I made my mom another chemo cap, she had her 2nd treatment and is feeling tired, but in good spirits and is eating well. I need to find some buttons to compliment this one. It my own pattern and I used Caron Simply Soft Paints, that yarn is so soft it's a pleasure to work with.

I've also been working on my neice's baby gifts, these booties pattern is Classic Cashmere Booties

from the book Simple Knit for Cherished Babies. It's full of sweet little knits I got it at the library and am thinking about ordering a copy for my personal library.
Along with the booties I've been working on a Tomten baby jacket, which of course is an Elizabeth Zimmerman classic from the book Knitting without Tears. I love the way this jacket comes together. I'm planning a cap for this set.

On the weaving front, I have selected yarns for my SIL's scarf and will start winding warp tonight, I would like to have it tied up my the end of tomorrow and hopefully start some weaving next week.

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.

The best laid plans always go bust

I had a plan for Saturday that was until my mom called me. Her hair is starting to fall out, not just a few strands here and there noooooo.... in freaking clumps. She was so depressed by the time I got to the house, my heart ached just seeing it. I knew it would happen was even expecting it, but really you not prepared no matter how much you picture it. I spent a good few hours with her, talking, laughing, crying it was soul cleansing. I took her my Ruana and a pair of knitted socks for the next treatment on Thursday, I plan on taking Friday off just to hang at the house with her for the day.

I got home and didn't feel like doing anything other than knitting her a hat, I wanted something soft for her head and decided on Caron Simply Soft paints, she's also sensitive to wool . I got this great colorway called Spring Brook, greens, blues, teal very flowing. (blogger is not letting me post pics today, hopefully tomorrow). I'm almost finished with it and if she likes it I"ll knit her another one, since she has three more treatments to go.

This my friends is a true test of faith, it's hard, it's heart wrenching and has me crying at the thought of what she's going through. If you knew me personally you'd know I'm not the crying type, I usually breakdown after the fact, pillar of strength through the hard bits of life, but this........ I just can't explain.

Other than Weaving

We will have a new baby in the family soon, my niece is pregnant after some difficult miscarriages last year. Thank God the baby and her are doing well and I've started knitting for him, yes we know it's going to be a boy! He's due in July and so I'm creating some larger pieces for the winter when he'll be 5 or 6 months old. This is the baby blanket I started the pattern is from this washcloth, I just increase it to get it to baby blanket size. It's a challenging knit and keeps you very aware of your stitches, especially if your like me and lace is an issue.

While I was recovering from surgery I was also knitting this Baktus for my DD that's her lovely neck sans head as per her request. She choose the color from my stash of Caron Spa, in Ocean Spray, goes great with her green eyes, but not in this shot hehe..

Dishtowel Specs

Left pic - unwashed 13.75" x 31"

Right pic - machine washed and dried 9.75" x 26.5"

Materials 6/2 cotton - beige

4/2 cotton - red

15 epi reed / 4 shaft waffle pattern - Mastering Weave Structures

The waffles are deep, although small in structure, the cotton is soft and absorbent. Should use a finer yarn for the hems they turn out a bit bulky after the wash.

Thoughtful Thursday

Art in any form is wonderous, generous and beautiful.
I got this from a friend via email, don't really know who's work it is, but I wish I did to give them proper credit. The talent, patience and time it must have taken to create this is a cake leaves me breathless.

Chicken Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs

Ingredients:

Pasta of your choice 16 oz box

For the Sauce
3 shallots finely diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 bunch of sweet basil
1 bunch of Italian Parsley
4 tablespoons of sundried tomatoes3 cloves of minced garlic
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Grated peel of one lemon
Juice of two lemons
1 cup of white wine
2 cups of vegetable broth (or chicken)
2 tablespoons of flour.
¼ cup of olive oil

For the Chicken
4 boneless chicken breasts, can use thighs if you like
Flour for dredging
2 eggs beaten
¼ cup of olive oil, 1 teaspoon each of garlic powder, onion powder, dry basil, dry oregano, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Marinate the chicken in these overnight.
In a heavy skillet, pour in the ¼ of olive oil, dredge the chicken in flour and then egg and fry in the skillet till the exterior is golden brown, about 7 mins per side, place chicken in oven proof dish and finish cooking in the oven at 325° for 15 mins. (I use a toaster oven for this)

Pour in the white wine to deglaze the pan, add the 2 tablespoons of flour and make a rue, you can add butter to this to soften it out a bit.
Once the rue is cooked add the vegetable broth, lemon peel and lemon juice, let it come to a boil to thicken. Add the sundried tomatoes, minced garlic; chopped shallots bring it down to a simmer.

In stock pot boil pasta as per box instructions add one sprig of rosemary and salt to flavor the pasta. Cook it aldente.
Take the chicken and cut it into cubes, it should be crispy outside and moist on the inside. Place the chicken in the skillet with the sauce add the fresh herbs, reserve some for garnishing, then add the pasta, toss and let is soak up the sauce for 10 minutes, then serve.

Finished Towels

I finished up four towels last night, with about a yard of loom waste on the back beam.

The one hemmed towel is 13.75" x 31" a bit on the longish side but I expect it to shrink a bit.

Hand hemming wasn't really all that bad, just a bit more time consuming. I have three great towel to keep and one to give to a friend's hubby that often cooks us lunch and delivers to work, it's always a wonderful treat when he show up with goodies for us.

I loved working on the towels and figure that I can get some done for next Christmas now that I have the experience of the first set. I must admit that next time I will work with shorter warp, I tend to wrap my warping board on the long side always fearing that I won't have enough for loom waste, but now I know that I can warp less and not have the tangle issues I had with this cotton. I also have learned that if I make two or three warps at once, I won't have any lapse time between dressing my loom and weaving. If anything, I am learning and that's a really great feeling.

Mr. Deepend has a car show this weekend (he's won 1st place 3 years running hoping for the 4th) this means, I have a free Saturday to play with yarn! I'm excited with the ideas of spending the day at the loom.

Curried Carrot Coconut Soup

Since most of the country is frozen and Florida didn't escape, I thought I post a wonderful soup that I make when the temps are cooling down.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon of Thai Curry paste

2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped

4 cups vegetable broth
3 cloves of pressed garlic

3 chunks about an inch each of fresh ginger peeled

1 1teaspoon of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of corriander
1 12oz can of coconut milk
parsley or cilantro for garnish

Put it all in the crockpot except for the coconut milk, cook on med for 6 hours until carrots are soft and falling apart. Blend with an immersion blender (I don't know how I ever lived without this gadget)  or use an upright, add the can of coconut milk, garnish with cilantro or parsley.

Curried Carrot Coconut Soup

Tubular!

As I was weaving along on the dishtowels (I'm on the third one in red) I needed to steal an idea from my mom's sewing room. She has, for as long as I can remember always tied scrap material to the neck of her sewing machine to put in the pins. As I strapped my loom with my improvised pin cushion I found that this material was tubular, this is the scarf warp that I sleyed two strands per dent. I was surprised and baffled, why did this happen, I know the how but why?? Some weaver's need to clue me in on the why, it's neat, but I need some answers. I research through some books but no answers.

:0(

Speaking of the warp for the scarf I did finish it before Christmas but declined to gift it. The scarf's edges are how do I put this delicately..... well honesty, they look like crap, there really is no way of masking my disappointment with it, I threw it in the closet only to bring it out today to snap a sad ass picture of the craptastic looking scarf edges. The weave itself looks good, I like the structure, which I will try again at some point, but the edges arrrrgggghhh.

Needless to say I need to make a replacement scarf for my SIL, that's the next project in queue for the loom.

Friday Funnies

I got this via email and just had to share, ummmm maybe add to the project queue for 2011??

Tired of no one noticing you??
Are you sick of being ignored? Do you sit unnoticed on the sidelines while others are picked? Are you tired of being overlooked?Get a new scarf ! ! Try the latest scarf fashion and you too will be the centre of attention . . .





We don't stop laughing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop laughing.

new season, new weaving

Thank you all for the well wishes! I am doing great and thank God can breathe with ease . I've been off work since December 23 and have been resting, knitting and weaving. Nothing like a little R&R to get your batteries charged and ready to start a new season.

Since I had some time off I warped my loom, no easy feat this time around the warp did not behave well and I wound up cutting 1/4 the chain off the loom ( I warped back to front). Once the cotton decided to untangle and get it's act together I threaded the heddles and tied up the lamms for some cotton dishtowels in waffle weave. I got the pattern from the book Mastering Weave Structures that I checked out of the library, very interesting book with a ton of information.

I'm working with 6/2 cotton in beige and 4/2 cotton in red, 15 dpi reed, 4 shaft waffle weave structure. I wove about 7" and decided to put in a 2" stripe as an accent. I like a nice big towel for the kitchen and have decided that these will be 34" with 2" seams, once I wash it I'll figure out how much it will shrink. (need to measure width on the loom and off)

Blogger thought you guys needed some head twists so this one's sideways, but its a close up of the weave structure. I've woven about 18" and think it's going really quickly so I may be able to get these done this week.

glitter-graphics.com

May your table always be full of food, your wine cup never run dry
and your house full of good friends and loving family to share it with.
We hope your new year is filled with happiness, health and peace.

Wishing you the best, Bety and Mr. Deepend.

Long time no see!

It's been like an eternity since I've posted on the blog. I have lots to tell but not in the way of any weaving news

I've been seeing doctors and getting all kinds of pre-screening for the polyp surgery (2nd time around should be a charm no?) I've been clear and surgery is scheduled for December 23, after that hopefully I can breath again without any issues. According to my ENT the polyps that I get in my nasal cavity have nothing to do with allergies and more to do with my own body, ain't that fun.

I turned 45 on the 10th and got the news that my mom will need to undergo chemo after the radiation treatment which is now over. She will get a port before the end of the month and start 2011 with her first treatment the second week of January. She is in good spirits and has decided that she will beat it and stay strong through the process.

On a happier note, my DD graduated yesterday and we attended the commencement ceremony. I must say the speeches were dismal, all they stressed was becoming part of the alumni contribution list and how bad the job market is, but hey you got a diploma. Really it was so disappointing. But I was very happy my mom could attend and we had a good time even though we were also freezing with temps in the low 30's .

From left to right; my mom, me, dd and Mr. Deepend all bundled up!

And because all post must have some fiber, I'm still working on that scarf took a pic of it from the side as it shows the back in the alternate color I thought that was kind of cool. I'm planning on lots of weaving the last week of December since I will be off from work and on recovery/vacation.

On a roll

This is more like it, I found that the issue I was having wasn't due to a treadling error, but that the hook to the lamm kept coming off and dropping the 8th harness skipping a thread. I quickly learned to read the lift so that when it happened a second and third time I pick up on the error really quickly. The problem with it slipping out is that when I press some of the other pedals with a similar lift configuration that one particular pedal stays stuck up pushing the hook up with it and unhooking the lamm, it also doesn't help that there is a joint with the metal lift mechanism at this particular pedal level. I've since cleaned and oiled the pedal grooves and that seems to have resolved the issue.

I wove 18" of the scarf and am really liking the pattern and the rythm of the lift plan. It's simple and going quickly, just what I wanted and needed to finish this warp.

got some weaving going

I finally got to weave on my loon last night, can I tell you that it feels great, really I didn't realize just how much I miss sitting in front of the loom. I re-thread my reed with the same warp that was previously on the loom, seems like the never ending warp, but I'm determined to finish it into a scarf.

I wove this sample, and I like the way it looks, but there's an error. I think I need to go back and check my tie-up again. I think I hooked up a couple of harnesses where they should not be.

This draft is what I'm using, I'll figure it out tonight and hopefully get more woven than just a few inches.

1/1/1/2/1/2 Twill: Formular Collection, United States, Date 2002 (Ralph E. Griswold) Draft #8511

Day Trip

We took the kids and their SO down to Key West Saturday for some much needed fun and break. (left to right, me, Mr. Deepend, youngest son, eldest son's GF, eldest son, daughter and daughter's BF). We rented scooters to get around and that was a blast, four scooters all honking and riding around. The weather was wonderful and there were barely any tourist, considering its snowbird season, but since it was a week before Thanksgiving I guess most people had other plans,

which was a bonus for us. As we were leaving I found an orchid tree with one semi-bloom on it, the rest are still in pods, given the fact that it was 80*+ on Saturday and not a sign of any chilly weather coming our way I can only assume it will be in full bloom before Christmas. We have a tree here in Miami Beach on Lincoln Road, (south beach) it's beautiful when in bloom, I'll have to take my camera with me next time, see if I can get a close up.

Hobby Room

This is my hobby room from the doorway with alot of boxes, shrink wrap, bubble wrap and just stuff we had no clue where to store while the rest of the apartment took shape. You see that little spec in the right hand corner behind the wire rack? That my friends is my loom... sigh..... After a few hours of unpacking and unraveling my loom was freed from the mummification of the shrink wrap, hello baby!! The project on the loom, didn't make it intact. I cut off what I had this morning and will re-sley it this week sometime. I'm going to finish the scarf in a simple twill to get it off the loom. I'm in desperate need of some dishtowels and have 6/2 cotton in tan, red, and I think green and want to try some waffle weave patterns.

Mr. Deepend is going to hang my warping board on the wall, which will make it easier to work on, of course he marked the wall for his 6'1" height and forgot that I'm all of 5' 2", unless I want to use the 4.5" heels I have to warp, he needs to re-asses this height dilemma, I think he's under the impression that I might just grow some more. Little does he realize that as we age we tend to shrink, by the time I'm 70 (God willing) I'll be a munchkin. LOL..

This wire rack was a good investment, it's holding my knitting yarns, and some of the weaving cones, my sewing machine and some fabric.

In the closet I'm keeping my cotton small cones, extra knitting yarn in pull out plastic drawers, these are also handy storage units. In the deep corner of the closet, I stored the wool yarn sorted out by color in each bin. I need to spend some time and catalog the yarn just to figure out what I really have and what can be done with it.

I still need to set up the book case and rearrange some things, but I think it's looking pretty decent. At least I can start weaving some this week, I really can't wait to sit at my loom and throw the shuttles.

New Knitting Project and Unpackin'

I started a new knitting project I want to have it ready to wear for Thanksgiving, maybe.... It's a shortsleeved vest. I got the idea from this catalog ad, didn't like the material or the fact that it was plain but did like the concept. My DD says that for this season all the fashion mags are using some sort of knitted vest, duster, etc... I figured it looks really good and it's practical for days that it's cool but not cold.
I ran my numbers caston and figured I could put in some cables for interest. I own the book Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman and found a center cable panel that fit into the number of stitches I had available. I'm loving the pattern and the way it's all coming together.

In other news; I've had a few of you ask me when I'm releasing the loom from its' shrink wrap tomb, well that event is taking place on Friday and Saturday this week. The rest of the apartment is pretty much set up and we can take a break from organizing and storing boxes in the attic and the endless hours of building furniture, how come new furniture comes in pieces and not already built? I needed a furniture building for dummys with some of these items (I'll take pics of the finished pieces so you can see).

I will take before and after shots of my hobby room , I can't call it a studio it's just too small but an improvement over the corner in the dining room I had before :) and see what you guys think. I'm debating about moving the computer armoire out of there and into the living room area, but that will take some convincing Mr. Deepend to move it. He threw his back out moving a heavy piece of furniture (my loom) that as he so dramatically put it "almosted killed me". It obviously didn't kill him but gave his back a good run for the money, he's feeling much better after a good two weeks of rest, but any mention of moving furniture and I get that look of weary terror.....

We are Officially Moved In...

We are moved in, although lot of things are still in boxes. Last nite we decided to do nothing more than some laundry, dinner and some TV watching. We (especially Mr. Deepend) are exhausted, I have muscles that I didn't even know existed that hurt and the ones I do know about are sore, same for the hubby. We set up the kitchen, bedroom and bath, but we are giving our bodies much needed rest for a few days before we start tackling the rest of the apartment. We will be making some trips to Goodwill soon to drop off things we are not going to need, I was right we didn't purge enough but that will be at a later date for now everything dedicated for donation is in the screened balcony and out of the way.

In the midst of all the running around and moving I was knitting to relax and keep some sense of sanity, I finished Baktus scarf it was a great little knit that went fast, my daughter would like one in some tones of grey, I have to go shopping in my stash and see what I have there for her to choose and make sure she like before I start knitting it.