Welcome Spring - Welcome New Projects!

Oh, can you smell it!? Can you hear it!? Spring is coming. It really is! The birds are chipping, the breeze smells of light rain and the flowers are starting to push up through the Earth. It really is coming. FibersStudio is also adjusting to the warmer weather with new projects on the horizon.

I've worked out a new spring banner for starters for this blog and FibersStudio.etsy.com.  Projects like shawls are being worked on in knitting and charted for weaving. These are light and airy shawls being knitted in deep pinks and natural colors. Plus woven table linens for your home are in the works in the form of drawings. So much to do! Thank goodness the days are filled with more sun!

But before I get to the new projects I am enjoying finishing up weaving baby blankets for now.  I am weaving one that has a pink weft with muted blue, yellow and white warp stripes. The pattern I am using is an 8-harness twill woven with Simply Soft yarn by Caron. It's a 100% acrylic yarn and not your 1980's yarn either that was itchy. It is soft and flows well for the blankets.

The shawls to be woven are to be in three different colors: dusty pink, deep violet and cream for the loom. The yarns are rayon, cotton and flax for pink and violet and a cotton slub for the cream. Light weight and woven at about 2 feet by 6 feet I think. Tassels that will be twisted for a nice finished look and beads added where I will knot the warp threads to finish it off.

For knitting I am continuing to work on the deep pink ladder ribbon shawl-very open and light. I put this aside for months not meaning too. Amazing how things get shoved back and almost forgotten! It is a drop stitch pattern that is pretty simple over all, but finishes with an elegant drape to it. The ladder ribbon does feel like liquid fabric in the end.

I am itching to get to the table linens - table runners and place mats with possible matching napkins. I have a lot of Maysville Warp left over from years gone by. Plus I want to use up all the material and older clothes I have collected to use as rag. I don't particularly enjoy weaving rag, but I do like the possibilities of recycling materials and this is a great way to do it! I will cut all the materials down to somewhere between 1/2 to 1 inch wide and then sew all the strips together to form a nice long rag to weave with.

So much to do! But like I said the days are a little longer each day and that helps me to continue working longer. I need to build my inventory back up after having a successful holiday season. Enjoy the warmer weather, the birds singing and tackling new projects for the spring!

High Five Fridays! - Inventory is LOW!

Wow, what a fun year it's been! Lots to be said about just jumping in and going for it since April 1, 2009.  Over half of my inventory sold. Now mind you it was around 30 items. Not that much, but it is a start for a gal who is a wife, a mom of 3, and also a design contractor working part time. Whew! 

So what is on my create list for 2010? 

Weaving: In general I would like to do more of this. On my loom I am going to weave 2-3 more baby blankets. Then set up the loom for a few rectangular twill shawls with nice twisted tassels. I'll move toward weaving some table linens - using rag from castaway clothing, etc. and onto some out of just tread too. Finally I'll be weaving some lovely scarves out of many threads in the warp that I need to be using up from other projects. 

You might notice I am going from largest to smallest as I progress here. It makes sense really to do this with weaving all these projects. That way I do not have to rethread the heddles each time I change to a new project. I can leave the threads tied in the heddles (in front and in back of the heddles in groups of eight as an example) and when I move toward wider items again...I just pick up those threads that I had left behind, simply tie on the new warp in a square knot and pull through the heddles. Saves time and keeps you from rethreading constantly. Now this is only if you keep the same threading pattern! Of course you know.

Knitting: I am going to go forward with some wire and bead experiments. I will try out different gauges and techniques and see if I can come up with something that makes sense to create for my shop on Etsy. I'll continue with scarves I am sure and I have enough material to do several simple shawls. I have one in progress now. It's a lovely thin ladder yarn in a nice blend of pinks. 

Paper creations: I really want to focus on working with creating small multiples. Like tags for gifts, small thank you cards, etc. I have several brown paper bags to dissect and create with. I will still sew paper and fabrics/ribbons together somehow, but maybe use simple shapes like hearts, flowers, cakes, etc. 

I think I will go now and finish up my order I got in on Wednesday night now so I can put it in the mail tomorrow. Two more ribbons scarves just flew off my Etsy wall! I am off to create more to replenish the supply!

Enjoy the weekend and all the possibilities for creating!