Weaverly

Fast Driving and Slow Cloth

Last Sunday was the final Formula 1 race of the season, and all other work came to a halt. 

I tell myself that I can knit without watching my needles, but this is not always the case. While the drivers were circling the track in Abu Dhabi, I was doing more frogging than knitting, and finally quit knitting.

OK, Formula 1 is over for the year. Back to the great outdoors. Progress is slower than 200 mph, but every step counts. 

Rhododendron everywhere.

Here's where you must pay attention. If you don't turn right at this gate, you have to go through a swampy area where Carolyn has seen copperheads.

And the final turn to the homeward stretch is just after this birdhouse. It's easy to miss because it blends in with all the grays and browns of the woods in winter.

Back in the studio, I am still working on the 16-shaft amalgamation warp. At this point I am close to the end, and trying to use up some of the full bobbins.

Here's a monochrome version, a different way of combining tonal values: light with light, dark with dark. 

And in desperation, I wove each repeat in a different color weft. 

At the bitter end, I tried just treadled a point twill until I ran out of warp, using the same yarn as in the warp. The texture is nice, if you look at it with sidelighting.

And then I could finally cut the darn thing off. 

After hemming, washing & ironing, we have this, in part:

Now for my 4-shaft loom, I'm looking at another stash-busting project. I've got several pounds of bleached and natural white 10/2 cotton, which I'm combining randomly in a dishtowel warp. 

In this view you can get an idea of the very subtle stripe effect.

Ready to raddle & beam. Maybe tomorrow.

But wait! There's more!

The infamous ski slope profile, but a very tasty loaf. It's an experiment. Molasses & cocoa, with rye and six other grains. 

Drawstring Mania, an Audition, & a Menorah

Mania: an excessive enthusiasm or desire; an obsession.

Gosh, loan a girl a lucet and there's no telling what will happen. I seem to have developed a mania for drawstrings. But if I'm going to make drawstrings, I have to have something to draw them through. Enter my DPN's and handspun yarn stash.

An audition is a tryout for a role in a movie, orchestra, or play.

Audition is the transduction of sound waves into a neural signal that is made possible by the structures of the ear.

It seems that audition refers to the sense of hearing. But can an audition apply to the sense of sight?

An audition is trying out yarn colors for a new warp.

And shifting gears a bit,

This menorah belonged to my maternal grandparents, then to my parents. Here it is in my kitchen on the eve of the last day of Hanukah this year. As we approach the longest night of the year, I am warmed by the light.

Slow Work

Last week's jin was washed & ironed. It will make its way into something wearable. Eventually.

Hanukah this year was virtual. 

This morning we got up early to watch the final race of the Formula I season, from Abu Dhabi. 

I must keep my hands moving while I watch TV. Currently working on some drawstring pouches to contain other projects. Projects within projects within projects. That's how I roll.

On the looms there is only slow weaving. Long warps, a little weaving each day. Inch by inch. It's pleasant work, but really doesn't engage the mind.

But what should appear, just in time? This lovely tool, called a lucet. I'm learning how to use it. A new set of hand skills. Now that's a fun challenge. 

Life Around Here, at the Moment

The numbers are not very good this week, and getting worse. I still have a place to walk, however, and for that I am thankful. 

The sun was peeping around a corner this morning. Very coy.

In my kitchen a new tea cozy has appeared. I love hot strong black tea. This cozy was knitted of scraps of handspun. 

And in the studio, weaving is on pause while I finish some sewing projects. Here is a rather nice pocket on a pair of linen pants. It took me several false starts to get the pockets just right, so forgive me for gloating.

Thanksgiving will be quiet. I'm planning to ignore it, really. That's the best thing to do this year. Next year I'll pull out all the stops. 

Dept. of Books: just finished reading Elizabeth Taylor's "The Soul of Kindness." Very fine. She's one of my faves. Also recommended: "The Wedding Group," "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont," and "In a Summer Season."

Catching Up - Double the Fun

Things didn't work out as planned on the dobby loom. Instead of tied weaves, I elected to weave some samples of double weave, not tied, with various structures on the separate layers: plain weave, various 4-end twills, 8-end satin & granite, and did I say plain weave? 

So here are the results so far, in no particular order.

 

 

As you can see, I'm having beaucoup fun, and there's no end in sight. All this Photoshop stuff (see Liftplan Connection in sidebar) is making me glad I have this wonderful new desk chair. It's much kinder to my body.

And then there are the evenings away from the computer & loom. That's knitting time. The following photo is courtesy of Bruce. 

The sweater is finally finished. It's this wickedly ingenious pattern from Sarah Swett:

https://www.afieldguidetoneedlework.com/store/p22/A_Sweater_--Somewhat_Slanted.html

And in the books department, I just finished reading William Boyle's Sweet Caress. Enjoyed this! Eight stars out of ten.

 

Extending Horizons

Walking north on the trail instead of of my usual south has its rewards. I saw a cairn this morning, and welcomed the virtual hello from some unknown walker. Hello! Enjoy this spring day! Be safe!

A little further on, the Bird House. Does this mean the Birds live at the end of this path? Or that the birds, lower case, are the occupants of the little houses? Some day I'll find out. But not today.

 

I got as far as Rabbit Roost. That's a pretty long walk for me. Time to turn around and head home.

In the Department of Yarn, working on this knitting project while listening to Governor Cuomo. A voice of sanity.

Willy just sent me this. It was painted on a gate in his neighborhood.

Just wondering: when this is all over, will someone ring a bell and announce "It's OK to hug your grandchildren now"?

What the Inside of My Head Looks Like at the Moment

Click to enlarge (if you dare). I'm getting ready for a studio sale, which will be held on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. If you're within driving distance of Upstate SC, please stop by! Lots of fantastic bargains. Yarn, hundreds of knitting & weaving books, small looms, sewing machines, sewing supplies, patterns, finished weaving & yardage, and did I say books? If you'd like location details, please email me (click on link in sidebar).

 

A Little Helper

Molli, my Grandcat, is with me for the holidays. I've never had a cat, and it's been quite challenging to host Molli in a yarn-rich environment. She was especially interested in my knitting basket with its yummy handspun yarn.

By remaining vigilant at all times, I was able to finish a knitted shawl yesterday, and washed & blocked it.

Channeling My Grandmother

It's time to get out my grandmother's chopping knife and bowl again. I use them twice a year, once at Passover for chopped liver, and again at Thanksgiving for cranberry orange relish. These tools are some of the few things left to me from my beloved Granny—aside from my love of knitting, of course—and I inevitably turn very nostalgic as I am using them.

The cranberry recipe gives a very aerobic workout. After half an hour of vigorous chopping, I have this:

It's just chopped cranberries, chopped whole oranges, and honey to taste. Then leave it in the refrigerator for a few days.

While in kitchen mode, I also put up a batch of refrigerator dough. Just AP flour, white whole wheat flour (from King Arthur), water, salt, & yeast. These will become dinner rolls next Thursday.

It looks like I'll have time for a few rows of knitting before lunch. So here's to you, Granny.

Up Close

Alarm signals coming in from my back. I'm putting a hold on weaving for a few days, and have picked up the knitting needles; this will be an opportunity to make a dent in the mountain of yarn that arose from World Series spinning.

I thought it would be fun to see some of the knitting up close in the scanner. The first one is suri alpaca I purchased in batt form. Turns out it had tons of second cuts and vegetable matter not evident on first inspection. It was terrible to spin—constant stops & starts to remove the offending bits—but I did get something knittable from it. Here's a scarf in progress at roughly 12x magnification (click to enlarge):

And here is a wool/silk blend plied with all wool. Click.