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| my friend, Korinne, with my newly finished crocheted blanket |
It's so satisfying to finish a project, especially one that has taken nearly two years! I started crocheting this zigzag blanket to use up my nice yarn remnants. I must be horrible at estimating yardage because I ran out of yarn early on in the process. So, some of you may remember that I swapped art for yarn on my blog awhile back. I wanted to primarily use remnants or reclaimed yarn for this blanket, but I eventually had to purchase new yarn ($$!).
Although this project took much longer than expected, I am thrilled with how it turned out. It's actually quite dense, and the family has already put it to good use on some of the chilly nights we've had in Portland.
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| wood and shells from the Oregon coast |
My husband was in Rwanda for the first part of March. When he returned home, we broke away from city life for a day and headed to a remote spot on the Oregon coast. We had the beach to ourselves, and it felt like time stood still as we leisurely looked for beautiful shells and driftwood in the sand. The weather at the Oregon coast can be hit or miss, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky!
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| we stopped at the Wilson River on our way home |
And when your husband's away, that's a good time to make big purchases! I bought this vintage Allen floor loom on craigslist while my husband was in an airplane and unreachable. . . um, it's not like I planned it this way (
wink, wink). I did do a bit of research beforehand and talked with an expert at a weaving studio in town. These folding looms were made in the 40's and 50's, just miles from my house. Although it had three owners (mother to daughter to friend), apparently this particular loom had only been used once!
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| My sweet husband helped me set up the loom within hours of getting back from Africa. |
I'm excited to start weaving larger wall hangings. The first items I pulled off the loom were these small sample pieces:
I liked how they turned out, so I tied them to driftwood and added them to
my online shop. I recently updated my shop with new weavings, including this piece handwoven on the lap loom:
I was inspired to create this piece after finding a vintage spool of purple yarn at an antique store in rural Oregon. If you look closely, there are four turquoise dots in the creek design. For additional information about the weavings shown above, click
here.
5 comments:
LOVIN the woven pieces!
Cathy, I just wanted to let you know that you are my absolute favorite artist! Your style is amazing. Keep it up!
Sue and Sara, thanks so much!
That blanket is stunning and exactly the kind of thing I would love to make. I have been wanting to crochet a blanket but haven't found a pattern that excites me. It would be my first project crocheting. I do basic knitting but want to dive into crochet too.
Was there a pattern you followed (hope that isn't a dumb question but I am a newbie to crochet). I love that you tried to use as much repurposed yarn as possible. Anything I make I try to reuse, to think sustainable because sustainable is beautiful, and I would love to do the same. If you have any suggestions for getting started on such a blanket I'd love to hear. I'll check out Pinterest and otherwise for how to do zigzag crochet.
Aubrey, I got the pattern out of a vintage book from the library. Sadly, I don't remember the title. There are patterns available online that are similar if you google zigzag or chevron blanket crochet pattern. Have fun with your new project!
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