Hapara - Dawn Blankets

Three beautiful blankets which went to Pauanesia shop.

Midnight Bush Walk blankets

How many ways to love these Midnight Bush Walk blankets.

In Pauanesia shop now.

More Catch Up

Well my thoughts of keeping up to date didn't even get off the ground.  Feel like I've been chasing my tail for months and finally starting to catch up.

I can't remember if some of these projects were recorded in the past so lets run through them.

I still think this is one of the best lace patterns I've come across.  It appears on Pinterest as either a jumper or a jacket but the charts as given need lengthening.  This is knitted in a wool/bamboo mix from Bendigo Wool Mill.  I'm going to enjoy wearing it in late autumn.

A cushion which ended up at Inspirit Gallery.

A run of three twill scarves (actually two scarves and a cowl) now being shown off at Waihi Beach Gallery.

After all the excitement of having the grandchildren stay before Christmas and family staying for Christmas I took some time to play.

These name tapes are diversified plain weave and they work very well as hang tags on tea towels but, of course, take so long to weave they are totally impractical as a sale item.  The horizontal stripes are reed marks which will not wash out but effective anyway.

Then I had a play with Fiberworks software and created a turned echo with lots of transformations.  More to come on that in later posts.

I was commissioned to weave a baby blanket in dusky pinks, white and wine tones.  Cabbie really doesn't want to give it up.

Visits from grandchildren include boogie boarding when the tides right and the other half of the day involves craft.  I had 10cm left to weave when they arrived for their second visit so to keep Miss 5 year old occupied I taught her to knot thread, thread the needle and sew on buttons but then I had to make it into a bag which I noticed she wore on the trip home.

How did that picture of the wild life get there?  Seagulls after some food I'd thrown out.

Puriri blanket commissioned by a friend for her step daughter.  Sometimes the colours really sing.

This Puriri one is in Pauanesia.

On top of all this I thought it a good idea to open my studio with a half price sale.  There's still quite a lot to choose from so if you've seen anything on here and wanted it inquire if its still available. You never know, you might be really lucky.  (No blankets though, I don't keep them here.)

And that's a good step to being caught up.  There are all sorts of things coming up in the next couple of months to keep me away from the looms.  Hopefully I'll be able to share them as we go along.

Hello Dear Readers ...

Hello Dear Readers, Its been a while.  Actually longer than you think 'cause I kind of cheated and preloaded a post or two thinking to fool anyone wondering where I was, not realising the joke would be on me and it would be so long before I got to write.

Pete and I took a wonderful trip back to Italy from mid August to mid October; yep two months in all.  We landed in Milan, worked our way down the East coast including Ravenna to see the mosaics which inspired my award winning piece, Arezzo where we attended a joust and Spoletto which I loved. 

We then trained across country through Rome to Salerno south of the Amalfi Coast.  Salerno offered much to see and do but have to say we did not enjoy our day trip via boat to the Amalfi Coast.  Too crowded, ghastly beaches and nothing of interest to us.

We then spent three weeks on Sicily which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Such things as swimming on Ortigia Island, ice cream and wine festival in Palermo, watching Stromboli volcano erupt and more.  A week in Naples was wonderful and four days in Rome was just enough before heading home via Singapore.

I saw one wool shop in Ferrara, the second town we visited, and was told no one does weaving anymore.  Unlike a previous visit to Tuscany I never found another yarn related activity until we were back in Rome where I found a wonderful shop (almost a warehouse) and a 1.25 kilo cone of fine merino may have found its way into my suitcase.

And a man in the seat behind us coughed from Rome to Singapore and, of course, I developed the virus soon after getting home which laid me up for a month.  It left me so lethargic I wouldn't have cared if I touched my loom ever again.  Slowly getting my mojo back thank goodness.  (I'm told a salt nasal spray helps prevent these bugs.)

 My first priority on getting better was blankets for Pauanesia as I heard a rumour they had sold out.  Pohutukawa and Coromandel Seascape were the briefs I had to work on.  These were the very first colourways I did for Pauanesia maybe 15 years ago and they're still popular.

Talk soon ...

Pohutukawa Knit blanket

 What do you do with your thrums?

For the uninitiated thrums are the waste yarn left at the end of every project warp, the 10 to 15 inches of yarn left from cut off point to back rod.

When I weave blankets the warps are all a double knit or 8 ply thickness and I keep tying one warp to the next until I can't get a full 8 metre length on the back beam.  I then take all the waste off the loom and start again.

But what to do with the waste; all lovely had dyed yarn in about 3 metre lengths.  So I keep them in reasonable order and start winding it into a ball tying the next length as I go.  I've probably said before I live about 50 minutes from the nearest city so if Pete is driving that's a lot of knitting time each way to say nothing of sitting outside the "Men" shops, Bunnings, Mitre 10 etc.  I'm not a great traveler but can manage garter stitch without having to look at it.

Aren't the patterns in the lighter strips wonderful - pure fluke.  Each of those strips had 40 stitches, the dark reds had 20 stitches and I think the centre panel had 60 stitches but that wasn't so good for travel especially getting to the end of the 400 rows.  It got heavy and awkward to work.

This organic side with all the knots reminds me of a cloak or korowai.
Now available at Pauanesia shop.

Puriri blankets

The Puriri tree can grow 20 metres tall with a trunk of up to 1.5 metre diameter.

The Puriri tree is one of the few NZ native trees with a colourful flowers which can be bright pink to dark red, rose pink or pink blush.

Puriri berries are an invaluable food source for native wildlife producing fruit and nectar in the off season therefore providing an all year-round food source for birds.

Maori used infusions from boiled leaves to bath sprains and backache and as a remedy for ulcers and sore throats.

Puriri trees or groves were often tapu (sacred) through their use as burial sites and Puriri leaves were fashioned into coronets or carried in the hand during a tangi (funeral). 

(Information from Wikipedia.) 

Version 1

Version 2

 Version 3

and the inevitable stack with tassels.
Loving this interpretation of Puriri.  It was a bit tricky not being able to see the whole blanket as I wove and wondering if the stripes/checks would be balanced and work. Exciting to see as they unrolled from the loom.
Available from Pauanesia soon.

Sunset Blankets

Have recently finished a run of blankets for Pauanesia inspired by a sunset.

Warp all tied on ready to roll on the back beam.

I love the view from the back of the loom showing the different hues.

Can I say it, Wow!

Three different wefts scarlet, corally red and stripes.  

The warp is 8 ply (double knit) wool and weft is mohair, all hand dyed.

Holiday Greetings and 2017 in Review

Well I had the best of intentions to send holiday greetings to all my friends, followers and email recipients but we spent several days in Auckland and though I'd loaded pictures before leaving home the reception was so slow I gave up.  Hope you all had a great celebration.

The last 4 days before departing home were spent birthing creating "Flower".  This is an old Simplicity pattern that I had when my daughter was little so not new.  I'm still amazed that I had all the bits bar stuffing to make her, even the hat wire for the wings and the bells for the shoes.  The only change I made was to attach the wings by domes so she can hang them up when she goes to bed.

And so to the year 2017 in review.  January started with some spinning, unusual for me.  I plied this with a 60/2 bottle green mercerised cotton but it still hasn't told me what it wants to be.

February was mostly spent on a commission for a wall hanging "Wave".

All up I wove 32 blankets this year.  First up Kereru.

In March I got back on the dobby loom and wove this gorgeous cotton wrap titled "Spoon Drift" which is the description of the bubbles left when a wave breaks.

"Kakabeak" came off the same warp

and then "Kowhai" which I'm proud to say won the Complex Weavers' Award at Creative Fibre Festival.  This time I used changes in the tie up to change the amount of weft showing on one face of the wrap blending from navy to yellow in a 4 colour double weave.

Also this month I put my dress maker hat on and sewed "Dragon's Breath" from fabric handwoven the previous year.  This was shown in the Fashion Parade at the same Festival.  Later in the year (September) the same outfit was entered in the Bay of Plenty Area Exhibition and I'm very proud to have received Best in Show award.

Throughout the year my Nitschke 8 shaft loom is constantly producing blankets, this time Moerangi - Sleepy Skies.

In May we had a wonderful time on holiday to Melbourne, Australia and areas around.

June was time to work on a series of scarves for Pauanesia reflecting New Zealand native birds.  In this pile from the top Kokako, Tui, Kakapo, Kiwi.  Also did Kotuku. Black Robin, Pukeko.

In July, while taking a break from blankets, I had a play with deflected double weave.  Would like to have time to go back to play with this structure more.

Also used some stash velour and wove a tabby scarf, first time successfully using this fibre.

In August I had a play with shibori scarves

and Paua blankets.

As I mentioned above September was exhibition time and I thought this 4 colour double weave runner a worthy candidate and was delighted to receive the Barbara Wilson Trophy for best woven article.

I called this piece Ravenna as I had just threaded the loom and Peter called me to his computer and said what do you think shall we visit - it was mosaic tiles in a building in Ravenna and reminded me so much of what was on the loom.  (Many hours of planning but trip booked for later this year.)

Also finished this commission for daughter in law and grand daughter just as the weather warmed up.

October was blanket month, this one Kaimai

and Kotare.

November I tied more warps on to the Ravenna one and worked on runners and placemats.

We finish the year with Pohutukawa blankets

and luxurious possum, merino, silk and cashmere loop scarves.

And so the year ended with what seemed like three Christmas events and my son's 40th birthday (how did that sneak up on me) in the middle of them and now my two delightful grand children are staying for 5 nights.  I'm typing this while I listen to them going to sleep.  This will be the second night and I'm exhausted already.  Doesn't happen often so I better get my own shuteye so I can keep up tomorrow.

Wishing everyone wonderful adventures in 2018.