Upon graduating from college, I could see that I had gone to school and taken all of the courses I HAD to in order to graduate, but had not taken ONE class just for fun! So in the 1970s, I attended an adult education class in weaving.  I learned the basics and then kept taking courses, kept experimenting, kept trying to make art out of something which I knew was really just a hobby.  But I was enjoying it all so much.

I learned to spin various wools, including sheep, of course, goat, camel, alpaca, llama, cotton, and probably a few others.  I learned to use the drop spindle, the Navajo spindle and a spinning wheel.  I learned to dye to yarns.  I even had a sheep-shearing experience.  I wanted to learn the whole process.

I wove on what we call off-loom although the hoop or the frame is the loom, but it was making an individual loom.  Later on, I actually made a loom similar to a Navajo loom where I made this first large one (below).  It is actually four and a half feet by five and a half feet, all handspun yarns.  I made one larger than this and it was a commissioned piece.  Cool!

I often do not have a plan when I start.  I just go with the flow and have fun!

I made up my own design using a crochet hook and needles for this light colored one with thin yarns.

The colored one is geometric using cotton yarns.

Blues and grays make up this very geometric and symmetrical circle of wool yarns.

A woven wool wheel with a center was not easy, keeping the center wheel in its balanced place, but I did it and have had this one many years.

This one below is woven of handspun wool in the grays and tonal pinks, and store-bought yarns in the black, pink, and purple.  It was fun to make geometry take on new avenues as I went.

And these two on this collage are unique.  I was daydreaming one day and wanted to try a very thin and strong thread and wrap the warp completely around the frame.  I began weaving the design on the front and realized that I could make it three-dimensional by weaving on both the front and back warps.  The darker one is of a snowy day in the forest and the lighter is a seascape.

God gave me creativity and this is one avenue that I found for His beauty and fun to flow from me.  I have done this since the mid 1970s, although am not doing it now for physical reasons, but still love the art.  I appreciate others for the doing.

I have some yarns that one day I may make into a basket.  I have done that before as well as quilting, crocheting and knitting.  God will keep His creation creating, I am sure.

Father, my Creator, thank You for gifting me with talents that flow and are fun.  Thank You for allowing me to create pieces that have been enjoyed by others and even bought by some.  Thank You for all of the teachers You have given me along the way.  I am so grateful and delighted to have done this.  I may not have known to give You the glory then, but I do now.  Oh, how I do!  In the Name of Jesus.  Amen. 

 

To catch up on the previous days of this 31 day challenge, you can find them listed here.