Instead

Because it snowed 4 inches in Knoxville, starting just as I went to the back door to head up to Norris, I didn't get to interview any weavers for the new Tuesday Weaver profiles I want to write for this blog.  Instead, I was stuck in the house for the past two days, keeping the animals from running out into the single digit weather and trying to keep the furnace pan from filling up with condensation.  Ah, that's another story, but not one for us today.

 I should have been weaving.  I could have, but I have a warp that's too short for anything meaningful, a rug warp waiting for strips I don't feel like cutting and Tootsie being up to her old tricks.  The cords I replaced her old tie-up chains with aren't working, try as I might to get them all the correct length.  In desperation, I pulled out her old chain tie-ups.  Yes, Tina and LouAnn, I know I promised I wouldn't, but I needed a solution.  It was that or chop old Tootsie up for firewood.  As I tied them up, I noticed how more evenly the treadles hung, and when I'd finished, I noticed how much better Tootsie wove. 
 Well, I may have promised, but if you think about it, she was made to work with the chains, and it was probably for a reason.  There was a lot less popping up of shafts up over her top, and a lot more even rising of the shafts in general.  I did make a treadling error that I don't feel like fixing right now, so she sits idle, but I confess that I like the chains!
  What I have been doing for the last two frigid, snowy days is knitting.  I started out knitting socks for my sister.  You may recall that a week before Christmas, she asked for a pair of socks.  Hand knitted, ready in a week, minus the trip from my house to hers.  Obviously, my sister doesn't knit!  I have made steady progress on them, though, since then.  I had a ball of Noro sock yarn, and my mother had one she'd started some socks with, but torn out when she didn't like them.  They're the same colorway, but of course with Noro, it never looks the same.  I like the lace pattern, and I like that the colors appear in each sock, though not in the same order.  I hope she'll like them.  She's a hard one to please!
  And yesterday, I sampled with some black chenille to make a new sweater for myself.  You see, I had two large cones of black chenille, and then received another in our holiday party gift exchange.  Well, I've always wanted a black chenille sweater, and found a lovely pattern in Knit Wear (see the photo in yesterday's blog).  I sampled a few different needle sizes and gauges, and started the sweater yesterday afternoon while watching the new Sherlock Holmes series.  That's black mohair on the cuff.  I thought it might make it a little sassier.
 

After the chenille made my hands sore, I switched to a sweater I began last winter, another pattern from Knit Wear.  I didn't like the way the stripes differ on the sleeves from the body of the sweater, which is why I put it aside this past year, but I want to finish it.  It's soft--cotton, silk and rayon--and I want to wear it before this crazy cold weather is replaced by crazy hot weather this summer. 
  I will face the problems in the loominaria soon, but knitting and cold weather go together well, with a lap full of cats and my feet in a down comforter.  It's supposed to be all the way into the 50's this weekend, and maybe the looms will be ready for me and I for them.  Until then, stay warm, be safe and happy weaving!
  Maggie