FINISHED!

It was way past time to cut the fabric for the shirt, so I finally bit the bullet and did it:


And I did the sewing after managing to avoid it for most of Saturday:


I'm not crazy about the couching down the center - I had trouble doing it evenly, but if you don't look too closely it looks ok.


I didn't add the called-for braid around the neck, though I'm thinking of adding something at the bottom of the "V" but haven't decided what yet. Since I have a few more curves than the models in the photo (A Handwoven Treasury, Interweave Press), it doesn't lay quite as nicely on me and barely fits even though I increased the warp width. I do like it though, and if I lose a little bit of weight, which is on the list of 'things to do this year', it will look nicer. It's also a great look for a serape, using a heavier yarn.


I put another warp on the Harp while I was avoiding cutting and sewing the shirt:

This is the "Tweed So Fine" scarf pattern in Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson, and I'm using a shiny slubby acrylic yarn (that is actually taupe in color, not charcoal sigh). The heddle is abrading the slubby spots, so I'm going to stop using the heddle to line up the fell and just use the shuttle. And since it's acrylic, the warp tension is not as high as usual. Since I want this to be drapey, I'm not beating it at all - just pushing the picks in place. This will be a really quick project, judging by how fast it's gone so far.


And I started weaving this on the Flip last weekend:


This is the Brooks Bouquet place mat from the (revised) Ashford Book of Rigid Heddle Weaving. The pattern is not difficult at all, and I love the yarn (#8 perle cotton); it has a beautiful sheen to it.


I also started weaving this on the cradle loom (forgive the mess under the weaving!):


It's a sampler strip from a 70s book called Everybody's Weaving. I'm using LusterSheen that I had in the stash - what a nice yarn to weave with! I've only done 3 different patterns so far; I like that this is a narrow project as it goes faster. :-)

Wow - it looks like I've actually been doing stuff!

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!!!

Another new project...

and I've (finally!) made progress on the first of the next batch of Textures & Patterns samples.

This is the 3/1 lace pattern - it doesn't look all that lacy from my weaving vantage point, but it sure shows in the photo. This makes a really nice pattern, and it's easy too. I've noticed my right-side edges aren't looking very good, possibly because the carpet warp is so different that the wool I was weaving with earlier in the day, so these will be good practice for trying to get them more even.


Here is the new (secret) project:

DH had asked me to make him a red, white, & blue scarf several years ago, and I never got around to it, so here it is. This will be a wool scarf on the cradle loom, as a thank-you to DH for giving me the loom.

Originally this was going to be a striped scarf, but when I started weaving with a fine yarn for weft, it covered the wool surprisingly completely. I wasn't about to re-warp with a denser heddle (I'm using a 6-dent with worsted weight wool), so I decided to go plaid instead. I do like it so far, but it's not what I had planned to do so I'm still a bit disappointed. I'm trying to do it without DH seeing it, and that's been tricky. 'Luckily' I forgot to plug in the crockpot for supper, so he went to town for take-out giving more time to get going on this. I think I'll take it to work and work on it there during breaks. (AFAIK, he never reads my blog unless I ask him to, so I'm safe posting about it!)

I've had other problems with the yarn as well - I went to my 'old' LYS and picked up 3 skeins of Cascade 220 in red, white, and blue - I thought - but couldn't find a wool for weft small enough (never did find a wool small enough). I pulled the blue wool out Friday afternoon, as the rigid heddles had arrived - and it was PURPLE (though if you hold it just so, it does look blue - it changes color as you rotate the skein around). The new local LYS had navy blue Cascade so off I went first thing Saturday morning. The navy blue was way too dark, so I ended up going with a different brand of wool. Then I pulled the white out this morning to wind it into a center-pull ball - and it's not Cascade 220 either. It's Aussie Wool. And it has a LOT of knots in it. :-( Since both warp and weft are worsted, that will make a thicker scarf which wouldn't be a bad thing, but the design of the cradle loom might not allow that much cloth on the cloth beam - I'll guess we'll see!


In knitting news, I did about 4 rows on the wristwarmers. Unfortunately, I still can't really see the pattern developing. Fortunately, my wrist wasn't bothered by doing them all in one night, so I think it's getting better finally - YAY!

That's it for this update - I hope I get more done this week!

I had a lazy week...

But I actually finished something - the mp3 player and doodads holder:


I wish the fabric was a bit stiffer, but I think that's a drawback of using acrylic on a really small loom - you just can't beat it very hard. But for my purposes (keeping all of the pieces together), I think it will be fine. I was very happy that I could get the speaker to fit, and still have room for extra batteries - that speaker drains the battery if you leave it in, even if you turn the speaker 'off'. :-/



I didn't touch the other looms this past week, nor did I take a closer look at the new book as I had intended.

I did have Spin Club this week though, and finally finished the bobbin that has been on the Pedal Pusher for what seems like forever. Now it needs plying. Thankfully my wrist didn't hurt after Spin Club (and I rested it a lot), so I think I can get back to limited spinning. :-D


When I wasn't spinning at Spin Club, I was playing around with my anniversary present:


It's a Norwegian cradle loom - a box or tape loom. It's bigger than the Bonhop and smaller than the Mattel - and whole lot more fun to use than the Mattel. Since I had gotten it just shortly before the meeting, it's not yet set up correctly so I'll get photos when I do that. It comes unfinished and needs a bit of light sanding and a finish (and rosemaling), so while I'm waiting on a couple of rigid heddles that will fit I'll at least get the sanding done - the finish might have to wait a few weeks. I'll probably mostly use it as a scarf loom, though I'm also going to use it as a card loom. It's a darned cute loom, and nice and small. First project on it will be a thank-you scarf for DH (he spoils me so!). :-D