat shuttle because, frankly, stick shuttles give me wind.

6) I do not want to break the bank but I'm willing to spend what it takes to get a good loom.

I'd love to hear specifics about what you do or don't like about the rigid heddles you've used and especially how the various looms compare.

Incidentally, if others are having the same inner debate that I am, you might find Syne Mitchell's review of Schacht's Cricket useful, or her audio review of the Ashford Knitter's Loom from WeaveCast Episode 5.

Thanks for your help! And thanks especially to Patsy for sharing her first Ashford scarfa with us all. :)


1. I.e. Mom.

Turns out you can make a silk scarf out of a sow's... shirt? [Guest Scarf 6]

Today's guest scarves, woven by Dave Robinson, really cache in on the current hot trend of upcycling. Not that Dave's jumping on any bandwagons here - take a look at his website and you'll see he's been at this for a long time, even before reclaimed materials became uber trendy. Still, this project hits all the right notes for today's upcycled crafts sensibilities - it's green, it reduces waste, it recycles old clothing and turns it into beautiful scarves - beautiful silk scarves, in fact! Best of all, it benefits a local charity. What's not to love?

Like last week's scarf, this guest scarfa began with just three little sentences that arrived in my inbox along with a couple of pictures. Being the intrepid investigative reporter that I am, I then pumped Dave for more info to share with you all. :) Here's the whole story, starting with Dave's setup and fleshed out in another "interview" like last week's:

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The Set Up:

DR: I do volunteer work in a thrift store, we get a lot of clothing that is soiled or has holes and cannot be sold. I take these and cut them in thin strips, wind them on bobbins and weave scarves with them. These are striped ones from silk:

The Skinny:

JWD: Dave, those are really neat! I love the combination of all those different coloured fabrics. :) Do you always use silk or do you use other fabrics sometime? How do you choose the fabrics you're going to use - are you looking for particular colours or weights or fibers or what?

DR: Most of the time I use silk. If I am going to be spending time cutting things up it might as well be nice fabric. Once and awhile I will do cotton or rayon. It depends on the color. I just like the randomness of what comes out.

JWD: How wide are those fabric strips? How do you cut them up? I love that picture of the fabric wound onto the bobbins!

DR: The strips are about a quarter of an inch wide and I just cut them with scissors. I tried using a cutting wheel like for quilting but it just took too long. I usually do them while I am watching TV.

JWD: What are you using for warp? What set do you use?

DR: I use old crochet thread for the warp or tencel and the set is 15 epi.

JWD: How well do they drape?

DR: They drape fine as long as the fabric is not too thick. [If it is] then I call them runners. [A man after my own heart! - JWD]

JWD: What do you do with the scarves when they're woven - do you sell them?

DR: The thrift store I do volunteer work at has an art sale each year so what is left over from Christmas and birthday presents I donate to them.

JWD: Is there anything else you'd like to add to the story, any links you want me to include, a bio you want to share?

DR: Here are a couple more pics, I use the thrums from the scarves to do table runners.

I have been weaving for a little over 30 years, I use to embroider and was going to start taking some classes so I could teach embroidery. When I was at registration I found out all the embroidery classes were closed. The woman who was at registration taught the weaving class and ask me if I would like to try it. And, I have doing it ever since.

JWD: What a great story! I notice you've got stripes of some other material at the sides of the current warp - what is that? Looks like chenille...?

DR: It is, it was left over from a project. Just enough for the edges.

---

These recycled silk scarves are by no means the only thing Dave weaves, either, nor are silk shirts the only recycled fibres he uses. He also weaves scarves from recycled sari silk, rugs from loom waste and Pendleton selvedges, even rugs made from neckties!

This reclaimed fibre idea really appeals to me. I don't think I'll be weaving rag rugs again any time soon - I simply haven't got the patience for all the prep work required! - but I have been toying with reclaiming yarn from old sweaters, a la Lee Meridith's tutorial on CraftStylish. I also really love the totally random colours in Dave's scarves. I'm always inclined to leave as much of a scarf or blanket's design as possible up to chance or whim and it's great fun to see the same idea play out in a totally different way in someone else's project. :)

And finally, I loved Dave's story about how he got his start in weaving - especially since it's actually kind of similar to my own! At least insofar as we both happened upon weaving by accident when intending to register for some other craft. It's made me curious how others got their start - were you an accidental weaver like me and Dave, did you learn at your mother's (or daughter's!) knee, did you inherit a loom from a relative without any idea how to use it?

I want to hear your stories, too!

Have a great Easter or Passover or just plain Long Weekend, however you choose to celebrate it. :) See you Monday!

A family affair... [Guest Scarf #5]

Not long after I posted a request for guest scarves on the shiny new WeaveZine forums,¹ Christopher Netter wrote me about a scarf that he'd made: "Well, it's not exactly new (last year), but here's some pictures and text via my wife's blog posts on one of the scarves that I was weaving last summer. The scarf uses rayon yarn in both the weft and the hand painted warp. The weave structure uses a progressive twill that I whipped up on the computer. "

So I moseyed off to Cheryl's blog to see what Chris was talking about and... WOW! No wonder the scarf sold so quickly after they listed it in their Etsy shop.


Needless to say, these three little sentences and the pictures of their beautiful scarf on Cheryl's blog² prompted more questions than they answered, so I just had to find out tons more about this project! Turns out that Chris' wife Cheryl dyed the warp for the scarves - three, not just one - and that Chris wove each one with a different weft and treadling.

In contrast to the first few guest scarf posts for which weavers wrote up a little story that I could post as a single piece, this scarfa story unfolded via some back and forth emails in which I'd ask a bunch of questions and Chris would answer them. Since I'd much rather post the guest scarfas in the weaver's own words rather than mine, I'm going to try a sort of "interview" format this week. Incidentally, some of the conversation was more about selling scarves online than about Chris and Cheryl's gorgeous scarves themselves but, since this is a topic that's been on my mind a lot lately and I know at least a few others' as well, I've left it all in.

---

Chris writes:

"We are both embedded software engineers by training, although Cheryl is now retired and is spending more time with her life long past-time of fabric based soft-sculptures. These employ hand dyed fabrics, hand painted faces and other feature, beading, clothing, and well, everything else that would go into a soft sculpture. Cheryl's love of color and skill with dying was the motivating force behind the scarfs.

I began my fascination with fiber at an early age with braiding, a pastime I still practice -- on Cheryl's hair. I began weaving 14 years ago, because it looked like fun and it involved "patterns" and fiber. That, and I've always found looms facinating. I love twills in all their varieties and took the Cheryl's dyed warps and created drafts and threading that showed them off to their best advantage.

This is what happens when a "pattern person" gets carried away. This scarf is woven using a progressing twill pattern on a purple and turquoise hand-dyed warp with a black weft. The result: an eye catching scarf with a wonderfully soft hand. It measures 7 1/2 inches wide by 45 inches long with an additional 3 inch twisted fringe.


JWD: What a beautiful scarf!

CN: Thanks!

JWD: And congrats on the quick turn around on Etsy. I really love the dolls you two have in your Etsy shop as well - verrrry tempted by the ogre and wyvern in particular.

CN: Don't be bashful. They're up there for YOU to buy.

JWD: I've always been curious how well handwoven scarves and shawls sell on Etsy. Do you find that your things move pretty quickly in general? I've got an Etsy seller account and one on Artfire as well but since I've never uploaded any pics to either one yet, I haven't made any grand discoveries. ;)

CN: My wife runs the Etsy shop (I think she also has one on Artfire as well). We've put three scarves up (the three from the same warp) and two "flew out the door" - to the same person. The third has a magenta weft and is still up for sale. So I'm not sure that I've got the best set of data for how well scarves and such sell on Etsy.

JWD: Is a "progressive twill" the same thing as an "advancing twill"?

CN: Yah, same thing. I tend to think of the twill progressing while I'm weaving, hence my "twisted" terminology. To be honest I think that only one of the three qualifies as "advancing". In looking over the drafts just now, only the black wefted scarf's twill advances. The navy weft is "just a twill" and the magenta weft I believe would be a "point twill".

JWD: How did Cheryl dye the yarns? It looks like ikat...?

CN: The warp was hand-painted using fiber reactive dyes. Fundementally, the warp is laid out then dyes are applied in sections and allowed to overlap to blend the colors. There are actually two different hand-painted warps in each scarf. That and a change in twill direction is how the striping was achieved


JWD: What weight of rayon did you use?

CN: 8/2

JWD: What EPI?

CN: 18 EPI - balanced

JWD: Is the weft the same as the warp?

CN: Yes the same 8/2 rayon yarn that was used for the weft and warp. The warp started life as white, but once it was in Cheryl's hands it became more colorful.

JWD: What software do you use for designing?

CN: BeforeWeaving.

JWD: Cheryl's blog mentions that there were three scarves on the warp - did you use the same treadling for all of them? The same black weft?

CN: There were three scarfs on the warp and the tie-up is the same on all three, but the treadling pattern is wildly different. Here's some commentary on each.


Navy weft: This is a "simple twill" - I was letting the twill and the color shift warp bring out the striping in the scarf. This result is a nice even hand and smooth fabric. About as 'classic' as I was going to get out of this threading and tie-up.




Black weft: This is what happens when a 'pattern person' runs amok with weaving software. The treadling shifts each iteration, creating the advancing twill (the draft is almost visually disturbing when viewed on the software). The resulting fabric is thicker and softer than its twill sibling. (It also has some floats that are almost too long.)




Magenta weft: I was playing with a point twill design here and letting the patterns in each stripe mirror the adjacent stripe. It looked really cool on the software. It looks REALLY PINK with the magenta weft.³

JWD: Were they all the same length?

CN: Well, they were suppose to be the same length, but I miscounted the marker threads on the black wefted one and it ended up 45 inches. I've since changed my measuring approach. Now I pin an old tape measure at the beginning of each item and weave until I get to the desired length. No muss, no fuss, no counting.

JWD: Speaking of length, do you usually weave your scarves to finish around 45" long? I'm still trying to gather intel on the length that folks like to weave their scarves. :)

CN: I aim for a something in the mid-50's. Truth be told, I'm terrible at estimating finished length. This is in part due to the utter laziness and in part due to um, not needing to know. Funny thing is, I'm an engineer by day - you'd think that I'd be all neurotic about that sort of thing.

---

Aren't they all beautiful? I can't decide which I like best! I think it might be the blue one but I'm all about bright colours these days and I'm really loving that pink one. Parenthetically, all of these scarves as well as many of the wearables in Cheryl's Etsy shop are modeled by their daughter, so the whole family really is involved. Lucky them to have such a beautiful and obliging model for their products! Very good planning on their part, I must say. ;)

You can see more pictures of Chris and Cheryl's work on a website Cheryl put together a few years ago, so be sure to do that... but first, if you are even the tiniest bit like me, you MUST stop reading Right Now and go to see Cheryl's Etsy shop. Come back after, please, but stop messing about and Go Look. Right now. Go on.

...Back? Good! Aren't those amazing? For anyone who might be interested in such information,⁴ the following items are now officially on my birthday wish list: the aforementioned ogre which is just too fab for words, this kitty fairy I'm not sure I can live without much longer, the ridiculously cool dragon pendant, the very cute kitty potholders, or any of the kitty (or fish) pins. You've still got a month, so there ought to be plenty of time. ;)

See you Monday!


1. If you haven't been to the revised WeaveZine site yet, hie thee hence and check it out! It's the old WeaveZine (now in weekly format!), WeaveCast and WeaveGeek sites all rolled into one.

2. Can I just say right now that "Twentypoundtabby" is quite possibly the best blog name EVAR? Scampy, our own nearly-twenty pound calico would be really cheesed if she knew about it - at me for not thinking of it first, and at Chris and Cheryl's cat for outranking her in the blogosphere. Scampy is Alpha Cat around here and likes to throw her considerable weight around if she thinks her position as high cat on the totem pole is under threat.

3. If you ask me, it looks REALLY COOL in the scarf, too!

4. *cough*Ron*cough*Mom*cough*

Resisting winter, welcoming spring [MFM]

Wow, is it really the end of Month Two already? It seems only fitting to end the month with an update on those lovely scarves from Guest Scarf #1. Remember them? My mother, Sue Willingham, had woven them out of warps that another weaver, Terri Fletcher, had wound years before and Terri was then going to take those scarves and overdye them.

Well, that's happened now and Terri, bless 'er, sent along some pictures of the finished products -- and what a surprise they turned out to be! Mom no doubt said "resist dyeing" but I persisted in hearing "space dyeing" even so - we Tauruses are stubborn like that^.1 So here's me imagining all over colour with perhaps some gradations or swooshy blending... when what they actually are bold geometrics!

Like zigzags:

Winter Resist, by Sue Willingham and Terri Fletcher, 2009

and circles:

Spring Resist, by Sue Willingham and Terri Fletcher, 2009

and squares:

Fall Resist, by Sue Willingham and Terri Fletcher, 2009

Wow! I love the geometrics and the way that Terri used colour to conjure the seasons. I'm curious if the shapes also signify the seasons somehow. Mom, do you know?

I can't get over the changes in colour from the original scarf shots. Take Fall Resist, for instance. Unless my eyes deceive me, it used to look like this before its transformation:


(Mom, can you confirm?) And now it's all oranges and rusts and the resisted areas actually look more like discharge dyeing than the reverse. Wowza wowza! I soooo wish I had time enough for all the stuff I'd like to try, 'cause dyeing is just The. Business.

Here's a glimpse into how Terri worked her magic (also shown above):


Those must be the same discs she used in Spring Resist but that looks like another scarf in the hopper to me. Boy oh boy, I sure do wish I could see these babies in the flesh. All you Seattle and Vashon weavers, I envy you! If any of you catch a peek at the illusive Summer Resist, let me know!

I must say, it's lovely to have some Spring in my inbox, if not out my window. Yesterday was all sunshine and blue skies and walkies in the park, so today's heavy snowfall warning seems a bit of a cruel joke. 15-25 cm of snow? C'mon, really? I love snow, I really do, but I am SO ready for the budding trees and chickadees we saw yesterday rather than the whiteout I see outside right now...

Oh well, not to worry - I've got those bright springy blues and greens and browns I kept mentioning a while back all wound for tomorrow's scarfawarp!


1. Yep, I'm a Taurus. AND I was born in the Year of the Ox, so I've got stubborn and willful coming and going. ;) My mother and husband deserve your respect and sympathy! I don't usually put much stock in astrological stuff but an awful lot of this actually sounds pretty accurate. I never knew that Taurus is evidently the "Sign of the Producer or Builder." I quite like that!

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:

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"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.

Random tencel - Yum! [Guest Scarf 3]

Isn't that gorgeous!? It's just one of the beeeeooootiful tencel scarves that Beth Mullins, winner of my scarf kit giveaway, wove on the warp she's going to share with us today. Absolutely stunning. As you'll see, Beth uses a method very much like the one I use for multi-coloured warps, but she's doing it in fine tencel threads and a really pretty twill rather than chunky cotton and nearly plain weave like lazy ol' me. Not to mention the lovely twisted fringe - clearly, some extra effort really pays off! And don't you just love the sheen that tencel has? Mmm, Mmm, Mmm!

I must say, I'm also really impressed with her finished product photography! I've been pretty happy with my close up macro shots of my fabric lately but I'm still really struggling with how to get pics of an entire scarf (never mind blankets - ooph!) that look decent. Needless to say, I'll be picking apart Beth's photos for some ideas on that score as well.

I asked Beth to send me a bit of a bio to include with her post - not only did she do that, she also included a pic of herself at the loom! :) I'm going to try something clever here and get the text to wind up beside the picture... on my [wide]screen it looks okay - hopefully it won't be all weird on everyone else's.

"Being creative is my passion. It all started when I learned to sew clothes for my dolls at age 6 in my family home on Frederick Avenue, and has snowballed ever since. I enjoy keeping my hands and mind moving, challenging myself with new ideas. I was introduced to weaving in 1978 as a freshman attending Ferrum College. It was love at first try. After my sophomore year, I transferred to James Madison University where I continued my love of fiber taking as many weaving classes as I could squeeze into my schedule. Now I weave whenever I can. I have a true obsession with yarn. I am constantly trying new things, learning from every project. Seeing my works come to life brings me excitement. Sharing my pieces with others brings satisfaction."

There she is! It's so great to have a face to put to the name and "voice" I've gotten to know through our correspondence about these scarves, the scarf kit, and these days even a little bit of long distance tour guiding around Cape Breton. :) 'Course, now I want to know what that green warp is all about, too...

And now, without further ado, Beth's guest scarf post:

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Beth writes:

"I decided that I wanted to try my hand with tencel for the first time. I've worked with rayon in the past and since other weavers had told me that they were similar, I decided to take the plunge. At first I worked up a sample of the 8/2 tencel using a sett of 24 epi. It looked a bit loosely woven on the loom so I contacted another weaver. She suggested I try 28 epi and boy, what a difference 4 little epi can make! After that issue was solved I dove right on in. Using a "method" I had tried in the past using Jaggerspun Zephyr and rayon yarns, mixing lots of colors and being pleased with the outcome, I decided to do the same with the tencel.


I grabbed 6 colors of 8/2 tencel that blended, still with nice contrast, from my stash. I warped all 6 ends together. This picture shows the warp chain placed within the lease sticks, ready to be threaded through the reed. I warp front to back. The back of my Macomber drops to the floor making FTB threading a cinch. Oh, I made the warp long enough for two scarves 72" long after washing. Width in the reed was 8".


All threaded through the reed. No problems....


No problems until I started winding on the warp. Seems that winding off all 6 colors together on the warping frame then pulling them through the reed has created some twisting. Nothing that a little TLC, finger combing, and tugging didn't cure.


All tied on and ready to roll. I did hemstitch at the beginning but forgot to take a picture.


Here's the first scarf well under way. I used black for the weft in this one. It really makes the colors POP!


Hemstitching the end of scarf #1.


Finished product using black for the weft.


Scarf #2 all done. A straw color was used for the weft on this one. Both scarves were finished with twisted fringe. I neglected to take pictures while weaving this one 'cause I was weaving so furiously, trying to get it done in time to include in the opening of a show. Phew, I made it!

This was a great project. I love the random striping and use of so many colors. No wonder I'm attracted to Janet's works!

Enjoy!

Beth (Roanoke, VA, USA)"

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Incidentally, these two selfsame scarves can be found on Beth's etsy shop at www.fredrickavenue.etsy.com along with lots of other lovely scarves, tea towels and more. They can also be found at the show Beth mentioned, which features the work of 14 local artists and runs until April 23 at Center in the Square in Roanoke, VA.

In related news, Beth also sent me this pic after I lamented about excess loom waste in my post about dressing the loom front to back, to show me how she ties onto the back rod without nearly as much waste:


I think it may even be from this same scarf warp. :) If I'm deciphering the picture right, it looks like she first ties an overhand knot near the end of each bout (which she says is one threading repeat) and then ties the whole bout around the rod in another overhand knot, so that when the rod knot tightens up, the bout knot forms a stopper that keeps it from pulling out when tension is applied. Pretty clever, eh wot?

And there you have it. Now I'm all inspired to use finer threads and a twill threading. Hope you are too!

See you Monday! :)