Lemonade Anyone?

I screwed up and cast off a scarf 3 inches too soon. So tomorrow I will embellish one edge with six rows of double crochet. This turns a mistake into a design element. Since I wasn’t using a specific pattern no one will know the difference except the people who read the blog and me. It will still be one cool scarf for whoever gets it.

I also managed to finish the second mudd rug today. I will do the hot water and soap thing tomorrow. Since it is too short to thwack the Traditional way, I think I will throw it at the table a few times. I think that should work. If not I’ll throw it in the dryer on air dry and let it tumble with some dryer balls.

A Side Effect of Looking for Craft Supplies

 I found another UFO today. This one was a coaster project. One of the two coasters was halfway done. I finished the one that was halfway done and started the second coaster aka mud rug. I am using hand spun yarn made on one of my drop spindles. Finding the UFO was unintentional, what I was really looking for was a Navajo weaving needle that was between eight and 10 inches long. Obviously I did not find the weaving needle. I don’t think I have one.

Since I will not be going to any more yarn festivals this year I hope to source one or 2 Navajo weaving needles on line. Wish me luck.  If you know a source, please let me know  

I have found that weaving during the day makes knitting easier at night. Did you know that weaving uses more yarn than knitting. To my family that must be a plus. Another plus is that if you would like a unique one of a kind gift for the holidays I will be selling the pair as I have all the coasters I need in the house. They are made from wool which will help absorb moisture. The pair will sell for $25.00 which includes postage in the United States. After I finish weaving the second one, I will wash them in hot soapy water to set the weaving. Then they will be trimmed. And ready to go. Email me if you would like them.  Then I will mark them pending until payment is received. 

A Life of itOwn

 The weaving project is starting to take on a life of its own.  The yarn is saying what it wants to be. This is always a good thing. Yesterday I warped the loom and put in the header. That alone took 2 hours. 

Today I started on the design. This skein of very over plyed art yarn just popped up in my search through the spindle spun yarn and art yarn basket.  The basket is about the size of a large laundry basket.  I made a lot of little skeins. The section of orange yarn wanted to be twisted, turned and wrapped around individual threads of the progress was very slow. The small section of orange and the few green leafs took 2 hours of work.  Although I do love the very dramatic effect it has on the project so far.  The up side is that I am so in love with it so far. The art work and the loom. The down side, sorry that there is none.  I am having so much fun.  Tomorrow I might add a river bank and stream  I have the yarn picked out   

I did not sketch out the design ahead of time.  I want this to be a very organic piece.  I want a piece that brings me joy to create. Joy to look at. And joy for other people.  I also did not want this to be a flat tapestry, lots of people do those.  I also know that the weaving and spinning purest are going to hate it. That’s fine with me. This is my art on my terms. 

Playing Around

 I got a new to me Hockett Loom. I warped it today.  I tried to weave with the tools it came with.  That did not work.  So I pulled out my Navajo made weaving tools and they worked like a charm. For hand weaving always go with Navajo made tools, they have generations of knowledge that they rely on.

Right now I am just playing with some small skeins of hand spun and pretty commercial made yarn to make random patterns. This is kind of like a test drive for Weaver. I will show my finished projects on the blog just let me know if you’re interested in them. They will all be one of a kind as I see what I can do with this loom. 

Finally Finished

I am finally done with the lady does of post surgery eye drops. It seems to me like I have been doing them for ages.  

The black scarf is slightly more then 25% complete. 

The arthritis flare up continues.  

Black Yarn and more

 Every once in a while black yarn makes it’s way under cover of darkness into my yarn stash. Since this was a very good quality yarn I decided to keep it and make something with it.  So I gathered up the black yarn and a couple of my yarn butlers and set to work making a scarf. I decided to knit it in the round so that I would not have to look at the work while I was knitting. As you can see one skein has some white in it.  So when I run out of that yarn I will probably use some white yarn to keep the theme of black and white.  

You might be surprised to see me using 2 yarn butler’s. I am using 2, because black yarn is impossible to salvage when it gets tangled. Also I did not borrow one, I have five. I have four wooden yarn Butler’s and one 3D one that John made me. I find that for some projects yarn butlers are essential. When working with very dark yarn. When working with very large skeins of yarn. I also like to use John Butler’s when I am warping my looms. So there are a couple reasons that I have five yarn butlers. 

Talking about multiples of things, some days I wish I had two clothes dryers. I start doing laundry this morning after breakfast and just after 10 PM I put the last load in the dryer. It took a while for the blankets to dry. If I can’t get the big quilts washed in hot sunny days it takes about three rounds in the dryer to dry the big big quilts or bedspreads.  I am doing good so far with laundry. I have about 1000 yards a freshly spun, washed and thwacked yarn drying. Also the clothes I hung up with this morning. The only loads that have not been put away are the ones drying on the clothesline and the sheets that I just put in the dryer. So I think I conquered laundry today.

A Joyus Day

 Today started out on very bad footing. My neck and right shoulder hurt to the point I had to turn my body to look right. I was out of precooked home made oatmeal and did not have the time to make any before I had to leave. 

At lunchtime things began to slowly change for the better. I was just wishful thinking when at my favorite bread spot in town Beyond Bread, I asked if my favorite sandwich the Avi’s Avo could be made without bread or mayonnaise.  They said yes.. they really said yes and asked if I would like Romain lettuce instead of the bread. Of course I said yes. They brought out an overflowing bowl of lettuce, cucumbers, Sprouts, and turkey with two small cups of guacamole on the side. It was absolutely amazing paired with gazpacho soup and I was in heaven. Thank you Beyond Bread.

The day got even better my day got even better when I was working with my knitting student. The first thing we did was casting off a table runner That she had been working on for about a year. All it took on my part was showing her how to cast off just two stitches and she cast off the rest. The smile on her face for the accomplishment was just so wonderful. It just filled my heart with joy.

We then had to tackle the fringe on the table runner. First we pick the length the easy part. We use the short side of a CD case because it was the perfect length. First she learned how to cut the fringe. That was another easy part. Then we worked on putting the fringe in. That took a little more work, however she got the hang of it and got almost 10 inches of fringe done today. She had never picked up a crochet hook in her life. She learned how to put the crochet hook in the right stitches. How to do a quarter turn and pull the yarn through. And then how to tighten the fringe.  She was so excited and happy it was just absolutely amazing.

John managed to quickly get the spasm out of my neck and shoulder and now at bedtime even though I don’t have full range yet, I don’t hurt. I am hoping that a good nights sleep will take care of the rest. Having my neck and right shoulder hurt threw my whole body out of alignment. 

I did not get any spinning done today. I did manage to get 3 loads of laundry done with 2 being put away. So it turned into a good and joyous day.