Last February, I went on a research binge at the FIT library. I scoured hundreds of pages of trend magazine for hours, finding my favorite looks, colors, textures…anything that would inspire a new season of development. From there, I consolidated my thoughts and inspiration into themes and seasons for the year to come. One of the many patterns I saw were big chunky basketweaves, nothing complicated or over the top. Simple, basic, and perfect to introduce when it’s not freezing out.
Step 1 was to create a tester of different constructions so I could make notes, tweak, and pick out my favorites for the next several months of weaving. This step always takes longer than expected, but I’ve found it’s necessary and efficient in saving my precious yarn resources. There’s always a few unexpected warp and weft combinations that I never would have put together otherwise, and a few that are thrown back to the drawing board at first sight.
I setup the loom for 6 shorter, lighter scarves in the basketweave construction, and finished them shortly thereafter. I let these sit for what seemed like forever. I knew I’d dip a few in indigo, but it wasn’t until I made the next development (textured stripe) and started playing with shibori that I decided to combine both groups into a collection. At some point I’ll get to solid, plain colors. Or maybe not.
Looming Jane 