Mardi entered several items in this year’s fair.    The wool scarf was woven with her hand spun yarn. She wove it on a rigid heddle loom for a demonstration, just to see if it would work out.  She decided to finish and enter it.   The overshot scarf was woven with a natural 8/2 cotton and the wefts were a chocolate-colored Zephyr and an autumn orange 20/2 silk.   The green and white scarf, an entry in the county inspired division, was inspired by our native dogwood trees.  The draft was by Rebecca Logan - number 79333 on Handweaving.net.&n ..read more

The County Fair has come and gone with lots of activity from the local fiber artists including Not  Square members. We will give you a glimpse of what our members entered this year. Mary wove these California Quail towels for the fair. She says, "The desire to weave cute quail led me down the path of understanding and drafting single two-tie unit weave. It also led me to a 32-shaft compudobby loom! This quail towel was woven with a 10/2 unwaxed cotton warp, 8/2 unmercerized pattern weft and 20/2 cotton ground weft. The sett was 20 end per inch which provides a nice hand in the “summer a ..read more

 Ingrid wove these two scarves that are intertwined around one another using a technique called gradients.  A couple (or several) colors are gradually changed from one being dominant to being the subdominant color.  These were techniques she learned in an online class and expanded into her own designs.  The color changes in the scarf below (also woven by Ingrid) move from dark to lighter and the effect when tied around the neck is stunning in its complexity.   It is 10/2 Tencel, sett at 36 epi and woven with an extended point twill on 8 shafts. This is a sh ..read more

 This is Ingrid K. gorgeous scarf.  Woven in double weave, this scarf won the best of show for the Handwoven category.  Truly stupendous color work and design.  Congratulations, Ingrid. Ingrid collaborated with Jeanne when weaving this scarf.  Jeanne spun the weft yarn and Ingrid used it on a wool warp.  Enlarge photo to see the details.  The photo to the right is a close up of a scarf woven by Jeanne D.  Her description follows in italics. Simple Collapse Weave Pucker up Scarf The puckers in this scarf are created by using Merino wool and Bomb ..read more

You don't need a challenge for a weaver to want to "shake things up".  What follows are interpretations of the same threading draft and the weaver's comments about their take on the challenge. As expected, no two experiments are the same. I've taken some of the text posted on the display board from the fair and added a few thoughts of my own. The Basics of Weaving The patterns for weaving come from three components: the threading, tie-up and treadling.  Any combination of those three items will affect the outcome of the woven item.  In each example, the threading was kept the sa ..read more

 This is both a story about a weaving challenge and a little bit of history.  I'm writing this in first person, because as you will see in this post, much of it had to do with a challenge to myself 19 years ago, the mileage I've gotten from that challenge and how it all played out at the Nevada County Fair in 2023. In 2004, the Nevada County Fair was somewhat the same as it is today, but also different.  The Wool show was held in Sugar Pine Lodge - open on both ends so that people could walk through and look at the various exhibits.  There was noise, and dust - a lot of it ..read more

 A couple more Nevada County Inspired pieces were woven by Not 2 Square weavers. Mardi Naytons inspiration was a wonderfully designed twill towel. I took this photo on a morning walk down my road.  The colors were a summer inspiration that led me to weave this towel.      Eileen Lee designed and wove this lovely twill block shawl.  We don't have the inspiration for this post, but the shawl speaks for itself.  I believe the photo attached says "Nevada City in the Fall" and the colors certainly reflect that.  ..read more

ICE and FIRE Each year, the Not 2 Square Weavers bring out their very best handwoven items to display in the Wool Show at the Nevada County Fair.  After several years of COVID disruptions, it seems as though the fair and the community are making progress in returning to a more normal life and one that embraces Nevada County and its citizens.   Quite a few years ago, the Not 2 Square Weavers established a special category in the Wool show called Nevada County Inspired. The group sponsors a monetary award each year for the best entry.    This year's big winner was ..read more

 Two more Not 2 Square members participated in the County Fair this year.  Diana was able to use one warp and create two projects - a shawl and a pillow.  For these projects, she used an inlay technique to create motifs on the cloth surface. Diana's Shawl Diana's Pillow Diana also entered three towels. Diana's Towel Diana's Towel Diana's Towel ______________________________________________________________________________ Ingrid entered two towels as well. Ingrid's Towel Ingrid's Towel   ..read more

Eileen submitted a number of pieces this summer, including several scarves.  The award winner was a variation of overshot.  She used indigo dyed hand spun yarn for the blue and white scarf .  A third scarf was woven with tencel.    Eileen's Indigo Dyed Scarf Eileen's Scarf Eileen's Tencel Scarf She entered a shawl. Eileen's Shawl She also submitted household items - a huck towel and overshot table runner.   Eileen's Towel Eileen's Table Runner A bag and yardage r ..read more