Another bag and a new weaving project

I must be a glutton - how many colour Gamp bags does a girl need?  Well I now have two and a wallet!

It seemed a shame to waste all that fabric, plus I wanted to see if I could make a necessary clutch wallet without buying the actual pattern. Very pleased with the results! Got lots of comments in John Lewis yesterday too!

Onwards to the next weaving project..  On the Warped Weavers Forum there is a WAL (weave along) involving the book 'Next Steps in Weaving' and rather than starting with Chapter One, I jumped to the Chapter on Summer and Winter - something I have wanted to try for a while, but couldn't get my head around the process.

I didn't have the right weight of cotton so I am using a 5/2 cotton for the warp and tabby weft and it used double for the pattern weft - perhaps not the best, but I have finally worked out what I should be doing.  The tabby pick is woven between every pattern pick and hey presto you have a double sided fabric which is light on one side and darken the other - summer and winter!

Here is my progress so far..

No New Years Resolutions

I have really neglected this blog over the last few months, but this is a sign that I have been incredibly busy spinning, weaving, dyeing and generally making things.  I will try to keep up, but make no promises....

Since the weaving workshop last May I have finally got to grips with my loom, that had languished unloved for several years.  The workshop was intended to be a final fling - a point of decision, to keep or sell...  However, the real change was the purchase of a DVD 'Warping Your Loom' with Madelyn van der Hoogt.  This was a light bulb moment and since then my weaving has gone from strength to strength... What you cannot do is weave well if you can't get a warp on your loom - twisted threads and uneven tension is a real no-no and quite honestly makes the whole process not fun..

My intention with weaving always had been to make fabric that I could make things from and I have done it!

First I dyed a selection of sock yarn in six bright colours, this was inspired by the Lunatic Fringe Colour Spectrum, and warped up a colour gamp - which is a sort of sampler of twills..

I made a three yard warp and got a finished length of 84"  from this I made this

Success - i have achieved my goal!  Although it is still awaiting handles as I ran out of black thread and Royal Mail seems to have gone on a go slow - although I ordered last Monday and received a notification of dispatch on Tuesday I am still black thread less a week later...