The Shuswap Spinners and Weavers were our hosts and they put on a wonderful day for those of us competing in the event as well as a sale, display, weaving, carding and spinning demonstrations.This year there was a major rule change – for the first time we supplied our own weft fleece and drum carders were allowed. This may seem like a minor change, but it made a huge difference. For the first time we could plan our shawl to include weft colours!
This is the shawl that Ngaire and I planned and warped, the group chose to dye our corriedale handspun warp in gradations of red to yellow and we layed it in the warp randomly. We used natural brown romney lamb for the weft and we chose to do huck lace circles on six shafts.There were only three teams of 6 this year, but the competition was fierce. The teams are made up of one weaver, one plyer and four spinners. Each team comes with their looms completely warped and over the course of four hours we spin, ply, weave and wet finish a 60” long shawl.
Much to our delight our team came in 1st with a score of 290 out of 300! We got full marks for everything, with a small deduction for selvedge mousing. There are only four of us in this photo as two members had to leave before judging. Right to left are Chris MacKenzie (spinner), Ngaire (weaver), Brenda Howe (plyer and drum carder) and me (spinner) with our blue ribbon! Missing from this photo is Kirsti Jarret and Susan Garvie both spinners.
The Monashee Spinners and Weavers (my other spinning group!) had a stunning shawl in turned Atwater-Bronson lace in blocks of greyed red to yellow.
The Shuswap Spinners and Weavers shawl was going to be wonderful, but alas, they did not get if off the loom in time. A complicated twill pattern in black and apricot.Do you see something of a theme here? Yup, unknowingly we all chose the same colours! Something about fall makes one think of gold, orange and red doesn’t it?
I just finished this shrug in a soft pink handspun wool for Ngaire. I love this pattern and this is the second time I’ve knit it. 
There is something about the lace areas that make handspun yarn look great. Remember I used 2 foot of rigid insulation for blocking my weaving, this is a great use of the remaining 4 foot length!
Here are a few more photos of the Shuswap Weavers and Spinners display. The mauve shawl is in very fine wool and is double weave blocks, by master weaver Gudrun Weisinger.
I knew that I wanted the novelty yarn to be an accent but I also wanted to use it in a way that made sense. So came up with the idea of boxes with the novelty yarn used as the defining perimeter.
That left the interior of the box for something interesting. A huck lace block seemed to fit the bill. 
It is a two shuttle weave so I needed to have a way of knowing when to throw the novelty yarn. 
As the huck is an 8 shaft pattern I was able to have shaft 12 raise with the pattern shafts which told me to throw the novelty yarn, much better then counting the pattern repeat!
After washing all the loops and bumps showed more prominently which is fantastic. It really gives this scarf interest and shows of the novelty yarn to its best advantage.
I wasn’t sure on how to finish the fringe on this scarf and so I tried a couple of things. I tried just twizzling the fringe but for some reason it didn’t look to be in scale with the scarf, they looked too thin. So I went to my tried and true wool fringe technique – the fish tail braid! It is thick enough to fill in the fringe and I was able to do the novelty yarn the same way so the fringe is cohesive.
The squares of huck lace are really pretty and add interest to the scarf without competing with the novelty yarn.
This is scarf has a lovely drape and feels amazingly soft, before washing I was a little worried about the novelty but it has become wonderfully supple after wet finishing.
I am the weaver for the Salmon Arm Fall Fair Sheep to Shawl competition again this year. Since it is always a learning experience with wool as this is not my usual yarn of choice; creating this wool scarf is very timely. It seems to take some getting used to the springiness of wool and having the correct beat. Now that I’ve had this little bit of practice I am looking forward to the Sheep to Shawl!
I also borrowed his builders square for this job, a bit rusty but the only way I could keep everything even. I used the builders square lined up against the factory edge to keep my lines straight and using a ball point pen I scored lines about 1/16 of an inch deep. 
I then turned the board and did the same to make my grid.
I didn’t want to take a chance on the ink or dirt coming off the board, so a good soaping with dish detergent ensured that I have a clean work surface.
I pinned the Overshot piece every inch or so lengthwise along one of my lines. Lengthwise it was still the correct size, then using my laundry sprayer I soaked the piece and stretched it out to the desired width. It worked really well as the rigid insulation is about 1 inch deep and I can really push the pins in. 
I will then use my McSteamy and give it a good hard press to finish it completely. 
I made the warp 20 inches wide and was weaving 14 inches long! This would have made the placemats have the fringe on the top and bottom rather than on the right and left of the placemat. So I had to turn the draft and rewarp the loom….
Here is the start of the first placemat; it really doesn’t look like much from this angle. I've had to use a temple to keep the edges even as this pattern seems to want to draw in substantially.
From this angle you can see the start of the sunflower or sunburst pattern developing. This is an interesting weave because there is no pattern repeat; I’m actually weaving a picture of sorts, so there is no repeat, just 309 unique picks. 
There always seems to be things to keep me off loom in the summer. Imagine how nice a bowl of these local peaches is going to be in November with a dollop of yoghurt! The jams are pure peach and a peach and mango blend……yummy doesn’t begin to cover it! Now I hear the tomatoes calling me. 
I went to the Art of Yarn in Kelowna a couple of days ago, and needless to say, couldn’t walk out the door without something. I was completely gob smacked by this amazing sock yarn from Germany. The purples fading through pink to orange had me as soon as I saw them!
I had to pull some threads out to make the yardage fit the loom as 36 inch loom isn’t actually 36 inches! There is a total of 144 threads at 6 yards so there is going to be two very pretty teal blue scarves in my future.
I have only used the AVL a couple of times so getting the tension and the beat correct can be a challenge but it seems that I was doing pretty well as the cloth looks just great. My beat is very consistent, I’m pleased to say. Here is the yardage fresh off the loom and ready to wet finish.
I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product but it won’t be for a while as I have to relearn to sew first! I haven’t sat at a sewing machine since high school, so another challenge ahead.
I have one inch woven on the Jane loom, this is yet another rug sample that I don’t want to do! I just can’t seem to get enthusiastic about this warp at all! I’ve made a promise to myself to get it done by the end of the month….mmmmm, well, maybe!
This is the warp I've pulled for placemats sitting on Lily Louet. I have never tried weaving placemats in 4/8 cotton so this should be interesting. I’ve chosen this lovely warm yellow for the warp and a sweet milky chocolate for the weft. The pattern promises to look something like a sunburst or a sunflower – wish me luck! This should be up and going in a few days; but not too soon as I’ve given Ngaire the use of my warp protector for her yardage warp….need to source another 36” length of cardboard for her!
I am actively working on yet another Overshot piece. This is a modification from 
Ngaire, my daughter, and I did a crazy day trip to Vancouver last Thursday; we drove to Vancouver (373 km) and back again in one day; trading the driving between us, it wasn’t bad at all! My son popped home for a surprise visit and using it as an excuse we decided to drive him home to save him airfare. Well, it wasn’t completely altruistic…I got to hit Maiwa and pick up a few bits and pieces at the same time. I was in a real rush so just bought every Procion MX dye colour that they had in stock, some Urea, Synthrapol and Soda Ash. Now I’m really ready to take advantage of the summer weather and get some dyeing done.
I also found two lovely hand carved wooden print blocks at Maiwa. I’m hoping to try them out on the natural silk scarves that Ngaire wove.
The warp is a mixture of 2/8 Orlec and 2/8 Tencel and the weft is black 2/10 Tencel. Originally the yardage was to be 36 inches but it turns out that a 36 inch reed isn’t really that long, more like 35.75 inches. Consequently I’ve had to drop a few ends off the back beam to make it work out. I did remember to keep the cross in the dropped ends and I’ll make sure to use them in my next yardage project.
The next is pure pink. 
The wide one is dark teal on the outside blending through two shades of light teal in the centre. 
The next is purple, lavender then silver in the centre. 
The final stripe is a Fibonacci mixture of pink and rose. 