'Have you thought about joining?' she said

Life is at a point when the default answer is 'yes' - who knows what opportunities might slip by and now isn't the time for regrets. So when my neighbour at the Blackthorpe Barn Christmas Fayre said, Have you thought about joining Suffolk Open Studios (SOS)? I decided to find out a little more and take the plunge.

Whilst the majority of its members are artists, rather than artisans, the SOS June calendar is well established in the county so a great opportunity to get feedback from an interested general public. What I wasn't expecting were the additional opportunities that arose within days of putting myself on the SOS website.

A well established local group had their Winter Exhibition in February and invited me to join them. Private viewing on the Friday evening, and open to the public over the weekend. Participants pitch up, put up their displays and then leave everything to the organisers. I made an offer to demonstrate on the loom that was graciously accepted. A couple of hours on each day and it drew in some very lovely and interesting on-lookers with plenty of questions and comments - those fascinated in the workings of the loom, others who had some weaving experience including a woman who had trained as occupational therapist back in the day and had taught weaving.

I put a broken pointed twill on the loom. With just eight lifts in the pattern, the hope was to be able to weave and talk without making mistakes! I also wanted to do something fairly 'ordinary' after 2.5 years of innovation. I'd also treated myself to a beautiful coat in a striking navy and grey herringbone. It has no collar and a deep v-neckline so I wanted to make myself a scarf to complement it. I used the Shetland singles that had been spun by Paul at the Halifax Spinning mill and put on sufficient warp for sampling and three scarves.

First off the loom, and woven during the winter exhibition, was a pink and grey scarf.

The weft is two strands of Knoll's supersoft wool singles in Geranium and Sugarsnap. A supplementary warp as added - the finest of mohair and silk yarns bought in the most amazing yarn shop in Riga.

For the second scarf the weft is a navy & grey alpaca, linen, acrylic, polyamide mix with 1% elastane. The finished cloth has a slight stretch to it - perfect for a more casual drape. So I immediately ordered further packs to make enough for a skirt and tunic at some point in the future.