Back Home!

I got back to Knoxville Wednesday evening, having driven the 2000 miles in 3 days! Not bad, I think. I listened to 2 books on CD this time. One of them was about 13 disks, so it took most of the drive and I was transported to England and France back in the early 1400s.....  Sometimes when I'm driving up there, I think of books I was listening to as I drive past a river in Iowa or cross a bridge in Kentucky....all while I'm listening to yet another book and enjoying the scenery.

I popped the back door of the van when I got home. The bottom black garbage bags each hold a 20 lb bag of generic (not even Robin Hood!) unbleached flour. It's so much lighter than the flour we get down here. I had orders for so many that I brought 10 of them back with me. I had conned one of my nieces to go with me to Superstore to pick them up. I'll deliver most of them to the weavers tomorrow!

 On top of the flour are the bags of selvedges that I got at in-weave in Hawarden, IA. It's hard to stop yourself when you keep seeing bag after bag of cool colors of the selvedges, just waiting to be woven into rugs. I look forward to November when I"ll have time to do that!! Not sure where they'll be stored until then. My van'll hold them for now!!

One of the things I was looking forward to when I headed north was seeing Laura Fry's new book. I'd had it shipped to my sister's place to save a few bucks on shipping.
I really like it. I'm a sucker for real samples anyway and this book has 10 of them. They're all cotton. If anyone ever thinks they don't have to wash their woven fabric after it comes off the loom, this book should cure that!!

I like the down to earth discussion on cotton that begins the book as well. I know there are books out there that cover this but here's a nice, concise description of cotton and what to look for when you're weaving with it. We can all use a fresher course on yarns. I always find something new that I didn't know or had forgotten about when I read the book.
I really like all the samples. There's a small skein of the yarn she used and then 2 samples. One is how it looked as it came off the loom and then after she washed it.  The fabrics change so much when washed and it's nice to have the physical samples right there!!
I'm glad I got it and find that it'll be another good reference book for my library.
Laura's beginning to work on her rayon book next.....I am looking forward to getting that one in spring when she puts it out. I don't know as much about rayon as I do about cotton. Haven't woven with it as much. I'm looking forward to learning alot more about that. There will be more books that she'll be producing. Each one will be full of information on whatever yarn she chooses to work with!

So last week after I got home, it took awhile to just get my bearings. This week I have to get the warps off the looms and think production again. I have placemats on one and handtowels on the other.
Oh yeah, about our washing machine. It washes great, bangs around like crazy when it gets to the rinse cycle and stops. Then we have to play with the cycles to get it to finish.  They've been out 4 times to work on it, extended the warranty 90 days to try to figure it out some more........and we have to call them again to see if they can figure it out!! We have a new inner tub and replaced some other parts, like some stabilizers but it's still being obstinate! The saga continues.

I'm back to weaving!! Loved my trip and the break we all had but it's time to get back to work....
Til next week.
Carol