Just a Note

I was held up getting to Florida this year because I needed a spot of skin cancer removed.  Once removed and cleared for travel, my daughter ,Cindy, and I drove down to Florida where I promptly got a bad cold that turned into bronchitis.  That makes me housebound until I'm not contagious anymore.  Our little Swedish weaving group here at the park will continue without me so I'm sure to have some lovely photos of their projects in a few weeks.

Being housebound doesn't mean I'm going to be too bored because I have my own Swedish weaving project to work on and also getting back to selling on Ebay.  As with any illness, the stamina won't be there to keep me weaving for hours at a time but that's one of many beauties of Swedish weaving...we can work on it for only 5 minutes if that's all the time we have.

At this moment, in our little park, there are many crafty ladies working on their projects.  I can't wait to show their work to you! 

Lisa's Afghan

The first two photos are of the afghan I made for my friend, Lisa.  She just bought her first house and her favorite colors (requested) are grey and pink so I used 2 shades of grey, a medium pink and a burgundy to kind of spice it up.  The monks cloth is white.

The last two photos are of a table runner I added to the stock I took to the craft show on Saturday and it was one that was sold.  It's ecru with the pattern done in 2 shades of green.  I had a lot of people request more Christmas colors than I took with me so I'll have to make some runners with reds or greens for next years sale.

When it comes to table runners, I realize I'll have to forget about my penchant for bright, mixed colors because people seem to want a more subdued runner to blend in with their own room colors.  I just might settle for using only white or ecru cloth, too.

Swedish Weaving Table Runners

These are the recent table runners I've completed.  It was so darned difficult today to get accurate copies of the colors but what's most important are the patterns.

I enjoy making the runners because they're completed very quickly and it makes a nice break from struggling with 2 1/2 yds. of fabric for afghans.  It's also a good way to use small, leftover skeins of yarn.  A friend of mine made a Christmas runner and attached all kinds of Christmasy items to it.  Because of that she'd have to hand wash it but it looked lovely.

A few years ago, before Walmart stopped stocking lots of monk's cloth colors, I would buy up every remnant they had so now I have a huge stock of them.

When I teach someone to do Swedish weaving, I always have them start with a table runner and, once they see the beautiful result, they always go on to make afghans.  I think doing the table runner as a first project is less intimidating and less expensive for them to learn a new craft.  

Recent Work

This is a Swedish weaving afghan I just finished.  The first photo is the most accurate in regards to color...it's cloudy out and difficult to get better accuracy.  The monk's cloth is a soft yellow and I used 2 shades of green and a gold yarn for the design.

I've never put one of my afghans up for sale before, just gave them all to friends and relatives, but I've sort of saturated that market and have decided to sell this one.  I'm doing a craft show next month and will be selling some Swedish weaving table runners, too.  If they don't sell, I'll put them on Ebay in January.

No-one can afford to pay us a decent wage for making these so we have to do it for the love of weaving.  I enjoy the process of seeing a project shape up but prefer to give them to my loved ones rather than sell them simply because of the time it takes to complete them.

Faye's and Donna's Current Projects

Both Donna and Faye have been working on their projects for a while but it doesn't matter how long it takes us to complete one.  What matters is that we enjoy the process.

Donna realized yesterday that she'd made a slight mistake way back near the beginning and I told her this could now be her new pattern instead of taking it all out.  I've completed many afghans this way because it doesn't always make sense to take it all apart when we find a mistake.  No-one will ever know.

Faye's afghan is much more brilliantly colored than my photo shows and it's close to completion but might not be finished before I leave for Florida.  That's why I'm posting the photos now.  We've had a nice time all summer meeting every Tuesday afternoon to weave, chat, and have tea.  I'll continue meeting with my fellow weavers every Thursday morning in Florida, too.  It's wonderful how much we learn from each other...new techniques and sources for fabrics.

I've given away every afghan I've made but have run out of friends and family to give them to so I'm going to put my present project on Ebay to sell.  It will be interesting to see how well that goes.  

Some Information

I don't have a huge following but it makes me feel good if even one person gets something out of this blog.  It's so important for us Swedish weavers to share information, projects, and styles.  One of my followers contacted me and gave me the website of a lady named Dawn who sells, among other things, monks cloth in a variety of colors.  Her website is monksclothlady.com and I will definitely be placing some orders once I get to Florida this winter.

It's become more difficult for S.W. to purchase monks cloth in colors since Walmart stopped stocking it.  Joann's Fabrics will order it for you but you have to order a bolt of the same color.  Dawn will sell a single yard if that's what is wanted so I'm glad to have found her.  Her prices seem fair, too.

Now, I don't know Dawn and am not trying to drive up her business but I'll continue to pass on any information that will help Swedish weavers.

Dian's Swedish Weaving Afghan

One of the nice things about having this blog is that it has attracted others who have taken an interest in doing Swedish weaving.  The above photo was sent to me by Dian and we can all tell how much work went into making this project.  It's beautiful!  I tried making the photo larger but my computer skills are sadly wanting.

Every single Swedish weaving project can teach us something we hadn't thought of before and that's why it's important to share this blog with other enthusiasts.  I love the pattern Dian chose and have plans to use it in one of my own.  

Good work, Dian!  Now, if you're like me, you've already planned the next project, right?

Audrey's Afghan

This is the afghan I just finished for my daughter's boyfriend's mother, Audrey.  All of the colors in the fringe were used in the pattern even though it looks to be mainly blue yarn.  My camera is old and, as can be seen, the date isn't showing correctly.  The monk's cloth is also an ecru color and not white.  I clearly need to find my new camera or buy another one.  Let's hope I find the one I just bought this past winter!

Swedish Weaving Table Runner

This is the same pattern I used on Nash's small afghan.  It's "Picadilly" by Avery Hill and does take a while to do because each stitch has to be done separately, with no longer runs.  I extended the points for the table runner because I thought it gave more definition.

A week or so ago, my daughter and I recovered my dining room chairs with a turquoise/green/yellow floral fabric so I thought it would be nice to have a turquoise table runner, too.  I used a deep turquoise monks cloth and started the pattern with a medium green yarn, added some salmon, and finished with a medium yellow/gold.  Turquoise is my favorite color in the world so I'm happy to have added more of it to the room.

Right now the runner is the same width as the table top but I'm considering making it narrower.  I'll let it sit for a while to give me a chance to think how I like it best.  

Nolan's Lap Sized Swedish Weaving Afghan

This is a lap-sized afghan I just finished for my greatgrandson, Nolan.  A full sized one would have been much too big for him.  The photos show the afghan folded in half...the pattern runs up and down instead of sideways.  

I used ecru fabric with the pattern done in dark blue, medium turquoise, and yellow yarns.  I had to improvise the little sailboat pattern because of limited space but found it wasn't too hard to do.  I'd first planned to make a fold over seam on the sides but, again because of limited space, decided to just leave a very short fringe.  

This was a fun project that didn't take too much time to complete because it was only half the usual work.

Little Barb's Swedish Weaving Afghan

This is the afghan I made for my friend, little Barb.  We call her "little" because she was part of a group of 3 ladies named Barb and she was the smallest one.  Somehow, the nickname stuck and it's hard to call her anything but that when we speak of her.

The colors don't show as clearly as I'd like but the fabric is ecru and the yarns used are peach, salmon and light green.  I used them all in the fringe and it did take some time but I think it was worth it.

Dian's Swedish Weaving Afghan

This is Dian's work in progress.  I'll post a photo of her finished afghan but it's nice to see how someone else has chosen to do her design.  If you're not a Swedish weaver, you can't appreciate the time and effort it takes to complete a project like this but we SW do know.  

Dian said this is being made as a gift so I hope the lucky recipient knows how much time and thought went into it.

Ruffle Scarves

I ran out of Swedish weaving work to do before I left Florida...by mistake I had taken down a monks cloth remnant instead of a full piece and decided to wait until I came home before starting another project.  The above is what I did when I couldn't Swedish weave.

Jo is a Swedish weaver who also does other crafts and she taught a few of us how to make ruffled scarves.  I'm not much of a knitter but these are so easy to make.  You use 1 skein of Red Heart metallic Sashay (my favorite), cast on 5-8 stitches and it makes a scarf approximately 5+ feet long.  You have to leave spaces between each stitch and that's what creates the ruffle.  Instructions are on the skein wrapping.

This is a fun and fast craft to do inbetween Swedish weaving projects which can take months or, for some, years to complete.  I've made quite a few of the scarves and given them to family and friends.  Normally, I can't stand to wear a scarf but I will make just one for myself...a gorgeous turquoise one!  

Jake's Swedish Weaving Afghan (finally!!)

I started Jake's afghan last summer but moving out of a house into an apartment took up so much of my time that I've finally just finished it.  Jake is my American grandson so I thought it fitting to use the white monk's cloth with red and blue yarn for the design.  I used various border designs instead of one complete one.  I'd seen the fringe done like this in someone else's afghan and thought it was a pretty way to incorporate the colors used in the body of the afghan.



I also chose to use the thicker and courser RedHeart yarn because I didn't want the finished product to look too feminine.  My preferred yarn is the "Simply Soft" which I'll probably use exclusively from now on, though.



It's so satisfying to finish a product and send it off to it's new owner.  I always think of the person it's for as I'm working on it so each stitch is filled with loving thoughts.  Jake has said he's happy to be getting it and I'll never know if he's just being a polite 15 year old boy but I do hope he thinks of his Gramma when he sees it.