3 New Table Runners

This is "Holiday Star" by Jeanette Coffin.  I used white monk's cloth and wove in the pattern with Caron Simply Soft Party in red sparkle and spring sparkle yarns.  I also used Caron Simply Soft yarn in dark sage.  This is one of my favorite Xmas patterns.

This is an old pattern from Avery Hill's first book that I'd never tried before.  It's "Flaming Gorge" and every row is repeated so it's super easy to follow.  The fabric is a burgundy (not purple) monk's cloth and I used Caron Simply Soft yarn in soft pink, and victorian rose.  The shading doesn't show up properly in the photo but it's very subtle in reality.  A little too subtle for my liking, though.

I loved working the pattern so much that I did it again but used sage monk's cloth with Caron Simply Soft yarns in persimmon and melon, and Bernat yarn in rouge.  It looks a million times nicer than my photo.  I've used this color combination of yarn before on an afghan and absolutely loved them together.

Like most Swedish weavers, I have my next project ready to go...white monk's cloth with variegated turquoise yarn. 

Happy Days

When we seniors move from a house they've lived in for 40+ years, it's not easy to discard what we've accumulated...especially if you're a craft person and you have lots of fabric.  You know you won't use it all in your lifetime and it's foolish to move it all from one place to a smaller place so you have to be strong and just do it.  I had tons of fabric, including monk's cloth that was not going to be left behind.  I gave bags full to a friend and then took bags full to the senior center to donate to anyone in the sewing classes.  The fabric I couldn't part with was carefully stacked in large totes which I meticulously carted to my new apartment.  Once there, they were piled in closets.  Some totes, after 5+ years are still piled in the same spots and rarely, if ever, opened.  You never know, I might still be crafting when I'm 110.

There was one large tote in my front coat closet that was always covered in toy trucks for my greatgrandsons when they came to visit.  I thought it was filled with quilting fabric which I may get back to at some time.  Maybe.  Well, the other day I packed away one of the fans because it won't be needed till spring and I had to move the toy trucks over a bit.  Printed on the top of the tote was "monk's cloth".  OMG!!!  I thought it might still be quilting fabric stored in a box that once held monk's cloth so I didn't bother opening it.  But it was on my mind all night long!

Early in the morning I dragged the tote out of the closet and opened it.  Angels sang!  It was full of monk's cloth and even some sheets still in the packages.  I tend to buy ahead.  I was happier than a person should be who has just discovered more monk's cloth than I have room for but so what!  I felt like I'd won the lottery.

I'm still smiling!

Salmon/Gold/Sage Table Runner

I just love this table runner!  The border pattern is Christine Allan's "Paper Dolls" but the center is something I did on my own.  The monk's cloth is sage and the yarns used are Caron's Simply Soft in Sunshine, Persimmon, and Bernat's Satin in Rouge.  

When you place the Persimmon and Rouge side by side, they don't look like they go together but they do.  Faye used those combinations one time a while back and I worried they'd clash but they look perfect together.

I love mixing and matching patterns and I see on the web sites that many other weavers like to do the same.  I think it makes your project completely unique.

Green/Gold/Sage Table Runner

This is the same pattern, "Flickering Flakes", by Christine Allan but done on sage monk's cloth and using dark green and deep gold yarns.  The yarns were remnants so I don't know the shade but I think they were Red Heart yarns.

I'm not sure if I really like this color combination on the sage fabric but I finished it anyway.

Blue/Grey/White Table Runner

One of my favorite combinations is blue yarns on white fabric.  It looks so crisp and clean!  This table runner was done using Caron's Simply Soft Party in Royal Sparkle and Silver Sparkle.  I think adding the bit of Silver Sparkle makes the pattern stand out.  The pattern is now one of my favorites, Christine Allan's "Flickering Flakes".

I mentioned before how badly this yarn ravels in use and how I solved that by knotting the ends tightly before weaving.  The tiny knot travels through the floats with no problem.

Donna's Blue/White Afghan

Donna is camera shy so all anybody is going to see is this beautiful Swedish weaving afghan she's 99.9% completed.  She had a tiny issue with the edging which will take an hour or so to repair but it's one of my favorite color combinations...blue and white.  She used a few different shades of blue (I neglected to get the details) and then incorporated them all in the fringe.  She also mixed and matched patterns which is really fun to do because it gives you a truly unique project.

Donna has been working on this afghan very slowly...she thinks 4 years but I don't think it's quite that long.  It never matters how long it takes us to complete a project because the joy is in the creation.  Donna and Faye meet here at my apartment almost every Tuesday afternoon and we weave a bit and talk a lot.  Then we have tea and home made goodies that either Faye or Donna bring.  No-one ever expects me to bake.

The afghan is just beautiful and Donna has already started on a lap afghan, this time red monk's cloth and white yarn.  I don't know what other colors she'll use but just the red/white combo is lovely.  I'll post photos when it's done...hopefully before 2022.  LOL!

Paper Dolls

This is the "Paper Dolls" pattern by Christine Allen that I'm working on now and I just wanted to point out how some people have the ability to create these patterns and some (me) don't.  I would never have been able to look at picture #1 and realize that by adding just 2 more rows (picture #2) it would look like little dolls.

I had thought it would be very easy to create my own patterns but I've found that I have very little talent for it...I've done a few.  Mostly I start with an existing pattern and then change it to be uniquely my own.  That's not the same as starting from scratch and creating a pattern like "Paper Dolls".

So cute!