Spring projects

Pillows...

The pillow I posted last month now has a couple of companions.  This is an easy project that is very forgiving of mistakes, so Liz at yarnworker.com is going to publish the pattern.  We wanted to offer some color options and so I got busy weaving up a couple of different color ways.  Here's a sneak peek at what I put together.  Of course, some good photography with decent lighting will help show what they really look like.

These are lots of fun to make and they do look great on the couch!  The Brown Sheep Lambs Pride wool felts beautifully.  And both the Trendsetter and Prism Yarns I used make a lovely fabric.  I've got one more color way on the loom that is purple wool and blue/green/purple filler.  It's a thick rayon slub yarn so I'm not sure if it will work or not so it will be interesting to play with.  After warping the loom I realized the slub yarn might just be a bit too thick in places to go easily through the holes.  Seems like every once in a while I do something like that when I know better, but there are some lessons that I guess I need to learn repeatedly!

One of my students, Carol Whitney, sent me some pictures of the log cabin scarves she made.  What a great job!

Also this week I've been working on a design for a woven scarf with a knitted trim.  It's a submission for a magazine, so I can't show images, but combining knitting or crochet with weaving is an area I'm going to be exploring more.  It's exciting to think about combining my fiber skills to show off the beautiful yarns in new ways.  

This Sunday at Anacapa Fine Yarns in Ventura, CA, I'll be teaching a class on making a scarf with a leno detail.  We'll be using lace weight yarns to make a very light and airy fabric.  If you're interested, there is still space!

Designing

Pattern for Sale!!!!

My first pattern with Yarnworker.com is for sale on Craftsy (click on Craftsy to see the pattern) and I'm so excited about it!  For the past few weeks I've been working with Liz Gipson to develop some of my designs into patterns.  Liz was the wonderful producer for my Craftsy.com class and has excellent experience in many areas of fiber, marketing, editing and lots more.  So when she asked me about working with her and her new venture to promote patterns for rigid heddle looms, I was honored to jump on board.  The official site for Yarnworker will be up sometime in May, but I'm just too excited about the pattern to wait till then to let you all know about it.  

Meanwhile I've been working hard on some additional designs so keep on the look out for those as well.

March begins

back to work...

Stitches West was a treat again this year.  I enjoy seeing friends, catching up with previous students, meeting new people and teaching weaving.  My classes were sold out so I'm delighted there is continuing interest in learning to weave!  My friend Julie Kornblum attended Stitches for the first time and helped me set up and warp the looms before class as well as pack them up after my classes ended.  No matter how much fun it is to teach, it really is a tremendous amount of work getting ready for classes.  Julie and I worked for about 5 hours getting the equipment ready for class.  

Julie warping looms

The room is ready!

I also got to do a demonstration in the Craftsy booth. I'm continually impressed with Craftsy.com.  They are such a pleasure to work with and offer such great classes!  If you haven't checked out my class yet, you can still get 50% off by entering the code www.craftsy.com/rhdj

It was over a week ago since I got home from Stitches West and I've been working hard since then.  The trip home from Santa Clara was lovely as we came down Highway 1 along the coast so I could visit The Coast Gallery in Big Sur.  They have been selling my handwoven rayon chenille scarves for several years and it's always fun to stop in and say hello.  And a new manager started on January 1, so I wanted to meet him.  This is a great gallery and a beautiful place to stop if you're driving on the Coast Highway.

Coming down the coast.

During the past week, I've been working on some patterns.  Within a couple of weeks, some of my patterns will be available on line at Patternfish and Craftsy through Yarnworker Patterns.  This is an exciting endeavor!  More information to come....