What Have I Been Doing?

What have I been doing? It seems I've been spending most of my time outside, digging up part of my front lawn and then, doing that over again and again and again, as the grass keeps trying to come back.

This was taken in the spring, when I was almost done and was getting a little slap happy. 

We planted some vegies before we left on our summer trip and returned to a giant zucchini.

Some years ago, I saw a pattern for leftover sock yarn, the Beekeeper's Quilt. I had a grocery bag full of yarn to use up. For years now, a few at a time, I've knit and stuffed these small "hexi-puffs". The completed ones were taking up space and frankly, I was over it. I gave away what remained of the leftover yarn and, instead of a throw, I now have a pad for my office chair.

During our summer road trip, I did quite a bit of spinning with my Pocket Wheel.

And in packing for the trip, I brought plenty of yarn and knitting needles. The wrong size knitting needles. Before things could get desperate, we found this store up the street from our hotel in Twin Falls, Idaho. Unfortunately, it was closed. Online, they said to contact them. So, I did. The owner sent her husband to open the shop just for me!!! Brian was Very Grateful. 

And I was able to knit my Moby Sweater using Rowan felted tweed yarn. It is by PetiteKnit, the same designer of my new tank tops. 

This is the second of the two tanks, June Top Light. For this one, I used the recommended Knitting for Olive, Pure Silk yarn. I also made some subtle changes to the pattern to make it fit me better than the first one did.

Then, I went back to the first one and took it apart from the underarms up. I decided since I liked the new fit better, and I like knitting...why not! 

The Cumulus Tee is another by PetiteKnit that I made with the Pure Silk.

With my loom, Sophie, I finished the cotton, waffle weave towels. 

Most were given away as gifts.

A new warp on Sophie starts with wrapping the yarn onto the warping mill. 

My apprentice helped me to tie cords around the ends so that they won't get tangled.

And to make a warp chain. This is like crocheting without a hook. It's another way to keep all the ends aligned so that they can be moved to and onto the loom without turning into yarn spaghetti.

I picked up Remix Light (recycled) yarn from the Little Knittery to make Wintersong, designed by Mona C. NicLeoid. Following the pattern, I knit the sleeve from shoulder towards cuff, but then I made a change. The original design had a straight hem on the cuffs. By knitting the cuff from wrist towards arm, I was able to make the cuff edge wavy, like the body's hem. Then, I grafted the sleeve and cuff together using kitchener stitch. 

After Mom wore the sweater once, we decided that the sleeves were too short. I picked them apart, knit the sleeves another 1 1/2 inches and sewed them together, again.

Mom is Very Pleased with her finished, bespoke sweater.

Time for a Road Trip

My husband said it was time for a road trip.

So Suzie, my Majacraft, and I finished spinning and plying the wool/silk I'd been playing with.

And I finally blocked the cowl I'd knitted of my handspun (yellow to green) and store bought (charcoal).

Then, I headed to my LYS (local yarn store) for an afghan in the making. I found the pattern on Ravelry. Instead of knitting it in strips, I planned to drop a few edge stitches from the pattern and make it all in one piece.

Gingie (as I've said) is a Pocket Wheel. She was made on a nice, humid island in Washington state. The dry air during that trip we made in the spring to Death Valley was a bit too much of a shock for her and, not a common occurrence, it split her wood. Jon McCoy (Mr. PW) said he'd fix her up and send her back to me. We put her in the car and off we went!

This time around, we pretty much visited all of the volcanoes in the Cascades range from Lassen in California, all the way up to Mt. Baker, just below Canada. This photo was taken at MacArthur-Burney State Park.

At Maryhill Museum in Washington, right on the Columbia River, there was an exhibit of Trade Blankets.

Are you drooling, yet?!

As we drove, Gingie and I finished spinning and then Navajo plying this silk from Anzula. Then, we dropped her off with her personal Geppetto on

Whidbey Island.

This was taken at Picture Lake. We'll have to work on our selfie skills. This looks more like photo bombing.

In Oregon, we followed a sign to an alpaca farm and store.

I'm going to have to quit my day job in order to have enough time to play with all of the wonderful fibers I just couldn't do without!

A road trip plus a month, and I completed the afghan and

gifted it to my daughter and son-in-law.

And I finally finished the sample towels I've been making on my drawloom!

Cotton/linen warp with cotton weft. The patterns are from books, pinterest and my doodles. If you can draw them on a grid, they can be woven. It's been a good summer!

It's All Learning

I finished the fiddly 12 shaft yardage! So, here's another tote. After doing 36 epi (a little to loose, although not flimsy) and here at 42 epi (odd striping in the warp with this reed), I've decided that the perfect sett for totes with 10/2 cotton, is 40.   

 Looking to the future, I asked Joanne at Glimakra USA what I need to know to be ready for a drawloom. She sent me some patterns. This is one of them from her website. It's an 8 shaft drall.

From start to finish, with life in between, I got these done in four days!

Yes, I know I'll never be a stylist.

Dobby and Winky have Very short fur. So, I bought fabric to make rain coats to keep the doggies warm and dry on their walks. I know, optimistic considering the current state of drought. They say this is the driest winter on record. Anyway, this shiny black material seemed perfect for the purpose. Unfortunately, it has no hand. That means that it sticks straight out! Too funny!         And, once again, I went for a shortcut. When I made the first coat, I didn't bother clipping the curves of the neck to make the hood fit. Sigh. When will I learn? Shortcuts? Bad! ...Yes, I clipped away on the second neckline. I'm not going to show you, but the fit is quite different with and without.

And as it turned out, my sewing efforts were wasted. Dobby and Winky refused to move when we put the coats on them!

Another pair of socks for Benny. These are out of Zauerball.

I finished the towels. It's amazing how much they changed. Go back to the picture of them on the loom! I planned for three and ended up with two and a half. There was LOTS of shrinkage!!! I'll know next time! Towels are the Best samples ever!

I'm making an infinity scarf for my niece out of leftover wool from my sweater. (Stash busting once again! Woo, Hoo!)         Take a look at the stitch markers. I picked them up when I was in Boston at a neighborhood art fair. The maker had bracelets and necklaces for sale, all of which can be taken apart to be used as stitch markers.

What a great way to keep track of those markers when I'm done!

An End and a Beginning

A new visitor in our garden.

Finally! Here are the completed slippers I've mentioned before. I knitted them twice and tried felting them by hand in the sink. The washing machine was the key to shrinking them down. Now they're all ready for tromping around the house!

And Winky and Dobby helped us model them.

I've started dressing Sophie with the cotton I got from Glimakra. I've made towels out of so many different cottons. Many of them are too soft to be as absorbent as I'd like, if they're absorbent at all. We'll see how this one works. I've heard good things about it. 

I've never done waffle weave before. I'm having so much fun with it!

This one is a five shaft from Simple Weaves.