Day 31

The end of the first month.

I sewed the buttons on the handspun cardigan.  Only four and a half years since I started spinning the yarn in the Tour de Fleece in July of 2011.  The first of the Twelve Goals for this year.  You'll get a photo eventually - I need an accomplice.

And that means it's time to go full tilt on the doublewide blanket.  I want it DONE - woven, mended, fringes twisted, and washed - by the end of February.  So, today I wove seven repeats, two at a time.  After all, I bought the fleece for the warp in 2007, at Rhinebeck, so it's time to get it over with.

Finally, I cast on for the Glenfiddich cardigan in the Wendy Traditional Aran gray wool I bought in Oban, Scotland, in August of 2015. Row 5 (and rows 2 through 4 are short-rowed, so quite short) is giving me fits, however, so all that's done is the cast-on and Row 1.  Plus several sticky notes and diagrams, trying to figure out where I went wrong.  So much for forward progress.

Day 30

Another (not) productive day.  Buttons acquired. Enchanted Knoll singles wound off onto a storage bobbin.  Eight picks of weaving thrown, to demonstrate for a non-weaving friend (she was impressed). Perhaps I have calculated which size of Glenfiddich to follow if I'm knitting it with thicker yarn (114% difference in gauge, or choose the size that is 88% of the size I want it to be) (AKA cast on and pray).  There was also wardrobe sorting and dust removal.  I will deny all rumors of the acquisition of padded hangers, however.  Surely, I'm too old to finally be an Adult.

Day 29

Finally got the rest of the pattern printed.

Finally finished spinning the first half of the three Enchanted Knoll batts I bought in August.  There are about 5.5 to 6 ounces on this bobbin.

Day 28

SUCH a productive day.

Or not.  I went shopping for buttons for the cardigan. Nada.  I'm not looking for fancy ones, either, just six simple, black or turquoise, 7/8th-inch buttons.  At least Joann's had buttons; Michael's did not.  (Get offa my lawn, you youngsters!)

And then tonight I bought the pattern for Glenfiddich, to knit in the souvenir yarn from Scotland.  My printer printed half the pages and declared itself out of ink.  Well, phooey.  At least I got the laundry put away.

Keeping track every day of what I accomplish (or not) is illuminating.  Apparently, half of knitting or spinning or weaving is sheer stubborn persistence, increment by increment.

Day 27

Cast off!

Day 26

I see the end of the cardigan coming up and I am knittingknittingknitting the endless buttonband.  Six buttonholes tonight.  Two rows of k2p2 to go, then the bind-off, and I'm DONE.  Need to find buttons, though.

Day 25

A break from the blanket.  Instead, I tossed the stash in search of yarn for the Mason-Dixon Stopover KAL.  Alas, nothing suitable.

So, I knit on the cardigan buttonband - I'm about half-way through.

Day 24

You know, I love the way the blanket is turning out - it's very handsome - but oh, it's such a slog to weave.  Two more repeats today.

But!  But!  The cardigan body is done and seamed; I'm picking up stitches for the buttonband.  Whee!

Day 23

Two repeats on the blanket.  I'm about a quarter done.

Starting to weave the rug sample.  Hmm, the cotton yarn is floating above the wool; I'll have to fiddle with the tie-up and treadling and see if I can tuck the cotton among the wool.  My vision is for a field of dark blue, bumpy wool, punctuated by spots of bright turquoise cotton. I'm not quite there.

The sleeve cap fits!  At least, I think it does.  I'm at the stage where I think, "Was this sweater really worth making?"

More spinning of Enchanted Knoll batts.  Spinning, spinning, spinning.  Thinking about what to spin for a deflected doubleweave shawl. In my mind, I can see the standard deflected doubleweave shapes standing bold as usual and melding into each other, depending on the colors.  Rather like the patchwork I used to sew, where the prints helped blur the hard edge where one piece was sewn to another.

But no snow.  I'm jealous.  And relieved.

Day 22

Two repeats on the blanket and two seams on the cardigan.  Of course, then I realized I had sewn the front opening of the cardigan to the side seam, so really, I ended up with two repeats on the blanket and one sweater seam sewn.

Still, it's progress. I'll take it.

Day 21

Too much of a headache tonight to do more than knit on the Giant Sleeve of Doom, but at least now I'm up to the sleeve cap.  I suppose I ought to fit the other sleeve into the body and see if the sleeve cap fits as written.  Of course it won't - such is the life of a knitter - but perhaps I'm finally experienced enough to realize I shouldn't have to frog and reknit both sleeve caps.

Day 20

A day off.

ETA: I spoke too soon - I added an inch to the endless sleeve.

Day 19

One (one!) repeat on the blanket. A little reading on deflected doubleweave. Real work doesn't leave much time for fiber.

Day 18

Etherknitter and I got the Varpapuu together, at least most of the way.  I need to play with TexSolv to finish the task, but it feels good to have Ms. Varp together again.  What a lovely, solid loom!  I look forward to seeing what she can weave,

In other news, a little sleeve knitting, a little weaving of the rug sample hem, a little wrapping up warmly against the bitter wind. It's cold out there, baby!

Day 17

A little of everything today: 3 or 4 repeats on the blanket, threading and beaming the ruglet, reading more about deflected doubleweave, beginning to fiddle around with a draft for a tablecloth-with-inset-runner, and knitting the cardigan sleeve.  Progress on many fronts, and yet hardly anything visible. I calculated it will take me about 3 weeks to weave off the blanket, if I work at it almost every day.

I suppose what I'm doing is building up patience.

Day 16

It's a cold, raw day here, with a bit of sloppy snow this morning.

I slogged a little on the blanket.

I got a 4-shaft deflected doubleweave rug sample underway.

And now I'm slowly working up the second sleeve of the cardigan, kept warm by a handwoven blanket, sweater, and shawl wrapped around my neck.

It's the time of year when progress on all fronts is slow and simple survival is cause enough for celebration.

Day 15

I have a three-day weekend.  With luck, this pile of parts (plus more)...

Will become a loom.  A old, 60-inch, 8-shaft, countermarche Varpapuu loom. With beams to die for. I couldn't resist beginning to match the marks tonight, although I'm pretty sure I put the back bottom beam in backwards.  Ah, tomorrow I'll fix that.

Wish me luck.

Two Weeks

Still spinning the first half of these three Enchanted Knoll batts.

Lovely stuff, but it's taking forever.

But sometimes forever is OK.

Day ...what is it?...13

Learning about deflected doubleweave and spinning, spinning, spinning and figuring out which cabin to reserve for Rhinebeck, nine months from tomorrow.

Ah, the busy life of the crazed fiber fanatic.

Day 12

Knitting k2p2 cuff ribbing.  No brain for anything else. In fact, maybe I'll just get into bed right now.

Day 11

We have lift-off!

And it opens!

I'm so easily amused.

Day 10

High-level procrastinating on weaving the blanket today.  I started winding a warp for a deflected doubleweave rug sample, with varying block sizes.  I went over to Laurie's house and borrowed three bags of books and magazines with material on deflected doubleweave.  And now I'm knitting cuff #2 for the handspun cardigan.  Perhaps the warm temperatures and rain are contributing to an odd headache, and perhaps the headache is contributing to a lack pf drive to tackle the blanket.

Or I'm just lazy.

Day 9

An afternoon with fiber friends, including wine, a geriatric cat, homemade bread, and Skyping to the West Coast and Canada.  I finished the first cardigan sleeve. Life is good.

Day 8

Pulling out leftover wool yarns, to give to a friend who's planning on knitting hats for charity.

And now I'm going to knit.  It's been a long week and, while I should weave, I'm just not going to.

Day 7

I knit a little on the cardigan sleeve this evening, enough to start a new ball.  Sleeves are SLOW.

I wound 6 bobbins of thick cotton for the blanket heading.  Maybe I need 6-inch bobbins; 4-inch bobbins don't hold much at this thickness of yarn. Or use a rug shuttle, but the shed isn't wonderful.  Hmm.

I played on Fiberworks to reverse the tie-up for the doublewide blanket - yep, it produces everything the same, except the SW and NE quadrants of the tie-up are reversed.

Now I suppose I ought to go tie up the Norwood with the new tie-up.  Yup, ought to do that right about now.  Yep, I should.

Yes, I'm procrastinating.  Not because of the contortions of re-tying, but because I'm not absolutely convinced this will solve the problem, and I don't want to face more problems.

I suppose I could compromise - do the retying and then retire from the battlefield till tomorrow night.

Some days I hate being a grown-up.

ETA:  It worked, it worked!

(That's just the header yarn, to get the spacing right at the beginning.  You'll see the real weft tomorrow.  Or this weekend.)

Day 6

Learning about deflected doubleweave.  I've dug out everything I can find in my books and magazines, and I've been compiling a list of other articles and books I'd like to find.  Plus, my mind is zooming waaaay out ahead of my knowledge, dancing on the edge of reality, saying, oh, you could make the lines wiggle and shimmer, the colors come and go in delightful ways, the smooth give way to the hills and valleys.

I better read something boring tonight, if I'm ever to fall asleep at a reasonable hour.

Day 5

Five stitches on the cardigan sleeve this morning while waiting for my carpool mate.  I hate it when she's on time and I can't get much done!

Tonight, I'm putting some of the usual 8-shaft deflected doubleweave drafts into Fiberworks, so I can understand the common and changing variables (the tie-up changes!).

I'm aiming to work up a gamp draft that I can weave off and see what the fabric does.  Maybe several gamps, or change the tie-up along the length of the warp.  Fun!

And brr, it's cold - it might be time to huddle under a blanket on the couch and knit.

Day 4

A few rows of sleeve knitting.  With my feet up.  And a bit of wine.

Quite enough for a Monday night.  Re-entry is tough.

Day 3

I finished threading, beaming, and tying on the warp for Pat to practice on.  I'm not thrilled with the color combo, but it'll do.

I also finished tying on the wool blanket warp.  I like to let wool and cotton warps "rest" overnight after I've tied the first half of a square knot on the front apron rod, so they do all the stretching and settling in then, rather than as I start weaving. I couldn't do that with Pat's warp (it's 8/2 cotton), but learning how to deal with wonky warp tension is part of learning how to weave, right?

Then Pat came over and we had a yummy, yummy lunch at Soup on the Fly here in town.  Then she started learning to weave.

Meanwhile, I tied up the Norwood for the blanket.

I think Pat is a Born Weaver - look at that selvedge!

I, on the other hand - well, somehow the fold that's supposed to be on the left side of the warp is ending up on the right side.  Oopsie.  Probably just need to reverse the tie-up, but I'll do that tomorrow; my brain is shot tonight.  Maybe a little light spinning or knitting, just bedtime for me.

Day 2

I got bored with spinning last night, so I added a couple of inches to the first sleeve of the Cannon Street cardigan.

Today was my monthly 6-hour Explorations in Advanced Weaving class with Laurie Autio.  We covered 2-block weaves, especially stripes and checks, and, as always, she brought some wonderful examples for us to look at and fondle.

Tomorrow Pat is coming over to hang out, and she wants to learn to weave, so I wound a short 3-yard warp of 8/2 cotton for us to put on my table loom.

A straightforward rosepath threading, so she can play with treadlings.  Warp is now wound and sleyed; then there was a short break for re-arranging heddles on shafts.  Luckily, I discovered the heddle deficit early in the process, so not too much use for all those bad words I've learned in my fiber studies.

2016: Day 1 of 366

I'm planning to keep track of what I do this year by writing a sentence or two and posting a photo, if possible, every time I do something fibery this year.

Since I had today off, I did lots.

I blocked a dark pink hat I knit from deep-stash wool, because none of my hats go well with my new red-violet early-winter coat.

I'm knitting Glenna C's Cannon Street cardigan in handspun (one strand of black Icelandic, 2 strands of Spunky Eclectic BFL).  I just got notice of a correction to the pattern, so I compared what I've knit - the back, both fronts - to the new pattern, and decided eh, I'm not going to bother reknitting the top of the back just for two stitches, at least until sewing the body together or adding the buttonband proves me wrong.  I still think there's a k2top/p2top mix-up for the left front, but maybe that's just my confusion; that part of the pattern wasn't changed.

I copied and assembled my weaving homework for tomorrow's monthly Advanced Weaving class, taught by Laurie Autio.  This month's homework was to come up with lots of treadling and tie-up variations for a simple 4-shaft, straight-draw threading.

I beamed and started tying on the handspun warp on the 8-shaft Norwood, for a doublewide goose-eye twill blanket.  I think this will be an "interesting" warp to weave off, because it is sett so densely; I had two ends snap during the beaming.

And now it's evening and I'm going to start spinning the third of three Enchanted Knoll batts I bought this summer at Fiber Revival.  Lovely, lovely fiber, if a bit more sparkly than I really like; I'm planning a gradient two-ply, for a big lace shawl.

Not a bad start to the year at all.