Three Cheers for Tina!

Do I know how lucky I am???  YES!!  Not only do I get to be with weavers once a week at the Center in Norris, but I have a weaving friend who comes to my house and helps me out!  How wonderful is that???  So, why am I singing Tina's praises this morning?  She came over on Wednesday morning and helped me put on a 20 yard, 36 inch warp on John!!!  I have grown to love this lug of a loom, and recognize him for what he does best:  the heavy work!  I'm not big on counter balance looms as a rule, but John just makes me grin!  I had played with the colors on the thread holder for about a week, and changed my mind many times.  But, by Wednesday morning I was ready!  Tina arrived with tension box in hand, and it was poetry in motion from then on out.  We even timed some of the early bouts just to see how long it took...would you believe just a little over 2 minutes????  WOW!  Yes, I know that most people can and DO wind a warp on section looms without help, but it went so quickly with both of us working.  No threads were allowed to jump over the peg and no yardage overruns from winding fever!

This warp will be making rugs and totebags.  After the Weaving Weekend is over, I'll be starting a blue jean runner for my hall.  That's a lot of denim to prepare!!!

I found some more 5-ply variegated that I liked at R&M on Thursday that will make nice handles (and can even be used for the weft!)
  Four of us ran down to Cleveland on Thursday morning to R&M Yarns for a fiber fix.  I found that 5-ply, as well as some cotton roving that I think will work well as tote handles.  I also picked up a spool of 16/2 to try my hand at dish towels (at a much later date!)

I've played catch-up on other projects around the house:  winding off wool from Ms. Emily's spools and getting 6 inches of my afghan yarn wound off and in the raddle.

Last night I got to play "Proud Mama" at my son's gallery show in Knoxville.  Many of the galleries in town have shows on "First Fridays" as well as special activities on Market Square.   I enjoyed catching up with the younger crowd....friends of my son and daughter that I haven't seen in awhile.  It started getting crowded around eight, so that was a good time to leave.  I've got my eye on one of his new pieces, and put my "dibbies" on it first thing.  I found out that it is going to be used this fall for his show at the KMA, so the plaque would say that it's on loan from my "collection."  Yep....I have a COLLECTION....some from as far back as kindergarten!  I'm his Mom after all!!!!
Happy Weaving, my friends!
LouAnn