Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Christmas, Christmas Time is Here!

Okay, not exactly. It's only December 1st. But am I alone here in thinking I need to get stuff done now? There I was, back in November, planning on an update for the Little Shop that Could, and...um...well, it's stocked with a whole two yarns at the moment. Still. On the upside, I did very well at the Handweavers Guild of Boulder annual sale. On the downside, that was a month ago. Gah.

Aside from the forlorn shop, I am feverishly creating these days, prepping for the holiday season. On top of the usual gifties, my friends Alison and Danielle have both commissioned woven scarves from me. I love, LOVE custom work like this, but two weeks of illness in November sucked time like nobody's business. I'm late! And the day job isn't helping!

Despite the tardiness, the woven scarf projects make me giddy. I am LOVING working on them. Alison wants a plainweave scarf of handspun alpaca/silk in pinks, creams, & tans. I've spent the last couple of evenings dyeing, trying to get the pinks just right without being neon or whatnot. Danielle just said "thin, long, and black/gray/white." So I've been gradient carding alpaca in four natural colors - black, rose gray, tan, and nearly-white. With a little black sparkle, of course. Gotta have a touch of sparkle. The tan is thrown in there to make the white appear *really* white against the solid black baby alpaca warp. I like this pattern, but don't understand the note at the bottom: "This draft is for multiple separate layers of cloth that will come apart after weaving!" (Exclamation point!)(!) Um. Any chance I could just have one layer? Maybe this is doubleweave somehow...? Basically I'm looking for the starbursts to slowly transition from black to white over the course of the scarf. Hmmm...this will take more thought. If anyone has a suggestion, let me know.

I'm also working on some Monkeys! These socks have been on the needles since April, I think. They need to be off, I tell you. Then I can get to work on a pair of socks for my mother-in-law, though I don't think with my track record that those'll be done anytime soon. Whew!

p.s. My new loom is magic. His name is Miracle Max. :)