But Not Too Busy to Weave

There are a few weavings to do before I pack up the studio, and this is a Woven Words Blessing Shawl.


I have to say this is one of my favorite couple of steps. This is when I get to see what the weaving is actually going to look like.


Up until this moment, the cloth is a bunch of notes on paper and some color wrappings. And then...the shawl reveals itself.


CLARITY/LAUGH/LOVE/ADVENTURE/LOVE/LAUGH/CLARITY

Too Busy to Blog

I love the blogging community! My 4 years of blogging has brought me more pleasure and friends than I could ever imagine. I have been struggling to keep up in the midst of so much change in my life. I can hardly believe that I will be moving again within a month! Please continue to check in on me, and I will post whenever I can.


Here is a quick recap of April.

Wrapping Words for a Blessing Shawl.
Winding Almost Ikat stripes to go between the words for the Blessing Shawl


Finally finishing off the towel warp (or better, the warp that would be towels, but will be table mats instead). For those of you who are patiently awaiting your towel (3 of you!), my goal is to weave some towels before I dismantle the studio.


Teaching a Woven Collage workshop


Creating a Virtual Quilt from each students woven collage.


Anything else will just sound like whining and complaining (grin)

Dances With Cloth

When I first began experimenting with translating horoscopes into bands of color (1979), I used a different color palette and worsted wool. My mother was the recipient of my first efforts, and like a dutiful mother, she packed this shawl away for me to re-discover 32 years later.


I couldn't resist bringing in back to Montana with me and then taking it to my NIA class. My friends Karrie (above) and Pola (below) couldn't resist "playing" with it.


Nobody can believe the weaving is so old! It looks and feels like new. This may well rekindle my love of wool. Of course living in Montana will really help.


What can I say---I love to play!

The Queen of Color Gamps

For those of you who have dabbled in Color Horoscope Weaving, take a look at this! Coby Johnson, the current president of the Missoula Weavers Guild, is truly the Queen of Gamps

I usually post other people's work in Inspired by Bonnie, but this was just too good.


Here is what Coby had to say about her weaving:

When Bonnie offered a second horoscope shawl workshop to the Missoula Weavers Guild, my first grandchild, Graham Arthur Johnson, had just been born. I asked Bonnie to create his horoscope instead of my own. I have a lovely horoscope shawl of my own done in cottons about 7-8 years ago and really thought it would be fun to create one for Graham in the beautiful colors of Bambu 7. Since I'm basically a structure weaver who likes to play with color, I threaded my 12 shaft Woolhouse loom to an 8 shaft twill repeat that could be used for a variety of structures. After first trying a straight twill block mixed with a basket weave block -- which didn't work at all -- I wove a block twill with a 3-1 twill block alternating with a 1-3 twill block. (See draft).

While working on this at home I got so excited with my early results, I had trouble keeping my seat. I kept repeating, "Gotta show this to Bonnie." When the guild study group arrived at my house for a session, I even unwound the finished section of cloth to show them. And did the same the next night when my knitting group arrived. I used the same 12 colors of Bambu in approximately 3 inch stripes in the weft beginning with red and continuing around the color wheel. I managed 2 1/2 times around the wheel. I intentionally changed colors within a block repeat so the adjacent colors blended more. The finished results may well be my favorite piece in 30+ years of weaving.

Thank you, Bonnie, for providing the inspiration for a fabulous piece of weaving that I will be examining for years as inspiration for other projects. It is the greatest of color gamps and still a beautiful shawl, which will make me think of my handsome little man every time I look at it. I plan to redo it in cotton at twice the width with the horoscope mirrored as a baby towel for Graham.

Coby Johnson

As soon as I can figure out how to copy the draft, it will be available on the Inspired by Bonnie blog.