"Pendleton Wool Blanket Selvages"

On one of the blogs I follow (http://readagainbooks.blogspot.com/), Dorothy, who also is a weaver, mentioned seeing some woven pieces while she was in Branson, MO, that had used wool blanket selvage from Pendleton Woolen Mill (http://www.pendleton-usa.com/), Pendleton, OR. She had posted ordering information, so yes, sight unseen, I called and placed an order, too. I figured I should widen my weaving horizon a bit and move beyond loopers and rags, too. ;)

Don has been checking the front deck each evening to make sure no packages have been delivered unnoticed. Thanks to him, my box of selvage didn't sit out in the rain all night. :) When Dorothy had ordered hers, they'd sent her 2 bags of colors, so I wasn't sure what I would be sent. We immediately opened the box and I was happy to see I had received 4 bags of different colored selvage. The next morning, I took photos of them in front of the Christmas Tree, because it was sort of like a Christmas gift to myself. ;)

I took close up photos of each bag, too. The colors are so varied and rich!

If you go to the Pendleton web site and look at the blankets they have available, you'll understand why there is such a variety available. Unfortunately, when ordering, you are not able to specify what colors you want, but can only buy what is available at the time.

Weaving at a mill means setting up their looms to run a specific item and color for whatever they want for their inventory. Once that is complete, they set up for another item and color, etc. After each run, there is selvage available from that, but when that is sold, no more is available of those colors until the next time they set up for that one again.

Having never woven anything using this type of selvage before, it will be quite interesting to see what is possible. Unfortunately, it is going to have to wait a few weeks......after all, "tis the season" and I already have planned pieces that need to be completed in the next week. Yikes!!!! Time is counting down QUICKLY!!!! ;)