Becoming embers...

I know the poem is about death, but it's resonating with me now as it's also about endings.

This summer I was on fire.  Not literally, but I was on fire as far as being productive with my weaving.  Alas, I've returned to work and now I feel like the loom is the campfire by the end of the night.

This is when I need to find a new balance.  You see, I used to weave full time before becoming a full time teacher.  When I was weaving full time, I was a TOC/Substitute Teacher and worked casual.  That meant the weaving could take my time.  I also was not a mom to two boys then either.  Now, I have this pull to weave and relax, but there are mom jobs and work responsibilities that pull me also.  Burning embers, I want to make s'mores!  But I might need to let the fire die out and relight it in a few weeks for best effect. 


All that being said, the warp I took off in June (and finally did all the finishing for) was aptly named "Sunset" as it was a combination of three wonderful sunset colors: raspberry, scarlet, and apricot.  Sunset is another metaphor for my summer of productivity.  The new day will dawn, yet we're not sure what it yet holds.

My sunset warp yielded two scarves, a table runner and many trivets.  I've shown images from this warp before, but not in detail.  Today, I'm sharing the scarves.  I'm determined to keep this as my balance project this school year, and I'm also committed to keeping up with the blog.  So stay tuned, and in the meantime, here are some yummy scarves to look at.

They are super long with fringe.  One is very textural as I used a wonderful slubby yarn (meaning irregular spun) as the weft.  That one is heavier in weight, and has a good side and wrong side to the fabric.  That was a new design idea that I tried out.  It is a wash gentle and hang to dry scarf, as I'm not sure of the material contents in the slub yarn.  But boy is it nice.

 scarf, sunset colors (cotton and slub) 

The other scarf used a ball of yarn that's been in my stash since I mailed it home from China in 2004!  I needed the right project to use it in, and this warp was the right one.  The color is a perfect match for the red cotton in the warp.  The eyelash texture of the yarn gives it a real soft handle.  The part I was most impressed with, was the acrylic.  Generally, I don't weave with acrylic yarn, but this one had the feel of silk and wool blended.  It turned out really lovely and washes really well (like wash and dry in the dryer if you like!)

scarf, sunset. (cotton and acrylic eyelash)