Sugar Plum Fairy: start to finish

Weaving is a slow craft.  Intentional, meticulous, time consuming.  It can be a month or three (or more!) between when yarn is chosen and/or dyed for a project and when the final piece is pulled off the loom.  I share the progress over in the Chatter group and on Instagram; but if you're not always checking in and following along you may not see the whole process come together.  I've had a few requests to collate the whole process into one blog post so you can sit down and see it all in one place.  I've tried to do that here for Sugar Plum Fairy:

Sugar Plum Fairy was 14 Mile Farm's 2016 midwinter holiday exclusive this year. Inspired by the magic of the Nutcracker Suite and the way this festive ballet ushers in the midwinter holidays every year, Sugar Plum Fairy is an homage to the character who enchanted my childhood with visions of otherworldly winter landscapes and whose role requires technical prowess and artistry from the dancer that continues to inspire me today. 

I hand dyed the cotton weft yarn in skeins in seven shades of purple, violet, and blue.  Each of the dozen or so skeins was slightly different, with a different combination of these colors.  I then warped from the balled skeins, mixing the variegate yarn across the whole width of the project.

This particular warp I warped front to back, meaning that the individual threads (over 700 of them!) first go through the slots of the reed - pictured above - then are threaded through the heddles.  The threading pattern is what allows for the creation of the pattern in the cloth.  The step of threading the heddles requires care and attention.  I prefer to do it methodically and meticulously (even if that slows down an already slow process) to avoid errors.  Errors at this stage compound on each other and just require time-consuming fixing later.  Once threaded, the warp is tied on and wound onto the back beam.  Below you can see I'm passing the warp through a set of dowels as a tensioning device.  The dowels have the pleasant side effect of making for excellent photography props.  Once the entire length of the warp is wound on, it is time to tie on in front and then finally to weave! 

I love the way that this particular dye method/process creates a beautifully blended painted effect.  As each individual warp thread changes color along its length at its own interval, no spot along the length of the warp is precisely the same as colors fade in and out and back again beside each other, but the whole cloth takes on a cohesive almost impressionist visual sense.  

One of the beauties of weaving long warps that allow for multiple pieces off of one warp is the way that I'm able to play with wefts: experimenting with different colors, fibers, and dye techniques.  The first weft on Sugar Plum Fairy was a merino/silk/stellina(sparkle) yarn - which I totally adore as weft.  I'll admit to having been ever so slightly leery of sparkle yarn - my personal tendency being towards earthy and rich - but I thought it would be perfect to capture the glint of snow.  Living in Alaska where winters bring an abundance of snow and an abundance of darkness, I have often found myself driving home in the dark after a fresh snowfall.  The headlights catch the facets of the snowflakes, sparkling like a fairyland through the woods.  This merino/silk/sparkle yarn is like that.  Like a coating of fairy dust over a squishy thin strong wool/silk blend.

The first splatter dyed weft became a ringsling piece (which I realized I have no good pictures of!) and this lovely cowl.  It was quite fun seeing how the weft worked up!   

My second dye of the same fairy dusted yarn had smaller splatters, almost speckles, of pink and blue and purple.  I take quite a lot of photos of the process of making cloth, of finished pieces of cloth both staged and in use and I quite enjoy the image-capturing process.  But I think my very favorite photos to take are ones of skeins of yarn, waiting to be turned into something new.  They are beautiful objects (and so textural) in and of themselves, but they're also so full of dreams and potential.  Sparkle is notoriously hard to capture on camera, but you can see a hint of it here:

The draft is one that I developed by modifying an advancing point twill to create a Bethlehem Star motif.   Bethlehem Star is a traditional weaving motif that you can find translated into various weave structures including overshot, double weave, and advancing twills.  I loved the lace-like starry look of the pattern and felt it was appropriate for a midwinter holiday warp but couldn't find a draft that filled my needs and fit my constraints.  Weaving cloth for baby wraps requires certain structural and engineering parameters are met so that it is suitable and durable for its intended weight bearing purpose.  I weave on an 8 shaft loom; in general the more shafts the more complexity is possible within the patterns the loom can create.  I could find 8 shaft Bethlehem Star drafts that didn't meet my structural/engineering needs and I could find Bethlehem Star drafts that required 16 or more shafts that did.  But I could not find an 8 shaft Bethlehem Star draft that met my needs, so I set out to make one.  I'm pretty pleased with it! 

After the actual weaving is complete, once the shuttle has been thrown approximately a billionty times and the weft interlaced with the warp, the cloth is cut off of the loom.  At this point it is in "loom-state" or unfinished.  The true nature of the cloth doesn't come out until after wet finishing.  Some handwoven fabric can be wet finished in a washer and dryer, others require more delicacy: handwashing and air drying.  After wet finishing, the cloth is ironed.

Certain weaving errors (skips, some kinds of mistreadles) can be fixed after the cloth is off the loom at the same time that routine weft change yarn ends or repair threads are clipped.  This can be done before or after wet finishing, or sometimes before AND after wet finishing.   The more skill and practice the weaver has, and the more familiarity with one's equipment, the less need there is for this step but even the most accomplished weaver may find that the stray fix is needed.  It is as time-consuming a step as any in the process, and I'm grateful to my looms, my teachers, and my years weaving that I rarely have to spend many hours at the task of mending.

Then the wrap is hemmed and tagged, middle markers are added, and children are asked to help mama model the finished product.  

The same merino/silk/stellina blend weft with a slightly different dye job wove up into the baby wrap that was offered publicly for sale.  It found a home with another weaver, which is SUCH a compliment!

I love how the delicate lace-like aesthetic of the weave structure meets the elegance of the skein-dyed color work to evoke the aura delicate elegance a skilled ballerina cultivates.  These shades of plum and icy blue and violet encapsulate my imaginative image of what the Sugar Plum Fairy would be wearing were I to indeed meet her in the Land of Sweets.  She pairs so well with ballet pink and the silver of tinsel and heirloom jewelry.

I am really pleased overall with the wrapping qualities of this particular blend of fiber and weave: thin in hand, stretchy, bouncy, comfortable on the shoulders without sag.  Delightful for the squishiest wrapping of brand new humans and equally delightful for wrapping a giant toddler.  I'm such a fan of cotton, wool, and silk all blended together in a textile! 

As you can see here, this combination of fiber and weave created a mouldable wrap with enough grip and texture to stay solid in a half knot supporting a 25lb toddler.  This blend has a high wool to silk ratio, so you get a bit of the strength and support and weightlessness of the silk without sacrificing any of the recoil and bounce of the wool that makes hiking (or snowy woods walking) such a joy.

I was able to play with some handspun weft on this warp too.  This skein is in Hipstring's Unicorn Fluff color way which I spun up into yarn.  It is a blend of 25% Superfine Merino wool, 25% Tussah Silk, 12.5% Mulberry Silk, 12.5% Bamboo, 12.5% Baby Camel, 12.5% Faux cashmere and is IMPOSSIBLY soft.  I really appreciated the flecks of pink and blue and even aqua in this skein, it gave the finished woven piece such depth of visual character.

One of my favorite things about weaving with my own handspun is the texture. Visual texture and tactile texture.  Watching handspun weave up under tension on the loom is an enormously satisfying experience.  Then to pull it off the loom and experience it blooming into soft clouds of texture.... it is just so so lovely.   

This particular handspun piece was auctioned as part of my on-going practice of giving back and paying forward to the world.  I really treasure the opportunity to use my craft : my time, my intention, and my business to tangibly support work in the world that I believe in.  The proceeds of this piece went to fund the ACLU, future handspun handwoven pieces will support other causes.  Keep checking back in this space or subscribe to the newsletter to hear about donation auctions in future.

The handspun weft really made for a lovely cowl.

And that's Sugar Plum Fairy!  Some warps are longer with multiple baby wraps coming off of them, and some are shorter with only one or two.  I always include enough length for a small piece or three, mostly cowls as I happen to adore neckwear. Living in Alaska, warm neckwear is pretty much a necessity for most of the year!  What sorts of non-babywearing items would YOU like to see from 14 Mile Farm on future warps?  

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Draft is a variation (of my own design) of the traditional Bethlehem Star motif 

Fire in the Sky and a Field of Dreams

Once upon a time in a land far far away there lived a little girl and a little boy.  The little girl and the little boy shared a mother and had been born within minutes of one another.  They were twins.  They grew up in a village on a hill with streets of stone, overlooking the oldest city in the land.  

Across the sea and past the mountains, a woman in a cabin in the woods went to her loom. She unspooled thread the color of the winter fire in the sky.  She unspooled thread the color of the fire flowers that grew in the summer.  And she wove a blanket for the little girl and the little boy.  

For you see, many moons past, she had sat on rocky shores and watched the waves and tasted the salt sea spray along with the mother of the twins.  Both had left their girlhood home to seek their futures far away.  

And so it was, you see, that one day the man with the post brought a package of distant love to the little girl and to the little boy.  It held the magic of a winter night, the brilliance of a summer day.

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Next on the loom are a pair of fairly short warps.  I'm weaving gifts for a very special brother and sister who live in Italy.  When I found out that one of my best friends was having twins, I started scheming as to what I could make for them.  They are now just turned 7 months old, and their birthday gifts are only just going on the loom.  Oops!  

Photo credit: Mackenzie Rohn and 14 Mile Farm

Here in Interior Alaska the summer brings 24 hours of daylight and temperatures sometimes in the 90s.  Winter brings 20 hours of dark and temperatures sometimes 40 degrees below zero.  Fun fact: 40 below is the temperature at which the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales meet; 40 below Celsius is the same as 40 below Fahrenheit.  

Summer paints the fields, the meadows, the roadsides a bright fuschia with the blooming of fireweed.  Winter paints the skies with ribbons of light.

There is such a stark contrast to the phases of the year, and yet the two are two halves of a perfectly balanced whole.  There's a special relationship between twins, between 2 beings who shared an abode in the womb.  I thought this was the perfect pairing for a sweet pair of twins.

Photo credit: Forest & Field Photography and Maya Salganek

This pair of warps is is only the first step in my exploration of paying homage to the fireweed and to the aurora.  All photos were taken here in Fairbanks where I live.  Expect to see more projects along these lines in the future!  I'm already dreaming up a hand-dyed aurora....

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Project details:

Warp of 8/2 cotton 

Crackle threading, draft found here:

Weaving Draft: cw108265, Crackle Design Project, Ralph Griswold, United States, 2004, #13482

There will be at least one piece available for draw off of each of these warps.  

Owl Flight

OwlFlight is a very special warp. It is Avery's warp. Our piece of it will be our very first handwoven. And when her wearing days are over? I'll chop it and sew it up into a blanket quilt for her.  Should her tastes run girly, full of pink and sparkles, it will be an oasis of blues and whites and brown splashed across her bed. I admit to finding this prospect  slightly amusing.  When she spreads her wings and launches into the world, be it college or a calling, I will bundle it up to travel with her.  A bit of mama love, always and forever. 

Here is the story of how it came about. It gets a little woo-woo, just so's you know.  

Last October I found myself in Seattle, attending a prenatal yoga teacher training alongside my mother.  I'm a yoga teacher as well as a weaver, and my mom is a midwife.  Last summer Husband and I had decided it was time to invite another soul to join us on this life path.  I've always always known I wanted children.  And finally I was ready to choose motherhood.  Part of my preparation for the journey that is pregnancy and birth and motherhood was this prenatal yoga training.  It was wonderful.  I highly highly recommend it, if you are into that sort of thing! 

The weekend following the training, I attended a workshop on the Energetics of Fertility taught by a goddess of a woman named Taylor Phinny.  (Seriously, she's amazing and wonderful.  Check her out, especially if you are in the Encinitas, California area!)

It was a wonderful weekend: meditations to connect with the womb space, with the principle of Divine Feminine energy.  We spoke in depth about energetic self-care for fertility, about practical ways to honor the monthly cycle of fertility and cultivate the feminine self.  She gave me an energy healing session that I count among the most powerful healings I've ever received, clearing an energy block inherited through the line of my grandmothers.  

I saw my womb as Cerridwen's cauldron, awaiting souls to rebirth into this world of ours.

And then, in our final meditation together, she took me even deeper.  Guided me to a forest clearing where I met with my children.  Watched them from the trees as they played with other shining young ones, then welcomed them with open arms and teary eyes.  We sat together, walked among the trees, and then we traveled North.  They found their papa's sleeping self and said hello.  Bear hugs all around.  

Coming back to myself, to my body in the yoga room at the workshop, Taylor offered me chalks and paper.  And I drew.  Sketched out the essences of my children.  Soul portraits.

In those few minutes in deep astral/psychic meditation space, I knew these shining souls intimately.  Deeply.  Irrevocably entwined.  I felt them around me the following months, waiting for just the right mixture of genetics to choose to be conceived.  For a while I was equal parts terrified and excited, because I was nearly sure that two would jump in at once.  Twins seem like a lot of work.  I'm pretty happy they decided to take turns!  

Early in the pregnancy it was clear to me that the child I had drawn as an Owl in flight was going to be born.

Spirit drawing.  Soul portrait.  Yeah, I'm more than a little woo-woo! 

When I began contemplating what to weave to welcome the inhabitant of my womb into the world, I knew that it had to be this. Blues and browns and greys.  OwlFlight.

If you keep your eye on 14 Mile Farm in the coming years, I can tell you now that you will see wrap warps based on the soul portraits of each of my children! 

Warp Details: 10/2 mercerized cotton in herringbone twill.  

Wrap pieces as well as cowls will be available by draw. 

One wrap will be sent out as a traveling tester.  

If you are interested in hosting the tester and/or to be first to find out about pieces for sale, join the 14 Mile chatter group on Facebook.