February 17, 2003

Snow day - again! School is called off for tomorrow due to the massive amounts
of snow we got in the last two days. Here's the pics of my last two weaving
projects.

My brother's blanket is
ready to deliver. The Encore was a lot easier to work with than I thought,
but it was a lot more expensive since I had to buy 10 skeins. All of the other
blankets I've made came from the stash. They probably cost the same, but it
was money already spent.

My niece's scarf is complete.
Again, this was acrylic - didn't think she'd take care of wool. I'm really
happy with the selvedges, except for where the color
changes took place. Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong? This was such
a quick item to weave, I know why so many people like weaving them. It's a
great way to sample different structures.

Back to winding my warp.

February 7, 2003

posted 9:09 PM

Boring. I can't believe I've made three basically identical doubleweave blankets.
It seemed like a good idea at the time! I am halfway finished the third -
my brother's blanket, but I'm really pushing myself now. With any luck I'll
have this off the loom tomorrow.

Next up is the scarf for my niece Kori. I didn't even know what a Burberry
scarf was when she first asked me to make her one. Of course, now I see them
(and purses, etc) all over the place. I think half the girls at school got
something Burberry for Christmas.

Any ideas for baby blankets? My nephew and his wife leave next week for Kazakhstan.
They want to adopt two children, but the agency said that the country is going
to start limiting adoptions to one child at a time. They hurried the paperwork
through, so hopefully they will get there before the limitation starts. They
don't know what sex or what age, but I'd like to start soon so I can have
them finished by the time they get back (should take 4-6 weeks) I'm certainly
tired of plaids; maybe huck or honeycomb? I'll probably use one warp for the
two blankets to speed them up too.

Wheel Update: UPS tracking has the wheel less than one hour
away. Wonder if I can just go pick it up rather than waiting until Monday?

posted at 8:50 AM

I'm enjoying this day at home. I can sit at the loom and look out at the
birds at the
feeders and the snow still coming down at a fast clip. Of course, nothing
like the amounts Linda has been
accumulating!

The Encore blanket is moving along quickly. Here is a picture of my progress,
along with my new 15" shuttle. It holds a 6" bobbin and an incredible
amount of yarn, but I didn't consider that it would also be heavier. All in
all, the advantages of fewer bobbin changes outweighs (pardon the pun) the
disadvantages, especially when using an acrylic so I can't spit splice. Here's
a closeup.

posted at 5:20 AM

Snow Day! I can't get back to sleep (thinking snoring spouse) so after a
BIG cup of coffee I'll be at the loom. I'll take pictures of the new blanket
and post them later this morning.