Tag: wool

Erica Wilson Embroidery

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Back in the heyday of crewel embroidery, and by that I mean the 1960s and 1970s, Erica Wilson was the queen. She taught, sold kits, wrote books, and had her own PBS show about needle arts, many episodes found on YouTube.

It seems I am destined to return to wool every so often, and it’s been on my mind for a month or so. I like wool more than any other fiber, and in a strange series of clicks on the internet I found myself buying a 1973 Erica Wilson crewel embroidery kit of autumn plants. It’s supposed to end up as a rather groovy pillow.

It takes patience to stitch, and I’m surprised by how content I’ve been working on this. I love the textured feel and look of crewel embroidery, which is embroidery done in wool, and I’m figuring out quite a bit about embroidery. I’m learning stitches, too, so far stem, satin, padded satin, long-and-short, chain, and French knots.

And, yes, I’ve ordered another groovy kit (owls), some additional wool, and some linen backing.

Twill Wool Scarf

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Twill Scarf

A few weeks ago, I visited Avalanche Looms and came away with this locally-produced wool. The yellow was dyed with goldenrod, the blue indigo. I discovered an unused hank of red in my stash, too, which was also a local yarn, and so I put them side by side on the table and thought, “Maybe.”

Twill Wool Scarf

For this scarf, I used a 10 dent heddle on my Ashford folding table loom, and I skipped every other slot to make it 5 dpi. Just for fun, I wove a bunch of different twill patterns and some colorful plain weave stripes. I’ll admit, when this was on the loom I wasn’t certain what to think of it, especially because, once again, I forgot that a floating selvedge can be a friend. Off the loom, washed, dried on the radiator, and with the fringes twisted, I suddenly liked it. A lot! It’s my happy January scarf, something that adds a splash of color to the wintry world.

Moral of the story is to weave with wool. It’s always fun. I really like wool. And the local flavor makes it even more delightful.

Goldenrod