Inspirational Village

The cool days of winter reflected in weaving… Here are a few photos of some of the things that have come off the loom in the last few months.  I had my first table at the Easter weekend farmers’ market- it was pretty fun to see all the colours out in the spring air and to connect with other islanders’ in sharing creations.  It was the first time I have really had a collection out in the public eye, and I was quite excited by all the supportive responses!

Here are a few scarves… lots of play with bright tones, mixing them randomly or with a preconceived design.  A few fibers in these include alpaca, merino, silk, and bamboo.  I love the saori philosophy that allows mistakes to be elements of design.  Eliminating the negative idea of a mistake opens the possibilities for unplanned creation.

I have also been experimenting with small vests, made in two ways- either cut in half and sewn up the back and sides, or a single length folded in a V in the back and sewn to the front under the arms.  The second way makes for a slightly more fitting cropped kind of vest, as seen in the yellow/blue vest.  The unfolded length of it can be seen in the photo above- I did some planning to make the yellow portion of the vest fall around the shoulders and the blue portion lie at the bottom, once it is folded.  The blue vest is made primarily with hand dyed merino and kid fiber from Fleece Artist in Nova Scotia.  It is cut in half and sewn up the back for a wider fit.

Sewn in a V at the back, the sunrise vest is mostly llama and wool.

This vest is made primarily with hand dyed merino and kid fiber from Fleece Artist in Nova Scotia. It is sewn up the back for a wider fit.

I often catch myself judging whether or not I like what I am doing.  As I work, the weaving gets rolled up to advance the warp strings, and my visual of the progress remains in the immediate ten inches or so.  It is not until I roll the whole thing off that I get a full look of what I have done, (unless I unroll it and peek, but that still has some visual limitations).  It is a chance to remember to work in the present, and trust that a complete picture of the creation will be revealed later… whether it is based on a preconceived idea I have attempted to follow, or a creation of random patterning, it is always a surprise to pull something off the loom and see it in it’s full form.