Scarves on Sale

I am thinking about spring. In my climate (California's Central Coast), you can wear a scarf year-round. Most of my scarves are woven of bamboo, soy, cotton and other fibers that make them appropriate for all seasons. Some do contain wool, alpaca, mohair and other wintry fibers.
Since my Etsy shop has quite a few scarves in it, I decided to put them on sale.
If you do a scarf search on Etsy, like I did just now, you will find 83,776 listings covering 3990 pages. With competition like that, it's a wonder I have sold any scarves at all there.
Here are some of my favorites that are currently listed.

Shades of Red

There is a great group of artists which I am a happy member of, The Aromas Hills Artisans. The group includes artists of all varieties and generally creative people.We have monthly meetings which include show and tell. Each month we pick a theme for the following month. February's theme is "Shades of Red".

It just so happens that I use a lot of red in my weaving, so I have many things to share. I wanted to share them with you too. They say red is the hardest color to photograph, so I am trying to be patient with myself as I learn how to do it.
Lately I have been on a guitar strap kick, so that's mostly what I am sharing.
This is the strap that I wove to the theme. There are 4 different shades of red in this strap, although some of them look more purple here.


These other straps get a mention because they have red in them somewhere.

This one is made of an 8 ply yarn containing "new textile wast originating in the apparel and textile industry". It isn't too red, more like a mixed berry smoothie.

And this one I like because of the vivid colors. It's asymmetrical pattern was sort of an accident, but I really like the one red thread along the one border.

A Strap for a Bag

This is a fun collaboration between friends.
The bag was knitted by the very talented hands of a friend, using some beautiful dark grey wool with bright teal highlights here and there.
Although these same very talented hands do also weave on an inkle loom, the Celtic Knot pattern has become a sort of specialty of mine. I have woven this pattern so many times, that my hands can re-create it with little involvement from my brain.
So, when my friend asked if I would weave a strap for the bag, I agreed happily.
After trying out several yarns, I settled on these cottons because they were just the right color, I thought. If the strap was a bit wider, that would have been better.
Woven at a length of 6ft., it should be enough to turn the bag into a backpack.

From T-shirt to Guitar Strap

In an earlier post, I described the process of making a t-shirt into yarn. I wanted to use tie-dyed t-shirts, but have a hard time finding them in local thrift shops. My theory is that here in Santa Cruz folks just wear their tie-dyes until there is nothing left of them.
Last weekend, I saw this kids shirt on the rack at the Goodwill store and grabbed it.

What I wasn't counting on: When I cut the shirt into strips, it curled so that the inside of the shirt shows. Even though the shirt looks bright, it was not on the inside, so now I have a pastel pink, blue and yellow yarn. I wonder if it was sort of painted rather than dyed. Curious.

I paired it with some blue cotton yarn with a denim look and wove this guitar strap.


The t-shirt yarn is stretchy and the other is not, so it is a little waffly, but I think it will be fine when worn. The stretchy fabric will probably make it nice to wear.

Another Brick in the Wall

Or that's how it started, anyway. A few days ago while I was out walking, my attention was attracted to a brick wall with a nice herringbone pattern in it.
Since as far back as I can remember, I have noticed patterns in things. Many of them find their way into my weaving. So, I thought that I could weave a herringbone brick pattern.
I chose yarns in a brick red color and a gray mortar color with a black for borders. (Black borders always seems like a good idea).
Many times with the pick-up patterns, I try one thing and then another thing just seems to emerge. When that happens, I don't fight it to make it fit the original idea; if the result is pleasing, I just go with it.
So, here the pattern doesn't look much like bricks, but I like it a lot. Still it was inspired by a brick wall. As I list my guitar straps for sale in my Etsy shop, I thought it would be fun to name them after songs, or song lyrics.
Anyone got one for blue jeans and tie-dye t-shirts? I'll show you that one in another post.

Happy Birthday, Friend!

Today is Randy's birthday. We met at a Mountain Man Rendezvous some 15 or so years ago. He is a good friend and a collector of my weaving. The above photo was taken last June at the Pacific Primitive Rendezvous. He's wearing a sash and garters that he got from me.
At that event, his wife came by and made me a trade for another sash which he seemed to be admiring. It's been waiting for a special occasion.
I call this one "Water Spider" because the pattern reminds me of a pattern used in Navajo weaving which is called by that name.
The day before his birthday party, I found out that someone stole a bag containing all of his powder horns and accessories. Hoping that he soon gets a new horn, I figured I'd make him a strap just in case. I chose handspun wool in natural colors.

Two Things I Rarely Do

1) Weave an asymmetrical patternBut I thought it would be one way to incorporate all 6 colors and make a pattern that was dissimilar to the others.

2) Use pastel colorsThis is what the customer asked for. I am glad she requested the navy blue in this one, as I think it adds a lot!

These are the last two in the series of custom garters. I am to deliver them in about 2 hours and am hoping for a favorable response!