Saori - A New Adventure

Wow....I've got lots to share this week since my last post was at the beginning of August.  I'll start by sharing a little about my class in Saori weaving at Michigan Fiber Festival from Chiaki O'Brien.  What a fabulous, fabulous day it turned out to be.

I've had a rigid heddle for a few years but felt weaving just wasn't going to be something I would be passionate about.  Boy was I wrong.  Once I started weaving in the Saori class, I found myself thinking of all kinds of weavings I could create.  It was just plain fun and look what came home with me from festival.......a used 4 harness loom....a totally unexpected purchase!

Oops, got a little ahead of myself, back to class.  I thought I'd taken pics of everyone's finished work from class but found I hadn't.  That was a little disappointing since our pieces all turned out so differently.  

 

Some of us brought some of our own yarns/material (yup, one lady actually brought some material she ripped into strips) to weave with and Chiaki had a whole table full of different yarns for us to add into our pieces if we wanted.  Just can't say enough about how inspiring this class was.

 

 

So now I'm on a Saori adventure with Terri and Ms. Wonder Why.  Terri came over on Wednesday afternoon with her warping board to give me guidance on my first warp.  Here it is on her warping board......

and today I'm going to tackle dressing my loom....Yay! 

 

It's probably going to take me quite a while since I really don't know what I'm doing.  I figured I might just as well make this a long warp so I'd have some material to make into a piece of Saori clothing.  I ordered a book from Chiaki and it arrived yesterday.  Spent last night drooling over all the wonderful garments.

 

 

On the knitting front, I've been working away on my Star Lily and just started a mystery KAL using a pattern by KellyJ from her Up North Collection.  It's called Strolling. 

 

This is the first time I've tried a mystery knit and I must say it's been putting my comprehension skills to the test.  I made an error at the beginning of Clue 1 so I've been very cautious since then.  I didn't realize how much I use the pattern picture to help figure out if I'm on the right track. 

 

We get a clue every 2 weeks and lucky for me Kelly posts a spoiler picture after the first week.  This is how I found I'd made a mistake and had to frog back.  Clue 1 done......

Working on Clue 2 but pictures can't be revealed until next week.  I decided to use some of my sock yarn stash....yup!  Told myself I couldn't buy anymore sock yarn until I'd used up some of that stash.  Now I can see that stash making it's way into a Saori weaving....LOL.

 

In my last post, I mentioned I was working on a photo album for our daughters birthday.  I decided I'd try my hand at making this album totally from scratch.   I used material as the base for all the pictures and sewed all the pictures down instead of using just paper.  You know how it goes.....yarn stash.....material stash....art stash.....stash, stash, stash.  Seems like a recurring theme to me!

 

It was certainly a learning experience.  We went to KY last weekend to celebrate with her so I can finally show all the pics.

Cover and our grandson, of course on the first page

left hand photo; pic of the family in their hockey jersey's, middle; Ben and dad, right; a little book I made to hold more pictures
 

Pic's inside the little book

 



Ben with his dog, Lola and of course a family photo

 

left; the little book of photos and another family photo for the last page

 

Very happy with how it turned out but will definitely be making some changes in my next one.  I got a little carried away with the thickness of my pages which caused a little problem in the binding process.  It all turned out well in the end and I'm glad to say she was very pleased and surprised.

 

The second part of her present was us spending the weekend cleaning and organizing their garage so she can park in it this winter.  They bought a new house several months ago and everything they didn't know what they were going to do with, went into the garage.  It was driving both her and especially my hubby crazy every time we went to visit.  Ta Da......parents to the rescue.....

 

 

It was a long, grueling process in 95 degree weather but we gotter' done!  Nikki is a happy, happy girl.

 

This was my reward....

....a visit to The Woolery.  I didn't realize they are only about 40 miles from her new house.  Hubby was nice enough to take me a few extra mile out of our way.  I bought the warp thread that's on the warping board at the beginning of my post and a raddle to help with the warping process. 

 

Whew.....sorry for the length of this post.  I need to buckle down and post every Friday. 

 

I don't have to work this Saturday so plan on spending the next three days working on my loom.  Hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial day weekend.

 

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!



Busy, Busy...Busy!!

Oh my goodness, I've had a great week full of crafting fun....painting,  making blue berry jam for hubby, trying to dehydrate blueberries for me (this is taking forever), album creating, knitting and spinning! 

We spent quite a few days in July camping and visiting with family.  Although we had an awesome time, it meant far less crafting time than I'm used to getting.  So I decided this week was going to be all about playing and crafting as much as possible.

Knitting fun....I decided to put my Wisdom Wrap on hold after completing the first section.  Love the pattern but really wanted to get started on my Star Lily.

I fell in love with this pattern after trying a finished one on at Clever Ewe during our annual Yarn Quest.  It's a good thing they had a trunk show cause the picture does not do it justice. Loved the way it fit plus the yarn is so yummy soft.  It's  Mountain Top Canyon by Classic Elite Yarns,  85% cotton and 15% alpaca.  Yup...cotton and alpaca...who would have thought.  It is a dream to knit with.

My only snag....I realized I was going to be one skein short.  I guess I was so excited about the project I miss read how much yarn I was going to need.   Problem....nope.  My parents live on the way to Ada so Tuesday I stopped and picked up my dad (he loves to ride) and off we headed to Clever Ewe.  They moved into a big old Victorian house right next door to where they were.....cute house with all kinds of little rooms filled with yarn.  I didn't get to look around much, dad loves to ride but doesn't walk so well now, so I'm thinking maybe another rode trip.....hint, hint, wink, wink,  Ms. Wonder Why and Terri.

Spinning fun....after all the spinning during the Tour de Fleece, I found myself missing my wheel.  This was certainly easy to fix.  Pulled another batt from my stash and decided to spin another lace weight yarn.  It's 100% merino dyed by Winding Wool Creek Fiber in color way Lone Wolf.  It's the last of what I bought at last years Michigan Fiber Festival.  Hmmmm....how lucky...just 12 more days and it's festival time again!

Painted furniture...the weather here in Michigan turned wonderfully cool this week so I headed out to the garage to complete some pieces.

Studio fun.....birthday gift complete except for the binding.  Just a little sneak peak of the front cover.....I'll share the inside after it's gifted.  I decided I'd try my hand at creating a photo album totally from scratch.  Cut my own cardboard, covered each page with different fabrics, papers and embellishments, oh yeah, and family photos. Kind of like making a crazy quilt.....I had an awesome time creating it.  Now I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that the giftee likes it as much as I liked creating it.

Woke up this morning to a rainy day, not the best for painting but great for writing up a post.  I'm planning on getting my album bound today and probably should spend time cleaning up the awful mess I now have in my garage and studio.....down side to a week spent in crafting bliss.

 

Hoping everyone has a great week, time to get some breakfast and check out what everyone has been creating this week over on Wisdom Begins in Wonder........Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!