Saturday, August 22, 2015

Mornings are Getting Cooler

And it's the perfect time for working on a new cardigan.  This one is Claudia's newest cardigan - Mossy Vine.


It's really interesting to knit.  Lot's of new techniques even for someone who has been knitting for fifty years! I've got another 10-12" on the body then the sleeves and bands.  Should be ready by October!

Friday, August 21, 2015

Sampled and Ready to Go!!

 Finally got everything wound on a tied up.


My original plan was to use silver gray for the weft so I tried that first. Meh!  Other samples, going from bottom to top: off-white, evergreen, sagebrush, spring green.  After this shot I tried some 10/2 black but thinking that the thinner, darker yarn would make the warp pop.  Not so much.

The sagebrush won - just neutral enough to highlight the obscure the colors in the warp.


The tie-up included a floating selvedge on each side but of course I didn't bother with it.  That left some problems with the first and last warp thread. Solved that problem by threading them on harness 5 and tying it to treadles 1 and 3.  


Width is 13.2" in the reed and should give me two runners, one 70" and the other 60", plus a few placemats.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Taming the Monster

After thinking about how to continue with that pile of colorful spaghetti I put it downstairs and went on to other projects. Yesterday I decided it was time to tame that monster.



After lots of silly mistakes I was able to get it wound on using the trapeze.  I'm half way done threading and hopefully soon I will be weaving.

Part of the delay for getting to this project was driving up to Long Island and bringing Jackson back.  We spent lots of time exploring in Valley Forge, along with the zoo.

The ruins of the old Colonial Springs Bottling Company
Relaxing on the "relax" bench
Green Iguana

We even had time for a selfie on his last night!!! I look ridiculous but he loves it -- probably because I look ridiculous :-)


He wants to come back for two weeks next summer.  I better start storing up energy now!!