We have been gone a lot the last couple of weeks, mostly for family visits. After Mother’s Day weekend in Seattle, we flew down to Medford to visit Rick’s daughter and her husband, her “kids” our grandchildren (all adults now!) and the great-grandchildren. We had not yet met the new baby girl born last September, so that was pretty great.
Four generations!
Last week my sister and her husband were visiting from Colorado and staying with my Dad, so we headed back over the mountains for a visit. For some reason I took no pictures! But it was great to see them.
Had a birthday last week. I loved this card a friend sent me, along with a sweet little pouch she embroidered with a blue sheep! You have to realize that there was a period when I was a little girl when I insisted on being called “Cowboy Aberson Carr”. Not sure how I came up with that in the first place, but I had chaps and still have a picture of me on my trike wearing them.
I am in the final week of getting ready for the show at the Winthrop Gallery that goes up next week. Here is a picture of four of the plaited twill scarves, all finished and ready to go. I still have to twist the fringes on three more of them, but this is definitely a start…
This week I am weaving more placemats – liking these black & white ones quite a bit. These are all plain weave, but “thick & thin”, alternating picks of cotton fabric cut in 1/2″ strips and folded to 1/4″, with a rayon/cotton slub yarn as the alternate pick. I like the way this keeps the fabric strips always in the same shed, creating vertical lines in the warp threads that run the length of the mat.
Twisp of Fate 
I cut some 1 inch strips into half inch strips last night and found it to be a tedious business. What is the additional benefit of folding the half inch strips? There must be a good reason as it takes time and might be a bit fiddly, too. I’m very curious.
I was fortunate to find a used Wolf Clipper round knife cutter on eBay about 3 years ago and blogged about it here https://twispofate.com/2013/03/23/road-trip-report/ and in a subsequent post. I can fold a 6-yard length of cloth into 8 layers and cut 1/2″ wide strips off it, each strip then 6 yds long. Otherwise, I agree the cutting can be tedious even with a manual rotary cutter. The fabric only has one good side and I can fold it in half as I lay it into the shed (wrong side in) but it still tends to roll and show the “wrong” side when I beat, and it goes slowly. I just don’t like the way this looks so I have taken to folding and pressing it with an iron beforehand so I have 1/4″ wide pieces that have the “right” side of the fabric on both sides. The weaving goes ever so much faster and looks good on both sides. If you have fabric that is “good” i.e. has a clear pattern and color on both sides, I guess this wouldn’t be necessary.
Ah, got it. I’ve been digging in the remnant box at my local fabric store, looking for fabrics I can weave with. I do go for plain colours or printed fabrics where the reverse is not too big a contrast from the right side. I admire your dedication to getting exactly look you want. Thanks for sharing.