Glenorchy blankets

After Pauanesia closed I was blessed to be approached by Mrs Woolly's General Store in Glenorchy to weave blankets for them.

 

The Briefs were put together by Heather of Pauanesia so we were on the same wave length even though I haven't been to Glenorchy, a small village north of Queenstown at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu.  Many spectacular scenes from The Lord of the Rings were filmed nearby.  As an aside, when I cleaned out my mother's stuff I found several newspaper articles related to Glenorchy but have no clue to their significance. 

 

The first blanket range is called simply "Glenorchy".  It reflects the iconic red hut in the village, the towering mountain ranges and Lake Wakatipu. 

 

 

Next up was "Glenorchy Summer".

 

 

 

And then "Glenorchy Winter".

 

 

 

 When I first saw the briefs I was a bit awestruck as the colours were like none I had worked with before but with some shuffling of paint chips I slowly managed to tell the story quite successfully, I think.

 

  

 

more blankets

For many many years I colaborated with Pauanesia shop in Auckland to weave blankets.  Heather gave me a brief and I was free to interpret it and most times we were on the same page.  Unfortunately Pauanesia closed last year and I was left floundering a bit trying to find my own voice.  

 

I rethreaded Maude, the Oxabach loom, to a twill pattern of my design on 16 shafts but could not get the selvedges to play ball.  It was fine treadling shafts 1 to 16 but coming back 15 to 1 if didn't work.  I put a call out for help and it was suggested I try satin but no luck.

 

The mohair I was using for the weft was very old but wove up beautifully and the colour was perfect for my bed so wonky selvedges and all I decided to keep it for myself.  When it came off the loom I pulled out the outside thread on each side and needle threaded it back into every mohair fold on the edge and, after fulling, it didn't look too bad.

 

 But I couldn't sell blankets like that so back to the design software and rethreaded Maude with a 12 shaft twill and 2 extra shafts for a tabby selvedge.  Of course I wove a complete blanket, 2.20metres long before noticing a threading mistake.  Six missing threads!

 

 

 

Some extra heddles to the rescue and we were finally weaving luxurious mohair blankets.

 

 

 

These represent the Kotare or Kingfisher with its bright blue and turquoise back and yellow breast.

 

 

2022 Creations part 2

Continuing on with the 2022 summary.

 

Here we have a warp chain wound from a cone of variegated merino yarn with the colours stacked as I wound.

A series of scarves for Kina Gallery, New Plymouth follows.

 

The warps for these scarves were wound the same way in a darker colourway reflecting the Takahe.  Also at Kina Gallery.

More scarves for Kina Gallery in Teal shades.

 

 

 Blanket reflecting the Paua, also at Kina Gallery.

 

I did a wee demonstration at the Bay of Plenty Weavers group on threading front to back, tying on a new warp and lacing the warp to the front beam.

I wanted a fairly simple threading so that my old brain could cope while demonstrating.  I chose this Deflected Double Weave, Fantasy on 4 Shafts, from Double with a Twist by Marion Stubenitsky, page 70.  

It is so effective for 4 shafts, 4 treadles. 

 

There has been tea towel weaving; here is a selection. 

These are woven 4 colour double weave. 

 

I enjoyed knitting this wrap for my grand daughter (love in every stitch).

Pattern is Reflexions by Alla Saenko.  

 

The last weave of the year was a series of Pohutukawa blankets inspired by so many of the trees in full bloom; most appropriate for the Festive Season.

Hoping 2023 gifts you with peace, fun and laughter. 

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.