Pebbles and Eyes

Last weekend, I spent 3 days learning new weaving techniques with one of my weaving superheros, Laverne Waddington. This was the 3rd time that she has come to Santa Cruz, California, USA from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to teach a workshop for the Santa Cruz Handweavers Guild.
We had done some Pebble Weave in a previous workshop, but it was much easier to understand the second time around. Below are my samples, with which I was pleased.

Experiments in Pebble Weave

On the third day of the workshop, we experimented with weaving tubular bands.
I liked this pattern of little eyes; somehow it made sense to me and I could see the patterns forming as I went along. I wouldn't say it is easy. There are many steps that you must follow carefully, but Laverne's written instructions were extremely clear and easy to follow.

A Tubular Band with "Nawis" (eyes)

I had the pleasure of hosting Laverne in my home which was a real treat for me, because I got to spend 4 days looking at, making and talking about weaving pretty much non-stop.
She arrived a day early and I took her downtown to a particularly trendy clothing store to illustrate my point of "tribal" patterns being totally in fashion now. We had a blast! We spent about an hour all over the store uncovering treasures, taking photos and discussing which socks, t-shirts, mini skirts, leggings, belts, bags, etc. were mimicking what patterns from which region of the world. Since she so wonderfully documented our shopping trip as well as our workshop on her blog, I will refer you there with this link: http://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/backstrap-weaving-the-bizarre-and-the-beautiful/
The blog is a gold mine of weaving information and tutorials. I highly recommend it!