Oct 2016 Show and Tell

The feature this month is Terry's mixed fibre arts Blanket, her submission to the Oliver Fall Art Show. Terry is a member of the Rip Off Artists. 

Felting at the Quail's Nest Studio week
and on the right, from Kenyon Park.

I first saw the blanket as the template laid out on the lawn (R side of photo) at our July Kenyon Park Spin-In although she was already felting pieces before that at the Quails Nest Studio Week. 

She worked on her art blanket through the summer and into Fall. 

We saw major progress when she was working on it at the first Drop-in in Sept.
Terry used a combination of knitting, wet felting, needle felting and crochet techniques.

The Finished blanket shown at this month's Show and Tell! 
It is beautiful Terry!





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Panel close-ups.
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Spinning: 

 From the wool of her own alpacas, Marie R
hand spun and hand dyed this beautiful yarn.

A lovely hank of Alpaca sock yarn spun by Nell. 

Weaving: 

 The top piece is Karen B's work from the Alison Irwin
workshop. The bottom scarf is from a green 12 gauge
bamboo warp at 18 epi with a bamboo/tencel warp.

Stephanie provided a reference for "Mother of all Weaving Calculators" by Marg Coe which calculates warp, weft, total yarn and costs for your project. Check her Resources tab for more, helpful instructions.

Stephanie wove 9 yds of B&W fabric (above) along with an
8 in sampler on her Ashford fixed heddle loom (orange),  

This is a wonderful example of what happens with only a change in the weft yarn.

Stephanie's Summer Winter tea towels in
wefts of yellow, black, natural and then grey. 

Nancy wove these scarves and cowl using a blue zephyr 50/50 silk/wool warp,
all with the same threading and knit this very cute hat for her 2 yo niece.  

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Nell wove a 4 harness 2/8 cotton sampler for placemats & a runner
she will weave for her son. On the left are the Bobbi socks she knit. 

Michelle wove the scarves on her rigid heddle loom.
The hats were woven using a round pin loom. 

She brought a selection of mug rugs and
bookmarks from Barefoot Weavers in the Kootenays.

Marg brought a variety of items: M&O's tea towels, knitted then felted slippers,
the variegated yarn socks and her handspun art yarn that she had dyed using Koolaid. 

There is always lots of knitting to show as we can socialize or watch TV while we are doing it but the creativity and craftsmanship is also there. 

Carol Ann's Bow Knot Scarf

Maggie knit these scarves. The burgundy/blue scarf
is from yarn sent to her by a friend  in England.

Emi (a new spinner) knit these children's gloves:
the 12 days of Christmas and the mitts, 

Klaudia's socks and various gloves, always popular at the Fall Craft Sale 

Marianne M knit this pretty Chemo cap

Hillary knit golf club heads for her husband; also a knitted hat

Marianne H knit these socks

and to finish up, Lilo's knitted skirt!!!  

 

                                                                                                               

Alison Irwin Workshop and all about Doubleweave Pickup Techniques

Thanks to funding assistance from the Oliver Arts Council and ANWG,  the Desert Sage Spinners and Weavers were able to invite weaver Alison Irwin of Maple Bay Studio in Duncan for a two-day workshop at the Shatford Centre in Penticton on pick-up weaving techniques on 4-harnesses. Each participant  brought their warped up loom to the workshop.
Alison describes her workshop as "Expand your four-shaft loom's potential with three pick-up techniques: Finnweave, Mock Satin Damask (a broken twill pickup) and Doubleweave Pickup. Al three can be woven on one sampler with a 1.2.3.4 threading".
In researching these techniques or as some say weave structures, I found many variations in terminology so I searched for some sites to help explain this subject and the techniques. Several are by Madelyn van der Hoogt of Interweave and others by bloggers.
The Best Weave Structure is Doubleweave
Variations in Doubleweave 
The difference between Block Doubleweave and Finnweave
An experience in trying Mock Satin Damask
Not a part of this workshop but an interesting article is Deflected Doubleweave and facing fears
What interesting and very challenging weaving!
Barb L took these photos of the workshop for us.

Enthusiastic weavers ready to learn!

Double Weave Pickup on the loom....

Concentration is needed!

And the amazing results! 

Happy Weavers!

Congratulations to everyone who attended the workshop! 
 

Here are some examples of Alison's work.....
Can you identify the different types?

Thank you Alison for visiting and sharing your knowledge and talent with us! I learned a lot just in researching this post. Thank you Barb L for all your work in organizing the workshop and hosting, iLona S for writing the grant requests and Gail E for liaison, all of which made this workshop a success. And thank you to ANWG and the Oliver Arts Council for their support.