I needed to warp up something in order to be able to demonstarte Andean Pebble Weave at Convergence. I learned from my last trip to the US where I demonstrated that using a warp with a lot of pick up was just plain boring for onlookers. It also made it quite difficult to weave and chat to folks as there was so much counting to do. The little blue shuttle bags I had woven had been well received so I decided to warp up for a couple more of those and this turned out to be the ideal demonstration warp.
"Wow, you have the design memorized!" was a common comment but little did they know that I had woven 26 keyfobs with this design in a marathon before leaving Bolivia and that I could tehrefore just about weave this with my eyes shut!
Weaving a wider piece and making something useful does not have to involve a lot of pick up. I love making these pieces now with big bold colors and narrow bands of brightly colored pick-up designs. I could finish a piece like this, if I really wanted to, in a couple of days and make two bags from it. The two original bags got sold on this trip so now I can replace them. All the solid color area is warped as for the thick borders that I describe in my monogram. It makes a nice sturdy fabric for a bag and really neat edges.