BONNIE INSPIRED

Ikat Dye Day in Sequim

2012-01-24T09:50:00.000-08:00

After enjoying Bonnie's inspiring presentation to our North Olympic Shuttle and Spindle guild in Sequim/Port Angeles WA on the joys of designing with Turned Weft Ikat, a group of members held a wrap, dye and warp day in July.

We assembled at my house with 8/2 cotton skeins wound and buckets ready. The first order of business was to use Bonnie's strategies to wrap our warps followed by adjournment outside to dye. We had four different dye buckets of bronze, deep green, blue and burgundy and used the standard bucket dye recipe for fiber reactive dyes. We also used the exhaust baths and ended up with about 30 skeins of beautiful yarns. Some linen and rayon skeins were also included and dyed successfully.

We then looked at a variety of towels and scarves woven earlier by Kathy and Lynn and set up a warping board for everyone to practice Bonnie's match and tie method. A loom was already warped and partly woven so all participants could see how to set up a pleasing warp.

It was an excellent, though lengthy day, and all participants left with dyed yarn and lots of enthusiasm. We hope to see a series of towels this year at our monthly show and tell and want to thank Bonnie again for an excellent concept.

Lynn Baritelle

Chair, NOSSG

Inspiration from Afar

2012-01-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

Hi Bonnie,

Last summer we spent some time dyeing lots of wool with mainly plant material and cochenil.

I ended up with 2 kilo's of wool in beautiful soft colours. As my old blanket started to wear out, it was a good idea to make a new one.

I have used your woven words-system to organize the colors.

My words are: TRUST(vertrouwen) and GRATITUDE (dankbaarheid) for the middle-part and LOVE (liefde) for the side-parts.

Quite a few things went wrong, but I am very pleased with the result and it feels lovely to sleep under.

Before weaving the blanket I had to weave a sample to determine the sett.

As I wasn't sure to have enough wool I decided to alternate thick wool and very thin cotton.

The threading was 1-2-3-4 and I've tried several threadlings.

Twill 12-23-34-41 looked best. I've also tried plain tabby without the cotton threads

I wouldn't mind the texture, but didn't like it in my coloured stripes.

The sett was 5 thick and 5 thin threads in 1 cm, which is about 25 threads to an inch altogether.

I've tried to weave the whole blanket in one go (double width), but made a mistake in calculating the thick and thin threads.

So after dressing the loom I found out, that I only had half a blanket. So this became my middle panel.

After weaving this I've warped my loom again for the side panels.

Photo below shows the connection between two of the panels sewn by hand in the green stripe. It also shows the finishing of the top- and bottom of the blanket.

Yours, Irma Spaargaren

Gina Gift from her Mom, Jan

2012-01-18T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hi Jan and Bonnie,

I had to share with you both my first experience wearing my horoscope shawl...

As you know I've been trying to start my own private practice as a massage therapist. Fear has held me back a bit and I'd been clinging to a position at Massage Envy that was becoming more and more difficult everyday. Last Friday I called into work and found out that I had no massages scheduled so I decided to take a leap of faith and I grabbed my shawl and went into my new office instead. I wrapped the shawl around me and told The Universe that I was ready to rock-n-roll. Five minutes later a gentleman walked in for a one-hour massage. I made more in that one hour than I would have made in my entire 7 hour shift at Massage Envy.

Although there were are undoubtedly many factors involved in bringing me the clients and business that have continued to just walk in, I also feel a particular powerful energy when I wear the shawl. So not only is it beautiful but it's also very special on many different levels. I thank you both so much for each of your unique gifts are woven into this special horoscope shawl. I will cherish it always.

With Love,

Gina

A Message in the Cloth

2011-08-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Bonnie

Here is a picture of a recently completed "woven word" scarf. Last month my 16 year old niece came to visit for 10 days. While she was here I used your woven word technique to plan a scarf for her. Using Courtney's words: Happy-Independence-Calmness in the warp with her chosen colors of 10/2 cotton. I used ribbon as the spacer between words. I threaded the project in 4 shaft Swedish lace. I wove in a few words of my own into the fabric. The weft was a mixture of threads, cotton, tencel & silk. I kept the ribbon as the spacer in the weft as well. I am continually amazed at how this technique makes me use new colors and they always seem to work together.

Thank you,

Karen Driscoll

A note from Bonnie: Oops, I forgot to put in the close-up detail, and every time I try to add a picture after I have already up-loaded pictures---well the first pictures disappear.

Another note: At the same time I was winding a warp using Karen's idea---Karen was weaving using my idea---pretty cool

Martha's Masterpiece

2011-04-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

When I signed up for Bonnie's horoscope shawl workshop, I was both excited and intimidated. I had taken some classes from my very good friend to learn to weave and had woven a couple of scarves before becoming enamored with weaving rag rugs. I did not feel confident that I knew enough of what I was doing to participate in this workshop. Warping my loom with so many different colors and more than 1 warp string per reed was all new to me. And I LOVED it. Taking the workshop, and soaking up all the knowledge that I was exposed from Bonnie and the others in the workshop was exhilarating! and I had been hungering for a better understanding of color and I got to learn some about that and I learned many new tips. Now I have this beautiful shawl that has given me tons of ideas about how colors play together and I have already made another piece based on my favorite part of my horoscope shawl. I found Bonnie to be a great new weaving mentor in my life and not the least bit intimidating. And I feel more confident now to weave more fine pieces than I had before.

Martha

A Gift to Myself

2011-04-09T18:35:00.001-07:00

The horoscope shawl was a present to myself for my 50^th Birthday. I somehow thought that it would help me understand myself at a deeper level and provide closure to a period of ill health. At the same time I am not in the habit of giving to myself. It proved to be quite an experience. I am a novice weaver and had never worked with such a draft as my experience of weaving had been limited to some scarves in tabby and twill. However, I like a challenge and undaunted got to work on the draft which Bonnie had sent me . Warping was interesting and a beautiful experience. I decided on 3 warps of 120 each and labelled them as such as I had only ever worked with 1 warp on my Ashford Table loom. Then there were simply not enough heddles on the loom so had to order some more and master that process. Putting on the warps proved tricky as I had inverted one of them so it had to come off and be repositioned. Next I wound on the warp with the help of my husband and it simply looked too slippery and slack on the loom so rewound it and rewound it again. I had put it under the beam at the back instead above and the same in the front so had to untie and restart. 3 attempts followed to put it through the heddles as I had not centred it well enough and 2 attempts at sleying the warp. I am not one to give up easily but when I wound the warp up again back and forth the threads started to break at the sides and I was close to tears. My weaving teacher offered to come and have a look and told me I had made a classic beginners mistake of not having my piece of paper wide enough so that the threads on the outside were under more tension than those on the paper and thus the threads would break. After some reassurance and winding the warp through the reed and tying the ends on each end, it looked about ready to weave. I had spun red tussah silk for the weft and was finally ready to weave. Weaving can be a reflection of life and weaving my horoscope shawl had many similarities to how my life had played out up until that point. The shawl is a bit shorter than I had planned and has a few frayed ends but that is a fair reflection of me. I love wearing my shawl and what it has brought me so far. Something I learned over the years: happiness is within, so take care of yourself and find peace within. The rest will take care of itself. If you address the outside before the inside, the outside will only reflect the imbalance within. People comment so much on the beauty of the shawl that the whole experience and its challenges has definitely been worth it.

Anne Howe

A Gift from Shelley to Winston

2011-03-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Bonnie....Well, here is a picture of my husband, Winston Quan's scarf. I am wearing it as he takes better pictures than I do. I will eventually send you a picture of him wearing it , as he is an interesting character being partly Chinese and partly Cree Indian. I would not let him model the scarf as he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt which clashed with the scarf. He is of the opinion that men do not wear enough color and has made it his mission to wear as much color as possible. I , for one, am sick of his Hawaiian shirts and like to confiscate them whenever they get too worn and then weave them into placemats.

Well, here it is....

All the best to you!,

Shelley

NOTE FROM BONNIE: above is the complementary draft that Shelley received after completing her own horoscope weaving.

May Inspiration

2010-05-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

The one thing I had trouble with in warping was bending down to the floor to change colors. I just read in Handwoven a suggestion that you put Velcro tape in a place to conveniently hold the thread while you are using another cone. I think I'll try that for my sister's scarf. Another thing I had trouble with was when I went to wind on the warp, the planets were looser than the rest of the warp. Not sure why, but I'll be more aware as I wind on next time. Finally I wanted to wind more than 1 thread at a time and had never done it in a way that I needed to keep the sequence. That was a challenge! I only had one miss at the cross. But luckily your thread by thread color pattern helped.

On the edges I put 2 black floating warp threads per side. I think 1 would have been plenty. That helped a lot to keep my edges straight. The weaving went smoothly. I could advance the warp every 3 to 5 inches (I hate advancing the warp!). It didn't take me long. I used a weft color that I love the name of as much as I love the color - UKI's Quarry. I liked it better than the Black. I tried several warp colors, Quarry worked best. You can see on the loom picture I wanted to use up black at the end. There are 2 colors of weft in that picture - black and Quarry.

Thanks!
Dornan

Kathie's Story

2010-03-02T11:50:00.000-08:00

Hi Bonnie,

Here are the promised photos of my shawl.

When I saw the Horoscope Shawl in Handwoven, I was immediately drawn to the project and decided that I could do this (it was plain weave, and being a beginning weaver, this was within my realm). I ordered my horoscope from you and the kit from Cotton Clouds in Bambu. Prior to this, my experience in weaving was limited to some scarves on a RH loom and some classes on a multishaft loom. 2 scarves and some Huck placemats were followed by the purchase of an 8 shaft loom.

Once everything arrived, I read through it all and then the questions started coming. Foremost was "OMG, what was I thinking?". I had what I'd call "a crisis of confidence", and everything sat for about a month or so. I started sending you my questions and with your kind assistance, I realized that I actually could do this. I knew how to wind a warp and get that warp onto the loom. I was allowing myself be intimidated by things I hadn't done before, i.e. changing warp colors at each end of the warp, working with a very wide warp. It all seems silly now that I've woven the shawl, but it was a fantastic learning experience for me. Thank you for your patience and understanding at having to answer all those questions. You're a wonderful mentor!

I did exactly as you suggested and took my time with each step and actually enjoyed all aspects of the project. I learned a great deal from your suggestions and tips which helped my refine my techniques as I progressed.

I purchased 2 clamps to use for the floating selvedges which worked beautifully - I've never has such uniform edges! I also took your advice about the skipped dent in the reed.

I was somewhat concerned about the colors, but again you were correct. The color combinations are amazing and I'll never look at color in weaving in the same way again. You've opened my eyes to so many beautiful possibilities! I'm planning to do at least 3 more shawls for my daughters and granddaughter.

This has been the most challenging, rewarding and inspiring experience for me and I feel that I can now call myself a weaver!

Thank you for being such an inspiration!

I hope to take a class from you someday in person. You enabled me to make beautiful cloth!

Kathie

Colorful Maggie

2010-02-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Bonnie,
RE: color horoscope weaving kit

After receiving the horoscope instructions, I looked at the warping order and groaned. Winding off warp is my least favorite task. but the little sample you included was motivation. I ordered my bamboo from jane stafford in BC.I also enlarged the width by adding about 8 ends in each of the color groupings to make a shawl.

After getting it all beamed, I wasn't sure I liked it. As much as I love color, it was overwhelming. I had put on extra yardage to experiment with weft colors. tried out black, both a dull and shiny. sampled with a grey thinking it would tone the whole thing down. looked dead. even tried a cream. that was way wrong! In your paper work you had commented that I had a lot of orange and red. I had a cone of red cotton the right size. bingo! I love it.

Only have about a yard woven at this point but it will be finished hopefully by Christmas so I can wear it to the family dinner. Will send you a finished photo after the holiday.

It's done. I love it. but. . . . I'll never wear it. Way too bright. I should have used pastels of my colors. Am thinking I'll use it for a table cover.

RE: horoscope shawl doneRe: horoscope shawl done

I had taken a front view photo but the picture had the dog's butt and tail in it but it also didn't show the stripes as well. My weaving space is also my quilting space so the floor does get really trashy.

I think I had promised you a finished photo by Christmas. didn't happen. It was off the loom but not cleaned up. twisting the fringe took almost as long as the actual weaving.

Thanks so much, Bonnie.
Maggie

More Memphis

2010-02-10T21:23:00.001-08:00

Hi Bonnie!

Nature has been kind to some of us, though most don't see the weather we've had this weekend as a blessing. Schools were closed on Friday and are again today because of the ice. (Lucky we didn't have your workshop this weekend!) Those of us who teach got bonus weaving days.

In my usual manner of having to do everything two or three times to get it right, I used most of that time making my fringe.

Anyway, here it is, my finished piece. It is hard taking your own picture.

The workshop was terrific. And I am so inspired. I need more snow days!
Mary Anne

Dear Bonnie,

It has been said “that good things come to those wait” and I know this is true. Taking your Horoscope Weaving Workshop was a long anticipated dream of mine. In December of 1999, I saw your “Horoscope Scarf for New Millennium” on the cover of Handwoven magazine, loved the idea, and put it on my Future Projects List. It took ten years to bring this to fruition, but it was well worth the wait.

Your workshop went beyond all expectations. Bonnie you are a great teacher. You gave us so many wonderful ideas using color and showed us countless gorgeous samples. I am so thoroughly inspired, that 48 hour days are needed, just to weave a small portion of them. Oh, the joy!

My piece was woven using Pearl Cotton from my stash, 10/2 for warp and 20/2 for weft. Due to my workshop loom size limitations, it does not have a border. The finished width of 11 ½” and the beautiful hand of the cloth make this perfect to wear as a scarf or use as a table runner.

Thank you Bonnie. Memphis loves you!

Mary Jorgensen

Memphis Medley

2010-02-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

The Color Horoscope Weaving Workshop, presented to the Memphis Guild on January 23-4, brought together a fabulous group for an exciting foray into color exploration.

Hi Bonnie. !!

Fringed, washed and dried the horoscope shawl made in your Memphis class.
It was exquisite until the 2nd round in the dryer !
The wool weft just took over, but it feels wonderful, is much softer than expected and a great color experience. Since we didn't have to decide which colors to warp with, it took away the 'decisions, decisions' problem.
Although, we *did* have to decide what weft to use for the shawl after we wove samples of different wefts. I have enough warp left so that I can play some more with wefts and maybe make little things like pouches and sachets.
You filled our heads with many things to ponder as life progresses. The
*desires* wrappings are next on my list and will tackle before the end of the week. That will be fun as well, since the colors are so beautiful. As you said many times "There is no right or wrong." so they will all turn out as wonderful as our shawls. Thank you for such a fun and positive experience. Hope you will visit us again. !!
Kaaren Reid

Kaaren's shawl picture was waiting for me when I got in from the airport on Monday the 25th. By the time Thursday rolled around, I received 3 more pictures of finished weaving. I felt very inspired (grin).

Here is Bobbie's
Hi Bonnie,

Your Horoscope Workshop was the best workshop I have ever attended in my 10 years of weaving. In addition to providing the opportunity to warp and weave something new and different, I learned a lot from the tips you shared with us, gathered from your 50 years of weaving.

Warping the loom was somewhat of a challenge, because of the many changes in thread colors and the fact that I was doubling the Bambu 12 yarn I used. Your directions were clear and easy to follow, though, so that helped me get through the warping process successfully.

The actual weaving was a breeze. I wove plain weave with a single thread of Bambu 12. After washing the scarf, I trimmed the fringe to 2 inches.

I finished my scarf Tuesday and washed it Wednesday. Even though I planned to twist the fringe, I changed my mind and just trimmed it to 2 inches.

The warp is Bambu 12, doubled and the weft is single threads of Bambu 12. The finished scarf has a wonderful drape and softness.

If your ears are ringing, it is because we are still talking about how much we enjoyed your workshop and that we learned so much. Thanks again for a great experience.

Bobbie

Elizabeth's--still waiting for her words.

And Joloy's
Bonnie,
I enjoyed the workshop. I learned about color and ways to figure out how to put more color in my weaving. It was very inspiring with so many ideas to work with once you get home.
I would say to my friends that this is one workshop that they should take.
My color horoscope scarf is woven in 10/2 cotton warp and weft is 20/2 cotton in black.
It took longer to measurer the warp than I expected. It is worth the extra time to weave this scarf.
Thanks for a great weekend.
Joloy Watlington

Mary Anne's will follow soon, and I hope the rest of the class. This was surely my best workshop to date!

I am a Bonnie Inspiried Weaver!

2009-12-28T23:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Bonnie.... I am so pleased with my shawl and have had lots of compliments. I always credit you...Bonnie Inspiried!

"This was a lovely gift to myself and I am very grateful to Bonnie for

developing this idea. I have never warped anything without knowing how

it was going to turn out. Each new color was eagerly anticipated to see

how it would blend in. Like Bonnie promised, it all worked out."

Information about my shawl.....

I basically followed Bonnie's directions; they were very clear. I used

Bambu 7 for the warp...sett was 20 ends to the inch and I used Bambu 12

for the weft. Weaving with this fibre was a delight and I thought it

was some of my best weaving...I have been weaving for 35 years. Must

have been because I was weaving me!

The hardest part was keeping track of the colors...your instructions

were very helpful. One thing I did was xerox the chart and tick off

each thread as I warped it. I was amazed when I checked things that I

made several errors and had to go over the whole warp 4 times! Maybe

that says something about me though. I also added 3 inches of solid

black to extend the width.

I wanted to make a shawl with a "V" back rather than one length of

fabric.

I ended up with piece of fabric that was 21 x 121" after

washing. I cut one piece 64 inches long and another 43 inches long ( 43

+21= 64) and then hand sewed them in an L shape to get my desired

shape. Hope that makes sense. I am a tall person and wanted ample

fabric to drape over my shoulders.

The fringes were hand plied; they

ended up being about 6" long after being plied.

I have 8 inches of fabric left over and plan to make a little frame and

hang it on the wall.

I am a Bonnie Inspiried weaver!

Happy , healthy and a hearty 2010!

Hugs to you,

Shelley Hamilton

Congratulations to Anne!

2009-11-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

In the mid 90's, as a beginning weaver, I saw some of the horoscope weavings. I thought "WOW'...wouldn't that be fun!! Well, in 2004, Bonnie offered the workshop to the Whidbey Weavers and I took that class. Most of us knew almost nothing about horoscopes other than our signs!!!

This workshop consisted of three days of winding a warp....360 threads BUT those 360 threads were made up of THREE threads! i.e. there were over 1000 threads that made up that warp!!! And they were put into three warp groupings. I took all these home along with the instructions and there they sat until 2007.

Note from Bonnie: I have completely changed how I present this workshop and no longer use 20/2 cotton tripled for warp (although I am happy to show anyone who is interested) I also have students wind their warp at home rather during class, and now students come to class all ready to weave. I discovered that 50% of the students who leave a workshop with a warp, never take the time to actually weave it. I am SO impressed that Anne wove her piece after all that time!

In 2007, I had a failed hip replacement, could not walk or stand so thought this might be the perfect time to weave my horoscope material! It was not perfect weaving BUT I did finish it. However, mine felt just too heavy for a shawl sooooo I asked a golfing friend (a seamstress as well) if she could make this material into a vest? She agreed.

I had a paper pattern from an early workshop with Anita Mayer. From this pattern, Judy Wolinski used some software and created a fabulous vest for me. The tassels at the ends of the weaving were used in the back of the vest.

Needless to say, I was thrilled with the end result!

anne brenaman

Note from Bonnie: I was totally blown away when I happened to run into Anne wearing her vest at the Seattle Weavers Guild Sale!!

When A Master Explores Plain Weave

2009-11-01T22:10:00.000-08:00

Bonnie,

I have to say, I am glad I took the Exploring Not So Plain workshop. Learned some helpful information and had a really good time. Round robin's are all organized before hand and not much teaching necessary. This one gave lots of ideas for plain weave and very good for beginners. Loved that you had so many "keep 'em busy" projects.

I AM ENCOURAGED BY THE POSSIBILITY OF COMBINING THE SUPPLEMENTARY WARP WITH THE WOVEN WORDS. A FRESH LOOK FOR ME TO EXPERIMENT WITH. I WILL TRY ANOTHER ONE SOON. I WANT TO DO PEACE ON EARTH FOR THE
HOLIDAYS AND START A PEACE SERIES. I HAVE 16 YDS OF THIS ON THE
LOOM. THIS ONE IS PEACE, WORLD PEACE. I SCRAMBLED SOME OF THE
LETTERS AND REVERSED THE S SECOND PEACE.. IS SCRAMBLING LETTERS
PART OF THE THINGS THAT ARE OK?

Barbara Herbster

Bonnie says, "If it weaves up to look like the picture above---well, yes, it's Ok."

A Horoscope Weaving for my Granddaughter

2009-10-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Bonnie,
I finished my shawl the week after you left, but did not see my granddaughter until now. I am working with her to see if she wants me to cut it into sections and incorporate it into a quilt. I will send pictures of the final outcome.
I am working on my niece's name placemats now, and I am very happy with your suggestions. Thanks for the great class. I know I will use the name wraps often both as wraps and weavings and I look forlward to doing another horoscope with Bamboo yarn next.

Peace and joy,
Dale

Color Horoscope Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom

2009-10-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of me wearing my shawl! The workshop was excellent. I loved all the little extras we learned in addition to making the color horoscope shawl. As you can see, my shawl turned out beautifully (as everyone's does!). I found the joining of the panels to be very rewarding. I can't wait to make something else that's bigger than my loom! The uses for my rigid heddle loom have now been hugely expanded.

Speaking of my RH loom, I posted photo-based instructions on my blog so you can see how I warped it from front to back. If I had wound my warp with back to front in mind, I would have warped in a more traditional way, but this worked for me too. You can see the instructions at http://www.zinniz.com/, along with a post I made right after the workshop.

My friends all love the shawl too and are fascinated by the fact that it's based on my astrological chart. It's been quite the popular conversation topic when I wear it out.

Thanks again!

Carrie.

It Really is Never Too Late

2009-10-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

Hi Bonnie,

Remember me? I am a member of the Blue Ridge Spinner’s & Weavers Guild. I signed up for your horoscope weaving workshop back in 2007 but unable to attend. You sent me a packet with beads for a horoscope necklace and a horoscope threading draft. I ordered a Bambu 7 kit from Cotton Clouds. With the nudging and help of our guild president (Beth) I completed the shawl over the Labor Day weekend. I enjoyed every minute of the weaving! This is my first experience with Bambu. I really like the drape of the finished garment. Thank you.

Enjoy the pictures.

Terri

Hi Bonnie,

Well, I finally strung my horoscope necklace. I really enjoyed working on this project (both weaving the shawl and beading the necklace). It was so much fun. I chose to do my first grandsons horoscope for this project and I will wear both close to my heart.

Thank you.

Terri

From February '08

2009-09-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

My husband Rich and I heard Bonnie's "horoscope warp" interview with Syne Mitchell on WeaveCast, and were quite intrigued. Without me knowing, he got my birth information from my birth certificate and a conversation with my Mom, contacted Bonnie, and arranged to have my horoscope warp in time for a surprise Christmas gift. Ohio winters are very gray, and I was delighted to see all the wonderful colors in my own personal warp - colors I would never have thought to combine in one piece. The warp Bonnie sent was Bambu 7; I added a 10/2 cotton border on each side so I could have a wrap-around shawl. I wove the shawl with an 8/2 Tencel weft in plain weave, as Bonnie suggested, and plied the fringe. It was my first experience with Bambu yarn - yummy, especially after I washed and hard pressed the fabric.

The "blanket bandits" are Wolfie and Squirt. They are always willing to tolerate a little interruption to their nap time if they get loveys and treats.

Thanks, Bonnie.

Peggy Bowman
Beavercreek, Ohio

It's Never Too Late

2009-09-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Bonnie,

A Blanket for Cash

2009-09-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Bonnie

I have finished the horoscope blanket for my grandson, Cash. Attached are the pictures. I think it is one of the best things I have ever woven. I only listened to Beethoven’s 1^st and 6^th symphonies while I wove so it is full of relaxing and beautiful thoughts and vibes. The weaving part went quite quickly and the bamboo warp was the easiest I have ever wound on. My daughter is very pleased with it. I am pretty sure I will be ordering two more plans for my older grandsons, but first have to finish one for Cash’s brother, Drew.

Thanks so much for your help on this. It really was a pleasure to weave and even winding the warp and the threading the loom were not that bad. Like you said, baby steps, not too much at one time. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I won’t be starting Drew’s until maybe October. Need to do something a little faster.

Thanks again.

Robin Nixon

More From Gloria in Houston

2009-07-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

I recently received this email from Gloria and thought it should be included. (I am having trouble getting the size and font adjusted, so I hope this is readable), Bonnie

I had done some sweater recycling in the past - I had (purposely) felted sweaters for various projects and once or twice I unravelled sweaters to get yarn for knitting. But I had never thought of reclaiming cashmere yarn for weaving until I found out about you. In fact, I decided to give a program on thrift store recycling at my weaving and spinning guild. I am so glad you gave such a clear procedure and covered so many points in the May WeaveZine article; I reviewed your description and links before going. The presentation went very well. One long-time weaver commented that she had wanted to do this but didn't know how to deconstruct the sweater; since she didn't knit, she didn't know how to convert it into flat pieces for unraveling. Most of the knitters didn't know about the chain stitch edging, and I especially liked your tip about unraveling in the direction of the v's or "arrows". A few members brought sweaters with them and started the deconstruction process.

Actually, this program gave our guild the best publicity we've had in a while. We always send our program info to the neighborhood papers, and one saw the trendy recycling vibe and wrote up a nice piece on the guild. There was some unintended humor; for some reason it mentioned that I "regularly go to thrift stores!" Not true, but I do admit it's been fun hunting for cashmere! Gloria

Gloria in Houston

2009-06-11T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Bonnie -

Here's the pic of my horoscope shawl. Cotton warp, purple silk weft - although it is not nearly as purple in person! I admit to some trepidation while I was weaving it on the loom - I had many sets of complementary colors, and they were all bright, saturated colors. I thought it might look like a line-up of sports fans in their teams uniforms. But the finished product is great! Everything you said was oh so true - all sets of colors work; pick a weft you like and all will be well. I am very pleased with this!

By the way, I have 10 more cashmere sweaters for you! Do you want me to mail them to you or should I send them directly to Baltimore? Whatever you wish..,.

Gloria in

Houston

Sacramento Show & Tell

2009-06-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Good morning, Bonnie - Yes, we really all have been busy busy busy. Our Horoscope weaving experience was wonderful!

Tuesday was our last Guild meeting until fall and we traditionally have a "show and tell" at the meeting. So we all got together on the stage for a group showing of our beautiful Horoscope shawls/scarves. I gave my camera to a friend and she took lots of photos!!! Here is the one that shows the weavings very well for all of us.

Thank you again for a fantastic workshop and weaving experience. We hope to see you back in Sacramento soon. Carol

Carol's Second Horoscope Weaving

2009-06-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hi Bonnie - Once again, I can't thank you enough for such a fantastic workshop. It was enlightening, inspiring and so much fun!! This scarf is my second Horoscope weaving and there will be many more. The piece I did in the workshop is hanging from a knarled branch on a wall in my studio. This scarf was woven with 8/2 tencel sett at 27 epi, with a fine black silk yarn used as weft. It is extremely soft and drapey. I will be weaving my daughter's Horoscope scarf from the same fibers and colors. Then I will do a scarf for my son-in-law in neutral colors, probably using 10/2 perle cotton.

Thank you again for being such a fun teacher. We all hope to see you back in Sacramento soon. Carol Graves

The First Color Horoscope Rigid Heddler

2009-06-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be the first Color Horoscope Rigid Heddler! I first learned about your kits when I was listening to Syne Mitchell’s Weavecast as a new weaver in November (yep, that’s just this past November). I jumped in with both feet and had a ball. Anyone with a rigid heddle loom can do one of your shawls. While I have the advantage of a 32” wide loom, anyone who isn’t afraid of seaming could do the shawl on a narrower loom and then piece it together. While weaving, I learned a great deal about myself…I realized this was the first craft that I have to remain monogamous to a project, and I was okay with that. I loved the interplay of the colors, although I initially felt they were a bit too ‘Caribbean’ for me. And I planned future projects…many, many future projects based on this one warp design. All in all, it took me about 2 months of weaving to finish, as I had a full-time job to work around (and unfortunately a bout of pneumonia, as well). In fact. My little write up has taken longer than the weaving due, in combination, to my antipathy for technology and the later irretrievable crash of my computer.

Karen Meuler

My shawl was woven on an Ashford 32" RH using a 12 dent heddle. I used 5/2 cotton in the warp and 20/2 doubled for the weft.

Karen From Sacramento

2009-05-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

I finished the shawl on my birthday March 19Th. I lit a candle and reflected upon the wonderful workshop. I was surprised at what happened with the weft that I used. I used a black&white rayon that had white flicks that where a bit thicker randomly spaced in the yarn. As I wove and changed to the next bobbin in some areas shapes and circles started to show up in the fabric. I was not able to keep "control" over the shapes as I just wound a bobbin and wove. I had so much fun that I have sent in my registration for the Golden Gate Fiber Institute in July.

Susan from Sacramento

2009-05-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

After your workshop, I came home and worked in a fury to complete the scarf. I had not intended to finish weaving until after the SoCal experience, BUT the scarf was "sizzling" on my loom!!!! I could not leave it alone! So the weaving is done with the fringing process started. I decided to put little faceted clear seed beads here and there--it looks like the stars. The whole experience was very cathartic. I will send a pic when I have completed it. Thank you so much for your insight and wisdom, I couldn't have asked for more.

"Inspired by Bonnie"

Dancing before me

A universe of colors

Thread by thread by thread.

Thanks for everything!

Susan von Sosten

With gratitude and a hug!

Welcome

2009-05-04T23:21:00.000-07:00

I had one of those ideas that come in the form of a dream. Why not set up a second blog "Inspired by Bonnie"?

So welcome!

This colorful gallery is dedicated to the celebration of color and deep appreciation for handwoven cloth.

If you have ever read an article by me, attended a lecture, taken a workshop or bought a kit, I invite you to send me a jpg picture or two and a little paragraph about your process.