Last summer was a dragonfly summer. Countless dragonflies zipped and zoomed in glorious flashes of color and startling aerial acrobatics.
It was fabulous!
What wasn’t fabulous was the reason for their huge population upsurge: A vicious swarming plague of mosquitoes. UGH!
Ah well… here we are in deep mid winter, and now it’s just the memories of the dragonflies that are a pleasure, without the nasties of the mozzies.
I celebrated my love of dragonflies by weaving a shawl on the 7 foot configuration of the Dewberry Ridge triangle loom (LINK)
triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I wove it with handspun wool that has shots of silk and angelina in it.
I also included rows of eyelash yarn every 28 nails, which gave me the perfect grid for embroidering the dragonflies.
triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I embroidered the dragonflies onto the shawl while it was still stretched on the loom- the loom is the perfect embroidery hoop!
It is definitely a one of a kind, as all the combination of elements that came together to make it just won’t happen again.
triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
When I was doing the embroidery, I turned the loom every which way to make it easier to get to each square.
The dragonflies are embroidered with silk that I spun on my support spindle.
triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I didn’t use a pattern or drawing to embroider the dragonflies.
Pardon the pun, but I just ‘winged’ it. :p
triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
People stop me to admire the shawl when I wear it. It gives me an opportunity to talk about weaving, spinning and embroidery (and spool knitting, too!)
triangle-loom-dragonfly-shawl-copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I don’t like fringes on shawls- so I spool knitted a looooooooooooooooong cord, and stitched it onto the shawl while it was still on the loom.
That was wonderfully easy! I held the spool knitted cord up against the outside of the nails, and ‘v’ (baseball stitch) it to the shawl.
This video shows how to stitch cord to a finished woven edge:
Happy dragonflies! Happy triangles! Happy everything…. 😀
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 
I am simply breathless looking at your gorgeous shawl! Whoo! And here I sit in Dragonfly Cottage with a huge dragonfly tattoo on my right writing hand. I’ma just a thinkin’, well, you know!!! You are a world wonder! Oh, and I just watched your video on sewing the spool knitted cord onto the woven square and whooeee, I LOVE that. You’ve given me a drop-kick back into my fiber art! Wheeeee… Thanks so much Noreen. The shawl is just the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!
Big Hugs,
Maitri 🙂
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Dragonflies truly are magical!
Dragonfly hugs!
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That is simply lovely!
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Thank you so much, Stacey!
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Oh my goodness that shawl is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I love dragonflys have some hanging in my bedroom. I would just hang the shawl up and look at it. Also awsome braclet in vidio.
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Thank you so much, Carolee 😀
Actually, I do have the shawl hanging up in my studio when I don’t wear it. It’s too beautiful to leave it in a drawer! I just love those dragonflies, and it gives me a little burst of ‘happy’ when I glance up at it.
And, thanks for the comment about the bracelet- I wove it on the potholder loom 🙂
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Utterly beautiful, gorgeous, lovely! Who’d have thunk an increase in the mosquito population would have the wonderful consequence of more dragonflies?
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I’m sitting here trying to come up with appropriate words – all the ones I think of are inadequate to capture what I feel looking at this piece. Sublime. Something for a nature spirit to wear. Magical. almost… almost….those will have to do.
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Thank you so much, Aleksa! The dragonflies were truly the whirling, flashing silver lining of the dreadful clouds of the mosquitoes! So much beauty!!!!
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Thank you thank you thank you for these gorgeous words, Zann! You have truly made my day!!!!
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My loom just got made. So I am looking at all the things that can be done on it and I am amazed. I may never get to go back to sewing, knitting or spinning! I want to try embroidery on a shawl after I get the hang of it. Thanks for the inspiration.
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Hi Vonda
Happy weaving! Here’s the link to the tutorial on how I do the embroidery on my tri looms: https://tottietalkscrafts.com/2012/04/17/how-to-use-tambour-crochet-to-embroider-a-chain-stitch-heart-on-a-small-loom/
:o)
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