I am a self-taught weaver with more than 40 years handweaving experience. My weaving career began in the late 1970's with a used 4 harness Harrisville floor loom. In 1986, I purchased a brand new AVL 16-Harness manual dobby loom with a 60 inch weaving width. It was custom designed to my specifications. At that time, I was doing semi-production weaving: lots of items on a 50 (or more) yard warp.
My weaving has changed over the years and my AVL easily accommodates my present weaving focus. Rather than heavier weight yarns with novelty yarns for texture, I use finer weight smooth yarns and utilize weave structure to produce textured fabrics. I have since converted the manual dobby to a compu-dobby which allows me to weave more complicated patterns. But it is still my hands and feet that do the actual weaving. I weave one of a kind or very limited edition items. Limited edition items will vary due to color or alteration of the base pattern - so each is unique.
My Fibers I love the softness and draping quality of bamboo and tencel fibers and these have become my yarns of choice for shawls and scarves. My scarves, ponchos and shawls may also include merino, silk, alpaca and even more exotic fibers such as yak. My kitchen towels are thick, thirsty and long lasting. They are woven from cotton and cotton-linen blend fibers.
You will also find scarves and shawls crocheted by me from hand dyed luxury fibers.
Both my handwoven pieces and my hand-crocheted items are sold only at https://www.etsy.com/shop/MariposaHandwovens.