weaving

WEAVING DISH CLOTHS

| Valerie Baber Designs

I recently began weaving dish towels and dish cloths and I must say the are very enjoyable to weave. Here are 3 of my most recent dish cloths in ivory, gray, blue and green combinations. I used 2 different weights of cotton on these dish cloths this time to see what would happen. On the warp I used a 8/2 cotton and on the weft I used a 4/2 cotton. This made a nice lighter weight dish cloth perfect for spring. While warping the project I chose to do random stripes on part of the dish cloths and plain on the remainder. Ivory was used on the warp with the stripes in a green. On each dish cloth I used a different colour on the weft with one in gray, one in blue and one in green. The colours go nice together and form a wonderful set of dish cloths that match yet are each different.

Weaving dish cloths is very relaxing and enjoyable. They are nice little projects perfect for gifts or dress up your kitchen with your own hand woven dish towels. I plan on making some hounds tooth dish cloths next over the holidays. Plans for my spring towels for the kitchen have been playing in my mind too. I am thinking some pastel and lighter colours like these dish cloths would be great for spring. I also just bought a bigger rigid heddle loom that I will start using. I am very excited as it is a 24″ loom and will make wonderful hand towels, scarves and shawls.

If you haven’t tried weaving before put it on your to do list for this coming year. Rigid Heddle looms are a great loom to start on. Have a wonderful day today and make something creative. Be inspired by your surroundings and enjoy creating!

Warm your winter with a beautiful scarf or make your own with various crochet patterns from Valerie Baber Designs. Scarves you can wear for years to come!

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs so you can make your own are available at: 

Etsy

LoveCrafts

Ravelry

YARN is available on my Etsy store: Etsy

HANDMADE SCARVES and other items:  Etsy

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items.

Happy crocheting and have a fibertastic day!

WEAVING SOME CHRISTMAS DISH CLOTHS

| Valerie Baber Designs

I love making things and Christmas time especially with the traditional colours of Christmas in green and red. This year I wanted to try my hand at weaving some Christmas Dish Cloths to add a touch of Christmas cheer to the kitchen. I wanted to add some stripes of red and deep green to go with my other traditional Christmas decorations around the room. To keep it lighter I chose an ivory and a light teal on the dish cloths to compliment the design. On the warp I chose to randomly add stripes of ivory and the teal however I felt to make is a carefree design. I love designing on a whim without a pattern or goal just to see what I come up with. The creative freedom is very inspiring. On the weft I used teal with stripes of red and dark green.

I love how they turned out and feel I can use them after Christmas as well. Adding just a small amount of red and dark green add a little touch of Christmas, but not too much that you can only use them at that time of year. I have some red accents in my kitchen which will make this design a keeper for the rest of the year. Weaving these dish cloths was very enjoyable on my rigid heddle loom. I think weaving house linens and towels is my new passion. If you haven’t tried weaving I highly suggest you give it a try. It is very enjoyable.

Off to finish my first set of dish towel that I have been working on with the Friendship Factor Project with a great friend of mine Lisa. Have a wonderful day and create something new today.

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy

LoveCrafts

Ravelry

YARN is available on my Etsy store: Etsy

HANDMADE SCARVES and other items:  Etsy

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items.

Happy crocheting and have a fibertastic day!

Friendship Factor Project – Clasped weaving.

| Valerie Baber Designs

Friendship Factor scarf project continues with the “Peaks and Valleys” hand woven scarf by Anu Bhatia recently posted in the Little Looms Spring edition from Handwoven Magazine www.handwovenmagazine.com. The design is inspired by the Colorado foothills which was very interesting since Lisa lives in Colorado which made the choice to make this scarf next a perfect fit. Learning new weaving skills is of course one of our goals in the Friendship Factor project. In this adventure we learned how to weave clasped yarns both on the warp and the weft. See our adventures below.

Valerie:

The Peaks and Valleys scarf is a beautiful rendition of the mountains with the peaks and valleys of colour in the clasped weaving on both the warp and the weft. I love how the scarf turned out overall. I chose to use a fingerling/sock weight yarn for my scarf as I did not have lace weight available in my stash at the time. Malabrigo sock yarn in the Polar Morning and the Kris colour ways were my chosen colours. I chose these colours for the gray of the mountain stone colours and the greens of the trees and foliage on the mountains. I would suggest using the lace weight yarn if possible as you won’t have to make changes to the pattern as I did along the way. Learning how to weave clasped weaving on both the warp and the weft was really interesting. The pattern gives you freedom to place the warp clasped sections where you want as well as how many peak you want to make on the weft in between the stripes. Though I had some issues with the first yarn I tried using (cotton lace weight broke when I was pulling threads through the loops) using a merino wool fixed that issue. My scarf looks different than the original photos of the pattern mainly as I used sock weight yarn instead of lace weight. The pattern was well written and very enjoyable to make. The mountain inspiration is beautifully attained and I am looking forward to wearing this new scarf.

Lisa:

This scarf was an experiment from start to finish. With the onset of summer and much warmer weather, I wanted to try a different fiber than I am used to using so I chose bamboo.

This was an interesting fiber to work with. I liked the softness and the shine, but it was slippery and hard to get a good tension on. It was also a challenge to get the colors I wanted because it was selling quickly. Originally, I was going to go with brown and beige, but I waited too long to get the beige so I went with red. Sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish colors when you buy yarn on the internet, so that is why the contrast in the colors isn’t strong

As you can see, the peaks and valleys came through on the warp but completely washed out in the weft after I took it off the loom. I am not sure why this happened unless it is because of the two colors lacking contrast.

My scarf was definitely a learning experience. It did not turn out like I wanted but it still looks alright. No one will notice anything wrong when I wear it around my neck unless I tell them.

We hope you enjoyed viewing our recent Friendship Factor project. Our next project will be a crochet summer project as we wanted something we could make while being outside enjoying the warm weather. See you soon and have an amazing summer.

Various crochet patterns, YARN, ready to wear scarves by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber and Lovecrafts: LoveCrafts (search Valerie Baber Designs)

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items.

Happy crocheting and have a fibertastic day

Friendship Factor Scarf – Expressive Weaving

| Valerie Baber Designs

Friendship is a wonderful adventure full of interesting and unique moments that are treasured for a lifetime. The Friendship Factor adventure is continuing with a great friend of mine Lisa (pen and hook). Lisa is the one who inspired me to try weaving and I have to say I am so very thankful. I had no idea I could enjoy working with yarn even more than I had been with crochet and previously knitting. Weaving has been such a joy to learn. I am truly enjoying my weaving adventure as it seems learning new things about weaving is never ending. I love learning new ways to use yarn colour in my designs and look forward to more weaving adventures with Lisa.

For this Friendship Factor Adventure Lisa and I took a course from Handwoven Magazine called Expressive Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom (longthreadmedia.com). We highly recommend this course as a must on your to do list for weaving. The course was really well done and the teacher was very informative and easy to follow. I will warn you be ready to free yourself from the box as this course on Expressive Weaving is very artistic in the teaching and uses many different techniques throughout the course. The skills learned from this course can definitely enhance your weaving techniques and style.

Lisa’s Project:

For our expressive weaving project, trees came to mind so I borrowed my theme from Psalm 1 and made a wall hanging.   

“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper…” (Psalm 1: 1-3, NRSV).

I also thought of the Tree of Life, which in many world religions symbolizes personal strength and growth. The symbolism means many things, but I love the idea of a tree representing personal strength and growth. Trees are a lot like humans. They have networks and communicate with each other. They react when other trees within their networks are chopped down or suffer from disease. For me, these similarities show a common Creator. 

It was fun making a tapestry on a rigid heddle loom and a challenge to remember which shed I was in since I was working in different areas before advancing the fabric. The best part was forming loops to make a very lush tree.  Wouldn’t it be fun to try this method to make a pillow? Adding the little clouds from snips of an art yarn in my stash was a delight because it worked so well.  It was freeing to go through my yarn with the intent of crafting a picture rather than a scarf or other item and envisioning the fibers in a different way. The hardest part was attaching the tapestry to a curved stick that I found in my yard – one that I was holding onto for just the right project.   

It was freeing to go through my yarn with the intent of crafting a picture rather than a scarf or other item and envisioning the fibers in a different way. The yarn I used came from what I had in my stash. Most of it was wool, with the exception on one nylon yarn that became part of the river bank. The blue sky was a mix of wool and acrylic. I used four handspun yarns. The deep brown fertile soil under the tree was leftovers from a Churro wool skein that I had spun for the Shave ‘Em 2 Save ‘Em project. The green grass and the clouds were handspun yarns for which I had traded.  The ripples in the water were made with my own core spun yarn using pre-dyed wool locks. 

You don’t have to use art yarn or feel like you should be a spinner to complete a project like this. Esther Rodgers has plenty of ideas to make regular yarn look fabulous.  All that is required is a little imagination and a willingness to work outside the box. This was a great project. I’m sure that I will use the information I learned from the video more than once.  

Valerie’s Project:

My favourite place to visit and spend time at is the beach in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I dream of living there again one day. I spent 2 wonderful years there in my younger days and lived near the water and beach in Toronto, Ontario, Canada area for 17 years. Being by the ocean or lake on the beach hearing the waves gently crash on the shore, the wonderful smells of the ocean, sparkling sand in your feet, beautiful drift wood on the beach, pebbles, shells and the occasional sea glass along the waters edge are where I feel most at peace. I love just sitting by the water enjoying the moments of pure calm and being reenergized at the same time. I chose to weave these special moments into my scarf to remind myself of peaceful moments and special times together with my family and friends using some of the techniques I learned with the online course Expressive Weaving.

The Water’s Edge Scarf is woven with Malabrigo Arroys (DK/sport weight) merino wool yarn (malabrigoyarn.com) on the base of the scarf in the Sand Bank colour which was the perfect colour selection for sand even in the name. I used a wonderful gold colour with sequins from Art Yarns (Artyarns) to add stripes of sparkling sand to the scarf alternating with a beautiful mohair yarn from Rowan that adds more texture like sand does on the shore. The gold and sequin yarn is a beautiful silk yarn that I chose to crochet across the scarf a technique I learned in the Expressive Weaving course and had to add to my design to bring my love of crochet together with my new weaving adventures. Another technique I learned was adding fringe to the edges of the scarf by leaving a bit of yarn on each side of the weft row you are doing. You can either cut the fringe so it is single strands of yarn or keep it looped as I did in most cases for a wonderful added feature to the scarf. I used another beautiful yarn from SweetGeorgia Yarns called CashSilk Lace (SweetGeorgia Yarns) for the fringe sections of the sand on the sides. The CashSilk Lace yarn is wonderfully soft and has a different texture than the other yarns I used for the sand. For the sand I wanted to use a variety of yarns to give the effect of the rippling sand along the shore. One of my favourite parts of the Water’s Edge scarf is the handspun yarn I added throughout the design. This beautiful yarn was a custom order by myself years ago from a wonderful spinner in Seattle, Washington, USA which is perfectly fitted for this scarf since she lives near the beach not far from Vancouver, Canada where my scarf is inspired from. I wanted her to spin some yarn that had a beach essence and she definitely achieved it with the beautiful browns to mimic the logs that are often seen along the beach on the west coast of Canada and the USA. The green/gray hand spun is reminiscent of wonderful moments on the beach picking sea glass, pebbles and shells with my kids, sometimes for hours. The yarn perfect achieves the sea glass essence. I used a looping technique also learned the Expressive Weaving course for the sea glass and drift wood and logs along the beach.

The Water’s Edge Scarf was such a joy to weave using various technique I recently learned. My favourite technique would have to be the crochet as it blended my favourite way to use fibre with my newest adventure weaving. The scarf is full of texture and beautiful exquisite yarns I had saved for years waiting for the perfect project to enhance and make something I love. Being by the ocean, lake or other body of water is my favourite place to be. I have truly enjoyed this Expressive Weaving course with Lisa as both have inspired me to step out of the box and see what wonderful moments and things are there to be enjoyed. I absolutely love the wall hanging Lisa made and the inspiration and meaning behind the design. Her attention to detail and colours were perfectly chosen with the loopy leaves on the tree, fluffy clouds, blades of grass and the colours on the horizon. Enjoying moments together with family and friends makes these moments and memories even better.

We hope you enjoy a look at our Friendship Factor journey in weaving. Hope to see you soon on our next adventure. I am looking forward to the next Friendship Factor Project and see where it takes us on our weaving adventure.

Various crochet pattern, yarn and ready to wear scarves, shawls, hand warmers and more by Valerie Baber Designs are available on my Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com 

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber and Lovecrafts: LoveCrafts (search Valerie Baber Designs)

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items. 

Have a fibertastic day!

SAVE 10% – PARTY OF FIVE mini skeins yarn in stock!

| Valerie Baber Designs

Available on my Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com

BACK IN STOCK! Party of Five mini skeins yarn by Sweetgeorgia yarns in soft merino wool mini skein set of gradient colours and neutrals. Each Party of Five mini skein is a 3 ply sock yarn weight merino wool with a touch of nylon for durability. Each Tough Love Sock fingering weight set contains five 105-yard mini-skeins for a total of 525 yards. Tough Love Sock yarn: Spun from 80% superwash and super soft merino and 20% nylon, this 3-ply yarn. Suggested gauge US 0-1 (2-2.25mm) | 8 sts/1″. The mini skeins are perfect for knitting, crochet, weaving and other crafts adding a gradient colour way or a special touch of colour. Other colours are available on my Etsy store.

Great for many crochet and knitting patterns in my listings. If you need other colours not shown let me know and I can order the colour set for you. Various Valerie Baber Designs crochet patterns are available on my Etsy store that work perfectly with these mini skein sets.

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber and Lovecrafts: LoveCrafts

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items. 

Have a fibertastic day!

Friendship Factor Adventure #3 – Terrific Tartan Scarf

| Valerie Baber Designs

The friendship factor adventure continues with a terrific Golden Plum Tartan scarf by Paula Veleta shown below. This beautiful scarf design is perfect for any wardrobe and a wonderful pattern to weave. Lisa and I spent some time discussing what we wanted to try next and we both felt weaving plaid or tartan was the next journey we wanted to explore. I love the Golden Plum Tartan pattern that Lisa found on WEBS you can link to the pattern here: Valley Yarns #99 Golden Plum Tartan PDF at WEBS | Yarn.com There is also a yarn kit you can purchase with the colours in the photo to make your yarn choice easy. The traditional tartan pattern was mixed up with a beautiful technique to make a lovely single strand stripe in the pattern instead of a thicker stripe normally seen. This give a modern touch to the design that we really enjoyed trying out. I hope they don’t mind me posting a photo of the pattern below as I promote how great this pattern really is.

Our thoughts and journey of the pattern:

Valerie:

Currently I am in love with plaid and tartan designs! I couldn’t wait to try the Golden Plum Tartan pattern. In order to use yarn from my stash I chose a fingerling weight yarn instead of the DK weight it was patterned in. This works as I wanted a slightly narrower scarf to wear. At the end of the scarf I added another set of the pattern to make it the length I wanted to achieve and compensate for the difference in yarn weights. It worked out great.

Being a designer I can’t help but change things from the inspiration of the original design. I love to experiment and see what can happen when I change this or that. Of course there were a few changes based on a couple of mistakes I made. I warped it backwards! Yes I really did. LOL. Usually I warp (rigid heddle loom) my shorter length scarves on my kitchen island, but this time I warped it in my studio forgetting that I warp on the right side of my loom in my kitchen and on the left side in my studio. Of course it doesn’t matter which side you warp it on with plain weaving, but when working a pattern like this you must warp it on the right side of your loom since the pattern is working from the right. Otherwise your tartan pattern turns out on the opposite side as you may have noticed in the photos. Because of this I also made another small mistake, you likely can’t see it. My advice is make sure you warp from the right side of your loom, unless you want it the other way.

For the yarn I used Tough Love Sock yarn from SweetGeorgia Yarns www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com I used a pink, burgundy, Ivory and a pale purple. The purple didn’t show up as well as I thought it would, but I love the subtle effect it gives. I would use a darker colour for this section as this is where the unique warping is done and on my scarf that effect is too light to see from a distance.

The Golden Plum Tartan scarf was a well written pattern and a wonderful weaving experience. The colour combinations that you could achieve with this designs would be great for both men and woman. Definitely a keeper on my list of “I need to make this one again”. Weaving with Lisa is always a great time while we choose our next project, choosing yarns, and weaving the item. We encourage each other to look outside the box and try new things that we didn’t think we could. Sharing each others goals and interesting weaving techniques we find on the online as we work together to achieve our weaving goals and grow our friendship.

Lisa:

For my tartan scarf, I chose browns and purples with green accent. The brown yarns and the purple yarn are Knit Picks City Tweed, a mixture of merino wool, alpaca and Donegal tweed. The green yarn is a silk and wool blend that I found in a yarn shop in Jackson, Wyoming on a trip to Yellowstone. All of the yarns were nice to use and the wool from Knit Picks bloomed nicely after a bath. The yarn is DK weight so this scarf will be warmer than our previous scarves. 

At first, I wanted to make the scarf to match my heavy jacket, but I did not have burgundy yarn in my stash so purple was my second choice. Browns are always a winner with me, but the dark brown I chose was a little close in value to the purple, so together the colors make more of a subtle difference rather than the stark change that one would expect in a plaid. The look suits me, however, since I don’t wear a lot of “loud” clothing. 

The pattern, which came from WEBS, was easy to understand and had a warping sequence that neither Valerie nor I had seen before – threading holes with a different color than the corresponding slot. This created thin stripes in the warp. Once warping was completed, it only took less than a week of evenings to weave this scarf, so it would make a nice last-minute gift to weave for someone if you are in a hurry. Just allow yourself time to wash your scarf and to twist the tassels.  

Weaving is the perfect metaphor for friendship! Different fibers and colors come together to make a pleasing design, just like different people in all shapes and sizes with different personalities come together to make the world a more beautiful place. The interaction of the warp and weft make an enduring strong cloth that provides warmth and protection against the cruel elements. A friendship with good attributes and character provides a place for friends to interact in an unconditionally accepting environment that serves as a buffer against life’s cruelties. 

Although we live far apart, I think Valerie and I have a woven cloth kind of friendship. I am having a great time learning from her in this process as we exchange ideas, discuss patterns and talk. Valerie is an awesome crochet designer and this trait naturally spills over into her weaving. She’s not afraid to do her own thing and that gives me courage to experiment more. I still continue to be amazed by how we can meet people through the Internet that we would not have known otherwise. Who would have thought that when I started selling crochet on Etsy in 2011 that I would be weaving with a crochet designer from Canada in 2021?  

Start your own Friendship Factor Adventure today with your friends, family and others you care about. Your adventure could be weaving, knitting, crocheting, sewing, painting, scrapbooking or anything you have a desired to learn. You never know where it will take you. As Lisa said is is hard to believe it has been so many years when we first met on Etsy helping to promote each others work. Now we are great friends who are helping each other along the weaving and crocheting path. Thanks Lisa for another enjoyable Friendship Factor Adventure. Looking forward to our next adventure with Expressive Weaving where we take a big step out of the box and try our hands at various unique techniques.

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items. 

Have a fibertastic day!

Friendship Factor Scarf – Twisting the Night Away!

| Valerie Baber Designs

The Friendship Factor Scarf #2 – “Twisting the Night Away” is a continuing journey of weaving across the miles with a wonderful friend of mine, Lisa. We enjoyed weaving together so much (though we both live in different Countries) we decided to continue the Friendship Factor adventure. You can view the first Friendship Factor scarf here: Weaving a Friendship together – Friendship Factor Scarf #1 – Valerie Baber Designs

To begin the Friendship Factor “Twisting the Night Away” scarf Lisa and I found a pattern in our Little Looms Holiday 2020 issue Little Looms Holiday 2020 – Long Thread Media called Sangria Sunset by Judy Pagels. This unique pattern caught our attention with the interesting fringe all around one edge of the scarf. Leaving fringe on one side of the scarf while weaving is a great way to add multiple stripes without weaving in all those ends. Instead you use a floating selvedge technique to wrap the stripe yarns around while weaving the scarf. This is how the fringe formed during weaving. There is flexibility on how much fringe you would like by changing how many stripes you want to make on the design. Once you have finished the scarf you twist the fringe to finish.

Friendship is a precious thing we can treasure throughout our lives. Spend some time weaving your friendships together with special moments of time or literally weaving together. Join the adventure weaving, painting, crocheting, knitting, other crafts and artistic mediums with your friends, family or others you know. We can be inspired by the people around us everyday. Use that inspiration and help one another to achieve new goals.

Our weaving journeys of the Twisting the Night Away scarf are below: (I love this title Lisa came up with as you spend a good amount of time twisting your fringe making it the perfect title for this scarf)

Lisa:

Sangria Scarf with lots of fringe and stripes.

For my scarf, I chose yarn from my stash. My yarns were Merino and Superwash wool from Knit Picks. Not all of these yarns are available today, but Knit Picks has nice substitutes. For the dominant color red, I used Shadow, which was a fingering yarn at the time of purchase. For my coral tassels I used Shadow Lace and for the variegated colors I used Vermont Chroma Lace. Since Chroma Lace has long colorways, I used one color until I wanted a change. Then I cut that color off my shuttle and moved to the next color. It’s may be hard to see but the stripes are yellow, orange, pink, green and gray.
I chose these colors for something different. Normally, my first choice is any shade of blue with purple coming in second and brown third. It can be difficult for me to use other colors when I am making something for myself but I am pleased with the results.

Using lightweight yarns for a scarf was a new adventure and one that I will repeat many times, I am sure. The lightweight wool is soft, warm, and very light. This makes a lovely hand. When weaving, using the floating selvedge kept my fringes neat and mostly the same length. It also helped keep the fringes tidy after pulling the scarf off the loom – I just pulled the string through when it was time to twist a group of tassels. Having the tassels exactly the same length isn’t necessary in this scarf since it drapes over you a couple of times. In fact, it’s more fun to have unexpected elements, like varying lengths in tassels, in the finished cloth.

There are a lot of interesting options in making this scarf. You could choose not to sew the ends together like Valerie did for more wrapping options. Using more colors in the warp for a plaid effect is another possibility. Another fun and useful option, would be to form a secret pocket if you sew the ends together. Next time, I may use a variegated yarn for the tassels and then perhaps space the tassels a little further apart. There are more than 200 tassels on this scarf so when you finish it, count on “twisting the night away” for a few evenings.

Overall, it was a great project and a pleasure to weave. I love working on something that gives me more ideas while I’m making it. Instagram: Lisa Gossman-Steeves (@lisagossmansteeves)

Valerie:

Lisa and I both did the scarf differently as you can see by the photos. I wanted to try a few ideas out to see what would happen when I changed the width and weight of yarn on the fringed scarf. On the second scarf without all of the fringe I only added it to the two ends of the scarf and used yarn that made a plaid/tartan effect without all the work. Being a designer I can’t help but see other things I can do with a design or pattern. You will often see me change things from what the pattern suggests. I love to see what happens when I do this. Sometimes it is a success and sometimes it is not. The joy is in trying even if it doesn’t turn out.

Sangria scarf with fringe and gradient yarn.

On the Fringe scarf I made it wider with a sock weight yarn on both the warp and the weft though the pattern asks for lace yarn on the weft. We have cold winters here and I wanted to make the scarf wider and warmer. There are lots of stripes and fringe including at each end. The fringe at the ends of the scarf is omitted on the pattern. I decided not to use the floating selvedge for this scarf to see if I needed it. I think the floating selvedge would keep things neater and more organized, but you can weave it without if you choose. I used a combination of a sock blank available at Sweetgeorgia Yarns called Andromeda that goes from a magenta pink, purple to blue as the main colour on the weft with added stripes of blues and purples. The overall effect of the sock blank gives the scarf a wonderful gradient look.

Sangria Scarf with plaid effect and minimal fringe scarf.

The second scarf without all the fringe is not as wide and more like the pattern width. On this scarf I used various yarns to make the plaid effect with hand painted yarns in a sock weight yarn from www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com called Tough Love Sock yarn. I use this yarn a lot as the quality is excellent and the colour ways are amazing. For the plaid effect I used the hand painted Grouse colour way on the warp and on the weft I used Evening, Black Plum, Ultraviolet Purple, Grouse, Mermaid and some bits from my stash alternating these colours in stripes of various sizes throughout the scarf. The combination of these yarns make this wonderful plaid effect without all of the work. The plaid effect scarf is not sewn together as the pattern shows. On this scarf I wanted to have the option of wearing it differently and in various ways.

I love seeing what Lisa did with the scarf which is more like the original pattern. It is so interesting to see to see how using different yarns can really change the look of a scarf. The pattern calls for a lace weight yarn on the weft like Lisa used which gives a beautiful elegant drape to the scarf. The more fringe or stripes you add the more “twisting the night away” you will need.

I found the pattern wonderful to weave! This design is beautiful and a great addition to any wardrobe. You can design to suit your tastes by changing a few things like Lisa and I did. The great thing about this pattern is you get to decide how much fringe you want. Imagine the scarf with unique hand spun stripes and fringe or a glittery yarn for a sparkle essence when you need one. This pattern is well written and a wonderful pattern to make. I am sure I will be making it again soon.

We hope you are inspired to try your hand at weaving and perhaps spending time together or abroad weaving with others you know. We have begun our third Friendship Factor Scarf and look forward to another adventure in weaving our friendship together! Happy Weaving!

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items. 

Have a fibertastic day!

Playing with plaid – weaving a scarf for my husband

| Valerie Baber Designs

Playing with Plaid while I was weaving a scarf for my husband. A personal request from my husband who wanted a scarf in his favourite colour from Sweetgeorgia Yarns Chili Chocolate (this colour is no longer available but there is a similar one). I decided to do a plaid version as if feel it is a nice design for a man but instead of weaving the plaid throughout the scarf I chose to only weave it at the bottoms and leave the middle with a more subtle strip pattern due to the warping. The colours in the stripes are a brown and a beige to give a more neutral effect to the design. The base colour yarn is a hand painted yarn and adds lots of splashes of subtle colour changes throughout the design. I am currently weaving another “plaid” style pattern where the yarn does most of the work because of how it is dyed. I will show pictures of this scarf at a later date.

Weaving with a plaid design is very enjoyable as it is interesting and keeps you focused while weaving. My next goal is to try a much bigger scarf that has a deconstructed plaid essence. The pattern I found was in my Handwoven (handwovenmagazine.com). That weaving adventure is for another day!

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items. 

Have a fibertastic day!

Mountain Inspired Mug Rugs

| Valerie Baber Designs

Mountain mug rugs are inspired by the beautiful colours of the mountains, trees, and lakes and rivers. This set was made for a family who loves hiking in the mountains surrounded by beautiful foliage and trees of green. They spend time fishing in the rivers and lakes as they enjoy the view around them of the beautiful blue waters. Memories of the wonderful moments are woven into the colours of the Mountain Mug Rugs.

For this set I used a wonderful colour way from Sweetgeorgia Yarns www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com called Grouse. This colour is actually inspired by Grouse Mountain in the Vancouver area and was the perfect choice for the greens, browns and has a touch of blue too. For the lakes I used various colours of blues I had in my stash. A bit of gray is add in one for the mountains and on the hem stitch.

The pattern is simply 2 picks of one colour and 2 picks of the other colour. The length is about 5” long and the width is about 5”.

Mug Rugs are a wonderful way to personalize a gift for those you care about. They are also a great way to try a new pattern, stitch or colour way since they are small. I am off to try weaving something else on my next Mug Rug.

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items. 

Have a fibertastic day!