Cyber Friends Weavings

From: Karen in the Woods, Nov. 1999 A set of four rag rug placemats and a table runner I wove during my first 6 months of weaving. (self taught from a video, no classes here in the woods!) My neighbor convinced me to enter them into a Cultural Arts program with our HCE Homemakers group (kind of like 4-H for old ladies).... and they won a county-wide competition. Well, then they got sent on to state competition in Madison, and much to my surprise, they won FIRST PLACE... out of 251 entries. The four points the judge made were: 1) recycling of materials in this day and age of throwing stuff away... 2) neat rows tightly packed and even.... 3) no "stringey" edges showing as I use a braid aid to turn under the edges of my rags for a neater appearance.... and 4) the way I spaced the center warp of gren closer, then the border warps of burgundy wider gave the impression of two spearate fabrics or colors, when in reality it was all one continuos rag.

This one from Karen too. Karen in the Woods, Nov. 1999 This is the first coverlet I wove.. it's called Whig Rose.... and I miscalucated the weft thread needed and had to only make it five feet long, but it's 72" wide...... but it sure is nice to cover up in. I used hunter green wool for warp and and a wool/mohair/acrylic blend for the pattern weft. Now I'm going to tackle a Lee's Surrender soon.

From: Bonnie Datta , Jun 1998. "12-block (four shaft) crackle, warp 22/2 wool sleyed at 36 epi, pattern weft 4/4 wool, binder weft embroidery thread. I used three colours of pattern weft in this piece, graduating from green/green, to blue/green, blue/blue, red/blue and finally red/red. A feature of this structure is that such a colour and weave in the pattern weft really work to make the blocks distinctive. In the warp, each block is composed of two colours, end-and-end, which also contributes to the lively dispersion of colour in the final product. The binder weft is some cut lengths of embroidery thread that I wanted to use up, and is all different colours."

Also From: Bonnie Datta, Jun 1998. "This is woven on the same warp as the previous sample, but here the pattern weft is a space dyed wool roving, and the binder weft is an inconspicuous neutral gray 22/2 wool."

From: Bonnie Datta, Jun 1998. "In this piece, the warp is 8/2 cotton, beige, sleyed at 24 epi. Three wefts, also 8/2 cotton, alternate in sequence: gray, beige and pink. The 12-block structure mixes the three wefts in different proportions, to create very subtle colour changes in the blocks. The real effect of this is lost somewhat in this photo, as it doesn't show a full repeat."

From: Bonnie Datta , Jun 1998. "Here, the warp and the weft are both a variegated wool/rayon blend. The nature of the 12-block crackle structure is that in some blocks are warp-dominant and others are weft-dominant. So with the variegated yarns, this creates blocks of vertical colouring, mixed with blocks that have horizontal colouring. I also crammed and spaced the warp in the reed."

From: Bonnie Datta, Jun 1998. "Here the warp is silk noil, threaded in six of the twelve blocks. Here, as always, the sley is quite close, like one would sley for twill. Only one block is treadled. The pattern weft is wool roving, space dyed to produce a variegated yarn. The binder weft is the same as the warp. This weave produces a fabric with 1/2" pleats, which works well for a scarf as it gathers around the neck very comfortably."

From Vernice Myers: The saddle blankets/rugs are 100% wool. I seem to always weave them 32x32 or 32x64. That way they can be used for single or double saddleblankets, rugs or whatever. I have more if you are interested.

Also from Vernice Myers: The nativity scene was woven from an idea from an old Weaver's Journal. Some members of our local guild (Yellowstone Weavers and Spinners which I founded in 1976) got together and each one wove enough material for one separate figure for the other 8 . In advance we each said what draft and color we would be using. At my house, after all material was woven, we met and put together a complete set for the guild. I wove the baby basket and my husband made the manger. I also wove the grey material for one of the wise men. Since then I have added to my set more handmade sheep, llamas, and a donkey.