Back again after a summer break, and some project brainstorming

Yes, I know. I haven't posted anything here since last May. Good grief, where did the summer go? Well, I was in Texas, and San Diego, CA, and up camping outside of Alpine, AZ, and took several trips to Flagstaff, AZ, and...and... This summer was the last one before both of my kids left for college and I hit the whole 'empty nest' thing. I took the time to pack the summer with family things instead of crafting things. And, I added a new relationship in there as well, so I've been decidedly distracted with the whole New Relationship Energy thing going on. (My life rocks. Seriously.)

But, the kids are off at school now. The semester has started, so my life drawing modeling is kicking back into gear. My loves are busy at their own works and school endeavors. So, this is my obligatory, "I'm back!" post indicating that I intend to get back into the studio and back at the keyboard.

So...what is up next project wise for me?

Time to brainstorm...

I have the materials on hand for another batch of 3 warp painted, hand woven ruanas. This warp will be done in greens, and blue greens.

I still want to weave some cotton dress fabric for myself, for the historical recreation hobby I'm part of. The batch I did for Their Aten Majesties went over very well, and was a good proof of concept with this particular yarn. Now I have a more intricate twill pattern that I want to try, in blue and green yarn.

I need to do a batch or three of hand dyed silk scarves, to re-fill the Etsy shop. I also owe a scarf to a friend of mine, to complete a trade.

I got a Good Deal on some wool blend fabric that will work well for SCA garb. In fact, it was such a good deal that I picked up 40 yards of it, which should be enough to outfit the whole family. I've got some serious sewing ahead of me.

I've still got bunches of sock yarn that needs to be cranked into socks on my antique circular sock knitting machine. The leftover bits of sock yarn then go to my mother, to be knitted into baby caps for charity. (My mother rocks.)

I have a couple of almost done Viking wire woven necklaces, that just need me to fabricate the clasps.
And I've got another necklace already started, in copper craft wire with a black coating. The coating chips off pretty easily, which I'm going to turn into a feature by sanding down the outside of the finished chain. That way the outside will glint copper, and the inside of the weaving will stay black, for a two tone necklace. Should be interesting.

I picked up a batch of silk fan blanks last year, that are calling for some experimentation in silk painting techniques.

I've got an idea for another extended historical recreation project. This time I want to spin a batch of wool singles. In fact, I've already picked up 5 pounds of wool roving for just this purpose. And then, I want to play with the natural dyes that would have been available in Medieval times, and weave a color gamp. In other words, I want to warp the loom with stripes of different colors, and then weave the same colors in stripes going across them to make lots of different colored squares. That would show not only the range of colors available in history, but what those colors looked like when combined into cloth.

I have one more of the already woven ruanas to sew up into a garment. Then, I need to take pictures and get the 5 finished garments up in the Etsy shop. Fall is coming, and folks will be looking for wraps. Also, Christmas is coming and I need to stock the shop.


Huh. I think I have quite enough to get me started!! Now, where to begin?