Before I Forget

Too much going on.  I'm losing track here.

Warps #9 and 10:  backstrap success!

Not woven on a backstrap loom, though, as I'm not yet that competent.  The backstrap itself is rep weave, 5/2 cotton for the warp.  Ditto the end loops. I cut and sewed the loops too short at first, but just repaired them with inserts.

Now, I just need to wind a warp for honest-to-God backstrap weaving!

Sometimes, I Do Good

I bet you thought I had forgotten about warp #2, or miscounted, at the very least.  Not so, not so.  I was just waiting for it to be finished.

Back in September, I had the great fun of visiting my friend Devin in the house he and his partner had just bought.  I wanted to bring them a house-warming/house guest present.  So, I decided to weave them napkins.

The warp is 16/2 cotton; the weft is 40/2 linen.  The draft is a slight alteration of Marjie Thompson's Ms and Ws draft in Complex Weavers Greatest Hits.

This was such a pleasure to weave.  I never thought I'd enjoy something without any color, but the warp behaved perfectly and the cloth was perfect.  OK, there are minor errors and mistakes here and there, but damn, this was real cloth.

I was just SO pleased with myself.

And Darx, if you'd really like that crappy first backstrap, contact me through Ravelry; I'm enallagma9 there.

Warp 8: Oh, The Joy

Or not.

I need a backstrap - you know, the wide band that goes around one's hips.  So I set to backstrap-weaving myself a straightforward plainweave band.  Thick cabled cotton for the warp, something that's been in my stash forever.  Four strands of cotton rug warp yarn held together for the weft.

We won't talk about the two-yard-long warp I wound first, shall we?  The winding wasn't the problem, let's just say, but I will say it brightens up a trash can nicely.

On to Warp 8B, one yard long.  OK, I could weave on this, but oh, I did a crappy job.  It's all of 3.5 inches wide, but clearing the sheds was difficult.  Not for the usual reason (fuzzy cotton sticking to itself), but because I don't know how to handle a wider warp.  The heddled shed behaved reasonably well on its stick, but the other shed, the one with just a loop of yarn holding it together - that one didn't work well at all.  Maybe it should be on a stick, too? I need to read more in Laverne's blog and Weavezine article.  In fact, what I really need to do is print out all the useful bits from her blog and put them in a notebook I can have to hand while I'm weaving.  Digital stuff is all well and good, but it's awkward to access when you're attached to a warp.

Anyhow, here it is in all its glory.

It's a little too short for my wide hips, although I followed Laverne's directions for length (she's much more slender). If I finish the ends by braiding or twisting, it won't go around me far enough. I didn't control the turning of the weft at the selvedges very well, so it looks crappy. (Actually, there were two wefts, each with four strands. I threw a pick from each direction for each shed, so there are 8 strands of weft laid in each shed.)

In fact, this turned out so badly I think I'll throw it out, too, and weave myself a proper backstrap on a floor loom, using rep weave.  One of these days, I'll be able to handle a wider warp as a backstrap-weaving project, but not just yet, apparently.

Rather discouraging, really.  Most of a Saturday wasted fighting with this project, and there are so few wide-open Saturdays in my life.

Warp #7: Just a little band

I wove a simple, plainweave, backstrap band, all by myself.

It isn't perfect - there are a few warp floats and I missed catching one edge thread in the heddles - but it's a perfectly functional yard-and-a-half of colorful band. I haven't a clue what I'll use it for.

It is nice to be enjoying the process of learning, to laugh at myself when I realize I missed an edge thread, to take pleasure in the inches piling up, to not be frustrated because I've learned new skills often enough now that I know my backstrap bands won't be anywhere near perfect for a long time yet, and that's just fine.

Backstrap with Laverne: Warps #3-6

I was privileged over the last two days to take a beginning backstrap weaving class with Laverne Waddington at the delightful and well-stocked Sheep and Shawl in South Deerfield, Massachusetts.  It was wonderful! My brain is so full, I can't be terribly articulate, but I'll say this:  Take a class from Laverne. Just do it.

Over the two days, we worked on four warps:

From left to right: The first warp was already prepared for us by Laverne. The photo shows both ends of the warp.  This warp was just to get us used to working the loom and to accustom our fingers to the process.  The left-hand side is my first end; the right-hand end is after we turned the warp to the other end.  I improved!

We wound the second warp, the brown and orange one, in class and used it to practice simple, 6-end pickup patterns. The photo shows the back of the band; can you see where I wrapped the warp from side to side?  Oops.

At the end of day one, we practiced making a warp again and too the warp home to work on.  I only got a little ways along, just playing with pickup patterns, but I will finish this off.  I plan to finish all of these warps, just for the practice.

On day 2, we wound a wider warp and learned to make heddles over a stick.  Then we practiced two supplementary weft techniques.  For the first one, the extra weft goes all the way from one side of the band to other.  I did the blue and (incomplete) red motifs that way; you can see how I didn't crowd the white warps closely enough to really hide the colored weft.  The second weft technique just inlays the weft from side to side of the motif, with the turning of the weft forming a narrow line up the sides of the motif. Mine were in copper and just a little wonky.

I am so pleased with everything I learned! I'm going to practice a lot more, just to cement all these techniques in my brain, so expect to see lots of little bands in the months to come.  Someday, I aspire to weave something like this, one of Laverne's many, many samples she brought to show us:

Fantastic, isn't it? I might turn out to be a bag lady after all.

Outside Me

I've been thinking about why I'm often dissatisfied with my weaving projects.  I don't mean dissatisfied with the resulting product, although that's sometimes true, but rather that I'm uninspired or uninterested in what I've made.  It doesn't lead to further work in that vein, or not often, at any rate.

Why is that?  Well, among many contributing factors is this: Often what I weave is driven by something outside of me.  I take a class and I have homework or I want to finish up something started in class.  I want to weave a present for someone, a present designed to fit their preferences, not mine.  I want to use up my capacious stash, rather than buy more.

Now, all of these are perfectly good reasons to weave something, and in fact may push me outside my comfort zone.  But where are the projects I weave because I want to explore something?  They don't come along often, but I think I need to make more time for them, even if it does mean my niece doesn't get a handwoven linen tablecloth as a wedding present.  (She may not even want one, for all I know.)

So, here's a project that I'm making just for me.

Let's call it Warp Number Zero, because it's off the loom, but quite recently.  Handspun wools, blended with silk, mohair, alpaca, Angelina, and who knows what. I forget how many different fibers - perhaps 6 commercial batts, plus 2 yarns that I spun some time ago, plus 4 or 5 batts I blended just for this.  The mixture of yarns and fibers yielded a slight seersuckering, but overall I adore this. Plainweave, warp-faced, weft is commercial 16/2 blue-violet cotton.  Thoroughly machine-washed and mostly dried, then pressed through a damp press cloth and dried flat the rest of the way.  About 15 inches wide in the reed, sett 40 epi, warp was 8 yards long.  Destined for, and inspired by, clearly, a Sara Lamb-type kimono.  I still need to spin and weave a band for the front opening.  That will be warp #3 or 4 or so, depending on when I finish the spinning.

What I like and don't like, so far: This fabric has a lovely hand - light and drapy, yet with substance. I like very much the wash and contrasts of colors across the width, which is not conveyed well by my lousy photography. There is one spot where I'd prefer a better blending effect, but it barely bothers me. I can live with the seersuckering, but I'm already spinning for an all-BFL fabric, which probably won't seersucker as much (but who knows). I like the complexity of colors within even just one of the yarns I spun for this, complexity resulting from hand-painted or hand-carded fiber (and not carded particularly evenly). I am interested in spinning and weaving more complex yarns like these, and I need to learn more about how a particular pattern of painting will spin up.  Ditto for the many different ways to spin a single hand-painted braid.

I'll have more to say about this fabric when it's sewn up and has been worn for a while.  I'm hoping to finish the kimono by New Year's or thereabouts.

Reset

There's something about a vacation that makes me think about changing up my life.  I'm old enough now that I've given up on the get more exercise/eat better/go to museums/lose weight/travel more sorts of changes, because changing habits is hard and I'm lazy, but this time I thought it might amuse you to know I'm planning to track my weaving progress over the next 100 warps.

It's all Devin's and Sara's fault. Well, Devin's fault, really, as he has just been able to move the floor loom he bought when he was 13(!) into his new house and, in the resulting fog of weaving fumes, has committed to weaving 100 warps using a certain twill he loves.  All in handspun wool, if I remember correctly.

Now, as should be apparent, I am ever so much more sane than Devin and so I am not committing to weaving 100 warps of any one thing, unless you count "what interests me" as one thing.  I'm firmly into the beginning-intermediate stage of weaving (emphasis on beginning), so I have heaps and heaps of weaving things to learn and try and be seduced by.

If I'm committing to anything right now, it's to learning these two skills:  discipline and patience.  See where I wrote changing habits is hard and I'm lazy up there in the first paragraph?  Yep, I need to work on discipline.  Discipline to stick to a worthwhile project for the months, perhaps a year or two, that it takes to accomplish something I'm satisfied with.  And then, of course, enough patience to have that kind of discipline.

Enough words.  Time for pretty pictures.  Here's warp #1: warp-dominant plainweave in odds and ends of wool around Harrisville Shetland weight, woven off with wicked skinny purple wool (oh, look, I'm too lazy to go look at the cone for the actual size).

Eight yards of warp, about 34 inches wide. Perhaps three yards are woven, so far? I put this on the 4-shaft Purrington late last winter, when my brain was fried by trying to understand everything Laurie Autio is teaching us in Year One of her Explorations in Advanced Weaving class. I needed simplicity. No particular finished project in mind, although it would make a nice jacket or skirt, if it ever gets woven off.

There are other looms with warps on them, but this is enough for now.

Days 121-122

Mindless knitting.  Ordered indigo.  Procrastinated on weaving homework, but realized I have just about a month left to weave 2.8 projects and wash/press/hem/finish all 6.  Oopsie.

I'm also getting a little bored with this format.  I shall think about that.

Day 120

Started Runner #4 and finally got back to spinning the Enchanted Knoll batts.

Oh, and bought a fox, because everyone needs a fox in their yard.

Day 119

Did I do anything fibery today?  Hmm...Oh!  I washed the first two runners.  They came out great.  They still need pressing and hemming, though.  In other news, a four-hour stroll through the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge with a bunch of friends was fantastic - lots of dragonflies and butterflies, birds and turtles.  Ice cream after, of course, and then a three-hour nap to cover from the effects of sun and that much walking.  Life may shift from the fiber focus of winter to the garden and walking focus of summer, and that's OK by me.

Day 118

Wove off runner #3, and a little mindless knitting.

Day 117

A little mindless knitting.  Did I work on runner #2 this morning?  I don't know; this morning was a long time ago.

Day 116

Working on runner #2.

Day 115

Not in the mood.  Too much grown-up-ing today.

Day 114

I finished-finished Stopover today.  Blocked and everything.

No weaving this weekend.  I should have, but there was lots of gardening and a bit of hiking and I'm pooped, plus the tendon on the back of my right hand is protesting, so I'm resting it.  I think it was all the compost I moved.  Which isn't all the compost I need to move.  Ah, spring - the days are longer and the to-do list lengthens even faster.

Day 113

I had to make a run to Webs today.  I'm running out of the cranberry weft for the deflected doubleweave warp, and this is the last Saturday I have free till mid-June, which is just a little too late.  So, now I have more cranberry and more gold, too, for good measure, just in case, and, oh, six other colors of 5/2 cotton to play with on this warp.  I better dream up some more projects with 5/2 cotton.

Tonight, I finished knitting Stopover.  I still have all the ends to weave in, and the damned grafting in the armpits, but DONE.  It fits, too.

Day 112

Took yesterday off.  So to speak.

Tonight, I worked up the design for the second DDW runner and started knitting the yoke on Stopover.

Day 110

A little mindless knitting.  Both too tired and too wired to weave - too many ideas floating around in my head.

Day 109

Finished weaving the first of six DDW projects on the red/gold/silver warp.  That's good.

Day 108

Weaving the first runner on the deflected doubleweave warp.  It's nice enough, but I'm both anxious and bored by it.

And then to Pat's in the afternoon for lamb-watching.

Day 107

Not a thing.  No knitting, no spinning, no weaving.

Unless you count re-reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit. Or all the looking at patterns in the woods and a lovely brook as I took a walk with friends today.

That was enough.

Day 106

Iceland comes to the rescue!  I ran out of the main color for my Stopover pullover (long story).  I ordered a skein from Webs; they sent the wrong color (close, but not).  So I ordered a skein from Iceland, but enough for yet another Lettlopi sweater in a different design.  The skein (in the right dyelot!) arrived today, so I knit with it tonight.

Plus getting organized for the first runner on the deflected doubleweave warp and a little truly mindless knitting on Lichen.

Day 105

More mindless knitting.

Day 104

Oof.  One conference call and three intense meetings at work today, and I have no brain left.  So, tonight there was mindless knitting.  Shortly, there may be mindless sleeping.

Day 103

Re-beamed the runner warp, because the knots were at just the right point to rest on the slats of the sectional beam and therefore stick up bumpily through the wound warp.  A pile of warp in front of the loom and a few sticks later, it was all set.  I tied it up (surely there is a better way!), found and fixed a mis-threaded heddle, and I'm off and weaving.  First up: a nice, one-foot-or-so sample, to be hemmed and washed within an inch of its life, to see if this warp will work for deflected doubleweave.

And the peas are up!

Day 102

Sleyed, threaded, and beamed the table runner warp.

Day 101

Wove off more samples on the black wool and bright cotton DDW warp.  Did I take photos to show you?  No.

Made a decision on the weaving homework - one warp, six projects.  Essentially a table runner warp, of cranberry/gold/natural 5/2 cotton.  The warp is wound.  it may not be the most exciting thing I've ever woven, but it'll get done.

Day 100

One hundred days.  I really am obsessed, aren't I?

Started weaving the plainweave tonight.  The first photo is with flash; the second without.

I had to take the car for an inspection and oil change, and had no mindless knitting, so I cast on for Lichen with some dark blue-green Shalimar Yarns Breathless, superwash Merino/cashmere/silk.  It'll be nice mindless knitting.

I would have been knitting on my Stopover, but the dark blue Lettlopi Webs sent was the wrong color, so I said screw it and ordered another skein of the right color from Iceland (and yarn to make another sweater, this one by Norah Gaughan).

Finally, I played around with drafts for deflected doubleweave.  I might just weave six projects on one warp after all, not that I really want or am excited about six table runners or similar-weight projects, but it'll get done and I can move on.

Day 99

Finished beaming the wide wool warp.  I really should figure out a faster way.

Day 98

Finished threading the heddles and started winding on.  Not too tangled, considering how many overlapping bouts I have going.  I love this warp!  I can't wait to weave it off!

Day 97

More threading of heddles; more putting still more heddles on the shafts.  Almost done.

Day 96

More plainweave threading.  I wish I could capture the multi-color beauty of this warp.

Day 95

Look at that - I did forget to blog last night!  Probably because it was a "found day" -  it snowed hard enough I stayed home.

Anyhow, I finished sleying the plainweave warp and started threading.

Fiddled around with an asymmetric DDW draft and determined that, yup, indeed I do not have enough yarn to finish Stopover.

Day 94

Oh, brain, you are so full.  Four-block designs before lunch; summer and winter after lunch.  And then I sat down after dinner to design another deflected doubleweave design for the 8-shaft loom, starting with a nice 8-block profile design.  I do not want to talk about how long it look me to realize that if each DDW block takes two shafts, I can't weave an 8-block DDW profile on an 8-shaft loom.  As I said, brain is full.

The plainweave warp is almost done, and I have the sneaking suspicion I'm going to run out of the main color for Stopover.

Day 93

You know, learning more and more and more about weaving is fun.  Lots of fun.  It's just frustrating not having the time to weave it all.

Nor the brain left to figure it all out.  Therefore, I spent the evening doing more to get the next plainweave warp on the Purrington.  8.5 yards, about 35 inches wide, Harrisville Shetland and Bartlett Sportweight partial cones, plus a little of this and that, mostly in russets, browns, and cranberry tones.  I don't know yet what the weft will be.  I don't know what I'll do with the fabric, either.  Have cloth, I guess.

Day 92

To sum up weaving homework: floats in Spot Bronson can get way too long way too quickly, and then you have to do fancy treadling to turn half of them into the other kind of floats.

Not surprisingly, after an hour of that, I resorted to sleying and winding more warp for plainweave.

Day 91

Put a new DDW warp on the loom and wove off the first of a few samples.

I was hoping for bigger and puffier bright cotton areas, but this is a nice start.

In knitting news, I just joined the sleeves and body of Stopover and am crawling up the yoke.

Day 90

Twisted the fringe on the DDW shawl and washed it.

Day 89

I took the day off work, so the pink DDW shawl is off the loom, the weaving homework is puzzled over, and a foot or so is added to sleeve #2.  Productivity, indeed - too bad I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Day 88

A couple of feet woven on the DDW warp.  Lots of unweaving whenever I hit the D block, because the damned chains kept jumping off the hooks.  I finally lengthened the chain, which helped, but the the shed was shallow.  Surely, there's a better way.

And some sleeve knitting, to the point the sleeve is off the doublepoints and on a short circular.  Now I shall fly!

Day 87

Today was all about warps.

Winding them:

Weaving them off:

Planning new ones:

Apparently, I'm all about pink and brown right now.  I did not foresee that.

Day 86

A trip to WEBS. Total haul:  one boat shuttle, 2 cones of linen, a cone of dark gray neppy wool millend, 2 cones of very fine cashmere/silk - one navy, one gold - and a skein of bulky turquoise wool with which to mend the buttonholes in my knit coat.  And a magazine, Eucalan, a new tapestry needle case.  I think that was it.

I finished weaving the sized/unsized singles warp.  The unsized selvedges kept breaking; I finally replaced one with the Merino/Tencel I was using for weft.

And finished off the body of Stopover with a few short rows on the back, to raise the neck, and cast on for sleeve #2.  Moving right along.

Day 85

Current score: 1 sized warp end broken; 3 sized warp ends broken, mostly on or near the selvedges.  Yes, I'm stubborn, but I'm learning my lesson: always ply.  ;~)

And I'm winding another plainweave warp in wool.  I like the thrill of using up lots of yarn!

Day 84

The sized warp was dry, so I dressed the loom with it and used the unsized warp to either side, because I wanted to subject the unsized warp to the "worst" weaving conditions.  Started weaving it off in plainweave with Merino/Tencel and, interestingly, one of the sized ends was the first to break.

And carpooling is great for banging out a sweater - I'm almost finished sleeve #1 of Stopover.

Day 83

I sized a bout of handspun singles with gelatin.

And then I talked to Pat for an hour about new Shetland lambs and work and life and how the new fleeces are gorgeous and and....

Day 82

A quiet night knitting on sleeve #1 of Stopover.

Day 81

I fulled the green plainweave - lovely stuff - and started spinning the second half of the three Enchanted Knoll batts.

Day 80

As I suspected, the knobby rayon yarn did not hold up as warp, at leas not at this sett and with flat steel heddles.  So, I trashed it and replaced it with a heathery pink Bartlett sportweight. A bit too thick and a bit too pink, but it'll do.

I may rip out this beginning and add more picks to the dark purple stripes; I'm going to sleep on that decision.

In other news, sleeve #1 of Stopover is underway.

Day 79

A day of knitting with a friend has brought Stopover within an inch or so of the yoke.  Fast sweater knitting, indeed.

And I was seduced by singles weaving.  I dug out some old, old ( damn, I did keep notes - they're from 2010) BFL singles, not terribly thin, but thin enough.  Just enough yardage for the warp of a scarf.  I wound two bouts.  I'll size one, but not the other; I'm curious to see how singles behave.  The cone in the middle is a silk (maybe with some cotton?) noil millend.  I'd have to double it for weft for a balanced-ish plainweave scarf and I'm not sure there's enough yardage for that.  Lots of other choices in my stash, though, one of the pleasures of a copious collection.

Day 78

An hour and a half, and the Norwood is threaded.  I'm still unconvinced this will work.

Day77

Lots of knitting time during two hours of riding to and from work. I'm up to the waist.

The next warp is sleyed.

I think I procrastinate getting next warps on the loom because, oh, what if it's a disaster?  What if the bumpy rayon warp hangs up on the reed and shreds?  What if it's all too busy?  Maybe it's too wide for the length of warp I wound?  But none of these questions can be answered until I sample, and if I'm going to sample, I might as well weave a scarf - a wide one - while I'm at it.

Now, I'm going to go see if I can stick a lace window in the middle of those nice boring little plainweave polygons in deflected doubleweave, I bet I can.

Day 76

Finished weaving the wool yardage, about four and a quarter yards.  It's nice stuff - I wonder how it'll feel after washing.

Day 75

More plainweaving.  More fiddling with deflected doubleweave drafts (less symmetry this time).

Day 74

A day's carpooling afforded enough time to knit up what's left of the first ball of blue, after the swatch, so, since I do not trust that swatch, I blocked the first 4-5 inches of the back.  We shall see.

The wool yardage is piling up.

More fiddling with the DDW draft.  It's too symmetrical, but it'll do for a first 8-shaft project.  Now, can I figure out a way to post it here? ... Well, not an elegant way, but this will do.

Day 73

More weaving of plainweave.  More fiddling with deflected doubleweave drafts.

I cast on for Stopover.

Day 72

Lots of weaving on the plainweave warp.  I like just making cloth, but I don't know what I'll do with this (or many fabrics I make).  Maybe I'll leave it for the inevirable dead weaver's sale.

Lots of playing with the draft for the purple deflected doubleweave scarf, but I still don't quite get it.  I can sub it different profiles, but then trying to also change the tie-up produces the digital equivalent of mud.  And I still want the structure to bend the warps more than it does.  I need to sample more.

It was a beautiful day, so I photographed the February Blanket before putting it away for the year.

And my Icelandic yarn came, already!  Swatching has commended.

I'm not enamored of the motif for the Stopover sweater; it's a little boxy for my liking.  I may try to find another 6-stitch motif before I get up to the yoke.

Day 71

I started weaving the plainweave warp.

The colors are somewhere in between these two shots, one with and one without flash.

It's shocking to realize that I wound this warp (well, almost all of it; I added more once I had it sleyed) on Sunday and have worked every night since getting it sleyed, threaded, wound on, and finally tied on tonight.  It was a little fussy, because I had 6 or 7 bouts of wool criss-crossing each other in front of the reed, so it snagged a good bit while winding on.  Plus, I sleyed and then re-sleyed, to get the width and color distribution I wanted.  It's discouraging to see how long it takes to get even a simple, 21-inch-wide, 2 ends/dent in a 10-dent reed, 5-yard-long warp up and running.

On the other hand, I like the fabric it's making.  I'm weaving it off with a thin dark green wool millend yarn, something nameless but nice.

Day 70

Oh, I suppose I ought to go take a photo for you.  Hold on....

There.  Happy now?

I just realized I've been blogging off and on, mostly off in recent years, for just over ten years.  I wonder what my fiber life will look like ten years from now?

Day 69

Order out of chaos, one end at a time.

Day 68

Sleying and threading the plainweave warp.

Day 67

I finished the last February Blanket square I'm going to knit this year (barring a sudden need for tons of mindless knitting later on).

I'm sad to pack it all away (well, I'll take a photo of all of the squares this coming weekend or so), but I'm ready to do something more thinky now.

Day 66

Productivity in action.

Washed all the February Blanket blocks I've finished so far this year.

Wound a warp for an 8-shaft deflected doubleweave scarf for a friend.

Wound a warp for a random, green, plainweave length of cloth, just because (probably because it's almost spring).  Some of these yarns are handspun.

Helped another friend with a fine-dining tablecloth emergency. (Six-inch drop or twelve?  How to reinforce an inside corner? We resorted to sampling with sheets of paper.)

And I'm a sheep - I ordered yarn for a Stopover.  I'm not the only ewe on this farm, however.

Day 65

Oops, forgot to post last night.

A weavy day!  Explorations in Advanced Weaving, with Laurie Autio.  First of two classes on lace.  Alas, I forgot my camera for her samples.  Normally, I'm not drawn to the precision, small size, and monochrome of most traditional lace, but Laurie had a lovely piece I wish I could have photographed.  Lace Bronson, in 30/2 unbleached linen, mostly, with single, white, 40/1 linen threads that formed a grid over it all.  The white threads were the "crosses" in the lace windows.  Charming.  I don't know who wove it.

And then I knit on the last February Blanket square for this year, or for a while, anyway.  Knitting those squares is too addictive, too easy, and I'm not getting myself to other projects.  Maybe one more session on this square, and then I'll pack it all away.  There are looms calling!

Days 59-64

No, I didn't die and drop off the ends of the earth, although for a couple of days I felt as though I did.

So, to catch up:

Days 59-60:  So sick I didn't knit or weave or spin or even read about any of that.  I haven't been that sick in years and years.  "Just" an intestinal virus, but I hardly ever get those.

Day 61:  Not flat on my back in bed, but not going to work either. Therefore, lots of February Blanket knitting.  (I think it was March, though?)

Day 62:  To work, most of the day, followed by blanket knitting.

Day 63-64: Ditto, but I made it all day at work.  Here's a badly lit photo of all the progress on blanket knitting this year.

See that unfinished square in the middle?  I'm going to finish that, but then I'm going to wrench myself away from this addictiveness and do something wild, like, oh, weave.  Spin.  Pick up the non-blanket projects I dropped about a week ago.

I do promise to get a good photo of all the February Blankets squares some time soon, once this year's output is all finished and blocked.

Day 58

A little under the weather, as in sleeping most of the day and running a bit of a fever.  So, a little blanket knitting, and that's it.

Day 57

Knitting.

Day 56

I said to myself, "I will get back to weaving.  Really, I will."  So, tonight after work and after dinner, I vacuumed the blanket wool fuzz, lots of wool fuzz, off the Norwood.

And then I sat on the couch for two hours and finished off square #6 of this year for the February Blanket and started square #7. There it is, above.

Of course, I'm beating myself up because I'm not weaving, but really, there's nothing wrong with knitting blanket squares.  This blanket is a record, not only of choices of colors over the years I've been knitting it, but also of all the years - 25, maybe 30 now - that I've been buying yarn and spinning yarn and knitting with it.  Tonight, I was kept company on the couch by a very small ball of Bartlett yarn in a blue-green.  That Bartlett yarn was the first yarn I ever bought, to learn to knit with, back ages ago.  I'll knit it into this blanket somewhere, one of these years, along with so many of the other yarns that have kept me company.

Day 55

Knitting, aka procrastinating about weaving.  I may need weaverly bucking-up.

Day 54

Busy day, busy evening equals two stitches knit, just for whatever forward progress I can get.

(OK, OK, so I want to knock off early and go read all the old weaving books that just arrived - that counts, right?)

Day 53

One round on a blanket square, just so I could say I did, because I have fallen prey to the unwelcome thought, "Just why do I, do we, do all this knitting, spinning, weaving anyway?  What on earth is the point of this?"

I mean, I could be doing something much more substantial instead, like watching television or sorting old bills or something truly Necessary and Inspiring like dusting window mullions, couldn't I? Indeed, shouldn't I?

Day 52

More socializing, this time on the coast, so a little February Blanket knitting, a little Glenfiddich knitting.... and then the weekend's over.  Alas.

Day 51

A busy, sociable day (well, busy except for the nap), so only a few rounds on a blanket square today.

Day 50

Fifty days.  Amazing.

OK, I've decided this really is a sinus infection that's bringing me down and making it hard to do anything more than mindless knitting.

Just not enough energy to tackle anything else.

Day 49

Knitting on the February Blanket.  Knitting, knitting, knitting.  I forget, every year, how draining February is.  Yes, the days are longer.  Yes, the sun is stronger.  Yes, this winter is much, much milder than lat year.  But still, it's cold and dry and endless, and therefore I knit, in the hope and faith that every stitch taken in this state of winter trudging will yet result in surprising beauty come spring.

Day 48

And now for something completely different this evening: helping a friend hem heavy white tablecloths for her restaurant.  (With yummy pizza and Honest Weight beer.)

Day 47

See that?  Yeah, shaft #7 is tied up when #8 should have been.  Oopsie.  Oh, well, I bet I can correct all those mis-weavings ...

Later.  In the meantime, I can mostly cope with mindless knitting.