Storage Solutions

I finished my Stash Buster Afghan and have posted it over at the knitting blog and after that endeavor I was left with a ton of small skeins and extra skeins and yarn and more yarn and a MESS. For those of you, who've been reading this blog for a while know that I don't function creatively in chaos, some people thrive in it, I just don't. It drives me insane and according to the rest of my clan makes me a tad bit snippy. So what's a girl to do? Well since I bought myself of yarn winder I figured I can cake a lot of this stuff and then assess the damage, I did, spent 8 hours caking yarn, that is EIGHT hours mind you.

After caking and a cramp in my forearm, I needed to figure out how and where to put my supplies, the house is growing ever so small since my son moved back in and I lost my craft room. I work in the dining room and have a corner in the living room that I was storing my yarn but the storage containers I was using were just not working. Every time I went looking for something I needed to dig, not efficient and definitely a creative mojo cramper.

I went shopping for a storage solution that would work for me. I bought two containers that have pull out drawers and started stacking yarn in them once I ran outta room I kept some in the zipper bags that you get when you buy bedsheets, or thermal blankets. I was so happy with this arrangement, I also have a huge bag of yarn and some needles to donate to one of the ladies at knit nite, she wants to give classes to kids in her gated community and needs donations, which I am more than happy to help her with.

Baby Blankets Completed?

Well finally, I finished them, whew! I really had a tough time with these, not that they were complicated, not that the warp was misbehaving, not that the colors are not great, but they were well shall we say, B-O-R-I-N-G, just a snooze fest in my mind, but I'm glad I'm done with one weekends to spare, I can now play with embellishments.

This was my first attempt at said "embellishment", after I finished the very first thought in my head was "UGH ! how tacky does that look!!! I was horrified but it was @ 10:00p.m. last nite and I was tired, so I left it over night. Well guess what, it's still tacky this morning! The ever loving DH said it wasn't so bad, but later confessed that he didn't like it. His suggestion, which I thought was wonderful, is to really use my counted cross stitch knowledge and embroider the name along the side with the dark warp, light weft starting at the bottom, and you think that they don't pay attention, well he shocked me outta my socks, I guess 14yrs of crafting and they actually learn something along the way ;0)

So I dug out my embroidery floss and my book with tons of lettering and I will work on it this week.

New Blog for Knitting

I've decided to keep this blog for my weaving endeavors and move my knitting posts to a new blog at wordpress the name of the the blog is Creative Textiles.

I'd like to keep the two separated in which my projects and ideas don't intermingle and create a mess. I've found that I've been posting less because of all the ideas going around in my mind, so for my creative sanity this should help.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, we here in South Florida are expecting a cold snap oooooohh a cool 65 degrees, I can't wait. hehe

Working on Overdrive

Just as the title suggests, I'm bored with the baby blankets and have been putting them off. Of course I learned that both baby showers are on the SAME Sunday, they can't be put off any more. Now I'm under a deadline, which I don't like, they're just plain evil, but must finish. I'm looking forward to the embroidery part of the blankets, which I have not done in a few years. The weaving is dragging on, like an endless wave of blah.

The top pics is of the lighter weft and the bottom the darker weft

On the second blanket, I changed the weft to the darker pink and its a drastic contrast from the first, still girly but no so much, I am enjoying the color change as I weave with the different wefts although I should have woven a sample in the beginning this way the change would not have caught me by surprise. I have extra warp towards the end and I think I'll do a sample with the three colors as a keeper for color contrast reference. I know I should do sampling before weaving the actual project, I will keep in mind to put on extra when I warp , make my sample in the beginning and then start my weaving project, with the colors I liked the best in the sample. I know most of the experienced weavers are shaking their collectives heads at me thinking "geez that is so elementary, why doesn't she just get it or do it" and by now I should have. But you know, I like the adventure of not knowing what it will look like until I start weaving, it's part of the excitement and it feeds the kid in me, but granted I should see before hand what I'm doing, that way I avoid the mishap of not liking the color combos. I guess I'm starting to grow up in my weaving journey, and the newbie fly by the seat of my pants is starting to wear off, hopefully not totally gone, maybe just a bit more mature.

With this new maturity in my thinking about how and what I want to accomplish I've been collecting different yarns during the summer for a project I've been visualizing in my mind I know what I want the end project to look like and for then next exercise, I will plan my warp and weft, sample and then dive in. This one should be a lot of fun and a good amount of texture to boot.
This is an up date of my Folk Shawl Ruana, it's been slow going because of the heat, but we are starting to get some relief and I'm starting to get the "I want to finish" on this one, it also helps that the coffee shop our knit group meets at is freezing, so I can wrap myself in something while we knit and gab the night away. I dragging this one to work so I can knit it up at lunch time, it should be done by the end of November.And last but not least the afghan progression I'm on row 27 and have three more rows to go before I start the garter edging. Woohoo, it starting to look finished and hubby is happy, since he's been commenting on how "you work on everything else but my colchita" ( kol-cheeta - little blankie in Spanish) Of course I took a pic where it will eventually have permanent residency, his *cough* ahem *recliner, which I finally broke down and agreed to since it was the trade off for my much needed new living room sofas.

Still Knitting

Progress, I see some progress!! After ripping out the bodice a few times I got the hang of the lace pattern, I know now that I have a mental block for lace. I get confused with the ssk, k2tog and the yo's but I want to learn it and so I knit on . I figure sooner or later it will sink in or I'll give up in dismay and only knit in plain ol' stockinette. Of course the weaver in me craves the pattern effect of the fabric so we must persevere .

This is a close up of the lace, which is really easy as it's only a four row repeat, but I knit and listen to the television so there in lays, my error filled lace, I know I shouldn't be doing that, but I'm hard headed and the wall street meltdown has been interesting if not educational, along with the debates, I have some trouble turning it off.
I also found that counting my rows and repeats were getting confusing for me, not that it's a giant mathematical feat, but well, as I said before I confuse easily. I was on Ravelry, which is taking up way too much of my time lately, and I found that the knitters there were raving about a beaded abacus bracelet. Since beading is one of my first loves I was curious, so I found a thread that was on topic and was pointed towards Sutherland Studios
which gave the most detailed instructions on how to make one. This of course is the results of a few minutes to get the bracelet put together, I must add that I love it and it's as pretty as it is useful. There are 9 small beads with the fifth one being a different color, and 10 of the larger beads, a crystal seed bead separator and a charm to indicate which side you started on. The small ones can be used to count stitches or rows once you get to the end of the beads you can pass a large bead through the separator that is #10, in the picture I'm on row #3. It seems fussy but once you start using it, you get the AHA! moment and wonder how you got along without one.

Knitting Up a Storm

I'm up to my dish pan hands in knitted dish towels this is the latest pattern Clover Tweed Dishcloth. I loved the pattern and thought it would be great for my SIL, since her kitchen is all ocean inspired. I have exactly three more to go and I'll be finished with the knitting of the these for Christmas, whew I can't wait after a while knitting these get tedious although they are a great knit for Knit Nite, I don't need to think and I can gab all nite without making any mistakes.

This, on the other hand is my sweater it's the February Lady Sweater pattern which I fell in love with in August. I purchased Universal Yarn LP in WW in 75% acrylic 25% wool, I using my Harmony needles with a 60" cable. I have to say it is really soft and squishy yarn I love the feel of it as I knit, I also appreciate the long print of the colors they almost get around the entire sweater before a color change happens. This is my first top down raglan sweater and it's going well. I learned to make button holes from cable cast on instead of the usual YO, which was really interesting and a new technique. Best of all I love the colors they are just what I would wear and I hope that there will be some kind of winter this year so that I could get some use out of the sweater.I don't have any weaving pics because well it looks the same only with more yardage, so I won't bore you guys with it. I hope to finish sometime this weekend and start to do the embroidering, I guess then the pics will be worth taking.

Actual Weaving

I finally got around to warping my loom for the baby blanket, It's been a while since my loom was sitting nakkid and I was outta practice. I got it warped and as I was zipping along getting into the groove of things

I find this, arrrrgggghhhhh a knot! In the middle of the skein after I've threaded 6 wraps through. Yes I was annoyed but I wasn't about to undo any of the wraps since I was getting close to the end of the yarn and didn't want to risk not having enough to finish.

Once I got over myself, I started to weave, and my back started to ache, I guess four hours of warping and weaving was all I could stand, I'd forgotten about that part but was quickly, if not painfully reminded. I like the colors and the stripes, I want to embelish them after I'm done with some embroidered flowers, ribbon and cute buttons.
This is 12" of 36" x 2 blankets, I guess @ four hours per session I should be done in a few days.

Tenacity

I have the flu, so if this following is sporadic, please excuse me, I'm in a self medicated over the counter drug induced state of mind or better out of mind:

I wanted to share a few more photos of my vacation with you all along with the weaving loom pics that I found in the Holyland Experience I also have these pic of the model of Jerusalem A.D. 66 as you can see it's large and the detail was fantastic, I found that this exhibit captured my attention in an interesting way. Everything here was hand painted, all the people have faces and expressions, nothing was left untouched by the artists' hands. The detail and time it took to build (seven years, and three to paint) really hit me; just the tenacity of the team that worked on it, really was amazing and inspiring. The artist in me wanted to touch it, feel the pieces, but I was not allowed, I wonder what makes us want to touch and feel things, I find I want to do this all the time as if my hands can relate a different message to my brain than my eyes.
Of course I thought well, that's how we in the fibre community also work whether you work alone, in a guild or workshops it takes years of weaving or knitting, handling fibre, playing, sampling, swatching, creating and tinkering before we come up with, if we ever do, a perfect piece of fabric. A fabric that satisfies the soul, mind and heart, wouldn't that be a sight!
Funny how all creative and inspired artists tend to have the same bend to satisfy yourself with creativity, beauty and work. Even though you may not be happy with what you create, it's still a product of your mind's eye, what you think it should look like visually, feel like texturally. It's a powerful statement that artists make; expression of self and the ability to inspire.

SPARED

I'd like to thank you guys for your concern I really appreciate it. Ike is in Cuba destroying the island as I type today. It's expected to merge out of there on Wednesday and then go into the Gulf of Mexico where it will again intensify and head towards the gulf states, again. I feel for all of you in those states, it's been relentless. I pray for your safety and an end to this season, which has been very active and destructive.

STORMS, HURRICANES AND IKE

We here in Florida are use to the six month hurricane season, most people get six months of winter, we on the other hand have the chance of losing property and life every six months, exciting huh?? Well not really, most seasons not much happens, which we can thank God for, but then there are season like this one, where we are watching three storms lined up like duckies just anticipating what, where and when they will hit and how hard will they hit. We are boarding up as I type, which in itself is morbid, since in darkens the house to the point where you need night vision goggles to go to the bathroom. I don't particularly like to not see the outside world, but safety supersedes the Claustrophobic atmosphere. I pray that the storm will take the path of least resistance and go into the North Atlantic far from any land mass, this one is a serious storm a Cat 3 or 4 by the time it gets here and that is a scary thought, even scarier is when the newscaster tell us to "hunker down" I hate those words, cause with a cat 3 or more no matter what kind of "hunkering down" you do, your butts' in serious trouble if it's a direct hit.

So my friends, if the power goes out, I'll be incommunicado for a while, prayerfully we won't get much and everyone will be all right.

I'M BACK!!

I had a great vacation and am back to my daily routine, amazing how hard it is to come back into your normal life after a few days. We visited the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Animal Kingdom and Epcot, by far my favorite Disney Parks. Although I think that Disney should change the jingle from "the happiest place on earth" to " the most aggravating place for parents on earth". I love kids, I have three of my own, but I witnessed the total meltdown of both parents and kids at least a dozen times this weekend. It was scary and wickedly funny, cause really does anyone think that kids at Disney are not over stimulated, tired or cranky by 4:00 in the afternoon? Well obviously I saw a few parents who missed that tidbit.

This is the Weaver's Loom in Holy Land it was an interesting upright loom with pegs, the actress playing the part didn't know anything about it or weaving, but she was a sweet girl. She didn't even have a beating fork and was using a carpenter's file to beat the weft in place very odd to see, this is what was on the loom and she said they would use it for a rug at one of the exhibits. Each one of the weft pegs were holding up to 10 picks each, which made for a dense fabric. This is a pic of a woven fabric I saw at the Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom it was faded and worn from the sun and rain, but the embroidery was outstanding.

Then this is a panel from the same attraction, although not woven but carved, I found that the colors were really vibrant and the pattern just spoke to me, I loved this one and thought it would make an insanely beautiful tapestry, if I ever intend to play with that medium some day. After a few shots like these the hubster was starting to get antsy, and asked me to please curtail the weaving, knitting picture taking for the vacation. So I did, although in hindsight I really should have taken some pics of the Moroccan textiles, but I know I'll be back there so no big deal.

And since we drove to and fro, I got to finish these baby wash cloths at least half of the presents are finished on these two sets.

So all in all I had a great time and enjoyed the time off, but I'm also glad to be back, as I have a lot of ideas and plans for my fiber crafts.

Baby Wash Cloths

Isn't this cute? These are the first of a set of wash cloths to go with the woven blankets. The pattern is Baby Genius Burp Cloth from Mason Dixon Knitting Book I got mine at the library but I'm thinking I will need a copy for my library, there are a few really nice projects in it that I would like to make.
I ran out of the colorful yarn and need to get more, I also ran out of yarn as I was warping my loom for the blanket, it seems that this was the theme this weekend, start, create, run out of material, stop, pickup something else and start again, it was very erratic and I so don't like to work that way but, since it was pouring out due to Tropical Storm Fay, I decided that it could wait until the weekly shopping trip.

I'VE BEEN BUSY ... REALLY I HAVE

I got these, yes they are sock yarn and DPN's my hubster wants sock so I broke down and am going to attempt to knit plain socks for size 12 skies (um feet). Then I got this, which is a tinker toy swift, why cause I needed one and saw this post and thought WOW how cool and I don't need to spend that much $$. So with the detailed instructions from Jen's blog I built my swift. Neat uh? Oh the thing at the bottom of the pic is a toilet tissue cardboard center with packing tape wrapped around it.

So when you combine the tinker toys with toilet paper roll and you do it correctly you get this a center pull ball of yarn that is fab-u-lous!!And just in case you guys thought I was slacking I made these they are Tawashi - Japanese for washcloth ( Meg am I right?) although I looked it up in Wiki and it was very different cause maybe I can't trust the people on Raverly, hehe just kidding I love you guys! Tawashi Town is a Raverly group and someone posted that in Japan, tawashi's are made of antibacterial acrylic yarn and you don't need soap to clean with them, I'm not going to try it cause mine are cotton and I as a rule use a sponge, but that's what was posted and I thought I'd share it with you all. The pattern was in Japanese with diagrams which I was thankful for. It's crochet and I haven't done in eons, so I needed practice and some help (thanks mom). This was challenging but oh so cute.

I don't know if I'm going to incorporate them into a hand towels for my SIL but I really like them they fit in the palm of your hand. Yet another decision to be made.

Do I take this or that??

I planned a trip to visit the Mouse House "Disney" for my hubby's b-day, for Labor day weekend the man just loves to go to the "Happiest Place on Earth" and since it's only a four hour drive, I can't complain. I wanted a cruise but our passports are not in and we kinda need those cause not being let back in is scary, and God only knows that Cuba is not an option.

As a fiber person, you know I must take along some knitting, if I could fit the RH in the car I'd take that too, but since we are going in his Corvette, it doesn't fit, I hardly fit but that's another story.

I find it amusing that other people worry about what clothes to pack and me; I worry about which project needs undivided attention for an 8 hour car trip, but I know in my heart that I'm not the only one as I have read countless blogs on this very topic.

So should I take the entrelac ghan which is languishing because it's too hot to have it sitting on my lap or

the Ruana which has befallen the same fate.

Should I start on the baby wash cloths that will go with the woven baby blankies for babies that are due in December, or the tunic which is frustrating me to no ends and finally the Incan Tunic that has but the collar started, ah all of life's decisions should be this complicated.

New Knitting Bag

I wove this fabric in January 2008, it was a sampler for the 12.5 DPI heddle I'd gotten.
Being my mother's daughter I didn't get rid of it and put it in "my magic closet" ( I'm really starting to act like my mom ;0D) for when I thought I might use it in some project or other.

Yesterday, I had the day off due to Tropical Storm Fay(which was a wind blower and soaker but thank God not damaging) I was so excited to not have anything planned other than my fiber per suits. YIPPEEEE!!! I'd been shopping for a knitting bag, nothing too big or small with just the right pockets for my things. I've seen some really nice and $$$$ bags, but really I would rather spend the moola on more yarn especially weaving yarn since I need to get going on the Christmas list. I decided that I could experiment with this piece of sample fabric and see what I could come up with.

If I can toot my own horn, I was quite smitten and a bit smug when I finished, although it posed a challenge I think it was worth the effort. So tonight at knit group I'll have a new bag to show off. ;0)

Textural Woven Eye Candy

I was looking through the new Crate & Barrel catalog and found some very interesting textural and woven items. The first is a really beautiful table runner which can easily be made on an RH and is currently at the top of my to do list for Christmas Presents I thought the colors on this one were very complimentary. The rug is made of felted wool strips, an that was something I have not seen. In this set I loved the texture of the rugs, although I don't think I can do rag rugs on my loom, I like the colors and structures of these.

Then there are these pillows, WOW!! talk about a pop of color, very entertaining to the eye. I checked my weaving files and notes and I have something close to this warp in the Mary Atwater booklet for the inkle loom. Yet another item that can be achieve on my RH and on the to do list.

It's not that I don't get enough inspiration from all the weaving blogs, and believe me there are a bunch that I absolutely love, but few can be accomplished on my loom, so when I do find pictures of recognizable weave structures I can accomplish I get kinda giddy so bare with me.

Lacy Loveliness

I bought this beautiful linen blend yarn with the intentions of knitting this, February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne, which I totally loved when I saw it, but then I scheduled vacation for DH's birthday weekend and found that I needed a shrug to go with a dress that I have for DH's birthday dinner it's a fancy shmancy place with jackets required for men, but I digress. The dress is really pretty but has no sleeves, last time I wore it I had a shawl, and it became a drag to wear the entire evening, so I decided a shrug was in order and this yarn perfectly matches the dress, hum what a coinkydink. (earth tones; they just haunt me, hehe) I decided on a pattern for the shrug "Simple Lace Shrug" by Lisa Sisk, thank you Ravelry for all the freebie patterns and tips what a great community, if you don't belong sign up as quickly as your clicker can take you there! So I cast on and improvised as I went along, I wanted my shrug longer in the back and in the arms and so I adjusted accordingly. So far this is the results of my knitting.

I like this pattern this is the first time I knit anything lacy and I like the effect, but now I also understand why anyone who knits lace loves the pointy needles, I need to get my Harmony set from Knit Picks if I plan to be knitting lace, ah, just another reason to buy more fiber related goodies.

Really!? Can you pay cash?

Considering I have some really nice knitting that I have been working on to show you all but blogger doesn't want to upload pics, yet again today I thought I'd have a fire sale. Any takers??

My blog is worth $9,032.64.
How much is your blog worth?

Woven Failure, Lessons Learned

I just noticed that I haven't posted anything for weeks, shame on me but in my defense I have been sucked into the massive underworld called Ravelry, WOW is that community huge and lots of fun by the way.


My weaving update, well I've been working on the light weight shawl after many difficulties and weaving mistakes I couldn't bear to weave two picks every ten minutes to then find mistakes and unweave 4 picks below that. The warp was not cooperating and was not lifting and lowering under any tension, I was aggravated beyond words and after two days and no progress I cut the warp off my loom.


This pic is of the loom warped with the second cotton which was Aunt Lydias 3, the weave was tighter but the warp of gassed cotton was not lifting.



This is a pic of the gassed cotton warp and weft, before washing and drying,totally unstable.




This final pic is of the top portion of gassed warp/weft and the bottom of gassed warp/ #3 weft. I have to say that after the wash the instabilities was significantly less noticeable, and in the bottom portion it was gone. I have about 4' of fabric that I plan to sew in to a project bag as to not waste the yarn and keep the sample useful.On another note,I have been informed that there are two more babies on the way, both girls so the next warp and weft will be for simple yet satisfying baby blankies. I need a break from the mind blogging stuff for a while, and to think Christmas is just around the corner and not one thing has been finished, not knitted or woven. AH - such is the life of a fiber artist if I can call myself that these days.

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.