I've been doing a little weaving,

And a lot of surfing. An online friend wants to do an Elsebeth Lavold knit-along (small projects and a sloooow pace :-) ) so I've been looking for my Lavold books and drooling over them. :-) There is also a big following on Ravelry, and many beautifully-knit pieces!

Here is the weaving:


I am making progress, but I imagine I have a ways to go yet. But it's an easy weave - I can watch TV and do this simple pattern, and I love how the fabric is turning out.


I was going to knit a balaclava for walking the dogs - even picked out a pattern - but changed my mind and cast on a hooded scarf.... and then changed my mind again and was going to knit a Malagaiter (pattern on Ravelry). But while I was looking at the Lavold patterns I found a nice plain hood in "Viking Patterns for Knitting" that looks easy enough ("Vigdis") to be relatively quick, and calls for chunky wool which is what I wanted to use. So I frogged what little I had done on the hooded scarf and cast on the hood last night. I've only knit a couple of inches, but so far so good:

Yeah, I know - it's only ribbing, but it sure looks nice, and I'm really loving the color of this Cascade 128. :-) I will do a Malagaiter eventually, probably to keep in the car. A Ravelry-er told me there is a neat hood in book #9 too, but it looks like it is cabled and I want the hood done sooner rather than later (and I don't have book 9 - YET). So that hood is also in my future, most likely. :-D

The new needles for the Estonian shawl shipped Friday, so I should have them in about a week. In the meantime, the shirt and this hood will keep me busy (I'm taking a bit of a break from the Textures & Patterns sampler). And I'm planning to get the rug loom on it's stand next weekend and start on the rug.

I've been Weaving!

(and knitting!).

I finally started weaving for the huipil top (and I'd bet I've misspelled that name again):

I'm quite a bit further along than that now - I took the pic after a couple hours of weaving (and retying onto the cloth beam), but it's progressing slowly. I was hoping to have more done by now, but I'm so used to using a narrower loom that using the Harp's long shuttles is slowing me down even more than usual (plus I'm having a sci-fi movie marathon and you do have to look at the TV screen often). But I like how it's turning out so far! And lucky for me, I'm off tomorrow and DH isn't, so I might get more done (fingers crossed). I'm going to see if I have some shorter shuttles before the next winding.

This is the third sampler from the current batch of Textures & Patterns samples - it's the 5/2 lace if I remember correctly (and I probably don't):


This has been done for awhile, but I was having trouble getting a good pic of it.


Another thing I've been having trouble getting a good pic of is the wristwarmers. I bound off the second one last night, so they are DONE. I really like how they turned out, except my solution for 'no-thumb' didn't work out the greatest.

The color is way off in the photo, but it was the only way I could capture the cabling.


My new weaving center:


Wow this sofa is great for weaving! It's firm yet comfy for long sittings at the loom, and with it up off the floor I can get the loom stand's feet underneath it so the loom is closer to me. That means I don't have to lean forward so much (thus saving my back/shoulders/neck). And it arrived (ordered online from Target) just in time for the nasty cold I ended up with last weekend (therefore no blog post) - it's quite comfy to lay on too. Surprisingly DH doesn't seem to be interested in it, but the dogs like it of course (though Gimpy Dog still prefers either of the La-z-Boys (sigh)).

I'm planning to cast-on for the Summer Triangle Shawl tonight, but I might not get much more done than that - but at least I'm finally starting it. I'm also planning on getting the Baltic Sea Stole out and finishing that this year - keep your fingers crossed - that is a lot of lace-knitting for me! :-/

Happy New Year!

The Confounded Scarf™ is finally DONE. Between trying to keep DH from seeing it in-progress, and all the problems I had (I had to unweave some of it again as I had missed a warp, and it was very obvious), I didn't think it would ever get done.

Here it is after washing - much to my surprise, the red seems to be colorfast (I tested first, don't worry!). With all the other problems I had with it, I figured the red would bleed all over and the non-superwash yarns would shrink differently than the one (sigh) superwash yarn. So far that doesn't seem to be the case, but I also didn't let it soak very long. I just did a basic hemstitch and fringe.


That white 'blobbish' area towards the bottom is where the white yarn wasn't quite so tightly twisted - really kind of shows, doesn't it. :-( Oh well.

Here's a better picture, before I fringed and washed it:

My selvedges aren't all that even, but I'm pretty sure DH won't notice. I do kind of like how it turned out, and it looks good from a distance! :-D

Next up - I need to get the wristwarmers knitted as I am itching to start the Estonian triangle shawl. I didn't get any more knitting done this past week, so I'm still at the thumb of #1 which I am going to turn into a slit (I hope). I'll be doing that in a few minutes as I continue my Hawaii Five-O marathon. :-) I should be able to finish the first wristwarmer, and then, if I'm up to it, I'll cast on for the Estonian Shawl. I also need to dig out my Baltic Sea Stole, as that is an UFO I'm going to try to finish this year (if I can figure out where I am - thank goodness for lifelines!).

And I also need to get back to the Textures sampler, and I need to start the shirt on the Harp, and the rug on the Hearthside - there just are not enough hours in the day!!!