Am I Blue . . .

Cast into the Deep Blue Sea

Very! This blue soaks your eyes. I love it.

What To Do When . . .

You see that you have woven something (or made anything, for that matter) and you aren't satisfied with the way it turned out?

I tried a simple modification on one of the scarves I made last month. I wanted to weave a thicker yarn at regular intervals at the ends. I counted the picks (number of times I threw the shuttle for the weft), added the thick yarn, counted some more, and added it again. This is a loosely woven scarf. The sett (space between the warp yarns) is wider. But I also controlled the weft spacing in the way I pushed the beater (to make the weft yarns tighter, or in this case, looser). The latter is, apparently, not constant. I tried and it looks good but when you add a more striking contrast, you really notice the difference.

Or, and this may shock people who know me, I could have counted wrong because I didn't bother to write down the numbers. "20" is easy to remember. But so is "15". And "30".

Anyway, the contrasting design was not symmetrical and it drove me nuts. I don't know if it would have bothered anyone else. I like asymmetry but some people don't.

If you bake a cake and it comes out a little lop-sided, what do you do? Add some more frosting (and who doesn't like more frosting?), make some frosting flowers (or buy some). Drop some Red Hots all over it. Maybe even add some of those little paper umbrellas. I would probably do all of the above and add gumdrops to boot. See! You won't even notice that it's lop-sided. You'll just be amazed at all the neat stuff I put on it.

Ok. It's cake and it would have tasted good even if it had slid off the plate, without all the extras. And it was probably for your family or friends, who would love you no matter what the cake looked like.

But a scarf? Not so much. So, after composting (ok, not LITERALLY composting, just fomenting design ideas), I decided to add a crocheted flower one one end and extra fringe on the messed up design area on the other. Let me amend that: it wasn't really messed up. Each end looked good independently. They just bothered me together.

It's still asymetrical but in a more planned out way. Which, ironically, works better than something that happens imperfectly asymetrical on its own. I'm not sure I like that logic (or lack thereof).

Anyway, and more importantly, I like the scarf.

The Rain, Change, and Waiting for Yarn

Poor planning means I'm waiting for a box of yarn to arrive. I am weaving towels for Indigo Lily. I sent a set of four red and natural-colored ones out last week. Now it's blue and natural. I am amazed at the price I had to set for them. The yarn was $41, then there is my cost, so I hope people will find them beautiful enough to buy. They are very large, though, 30" x 16". They could be used for a mat, as well. Sorry, I wanted to get them out asap and didn't take pictures. I will have pictures of the blues, though.

For spring Bubblegum

Swift Waters in Willimantic is closing temporarily to move up the street. Opening day is April 14 with the GRAND Re-OPENING on April 17. The new location will be 866 Main St., downtown Willimantic, CT. If you are out and about there, be sure to check out Cafemantic. Excellent lattes! Third Thursday, the monthly street fest, begins in May!

And the rain has finally ended here in New England. Many schools in the southeastern part of the state are closed because of river levels and flooding. A measure of devestation used for flooding are the Connecticut Floods of 1955. Thankfully, this isn't another one, but states of emergency have been declared in some parts of the state.

So now that it's drying up, it's time for me to take more pictures!

Spring is Taunting Us

Here are some scarves from my new spring line I call Cast. The texture and look of the scarves remind me of nets.

Bubblegum

Cast at Dark Sunset

New Shoots

Cast in Teal

A self-portrait wearing a New Shoots scarf and a guitar string pendant I also made (I have to say that I really love that and wear it all the time).

I have more that I will be posting this week. Right now I am waiting for an order of yarn so I can complete the last in this series before I move on to some towels that are requested. I love making these scarves and hope to make more next month.

Yesterday's Post Was Lame

I know. Sorry. Anyway, here are my latest two:

Lava Sun and Shadow Handwoven Scarf

Lava in Teal Handwoven Scarf

Yes, I seem to like that wind-blown effect.

I am now working in royal purple cotton for some loosely woven scarves for spring. Actually, I am on my third of five in all purple, but I'm thinking that the next will have a greenish teal weft. I played around with it a little and didn't like the results at first. But colors in weaving have a way of taking me by surprise, in a wonderful way. We'll see.

Getting tired of winter. See ya soon!

Still Here . . .

February is moving along fast. I'm working on spring scarves and playing my guitar.

Let's see how much I get done . . .

Silent Movie

Here is a scarf that is new to my Etsy store, but not newly handwoven.

Silent Movie

The warp is silk, wool, and a metallic blend yarn. The weft is mohair. I wove this a few years ago (maybe three?) and it was living at Swift Waters in Willimantic. It's beautiful and classic and the silk and mohair have a sheen naturally found in those fibers. The metallic blend yarn gives the scarf a little sparkle an interest but is not overpowering. The yarn is handpainted and very high quality.

The mohair gives the scarf a lovely, slight halo (little fibers fluffing out) but it might be a little scartching for wearing directly around some necks (mine included). I have to be honest because I wouldn't want someone to buy this, then have it irritate them. Some people aren't bothered by the mohair, though. Either way, this would look beautiful draped around the coat collar of a gray, tan, or black coat.

I have to take more pictures of another scarf today (we are getting more snow on Wednesday) so I will be posting another new scarf in the store later!