Christmas Presents

One of my goals on my vacation was to weave I wanted uninterrupted time with my loom, I got some of that not a lot but some and it was fantastic.

I started on one of the few Christmas presents I"m weaving this year. I warped my loom with 6 ft cotton chenille, 12.5 dpi Heddle and 220 warp threads later I came up with this design. I like the colors, of course they are earth tones, which is the realm I drift to. I have some jewel tones just to add spice, but really these are the colors of my SIL's house because it's going to be an afghan for her and her walls are Cafe of Lait the sectional is Espresso leather and the wood is all rich deep walnut, really how could I go wrong. I did the Brooks Bouquet lace pattern on the edges and the rest is straight tabby weave. I'm finding that this time the chenille is sticky and the warps are not lifting properly. I've added weight to the back of the loose warps and cranked it as tight as possible. Hopefully I will finish this week, and wrap it up for Christmas. I'm debating with myself about warping for a table runner for my other SIL, or maybe some place mats, but the troops at my house(actually Mr Deepend) is complaining that our place mats and dishtowels are looking ratty, so I may just skip my SIL's and do some as a gift to my kitchen.

As you can see in this close up the Brooks is done correctly this time, amazing what can be accomplished if you follow instructions, hehe..

This is the previous attempt see the difference, those little cross hairs? Yeah I know live and learn, but I like them both and who knows I may use the mock Brooks again.

What's the Skinny?

I finished my Skinny Scarf and wore it on Saturday, I loved the colors and technique Then I went into one of my Betty Davenport books to find that I didn't do the Brook Bouquet the way it's suppose to be done, so I kind of screwed up. No big deal I love the way it turned out so we'll just keep that to ourselves and not over share.

I'm planning on a throw for my SIL's Christmas present and I would like to do the brook bouquet on the edges with some Leno for the design. I have some cotton chenille that will work out really nicely for it, I'll start warping tonight and hopefully finish dressing the loom.

New Projects

Remember my last purchase of the year for yarn? The wonderful Alpaca Cloud? Well I found the perfect pattern, but first I had to wind the hanks in to cakes. I opened the hanks and placed them on my tinker toy swift (I lurve this thing) . It took me 20 mins to wind 4 hanks of 440yds each into neat little cakes for knitting during my lunch hour at work. (Isn't this table a riot, takes me back to the early 70's).

The Sweetheart Cardigan, by Iris Schreier from the book Lacy Little Knits is the pattern I picked for this yummy yarn. I started knitting and it seems to be an easy knit, I plan to work on this one when I go to Knit Club since the conversations are always very lively I can't get too complicated with my knitting.

I also started on this Brooks Bouquet & Leno skinny cotton scarf. I was gifted the yarn in a swap on Raverly and didn't quite know what to make with it. It's Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc Peaches & Creme Ombres 4 ply cotton which is used for dishcloths but I loved the colors and thought it could be more fun than a dish rag. I figured since I live in South Florida we seldom if ever use scarves, but a thin fun scarf of cotton is lightweight enough to wear as a fashion accessory so I warped. I'd forgotten how fun it was to do the Leno Lace and this is the first time I try the Brooks Bouquet, which is fast becoming a favorite. While I weave my creative mind starts to wander getting new ideas, I think I may want to weave a short shawl of entirely Brooks Bouquet. I have to give it some thought on how I would work it out, but it's the next project for the loom.