I want to thank you all for the thoughtful comments, well wishes, prayers and good karma. I really appreciate it more than I can express.

I made my mom's hat and gave it some whimsical felt buttons I found at the craft store. I'm also in the process of planning a warp for my SIL belated scarf from Christmas. As it turns out she is not allergic to wool and I have been stash diving through the inherited wool yarn to see what I come up with. I want to do color bold and in jewel tones this will suit her personality and wardrobe.

Once I get the cones lined up I plan on just warping a mishmash of color without much thought I'm in the mood to experiment and just let my mind go into the process for a while.

Lovely Throws

I just got the new Pottery Barn catalog in the mail a few weeks ago, while flipping through it, I saw these. They are just gorgeous, but what really caught my eye was the woven one, although now I know what that Thick and Quick yarn can be used for. I have seen it in person at the local Pottery Barn store and can I tell you, I'm in lurve in a big way. "yarns are woven in a thick herringbone weave", yeah that's what I'm talking about, these throws are sooooooo soft. Well as I'm standing there in the store inspecting (much to my Hubby's dismay), um browsing, I got to thinking that I have a bit of Lion Brand Suede, which I never knew what to do with so I was wondering can this be done on my loom? The warp being Suede, which is really bulky stuff and the weft being fine cotton chenille? or the other way around (taking into account how annoying that chenille really is as warp thread) dunno but I know I want to experiment.

What do you guys think?? Or should I just buckle and pay the $ 79.00 and buy it.

Sunshine / Sunburst Fabric

Whatever I name the fabric it's finished and I really enjoyed weaving it. Since I did as Lynn suggested and warped my inkle, I don't feel the project grief, I'm loving it and the weaving mojo is at it's peak. Mr. Deepend said he will finish my warping board this weekend and I'm going to try to warp for the Structo. I have to do some calculations and consult my book on how to get this done, but it's an adventure I'm looking forward to.

This is the 3x1 pick up I did for the first two sets of beads, the last was a 1x1 pick up. I cut a length of yarn strung the first set of beads, did the pickup in the down position and scooted the beads in place. I took some finagling but I got them in place (this is not a quick throw of a shuttle and some patience is required), shot 4 weft picks and strung on the next set of beads. I repeated the process until I had three rows of beading and run out of patience, This portion of the fabric will be incorporated into a summer tote for this year, I am looking forward to putting that together.

The three sections of beads under tension.

The finished piece is 14" x 10' before washing and drying. I plan to wash in it in the delicate cycle and hang dry. I 've started to worry about the wooden beads in the wash but canl hand wash it, I have to see what I'm comfortable with.

There's a long stretch of plain weave, textured weave, the beading weaving ending with plain weave again. This is the final pic showing all the textures and beading together for comparison. All in all I really enjoyed this project, I surprised by the textured portions prior to washing and like that the beads settled into place off loom and off tension.

Project Journal Notes

Yarn - Handspun Cotton -Oregon from Yarntopia I know I had 8 hanks but can't find yardage.

Pisgah Yarn - Peaches and Creme 4 ply - Red -1 ball, White - 1 ball and Orange - 2 balls

7.5dpi Heddle

2x1 =texture 1

3x2 = texture 2

3x1 = beads slots

1x1 = beads slots

Beads Wooden from Joann's Fabrics

14" x 10' before wash.

Pick up Sticks

I'm reaching the end of the warp and started playing around with some hand manipulated weaving. I have Betty Davenport's Textures and Patterns the old copy and the new one, this is 3x1 window pane I can't remember which page but it's from the newer book. You pick up 1 warp thread and skip 3 down the length of the loom in the down position (heddle) where all the slot warp is exposed and able to move freely. I don't have proper pickup sticks but I do have shuttle sticks and long painter sticks that you stir paint with. Both work adequately for the purpose of picking up warp threads, I only make this point because I've been asked where can I get this gadget and that, but sometimes you can improvise, see if it's something you really need before you spend the $$ for it. I don't use the pick up sticks IMHO enough to purchase a few , especially since I can make due with what I have.

I'm enjoying the weaving and have done a long stretch with this weave structure, once off the loom I would like to wash and dry this portion to see how it looks. Under the tension on the loom you really can't tell what the structure is when you look at it straight on, but on the side view you can see the structure's bumps and valleys.

And then just because I couldn't stop myself I decided to start on a 2 x 2 pick up and see where that would go. I haven't woven it yet but will tonight and then have a comparison pic just for fun.

Cut it off!

I've been working on some hand manipulated weaving with the pickup sticks, it's been interesting and fun but rather slow.   I don't feel as inspired as I should and instead of just grining and bearing it attitude I taken towards this warp, I decided that I should just cut my losses and move on to somthing I want to work on. After all if I'm not enjoying myself why weave just to trudge through a warp?  Na, life's too short for warps that make me feel un-creative.

NEW WEAVING

I started the new year out with new weaving, this is crochet cotton on my RH with the new 12.5 dpi heddle I ordered back in November. This one is just for fun, I wanted to see how it would turn out. Sort of experimental.