More New Books!

You know how you often get emails from Amazon suggesting books you might like to get? Well, I usually just delete those without looking at the email but recently I got one that would contain new craft books to look at. I clicked on it to see and it suggested a book which I looked at. Then in scrolling through the information found another book.....long story short, there were 3 new weaving books I hadn't known were out there. They came this past week!

Each book is different but with information that's great to have. Each book approaches weaving differently. They're all good reference books to have and filled with pictures and information, how tos, guides to inspire and stretch our weaving abilities.

First, The Techniques and Art of Weaving by Marylene Brahic.  I think this book is from Spain although it talks about islands where weaving is done as well. Tons of pictures explain how these people learnt to weave. Didn't see a warping board on any pictures! 

It starts with pictures of looms, even measurements if you want to build one. Then it goes into weaving, getting warps on the loom and then some weave structures.

In a way, this book reminds me of what was woven in the 60s but with a twist. It's a definite European flare in information and style.

Not everyone weaves the way we do. This book is definitely one that has some different ways of getting a warp on the loom. Information is knowledge and as weavers we need that knowledge.

I like this book because it's got a ton of information and I think the more we know, the better weavers we'll be. If you want to have a comprehensive weaving library, this book is sure one that would fit in nicely. I'm looking forward to reading it more carefully.

On an interesting aside, under the Bibliography it has no books. Instead it says:  "Unfortunately, very little has been written about weaving and even less in book form with step-by-step instructions and an educational guide. However, in the United States, and in countries in Northern Europe, especially in Finland and Norway, there are magazines dedicated to the topic." 

Hm, my library begs to differ on that. However, the book was originally published in Spain in 1992. I don't think they really checked for a bibliography last year when they republished it in english. It's still a good book but maybe that's why it seems to have an older twist when it comes to the projects. It's still a good book that's worthy of my shelves. Weaving hasn't really changed over the years and this book is a good instructional addition to the library!

 The second book is Woven Textile Design by Jan Shenton. It's all about weave structures. From plain to twill to weave distortions to double weave, this book covers alot of ground on different structures and possibilities. This is the kind of book you have to sit down and really read. It's got lots of information that's easy to look at but to understand it all, it's going to be one where you get a cup of coffee and sit down on a comfortable chair for awhile and just read. It has some structures in there I hadn't thought of considering or even knew were possible. The chapter on weave distortions is fascinating. I hadn't thought of that possibility. The pictures help you figure out how to adapt your loom to try it.....
Again, a book that's great for a weaving library!

 The Weaver's Weevil by Rebecca Fox is one that could be used now without alot of researching or reading. Her idea is to use your stash of 8/2 yarns! She starts with some color theory and then goes on to show how to mix the colors in your warp to give an interesting fabric once you weave it. Usually her projects are handtowels, scarves, things that one usually thinks of when using 8/2 cotton. I suspect if you used some of these patterns, your stash would be depleted very quickly! The ideas are good, well explained and possibilities are fun to think about. This is a book that a fairly new weaver would get alot of use out of. I think it would help reassure you that what you're doing is going to work. Insecurity is the enemy of new weavers and this book sure encourages one to try to mix yarns, lay them out in a pleasing manner and winding that warp will result in a nice finished product.

So that's it on new books for now. I suspect there may be some more but I haven't seen them yet. I'll take these along tomorrow to the center for everyone to see. I suspect there will be some interesting comments on them but I also suspect that this last book will be the one that some of them will want to buy.
I am weaving as much as I possibly can right now. I've got about another week that I can weave before we get company and life changes til the end of July. It's always that way in summer for me. I get as much done as I can but it kind of goes on a back burner while we have friends from Europe in for a few weeks....
Until next week,
Keep Weaving!
Carol

Butting Heads!

I mean that literally!  At almost 3 weeks, the new Nigora kids spend a good deal of time butting heads together, even when they are let out with all the other goats.  Then they spend some time running around chasing each other.  It is better than baseball!

 I will be keeping the white one, and Linda will take the brown one.  I have creatively called mine Bert, to go with Ernie, my Junior wether.







Speaking of Bert, here he is checking the carrier that holds his brother, Cerin,

who is over for a weaning visit.  We are using the opportunity to introduce him to the little brown kid in the above picture.  That way in 6 weeks they will go back to Linda's already friends.  A win, win situation in my book.

 What!

 While we were waiting for Cerin to come out, Toni my senior cat came to visit.

 Finally Cerin felt curious enough to come out.

 Yep, a few minutes of head butting went on.  But that must be how they say howdy.

Cause within 15 minutes, they were tearing into the same bale of hay together!

On a totally different page, I needed stitch markers for a current knitting project, so I made them!

We are traveling today to Georgia, for a wedding, just a quick 2 day trip.  Next week, we will be camping in the Smokies, our first trip of the season.  We are looking forward to it!

Until next time, Happy Spinning, Weaving and Knitting, Tina

Yarn Crawl--Part 2

It's been an interesting couple of days....just saying!

  As Maggie told you yesterday, we are taking part in the East Tennessee Yarn Crawl.  She had coffee all ready for me when I got to her house yesterday morning (I had been without power since Tuesday afternoon.)  Because I was late getting there, we skipped our first planned stop and headed to the Tri-Cities area.











We hit four yarn stores in four different towns, and I got yarn in 3 of the stores.  It was just too much fun!  I did find it interesting that they are just now talking about adding rigid heddle looms.  They were surprised that Maggie and I weave in addition to our other fiber addictions.  Maybe we gave them just the nudge they needed!

Next week we'll hit a few more shops in the opposite direction, as well as my local yarn shop, Clinch River Yarns.  (Sandy....you're still my favorite!!!)

It's raining again....but no storms.  It just so happens that my book arrived today, so this is what I'll be doing tonight (and many nights to come!  It's only 814 pages this time.)

  I'll get a little weaving done before we head off next week.

Happy Fiber Pursuit!
LouAnn

Yarn Crawl!

How far would you go for yarn?  Would you travel to the far corners of the world?  Or the far corners of Tennessee?
  LouAnn and I traveled to the very most north eastern tip of the state today, in search of yarn that called to us.  We went to four stores today that are participating in the East Tennessee Yarn Crawl, from Rogersville to Kingsport to Johnson City and Blountville.  We had our favorites, and one neither of us cared for, which shall remain unnamed.  But we had a good time, and we bought yarn at three of the four stores.


There are 8 more stamps needed on our passports, but we need to wait until next week.  The crawl ends on the 22nd, so we can't waste any time.  We need to pace ourselves, and our budgets, but will continue on, seeing new parts of the state.   From almost in Kentucky to almost middle Tennessee, we will crawl on, in search of fibery adventures.
  Care to join us?

Tuesday Rundown

It never fails.....folks arrive and just get busy.  There's always something that needs to be done.
  Tina and I pulled out yarn kits to complete:  The Museum was out of Straw Loom Kits, we needed some upstairs in the shop, and Margi is doing a workshop at the children's store next week.
  You can see Karin's rugs that she finished on the table.  They are ready to be tagged and taken upstairs.
 

  Christy started warping her Inkle Loom for another run of bookmarks.
  Karin warped the last loom for Kids Camp--that makes four looms for the kids to weave on while they are there.  (This also gave Karin more practice on warping a loom!!!)











   Carol welcomed our newest weaver, Madeline.  She has been weaving on her rigid heddle loom, and now she's ready for the four harness experience!

Pat is still working on the warp that Ann put on the Rocker Loom.  (There was a lot of wool yarn to use up from the stash!!!)  She was trying out some different clasp techniques today.

Carl finished the "quilt top" rug, and started another rug using some bright fabric strips.





  Look at the intense concentration on Molly's face!!!!   She got a lot done on her scarf warp today.











  Jocelyn cut off her warp this afternoon....just take a look at her weaving!!!

  Lanny got a lot woven on the lace warp....you can really get in the rhythm on that pattern. 












Betsy is planning a new warp at home, and
asked Carol for advice on her yarn selection.  So....is it 8/2 or 10/2????

NOT a new weaver....but Linda brought Cerin to Tina for his vacation time.  He'll keep Tina's little one company for a little while.


****Sorry this is late being posted.  We had a terrible storm yesterday afternoon, and my power just NOW came back.

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Check it off the list!

Sometimes when I weave, the warp I'm working on is so soothing colorwise, you hate to see it end. That's what this warp was like. The side color is indigo, then wisteria for the lighter stripes and in the middle is navy. I wove it with the indigo color. I just love the way it looks, a bit darker than this picture portrays it. It'll be fun to do the cutting and serging, sewing and finishing once I get to it in the finishing process!

 Remember back in January when I was in Canada? I finished 2 baby quilts. I brought all the scraps home and bought a couple of small pieces to make another one. This one is different in alot of ways but the colors and fabrics are so similar.
The friend I'm giving it to is due tomorrow so I've got to get it into the mail this week. That's why I finally got to it and finished it!

 The main blocks are 4 patches and the rest are variations on that, depending on what I had cut out before, what was left of those fat quarters and what I could scrounge from the earlier projects. I did decide to put a strip between each block this time. It's 1/2 inch finished strip is narrow but effective. Where the blocks meet in the corners, it's hard to see, but there's a half inch square there. The strips are green with tiny ducks and the corners are blue with the tiny ducks.

This quilt isn't as much a boy or girl quilt but will be fun for the baby to point to the differnet animals, people, etc on the fabrics. BTW, it's a girl! Her other 2 children were a boy and a girl and their quilts were definitely for a boy or girl. This was a bit of a change.
I've got a couple of projects on the way as well for baby quilts but haven't got the time right now to work on them.

I've got a new warp on the loom today. It's white. How do you take a picture of that? I'm hoping to get it off this week as well so I can get a more interesting warp on but the solid colors sell and fit nicely into people's wardrobes so I do them too.

We're in full summer here, usually quite warm days and the air conditioner is humming away. My sister wrote Saturday that the lilacs are in full bloom. I'm so jealous. They were starting to form buds when we were up there just a couple of weeks ago. Now she's enjoying them!!
My geraniums are about to bloom again. Does that count?!!
Until next week, keep weaving!
Carol

Learning Something New!

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I had gone to a retreat where it was all knitting and spinning all the time.  What I didn't mention, though, is that Saturday afternoon, after the sock swap, the middle finger in my right hand started feeling strange.  In fact the knuckle was swollen and a little red!  I couldn't knit at all for the rest of the retreat!  (I was able to spin, thankfully!)

The knuckle inflamation was a reaccurance of an old Bowling injury,  and I had to let it rest for well over a week.  I even bought a cool finger splint packet that had a finger shaped ice pack in it.  It was wonderful!  This got me thinking about how I could continue to knit with this aggravation always a possibility.

 I remembered that the Yarn Harlot has a very interesting way of knitting, I had looked into it several years ago, but I didn't really give it a good try,  it is called Irish Cottage Knitting or Lever Knitting.  I started watching the You Tube videos of her knitting, and I began the awkward process of learning something new.

 You may remember this Featherweight cardigan from last week.  I have knit and reknit the last 3 inches of it trying to get the method down.  I knit it once on size #3's using my usual Continental style, when my finger was still messed up, and it looked terrible.  It is k1p1 ribbing and normally you would go down a needle size, but I forgot.
I then started in ernest with the new lever method, (you can watch the Yarn Harlot knit using this method on You Tube!)  I was all thumbs of course, for the first couple of days, but I am persevering,  I have no choice!  I dutifully went down a needle size, but found that my tension was a little tighter, so I ripped it out again, and went back to the #3's.  I am now getting ready to bind the ribbing off!

 K1P1 is an absolute bear to do when you are learning a whole new technique, but I really want to learn this method, and I really want to finish this sweater!   Yes, those are straights you are seeing.  I haven't used straights in forever, seriously!  With this method you start by practicing one month, with one long straight metal needle held stationary in your right armpit.  The yarn is wrapped a certain way around your right hand and your whole hand flicks the yarn around the needles at the appropriate time.  The Yarn Harlot is incredibly fast at it, I clocked her at 65-75 stitches a minute.  I think I am at about 25 stitches a minute, but that is over K1P1.  The left hand really does the bulk of the stitch management. You really have to see it to believe it!

I also have a pair of So Simple socks on dpn's, and following the same lever method, I am slowly making progress, the yarn is that skein I bought at the retreat.  Then I realized that I was knitting on really small needles and with really thin yarn, I thought I might need to mix it up a bit.

In our goodie bag at the retreat, there was a sample skein, that I wrote about last week, from Dyeabolic yarns, In the Lucy color.  It was just enough to knit a Calorimetry, which is a cross between a headband and a hat.  I knit it on size 5 straights, well I first knit it on size 7, thinking I had gauge, and I got down to the last 12 stitches on the bind off, and ran out of yarn.  I tried it on and it was too big anyway, so I ripped it out last night and today I, redid it on size 5's.  I had 2 yards to spare after the bind off.  Now to get a button to finish it off.

My finger is much improved, though I do ice it every now and then.  The knitting doesn't bother it, but it is surprising how many times a day it reminds me to take it easy.  My speed should improve with time and practice, but speed isn't my main focus.  I want to be able to knit for many years to come, and I think I have found a way to do it.

Until next time, Happy Spinning, Weaving and Knitting, Tina