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.

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.