Rainy Monday

It's a rainy, dreary Monday but, you know, that's good!! We need the rain. There's alot to do in the house and the outside work will be there when it's cooler in fall, right? That's what I tell myself anyway!!

Besides, we've already been to Cracker Barrel this morning. It's our tradition to go split Grandma's Pancakes and see our favorite waitresses. Cracker Barrel's almost like family. We have friends that go there every morning. She's not able to cook any longer and he treats her like a treasure and takes her out to eat at least once a day! We missed them today. They were probably there much earlier than we were but the place was full and I'm sure they tried to miss the crowd we were part of!!

So in thinking about what I could write about today, I thought that I hadn't done anything last week. Then I remembered that I'd emptied 2 looms. Both my leclerc looms got emptied. The first one empty was Thelma. I had placemats on her. The last part of the warp resulted in 8 placemats and a long runner. I'd taken off 10 placemats before I left for Canada. Including what I had taken off, I have 3 sets of 4 for wedding gifts. There's a wedding the end of Sept but then I'll still have 2 sets for emergencies!
Somehow in writing this and posting this blog I realized that the placemat picture didn't come through so redownloaded it. It's at the top of the post and I'm not about to try to figure out how to move it!! Sometimes computers like to tell us we're dumb, right?!!

 I'd wound a handtowel warp almost a year ago but never got it onto the baby wolf so I just threw it onto Nilus and had started weaving it before I left but now I just wove it all off. It's orange and navy. Different yarns warp and weft but close enough to be good. Probably these will be gifts but I might sell a couple of them. I'd like to weave more but do them waffle weave on the baby wolf. Maybe in November...

 I'd painted a warp before heading north so got it onto Nilus the other day. I've only woven part of one vest but here it is. The warp is all blues and greens. This weft is yellow, purple, boysenberry, turquoise....nice and cheerful. The other 2 vests will have different wefts so each will be different. I'd like to paint a couple of more warps soon and weave them off before the next show.

That's all I've gotten done. The time has really slipped by. Our washing machine was still acting up when I got home. The repair guys had come 4 times so far. Friday the 5th guy came. This was a senior technician. Sure. Actually, we think he might have gotten it right. We've only done one load yet but it went smoothly and sounded better than it had in ages. He propped the machine up and came from the bottom. He figured since they'd replaced the inner tub and replaced stabilizers a couple of times about the only thing left was to replace the piece below that helps stabilize the agitator. He hopes he got it right! So do we. Otherwise, someone will be back. We have 90 days added to the warranty to try to fix it. DD will be doing laundry today and we'll know soon whether it's good!
Another thing the technician told me was about water temperature in washing machines these days. He said the government made them change the inner workings. So if you have a hot wash and cold rinse (which I want to felt fabric), if the temperature of the hot water goes a bit higher than the government thinks it should (what I really want) then it adds some cold. So what you really have is a bit warmer than warm water not the hot water you want. Also, did you know that you have to search long and hard to find a washing machine that has warm wash and warm rinse?? Mind still does which is why we will probably buy another extended warranty on this machine to keep it going. 
So now I know why my attempts to felt older wool/mohair woven fabrics are unsuccessful. I guess I have to boil some water and do it all by hand?
Got to baby our good washing machines, that's for sure!!

That's about it for now. I'm heading down to finish weaving that warp and maybe wind a new green one using the yarn that came in the order Friday. Always another warp ready in the wings?!!
Happy weaving!
Carol