Happy Easter

As I was beginning to write this afternoon, I looked out my kitchen window and thought I'd let you see what I see. Our kitchen is above what used to be the garage so in spring we have a great view of redbuds. They were barely poking their flowers out on Friday and today they're in full bloom! We live on what is called "a Dogwood Trail". There are over half a dozen noted trails through residential areas of Knoxville in spring that have exceptional shows of flowers. As we were driving home at noon today we saw some wonderful trees in full bloom, not just the pears but some full of pink blossoms. People drive along the roads of the "trails" just soaking in the wonderful colors.
The good thing about our house is that you can't actually see our house from the road so we don't have to spiff up the yard like everyone else does in the neighborhood. If I want pink flamingoes in my front yard I can have them! and do.

So, I'm taking a break from actually cooking this afternoon to wish you all a Happy Easter and to tell you a bit about what I've been weaving this week.


This is the most boring natural warp around but I need some pieces that are neutral. People like to buy them to accessorize. One of the kinds of jackets that I've been weaving over the past several years is one that I use a ball of knitting yarn as part of the weft. This yarn is called fur. I don't think they make it anymore because I haven't been able to find it in the last couple of years. I still have a few balls left. They are incredibly slow to weave. Because it's a core yarn with fringes dangling from it every few inches, if I wove it like we normally do, the fringe would all be beat in with the weft as I went. So, I lift every 4th thread when I shoot across the accent yarn and then stop, pick up a tiny crochet hook and carefully pull the fringe out between the warp threads.

I've tried to take a couple of close up pictures to show you how it looks before I beat it in.

Needless to say, this jacket takes about 3 times as long to weave as a normal one and the price is more as well! It's really hard on your back because you're bending over more.

This warp will only have one of those jackets on it!

Once I was done with that one, the rest of the warp is coming along nicely and I should have it woven off tomorrow afternoon if I don't get many interruptions.

Carol