Catching up.......

I am once again remiss with keeping up to the date with this blog. I just haven't 'felt' it in recent years and it's a struggle.  I did get a warp on the loom yesterday for my secret holiday project. Just got started weaving on it and am pleased. The draft is from the Strickler book, page 20, #59.  I'm using 10/2 perle cotton sett at 30 epi.

I've knit two of these hats from the National Parks hat book - it is the Glacier hat.  I actually bought the yarn called for rather than use yarn from my stash. There's enough for another one or maybe two from that yarn. I may make a pair of mittens instead to go with my hat, have put it aside and will decide later. If you're a knitter and haven't seen that book you need to - beautiful book, great patterns.

I finally finished a pair of denim blue socks for myself. They've been on the needles for probably a year. They were set aside while I worked on socks for family last summer/fall. I thought I would finish these on the long drive to and from MT recently but didn't knit more than a half inch.

I started these socks while on the coast this past weekend. I bought the yarn at The Wool Co over there (Bandon) a few months ago. Kelly has a nice selection of yarn and other goodies.  I bought some locally made soap this past weekend in addition to a couple skeins of yarn. 

 
 

Weaving guild challenge.....

I have finished my guild challenge.  Each member blindly chose an envelope that contained a beautiful postcard of a national park. I chose Isle Royale which I had never heard of - it's an island in Lake Superior (Michigan) that's very close to Canada.  It's only open a few months out of the year. 

Rather than create something inspired by the colors in the postcard I decided to use the actual art from it. I scanned the postcard, enlarged it and then printed it out on two pages of fabric backed with paper that's meant to go through an inkjet printer. I warped up the loom in a Theo Moorman draft using 10/2 dark gray perle cotton and dark gray sewing thread. the sewing thread is the tie down thread. I cut the printed fabric into 1/4" strips a handful at a time to keep them in order and started weaving. 

I wasn't sure how to finish the piece for hanging and went through several different ideas. I had woven enough plain weave for a backing. I didn't want to quilt it but it needed some umpf so I used an iron on pellon product to make the front and back a bit stiffer. I didn't have enough of the plain woven fabric to make a binding and I had decided I did want a binding - I found a print fabric in my stash that went with it perfectly so that became the binding.  i didn't take a photo of the back but I created a label that I printed on fabric to put on the back. Also on the back I put triangles of fabric in the corners to insert a slat of wood for hanging - if you know quilting you may have done this for small wallhangings. 

I can see in the photo I need to push/adjust a few of those fabric strips to have straighter edges again, it's easy to do. They moved a bit during the sewing process. 

A side note - If you're interested in seeing the postcards for all the national parks they're available to purchase, they also have posters and some other items. They really are beautiful to even just look at on the website. My guild bought a box of them for our challenge. 

Another sidenote - when a fellow guild member, another Cindy, saw the park postcard I had picked she immediately told me about author Nevada Barr who has written murder mysteries that take place in national parks and that there was one on Isle Royale. I looked it up and found that was book #3 so I first read books #1 & #2.  I then read book #3 on 'my' park which gave me insights into what the island is like. I've now just started book #4. I need to check out how many there are. So far my library has had these and they're also available through Library2Go/Libby. 

I don't always participate in the yearly guild challenge, all depends on if it interests me, this year was a definite yes. It will be fun to see what others were inspired to create from their postcards. 

 

On the loom............

On the loom today is an 8 harness twill from the Strickler book. The warp is 10/2 perle cotton from the Lunatic Fringe color spectrum set minus one purple that I had used up so instead of 20 colors there are 19.........plus black 10/2.  I'm using the same 10/2 for the weft. 

 

More on the secret project

 Another warp on the loom for my secret holiday project. I found this draft on handweaving.net - it's called Leaves or Feather Point Twill, Ann Frischkorn #79845. It's a 16H point twill.  This is a 10/2 perle cotton warp and weft.  I can see this being a beautiful scarf in tencel or silk - may have to add that to my to-do list for the future..........or a painted warp.  I think I even have a painted warp in the stash that's in autumn colors - hmm, something to think about........

Tumbling blocks.....

 Another warp on the loom for my secret project. It's a 16 harness draft called Tumbling Blocks.  I used this draft for several scarves a number of years ago.  For the life of me I can't remember where I got the wif file - I'm thinking on handweaving.net but can't be positive. I usually write info like that down in my records but seems I didn't on those scarf projects. 

On the loom..........

Something came off the loom yesterday, something new on the loom today.  What went on today is shadow weave in 10/2 perle cotton. It plays tricks on my eyes.  I look at one section and wonder if it's threaded correctly, then look at another section and wonder the same but yes it all is threaded correctly, and treadled correctly - just kind of an optical illusion for my eyes. I forgot to enhance the colors in this photo - it's bright purple and chartreuse. This is also for my secret project. 

What came off the loom yesterday is my guild challenge.  I'll post a picture of it once it's done, I'm still in the thinking stage of how to finish it for display.  The Theo Moorman weave structure for it turned out just as I wanted. 

 

Was current warp...........

This was the current warp on the loom but cut it off 30 minutes ago and am already washing it. This is another warp for my secret project.   It's a two block twill, sett at 30 epi, 10/2 perle cotton.  I love the bright jewel tones in the warp set off by the black weft. 

If you read my post of January 19th you know I had a problem with some 20/2 black perle cotton breaking left and right. Well, look at what was happening with this 10/2 perle cotton as I wind a bobbin. All this fiber dust comes off on my hand, on the bobbin winder and around the cone on the floor - you can see where I moved the cone to show what was happening.  This cone is from a different company and I had used at least 2/3 of it on another project with no issue. Each time I wound a bobbin I'd have a handful of black fluff.  It also breaks easily but since it is weft it wasn't an issue.  If this fabric would be heavily washed, worn, used a lot I wouldn't have used it but this project is just for show and it will be fine.  
 

Yet another warp......

It's good to have a weaving goal for the year with my secret project - it has gotten me back to doing what I love.  Once I stopped selling my handwovens my motivation went down........plus I was doing other crafts.  This warp went on the AVL yesterday. I just wove a few inches to make sure all was ok.  This is an original 32H draft based on Iranian tilework from centuries ago.  I designed it for a guild challenge where we picked a country's name out of a bag and had to weave something inspired by that country - I pulled Iran.  That was around 7 years ago, give or take.  I may weave today although I have a few other things to work on too so may not make it to the loom.

Thinking of guild challenges, our challenge for this year was pulling a National Park postcard from a pile of envelopes containing them. I pulled Isle Royale which is a Michigan island in Lake Superior very close to Canada. I had never heard of it.  A fellow guild member told me about author Nevada Barr who wrote a series of mystery books that take place in National Parks, the main character is a female park ranger.  The second book in the series took place on Isle Royale.  I have now read 3 books in the series, they're light and quick reads and I'm enjoying learning about more National Parks.....will soon get the next in the series from the library.  I have an idea for my challenge piece but am waiting for one supply I need - will share my plan when I get it on the loom. I decided in addition to a woven piece I'll also knit the hat out of the book Knitting the National Parks - I'm ready to start that any day now.  BTW - that book is a beautiful knitting book, love the hat patterns for each park. 

Onward with the day..........

 

More for the secret project......

More weaving done for the secret gift project.  This is a draft designed by Ivy DeHart - forgive me for forgetting if I got it from the Complex Weavers book, their website or handweaving.net.  I got it a number of years ago and didn't write down the source of the wif file.  The design was originally horizontal but for my previous scarf projects I wanted it vertical so turned the draft.  Once I turned it, it was 20H. This is woven in 10/2 perle cotton.  I originally wanted to use a seafoam for the weft which would have been perfect for a scarf or such but I needed a little more contrast so went with a light blue denim color. This morning it is awaiting washing.  

Yesterday was not without snafu's at the AVL when I started weaving.  Springs at the bottom of the harnesses sprung off a couple times, cable came undone from the top hooks and jumped out of the guide a couple times.  Very frustrating but eventually all was well, not sure what the problem was...........and then when I started to weave again I was getting a shed so small the shuttle wouldn't fit through.  I did what often needs to be done with techie things, turned everything off and on, more than once but eventually the shed was back to normal - phew.  The rest of the time weaving was uneventful. 

Next warp planned for the AVL.  It's an original design of mine. I may wind it today........or may get sidetracked and work on something else...........

thinking spring tulips

 I started weaving some spring tulips even though tulip time is 3-4 months away.  These are for a long term project yet to be written about. 20/2 perle cotton warp and ground weft, 10/2 perle cotton pattern, sett is 30 epi. 

Today we have torrential rains which is better than the ice to the north and snow to the east. I'll be staying in to weave and knit while listening to audio book 8 of the outlander series. I had wanted to go to the weaving guild meeting but it's probably 50 minute drive, much of it on the highway with crazy drivers, especially semi's, in this rain I'd rather not be on the road with them.  As a friend on the coast would say it's raining pitchforks and shovels. 

The good and the bad.......

The good - I'm ahead of the game - today I put together a total of 30 cards that will be birthday cards for this coming year.  I wove the fabric last spring on a scarf warp that I intentionally put extra warp on for cards. It has sequins in little double weave pockets. This is a sampling of some of the cards.  I probably should have taken a close up picture of one of the cards - at this point I'm just happy the pic turned right side up once loaded to blogger. I've gotten low on envelopes to fit this size so will have to make a stop at Staples next time out.  

The bad - I hadn't put this on my to-do list even though it was something I've wanted to do for months. Now I don't get the pleasure of crossing it out.  Does it still count if I write it on the list now and then cross it off???

Playing with fiber on turkey day......

We're having a very laid back turkey day which suits me just fine. It's harder this year with no family here locally but we're doing fine. I'm playing with fiber and Sam is watching the Commanders, formerly Redskins, our team as we both grew up in DC/MD. I am making a small turkey dinner but got much of it done yesterday, will finish up in a bit and put a spatchcocked turkey breast in the oven which shouldn't take long to roast. 

 

I've got more socks on the needles - this is sock number two of this pair. Kind of weird color combinations but I like them. 

Over a week ago I wound a warp and got it wound on the back beam. Yesterday I threaded heddles, sleyed the reed and got it tied on. Today I started weaving. It's a networked twill with an advancing twill treadling. The left side looks like there's a problem in this pic but there isn't, it's just the way the light is shining in on that side.  After this warp I may go back to a quilt project just barely started way back in March. 

I hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

This photo has been sitting on my desktop for quite a while now, since right after the last post when I was weaving it. I couldn't capture the iridescence in this scarf and the sequins don't sparkle as much as in real life. As I said in my last post this is my guild challenge - use gold to celebrate my guild's 50th anniversary. 

 I originally thought I'd weave a second scarf but then came to my senses and cut this one off to finish it. Since I'm no longer selling my handwovens what would I do with 2 scarves with sequins, even if I did use a different weft. I suppose I could have rethreaded to a different draft but still, I just don't need more scarf inventory, still have quite a bit from my selling years.  Instead I tied back on and am weaving using different variegated tencel wefts to create fabric to make notecard inserts. I will use notecards......I'll be using a dragonfly punch for the cardstock. 

It's snowing this morning - so nice to see some snow. It won't amount to a whole lot by the time it's over but it's covering the ground and is so pretty even though it's still dark out. 

This and that.......

Yes, I rarely post anymore, I just don't feel like I have much share and just don't have much motivation these days to even take the photos. But here are a couple things I've been working on. 

Susan from the blog Thrums posted this draft. She wasn't sure where she got it from, maybe handweaving.net. I thought I'd weave a table runner project using it. This is the gray, working on a pale sage green now and will do a blue one. I'm using 5/2 perle cotton. I originally thought if I liked it I would put on a towel warp using this same draft but I'm not enjoying weaving it that much so I'll pass on towels. I do want to get a towel warp on soon, also a warp for our holiday cards which I've now picked a draft for.

I did some sewing - 17 tote bags for the Head Start kids. Our neighborhood group of the American Sewing Guild does quite a bit of charity sewing.  This is one of the groups we sew for.  We fill these with fun stuff we buy from grant money and deliver them at the holidays. 

Other than this not much to share, just can't think of much to say...............

MIA no longer???

Yes, I've been MIA from this blog for quite a while. Life has been stress filled. I am still dealing with my cousin's estate and his falling down house, literally falling down.....I feel like there's no end in sight. Also dealing with an aging parent in and out of the hospital/rehab, now living in assisted living but still requiring much of my time. There's a horrible fire season here in the west, the smoke and extreme heat, all summer long, up until this last week......keeping my fingers crossed that we don't return to the 100+ temps but I won't be surprised if they come back.  And then there's covid. I find I can't focus on my art/craft so little has been created that I could share here and certainly no one wants to read about me complaining every single post. Oh......yet another issue, I tripped when out walking and tore my calf muscle, that stopped me from even considering weaving for a couple months. 

As many places in the country covid cases have skyrocketed here. The entire state is back to mandatory mask wearing inside and outside. We never stopped wearing our masks and still hadn't gone many places. Our governor is losing her patience with those of us living in SW Oregon - unfortunately the morons here (most of the population) refuse to get vaccinated or wear masks or social distance. The National Guard has been sent in to help our hospitals where ICU rooms are now doubled up and there's no room for those who have other health issues and have been responsible and been vaccinated. The governor has contracted with private firms to send in medical personnel to help in hospitals and care facilities in our region, hundreds are arriving. And just yesterday our county requested a refrigerated truck for a morgue. I'm not sure what it will take to get the locals to get vaccinated, wear masks and social distance........our county commissioners are certainly of no help in encouraging people to do so, they do just the opposite. So, in the meantime I'm scared and having anxiety attacks.  But enough of this.......

I have actually gotten some towels on the loom, off the loom, then washed and hemmed yesterday.  It's a set of 8 for a September wedding back east. I was inspired by their save the date card which was all in camo outfits/colors.  Above I've used brown weft...........

.....here I used olive weft...........

......here green...........

.....and here a black cotton flake weft. I hope they are loved and used. 

I would love to put on a holiday towel warp but that may not happen. Places where I buy my 8/2 coned yarn for towels are out of so many colors, it's just not available right now as many other things.  I do have some darker reds, greens and off white but am undecided.

 I also wove this yardage in 10/2 perle cotton for our holiday cards. What looked like white poinsettias on the loom no longer look like them after washing. Oh well.........

For over a year I've been thinking about no longer selling my handwovens and other items.  I did slow down on producing to sell, thus slowing down on selling, but it's time to stop completely.  This will happen between now and the end of the year.  There are too many other things I want to weave, sew, quilt, knit, draw, create and if I continue to sell I'll focus on that rather than everything else. Now if other things in my life would fall in line to give me the time to create! 

I don't know how often I'll post to this blog, but when I do have something to share, other than complaints, I will. Now I'm off to do something other than the mundane chores dealing with family issues - I'm going to make a couple batches of what I call my sunshine marmalade and maybe even a peach upside down cake as we were gifted some peaches. 

MIA.......

I have been MIA on this blog, just can't seem to post. Life is stressful dealing with family health and aging issues.  I'm not really motivated to compose a post, too much stress plus I don't really have much to say but I'm trying this morning. I am trying to get myself moving on boxing up some gifts that need to be mailed, today handmade holiday cards will go in the mail. I'm really not accomplishing much creatively.

Last week in-between other things going on in my life I did get a two block twill towel warp on the loom. I only had time to weave 3 towels so far but it's a start and it did my mental state good to sit at the loom threading heddles, sleying the reed and throwing the shuttle. I am trying to use what's in my stash rather than purchase more but I'm running out of my favorite colors of 8/2 unmercerized cotton in addition to white and black. This is not to say I don't have 8/2 - I've got shelves of it, just not all the colors I want.  But I've got loads of greens, I mean loads of it so this warp has 2 shades of green (and natural) and I'm using a teal weft right here, next up a dark green weft. 

 A couple weeks ago I plied this yarn that had been on bobbins for a year. It's bamboo, merino and nylon. I'm not sure what this will grow up to be yet, it's sitting on the shelf 'marinating' for the time being. I am thinking about starting to spin something fun and colorful - I think I said that in my last post but it hasn't happened yet. 

I'm hoping to post more often and have fun creative fiber projects to share in the near future. Everyone stay safe and wear your mask. 

This and that.......

Here are the tutti fruiti towels finished in the 4 colorways.  I've already sold all the green weft ones, sold a blue weft, sold an orange/rust weft one, keeping one for me and thinking of using the rest for gifts rather than putting them in my etsy shop for sale. 

Here is the finished barn quilt wall hanging. All the triangles were a real challenge for me, it's not perfect but I love it and I learned a lot.  I got it back from the long arm quilter last week and sewed the binding on and the hanging sleeve on the backside.  But before it can be put up on a big empty wall opposite the dining room it will be in a display at a local fabric shop that our little ASG (American Sewing Guild) neighborhood group puts up every September in honor of National Sewing Month.  I have another quilt (a throw) to show but not yet - I need to get it mailed off to family for a house warming gift. 

I've been working on my ornament for the year that some family and friends get at the holidays so I can't show those yet.  Now I'm just starting on some other fun small gift projects so can't show those yet either. 

I hope everyone is staying safe and being considerate around others as to not spread this virus anymore than it's already spreading. Stay safe and be kind to one another. 

This and that.............

When I saw green/blue polka dot towels in the May/June 2019 Handwoven magazine I knew I eventually had to use that draft to weave my own version of the towels.  I call mine tutti fruiti, they could also be called clown towels. These are a turned taquete weave structure.  The design by Susan Poague.

Here I used a navy weft

Dark wine is the weft here

This one, currently in progress, I'm using a green weft.  I haven't decided what other weft colors I'll use on this warp, will figure that out after I weave 2 green ones.

A weaving friend helped me make driftwood looms to teach the kids across the street how to weave. I had encourage them to use found items of all kinds along with wool yarn but they both chose to only weave with wool in solid stripes. Theirs are still sitting on my front porch along with the yarn waiting for them to finish them - short attention spans.  Tapestry style weaving is not my thing but it got me enthused to give it a try. The driftwood is held on a frame of scrap wood while I'm weaving.  Once I'm done I'll take the screws off and it will just have the driftwood at the top and bottom of the weaving. I'm using yarn, some commercial, some handspun, fabric strips, shells and since this picture I've started adding sealife buttons. Don't know if my driftwood is too big, guess I'll find out once it's done. There are no rules.  I'll hang it out in the yard when I'm done.

On the house front more work has been finished up.  We took out the arches between the living and dining rooms. That's hubby covering up furniture before taking a saw to the arches. We actually took them out and built new stud walls, they had been that way for several months but we didn't want the drywall guy in the house due to covid.  Notice how I keep saying 'we' - well, it's the collective 'we' as I only watched.

We threw caution to the wind and had the drywall guy come. We could have done the drywall ourselves but could have never matched the texture on the walls so we let him do it all. I must have wiped down the knobs and anything else he may have touched 10 times while he was here - hopefully he left no virus germs in our house. Like this look so much better.  Next up, at some point, we will be painting - white ceilings, light gray walls, white trim, all new baseboards throughout the house. Once all that is done we'll tackle the new flooring. Long term projects. Notice the new black tv stand in the after pic?  Our oak entertainment center was overwhelming for that wall so it now sits in the garage waiting for us to sell it, we got a new wood console, painted black, distressed. Much happier with it, the other one fit much better in our old house.

In spite of our governor being very conservative in loosening up covid restrictions too many in my area still refuse to wear masks even though they are mandatory they seem to think it violates their civil rights. So we have increases in cases, not as bad as other areas of the country but still scary.  I took my mother to two medical appointments this week and have been having anxiety attacks since wondering if I could have possibly been exposed while sitting in little exam rooms with questionable ventilation. I hate feeling this vulnerable and paranoid but that's life these days.

A rainbow......

I haven't been posting much these days, just not much to say...…….well, actually I could say a lot about the state of affairs in this country which mostly saddens me but I won't go there.

I am still being creative, not trying to win any races at finishing projects, just trying to enjoy the process.  I'm still working on that hexxie project, many hexxies are sewn together now, many more around the perimeter to be sewn on. Who would have thought I'd love all that hand sewing so much. I've been doing a lot of sewing/quilt piecing on runners and placemats. I finished another quilt top for a throw that now needs to be long arm quilted, can't post a picture of that yet as it's a gift.

Here's the latest towel warp - needed something bright and cheery on the loom.  This is a view from the back of the loom as I'm threading the heddles. 

Here's the first towel using the blue as weft, it sure tones it down. May use purple and red for other weft choices, maybe black which I can't decide if it would be striking or just too dark - will sample to see.

Roses in the garden after a big thunderstorm. This is a new rose bush I just planted in February in an empty spot along the fence where a neighborhood cat was using it as a litterbox......worked good putting a thorny bush there to keep it away. Of course it's still using the entire mulched front yard as a litter box....……..

Here's one of the red roses.  The storm dumped such rain that most of the roses were hanging to the ground pummeled. A few days ago I deadheaded them so not much of a show right now but there are new buds popping up so it will be lovely again soon.

And yellow - my favorite color of rose. 

Twill and basketweave.....

I got another towel warp on the loom. This one is cotlin.  It's a twill and basketweave draft.  Not sure but there may be one more towel warp in me before I move on to doing some sewing. I've got a quilt wallhanging kit to piece and also a twin (or maybe it's a full) quilt (block) kit of the month project to start - not to mention many other projects. The kit of the month quilt was from 2 years ago - I signed up for it right before we started house hunting so it got put on hold, all I did was pick up my kit each month and store it away.

This whole virus pandemic is horrendous but I sure am liking this sheltering in place, I wonder if I can keep it up after life gets back to normal...….it used to be my old normal but then life changed and there were too many commitments to deal with.