Some of the Group

We all live in a senior park in Florida for the winter and use a section of the clubhouse every Thursday morning to get together and weave, educate each other, and just have a good time. We start at 9 A.M., the same time as the exercise class, so we try to keep it quiet while they're doing their exercises. Almost always, once exercise is over, some of the people come to see what we're accomplishing.

Bonnie and Carol, shown in the first picture, always get teased for coming in late. It matters not one bit what time we show up or how much work we've done on our projects over the week...it's just nice to come and join in with this group of fascinating ladies.

More of Candy's Afghans

These are 2 more of Candy's afghans. She probably works a lot faster making them than any of the rest of us. The top one is done on peach fabric and much deeper than my picture shows. The bottom one, which is almost finished, is very interesting because she's used black, grey, and peachy yarn to produce a really dramatic effect.

Candy's Afghans

These are 2 of Candy's afghans, both done with variegated yarn. Candy is an excellent Swedish weaver but using variegated yarn for your project is also great for the novice weaver because you don't have to co-ordinate 3 or 4 colors.

Jo's Afghans

These 2 afghans were made by Jo and I wish my camera would have been able to pick up the beautiful colors better. The top one was done with variegated yarn on white fabric and Jo has finished it off with embroidery just above the fringed bottoms. The other afghan is really beautiful but I wasn't able to capture the exact colors used. Jo is also using the same colored yarns on her next project using a different color cloth so they'll have a totally different effect, too.

Candy's Lap Afghan

This is a rather unusual afghan, mainly because it's smaller but also because Candy ran the pattern from one side to the other of the fabric instead of up and down.

Most of our afghans start out as a 2 1/2 yard piece of fabric but I think Candy's is maybe 1 1/2 yards (I'll change this later if I find out I'm mistaken). Her granddaughter worked on it but Candy is finishing it. The fabric is ecru and she's used variegated yarn in pinks, purples, blues, and greens. It's almost finished and she is now adding the embroidery on the hems. This is a technique that Candy taught the rest of us and it's a beautiful finish for any project.

Note: We've learned by trial and error that, when purchasing variegated yarn, it's best to find one where each color on the strand is not too long. A 4" run of one color is just about right but it can be a bit longer if necessary. The problem with having too long a run of color is that it doesn't blend well in the pattern.

New Projects

We had a nice group of ladies at our Swedish weaving get-together this morning and I remembered to take my camera. The first 2 photos are of an afghan that Cassie is almost finished. She used a vibrant green fabric with yarns in beiges and browns. The pattern is called "Country Trails" and she was kind enough to bring a few copies of it for us. One of the nicest reasons for meeting with other weavers is the chance to learn new techniques from each other and also to gather new patterns.

The 3rd and 4th pictures are of Cathy's afghan and she didn't want me to mention how long she's been working at it. My attitude about this is that it doesn't matter how long it takes you to finish a project as long as you're having fun while you're working on it. If it takes a month or a year, who really cares?

Cathy's afghan is on white fabric with yarns in shades of blue. You just can't go wrong with these crisp colors....but, then, every single project I've seen has been beautiful, regardless of colors chosen.