Cotton, unfortunately.

Painted Warps.

I get tongue tied when I try to describe why I love wool. The technical terms like elasticity, resilence, staple length and crimp don't really make sense even to me. It's more like when a song comes on the radio, and it doesn't really matter what song it is, just that it is the perfect song for right now. For me, wool is always that perfect song, and that little buzz between the ears is in my hands every time I work with wool. 

Finnish Birds Eye, painted weft.

So I've been working with cotton lately and its off putting. Sometimes dangerous, I got rug burn on a finger when winding a bobbin. And apparently if there's a catch and you're not paying attention and holding the yarn tight, a cotton yarn will try to just wind your finger onto the bobbin, instead of breaking itself like any noble and kind wool yarn will do. Then there's the weird tension that starts happening with every change of humidity...

The colors remind me of Parrots.

It was worth it. 5/2 Unmercerized cotton produces an absolutely lovely fabric. It's a coarse netting on the loom but after a wash and tumble dry it's soft, drapy, and surprisingly cozy. Shawls are substantial, cushy, and keep back just enough heat to combat air-conditioning, and are airy enough to wear outside in the sun. They're perfect nursing shawls. Comfy, cozy, won't suffocate the babe, and can be washed with all manner of soaps and stain removers. 

The pink set.

I wove the pink set on a very, very, long warp. It was about twelve yards long. I cut off after every shawl, all 4.5 of them, due to tension problems. The two yellow/green/orange shawls were woven together and only cut apart once off the loom. 

Yeah, definitely going through a pink phase. It's not over. 

On all shawls I finished with an inch of free fringe, and a row of stabilizing stitching that encapsulating the last three picks. The stitch is one of the decorative ones on my machine, but it's incredibly sturdy, as I found out when unpicking a few mistakes! Since I hate hemstitching and have never been too keen on hand twisted fringe, this is like the holy grail of finishing techniques. It gives an edge that isn't a statement so much as a gentle ending. No abruptness, no fuss, just an edge. The inch and a half of loose fringe isn't enough to get into trouble, but still enough to flit with nervously with your fingers. 

Shawls will be up in the shop sometime tomorrow-ish. 

Gone Away, Gone Ahead

Marybeth

Spent the weekend spreading my cold germs at the lovely BYM Women's Retreat. A hundred-ish lovely Quaker ladies in the lovely mountains. I brought my stuff to sell and boy did it sell.

Tolly

Quakers are a seriously adorable faith. There wasn't a cash register or shopkeepers or any sort of organization to the craft show part. Just a bunch of tables around the perimeter of the big meeting room covered in stuff. We put out our stuff along with a receipt book, a pen, and a box. That was it! It worked beautifully, although I did have to track down a few people who had written checks with the "to" part blank.  Studies do show that people are more honest if you expect it of them...

Citrus Scarf

All of the these items are now sold. I also sold a bunch that I had never properly photographed. Of course, the weather was helping wool sales conciderably. It was warm for January, but that's a pretty harsh set to begin with. 34º with 50mph winds isn't exactly warm!

This had been going to be a fish. Yay failed class assignments!

I actually sold that shawl twice. Somebody bought it, then decided it was too short, and then almost immediately someone else bought it.

This now belongs to a banjo-playing stand-up comedian.

Of my total sales, I've made .09% of them on Etsy and that accounts for .02% of revenue.  Given the tactile nature of fiber arts it's really no surprise that they sell so much better when potential customers can feel them. At the same time, my Etsy store has paid  for itself - which really isn't hard, they're delightfully cheap - and it does represent a sort of commercial anchor. The shop is always up, whereas festivals are few and far between this time of year.

And at this rate, if there was another craft show tomorrow, I'm not completely sure I could fill a table! Back to the loom for me!