Still Not..

Weaving, that is. I'm still not able to get any warp on the loom. My looms are so sad. Ok, I could finish that shawl on the rigid heddle but the call from it isn't as strong as the call from my floor looms. 

I did get one baby blanket done. I don't know where the quilt top came from. I found it in my mother in law's stash of stuff. It is so cute!!! The little guys are in a fuzzy fabric. What little guy wouldn't love to drag this blanket around with one hand while sucking his thumb with the other?!!

 I found some backing flannel that worked with these textured fabrics and machine quilted it. I love to machine stitch the binding on and then turn it to the back and hand tack it down.

 I'm thinking of tracing the pattern of these individual guys to have as a pattern in the future. Even if I didn't use the fuzzy fabric for his body, he'd be very nice on a blanket.

 Might even think of a few more poses for him.....or her if I accented it in more feminine colors.

I do hate to say I'm not getting much done but the family obligations have stretched to longer than I thought when we started this. I am hopeful that within 2 weeks that part will be done and I will be able to start work. I have to weave some curtains before the end of February and the warp's not wound.

 I did have time to pull out my notes and I know exactly what to do. This is why it's so important to make notes of what you weave. I originally wove them well over 20 years ago. I'm replacing ones that are wearing out. The lodge is on top of Mr LeConte and there really isn't any climate control. They used to use kerosene heaters up there. However, now they heat with  something that isn't so hard on the fabrics. I think it's a really good testament for the use of carpet warp for something that will get hard wear. They are brought down each November or so on the backs of llamas, whenever the season is over, to be washed in winter and then air lifted back up to the lodge in March, for another season of tired hikers to enjoy in their cabins.

Today is a yucky, rainy day here in East Tennessee. I"m just glad it's not a few degrees colder or we'd be sunk with ice. It's a perfect day to get some work done. I have just a few hours today so I may end up just sewing on another set of baby quilts I"m piecing. Wednesday is free for winding that first curtain warp. I'm looking forward to it!
Until next week, keep weaving!
Carol

Half Baked

I was mulling over my studio plans for 2015, I always seem to do this in early January, and I'm sure I am not the only one.  I posted last week, that I have all my fibery things stuffed into the studio rooms upstairs, because of 8 grandchildren being here for the holidays.  By now, you may have thought that the majority of those little's have gone back, but on the contrary!  Over the holidays, I have gone from 1 "in town" daughter to 2 "in town" daughters!  I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have more kiddos close to home!  Our time together doesn't have that urgency that it normally would have if they were leaving in a day or two.  Anyway, we are tickled pink to go from 2 to 5 local grandkids!

Since I do have more younger kids around,  I have to decided which antique spinning wheels can be downstairs and which will have to stay in the out of bounds area of the upstairs studio rooms.  It will help that some of the bedroom furniture will be moving out of the second studio room, when the new arrivals find their own living arrangements. (They are not staying with us, but with the other "in town" daughter right now, she has more room.)  That opens up many possiblities for Studio B, as I like to call it, but that change in furniture may be a couple of weeks / months away, so I need to put those thoughts on hold, and think about what I can get done in this first month of the new year, to make me feel like there is some order in the Studio.

This week I have been working on getting the fleeces that I had started combing/carding last year, totally processed.  I finished one on Tuesday (white Shetland 5oz combed top), and I am progressing nicely on a lovely brown Shetland fleece we nicknamed "Jack Sparrow".  I hope to finish that one today, I am trying it on the drum carder to speed things up a bit.  I am using a diz to take it off of the drum carder, so the resulting prep is very close to combed top.  There is another white double coated shetland fleece that is also partially combed, so that is next in line.  I am sure that there are a couple more half done fleeces in the boxes on the top shelf, I will do them as I come to them, when I make my annual way around the studio.

I have 4 more full fleeces that I have washed, but not started to comb/card beyond the initial sampling (2 large Jacobs, 2  small Corriedale).  I am not going to worry about them right now, they will store nicely just as they are.  There is also 1 huge, soft, chocolate brown Cormo/Romney fleece that I have not yet washed, it came to my house early last month, and we all know how conducive the holiday season it to fleece washing!  I plan to get to that after I get all  the half combed fleeces done and nicely packed away.

I also have 2 projects on spinning wheels that have been languishing away these last couple of months. I sit down once in awhile to spin a bit, but I really need to get these projects off the bobbins and into yarn.  One of them is Merino top from Malabrigo, it is lovely, but I am spinning it very fine, and using a "new to me" technique  that Margaret Stowe teaches.  It is not like my usual drafting style and I am sure that this is why I am avoiding it.  It involves drafting "around the corner", using your finger as the pivot point.  Anyway, I am avoiding it!  The second project is some BFL I am spinning for socks, (this is my first try for sock yarn) which is languishing only because of the holidays. (There is a 3rd project but that is just now getting started, it involves spinning one of the Corriedale fleeces that has a smidge of lanolin left in it.  I haven't decided yet, but I think I may just flick open the locks and spin it like that!  Another new thing!)

On the weaving front, I have 4 floor looms with projects on them, that have been silent for too long.  There is 1 longish Placemat warp, 1 long Baby Blanket warp, 1 Hand towel/Napkin warp and 1 Bread Cloth warp 10 yds.  These have been on hold for awhile, and right now, frankly, I'm not sure I can even get to them by the end of January.   I have shelves of weaving materials that need sorting, shelves of books that need going thru, and a scarf I need to get on the rigid heddle is I want to finish it in time to take to my Mom when I go see her in the near future.

(I have also a pair of those long, over the knee white stockings that I am knitting for my demo costume, but that is one thing I think I have made some progress on while I am fighting an upper respiratory kind of thing.  I have both of the stockings down to the ankles, all that is left is to turn the heel and do the foot!  Yay!)

Here I sit, with the last half of a sinus infection, a studio full of half baked projects and half a mind to do something about it!  :)  Don't think however that I am upset by any of this!  Sitting down to prepare fiber, or spin, or knit, or warp, or weave is my fun time, I can listen to an audio book, or a podcast, or watch a movie all while doing something I love!   I do not feel overwhelmed, and I am never bored that is for sure!

How are your plans for the new year shaping up?

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

With Apologies To Jimmy Fallon

Thank you, Carl....

  the paper whites are growing like crazy, and I'm looking forward to seeing the buds develop.  They always remind me of my Grandmother, and they remind us that Spring will come.












Thank you, Maggie......

I LOVE hand knitted socks, and these are so toasty warm.  I'm glad you couldn't use the Peaches & Cream yarn....I can!!!!  Also, thank you for helping me with the turned overshot plan.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Thank you, Joyce......

  I can't wait to get this shawl on the loom!  The long color repeats make such lovely accents when you weave with it.  And, the PAMA will be perfect when I get through threading!!!!!  (You know I don't drink & weave!!!!)










Thank you, Mark.......

I have looked high and low for a box loom, and you were so sweet to craft this one for me!  What do you think of the colors I've laid out for the new warp?

And, last...but not least.....

Thank you, M & N

...you guys know me so well!!!


   It's still below freezing outside...but, I'm snug inside!  There's a big pot of chili on the stove, and I might just use one of my new Fiesta bowls in a little bit. 
    I'm still working on my weaving goals for this new year....have you made any?  So much to weave....so little time!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Round and Round and Round It Goes!

 Today was Explore Spinning Day with the Tuesday Weavers.  Since we love to play with fiber, it's always a good idea to give folks an opportunity to try something new.  You just never know.......










  Tina pulled out the drop spindles....that's always a good way to start.























  There were also different wheels for folks to try.  Tina even brought her Great Wheel.

  We also welcomed a new weaver:  Harriet.

It was a busy day to begin weaving, but she had her warp wound on the table loom before the end of the day!

  Sharon and Linda missed the big group picture (we made it first thing this morning) so I made sure they got shots.  (I haven't mastered photoshopping folks into pictures!)

  We were also missing Pat, Christy, Linda B. and Sharen!

  And, just so you know, some of the weavers actually got some weaving done today!!!!

  Betsy got started on her Inkle loom warp.  She can get some more pointers from Christy when she's there.

  Karin's husband, Jerry, came by to deliver the threading stand he made (those come in so handy!)  Jerry also made the belt shuttle that Betsy is using with her Inkle loom.  A bunch of weavers had their wish lists handy to ask him about.

  You can see LaDonna in the background winding off the art yarn she plied today.  We'll get to see that in one of her woven items!!!!

  Today was just one of those days you had to be there to believe it!!!  All kinds of busy!!!!

Happy Weaving!
LouAnn

Check off 2!

So 2 of the things I wanted to finish are now checked off the list! They're not big. This first one is less than 40 inches square but makes a cute table topper. I know I bought a charm pack a few years ago and got a book for small pieces. I don't usually follow a pattern but this one was going to challenge my ability to sew things accurately and I kind of liked how it looked so I went for it. 

 Machine quilting was easy, just stitch in the ditch. Almost took longer to tack the binding on the back by hand than to do all the quilting. I love the cheery bright colors. It'll look great on the table in spring.

 The other piece is about half the size and again, I used a charm pack of Christmas fabrics I had. Sometimes you're just tempted by the colors and patterns in a pack of 5 inch squares. It's fairly cheap so you get it. Then you have to figure out a pattern to use. Again, I used a pattern in a book. It's easy to sew if you're careful.

 I'm a sucker for Christmas fabric.

I have a couple of more pieces to finish. Both are baby quilts that will be nice for the stash. Sometimes machine quilting is good when you only have a few minutes before something else has to be done.
No weaving or yarn touching even this past week, except for Tuesday. This week as well, there won't be much unless I get lucky. Family stuff will take up most of the week again. I'll be glad when I can get back to just thinking about weaving for awhile.

I am pulling out some yarn today for the next warp and hope to get the plan going. If not, it'll probably be next week before it gets on the loom.
Until then, hope you get a chance to weave on your looms. I hate that mine are all empty right now.
They do call me!
Stay safe and warm!
Carol

In the Mean Time

Whilst all the little kiddies were here for the Christmas holidays, all the spinning wheels and fiber goodness has been packed into the studio. So that, for lack of time and space no weaving has been going on.  I have however, done some knitting.

 I have had a skein of Tosh Merino light in my stash for a couple of years.  I have tried several patterns with this yarn, and with only one skein my choices were somewhat limited.  Each time I tried a pattern, I would rip it out and put it back in my stash.  Finally, I did a search on Ravelry for a single skein TML project, the list was impressive, and I finally found a free scarf pattern called "Up to You".  It is knit either top down or bottom up, you choose.  You can also choose to work from charts or from the paragraph form.

 I generally work on long straights when I knit.  I have tried circulars, but they hurt my hand if I am not careful.  This pattern is worked lengthwise, but the pattern has you finish with 270 stitches, and I thought that it I would be able to have that many stitches easily on the needles.  I knit the scarf bottom up cause I liked the idea of casting on only 15 stitches!

I came to the end of the pattern, but I had so much yarn left over that I decided to repeat the 2 pattern sections one more time, and then do a picot bind off.  I hoped the whole time that I had enough yarn and enough room on the needles to pull it off.

I hit a whopping 334 stitches, and while it was a little difficult at the end of the body of the scarf, I managed it,  I did not however, use stitch markers on the last lace pattern repeat.  I doubted that I had enough room on the needles.  I have now started the picot bind off, and only time will tell if I have enough yarn!

 Another thing I have been able to do while the Studio is out of bounds is search Ravelry for  destashes.  I found a braid of Polwarth that fits into my quest to spin new to me fibers, I have 2 braids of Polwarth in natural white, and I have been thinking of doing a 2 ply with one ply the natural and the other this lovely multicolored braid.  Nothing is decided yet. so this braid will join the other two in the stash.

This color work sock pattern kit that was also part of the same destash, however will be the next new thing on my needles!  I have been wanting to do some colorwork for awhile, and the destash price was right, I just couldn't resist.  (I think it is all the long white stockinette stockings I have been working!  It makes me crave color and texture!)

My eldest Daughter told me upon seeing the pictures I sent her, that she had been planning to do a color work project too!  Maybe we will do a Knit along!

My mind is full of New Years thoughts.  Planning weaving, spinning,knitting and sewing projects, cleaning out clothes closets, clearing out unused stuff.  You know all the usual stuff you think about during this time of year.  However, it is all still a little fuzzy with nothing really sparking me to take action.  Which is why I spent today, when I could have been making a dent in some list, sitting on the couch, sipping coffee in my pj's, knitting my scarf.

 Happy New Year everyone, Tina

NEW

  OK...I'll admit it....I stole this picture from The Woolery's post on Facebook. 
  It just kinda summed up my thoughts for today.  I have so many new projects banging around in my head....and they all want to be FIRST!
  Of course, that doesn't count the projects that are still on looms that need to be finished! :-(











  This project was finished at the stroke of midnight last night!  It involved raveling these placemats and balling up the weft.
  I HATE these mats!  Just sayin'!!!
I think they were one of the first projects I did after I learned to weave, and I was using some give-away stash for the warp.  UGLY!!!!  That was the year I made a placemat for everyone that was here for the family gathering at Christmas, and they got to take home their placemat.  While at the family gathering this year, I gathered these up and brought them home.  By next Christmas, I should have them rewoven for my niece.
  This would have gone a lot faster if I hadn't had so much help!

  With that project taken care of (to be woven at a later date) I put on a warp for a little project that my niece asked me about.  This is just a test warp....I'll let you know how it goes.









  I'm using Peaches & Creme for the warp and weft, and I love how it weaves.  There aren't lots of long color changes, which just gives hits of color here and there.

 A new year and new projects....life is good!
Happy Weaving!
LouAnn