Let's rethink scarves

I have heard so many women say that they can knit only scarves, well so what? Yes, there are other lovely things out there to knit or crochet but let us be realistic here, scarves are fast and fun and wearable. So what does this have to do with weaving? Remember last week's posting where I showed you a picture of a knitted scarf that I thought could be made of woven pieces? I have worked on it and the result of my labor is pictured here.
As you can see it is only about fourteen inches long, hardly close to being finished but it is really very pretty. Will I finish it, yes, but not today

The other thing is that in a new knitting book called Knitting New Scarves by Lynne Barr there are several ones pictured that would be great worked up by weaving. One is reversible that would just require two long straight scarves in your school colors and the way they are joined makes the scarf. Of course, OSU colors would look fine in this area. Another is called Four-color scarf but is really just tumbling blocks and could be made up of any number of colors. We have some small balls of yarn, worsted wool, from Knitwhits that are forty-four yards and many dynamite colors. A few of these could make the scarf. Yesterday my friend Barb showed me another one in the book called Zigzag. It would use the two by four loom. All of these scarves encourage me to think that we need to look at knitting patterns to get our ideas.

The last picture is of the scarf I first showed you a couple of weeks ago. It is finished and I am quite proud of it. The yarn is the Vespera, a 100% wool that is nice to work with.
The blue/black was just a little too plain for me so I wove a very fine red yarn through in a few blocks. It does give just that perk it needed. Don't we all need a little perk?

My visit to Cincinnati was great fun: played Upwords with Dar and beat him twice, ate at the original Montgomery Inn and Arthurs, went shopping with Barb at a consignment shop and bought some lovelies, and of course stopped at Fiberlicious.
Then on Wednesday Barb and Denise exchanged me at Jeffersonville to return me to Columbus. It is always good to get home to Doreen and the shop. And yes, I did weave on the trip.

Summer is almost gone, kids back in school, county fairs in full swing and that trip to Yellow Springs for Youngs ice cream. Oh yes, the Wool Gathering is there too. We are planning to be closed on the 20th so we can go. It is fun. Maybe I will see you there and say, hi. Have a safe Labor Day weekend with family and friends. And my prayers are for your comings and goings, God bless us all. Elaine

It's that time again

I had not planned to document my week for you, but guess what, that is what I am doing. Yes, there has been a lot of weaving going on at our shop, and yes, I have led several more to the "dark" side. Along the way I feel that I have made several new friends. There was even a woman from Minnesota that bought four sizes of the looms because she thinks she still has her mother's four by four somewhere back home. I hope she finds it but if not, she knows our address. What I enjoy the most is having weavers come in and share their projects and their enthusiasm for the loom and weaving. We talk about using graph paper to work up designs and the fact that we can be creative and not need to always follow a pattern someone else had written. I find that quilters are very adept at designing and really like to work with the rectangular shapes of our looms.

Do you remember the blue/black and white scarf I shared with you last week? If not, go back to my last blog and check it out. I am taking it with me when I go to Cincinnati this next week and hopefully finish it. I have decided to add a bit of color, red of course, to it. Will have the completed scarf in next week's blog.

We also have a scarf book in stock now that is called, Scarf Style by Pam Allen of Interweave Knits. I know, they are meant for knitters but on page 43 and on is a scarf that I think could work with our two by six looms very well. It is comprised of long strips of different colored yarn. They have evened used bobbles to decorate the stripes. I know that we can do this and that is my next project going with me to Cincy. See what you think and let me know.

When in Cincy I know that Barb, my daughter-in-law, will take me shopping and we will hit a yarn shop or two. I was in Findlay this week, my daughter, Denise, and granddaughter, Ashley, took me up to visit other family members. If you like meatloaf sandwiches, stop in at the Fern on Sandusky St. and get one. They are great. We drove by houses we had lived in so Ashley could see them again. She had not been up there since her grandfather died and I moved to Columbus. Her favorite house, the one she most remembers on Circle Drive, still looks much the same. I had meant to go out to the cemetery to see if any cleanup needed to be done but completely forgot it. Oh well, next time.

The condo is clean thanks to Denise and Kierstin helping us out though I still need to do a little laundry, Doreen will finish that on Monday. She will be teaching at ITT this year with evening classes but will be at the shop during the day. Thankfully, Linda and Lynne will still be here for us, too. Doreen has asked me to teach her how to weave with the small looms so if I am not here she or Linda could help with teaching it. Later today that will happen.

I hope that I haven't bored you with my rambling and I promise to share some projects with you next week. Joy and peace, God bless us all. Elaine

Scarves, Scarves, Scarves

Here it is Saturday and I am just getting my act together. Yesterday I was finishing putting some ideas together for scarves to show you. They are fun and fairly quick to do, plus the weather (believe it or not) will soon be here when we will want them either for ourselves or to give as gifts. A couple of them are just to give you an idea of how to do them and though I used wools in most of them really other yarn could work and give good results. Please feel free to come or phone for help in doing yours.

The scarf that I included as my favorite was made from JoJoLand Melody and doubled to weave with. I like the way it drapes when put around the neck and the little lapel. It would be great in alpaca, sooo soft.

Speaking of coming in, this Friday we will be watching a movie, Marley and Me, and serving popcorn. Of course we knit, crochet, weave or whatever. The massage last night was a big hit and Lisa will be back again. She has an office right across from us. One nice thing about weaving is that it can be done while talking, eating and watching TV, etc . If you have an idea of what might be a fun activity for Friday night don't hesitate to tell us.

We have several pattern books for Weavettes in the shop now and they are great fun to look at but not too many of the patterns would work today. There is one that shows using crochet to join the squares to create items. A couple of them are rather cool. You can also go into the internet at eLoomaNation and see some of these on a pdf. Our friend Janet sent me a booklet, which is in very good condition, from a dump in Montana. Thanks, Janet for thinking of us.

The blue/black and white scarf would be very smart or in school colors would be effective. It is so easy to come up with ways to make these scarves your own design.

I am still trying to get the weaving pattern books from Buxton Brooks and hopefully they will be in the next week or two. We could set down and discuss a pattern or two that you might be interested in and I could show you how to do it. I cannot make copies to hand out to you. What is nice about the book is that it has the directions for every size of loom you own.

It is now time to open shop and really start our day though we have been at it since eight. Today we will be focused on watching the PGA on the computer and looking forward to seeing how Tiger and VJ deal with one another. At least we can watch the last couple of hours on the TV at home tonight. Go Tiger!

Have a great week and God Bless your activities, Elaine

The Melba Shawl

Guess what?, there is a pattern in this week's blog offering and it is similar to the shawl I have in the shop. This is written for use of the four by six loom. You can see the half division of the pattern which would permit you to actually put a couple of extra rows in the middle at the same level then turn the second half to make a different type of shawl. Can you see that? If you are interested in this or other patterns, stop in and let me work with you and your idea.

I also am sharing with you a picture of my newly pieced purse before the felting of it. I intend to do that this weekend and will have it in next week. It was basically made of odds and ends that I had woven when trying out new yarns or using up leftovers. It is fun to see what comes of it.

The last picture is of something called a "humbug." I had seen only knitted humbugs, both small, pincushion size, and larger for pillows. Since it is no more than two squares joined on three sides, stuffed and then pinched to join for the rhomboid shape, I could do it with two woven squares. For the small ones I used the two by two loom and they are being hung from the Norfolk pine tree we have in the shop. The larger ones are pincushions and are very fun to have sitting around by the chairs for customers to use when here. If you are in Powell tonight, Friday the 7th, come in the share pizza and a movie while we weave or knit.

Have a great weekend and God Bless, Elaine