We have pictures!

Lucky for me, it turns out DH had the camera yesterday - which means I didn't leave it somewhere. Whew!

I did the finishing on the Herringbone scarf yesterday, and here is a snippet that is pinned out for blocking:


As I suspected, Wool-ease doesn't block very well, but I like how the scarf puffed up when I unpinned it this morning:


I started a JIT hat last night from the same yarn to go with it, but only have half the brim done because I am a really poky knitter. I especially like the idea of this hat because of the doubled brim - my ears are always cold with knit hats because they stretch too much and let the wind in. I hope the ribbed-and-doubled brim will fix that.

I did find enough (I hope) Wool-ease in Forest Green Heather to do the pullover I mentioned yesterday - I found 8 skeins, so keep your fingers crossed!

I haven't measured the merino/tencel yet, but I did wind it into a skein to make a nice picture. Ta-da!


I also have the repaired base of my Pedal Pusher back, but am having a bit of difficulty re-attaching it to wheel. But kudos to Nels for getting it back to me so fast!


And I set up the vintage knitting machine yesterday and played around with it a bit. The bed is kind of short, and I really need to take it apart and do a really good cleaning and oiling, but I think it is so cool-looking:

It's a Dual-Craft from Canada, but that's all I've been able to find out about it.

That's all I have for today. I should be able to get some more knitting in, but I have non-crafty stuff I need to do today so probably won't get much accomplished. One can always hope, though!

It's a No Pictures Saturday

because I can't find the camera. :-/ Good start to the day, eh?

Anyway, the merino-tencel is washed and ready to measure; Li's scarf is DONE! (YAY!!) except for weaving in the ends, washing, and blocking - though since it's Wool-ease, I'm not sure how well it will block. So these things are on my list of things to do today. I probably won't get to sewing the hems on the dishcloths until tomorrow. Oh and I ran across a great idea while surfing - how to make a key-chain crochet hook. This would be really handy, so I hope to try that today, too.

And I want to see what yarn I have for my possible next knitting project - the Lace Edged Cowl Pullover (link corrected). This is probably beyond my skills at this point (I've not made a sweater yet), but I love this! Of course, since the scarf took me almost a year to knit, this sweater will probably take me 5 years!

I've received the extra-large whorl for the Polonaise - I can't wait to try it - it looks HUGE. The really nice vendor also sent me a sample of corn fiber to try spinning - it's so shiny! That will be interesting to spin as well.

And I also received the Schacht mini-loom in time for my trip last weekend, and let my sister try it out for me. She really liked it, so perhaps I'll hook her on weaving too. :-) I'll probably use it for small tapestry-type weaving, mug rugs, or squares - fast and fun stuff.

Surprisingly, I've been volunteered to do a RH weaving demo for the weaving guild. Now, these are folks that use big multi-harness looms and do fancy weaving, and I must say I'm a little concerned about little ol' me doing this. I'm more a 'put some string on it and see what happens' kind of weaver - these people have taken lessons and workshops and actually know what they are doing. Luckily I will probably have a year to come up with a (short, thankfully) program that may make sense to them (and they are very nice people, so they probably won't be too hard on me)! I have a bit of an idea of what I'll have on the looms, but of course I'll need to experiment (AND PRACTICE!) first.

But before I do any of that - I'm in a cleaning mood today, and I'm going to start with my craft room and then do the guest room if I have any energy left. One of my Yahoo groups have been talking about machine-knitting, which is inspiring me to get my machines out and do some acrylic stash-busting. But first I have to clean off the machine-knitting tables and actually the entire room is a mess. As is the rest of the basement. How can just two people make so much mess (and most of it is me, I'm sure)?!

It's a Not-Much-To-Report Saturday!

It's been a rather dull week on the fibery front. I still haven't hemmed the dishcloths I took off the Flip last weekend, I still haven't finished the bobbin of red colonial wool, I still haven't finished Li's scarf - but I've been working on the last two at least. I wound the merino/tencel on the niddy noddy so it's now ready to wash. Progress isn't obvious, so I didn't take pictures.

I finally got around to ordering an Ashford 5-dent heddle for my Harp, and it arrived today. I just tried it in the heddle blocks, and it fits perfectly - and it's white, not pink like the Ashford 5-dent heddle for the Flip (WHEW!). Maybe the colors are different according to heddle length as well as dent? I'm just glad it's not pink! :-)

I also learned this week that Kromski makes an extra-slow whorl for the Polonaise, so I ordered one of those, and a Schacht Mini Loom for fun.

I'm not sure what I'm going to get done this weekend. I went stash-diving this morning, and found a bunch of small fiber samples that I think I will do on the Polonaise next, as well as some 'Blueberry Sundae'-dyed merino that needs spinning too. We took the new car for a drive today since the sun is finally out, and picked up some of those tags with strings that I can put on my samples when I get them spun. I also realized that I completely forgot to do a record card for the merino/tencel and of course couldn't find a single index card in the house, so we picked up some of those too. I really need to hem those dishcloths, as I didn't secure the hems before taking the 'strip' off the loom (DOH!) - maybe I'll do that tomorrow, as DH is going to be gone for most of the day.

Perhaps I'll have pictures to post tomorrow, but don't hold your breath!

What do we have here?

Hmm... an empty loom! What a surprise!


Ta-da! The dishcloths are DONE!

(For some reason, my camera doesn't do green very well.)

Playing with how the green affects the yellow was a lot of fun, and really motivated me. So much so, that when I saw I wasn't going to be able to get another color repeat on the last dishcloth, I retied the warp beam to squeeze out a tiny bit more warp, and wove so far into the heddle block that the heddle could no longer come forward to change the sheds! But I was able to finish the pattern properly, and I even got the hem the correct depth.




Another ta-da! - the car search is over. We bought a Honda Fit Monday night (and ever since then have had really lousy weather - note the snow stuck in the wheels!).


The color is called "Blackberry Pearl", and it's a dark purple/black. It's much cuter in person than even the pictures on Honda's website. It's a very peppy car, it's quite roomy and the seats are infinitely convertible so I can rearrange the interior for different purposes - I will be able to put my two castle spinning wheels upright behind the seats! - and I'm already getting over 33 mpg without the car even being broken in and driving in super-high winds.

But to all the car makers out there - and I'm sure I speak for many many car owners - what is it with putting cupholders in bizarre places and in odd sizes???? There is one cup holder a little behind the seatback, and there are two far in front of the shifter where it is hard to safely reach them while driving - could you have found worse places to put them? And the door panel is thick enough that I'm not sure I can hang a cupholder from the window, but I'll be trying that out. Sheesh!

But so far I really like the car, and foresee many happy miles with it. :-D


Today I'm going to be doing the housework that I didn't do yesterday, since my spinning buddy reminded me that it was a 'free day' and I should have fun. :-D And then I'm going to wax the Polonaise and the stand the Flip is on, and wash the merino/tencel so I can do some sampling on a loom (and figure out much I really have). And maybe spin on the red colonial roving, since I haven't touched that in quite awhile, and think about what my next weaving project will be (maybe a matching blanket for the new car, if I have the proper yarn...).

Woohoo!!!

Do you know what day it is?


Any guesses?

Yep - it's a SNOW DAY! :-D

There was no way I could get in to work this morning, so I get to stay home, shovel snow, clean the basement storeroom, and WEAVE.



And watch the extra-happy dogs play, of course! :-) WOOHOO!!!