Christmas is Coming!!!

This is what its all about!!!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Gee, it's been a while since I blogged. While discussing Christmas at my LYS last Tuesday night, I mentioned the Advent Calendar I made (and just shipped off) for my grand-daughters 3 year old Chelsea and 4 year old Abby. I know, I know... Advent started Dec. 1st... but better late than newer and the girls will have fun putting 10 or so on the tree. My Knit-In buddies wanted to see pictures and someone suggested I post it on Ravelry. Since Ravelry is only for Knitting and some Crochet and Weaving... I decided to share through this blog.

How to:

I purchased some felt (2 large pieces of dark green (tree) and cream (background), smaller pieces of red, bright green and yellow felt, circular velcro pieces (3/4") and wooden circles (1 1/2") from JoAnn Fabrics. I cut a variety of 2x2.5 pockets and sewed them around the border with black thick cotton. I also sewed the tree to the center and then put the pre-glued velcro circles on the tree. In order to make sure they stayed put... I sewed one stitch in each one in the center (tricky with the glue on the back but a piece of soap to run the large pointed needle through helped.

With acrylic paint, I hand-painted each of the wooden circles different colors and then when dry painted different symbols of Xmas on each one. When done I put the other side of the pre-glued velcro on the back of the wooden circles. Then, I painted the numbers in order on the colored border squares -- black paint on the yellow and white paint on the green and red. Add 2 dowels in a hand-sewn channel top and bottom... and voila... an Advent Calendar. Advice... start before Thanksgiving to get it to your loved ones on time!

I have been weaving several scarves on a 30 epi tencel warp... five down and I think, one more to go on the 7 yard warp. I also have been knitting colorful sweaters for the a-fore-mentioned grand-daughters. I'll mount photos soon... I promise...

Life has gotten rather busy now that I'm working part-time as a docent (part greeter, part educator, part school ambassador) at 3 different SCAD galleries. SCAD, as some may know, is a really fine "university for creative careers" and stands for Savannah College of Art and Design. I absolutely love being surrounded by art and artsy folk and having the opportunity to talk with visitors to the galleries. SCAD was one of the reasons we chose Savannah as our retirement home. The university has restored many of the downtown buildings giving them purpose and vitality. It's been a few more hours than I expected lately, but should calm down once the students are back after the holidays.

Jacquard woven samples, etc.

Jacquard woven design

view from our boat at our marina on Lake Champlain.

the images woven side by side

image that I photoshopped and reduced to 13 values

for 13 satin patterns (darkest to lightest)

I can't believe it has taken so long to add to my blog! I think I kind of liked the way the last entry looked and didn't want to bump it down. Actually, I was procrastinating!

I received my jacquard double weave sample in the mail a couple weeks ago from the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles where I took the weeklong class in August (more in previous post):

detail of the double woven pockets and picot

the back of the image

jacquard sample using 2 photoshopped images and 2 colors

images woven side by side

photoshopped image from a photo of our boat

and a photo of the dock looking down at the water

We're back in Savannah and enjoying an extension of summer. We had a great last 6 weeks on Lake Champlain (August and early Sept.) but before that it was pretty cold and rainy. It felt so good to be back under the live oaks with their lacy spanish moss gently swaying in the breeze and to go swimming in the ocean at Tybee Island! I really love it here, but I must say that even with the rain... Lake Champlain... and living on our Catalina 36 sailboat was terrific!

I just finished warping my 8 shaft Mighty Wolf with an interesting braided twill pattern with a narrow charcoal gray tencil warp for scarves. I hope to weave 5 narrow (5 inch wide) scarves -- keeping one for myself and hopefully selling the others at our Fiber Guild of the Savannahs show in January. I'm using some cotton/silk blend yarn for the weft and hope to spin up some milk fiber for one of them! Yes... MILK! I couldn't believe it when I saw a skein of soft lustrous yarn in a cotton/milk blend at a local yarn shop! I ordered some fiber that was dyed pinks and reds from an Esty site I found through Ravelry. It's a tiny amount -- 2 oz -- and pricey ($16) -- but delicious!

It's great to be spinning and weaving again. I did do a little cardboard loom weaving on the boat... and knit a sweater and socks... but to have my loom and spinning wheel working again feels wonderful!

Now that I've blogged... back to the loom...

Jacquard!

What a treat! I spent the week of August 10-14 nurturing my passion. I traveled between the boat on Lake Champlain, NY and beautiful downtown Montreal, Quebec to be trained in the Pointcarré program which interfaces with the Jacquard looms at the Montreal Center for Contemporary Textiles (MCCT) Louise Lemieux Bérubé, the center's director taught us the fine points of jacquard design and how to create four different types of jacquard weave structures.

Louise is a master -- both as a very powerful creative artist in this medium and as a teacher. The Center is celebrating its 20th year anniversary this year under her very capable direction. On the last day of the workshop, she gave us a preview of her exhibition called "Love One Another" which opens officially August 24th for 2 months in the center's gallery. Her study was inspired by a desire to show the changing ethnic face of Quebec. She photographed many different people who she has met in different ways: some are good friends, some are people she met briefly, and others are interesting strangers. She designed the jacquard fabric panels so that the figures are lifesized or larger, so that the viewer is face to face with these fascinating people. She has paired them in ways that force the viewer to think about their interaction: a beautiful Asian woman with a comical Jamaican lady, a bearded thin man with aids beside his pinstriped suited lawyer brother who he hadn't see in many years, a Muslim woman with a young African boy (the Muslim woman is actually a self-portrait of Louise who stood in for the young Muslim woman whose husband forbade her to wear traditional clothing.) It's quite a spiritual experience to view this meticulously detailed woven work!

The workshop participants worked in the computer lab designing fabrics that were woven by student weaving apprentices on one of 2 jacquard looms: the older one with a black warp and newer one with a natural white warp. On the first day we designed a Repeat Design using shapes, Tuesday's lesson was on Single Layer Weaves using shaded twills and satins, on Wednesday we explored Multiple Weaves with one warp and two wefts, on Thursday the 4th day we learned about Multiple Weaves with Double Weave pockets, stitched, and piqué. The last day was spent finishing up samples, saving our information in Photoshop so that we can see it at home and enjoying the exhibition and Louise's explanation of the pieces in the show.

This is my first sample woven on the black warp...

Here is a short video clip of the samples being woven...

Some more photos of Louise's exhibit and the workshop are on my Flikr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suzyhok1/sets/72157622152752064/

wabi sabi for a chaotic world!

I've been thinking a lot about wabi sabi again. Today while driving around the north country here in upstate NY we wound past old weathered barns that were elegantly lit by the sun streaming through the heavy cloud layers. WABI SABI!

I'm really enjoying being a part of Weavolution! It is such an wonderful way to connect with other weavers all around the world! Weavers can ask questions and receive answers from many different points of view which creates a community of helpers and new friends. Weavers post information about themselves including projects from the past or pieces they are in progress. They can post their websites and/or Flikr sites to share images of their work. It's really quite amazing!

Anyway... back to wabi sabi... I "met" a fellow weaver from Ontario on Weavolution's Cardboard Loom Weavers group. We exchanged messages about wabi sabi -- because -- I had seen her Flikr photos of exhibitions called WabiSabi. I sent her a private message asking for more information and this was her response -

Thank you for your interest in my photos, and indeed I did run and named a fine craft show inspired from the Wabi Sabi philosophy.

The name of the show came about when I read a newspaper article about the subject and its relation to arts, simplicity and time's passage. This was in the summer of 2000. It got me thinking of how poorly we showed and appreciated the fine crafts in my neck of the wood. Originality and artistry were taking the back seat to cookie cutter production and mediocre works. Also when I read the article, followed by the book, it is as if I had finally found a name to what I deeply felt living and creating was all about. I found that Wabi Sabi best translated the respect of materials and artistry. So, in 2001, I made contact with fine crafts artists whose works were not defined by trends or time, and at least a little open mind. The show was also perfect for a renovated 100 years old Town Hall, with good natural light and patina.

I lead the show for 5 years, until 2005, when I was physically and emotionally spent. You could say that it was a 5 years project for me, and I did achieve my goals of raising awareness towards quality over quantity, originality, uniqueness, simplicity and local fine crafts artists. The show is still in existence. This year will mark its ninth year in existence.

I feel that more and more as life gets more complicated with unquestioned consumption and wasted resources, that the Wabi Sabi philosophy remains authentic and sane in a chaotic world.

I hope that this answers your question, or at least part of it!

My response, in return:

You have eloquently stated the essence of wabi sabi. Thanks for sharing the process which led you to the creation of your heartfelt exhibition.

I, too, feel that more people understanding and following the philosophy of the Japanese words, which identify their aesthetic, would result in a much less chaotic world. So many people in our world -- even, unfortunately, most of the younger Japanese -- are caught up in the "new, bigger, better" philosophy of consumption.

We had a dairy farm and 4 children for almost 20 years about 20 years ago... (the baby is now 32!) and some of the initial attraction of wabi sabi to me I must admit, was economic. Most of my continued interest, however, is the ability to imbed each created object with your heart and soul. Your objection to kits and the "cookie cutter" mentality is one to which strongly agree! Objects with character and texture and even slight imperfections far outshine their antiseptic counterparts.

I am also attracted to the clean, pure lines of modernism and at first it may seem contradictory, but we have found lovely items that have that sense of history and a bit of wear and tear that show it is well-loved. I love the world of two Japanese artists -- architect Tadao Ando and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto -- that capture the essence of wabi sabi in a most contemporary way.

Was the book you mentioned: Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren? This is my favorite book on the subject. There is a children's book that was just published that also does an excellent job explaining the wonderful qualities of Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein. It's beautifully illustrated!

It's wonderful chatting with you about this. Perhaps we should start a group on Ravelry (and Weavolution) to spread the word!

Just thought I'd share this with the rest of you! A wabi sabi way of life! I totally agree with her comment:

"I feel that more and more as life gets more complicated with unquestioned consumption and wasted resources, that the Wabi Sabi philosophy remains authentic and sane in a chaotic world."

Anniversary Sunshine

Hooray!  Summer has arrived.  The past two mornings we awoke to blue skies and sunshine! Sailed for awhile last evening and cooked out with our new grill in a nearby bay and today we sailed for several hours.  Then we celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary with a yummy dinner overlooking the lake on the outside deck of the marina's restaurant. Heaven!

 

Grey Days

Gee... here it is the 2nd day of summer and it's still cool and grey!  Where's the sunshine?  My hubby and I are playing dueling laptops while our PWD pup Kizi is sacked out on the settee. Lazy day! I need to turn the computer off and take up my needles again and knit!

I have been working on Nora Gaughn's Eastlake sweater using Bristol's Lyndon Hill 85% Pima Cotton and 15% silk.  The yarn is a bit thin for the pattern so its very open and light, but I think I like it that way.  It will make a great summer sweater.  Someone on Ravelry knit it with short sleeves and it looked great... so I may do that. OR... I may knit it with long sleeves instead of the 3/4 length and wear it with a shirt underneath.  The lacey effect of the leaves may be a bit revealing!  It's gone very quickly and I'm already on the 32nd row!

in the Nick of TIme...

With no time to spare... I finished my Queen Anne's Lace summer outfit this afternoon!  I plan to wear it tomorrow night to my retirement reception in Albany.  The design has been percolating for weeks in my subconscious and finally I figured out how I wanted the top to look! 

I wound up using every bit of the fabric I had woven -- how's that for planning!  I adapted the pattern from the first summer top I wove, changing the neckline and thereby added a cap sleeve.  I made the skirt out of 3 pieces of 36" long fabric woven with the white slubby linen on QAL gathered at the top on non-twisting elastic and with a 6 inch kick vent in the back.   The top was created out of the yellow fabric -- yellow cottolin on the QAL warp.  The top has a yoke that is made up of the yellow fabric cut lengthwise into 10" pieces and I added a band of the cream fabric at the bottom of the yoke.  In the front I cut it in half like the yellow and in the back I left it the 20" width.  For the bottom  I attached the yoke to the yellow fabric that I cut horizontally with the selvedges at the edge that met the yoke and the hem.  I put darts in the front at either edge.

When I tried the top on it fit well but the top gapped.  SO... I took a dart along the top edge on either panel from 2 inches down to 6 inches towards the neck at an angle.  Then I flattened it and sewed the triangle down.  This forms a nice cap sleeve.

I used French seams throughout.  The ones on the yoke seemed too wide, so I sewed a straight lines down the middle of each one.   I used a sewn stretchy zigzag on each cut edge.  Each edge, both cut and selvedge, was turned under to finish off the neck, hem and sleeve edges.

Pictures to come. 

Miles to go...

It's been far too long since I last blogged.  We headed North early in May so that I could present a program based on my book, Woven a Bauhaus Memoir a Weaving History Conference in Clayton, NY.  We packed up our gear and our dog crate behind the front seat for PWD puppy, Kizi, put the top down on our Saab convertible and the journey began. 

Being back on the water is great. We're living aboard our Catalina 36 ft sailboat for the summer until mid-September when we head back south to Savannah.  

We've been spending lots of time on little projects to make our old sailboat more shipshape.  We're getting closer and have even enjoyed 3 lovely afternoon cruises playing with the wind on beautiful Lake Champlain.  We are a bit frustrated by the weather, however and I'm sure I'll never get my hubbie to come North before June in the future.  Savannah was just settling into beautiful weather and we left.  It's been quite cold and rainy... not too much fun on board.

Before one stretch of rainy, cold weather a couple weeks ago I woke up and said... "Why don't we go visit your father?" Sounds innocent enough, but my 92 year old father-in-law lives in Salt Lake, Utah -- a mere 2500 miles from upstate NY!  We washed clothes and took off that afternoon on May 26th, staying the night with our daughter, Kristin and her family near Albany, NY.  

150 miles down and 2350 to go!  Howe, Indiana first night... then Lincoln, Nebraska and Rawlins, Wyoming along I80 and four days later we drove through the mountain pass into Salt Lake City Saturday afternoon, May 30.

We enjoyed the Tetons, Yellowstone, Bighorn and the Badlands on the way home staying with our daughter's friend, Sam Bixby over the mountain pass from Jackson Hole in Victor, Idaho one night and Gillette, Wyoming and Jackson, Minnesota and South Bend, Indiana on the way back taking I90 a good part of the way. Twelve states and 5156 miles later we are back floatin' on our boat!  How great it is to be retired and to be able to do this!

It was fantastic seeing father-in-law Hok doing so well.  Brother-in-law Bill and his family are really doing a great job caring for him!  We were able to stay in the retirement apartment, Parklane, and how the folk who lived there loved Kizi.  What a trooper she was!  She road beautifully in the backseat when the top was up, and snuggled on the floor by my feet when we had the top down. Every now and then she took a flying leap into my lap when I wasn’t paying attention. 

I took along a knitting project: my Salt Lake City or bust blue toe-up socks.  I started shortly after we began the journey and finished shortly after we made it back to New York State.  I'll add photos below.

We both return with a heightened sense of the majesty of this amazing country we are blessed to call home.  From purple mountains to waves of Spring green grain, to wind turbines creating peaceful power, to craggy layers of rock and snowy peaks, and friendly cowboys and folk we'll never see again, and fabulous family and friends -- INCREDIBLE!!! And to quote my lovely and well-missed late mother-in-law, "So vast!"

ps. photo is one of my favorites - Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park - June 2, 2009

Key Lime Pa-a-a

Well, I don't speak Southern yet... but I am trying out a few Southern dishes in my effort to become more Southern.   My hubby loves key lime pie (actually I love it, too) so the first Southern dish I tried was Key Lime Pie.  (Pa-a-a -- or something like that in "Southern")  I've also tried some sweet potato dishes -- biscuits with sweet potatos and the greatest sweet potato souffle ever (if I don't say so myself.)  

Tuesday was my last night at Wild Fibre's Tuesday night stitch group until September, so I decided to go all out with a Pa-a-a; a Key Lime Pa-a-a.  We're heading back up north for the summer -- we're avoiding the hot, humid Savannah summer for the cooler breezes on Lake Champlain.  We'll be living aboard our new-to-us Catalina 36 sailboat (see below) at Treadwell Bay Marina,  an hour south of Montreal outside of Plattsburgh, NY.   Anyway, back to the Pa-a-a... several people have asked for the recipe... so here it is y'all.  It's adapted from Paula Deen's Uncle Bubba's recipe.  I cannot do meringue like it calls for so I've scrapped that for whipped cream.

So here it is:

Crust:

1 pkg graham crackers

1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds or pecans)

5 Tbsp. butter

Mix together in a Cuisinart

Filling:

Mix together 

2 cans (14 oz each) of Sweetened Condensed Milk 

4 egg yolks 

1 cup of key lime juice (or freshly squeezed juice from 5 limes)

2 tsp. lime zest  (1 in pie and 1 on top before baking)

Press graham cracker crust mixture in a 9" pan.

Add the filling.

Put some lime zest on the top.

Bake in 350 degree oven for about 1/2 hour.  Check to see that filling is firm.

Serve with whipped cream on top.

YUMMY! 

OUR SUMMER HOME - KRICKET V

Sock it to me...

My socks are done and I love them!  I can't wait for cooler weather when I can put them on my tootsies to warm them up.  (I'm lying... love the summer-like 80 degree weather we're having!)   

My only real problem aside from losing concentration making some mistakes that I had to frog and frogging yarn-overs are challenging, was binding off!  It took 3 tries and I finally have it loose enough that I can fit them over my instep.  I used a sewn bind-off that I found online and thanks to Ravelry postings.  (YEA Ravelry!!!) YouTube had a short video that did a great job demonstrating the technique.

What was really exciting was knowing that I can knit again.  With my Rheumatoid Arthritis the last thing I knit, last May, was a baby sweater for a dear friend... and it was agony.  Thanks to Humira (which I had to agonize over whether to start or not as it's an injection -- epi-pen) I have somewhat of a grip again and can hold knitting needles without pain.  HOORAY!

I've been working for the past two weeks on the powerpoint presentation for the program I be sharing in a few weeks a the Clayton Weaving History Conference.  My program on the research I did for my book... woven: a bauhaus memoir.  It's been fun getting back into it again.  The aethethic of the Bauhaus really resonates with me!  It's fascinating to see how the artists who taught there (Kandinsky, Klee, Itten, Albers) really influenced the designs that the Bauhausmädchen wove.  It was great getting in touch with my alter ego, Anna, whose memoir I wrote.  In order to try to experience what happened at the Bauhaus during this interesting time between WWI and WWII, I developed an alter ego for myself of a young female student.She is a composite of me and the members of the Weberei (Weaving Workshop):  Gunta Stölzl, Anni Albers, Otti Berger, and others.  Tomorrow I'll ship some of the items I wove for my thesis (where my book started) and some copies of my book that hopefully I'll be able to sell.  

I try to weave a few inches a day on the Queen Anne's lace.  I hope to get it off the loom by the end of next week as we are packing up and moving onto our sailboat up north on Lake Champlain for the summer.  No loom weaving there...  Hope to knit a Nora Gaughn sweater and do some cardboard weaving... and of course do some drawing and painting of the beautiful lake scenes surrounded by the Adirondacks on the NY side and the Green Mountains on the VT side.

Weave a Rainbow!

Last week was such a treat!  I taught a Fun with Fibers class at an arts camp for kindergarten through 7th graders.  We spun wool rovings, dyed wool with Koolaid and wove amulets (pouches) (4th-7th graders), bracelets and small mug rugs (K-3rd graders) on cardboard looms. Here some photos of their finished projects.  All were so proud of their accomplishments!

TA-DAH!

So here it is... my finished summer top from my first warp.  I really think I will get a lot of wear out of it.  Sorry for the fuzzy photos... my hubby always seems to move the camera when he takes a shot.  I guess that's why I'm the official family photographer...

Spring has SPRUNG!

It's absolutely beautiful!  We are surrounded by that luscious Spring green!  What a joy it is to have a Spring again... and beginning in March no less.  The stark Southern pines that are right outside our windows are being cushioned by more and more fresh new leaves from smaller trees day by day.  The torrential down pours that we had last week have awakened all kinds of new growth.  I find myself looking more at greens and yellows and pinks and this is all reflected in my recent order at the WEBS online sale.  I couldn't resist.  It is fascinating to me how I am affected by the seasons.  I remember years ago buying huge quantities of orange and olive and brown rug yarns -- Yes... it was Autumn in upstate New York.

I'm progressing on my Queen Anne's Lace warp and finished the goldenrod colored Louet linen yarn I had in my stash and have moved into a slubby singles bleached linen mill end yarn that I picked up somewhere.  I'd love to figure out something to make from the finished fabric to wear.  What fun it is to create handwoven wearables -- totally unique items that you don't see anywhere else.

I'm working on my summer top from my first blues warp.  It's almost there.  It took forever for me to think of how I wanted it to look and its changing daily.  I finally got inspired to cut into it and have been using a FLAX summer top that I love, as inspiration for a pattern.  The width is only 20 inches so it is a bit narrow in the back to be sleeveless like I had orginally thought, so I think I'll add sleeves.  I wanted to try it out first, and thought about cutting up an old skirt to use as fabric, but that wasn't enough fabric.  Next thought... buy some muslin, but then I had the best idea ever... I went to our local Goodwill and found a nice clean off green cotton sheet and tore 20 inch lengths from it and created a dummy top.  PERFECT!  Lots of fabric to try different things... and I think I've got it!  Now if I can get off the computer...  I'll get back to finishing it!

Winding On

The Queen Anne's lace is very slowly but surely being wound through the reed and the heddles on to the back beam of Deanie... my Mightly Wolf 8 shaft loom.  Inch by inch... I'll get there eventually.  The half way contrasting tie is in sight.

It's all coming back to me.  I'm beginning to remember the tricks and techniques that I was so comfortable with for years.  This warp is going so much more smoothly.  I skipped a peg as I was winding the warp on the warping board and didn't bump my knuckles this time.  I wound the 400 ends 4 at a time  (even numbers are easier to count.)  I wound 3 narrower bundles -- 2 of 5 inches and 1 that was almost too much with 10 inches.  I'm tying the new warp to the old warp to save time in threading, as I want to explore the reverse twill again.  I found 3 threading errors... eek.  I thought something didn't look quite right in a couple places... but it will be fixed this time around.  The 3 colors on my first warp helped me tie on so I didn't twist the warp that was 2 per dent in a 10 dent reed -- dark, medium, light.  I tied the back tie-on bar up behind the castle to the metal part of the heddle frames.  I tied the the lease sticks (one made out of a metre stick and one an actual lease stick) to the beater frame on each side and to the front beam.  It's all coming back... bit by bit.  Feels great!

The best part (or maybe the worst, I'm not exactly sure yet) of being "retired" is the lack of urgency.  I have time... and I don't have to hurry.  I've always  worked well with deadlines.  They push me to get something done in a certain timeframe.  But I really don't have any deadlines... at least yet.  Maybe I'll have to do some self imposed deadlines.  But the problem with those... like dieting... they can be put off to another day.  But really, sooooo what!

I haven't found the right idea yet for the summer top I'm going to make from my first warp.  It's coming... but I can't quite bring myself to cut into it yet.  Should I have darts or a loom shaped garment?  Should be sleeveless or cap or 3/4 length sleeves?  Decisions, decisions, decisions...  But... there's time!

Springtime in Savannah means azaleas!  The city is ablaze with massive azalea bushes;  some are trim and symmetrical while my favorite reach out covered in massive blooms in every shade of pink imaginable.  This photo of azaleas peeking through the Spanish moss in one of the downtown city squares is very "wabi sabi!"

Cotton Slubs

Texture, texture, texture...  I've just finished winding another warp to explore more of the 8 shaft reverse twill threading.  I'm hoping to tie this new slubby cotton warp onto my last warp. I left it threaded through the heddles and the reed, so it SHOULD work.  

I had 4 cones of Henry's Attic Queen Anne's Lace in my stash and decided with summer in the wings... and warmer temps... this might be something good to experiment on.  So we'll see...

done... what's next?

WOW!  My first warp is complete!  I finished yesterday.  I have 4 different pieces using 4 different treadlings.  The first became a dish towel and is complete.  The other three pieces will be used to create a summer top.  I wove 3 yards of one treadling... and then a yard of another and about 20 inches at the end of the warp in a diamond design.  The yard length piece was purely experimental weaving 3 repeats of treadles 1-4 and 2 repeats of treadles 5-6.  It was similar to weaving on opposites creating blocks.  

Ah... having 8 shafts to play with is such fun!

got the blues...

I'm not actually feelin' blue ... it's just that last night I finished my new handwoven dish towel.. my first 8 shaft project on Deanie.  It wove up very quickly after a rough start with a sticky 8th shaft.  (The solution thanks to a friend on Ravelry was silicone spray!)  I am not real excited with the bluey blue... but it makes a great dish towel.  I cut it off and handwashed it after zigzagging the ends.  Last night I fixed the many floats... actually I pulled them out because they were way too long! In my haste to get started I must have tied the treadles up incorrectly.  Fortunately, the weave structure doesn't seem to suffer from the pulled out floats. I hand hemmed the ends and its good to go!

I've re-tied the treadles and have started weaving yardage for a summer top.  I'm so much happier with the weft.  I'm using a variegated 5/2s cotton I bought at WEBS a couple years ago. It's beautiful and I am SO much happier with the look.  The yarn is dark blues and violets and light blues like the warp, but also has a great dark purple, dark green, teal and magenta.  It's yummy.  I also like the new pattern.  I'm really enjoying having Deanie around!

Let the search begin...

My new studio in our 3rd bedroom is beginning to come to life.  The corner bookshelves from Ikea finally arrived a couple weeks ago and my books and yarns and things have filled it already!  The most important art of the studio is my new-to-me 8 shaft Mighty Wolf loom called Deanie for the former owner. Deanie is now warped and I've started exploring a reverse twill.  

I've vowed to use up my stash, especially while I explore what the 8 shafts can do.  I threaded it with 10/2s cotton yarns in a light blue, medium violet and dark blue cotton.  The current tie up is actually for another pattern... but then I'm experimenting and I like the texture that is appearing.  I warped from the back and had to re-slay the reed as I was a violet yarn short.  Oh well.. it's all part of the adventure!  I'm in no hurry... which is a good thing.

Memories of beginning weaving over 31 years ago keep springing into my mind.  It is really similar as I had toddlers naptimes as my weaving time... and now my time is eeked out of naptime for our Portuguese water dog 5 month old puppy, Kizi.  Of course, I also make time for walks on the beach with my hubby and Spinning Group, yarn night at Wild Fibres, Fiber Guild meeting and road trips to explore area sights.  There's time -- no deadlines.

Since moving to Savannah, I've made several amulets (pockets) woven on cardboard looms.  I'll be teaching a workshop at Wild Fibres on March 14th.  It's such a great way to use left over yarns and everyone who weaves, spins, knits, crochets, etc... has lots of thrums!  Everyone can get cardboard for the loom and after learning the special way of warping... the possibilities are endless.  When the weaving is taken off the loom... the bottom, sides and top are all finished. You only need to weave in a couple ends... and then add the embellishments!  Using bits and pieces of old yarns full of memories -- how wabi sabi!!