Fiber Monday - Overwhelmed

That would be overwhelmed in a good way. A friend of mine is downsizing her studio and gave me a significant amount of weaving items in supplies. I spent most of Thursday figuring out how it was all going to fit. I managed, though I might have too much fleece and unspun fiber and need to put a moratorium on getting anymore until I've worked through what I have. It's just tricky to store so some is back to living under my studio table. Since I don't like things stored on the floor, this is not a fantastic option, but the only one that worked. 

Life hasn't been all sorting and storing, though. I have a few things to show you. First is that I finished weaving the scarf that was on my loom. 

This is 100% silk, made with a hand painted warp and weft. I still need to wash it.

The weave structure up close.

My loom is now empty again, which makes me sad, so I need to figure out my next project. It is going to be a blanket which is a wedding gift for B. and HC. I was able to find just the right colors of yarn in the items from my friend. 

These are the same colors as were in their wedding flowers.

I've already played around with them some to see how they'll interact. This will help me to figure out the pattern I want to use.

The only thing I need to purchase is a smaller size of the yellow. It didn't immediately seem as though it was thicker than the others, but it became very obvious that it was while I made this. I'm excited to get everything figured out and on the loom. 

This isn't my only weaving project. Take a look at this... which is another cool weaving tool from my friend.

This is a full sized inkle loom for weaving bands. To appreciate it's size, you need to see it next to the little inkle loom I had been using. 

Quite a difference, huh? While with the little one I can weave on the lap, the big one needs to sit on a table. It is so much easier to use! Here is the band I've started. This is the most complex card woven band I've attempted. Not only does it skip holes in the cards, making them a little trickier to manage, but it requires some cards to turn forward and others to turn backwards depending on where you are in the pattern. I actually like it more than the same thing over and over.

But really what I should be spending my free time doing is working on bags for the Christmas market. I'm doing them production style, though it's not how I prefer to work. I've sewn all the outside bags, am now working on handles, then I will sew the linings and finish them. I have ten in process, but have supplies to make at least that many more if I can stand it. They're kind of taking over the studio.