Weaving With Intention

The focus is on "intention". The blessings I receive from the client are qualities they desire to wrap around the baby in a permanent "hug" rather than something for the baby to grow into.



I was going to tell you all about how I was 60 heddles short when I was threading the loom and that I had to have the only person I could think of with a Fireside loom FedEx a hundred heddles from Arizona. I was going to tell you about how I then proceeded to miscalculate the number of dents and had to re-sley---but I won't bore you with the details.

Instead see the cashmere I selected to use in the weft. Each different color and shade represents a cashmere sweater my mom and I unknitted together. (By the way, on my last visit to my mother, we decided that we had taken apart just the right amount of sweaters. I am no longer collecting cashmere.)


It looks like plaid---who would have guessed.


I just looked up the definition of plaid---interesting
A fabric in which bands of color running horizontally and vertically intersect to form squares.


Here's another definition:
Wide and multicolored stripes on different colored backgrounds for creating various patterns.

And another:
a plain or twill-weave cloth with a pattern of intersecting stripes.

I just have a few more inches to go, and I will cut it off tomorrow.

Blessing Baby Blanket

I don't recall what I was thinking when I accepted a weaving commission due on October 1, but I did.

The family selected 18 blessing words (and 9 colors) and requested a blanket 40" x 48". A blanket with that many words would have to be 80" wide. The family told me to decide, but I didn't want to leave out any blessings.

What to do?

I decided to put 11 blessing words in the warp (Bambu 12 doubled and sett at 24 epi)

Words are (from right to left)

Kind, Courageous, Creative, Curious, Inquisitive, Rhythm, Patience, Persistence, Joy of life, Confidence, and Charisma

The other thing I did was to treat each blessing as if it were the ONLY word to reduce the number of colors and give a more cohesive look (which I think it does)

The weft will be the recycled cashmere (triple strands)AND spell out the rest of the blessing words so I won't have to leave out any!

These are the words that will be weft: Adventurous, Love of music, Sense of humor, A good friend, Able to forgive, Strength and Unconditional love

I haven't quite figured out the weft in cashmere yet, AND I can't imagine what it will look like. It will surely be a surprise.

So I guess you could say that I am settled in my new Montana home...(grin)

Currently I am unable to send email, so if you have been expecting an email from we---next week for sure.

I'm in Montana Now

I'll be resurfacing soon. I'm much beyond this point. In fact I am actually setting up the loom. I wasn't sure I would be able to make a blog post as I am unable to send email (although I do receive it). More to follow......

It may be cloudy in the picture, but it was sunny, warm and beautiful today.

Dalai Lama Weaving and Sunflowers

Although I brought the Dalai Lama weaving with me on my trip to the East Coast, I didn't show it around very much.
But when I got to these magical fields...well, you get the picture.


Whenever I feel overwhelmed with the move, I look at this picture and can't help but smile.

It puts every in perspective---don't you think....

I am living the experience of "Right Livelihood", a blessing to be a Weaver in this time.

The following is a brief excerpt from the piece by Susan Crowell, writer, and
ceramics instructor at U. Michigan, Ann Arbor:

"For craftspeople, this making special emphasizes both the making and the
special. Reversing the terms - special making- rings even truer when speaking
of craft, for which the process of handwork is an essential component. As our
perception of time becomes more precious and the time-intensive nature of
craft increases its value, craft may even come to represent the preciousness
of time itself, embodied in an object."

Where's Waldo--er, I Mean Bonnie

As I fly back to Seattle (9/11) to begin the next leg of my adventure in moving, my mind drifts back over the first third of September. I thought having a laptop would change the way I kept my web log and kept up with my weaving business. However all the moving and change that has taken place in the past month (with so much more to come) made me want to slow down and use my time in Baltimore to just visit with family and be present in the here and now.

THERE AND THEN.....

THE CURRENT STATE OF MY POSSESSIONS IN PUBLIC STORAGE

One of the highlights of the Maryland vacation and the main reason for the visit was my Mom's 92nd birthday. I had a nice picture of her blowing out the candles, but it seems to have disappeared. You will just have to imagine as she blew out her candles---she made a wish......for me

I didn’t take any pictures of the fields of corn or tomatoes, but I more than made up for it in the pictures of the sunflowers. I cannot tell you what a blessing it was to be in the middle of unending fields of sunflowers. It was the perfect gift between moving my stuff into storage and hauling my stuff to Montana---the calm between storms. It was like being transported to another universe.