More From Gloria in Houston

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!