Thursday, August 25, 2011

A Few Days Away

Nancy relaxing with her iPad
At the end of a very busy summer my husband and I have escaped for a few days to the mountains in Western North Carolina. We are here with old friends. The guys are golfing and we went in search of cloth and yarn stores. All we found was a quilting store and that wasn't exactly what we were looking for. So back to the porch and the rocking chairs.

Fringe twisting and Vacation Reading
This morning before breakfast I did some fringe twisting on the balcony. This is a simple scarf woven on a rigid heddle loom. The yarn is from Stonehedge Fiber Mill in East Jordan, MI. When my duaghter was little Stonehedge was a petting zoo that we would visit while on summer vacations. I love weaving with a bit of family history. Unfortunately, I think I was a bit overzelous in wet finishing the scarf. The hem stitching area and the fringe ended up a little "felted." A learning opportunity for me AND a scarf for me since I don't think it is gift or sale quality. 

Bamboo Scarf
I had planned to so some embellishment on a natural bamboo scarf while sitting in a rocking chair. My design is a variation of a scarf that was featured in Handwoven this past winter. But but I have hit several snags to that plan. I forgot the tapestry needle that I need to thread ribbon through the scarf. My other issue is that the bamboo just doesn't feel soft enough and it doesn't drape well. I don't really want to spend the time to embellish it until I get it feeling better. Several of the Tuesday Weavers have suggested that I press it with steam. (my room in the Inn doesn't have an iron, shucks!) Another suggestion is that I soak it in fabric softener. It is a fairly loose weave. I did it on a rigid heddle loom in a basket weave structure. Thoughts?


Too Much Contrast?
Just Right?
Meanwhile I am contimplating different ribbons to use for embellishment. All of these and more are from friends with amazing stash. Input????
Too Little Contrast?
I would love input as I am going to put this all away and pull it back out when I get home. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy the view and one of my books.

Be well,
Ann

4 comments:

Bonnie said...

Sounds like a plan. A relaxing book in your rocker. The "just right" is my vote. It will look nice.

LA said...

Maybe we need to do a quick field trip to the Clinch River Yarns in Clinton to look at some of their knitting ribbon. I'll try to stop by the local $$ store and see what they have, too.

Maggie said...

I kind of like the middle one the best, but I'm into that tone-on-tone stuff. Don't you just love Western NC? If you're near Black Mountain, there's the Black Mountain Yarn Shop, short on imagination for their name, but a wonderful shop, with lovely people.

Tina J said...

I like the way you threaded the rainbow ribbon. Not sure about what to do about the drape except for maybe a looser weave, so that when you wet finish there is more room to shrink.