Preparing for Fall!

 It is starting to cool down in these parts, the leaves are turning and then falling.  I wade thru them on my morning 2 miles with Scout.  We have cleaned out the chimney getting ready for those really cold days, and we have turned that once unruly garden into a playing field for the grandkids.  Dear One seeded it  just before the soft rains started falling 2 days ago.  I am going to keep a very small garden next year, this winter I will pile it high with compost and hay that the goats have wasted, that should keep the weeds down and the moisture in.  Dear One says that he knows how to take care of grass!

Chores are done for the day, inside and out, there is vegetable beef soup starting to really smell good in the crock pot.  As soon as I finish this post, I will be upstairs weaving blankets.  Wednesday I was able to weave 2 complete blankets, almost 100 inches!  That is pretty good for me!   Those 2 finished the 8 that I said I would do, for the fall show.  I will of course keep on weaving, but it is a relief to know that I have already done that weaving.  I may even be able to bring 12, who knows.

Here are some of the colors that I have already prewashed and ready to weave,

That is enough color to weave 14 more blankets!  I plan to do one of each color in each design, "Cat Tracks and Snail Trails", and "Kings Flower".  

I really am enjoying this project, I think that I will even have a hard time deciding which pattern to rethread for the Star pattern!  I have however begun to wonder what will be next, do I keep going with the baby blankets on both looms, or with just one loom and do something else with the other one.  I have begun to notice some of the yarn I have about the place.

There is this lovely 8/2 cotton that I bought a couple of years ago, it is in Navy and Tan.  It is starting to talk to me.     





There is also the yards and yards of 12/3 cotton I have on these spools.  and the 100 yd warps that are in the tubs, all white cotton!

It is starting to whisper too!  I just am not quite ready to listen yet, maybe after the first of the year I will have some time to think about it clearly. 

When the time comes, I will be talking to my fellow Tuesday Weavers, and see what we can come up with.  I love being part of this group, we are a support group really, just an email, or a phone call away.

My morning is getting away from me, I had better get upstairs and see how much I can weave today.

On Monday, I will cut off all the blankets that I have already woven, serge them apart, do the hemming, and then the washing,  and blocking.  I will then number and tag them for my records.  This Tuesday at the center, we will be doing our mock up for the fall show, which means that we are supposed to bring all the props we have and the merchendise too!  We want to see ahead of time how everything is going to look in our booth.  We like working out the kinks ahead of time.   We also want to see if we need to weave up anything else to increase our variety.

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina

The Countdown Continues

Another Dye Day....gotta get some more bamboo dyed for warp and weft.  Ila and Ms. Trudy spent the morning getting their colors mixed and on their thread.


  Hidden by the pole is Beatrice threading her loom...sorry!  She's coming right along with her first project.

  Carol was in the role of mad scientist mixing up the dye at the counter.  Where IS your mask???

Pat was ready to try something new with her warp.  She found some leftover dyed weft from Bonnie's tote bag warp.  It will look great with that warp.

Ann got back to work on the special order rug.  She also got us all to thinking about when we could work at the booth in November.....lots to think about!!!!

Besides working on the Annex remodel, Allan is also at work on his placemat warp. 

  Christy brought her Inkle loom to work on today. 

  Tina was busy winding a warp for towels for the Tool of the Trade loom.  LOTS of threads........





And, here's a shout-out to our other weavers:
Linda, Carl, Bonnie, Ms. Bonnie, Lanny, Maggie and Joyce.  You know where we are..........we missed you today!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Crunch Time!

This is the last full week before next week's Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands in Asheville. So, this is crunch week!!

I finished a royal blue warp the other day. Wove it right to the end! Through the heddles you can see the toilet paper that I wove to keep the weft  in at the end of that vest piece! I like it when I have just the right amount of weft for the planned projects!

 The last warp is on the loom now. It's royal blue, wisteria and jungle green (not as yellow as the picture shows). I'm hoping to weave about half of it today and finish it up on Wednesday. While weaving I've been watching the first season of LOST. The special features disc has been quite interesting with how the story evolved as they were auditioning actors for the parts. Hopefully my shuttle will fly as I work on this warp. Sometimes threads break in the warp and that always slows down your rhythm!! Getting up to repair them is good for the body but not the speed of getting it off the loom!!

I'm finishing assembling the red pieces hopefully by this evening so I'll have hand work to do. I've washed one purple warp and the other is in the machine right now. It'll be ready to cut and sew tomorrow. Then I'll start washing the royal blue ones. Assembly line here we come!! Hope I have enough buttons in the right colors.....
Until next week
Carol

Give them a loom....and they will weave!

  It was a beautiful Fall morning in East Tennessee....and Tina, Joyce & I set out for Maryville.  Tina finished threading the Inkle loom on the foggy drive while Joyce was putting finishing touches on her button necklace.  I was driving and singing along with the oldies.  And, yes...we were talking about all matters of weaving topics. 
  Since this was our second year at the Festival, we didn't have to drive all around the town....we went straight to our assigned parking lot and unloaded the car.  We found our new booth location, and got everything set up for our new generation of weavers. 
  And so it begins........

 

LOVE this face painting....and such a good weaver, too!!!

  So....here we are (minus Ann).....we shared the love of weaving to many folks....young and old....male and female!!!!!
  And speaking of males.....one gentleman with his granddaughters made the comment that weaving was "women's work!"  Before you could say "what???" we had him weaving, too.  In fact, I thought he was going to weave the rest of the day.   He admitted that that was the most relaxed that he had been all day!  I wonder if he's on Craig's List this morning looking for a loom????
  Last, but not least, was the one little boy that said that he "would never be bored again!"  I guess we achieved our goal......there are many new "weavers" around here this morning!
Happy Weaving where you are..............
LouAnn

.....and we're off!!!!

  The bags are packed and loaded in the car.....we're headed to Maryville for the Foothills Fall Festival!  The Tuesday Weavers will, once again, be handing out straw looms to introduce folks to the wonderful art of weaving!!!!

  This year our booth is located right in the thick of the activities on Broadway, so I have a feeling we'll be very busy all day.  Tina, Joyce and I will get things set up and ready, and the other weavers will join us as the morning progresses.

I've got my camera packed, so I'll get pictures to post in the morning.  I hope you have plans to get out and enjoy this beautiful Fall day!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Museum of Appalachia Homecoming!

Fall Homecoming at the Museum of Appalachia!

Molasses!

Angora bunnies!

Hand made Chairs!

Hand made soap!

Cantilever Barn / stage!

Tatting!

Old Time engines!

After we toured the crafts and animals (many more than I pictured) we settled down to listen to some really good music.  We ate the usual fair that you find at events like this, and I enjoyed some uninterupted hours of listening and knitting.

Until next week, Happy Weaving, Tina

Surprises

Yesterday, I drove to Asheville, NC from Knoxville,TN and back. For those of you who are not from around these parts, the highway from here to there is one of the prettiest stretches of interstate in the eastern United States. The route goes across the Appalachian Mountains - much of it through National Forests. The road is twisty, turny with beautiful views of the mountains.

The trees in the mountains were turning beautiful reds and golden yellows - yes we have had some cool days recently - but why are they turning so early - wait it isn't early - we are well into October - how did that happen - SURPRISE!

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I have several artist friends, jewelry makers and painters, who have talked about the internal conflict they experience between creating the art that they want to do and creating what a client wants or what they think will sell. Their hearts or souls lead them in different directions than what they think they can market. I have heard them talk about talk about selling out or even "whoring" their artistic skills.

As I have said here before, I am a new weaver - so my creative juices are just beginning to flow. I am just beginning to think - what if I tried this - I wonder how that would work and so on. For the most part my work to date has been pretty simple and classic. Also I am a recreational weaver not a production weaver, so I haven't had to dampen by spirit to make things that would sell.

Warp for special order rug

But, I did feel a twinge of that internal conflict when I was asked to weave a special order rug for a customer at the center. I wound a warp in the colors she requested. First, I wove several simple solid rugs on the warp - I thought they looked pretty good. Then it was time to weave the special order. The customer was pretty specific about what she wanted - she wanted these colors but not too much of this and none of that. Carol and I searched our stash and found some things that we thought would work. It is a huge mish-mash of fabrics. I realized I had little enthusiasm to weave what she was asking for; it was the customers creativity - - not mine.

Playing with strips

In spite of the lack of enthusiasm ... onward I trudged. Before I sewed strips together, I did a trial and threw some in just to see how they looked together and with the warp. I liked some and did not like the others. I pulled the reject strips out of the pile of fabric, put the rest in "random order," sewed them together and started weaving. Guess what - I think the rug I am weaving is beautiful. SURPRISE!

More strips

Life is full of surprise moments - we need to keep our eyes open for them, embrace the good ones and learn from the not so good ones. Wishing you good surprises this week.

Be well,
Ann

(where photos end up on the page is a not so good surprise - maybe I will learn from that next week - until then...)