Yarn substitution for tapestry weaving. Can I use the yarn I already have?

Yarn substitution for tapestry weaving. Can I use the yarn I already have?

Not just any yarn will work for tapestry weaving and if you’ve tried to use a knitting yarn like Cascade 220 or Knit Picks Wool of the Andes,* you know that these squishy yarns are difficult to use for tapestry and don’t get the best results.

A good tapestry yarn isn’t lofty, doesn’t have much end-to-end stretch, and comes in a lot of colors. Most tapestry weavers bundle thinner weft strands in a bundle to not only achieve the weft bundle size they need for the sett they’re working at, but to increase their color options by blending hues in the weft bundle.

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Living in the shadow of a national park. The ultimate inspiration and the importance of public lands.

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Living in the shadow of a national park. The ultimate inspiration and the importance of public lands.

I’ve always been a national park junkie. I love visiting them and you’d be right to guess that I have one of those little passport folios where you can collect dated stamps from each park. Our new home in southwestern Colorado is on the doorstep of Mesa Verde National Park which I now call “my” park.” It is marvelous to be able to get there in a matter of minutes any time I want to.

Mesa Verde is a park devoted to antiquities. It was created to preserve the marvelous archaeological sites that exist there. And since it is a national park, we can visit and learn from the rangers and if we’re lucky from the native people who love it most.

The colors and sketch tapestries of wildfire season

The colors and sketch tapestries of wildfire season

Colorado is having a big wildfire summer. This is not unexpected. We've been in a drought for years and this past winter was the worst snowpack in recorded history. Snowpack is the lifeblood of the water system in the west. The Colorado River which feeds five states and Mexico depends on the slowly melting snow to keep it running. This mighty river is dry this year in parts of Colorado right now. I bet you can guess what it looks like in Arizona and California and Mexico.

In 2020 I lived in Fort Collins and the Cameron Peak Fire was and still is the largest wildfire in Colorado history. Many places I loved to backpack were burned and at the end of it all 5 months after it started, the fire had traveled all the way to the edge of Fort Collins from where it started 50 miles away.

A User’s Guide to Yarn book review

A User’s Guide to Yarn book review

Michelle Boyd’s new book is called A User’s Guide to Yarn: Everything knitters, crocheters, and weavers need to know about yarn to level up your craft. Michelle is a master spinner and her prior book was called Twist and was all about spinning. This new book includes information that will be of special interest to spinners, but overall the book is absolutely accessible to any knitter, spinner, crocheter, or weaver (or similar yarn users).*

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Getting started in tapestry weaving: looms, tools, and yarn!

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Getting started in tapestry weaving: looms, tools, and yarn!

Tapestry weaving can seem like a pursuit that requires A LOT. A lot of equipment, materials, and knowledge.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Weaving tapestry can be quite simple and your materials and equipment do not have to be complicated. If you want to learn tapestry weaving, below are some suggestions for how to get started. There are also many resources for people already deep into the tapestry experience, but this post is mostly for people who are pretty new to tapestry weaving.

When does a Work in Progress (WIP) become an Unfinished Object (UFO)?

When does a Work in Progress (WIP) become an Unfinished Object (UFO)?

In the Summer of Tapestry course we were chatting about the magic drawer concept* and I started thinking about the line between a Work in Progress (WIP) and an Unfinished Object (UFO). And if something is in the UFO category, does that mean it will never be finished?

I’ve definitely had WIPs and UFOs in my tapestry life and I also have a lot of knitting ones.

In tapestry weaving, these unfinished projects can lay around for years sometimes. This is the disadvantage of having a lot of looms. If I lose interest in a project and have something else I want to weave, I just get out another loom. In my knitting world, I just buy another set of needles if I don’t have an empty pair of the right size. This leads to a very large knitting needle collection though no one would know because at least half of them are still in as-yet-unfinished projects.