Slowly

I thread. Got the warp pre-sleyed and beamed Friday night. I finally got to start threading tonight. I did 5/25 repeats. 20%. Maybe I can squeeze in a little more time tomorrow. I spent most of the weekend writing my papers and working on my final projects. I did sneak away to do a little spinning and plying. (I didn't want that laptop to overheat!) The two skeins on the left are from Rovings. I wish you could feel how soft and squishy they are. The skein on the laptop is merino, alpaca, and silk from Lambspun. I was hoping that the lighter background would show the nice glow it has, but that didn't happen.

Excused

When they called 75 prospective jurors into one court room I knew it was something big. They were picking from our county, but the trial is going to be about 1.25 hours away. After some explanations of the case, we were asked several questions as a group. Then began the long process of calling each juror, individually, into a conference room for questioning. I'm not sure if I was excused because I looked like I would or wouldn't be able to impose the death penalty, but I have to say I'm relieved. We started individual conferences at 1:30 - I was number 8/75 and I left at 3:00. The majority of the jurors will have to report again tomorrow. Jury duty is one day/one case so I'm finished.

I wound the warp this evening. I'd show you a picture, but it's white. Threading is going to be a little slower with a 24 end repeat, but I don't have any classes this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some pictures by Sunday.

A Little Spinning TIme

I picked up another class. So last weekend found me sitting in Classroom Assessment Techniques and only dreaming of winding the warp. I did take some time last night to do some spinning and made a pair of black microfiber Cruise Pants.

Tomorrow I have jury duty. I was looking forward to listening to London Bridges and finishing up the Coup d'Etat cardigan while waiting to see if they need me. Unfortunately, I just read the juror notes. No knitting needles. Well then, I guess it's back to reading articles for my annotated bib. With any luck, I'll get done early and I can get on with the warp. Of course, there's always the possibility that I'll actually get on a jury.

Decision

I'm going with the braided twill. I won't get a chance to start winding until Saturday night, so I'm taking the time to decide whether I go with my original Conshohocken 2.2 Softball or 8/2 cotton. I played around with the Winweave draft and think that it looks better with a lighter warp and darker weft.

Two Thoughts

OR



I don't know if I want to use the two different weights that I showed in the last post. I have a variegated purple 8/2 which I could use for the warp and still use the violet 8/2 as weft.

That's as far as I got. It's the end of the marking period. We are restructuring the whole school into small learning communities and I won't be teaching anything I've ever taught before. I have another weekend of classes and I have a paper due next week. Hmmm. Anyone taking bets on when this warp will be wound?

School School School

I was in class all weekend. Friday night, all day Saturday, and all day today. The good part is - I'm halfway through the course! I have three weeks off to read assignments, write a paper, and begin work on my final project. After another intensive weekend I have two weeks to turn in my final project. Pretty demanding, but I like pace. I have one more course like this and then the summer classes are for a full week.

I cut out a nightgown for my mom Thursday night, began it Friday between school and my class, and finished it last night. I also got a little spinning in before I crashed last night.



Some lovely Polwarth from Rovings. I have no specific plans for this, but it was definitely therapeutic.

I've finished weaving all the towels on the color gamp. This week I'll hem them and decide what's next. I've got several things going through my head. The one that pops up most often is log cabin. I made the towels last summer with a very small repeat and colors that were about the same value. This time I'm thinking about more contrast and bigger repeats. Maybe two different weight yarns. I'm looking through Leslie Voiers' monograph for some inspiration.

The Last of the Gamp

I can't swear this will be the last gamp post. It's been so much fun I have to keep talking about it.



On the left is reverse twill, Chandler calls it vertical herringbone. The picture on the right is a 2/2 twill. I like the bolder look of the 2/2 twill. Here's a close up of the two twills. The plain weave in the center is woven with sewing thread and will be the turn under for the hem. I may have enough warp for one more (towel, napkin, whatever) maybe idiot's twill.

Back to Sewing

I finally bit the bullet and sat down to finish up two knitted items. Four hours later - done! The vest only needed to have the ends worked in. The Beast cardigan had to be sewn together, but the yarn is so thick I decided to go with some Top of the Lamb (sport weight) for the seams. Both were washed and patted out to dry. I'll take pictures when I get home from school.

I ordered a few new patterns for spring and summer sewing. One of them has (what I think to be) a unique feature. There is a separate front pattern piece for B, C, and D cups. I know you can make alterations yourself, but I thought this was pretty cool. I traced the pattern onto gridded pellon and cut a test pattern out of some mystery fabric I'll never use. I always underestimate the time it will take to paint trim, but hopefully I'll have some time left to sew this weekend.