Weaving
I got into weaving relatively recently, in 2006, when I bought an 8-harness Baby Wolf loom. (Previously, I had woven one project on a four-harness LeClerc Artisat, but rapidly lost interest, and eventually sold the loom.) About four months later, I upgraded to a Leclerc Diana - a 16-shaft, compudobby (computer-driven) loom. Weaving turns out to be intellectually fascinating - there are so many different weave structures and effects that can be achieved that I suspect it will be one of my long-term hobbies. It's MUCH more complex than, say, knitting.
	My Baby Wolf, with my fourth weaving project on it. It can weave up to 26" wide, but this warp is only about 16" across.
	"Lady Di", my Leclerc Diana, shortly after arrival. She arrived disassembled and it took one day of solid work to get her reassembled. Isn't she lovely?
	A better look at the weaving on the loom. This is the "Advancing Twill Flowers" pattern from Handwoven Magazine, March/April 2001 issue, except made with silk/cashmere warp and weft instead of sewing thread. It's sleyed at 43 ends per inch, so there are over 650 ends in this warp despite its being only 16" across!
	A closer look at the pattern. I still don't understand how to design complex patterns yet, but I'm hoping to learn soon. The warp is 28/2 silk in five colors, hand-dyed by yours truly. (I don't have the room to store lots of colors of yarn, so I buy mine white and then dye it in the quantities I need.) There are a few irregularities in the color, but it adds to the appeal in my eyes - the silk shimmers and the color variations add to the shimmer. The weft is 1/14 black cashmere from Colourmart UK, also hand-dyed. This cashmere is too weak to use as warp, so I'm using it with silk warp for a pashmina shawl!
	A simple checkerboard shawl in Blue Heron Yarns' Cotton/Rayon/Metallic, color "Poppy", and a black cotton yarn. The photo doesn't do justice to the yarn, which is fuschia, orange, and red with a strand of sparkle. The pattern is a modified 2/2 twill, producing a striped diagonal in the red-and-black squares.
	This is a shawl in Colourmart's 55/45 silk/cashmere yarn, 3/80 Nm. Four strands were twisted together (the original yarn is quite fine) and sett at 24 epi with 24 ppi. I kept the warp in the original color, "Silver Fox", and dyed the weft black. The pattern is out of the book Twill Thrills: the Best of Weaver's. Do take a closer look; the thumbnail doesn't do justice to the pattern.
	This is the first of my own weaving designs - based loosely on the Hearts scarf in Twill Thrills: The Best of Weaver's, but with significant alterations in the treadling and threading.. I call it "Tiger Eye". It is finished with handmade, tiger-striped beads by Gayle Herring.
	Detail of "Tiger Eye", showing the tiger-striped beads.
	A trio of photos from a huck lace shawl in Colourmart's 28/2 silk.
	A closeup of the lace segments (you'll have to look at the larger photo).
	And the same shawl on the loom.
	"Liquid Fire", woven in 3/50 Loro Piana silk from Colourmart. For this shawl, I dyed the warp and the weft in 20 colors gradually shading from red to yellow. The warp moves from red on the sides to yellow in the center, and the weft moves from red on the left to yellow in the center, producing a pleasing and complex design with much motion of color. This is my favorite work to date.
	Closeup of Liquid Fire, showing the pattern more plainly.
	"Black Fire", woven on the same warp as Liquid Fire, but with a black weft.
	Closeup of the pattern.
	A painted-warp shawl in two different yarns: a rayon at 3000 ypp, woven in a 2/2 twill, and an 8/2 tencel warp woven in plainweave. The warps are painted separately and then striped in the reed.
	Closeup of the painted warp, showing the warp stripes.