Day 45 - Brr!

Well, I tried to finish weaving the doublewide blanket, but I got through two repeats and a bit, and gave up because that room - a former garage - was just too cold.  It was around -10 F, with a wind chill of -25 or so.  COLD!

Instead, I camped out on the couch with knitting.

Assorted blankets and shawls were called into action just to keep me warm!

Day 44

Two repeats on the goose-eye blanket.  Slowly, slowly, the knots approach the back of the heddles.

Adding to square #3 of the February Blanket:

And a few rows on Glenfiddich:

Day 43

One - one! - repeat on the twill blanket.  Lots of unweaving, though, until I realized one of the tie-up cords had come undone. Oopsie.

And 5 or 6 rows on Glenfiddich.

Day 42

A few rounds on a new February Blanket square while waiting for my (late) carpool. And that was it for today.

Day 41

Knitting, knitting, knitting.

Knitting while I wait for the (late) carpool.  Knitting while I ride in the carpool.  Knitting while I take the train to Boston for work.  Knitting in the evening because my brain is too shot for weaving.

At least this square is better looking than the first one this month, which I think I'll frog back part way and reknit.

After I weave in the ends on this one.

Day 40

Two blanket repeats woven.

Quite a lot knit on a February Blanket square, in large part because finally it is light enough in the morning and evening that I can knit while I'm carpooling.  It's turning towards spring!  (after another couple months of winter)

Day 39

Two repeats on the woven blanket, twelve rounds on a new February Blanket square.  Life is so ordinary, isn't it?

Day 38

Two repeats on the doublewide blanket.

Two inches on the Glenfiddich cardigan.

Instead of more weaving/knitting/spinning, I went for a hike and then shopping for work clothes. How an entire mall can be full of completely uninteresting, unfitting, unbecoming clothes is beyond me!  I need to start sewing more.

Day 37

Two repeats on the doublewide blanket.  I should have woven more, but I figured out the problem with the short rows on Glenfiddich - who knew there are two kinds of "knit into the stitch below" stitches? - so I made good progress on that.

Now I wait to see if it'll fit, since I rejiggered the chosen size to use Aran-weight yarn instead of DK-weight.

Day 36

Two repeats on the blanket, several rounds on the other blanket.  (What's with the blanket obsession?)

Pictures, pictures...OK, you're right, you need pictures.

The finished blanket rolling up on the cloth beam:

I can see the knots at the end of the warp - this is a good thing!

And one rather ugly February Blanket square, still needing its ends woven it and to be blocked (and to be disguised among dozens of its more lovely (I hope) sisters):

Days 34 and 35

Oopsie!  I forgot to post last night, probably because of a wicked sinus headache.  Anyway: a couple of rounds on a February Blanket square were all I managed.

Tonight, however, SO much more progress.  Two repeats on the doublewide blanket, a couple of rounds on a February Blanket square, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Day 33

Two repeats on the doublewide blanket. A little knitting on the February Blanket.

Day 32

The entire evening was spent on work-related phone calls, so all I got done for fiber work was :

Yep, that's the February Blanket again.  Note how it is sitting on a living room rug.  ALL I got done tonight was to pull the project off the shelves and put it in the living room where I can work on it.  Woo!

And now it's bedtime....

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.

2014

poke, poke

Does this thing still work?

Huh.  Maybe it does.  Look at that.

I have no idea why, but I am motivated to blog again, and since this is Day One of 2014, I'm going to indulge myself and prattle on about goals.

I have a lot of goals for 2014.  There are three big ones:

1. Start working on the requirements for the Apprentice rating from the Weavers Guild of Boston.
2. I have declared 2014 to be The Year of Silk, for no particularly good reason except I want to.  (Well, and Sara Lamb's silk book is coming out mid-year.)  I intend to do all manner of silk work this year.
3. Give in to the temptations of fiber (as if I weren't already).

I quit blogging three and a half years ago because it felt like all I was doing was whining.  I'm not so whiny any more, so maybe I can stand this blogging thing again.

 Anyhow, here are the goals for 2014 I wrote up a week or so ago (look, I've already completed some!):

Knitting:

• Finish the Minimalist Cardigan. DONE
• Finish the Habitat hat from Alice Field’s scrumptious gray Cormo yarn. DONE
• Inventory my knitting WIPs . DONE
  
• Knit another sweater, a handspun one.
• Don’t buy any more sweater lots of yarn until I have 4 sweaters knit (including the two above; the next two of the four are the purple Custom Fit pullover and the Kathryn Alexander pattern out of Spirit Trail yarn).
• Knit a lace shawl from silk (preferably handspun silk) (see 2014: The Year of Silk).
• Knit on my February Blanket (but only in February!).
  

Spinning: (this is probably where I’ll spend the least effort)

• Wash the few dribs and drabs that haven’t been washed
• Spin silk, lots of silk, of all kinds (see 2014: The Year of Silk).
• Don’t acquire any more fleeces till Rhinebeck (and maybe not even then).
• Spin some cotton.

Weaving: (this is the biggie for the year)

• Work on the Apprentice requirements from the Weavers Guild of Boston, for submission in March of 2015. This involves a minimum of nine warps
• Weave off one knotted pile warp on the Mirrix loom.
• Weave at least three silk items (see 2014: The Year of Silk).
• There are three red or red-and-white warps already wound (towels, two runners); weave them off. Warp #1 DONE
• Learn, learn, and break my brain learning still more. Take a week of More Swedish Classics at the Vavstuga. Take several days of classes at Convergence. Take John Mullarkey's tablet-weaving class at The Gathering. Attend lots of guild meetings. Almost certainly pit my name on the waiting list for the Hill Institute weaving courses. Read lots of books. Look at lots of textiles.
  

Sewing: (yes, sewing)

• Sew three articles of clothing, at least two from handwoven cloth.
• Work on the stripy quilt in my mind.
  

Dyeing/Painting/Surface Design:

• Dye a silk warp (see 2014: The Year of Silk).
• Paint at least two warps, of any fiber.
• Experiment with fabric surface design, such as stamping, painting, shibori, and so on.
• Make an indigo dye pot and dye something (or, even better, a bunch of somethings!).
  

Be with My People:

• Go to SPA, Connecticut Sheep & Wool, New Hampshire Sheep & Wool, Massachusetts Sheep & Wool, Convergence, Vavstuga, Rhinebeck, and The Gathering.
• Organize at least three trips to museums with the Boston FOAY crowd.
  

Overall Goal:
Realize how important fiber work is to me and yield to its temptation.

...................................

I've finished a bunch of projects lately, too, but I'll write about those another day.  Happy New Year, my friends!

Dimity

Well. We're almost at the end of the Pics to Picks Challenge, and I've hardly accomplished anything. I could beat myself up, but first, let's look at what I did finish.

So, if you'll remember, I had been inspired by Bety's Floridian images to weave something with those glorious blues and greens. I fiddled around with various rearrangements of blues and greens and off-white stripes with my cones of 8/2 cotton, but I just couldn't come up with anything. Lesson #1: Apparently, I can't think if I'm sick with a sinus infection/allergies/toothache that various medical professionals hadn't quite treated successfully. The sinus infection is mostly gone (that's what really made it impossible to think), the allergies are about as under control as they ever are, and the toothache - well, it comes and goes, as it has for the past decade, without enough specificity of location for the dentist to do anything about it. Lesson #1A: Keep going back if the doctors haven't quite gotten something licked. I tend to Just Endure, but I need to pester in my own defense. The last office visit resulted in a quadrupling of nasal spray #1, with a certain schedule of application, and a lengthening and increased complexity of antibiotic - and I think it's done the trick.

In the midst of infected mindlessness, all I could do was wind a warp of good ordinary blue, with accent dimity stripes of pale, silvery green. That was it. No complex, shifting, evocative combinations of blues/greens with a smudge of violet, sparked by raised dimity stripes in color counterpoint, all suggesting a sun-drenched, humid Florida summer day about to be cooled off by a rocking thunderstorm. Um, no. Not with a brain sat upon by an overweening sinus or twelve.

Blue. I could cope with blue. Luckily, the cone of pale, silvery green was on top of the blue cone, so I could be smacked in my mindlessness with how great the pale green was with the deep blue.

3.5 yards long, by 9 or so inches wide. I figured I could sew myself a lunch bag out of it. I got the warp on the loom with no mistakes, by some miracle, and started weaving. I used 16/2 cotton, because the dimity article guiding me, from the November/December 2008 issue of Handwoven, specified that the weft should be half the heft of the warp. And here it was...

It was working. By this point, the super-duper antibiotics and nasal sprays were beginning to do their job, because I started to get a little bored. And I started to notice something.

Does that look a little sleazy to you? Let me hold up a sheet of paper behind the cloth...

That's a lot of white showing there. I was worried this wouldn't work, that it wouldn't be sturdy enough for a simple lunch bag, and I couldn't figure out why. I rechecked the Handwoven article, the recommended sett for 8/2 cotton, the size reed I was using - everything I could think of. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong.

Lesson #2: Do not beat yourself up when you can't think straight when you are sick. It is not helpful.

Eventually, it dawned on me that the instructions in the Handwoven article were for dimity scarves. You know, those drapy, flowing pieces of cloth that aren't all that suitable for sturdy lunch bags? Sigh .... By that time, I had woven one bobbin's worth of the 16/2 cotton, and I switched to a turquoise 8/2 cotton for the next bobbin.

Now we were cooking! Here's the point of change. You can see the breast beam through the 16/2 weft, but not through the 8/2 weft.

A couple of bobbins' worth of 8/2 - maybe a yard or so - and I got bored again. I started throwing a shot of heavy, textured cotton in every 4th pick, and I liked the simple balance between the silvery warp stripes and the dark, slubby weft stripes. I finished up the warp with this combination.

A quick wash, dry, and iron, and this is the result.

From left to right, the same 8/2 warp with a 16/2 weft, an 8/2 weft, and the same 8/2 weft with shots of slubby cotton, along with one of Bety's images. The two heavier fabrics are indeed just fine for sewing into a lunch bag (or two), but interestingly, the lighter fabric is not sleazy at all. It's really a lovely, drapy fabric, just right for a cotton summer scarf or shawl.

In fact, I'm planning just such a shawl, in that same lovely blue and silvery pale green. I'd like to figure out how I can convey the rounded cloud shapes in some sort of lace along with the dimity stripes - maybe hand-manipulated Danish medallions, I'm not sure. Since I'll be away this coming weekend, I won't be weaving the shawl before the end of this challenge.

Lesson #3: Try something, and then variations on that something. Just keep trying.

I suppose I didn't accomplish that much with this challenge, certainly not compared to others, but I did what I could. Lesson #4: Learn to live with being imperfect.

Cummington, Part Two

I know, I know, this is shocking: two posts in two days. Well, Fran loaded her photos of the festival into Flickr and kindly allowed me to use them here, so ....

(Psst: Here's yesterday's post. Read it first, if you haven't already.)

So, when last we left off at the MA Sheep & Woolcraft Fair, Fran and I had bought the Grand Champion fleece, a lovely white Romney from Mary Pratt's farm.

Mary was thrilled her fleece won! Fran and I were thrilled to buy it!

And after the fleece sale came the Short-Draw Spinning Smackdown between Jesh and me, with our antique wheels.

Five minutes of practice with some Texel x Friesian roving (the first fleece I ever bought, btw, at Rhinebeck in 2006), then ten minutes of furious, foot-stomping, wheel-whirring, all-out spinning our hearts out!

Finally, we wound off the two singles together on a niddy-noddy. This involved some serious yarn-wrangling skills.

And lo! One single ran out - whose was left? (The crowd was breathless....) Why, it was mine! I won!!!! I won by 21 meters!!!!

On the left, the two singles wound together. On the right, the yardage I spun beyond what Jesh spun. Impressive, eh?

Next year, it'll be a long-draw contest. Be there!