It's been a while since I've graced the blogosphere, amazing how quickly time flies when you're all caught up in your tiny world.

I've been busy with some knitting projects and my inkle loom and I are the best of friends lately. I finished the Sky Wrap Shawl it was a really easy knit and went rather quickly.

I also finished this Panda Silk Shawl

which was also easy but had a lot of pick ups through out, each shell is knit separately through that method. My knit club did this one as a group project once everyone gets done we're planning on taking a picture of all the shawls together.

Last but definitely not least are my inkle bands and their respective fabrics. I'm still working on some more bands and once I'm finished I plan to start designs the bags that will go with each one. I have a few more to weave and am really enjoying the process of matching the yarn to fabric.

My mom's results were fantastic!! She doesn't have cancer in her lymph nodes and will need some radiation treatment and maybe medication for the next 5 years, Thank GOD. I AM SO RELIEVED. I want to thank you all for keeping us in your prayer and good karma thoughts.

I took knitting with me to the hospital and my mom's while she recuperated, I finished my Marinella Shawl it was a really easy knit with only a stitch legend mishap. The author of the shawl pattern wrote ssk and meant s1,k1 psso for the lace portion. I started the skk and found out on the fifth repeat it was wrong, I didn't rip it out just couldn't bring myself to do so and just continued knitting I used Knitpicks 100% Alpaca lace in Dill, love the results and know I will use this lightweight shawl often.


I took this pic outside this morning funny how the color changes outdoors
and yet another color change and close up of the lace sections.

I'm planning on rewriting the pattern for a wrap, I have some wonderful 100% Cashmere that I used for my Wisp last year, which I snagged an broke. I unravelled it with much heartbreak and will use it for the wrap.

Weekend Redux

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, I hope your day was wonderful. I was busy this weekend with a lot of activity none of which was at the loom, but I did get some sewing projects finished. Another tissue box cover this was a gift for my cousin, for Mother's day, she loved it, couldn't stop raving about it and how proud she was of my creativity. My SIL got the last of the brown warped covers and was equally impressed. Thank God, I thought they were going to be like WTH is this crap, but I was pleasantly surprised, I guess they're coming around to the fact that handmade gifts are gifts of time and love rather than what they cost and name brand.
My DD got me Card Weaving by Candace Crockett from my wish list, that was really exciting, something new to learn and have fun with. The boys also got something from my wish list but it was delayed in delivery so I'll have a surprise this week. I finished this new bag from recycled jeans and some extra woven fabric that was stashed away, I used it Saturday and the weaving started to give out at one of the sewn edges, I have to repair it or decided to use some other woven fabric, still planning what I'm going to do with it.






Did some more knitting on my June Marinella Shawl .
In which I just found out the instructions are written incorrectly the lace portion says SSK which is slip1 slip1 knit tog, well the designer meant s1 k1 psso, arrrrghhhh, well regardless it's staying the way it is, I'm on my 5 repeat and it's 15" long I don't want to rip it out since I actually wanted any easy summer knit.




And finally the big TADA!

I've lost 15 pounds and am really excited I broke through the 10# barrier.

New Knitting

I started the Harmony Shawl it's been a great easy knit so far, and one that I can do while at the chatty knit club meetings, I love those Wednesday nights they're so much fun. I cast on 108 stitches because I thought the 84 would have been to narrow and I like my shawls to cover my back and back side. I also like the color changes in the Sensations yarn, for being 100% acrylic it's been really nice to work with, soft and light weight besides that fact that it's marked as bulky yarn.

This is the stitch pattern close up kind of lacy without the actual work of lace knitting.

Triloom Shawl

About a year ago we put our house up for sale and the realtor asked me to clear out a few of my craft items from around the house. "it looks like a lot of clutter" he matter of fact stated, little did he know that all that clutter, is just a wonderful therapy session for my busy mind, but since I wanted to try to sell the house I obliged, under protest of course. The office building I work in is huge we have exactly 9 vacant offices and I asked my boss if I could take the smallest office and put some boxes in it for storage, he agreed and I was happy. I also asked if I could hang my loom in the lunch room so that I could work there during my lunch breaks, he said "I like to watch you work on that thing since I have to earthly idea what the hell its for", jackpot I thought, so I get to play on my lunch break and educate the masses (well the four that lunch with me at least). I've been working on this shawl for about two months now, and am at the point where I need to get it finished and off the loom. I'm at the last 7 pegs and these always seem to be the hardest, they are, by this time really tight to weave over and under takes a lot of pressure from my hands and after 15 mins I get cramps so this this the slowest part for me.
I remember when I made this loom, and I was in the Triloom Group on Yahoo, there were ladies that put these shawls out in an afternoon, I was always amazed that they could put one out that quickly, it's never been that way for me, but I always work at my own pace, since I want to enjoy the process.
This is a close up of the weaving pattern, it's a cut thread shawl with the simplest plaid for some color effect. I have already had a few requests, for it, but of course no one wants to purchase it, they want it as a gift, pfffftttt.. NO, this is going on to the 1kmkt store and needs to be sold, I have to support the fiber habit( hrmm addiction) and this stuff ain't cheap. LOL.. But only other fiber artist understand that bit of frustration, when they are told "oh you could sell that for like $30.00 and make so much money", yeah right, I could just get rich on that.

Once it's is washed the the weaving stabilizes all the unevenness will subside and the shawl will be wonderfully soft and warm. I have to think about the fringe, I'm so tired of the twisted fringe, I need to come up with something else maybe I'll cut it and just let it be this time.

I finished Midnight, I love the way it turned out. It took some time to get this one completed but I feel it was worth the work. I haven't measured it but it's a behemoth I wrapped myself up in it and it was wonderfully soft and warm and long and just lovely.I then started on this scarf, still in the spirit of grab any yarn you like and run with it.I have cotton chenille, rayon chenille, wool blend and eyelash yarn. The color indicator for this piece was the eyelash yarn, brown, beige, tan and steel grey. Lucky for me I had all those wonderful colors in my stash.I finished the piece yesterday, and I do like the look of it the weft is the rayon chenille and it's almost weft face but not quite and has a shadow effect with the color underneath it that I really like. It's almost a whisper of color, under a steel gray cloud, my DD called this one

Storm at the Beach.

Storm on the Beach Scarf = 7.5 dpi reed, 80 picks, 9ft warp, tabby weave. Bulky Rayon Chenille, Cotton Fingering Weight Chenille, Eyelash Yarn.

Stock for 1000Markets Shop and Art Fair.

I have a few FO's to share, I completed the table runner or scarf not sure yet what it should be, but I haven't twisted the fringe because I just finished paying for a hair twister gadget on Ebay. I hope to get is before the end of next week and twist fringe to my hearts content.

At this angle I could also say this is a shawl. This is a confusing piece, I really need to decide before I put it out for sale, although I could not name it and allow people to just use it as they see fit. This is the chenille scarf I was working on and the scarf that set my weaving mojo in motion again. It's soft, cushy and warm, if you wear this around your neck in winter it will definitely be toasty.

I had left over warp once I finished the chenille scarf and decided to make a short dual button scarf which my daughter named Tasto, which is Italian for button, she thought it would be great to give each piece an Italian or French name. I don't know yet but I do like Tasto, it just sounds right.

To achieve the button holes I wove to the point I wanted them, wove the first 12 picks on each side for four passes with scrap yarn on yarn bobbins which acted as tiny shuttles for me and woven the center with the main shuttle it wasn't hard to do, just kept all the yarn pieces going at the same intervals to make the buttonholes even. Once I had the right size for my button I took the main shuttle and woven two passes really tight to close the top off.

This is the finished piece it really is more like a cowl than a short scarf, I really like this piece and have a few more in mind with some thinner yarn for extra drape.

Midnight Train to Georgia

I stared at my yarn stash and couldn't figure out what to do next with all that's in my head lately I draw blanks on my creativity and always have the fear that I've run dry that my creative mojo has just packed it's bags and left. But a trip to the stash closet, in which I get to look, touch and sometimes even smell yarn and that feeling gets cured in a nano second (thank God, I'd be so disappointed if I ran out of creative juice). As I stood there and looked at the yarn it hit me, I told myself to pick up all the yarn I had in the blue color palette, every skein, didn't matter what the yarn content was, or if it was the right shade of blue or if it been in there for a while, don't think just grab. I then decided to just weave and not give any thought to composition, symmetry, yarn weight, texture with the only requirement or better yet restriction, is color coordination.

I started on this shawl, which I called Midnight then I got Gladys Knight and The Pips, stuck in my head since I started weaving it "He's leaving,On that midnight train to Georgia, And he's goin' back To a simpler place and time. And I'll be with him On that midnight train to Georgia" but I digress. I have a lot of different yarn textures and weight with this one and I like the look and feel of it so far, my only concern is that the boulce is sticky as heck and the weaving has to be careful and deliberate each pass is slow and mindful. I love the fact that I didn't think, when I was warping I just picked up this yarn or that yarn and put it on the loom I didn't make any discerning choices, no thought to which weight would go with what next to each other, just GO, GO, GO... it was difficult to do especially when I normally really put some thought into what the final product will look like. I usually picture it in my mind what the feel, texture, color and look of the final weaving will be, but this exercise was liberating. I think I may be doing much more of this "throwing caution to the wind weaving" I REALLY LOVE IT!

Fringing this one will be a fun challenge!

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.

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.

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??

Weaving Stand Still

I am at an impasse, I have one thread that is so tight while the rest are fine. I have unrolled some, re-rolled and I still have this issue. I'm so not happy with this warp, I should have just packed it away and not kept insisting on weaving it off. It's the left end thread, I'm tempted to cut it and add to it, but I know that can't be the answer. I quit trying to fix it last night at midnight, slept on it and still can't figure out what's up. I may just cut the whole thing off the loom and start something else fresh. I'm finding that when I warp the entire length of the loom the end are always a problem they are either too loose or too tight, even though I pay extra attention and care, because I know this has happened before. This is the second warp on the 12.5 dpi heddle that I make the same mistake, arrrrrghhhhhhhh!! I know I'm whining, but talk about having the wind sucked out of your sails. I've look through my books and none address this problem, so I have reason to believe that I'm the problem or that I did something wrong that I should have noticed. I don't know, I'll have to see what I do tonight with it.

On another happier note I have been inspired to try to make some purses, curiousweaver textiles, is a weaver in Australia and she has been making these coin purses that are just beautiful. I thought I would try to do the same and see how it went. I found www.mikkie.com and order some purse frames at a reasonable price. As I kept researching the web I came across www.u-handbag.com, I was further inspired by Lisa, who does the most amazing fabric purses and she has a bunch of tutorials, which is great for visual learners.

Maybe I can use the warp that I'm going to trash for purse fabric, although I really wanted my shawl.

Warping an Ashford RH

Since the ordeal of my last warping episode, I have been re-warping and undoing knots in yarn. Peg ask how do you warp a la Ashford, which is a direct warping method. I took a few pics for your visual enjoyment, with which, without I probably couldn't explain how I get this done.

You space the loom and the peg at the distance that you want you warp to be mine was at 87 inches, plus a foot or so for the back beam tie up and the front beam tie up. It help if you put some kind of weight on the loom so that is doesn't slide towards the peg as you warp. The book suggests you clamp the loom to a table, but I'm short a table and have the loom stand so, I improvise.

These are pics of the loom and peg set up

On the left is a close up of the back beam, you tie the initial yarn and wrap around the lead stick, mine is attached to the loom and can't be removed with out damaging the plastic anchors that attach it to the back beam.

The picture on the left is my warp going through the slots, when it's all said and done all my slots will have two warp threads running through them.



Then I take my yarn and put one through the heddle eye. Then I have one in the slot and one in the heddle, in the up position all the heddle eye threads are in the open shed, in the down position all the slots are in the open shed, this is done down the loom, the warped loom looks like the bottom picture.

Once I got my loom all warped and tighten the back beam, I'm finally ready to start weaving, the next picture is the shawl I'm working on with some leno lace started.

After all that weaving fun, I needed to relax, plus my eldest had been bothering me (umm asking politely) for a wash cloth, so while I watched the movie Martian Child, which was a really awesome family flick, I knitted this for him. Now he can wash behind his ears without a problem, hehe.. ;)

A Bit of This and A Bit of That

Thanks, for the comments on yesterday's question, I found your thoughts and answers interesting and creative. Now I don't feel so bad with my answer and I'm glad that creative minds have a quick wit. :)

I just got some goodies, because if you can believe this "ALL THE YARN I OWN IS PLANNED FOR A PROJECT"!! WHOA!! YAY!! Not that I am by any stretch a yarn collector, my inner organizer can't justify over buying until I use what I have, really it keeps me and my poor family in some kind of a controlled environment, plus clutter makes me itchy. (I'm sure it's some type of OCD) Since I can buy more yarn, I did (hehehe impishly wiggles the eyebrows). Look at this:

These are called Citrus blend they are 4 oz each = 1500 yds.

The bottom four are 3oz each mix lot = 272 yds/per





The top fourteen are 2oz each mix lot = 187 yds/per.





All are cotton chenille sport weight soft and airy really nice yarn, although I have heard all the horrors of weaving with chenille I'd like to take my chances and try it out myself. I have planned an afghan for the Citrus mix, since the interior of my house is in the green stage of it existence, we've been through the beige, yellow and blue stages so naturally green was next. If I encounter too much worming which seems to be the major compliant I can always knit the rest.





If your interested in some Jenny of Pretty Yarns is a wonderful Ebay vendor, fast as lightning shipping and a real pleasure to deal with.





On the weaving front; after four tedious hours of undoing my latest fiasco (huh) attempt at weaving, we have so far only this,

I know not impressive, but I plan on finishing it tonight getting the rest of the warp on and rolling it ever so carefully on the back beam and for Peg I will take pics of the direct warping which I call ala Ashford style. This shawl has really tested my patience, the DH thinks I'm nuts, he's asked several times, "why don't you just start all over"?, he doesn't get that this is starting all over.

ONE SHAWL, TWO SHAWL, CREAM SHAWL, PINK, BROWN, BIEGEY/CREAM SHAWL

Okay, and with that title you have to figure that I have finished the cream shawl, I'm abstaining from taking a pic until I come back from vacation. I'd like to get a really nice creative shot, since the last pic really was atrocious.

Since I was needing a knitting project to take along and I have this wonderful, and very thin yarn in the stash. Which I have decided to turn into another shawl. With what I learned from the recent pattern, I am creating my own design, which I'm enjoying. I scanned this pic because I'm not having any luck with the camera. I'm using #5 needles (3.75mm) Susan Bates Silvalume. I like the needles nylon cable it's not as twirly as the bamboo needles I use, but the tips oh slippery as the dickens. Yes, they have made me curse twice but I'm getting the hang of it. I also love the colors really soft and feminine.

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?

Cable sweater back, sides and part of sleeve

Tri Loom Shawl Completed!!

Well I finally finished the triloom shawl I've been working on since November, why so long?? No excuses I've been lazy about it, plus since it was for my grandmother, I just couldn't work on it without crying, which hinders sight and enthusiasm. Now my only concern is how to finish it off, fringe, crochet edges or spoolie knit edging? I didn't give it much thought past finishing it last night maybe tonight I'll come up with the answer. It looks squiggly in the center, this is because I could push the yarn over as I wove, my pick was not really that great for this loom, but I got an afro pick with long teeth and the next one will be better. I can't believe I'm already planning the next one ;o) (as is with all fiber addicts LOL)

On another note, I've been working on my cable sweater, at work on my lunch time and I'm getting close to finishing. YES! I'm really excited about this one since it's my first sweater. I've notice that I have some mistakes on the sleeves that need to be fixed, I increased more on one than the other, and the hoodie has one leg that attaches to the front longer also, must be somethin' up with the counting of rows hehehe.. hard to watch Maury and knit and be part of a lively conversation in the lunch room but all in all I think it's going to turn out great. I have about 20 more rows to go and then I should start assembling the back and sides. Can't wait!!