Braided Beauties

When is a heart not a heart? When it's a scarf, of course!

I've created a new style of scarf just in time for Valentine's Day. They're fun, they're fashionable, they're fanciful, they're furry!

Scarf #1 - I Y You

Red, pink, & black with hints of brighter colors. Black & white 'eyelashes' just for fun.

Scarf #2 - Am I Blue

Multiple shades of blue, with green accents. A modest amount of purple 'eyelashes' to bring a smile.

Scarf #3 - I Got The Blues

Predominantly light blue with some highlights of several other colors. Lots of purple 'eyelashes' to tickle your fancy.

Scarf #4 - It's Easy Being Green

Greens and blues, accented with both white & black. A good amount of cream & purple 'eyelashes' lighten the mood.

Scarf #5 - Green Is Good

Several shades of both green & blue, with touches of white, black, yellow, and more. A multitude of yarn types. Don't want anything fuzzy? This one's for you!

Scarf #6 - Earth Girl

Brown & tan with plenty of cream & a bit of black -- earthy colors. This one has both some creamy 'eyelashes' and cute, fuzzy pom-poms.

Scarf #7 - Brown Beauty

Tan, burnt sienna, cream, & black, this is a bit darker than Earth Girl above. The fuzzy pom-poms and sienna 'eyelashes' add fun & interest.

I only made the seven scarves you see here; once they're gone, they're gone. Don't miss out - order now! How? Send me an email (peg at secondwindjewelry dot com) or give me a call (585-973-7110) to place your order. These soft braids are $17 each, plus $6.50 shipping. They range from 72" - 86" long - plenty of length to wrap, drape, or style.

Want to see my woven scarves? Visit my website - I have lots of colors, fibers, styles, & sizes in stock.

Am I Blue

My blue LED Christmas lights make me happy. Will I take them down or leave them up? What about my other decorations?

Learn the answers to these burning questions and more on my new blogsite.

If you can say it...

Moving forward on my third custom order, the same woman who wanted the rice bamboo scarf also wanted one in snow white. wanted to give her some diversity – not the same weaving pattern in both scarves.

So I played with my weaving software, Fiberworks, to come up with a design that I liked. Here’s what I decided on.

While it may just look like an interesting design to many, this type of graphic tells a weaver how to thread and treadle her loom to achieve the pattern.

So I prepared the warp, dressed the loom, and was off and running.
Uh oh. It was IMPOSSIBLE for me to see the pattern in white on white as I was weaving.

I tried squinting, tilting my head, moving the light — all tricks I’ve used successfully with other weaving patterns. No luck.

The only way for me to see this pattern was to get up and walk about 3 feet from the loom, then catch the fabric at quite an angle.

Now it’s perfectly clear! And lovely, if I do say so myself.

But with 30 rows to a pattern repeat and no way to see it as I wove, the odds of making a treadling mistake were great.

So I reverted to a lesson from my original weaving teacher: “if you can say it, you can do it.” I sat there at my loom saying, “1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 4. 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 4. 1, 2, 1. 4, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1. 4, 3, 4, 3, 2.” As I was saying those numbers, my feet were moving to those treadles.

Interestingly, if what my voice was saying (yep, I was saying it out loud) didn’t match what my feet were doing, some part of my head knew it, and made me stop. My voice was always right, my feet were always wrong. By saying it, I never had to go back more than 1 row.

I wonder how far that morsel of advice – if you can say it you can do it – applies. Will it work if I’m at the table and tempted to reach for a second helping I don’t need? Will it help me to express kindness more often? I’m going to give it a try!

January 11th, 2011

Handwoven Bamboo Scarves

I made new handwoven bamboo scarves for a custom order.

To learn more about the pattern, and what else I've been up to, visit my new blogsite.