Moving ahead

I wove another white scarf on the warp you saw here plus a piece that will become a small bag, once the silk to line it arrives.  (Do you know about fashionfabrics.com?)

I have been craving color and have a relatively short time left before the yarn for a commission (you will see later) arrives.  I decided it was time to weave more cotton towels.  I usually have some on hand but right now have none at all.  I measured out the warp today.  Can you tell that I am longing for spring?

I took this picture while the warp was still on the warping board.  I usually make a warp long enough to make a dozen towels but this one is shorter because I want to start work on the commission as soon as the yarn arrives.

The borders are a slightly grayed yellow green set into a natural white ground.  Inside the borders are groups of narrow stripes--five colors--that repeat five times.  I like the colors and am eager to see them as the towels are woven.  You will see them, too, of course.


Last Saturday there was a Utah Symphony concert.  The first half of the program consisted mainly of Faure--never a mistake in my opinion with a brand new piece (world premiere) co-commissioned by the Utah Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de la Suise Romande and Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg.   The composer, Michael Jarrell, wrote this piece for solo cello and orchestra.  I liked it a lot and would like to hear it again.  I have never heard a cello make those sounds before; it was very interesting.  Our solosit, Jean-Guihen Queyas, to whom along with Thierry Fischer, our conductor, the piece is dedicated did an amazing job.  Then he played Faure's Elegie for Cello and Orchestra in which the cello sang.  I am partial to Faure whose work always seems to elegant and lovely to me, and I loved it.

After the intermission the orchestra played Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.  I have to confess that at first I was dreading hearing this old warhorse again.  When I was in high school we played this in orchestra and I felt I knew every single note--and I think I do!--so I wondered what Fischer could bring to it.  I needn't have been concerned.  It was played briskly and cleanly with a wonderful transparency that made the piece new to me.  The second movement, the andante, was lyrical and romantic and quite lovely.  Maestro Fischer continues to impress and delight me.  And, next week we hear the Mendelssohn violin concerto which I love followed by Bruckner's Symphony #4.

Life is good.