A Michigan Summer of Traveling and Teaching

This summer in Michigan has been a full summer teaching weaving at yarn stores and quilt shops in Western Michigan. And the back roads aren't boring either.



Summer Storm somewhere between Newaygo and Muskegon



Scarf Class at Apple Knits & Purls in Muskegon

Beautiful scarf and a happy new weaver

Shabby Chic Table Runner Class at The New Ewe, Newaygo



I taught a version of my Fringy Cowl using Sari Silk at The Michigan Fibre Studio in Grand Rapids.

 

I traveled to Albia, Iowa to The Fiber Arts Shoppe where I taught a weekend of workshops. One of which was my "Weave A Rainbow/Color Theory for Weavers Workshop."

Warp for the Color Gamp Scarf

Weave A Rainbow Color Gamp Scarf

 

I made them work for the Chocolate they found in their packet

I stayed with my hostess, Sherri, in her beautiful country home. She gave me a tour of their natural pasture land for the deer to feed, and introduced me to their alpacas and homing pigeons.

 

 

I took a week to travel to Pittsburgh to be with my grandkids.

Last day of school and a ride in the Grandmom bus
otherwise known as the old Volvo Station Wagon.

An afternoon craft activity with my yarn thrums

Moon rising over the neighborhood my last night in Pittsburgh

And finally I traveled to Mississippi for a family reunion with my six siblings, their children and grandchildren at the campground of my childhood.

And all of this travel was just me, alone in my good old trusty Volvo station wagon. I wish Carl could have joined me, but he had family responsibilities to attend to.

In spite of my busy schedule of teaching and traveling, I was able to work in a bit of weaving for me and some local activities and time with Carl and Jujube my dog.

  

New Bonsai Vest made on my 15" Rigid Heddle Loom

Muskegon Farmer's Market. Just Amazing!

July 4th hike through the sand dunes to Lake Michigan

 Lots of morning and evening walks on the bike path

 

And so much beauty in nature

But our main reason for spending this summer in Michigan was so we could be here with my Mother-in-Law as she was in failing health and in hospice. She left us in July. We will always be grateful that we were here with the family this summer.

One of the last blooms on my Mother-in-Law's Bird of Paradise Plant

Another Summer in Michigan

If anyone's been "trying" to follow me, you'll know I haven't been keeping up with my blog. Writing is not one of my favorite things. New plan - Less words, more pictures. And pictures tell a story so much better. Now maybe I'll do it more often.

Spring Lake, Michigan. We arrived here in April. After a warm and lovely winter in Arizona, Michigan in April felt like going back in time. It rained and sleeted and snowed. All I could do was work on small loom projects as I looked out my RV window at the snow and rain.



Early April snow outside my RV window





Zoom Looming as it rains
outside

But it's spring here now with green grass, spring flowers, and bird songs. I've missed this kind of spring since living in the West.

I got here just in time to do Western Michigan's Yarn Quest. I visited 15 yarn stores in two weeks. Now I have many new fiber friends. And through those contacts I'm scheduled to teach more classes. Check my Schedule Tab to see where I will be next.

Learn to Weave and make a Scarf/Infinity Scarf
One of my beginning classes at yarn stores

For now I've rented a studio in Muskegon on Lakeshore Drive. The RV is way too small. How did I get so lucky. So much light and that view . . .

View across the street to the Marina

Looks like it will be a busy summer mixed with work and fun and enjoying the short summer season while I'm here in this beautiful part of the world. 

 

Lake Michigan with singing sand

Border Collie from the "Woof" Collection Sampler Part 2

Finished Cowl
Now if I only had a border collie, we could coordinate!

When I finished the first sampler scarf, I had a lot of yarn leftover. I had no idea how much so I decided to make a short warp the same width as the first project and just see what I'd get.

I warped the loom, lining up the blocks of black and white just like I had done in the scarf sampler.

You can see by the shuttles how much of the black and white yarn I had to work with after warping.




Here the black weft begins covering the jagged edges of black warp threads
where it begins to moves to white.

Almost immediately the little patterns begin to emerge.

Looking down at the jagged area
where the section of white gradually becomes black.

Next, I mixed it up by weaving with two shuttles in the white section; one pick black, one pick black and white. That was interesting.

White stripes appear wider apart than if I was using only one shuttle. 

I switched to one shuttle to weave with the last of  the black and white yarn.

Once again those little lines appear in this section

I finished it out with a section of black weft.

So there it is. Just long enough to make into a cowl. I loved this project on so many levels. Just going with the flow and playing with techniques is always my favorite way to work. And then the yarn. This Ancient Arts Yarns superwash, 3-ply fingering/sock yarn in merino was soft and yet not too stretchy to use in the warp. After wet finishing it was even softer. The fabric drapes nicely. I will definitely weave with this yarn again.

Border Collie from the "Woof" Collection Sampler Part 1

In January I traveled to the San Diego TNNA (The National Needle Arts) Trade Show where I hoped to find inspiration for new designs. I wasn't disappointed!

At the Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts booth I discovered a line of yarn inspired by rescue dogs and cats called  the "Meow and Woof" collection. Colors are dyed to match various breeds. And even better, a portion of the proceeds of this yarn is donated to charities benefiting stray and abandoned dogs and cats. How cool is that!

I decided to experiment with the Border Collie color way in 3-ply fingering/sock yarn; 80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon. And experiment I did! I loved working with this yarn and my sampler scarf turned out beautifully. If you're interested in how I did this, keep reading. Keep in mind, none of this was planned. It just happened. This is my favorite way to weave/play.

After leaving San Diego, we headed out to the Arizona desert in our motorhome. Under the big blue sky with desert creosote and palo verde bushes in the distance, I set up my temporary desert studio.

Winding the skein into a ball.

Setting up my Cricket Loom

As I placed the warp threads on the warping peg, I adjusted them so the blocks of black and white would line up as much as possible. As you see, it's impossible to get straight lines between the black and white sections, but that's what makes those wonderful little jagged areas much more interesting than straight lines anyway.

I've woven many projects with this ikat-like effect using color blocks in the warp, using a solid color in the weft. But this time, I used the same yarn for the weft as the warp because I was curious.

As I wove, uneven sections of stripes appeared due to the different lengths of black to white in the weft threads. Keep in mind, the striping effects will be different depending on the width of your project. This was sett at 12 epi and 6 3/4 inches wide.

 

And here it is in the white section.

When I got bored with this stripy pattern, I pulled out Jane Patrick's The Weaver's Idea Book, for inspiration. I chose a pick-up pattern with warp floats in groups of three from Page 97. 

And then I couldn't help myself. I went a little loopy! I picked up these long loops with the width of my pick-up stick. You'll find the description of how to pick up loops on Page 44 of Jane's book.

Long loops at the top and warp floats in groups of three.

And here's where it got really interesting. . .

Plain weave at the top where the warp color moves from black to gray to white.
Center is warp floats in groups of three in a white section of warp. 

When the weft yarn crossed the jagged areas in the warp of black to white, it created vertical and horizontal lines. If you've ever woven a color and weave pattern such as a log cabin, you've seen how this happens with much planning, I might add. When the alternating dark and light warp threads are crossed with alternating dark and light weft threads, changing the sequence of the color order you get visual lines. This is exactly what's happening here with no effort on my part, and using only one shuttle. It looks like a complicated plan, right? But it's all in the progression of color in the yarn. So easy!

Here is what it looks like through the jagged area where the warp color moves from black to gray to white.




I really love this section where the colors in the warp threads were very uneven!

And then I wondered, what would this look like if the weft was a solid black? I didn't have a black yarn with me on the desert so the project waited several weeks until I was in a real town with a real yarn store where I purchased my compatible black yarn.
I started  weaving the solid black weft about half way through the scarf (where the scarf folds in the picture below) and wove until I got bored with this. I added another row of loops, more of the black and white weft, and finished it with the solid black weft on black warp.

I loved the simple effects I was getting with the black weft so much that I decided to use what was left of my Border Collie yarn (yes I still had some left) and make another scarf. Well actually it turned out to be a cowl. I'll write about that in my next blog post and tell all about how lovely this yarn was to work with and my wet finishing results.