Saori Scarves- Rock Pool Inspired

This is what became of my "warp of possibility" from last month's blog post!

I thoroughly enjoyed dipping into my hand spun and hand dyed yarns to weave two scarves on the warp I had made and put on my Saori Loom.

My inspiration for these pieces was the magic and mystery of Rock Pools. The many colours and creatures you find at low tide tucked away in these little pools of wonder.

I shall be adding these scarves to our Etsy and Folksy shops for you to purchase.

Wood and Wool Naturally Hand Crafted by WoollenTree on Etsy

Sue Wright Handknits- SWH and WT at Woollen Tree on Folksy

I hope you will enjoy wearing them, they are so lovely and soft with a wonderful drape and with so many natural colours in the weave!

Although being hand woven over the same warp each scarf is subtly different and completely unique as I have woven them in a free style Saori way and used my own hand spun yarns along with wools, cotton and silk from my stash.

 

Summer Colour in Cloth

                                               Our garden is full of colour and inspiration!

I am always influenced by the nature around me, summer colours start to feed into my woven cloth at this time of year.
This month I have been making vibrant cotton warps for the looms. It is a nice break from working in wool on the looms. (I'm busy spinning on the wheel in the garden, so there will be plenty of woolly projects later in the year).
However some people have allergies and do ask me if I weave and knit in cotton, so its always good to offer an alternative. Also in the summer months its great to work in cool cottons and linen.

 Hand weaving the Saori Way along with more tradition weaves of stripes and squares in gorgeous colourways.

 New cloth fresh from the loom.

Beautiful Summer Wraps/Shawls in soft cotton. The perfect "go to" accessory for the Season.

Room For A Loom

 Of Course! There is always room for another loom. This Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom needed a new home, it was looking very sorry for itself with an old woolly warp tied on and a gathering of dust and dirt to clean. But as a weaver I saw the potential in this old loom. It is in very good working order and all it needed was a little TLC to get it up and weaving again.

 A good wash and clean with wood soap.

 Then a visit to the WrightTurned work shop, where Skipper got all the working parts running smoothly and  gave it a wax polish treatment and buffed it up to a beautiful sheen.

All warped up and happily weaving once more 

An Ashford Rigid heddle Loom is a perfect loom for the beginner. It is simple to use. Using one is a great introduction to weaving and as I intend to offer "Learn to Weave" sessions in the future this little loom will be very useful. It will certainly find itself busy once more.

Meanwhile I shall use it for small projects when they come up.  

My Next Event

Looking forward to our Annual Event at Quarr Abbey.

My Next Event

Winning The Cup And Woolfest

My Handwoven Saori Styled  Black and White Shawl Wrap won

"The Marleen Upson Memorial Cup For Weaving"

at I.O.W Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild this year. 

Here is a photo of my winning shawl modelled with a WrightTurned Wooden Brooch & Pin set.

I so enjoyed weaving this piece as I used different weaving methods with different textures and types of yarn along with soft blends of coloured tones in plums, greys, charcoals, blacks and whites. It is rich and luxurious giving a lightness and softness to the touch.

This item along with several of my other scarves, accessories and homeware will be available to purchase at Woolfest.

http://www.woolfest.co.uk/

Kim of The Saori Shed  will kindly be displaying and selling my saori work.

She can be found at stand H162-163.

http://www.thesaorished.co.uk/

 

If you are able to go to the event she will be offering an opportunity for people to weave on a saori loom and a chance to win a saori banner.

Pop along to her website and Woolfest website for more details.

Please contact me through my online shops at Folksy or Etsy by clicking on my links in the right hand column of this blog if you are interested in having an unique SWH saori weaving made especially for you or a WT brooch/pin.

Alternatively browse our shops for new pieces being added which will be ready to purchase.

All About The Warp!

 

 

It's full steam ahead with my weaving, I'm really enjoying settling down to my loom and creating different forms and textures. This project was designed using a very open weave effect to produce a wonderfully soft, flowing scarf. The idea was "all about the warp"  concentrating on the warp wools, colours and pattern-set to create a scarf with interest as well as a splash of huggable luxury. 

 

I selected five colours of wool for the warp; Shetland brown, pure wool forest green, two flecks in blues and browns and a light beige to lift and complement the colours warped. These were threaded on my rigid heddle loom as 4.8.4.8..4.4.8.4.2.2

 

The Weft was a single pink cotton yarn. Here you can see the edge of the scarf woven close to give a hem and then the open weaving, which is spacing the weaving strand approximately a finger width apart- I love working my craft, (whether it's knitting , spinning or weaving) the way that once the set pattern is planned I have the freedom to just create.     

 

Like any task, preparation is the key. I weigh, measure, count and most importantly record all my workings for my designs. I very rarely actually repeat a piece completely the same if I do make another  I want to add something different to each piece to make it unique. I am very pleased with this scarf. I shall be using this idea again and experiment with the colour ways. 

It has been all about the warp for my last three blog posts hasn't it?

I have been busy on my spinning wheel and the knitting needles are clicking away, so I tell you more soon.