Yikes!

I released the tension right before advancing the loom, but the phone rang. No one was home, so I had to pick it up. (Believe me, I usually try not to answer it.) That's when I noticed the discrepancy between the three yarns. It looks disastrous, but actually once the warp is under tension you don't notice it much. The darker green (yes, despite what the picture looks like, it is green) barely relaxed, the white drooped considerably, and the lighter green was between them. It has to be the difference in the yarns, because the colors rotate between the two blocks, so it can't be the harnesses. Or could it?

Marie, now that the samples are done this is going to be two more baby blankets. One baby girl was born tonight, three more to go.

Joy!

I love the sight of a new warp, smooth and full of possibilities.





This is the two block twill I talked about earlier. At the very bottom I was trying out sewing thread for the hem turn under. I was going to do 4 repeats for each color, but accidentally only did three for the lighter green. I like that better, but since the first 15" are going to be cut up for samples anyway, I didn't bother to redo it. (Of course, it won't be as loose after it's washed in hot water and dried.)

I'm not going to do a plain weave header as it will probably turn out wider than the body of the blanket. I'll start with 1/2" in sewing thread and do 5 repeats.

By the way, if you have a blog with weaving content, why don't you join our WeaveRing?

Be Careful What You Wish For

I wanted a snow day, I got a snow day. (Yes, I had all my papers graded, entered into the computer, and posted to the website by 10AM Sunday morning) Did I get my warp on the loom? No, I did not. Since I got the call Sunday evening, I was able to sleep in until 7, have a cup of coffee and knit a little while I watched the news. Then I headed downstairs and found out the pump that takes out the humidifier water (and the AC water in the summer) was whirring but not pumping. Water over about a 9x12' area. So I spent most of the day sucking up water with my Oreck shampooer. Does a better job of getting the water out of the carpet than my wet/dry vacuum. Turns out the hose that takes the water outside froze. Finally, at 4 o'clock I sat down to presley (no, Kathryn, nothing to do with Elvis!) the reed. You know, the presleying I was going to do last week.

Now, tell me why I planned a 16 end 3 color repeat, with an 18 epi sett, using a 6 dent reed. I sat there staring for about 30 minutes. Finally I figured out that I wasn't going to be able to presley and warp BTF. I ended up threading *3 green each in 5 dents, 1 green in the next, skip 10 dents, repeat from *. It was a little slow going, but the next two colors will go faster.

Delayed Results

I was hoping for some nice natural light to show you the fabric I dyed last weekend, but I'll settle for this!



I'm reskeining the Brushstrokes today, but with the blizzard conditions outside, natural light's not going to be great. I'll use my clock reel with the yardage counter so I can decide what I'm going to do with this.

Now to finish grading tests and assignments. A fact of life I picked up in childhood - if you put off homework you will have school the next day!

As the Weekend Closes

Movies were not high on the list for Sunday and Monday. I forgot to mention that I watched The Village Saturday night, too. Interesting storyline, plus it was shot locally. Delaware weaver, Deb McClintoc was an extra in the movie. While you're there, check out some of her work. Just beautiful. I watched 50 First Dates this morning, while plying the last of the Brushtrokes. When we were studying memory, all my students were asking about that movie. Now I can tell them I saw it. Enough said.

It's ten o'clock and I'm just about finished washing the fat eighths. The Brushstrokes skeins are drying on a pvc pipe over my laundry tubs, and the three bouts are wound for the two block twills. It's too dark for pictures, and frankly, I'm too tired anyway. Hope I don't freak the kids out tomorrow. I didn't use gloves when rinsing out the samples and my hands are a tad blue. Oh well, we're in a cold snap, I'll just tell them I'm cold.

My plan for after school tomorrow is: go to the gym, pick up my new "computer" glasses, and then presley the loom, using Carolyn's plan for presleying the reed.

So sad. Sylvia commented a few days ago that she was lucky enough to take a class from Sharon Alderman. I've always wanted to take a class with her, and I just got a notice that the Bucks County guild is hosting a workshop with her in April. Three days and a great price - unfortunately they are three school days, so it's a no go for me.

Productive Day

I did another Sabracon F color triangle. This time I used scarlet, turquoise, and navy. It was rather a sedate group, the scarlet is much softer than fuschia, but it gave me a good range of blues.

Since I was going to do fat eighths, along with the watercolor paper strips, I had a little more prep work. I scoured the white muslin with synthrapol and soda ash. Then after drying I tore 9" strips across the width, then tore that in half, giving me 9"x22" rectangles. I put them back in the washer and filled up the rinse cycle, spinning most of the moisture out. While it was spinning out I started numbering plastic 9 oz cups.



I poured out the 1% solutions into smaller cups (from liquid detergent) and got the syringes, paper towel stacks, rinse water, etc. ready.





I mixed 10ml of solution for 6 cups at a time (since that's how many blocks I have on a strip) and painted the strip. Then I added 30ml water to each cup and added a piece of fabric (seen below).



I put the cups in cardboard boxes and held them for awhile.



I added 30ml of soda ash solution and stuck them in the basement bathroom where I kicked up the heat to 75° and left them to batch overnight.



Here are the strips, you'll have to wait a day or two for the fabric.



I also got one of the three bouts wound for the two block twill. I think I'll call it a day.

Movies, Movies

Anticipating this three day weekend, I rushed home from school Friday and by 4:00 PM was spinning more of these lovely batts and watching Empire of the Sun. Christian Bale did an amazing job as a pampered prep school boy manically racing around the Japanese camp. I've seen it before, but found it more heartbreaking this time.



I showed you a bobbin of the Brushstrokes but never posted a picture of the batts in all their glory. I would have been finished plying last night, but I didn't feel like going down stairs to use the skein winder to free up a bobbin.

Besides marathon spinning yesterday I watched Obsession very much in the Hitchcock genre, but not quite there. I think it was the melodramatic music that did it in for me.

Despite the siren call of my fiber, I forced myself to go to the gym yesterday. It was my third visit after my very long furlough, and surprisingly it was a good work out. All cardio, I'll start back with the weights next week. Feeling virtuous I went straight to Joann's with my 50% of any item coupon and picked up a bolt of white muslin.

I'm going to do another color triangle today and dumping the 10 ml of dye after painting each piece just went against my nature. So, I'm going to use the low water immersion technique and sop up the dye with a fat eighth and then batch in a baggie. I did a three color gradation a year or two ago which led to a couple large wallhangings for Josh's apartment. Presently they are living in a box in the linen closet. He wants to keep them for his next place (which hopefully won't have as bad walls), I'm rooting for making rag rugs with them.

Last night found me watching The Hours with Laura. So many great actors and wonderful performances,but Good God, what a depressing movie! I kept watching, hoping, but no bright spots. Well, there were some, but they were provided by Josh, watching playoff games in the family room with his buddies. Some of the comments, yelled in unison, were pretty funny. We actually had to stop the dvd when the game went into overtime. All I can say is, if this is what they do when they are watching other teams, I'm glad I won't see him today at the Linc. He's already there - cooking steak and egg sandwiches and waiting impatiently for the kick-off.

Finishing Up

Not much new to blog about. I spent a lot of time this weekend doing fiberish pursuits, but nothing to show for it.

Friday night I celebrated Roc Day all by myself, spinning the Brushstrokes and watching Mona Lisa Smile. Pleasant little movie, but didn't knock my socks off. The wool/alpaca/silk blend, however, does!



I didn't finish the recycled sweater because I forgot that the reason I had three KnitSmart carriages was due to the breakdown of the electronic counter that's built into it. You are merrily knitting along and then blam! The counter resets to zero. I put a tablet next to the table and I counted out loud in tens, put a slash mark, count ten more. I hope no one was around, because I sounded like a two year old watching Sesame Street. I finished the back and then came up to my computer and ordered a new counter. Works the old fashioned way. Hits a little wire and counts down another number. With any luck it will be here by the weekend.

Sunday found me serging my twill samples and writing up my experiences. Once they're distributed I'll post my results. Once again, I'm left with an empty loom and no warp wound. Tonight I finished drafting my two block twill plaid, with a three color repeat, à la Alderman.

Recycling

I have a handspun sweater that just didn't fit right. It was too wide and too short. So last night I took it all apart, skeining the yarn on my niddy noddy. It looked like a pile of curly spaghetti, but it's been washed and will be ready to go tomorrow. I worked up a sample on the KnitSmart and hopefully I'll have the major pieces done by the weekend. Ribbing will probably have to wait for next week.



On the spinning front, I really loved June's yarn, spun from batts she bought at MDSW. No wonder I was so attracted to it, I bought three of the same batts (Brushstrokes) from Indigo Moon Farm at SOAR this fall! I spun a little sample tonight. Now to decide what movies I'll watch this weekend.


Indigio Moon Farm, Brushstrokes

Sometimes It's the Simple Things

that make me happy. I was playing around with my beads (the last thing on my vacation to do list), checking what I had, and what I needed to actually do any beading. I was thinking how I needed some really small zip lock bags but I assumed I would have to order large lots in order to get a decent price.

Then I went to the dollar store! Lordy, Lordy, look what I found - there are 50 bags in each package.



I bought three, but I'm going to have to go back and get more. Who knows how long they'll carry them?

Back to the beading. I realized I needed crimping pliers, some crimp beads, and a few other things before these beads can turn into something. I did, however, attach a swivel clip to an inkle band turning it into a lanyard for my ID. I'm sure there's a way to finish off the ends of the band, some sort of hemstitching perhaps, but of course I didn't think that far ahead when I was doing it. So I zigzagged the ends and then folded it around the jump ring and bar tacked it. Not very neat, but it'll do the trick.

Sometimes It's the Simple Things

that make me happy. I was playing around with my beads (the last thing on my vacation to do list), checking what I had, and what I needed to actually do any beading. I was thinking how I needed some really small zip lock bags but I assumed I would have to order large lots in order to get a decent price.

Then I went to the dollar store! Lordy, Lordy, look what I found - there are 50 bags in each package.



I bought three, but I'm going to have to go back and get more. Who knows how long they'll carry them?

Back to the beading. I realized I needed crimping pliers, some crimp beads, and a few other things before these beads can turn into something. I did, however, attach a swivel clip to an inkle band turning it into a lanyard for my ID. I'm sure there's a way to finish off the ends of the band, some sort of hemstitching perhaps, but of course I didn't think that far ahead when I was doing it. So I zigzagged the ends and then folded it around the jump ring and bar tacked it. Not very neat, but it'll do the trick.

Found

Just in case I didn't have enough irons in the fire, I decided to see if I could find my old KnitSmart knitting machine. I packed it away when I started teaching full-time, 10 years ago. I found the machine pieces in the attic and the keyplates in the basement. Now all I needed were the transfer tools, claw weights, etc. Where did I put them? I could picture a yellow plastic lunch box. I started in the basement. Found a pink My Child and a red Transformers box. Headed upstairs and looked in the hall closets, then up to the next floor where I looked under my bed (hard to see to the middle of a king-size bed - way too many dust bunnies), in the closets, and then up to the attic.

How do I describe my attic? Let's begin with the fact that I have four kids in their twenties, who have moved in and out several times. They also seem to be abnormally attached to their childhood teddy bears, baseball cards, and paper back series (Sweet Valley High, etc). However, they are not attached enough to actually move them to their homes (oh yeah, two still live here!) Eventually I found it. Rainbow Brite.

I put everything together, after cleaning off 10 years of dust, and it worked like a charm. I knitted up this tote in less than 2 hours, including the pocket and handles. Sewing it together took almost as long! Into the washing machine it went.



I made a folded hem (in red) but it didn't full as much as the rest of the tote - gives it a bit of a ruffle. The pocket should have been a little narrower and a little deeper. Oh well, live and learn.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Found

Just in case I didn't have enough irons in the fire, I decided to see if I could find my old KnitSmart knitting machine. I packed it away when I started teaching full-time, 10 years ago. I found the machine pieces in the attic and the keyplates in the basement. Now all I needed were the transfer tools, claw weights, etc. Where did I put them? I could picture a yellow plastic lunch box. I started in the basement. Found a pink My Child and a red Transformers box. Headed upstairs and looked in the hall closets, then up to the next floor where I looked under my bed (hard to see to the middle of a king-size bed - way too many dust bunnies), in the closets, and then up to the attic.

How do I describe my attic? Let's begin with the fact that I have four kids in their twenties, who have moved in and out several times. They also seem to be abnormally attached to their childhood teddy bears, baseball cards, and paper back series (Sweet Valley High, etc). However, they are not attached enough to actually move them to their homes (oh yeah, two still live here!) Eventually I found it. Rainbow Brite.

I put everything together, after cleaning off 10 years of dust, and it worked like a charm. I knitted up this tote in less than 2 hours, including the pocket and handles. Sewing it together took almost as long! Into the washing machine it went.



I made a folded hem (in red) but it didn't full as much as the rest of the tote - gives it a bit of a ruffle. The pocket should have been a little narrower and a little deeper. Oh well, live and learn.

Oh, and Happy New Year!