Open Weave Shawl

I was finally able to start weaving the shawl, (excuse the photo Blogger is uncooperative today) It has not been without some challenge the yarn is slippery and doesn't catch on to itself, it slips and slides from one position to the other it's behaving like fine fishing line. In order to stabilize the first few picks I hemstitched them.

Another issue I'm having is that when the shed is in the down position which causes the slotted yarn to be in the up position is is very loose this is annoying but I have resorted to sticking a pickup stick in before the weft to keep it down. When the slotted yarn is in the up position same thing really loose, what I've done here is use another pick up stick behind the heddle for tension.

In the passive position when all the yarn slotted and heddle holes are even across the loom, the tension is fine ** scratches head in question** okay I give - wasup with this?? What did I do incorrectly cause I can't figure this one out. I retied and rolled the back and cloth beam as tight as I can, you can bounce a dime off this stuff it's so tight, if I rubbed coal on it for a week I'd have a diamond.
This is the close up of the fabric being produced very open and lacy I was going to do some leno and lace work but not with this yarn I can't even begin to control it on plain weave and I think I may drive myself crazy with lace work. I'm planning on trying to use some other thicker yarn for the weft maybe the 3 ply cotton and see if it reacts any different. More on this later.

Cones, Knots and Weaving

I finally got into warping my loom after it had been neglected for a while and I must admit it felt really good to get going again. ;o). Since I knew the warp was going to be a large one for my standards, I started ten slots in and left ten at the end, I was having trouble with the cone as I started to warp on it would stay on the floor and would roll around which made pulling the yarn through the slots a task. As I was going along I thought there has got to be an easier way, and I'm all good for easier. I got to thinking with my limited space and the fact that the wall is mirrored, which I should have taken down years ago, urrrrgh! I hate mirrored walls, but they came with the house and since we were raising three kids the $$ was really never available to have them removed and now we're just selling the house so they're staying, but I digress. I came up with this; simple but very effective, some twine, and afghan hook and a crawl under the loom. Voila! easy peasy.
You can't see it in this pic but I took the thread and looped it around the bottom slat and then up to the back inner beam so that it would not tangle and had some tension to it. I was as happy as a piggy in mud, and proud at my solution to boot. DH thought is was great, of course he's already thinking of how he can improve it to make it permanent.
After all the sleying, and tying I was almost done, but this yarn is slippery, really you'd think it was coated with Vaseline. I would tie and do a few group then the first would be slipping, forcing me to go back and retie, this was annoying. Until I finally started doing some nautical knots, a bow knot did the trick and seemed to keep it tied with the tension cranked up, the final pic is of the warp still tied and tight this morning so I guess it's going to keep. Now for the fun stuff weaving!

Burn Baby Burn

Rubysue at Ravelry explained how to do the burn test on my yarn so that I could figure out what I'm working with before I start weaving. So I too a flame torch to my yarns (mawhhaahhaa)! I felt like a mad scientist

From left to Right:

#1 is RH acrylic - melted like ice cream on a hot day smelled awful.

#2 is Patons Tweeds 25% wool 75% acrylic - melted but smelled like burnt hair like a way too hot straightening iron, yep I know that smell ;0).

#3 is Peaches 100% cotton burned just like a candle wick not much smell other than burnt.

# 4 is the mystery yarn and it burned just like #3

So I think I'm safe to say that the mystery yarn is indeed cotton. Now I know how to treat it in the washing and drying of the garment I'll make with it.

After all that yarn murder, I needed to knit and let my yarn know that I loved it teehee. I've been working on the Oblique Sweater and I have frogged this back part more than all of my knitting put together, I know I wanted a challenge and this one is giving me a run for the money. I have read some of the posts for some members of Ravelry and they all seem to have some difficulty starting so I don't feel like a complete idiot. But 5 times is a bit much ,no? Last nite I decided to try the last time and so far I think I've accomplished the pattern. In the flesh I cannot see the left leaning portion but in the pics it showed up really nicely, which made me so happy I just burst into a happy dance when I saw it. Yes, the other people that live in the house think I'm nuts but their use to the knitting craze, especially if I've been muttering at it for awhile.

TA-DA! I know it's not much, but this took me some serious time to accomplish, but I'm on the second repeat and it's getting easier, so I should pick up some speed soon, hopefully.

Mystery Yarn Sparks Weaving Mojo.

My mom has lots of yarn, notions and material, as she was digging around her magic closet, she came across two cones of this. The story behind the yarn, well, we owned a grocery store with a cafeteria and we were close to the Miami River's shipping docks for freight cargo back in the late 70's early 80's. The men that traveled the cargo ships would come in, buy supplies and eat the great Cuban food my mom's cook Ana would make, in those trips they noticed that my mom and grandma, who both worked in the store and cafeteria would knit at idle times. As thank you gifts they brought them these cones of hilo(thread) pronounced [eelo] in Spanish. My grandma crocheted me a dress for my 18th birthday in a royal blue(azul vitral) [asool veetral] which I have to this day, I must get it out and take a pic of it. The colors were always primary; red, green, white and royal blue, I never saw yellow or black. They came from Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Las Islas ( the Islands) or Centro America (Central America) somewhere on the southeastern coast of the Caribbean. It's not much to go on but that's their history, they are at least 20 yrs old and from the Caribbean - mysterious? Maybe, maybe not. What is it really, I don't know, I assume it's cotton crochet yarn because that what my mom and g- ma used it for, so I compared it with what I have on hand.

#1 - is the mystery yarn it is 3 ply I think cotton with very thin tight twist 2.75mm or 2.25mm

#2 - is Aunt Lydia's size 3 100% mercerized cotton also 3 ply - 3.5mm needles

#3 - is Bernat Cool crochet 70% cotton 30% nylon 6 ply cabled - 3.75mm needles

#4 - is Peaches and Creme 100% cotton 4 ply ww - 6mm needles

I still don't know how to figure out the scale of measuring yarn, that more experienced weavers use to identify yarns, like(80/20 or 80/10), I have read it a few times but it hasn't really sunk in. Since I'm visual I need to see the difference to really understand what is being talked about. A trip to the local LYS might help, and that is on my to-do list. I also don't know how to do the burn test I heard of other folks doing and quite frankly scares me some.

Here they are in the order that I photographed the threads, except for the cabled crochet. I did notice that the mystery cone has a super high sheen and doesn't break if I pull on it really tight, I can can break the Aunt Lydias and the Peaches. It is also the thinnest yarn I've ever thought about working with and the cone is plastic PVC. The mystery yarn has sparked my imagination for some weaving, I'm planning a shawl with it as warp and weft since I think it will drape really nicely and I want to see what it does together. Then I plan to try some experiments with the different yarns to see how they all react to each other after weaving, washing and drying. My Weaving Mojo is back and in force, this should be fun.

If anyone has ever seen any yarn that looks like this and knows what it is please let me know.

Donations Needed!

I found this post on Ravelry and wanted to Bless her family with as many fiber helpers as I could, please read the story and donate. She is raffling off her stash for a great cause, to help the most deserving people who have given so much of their lives to others.

Happy July 4th!!!!

USA Glitters






USA Glitters


If you can celebrate the 4th of July, remember to THANK a soldier or a veteran, it's because of them we can do it freely!

Have a great and safe Holiday & Weekend!

Knitting and Handmade Gifts

Since I've been knitting instead of weaving this past week I wanted to share some pics of the projects that are currently taking up my time and energy.The Knitted Ruana from Folk Shawls, I love the variation of colors, I'm not sure about the sage color it seems out of place, but it's growing on me. I may need to find a darker, forest green and put it in there for some extra balance, I haven't decided yet. I am enjoying the fact that I have to purposely think of the yarn choice before knitting the next row, it is an exploration in color sequencing and coordination, really an eye opener to the textures, colors and weights of the yarns.
My base is the beige color which has specks of blue I figured almost any color can be used, but the more I work on it the less that is evident, I don't want too many colors because I know I wouldn't use it and I really want to be able to wear it without feeling that it's clownish, so since earth tones are my game this one project won't be any different to much of the DH's dismay, he always wants me to wear bold colors, but I don't feel comfortable in them and so I levitate to Earth and Jewel tones, I have maybe one or two things in a shock color but not as overall wardrobe, just not me.

And last but not in the least less of a color experiment is the entrelac ghan, (see honey this has lots of color) it's grown seven rows since the last post, it didn't seem like much until I compared the photo 22 rows and counting. I figure I can do 36 rows, which according to this site should be 36 x 48 I don't know if that's right but it sounds large enough. My mom saw it the other day and thought it was beautiful, but she remarked what is it, once I answered, she stated that she wouldn't know what to do with it? (WHAT!!!???) I was defeated especially since I was going to give it to her for her birthday, but not after that comment, I've worked too hard on this one to gift it to another "gee thanks gift".

I try not to knit or weave for anyone for this reason, I'm always afraid I'll get the look, you know, the one that says gee thanks, but it's going into be re-gifted for a co worker I don't like, look (That's what I call the "gee thanks gift"). I use to make hand made gifts for Mother's Day or Birthdays, when I first started beading a few years ago, but since I always got the lukewarm thank you from certain family members, I figured I won't waste my time. I have five SIL's, two of which love everything I make, it could be poop on a stick and they would just love it, for these two I do still hand make gifts with enjoyment and pride, another one of them would have to be something really specific that she would have to hand pick yarn, project and such, for me to work on and that would ruin the surprise of gifting, never mind killing my creative mojo it's the equivalent to me of giving money or having to give from a bridal list and baby shower lists, I really hate those things, there's no creative thinking in it, no surprise. Then there are the other two, which are what the kids today call "Label Whores" if it's not designer it's not good enough, so for these two I don't do much and since I don't buy designer anything, I don't get them much other than house gifts, you know candles etc.. Which brings me back to, I now have a ghan that is without a giftee, DH has been hinting that he wanted one for the couch maybe that's who really deserves my knitting.

New Projects

I have to say, I enjoy weaving and knitting, but right now I have been knitting far more than weaving. I have been contemplating the knit ruana for what seems to be ever. I know it's a garment I will enjoy on my yearly travels to NC, of which I'm already planning for next Jan/February. I finally choose the pattern from Folk Shawls,by Cheryl Oberle
Knitted Ruana I checked the book out from the library and now would like to own a copy, I need to wait on that though cause I just spend $$ on yarn. If you like shawls and need some terrific patterns this book is a must. Not only are the patterns beautiful, but the author gives the history and folklore to each shawl. Did you know that in Ireland if the master knitter in the village places knitting needles in a baby girls hand she will be a knitter. I wonder if you placed a shuttle boat in that baby's hand if they'll become weavers. I will definitely put both items in my grand baby's hands a test that out. hehe.

This ruana is going to be another stash buster, according to all the posts on Ravelry, but I have a sweater I knitted and totally didn't appreciate so it's getting frogged and reinvented or is the new p.c. term would be re-purposed . I guess if your really think about it, it would be reused, recycled and re-purposed, wow talk about going green call HGTV I need my own show! LOL. Here a shot of the ruana just started a few days ago with 215 st it's a long knit, but it's mindless knitting so I can actually watch movies, instead of listening to them.

I also started swatching for the Oblique sweater by Veronik Avery from Knitty.com fall of 07' I've been contemplating this sweater since I saw it. I remember downloading the pattern for when I became a really good knitter, am I there yet? I dunno, but I'm going to counterbalance the mindless knitting in the evenings with challenge knitting during my lunch hour at work. I picked a cotton yarn from the Etsy shop Yarntopia - Hand painted Worsted Wt. Cotton Boucle Yarn colorway is Oregon. Most of the knitted items I've seen for this pattern have been in solid colors, but I want to try something different. I will knit the back and see how it looks if I don't like it I'll pick something different and use this yarn for weaving.

Momma's gotta a brand new bag!

I finished the bag this weekend. I'd like to say that I really enjoyed making it but it was nerve racking! I did the fusible backing and that was the best, thank you all for that tidbit of wisdom I appreciate it. I cut my weaving with minimal weaving fallout and that was a relief. Would I make another bag after this venture? For sure, after I finished and looked at my bag I thought that wasn't so bad, some tense moments but all in all it came out really nice and I already enjoyed using it on Saturday night. The DD even said she thought it was really cute and might borrow it, so I'd say it was a successful project. The first pic is of the woven fabric pre-cutting with the fusible interfacing on. This is a shot of the fabric cut and ready to be sewn, it was thick and my poor sewing machine had some snags with it.Sewn and ready to finish with strap and button, I also hemstitched at the beginning and end of each weave for extra stability.Woven interior prior to ironing.Finished and ready for a night out on the town!
This bag was created with help from this tutorial at Lisa Lam's http://www.u-handbag.com/

website, if you haven't been there please visit it's a great site.

Old Weaving, New Weaving and Some Storage for Good Measure

For those of you who are always looking for neat storage ideas. I found these plastic storage boxes at BJ's Wholesale, they were $ 4.95 for two, they are reusable and can hold a lot of yarn. Trust me I fill both up, they're a great bargain for all that they can hold and when not being used can collapse to fit under the bed or the back of a closet with minimal space a plus all around in my book.

Weaving this last week had been slow, I was unmotivated by the warp I had on the loom I tried to experiment with the warp and it really did not live up to my expectations, I wove it off and gifted it to my Mom, she of course loved it so it wasn't a total loss, she says the colors are happy and really sunny. This was to be the dish towels to compliment the place mats I did a few posts back, but I just wasn't really into the whole thing.

I had finished the inkle straps and cut them into 13.5" lengths to weave into fabric for a summer purse. I started last night and I really like what I see.

The first pic is of the front and the second is of the back side, which was fun to see as I crawl under my loom. I read somewhere, I'm sure from someones blog that they keep a mirror with them as they weave to check the underside of the fabric as it goes along. *note to self must get said mirror* I think I will weave this fabric off rather quickly since I feel really excited by it. I'm starting to think of how I will stabilize the straps to sew the purse together. I had some great comments a while back from my eyeglass purse mishap, about using fusible interfacing to fuse my material before cutting and sewing, I checked with my mom,"super seamstress" and she has a ton of this stuff in her wonderfully over stuffed magic fabric closet. She said she told me so the first time and I didn't listen, but really I don't remember the conversation, (mother/daughter selective hearing was turn on) this time I'm listening cause if I mess up this fabric I'm going to be depressed for a month.

SMALL SCARF VIRTUAL EXHIBITION

Welcome, we are so excited that you have joined us. We are Weavers and Fiber Artists from around the world in various stages of weaving experiences, we hope you enjoy the exhibition, please feel free to post comments also be sure to follow the links below to other wonderful small scarf exhibits.

Autumn and Winter
Cotton Chenille in Plain Weave

This scarf was inspired by my trips to North Carolina, reminding me of the many log cabins, and well worn men's flannel shirts.

Spring and Summer
Cotton, Rayon and Acrylic
In Leno Lace and Plain Weave

The inspiration for this scarf is of an early morning in the sand as you look up at the sky it's still pink and cream from the night drifting away.

Here are the promised links:
Crystal, "Baby-Hugs", PA, USA
Terri Bibby, "Weaving a Life", Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
The Big Gallery

One Size Does Not Fit All!!

How annoying is that phrase? I got a pattern for a knitted shawl, it says one size fits all, but really who does 'ONE SIZE' fit. If you buy a t-shirt one size fits all and your a size 2 you look like your wearing a tent with sleeves, if your a large( 10/12) like me, you look pregnant and like your trying to hide the twins, if your tall then you look like your wearing a tent that's too short. So what's my point you may ask, well I'm in search of a pattern for a ruana, or shawl that will fit me, granted I know I might need to make mods, and that's okay, but not a one size fit all type of deal, because I know it is humanly impossible to be one size fits all.

The last shawl pattern I knitted was a shorty, what I liked was that I could modify the pattern, what I didn't like was that it didn't cover my arms very well no matter what the modifications it didn't work. I used it and love the feel of that particular yarn but the fit is not right. So from there my odyssey had begun to find the right pattern . I think the ruana would be a better fit since they seem to have a poncho like coverage with the shawl like opening in the front. I love this one

GU420 Oat Couture Knit Ruana. Would it be large enough for me to throw the one side over the shoulder as I would like to wear it? I love the look of this pattern I've been drooling over it for a while, but I can't see the pattern until I buy it so I don't know if I can knit it and use it as I want to and that's a bummer. So the search continued until I found is this one, technically a shawl, but I like the shape of it, the colors are a bit too much for me, but I think this one would flip over my shoulder quite nicely and offer good coverage.

Fire In The Sky Shawl by Debbie O'NeillKnit from 1 hank of Alpine Baby from Cherry Tree Hill Yarns. Again, I can't look at the pattern so I don't know if I can modify without major issues.

I have looked in the free patterns at various outlets and am not inspired, there aren't many patterns for ruanas, although there is a plethora of patterns for shawls.

While I would like to knit it, I may just convince myself to weave one instead, there is a pattern in the Ashford Book for Rigid Heddle, although still not the shape I like but that can be modified by the width of the warp and length, so that might be the solution to this wee problem.

What do you think, know of any ruana patterns I may take a liking to??

Inkle Bands

I've been working on my inkle loom and making these bands. I have three so far each measure 60" in length and are 3/4" thick. My concept for these is to weave them together to make a purse, I think I will need at least six to seven bands with handles and all. I'm going to start cutting them and hemming them this weekend hopefully I'll not encounter any problems there.

Afghan Update

I thought I'd update you on some behind the scenes knitting, this is my movie watch project, the DH is an avid movie watcher and rents movies at least 3 times a week so when I'm interested in a movie this is what I work on while I watch, aka the stash buster afghan. It's 32" wide and so far only 21" long at this rate it will take me right up until Christmas before it's finished and just in time to gift it to my mom.

I'm not working the yarn in any particular order just trying to get some color in some sort of sequences which it might give the piece a cohesive look I don't know if I'm accomplishing that but I'm into the 15th color and not a repeat yet.

The Fabulous Five Meme

What were you doing five years ago?

1. Working here at my current job. (yuck it's really been 6 years)
2. Re-doing the kitchen in the house. (think take out for about 3 months)
3. Contemplating and making the decision that we will move to North Carolina, during a romantic vacation in Lido Key, Fl.
4. Attending my first Evangelical Christian Church. (this is where I became a born again Christian)
5. Getting the kids prepared to attend High School. (wow, now I really feel old)

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

1. Get my work done, I missed work yesterday to take care of my grandma, who is unconscious and bedridden, so my mom could have her colon test. How my 65 yr old mom does this on a daily basis is mind boggling.
2. Warp my loom for some more color play I had a great time with the last warp and I want to keep my momentum going.
3. Show the house to the same folks that came yesterday, they were interested, which will include making my bed (see below).
4. Get some laundry started, the pile is knee deep.
5. Get a travel bag packed, we are taking a weekend trip and I really can't wait.

What five snacks do you enjoy? (Really only five??)

1. Three Musketeers my favorite candy bar
2. Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream I love ice cream
3. Cella's Chocolate Covered Cherries
4. Marble Pound Cake with vanilla ice cream
5. Onion Rings
This last one made me hungry, ice cream anyone?

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?
1. Pay off the house and give away to a single mom with kids or a family that are struggling to make end meet.
2. I'd buy some land in the mountains, with a chalet style home and a studio.
3. I'd give money away to help missionaries around the world and help my church achieve it's outreach program.
4. I'd buy a deserted town, and try to convert it to an artist's haven with a schools for learning, shops, cafes, B&B's, antique shops, etc. Hold conferences, workshops , and make it a really great destination to visit.
5. I'd buy a closed up manufacturing plant and reopen it, to give a community new life and we can stamp on it Made in the USA. (you can tell I really dislike that everything in this country is outsourced and we are losing our small home town America, although helping out on a global platform is great, but I think we really need to start helping ourselves)

What are five of your bad habits?
1. I never make my bed
2. I tell the kid's they have to make their beds.
3. I can curse like a drunken sailor, and always have to ask the Lord to help me with this issue. I've gotten much better, now I get annoyed, irritated and catch myself before I start.
4. I drive really fast no matter what the speed limit, and sometimes I don't even notice it.
5. I spend a lot of time on line, although I love the online community, it really is a distraction and time hoarder.

What are five places where you have lived?
1. Placetas Las Villas, Cuba
2. Brooklyn, NYC
3. Union City, NJ
4. Hialeah, FL
5. Miami , FL

What are five jobs you’ve had?
1. Cashier at the family grocery store (started at 12yrs old)
2. Secretary for the OR scheduling.
3. Executive Secretary for Entenmann's Bakeries for the Director of the South East Market Area
(fancy title eh, but tons of traveling and with small kids this job only lasted 2 years)
4. Human Resources Director (another fancy title, tons of aggravation, this job caused an ulcer)
5. Service Manager for a Sign Co.,

Which five people do you want to tag?

I want to tag anyone who has the patience to read this post, ha, your it.

Really no obligation just some clean fun.

Have a great weekend!!

Long Weekends Rock!!

What do you get when you place a motivated weaver, a loom and uninterrupted weaving time? Well in my case I love, love, did I say love long weekends, because I get to start and finish a project. I warped my RH with a color exploration from Plain Weave is Anything But Plain, by Leslie Voiers, but I read the draft wrong and warp two end per instead of one and I added and extra color so I did mine with four instead of three. I really love the results and plan to recreate it with the right amount of warp for a scarf.

I hand hemmed instead of machine hemming, although the process is slower it was relaxing. I had extra warp and I wanted to experiment with the new Textures and Patterns book so I used the 5/1 pickup for window panes and used the remainder of my yarn that was on the shuttles, I made a mistake and missed one of the pick-up, leaving a extra long warp shot, so I need to practice, but I'm confident I'll turn it out and have some lovely towels to go with the mats.

I'm warping for a few more kitchen towel, but in a different sequence of solid color blocks to see if I get more definition on the patterns, as I think the pick-up's get lost in the variations. I'll also experiment with different pick up's and test how they look, that should be fun, I'll get towels, practice, and samples all in one shot.

I also got to snap a pic of the baby hat that I finished, here it is along with the cardi, which are now on their way to South Carolina. I decorated the hat with a pink bow and an ever so cute lady bug button, just perfect for a little girl.

ALL THINGS FIBERY

Sunday night I finished the last scarf for SSVE, I washed it and twist fringed (ugh), someone should come up with a gadget for twisting fringe it's annoying. I've commissioned the DD to take some pictures, hopefully all the photography classes she's taken will come in handy ;o).

Whenever I finish a project I get the blues, like oh it's done, now what? sort of a process of grief, I know it sounds silly but I always feel that way for a day, then I look at the finished piece and get total satisfaction in the completedness (new word?) of it.

So in my euphoria of completedness, I cast on a toddler hat to go with the flyaway cardi I knitted for Abby, it's on DPN's, to knit in the round, God help me. I cast on just fine not a problem understood how to separate the stitches amongst the needles, (always easy with a calculator, no I'm not a math wiz (hangs head in shame). I started the ever so simple pattern I found here on a great blog, thank God bloggers are so generous with time and advice. As I started the pattern I being the idiot novice knitter I got through the K2, P2 rib and joining the piece just fine, then came the stockinette stitch and I thought I had to purl once I passed the start point and knit on the RS, never mind that I've knitting on the knitting loom in the round, this tidbit of experience for some ungodly reason disappeared from the memory bank. Needless to say I had to frog and start over another one of my favorite things, ;o( this time I ribbed and kept knitting, not because I had an "AHA" moment but simply forgot about the start and finish. I just kept chugging along having issues with the needles in my way (how do you guys hold these things to knit so they don't protrude everywhere?) as I knitted each row I low and behold it worked, DUH!!

Yes, I should have known but I didn't realize the concept was the same as knitting with looms in the round, why I don't really know, sometime all the info in my head is just there, then something triggers and the whole right/left hemispheres seems to click and pass info to each other, amazing how that works LOL. So I guess I can maybe think about doing a pair of socks, which is the only thing hubby has asked for and I'm deathly afraid of doing. I would need the easiest sock pattern designed, non wool yarn in sock weight, I don't think I've ever seen any, and tiny dpn's, I don't really care for really small needles. Oh the challenges of loving the DH to death, only for this man would I ever attempt knitting socks.

New Toy and Some Weaving

I got an inkle loom that was a great deal on Ebay. Since I didn't know if I was going to really enjoy weaving on it I didn't want to spend a lot. Well, I love it! what an interesting gadget, warping had it's challenges, but once I got through it, I started weaving. So far I only started today at lunch, since I can take the loom home just yet, ( I have to figure out how to tell DH that I bought yet another weaving loom, hehe).

Warped and started.

Side view of the warped inkle.

Close up of the strip.

I have two 3oz skeins of this particular yarn and want to finish it on something so I'll be weaving strips until it's gone. But I have a plan for the strips - your gonna love this, I plan to then take the strips and weave them into fabric for a bag.

New Book and Some Knitting

Since I can't show you any of the current weaving, because it's for SSVE I'll show you the next best thing.

The new Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle Loom, by Betty L. Davenport it's an update to her earlier textures RH weaving book!!!! I'm so excited!!! ( I literally did a happy dance at the mailbox yesterday, yes my neighbors think I'm nuts, but I don't care) I receive my book for review and from my brief look at the pages, I'm really impressed, there is a ton of information and some really impressive weave structures, I didn't know I could achieve with my RH, I've already started drooling over a Twill Band Runner at the end of the book that is calling (ah - screaming) my name.

I've been putting off sampling from the various books that I own, but I'm resolved that the project for the summer will be samples of the weave structures I find the most interesting . I have a feeling that this book will be invaluable to me. There's a lot of lace and hand mani's that I can't wait to try. I may even start a WAL (weave-a -long) on the RH loom group and get some members motivated to join me.

But before I start I need some help from my more experienced weaving buds; What should I use for sampling? (please remember that I'm allergic to animal fibres).

Should I have color or basic white/ecru?

Your answers will guide my next yarn purchase,(as if I need a push for towards buying yarn, LOL) thanks in advance!

On the knitting front I've been busy with the entrelac stash buster afghan, I've gone from warm to cool colors and intend to keep the sequence going. On my trip to Naples, Fl with hubby and mom, she express such interest in this afghan, little does she know it's hers. The project is starting to get weighty, I can work on three or four rows (which is about two hours) and then quit because my hands get sore, I've never had this happen and it's a surprise, I usually don't have any problems with my hands but then again, as my co workers tell me, the older you get the more stuff hurts, at 42 I'm the baby in the office so everyone, has little purls of wisdom in that department. Really I just think it weighs too much for me to carry it with my non-knitting fingers for a long period of time, but don't tell them that, they don't need to know hehehe..

And for my last shot of the day; this is the beginning of the sweater from the pattern in Knit Simple which was in this post I've been challenged by this one also, but the pattern is written for easy following by newbie knitters, which I appreciate. The only thing I'm confused about are the increases, they are in the front for the allowance of the sleeves, but not on the back?! Since it's my first top down and in the round knit I guess I have to just wait, knit and see.

Mother's Day

Mother's" Day Glitters





Have a wonderful day!!