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Friday, December 31, 2010

Saori and color

Denise came to the studio this week for a saori introduction class. she is an amazing painter http://deniseschryver.com/  . even with a broken finger she loved weaving on the saori loom and it did not impede  her learning. she also is a spinner and loves producing art yarns.  she put her color skills to work right away as you can see. she wants to weave on her saori loom in her art gallery, what a fantastic combination. A gallery full of paintings and art sitting there artistically weaving in the saori way. Her gallery is in Atascadero http://olivetreefinearts.com

a first time Saori weaver


Saturday, December 25, 2010

I HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED!

SIMPLY KNITTING is the largest knitting magazine in the UK. I was interviewed this year and they did a full page  story of my huge knitted gnome/tomten I knitted. The article appears in the new January 2011 issue #75. It has been out in England for a few weeks but should hit our book stores this week or next. The grand children love to hug the huge tomten.
Lee my husband seat belted him in the car yesterday I drove off to teach a serger class in town and we were getting all kinds of second glances. But the people with children in the cars smiled and waved. And tomten waved backed. That was total fun!
MERRY CHRISTMAS and I hope you had a wonderful winter solstice as well.










Thursday, December 23, 2010

Happy winter solstice





Happy longer days of light to come! My DH in the father christmas , or as we call him, boppa noel, costume I made him a few years ago  and a tradition now with our winter solstice family celebration. we have craft stations set up, this year clay ,hand built stoneware, was a new one, we do cut out out of paper celtic knots , soap molds of moon and stars , rubber stamping, weaving......... busy!
our 5 yr old grand daughter weaving on the piccolo saori loom

boppa noel ascending with real amish brass sleigh bells  wrapped around his waist ringing announcing his arrival.

no the beard and wig are not his, hair not grey......yet



last minute woven scarf for A holiday gift

Rick is our rural USPO letter carrier. His work ethic is amazing, for more than 20 yrs. he has gotten out of his mail carrier jeep and trekked up the 14 steps to our covered front door to leave boxes and parcels. other "fill in " carriers leave a note  and will not get out of there vehicles and THEN it is  days sometimes before we can pick up the parcel or sign for something! I usually bake from scratch for the holidays but this year no time, and Rick needed something very special  for sure, because lugging up saori loom boxes up the 14 steps is above and beyond the call of duty i think.
 I wove him a scarf in his favorite color blue. THANK you rick for doing your job perfectly,  a real model to the community for over 30 yrs! hope this keeps him warm on his winter rounds.







Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The holiday gift of SAORI weaving

SAORI Santa Cruz studio on the winter solstice

granddaughter teaching her "nana" 

Nora 6 yrs loved weaving 

nana caught right on  to weaving and look at her piece!she never wove before

maureen's lovely sample

pieces cut off the looms 

Three generations very happy from there fun learning to weave holiday gift


About one month ago I received a email from Maureen inquiring about scheduling A surprise weaving session with her self and daughter and her mother  for a christmas gift . Yesterday they arrived at Saori Santa Cruz studio from A lovely drive down highway 1 by way of the california coast then up through the red woods. They were wide eyed and curious about there surprise! Within minutes of arriving all were  busy weaving on there saori  looms.
 Maureen had woven a bit before, and nora her 6 yr. old daughter has been in hyperdrive weaving pot holders I was told. "Nana" maureen's mother was visiting form New Jersey for the holidays and enjoyed weaving next to Nora who would periodically get up from her loom to teach grand ma nana and give pointers! Maureen wanted to learn clasped weft and was happily weaving away learning very quickly and creating a beautiful piece. All enjoyed weaving as the laughter and cookies and hot cider and shuttles flew. The 3 generations weaving was such a special adventure , I enjoyed being  part of there surprise and introducing them to the world Saori weaving.
SAORI weaving is for all ages,  and abilities .

Saturday, December 11, 2010

A SAORI WOVEN NO SEW CAP

The holidays are impinging on my weaving! Finely I decided I had time to squeeze in a fast project and save my sanity! The saori woven cap designed by Su-chan in her Saori studio in Japan has been on my mind for 8 mons now ever since I saw  one at Terri Bibby's studio.
There is no pattern for the hats, the idea belongs to a designer  in Japan and out of respect I can not give details, sorry.
  COME TO THE STUDIO TO SCHEDULE A 2 DAY  CLASS IN  WARPING AND WEAVING THE SAORI NO SEW HAT for more info contact me here click.  for current saori hats for sale go to my etsy shop here saori hats for sale click here

 1st bright cap


warp for both caps
so in 24 hours I did it! I woven two caps. these are all cotton  and  mix rayon yarns.  I wound the warp yesterday afternoon, and sleyed the reed and threaded 1/2 the heddles. This morning I jumped out of bed and ran to the loom where I finished threading the heddles then beamed on and wove my first hat. Braked for lunch then started on the 2nd hat cap. The  2nd darker one is my winter solstice cap. Finished  it by 3:30 pm. today  loaded the photos and here they are, . The first cap , the brighter one, has shorter braided tassels. I like the longer ones on the second cap better, but I am going to break out the beads and add them to the shorter tassels to add length and sparkle.
bright cap


1st bright cap



2nd winter solstice cap



2nd cap










JILL NICKOLENE SANDERS








Thursday, November 25, 2010

re heming my saori bias dress

  look at the bias dress hem center back. this is before....... hem was 8" or more longer in back than the sides and front.  





now the hem is more even and I added pockets from the cut off hem trimming




This is the dress I wove in april on my saori loom and sewed. The bias hem just kept "growing"  and was 6"or more longer in the back! So I  re hemmed it and cut off quite a bit enough for some unusual pockets .I like it much better now with pockets, room for my cell phone, keys and other things and to wear over leggings.

Monday, November 22, 2010

learning to knit

You met Hope in my earlier posts . She is a wonderful 7 yr. old home schooler that took to Saori weaving like she had  been weaving for years. She asked if I could teach her to knit. So gladly I agreed and we stared knitting classes. I showed her the knit stitch and off she went only needing me to help sort out some un dropped stitches and some increases that snuck in and how to cast off. She said she really liked weaving, it was fast and more fun but she kept on knitting till her garter stitch kitty was done today. I could tell she was happier weaving but I am so proud of her because she stayed with it till she finished.
Kitty's name is moon shadow, after the Cat Stevens song, which she sang to me , then we sang it together. I have a feeling that our next classes are going to be Saori weaving again but look at this adorable cat out of lama and wool yarn she knitted and stuffed. She finger knitted it's tail and I brushed the yarn lightly to help it's "fur" bloom! Well done hope!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

New Saori woven scarves

Rains came this week and I wound a new warp for two scarves. one for a new Saori santa cruz studio student, susan, and one for me. It was perfect weaving by the wood stove .
 This scarf is the mobius scarf/cowl scarf that you use the beginning warp{ untied} as the weft yarns at the end of the scarf . When you have woven the scarf, untie it and and weave each warp as weft at the end to give a pointed fringed finish.

susan in her hand spun and knitted shawl holding her hand spun skein of yarn
winding bobbins on the saori loom
inserting the warp as weft technique


lovely colors

Susan came wearing her exquisitely hand spun hand knitted lace shawl in rose hues. and a lovely hand
 woven stole she had woven on her ridged heddle loom. She is very talented and her mobius cowl scarf turned out fantastically rich. I love the yarn choices she chose. We had a wonderful time discussing looms and fibers, and history as we wove.
she finished her cowl and is going to twist the fringes at home and send me a photo of the finished weaving. we found out we have the same lumix camera too.
and here is susan's lovely finished mobius cowl