Taking some time

 Some projects take some time.

Last year in April, the arch was barely covered. What a difference that year has made!

I'm still spinning my huge supply of home grown cotton. It's taking some time, but I'm enjoying it.

I've taken this knitting project out of time-out. Following a chart, each square in the grid has a bead threaded onto the silk. I'd gotten frustrated with some errors that were showing up and set it aside. With enough time apart, years, I made some repairs. Now, I'm back at it. Each and every stitch on the needle, when knitted, has a glass bead slipped through.   

I've been weaving some baby blankets. Weaving projects don't always go smoothly either. Do you see the error in the pattern? It's at the bottom of the last flower repeat. It was too obvious to me. At the top of the picture, you can see where I started cutting out the weft.

  By the time I'd stopped, about four inches and two hours later, it was error free and I had this pile of yarn to toss. 

I found a pattern on Pinterest (no designer named, I searched). On the original, the lower left quadrant of the picture didn't feel balanced to me.  The redesign took me three days.

Look what happens when I take my time! Here are four new baby blankets woven with my drawloom.

A flower in the flower garden.

This design was drawn by the dog's owner, who's also the baby daddy. 

Head, Shoulders, Knee Socks and Toes

I've been sitting (emphasis on "sitting"), making so many things, that I should get up and exercise with the kids: ♪head, shoulders, knee socks and toes.🎵

We know how short the winters in California can be, so when a request was submitted to the management for a sweater with a hood ("I grew out of the last one"), I had to jump on it. I knit this 80's or 90's Pingouin design in just under three weeks!

Wearing a mask, I went into a store and bought this yarn, not realizing how much it smelled. I couldn't knit with the yarn until I'd made it into a skein (hold hands out at shoulder distance apart and wrap the yarn around them over and over and...), washed it, left it to air out and off-gas and finally turn it into a ball, again.

I couldn't knit with this right away either. But that's because when I bought it, it was a carded yak/silk fiber from Alexandra at WEFF. I had the joy of spinning it, followed by knitting up this deliciously soft yarn!

I've never made knees socks before. These were a treat. I bought the yarn at a new LYS (local yarn store), The Knitting Lounge. This is  Uneek Sock by urth yarns. The yarn is hand-dyed and self-striping. And I did something else new with these. If you look at the sock on the right, you might see that the toe is shaped for the left foot. That's right (correct)! Like shoes, these socks are not interchangeable.

Now, if you're thinking everything goes smoothly every time, pshaw! First we knit, then we rip. Then, we knit again.

All better. This is another self-striping yarn. 

Some of my hand knit socks are 20 plus years old. I saw this technique on Youtube. You see, there was a hole...

...and then there wasn't!

So far, this little piggy has stayed home. She was made from a kit I picked up last summer.

I had a box of old fabric that either needed a new home or to be re-purposed. This cloth used to be a valance in our kitchen. I took out the hems and cut it into strips. Then, Sophie, my loom, and I gave each other the eye until I finally put on my big girl panties and braved asymmetry...

together.

When we were done, I learned a new technique for finishing the hems of the rag rugs. It's called a Philippine edge. It's almost like making a braid along the fell of the cloth.

Now that the rugs are done, I've been enjoying looking at them displayed like this too much to put them on the floor. That should change soon. The yarn for my next warp will be here tomorrow. 

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.

A Little of Everything

I didn't think I'd been doing much fiber work until I started pulling up the pictures. I've been doing a little of everything.

Those bags of cotton I'd been picking at are now cleaned and carded. When they're prepared like this, they're called rolags.

I knit two hoodies, but only have a picture of this one. To make it, I blended two patterns.

Before Julia moved on to live and play with another weaver, we finished this gamp. 

I sewed a second pair of pajama bottoms. Some braiding that was left from the last couple of kumihimo projects worked perfectly for the drawstring.

How cool is this?! I knit a tank top! The pattern is June Top Light from Petiteknit.com. The yarn is Summerlite 4 ply from Rowan.  

And this Moby Sweater is from the same designer. I'm having a blast with it! Most of the sweater knitting I've done has been knit bottom up, this is top down.

I wove these kitchen towels maybe twenty some years ago. After hemming the edges, they almost look like new.

The dry creek bed I've been working on...wasn't. Our rain gauge only measures up to five inches and it was full! Within a couple of days, all this water had soaked in. (In the background, you can see the California Lilac and Mahonia in bloom. Soon, all the bright green in this picture will be poppies!

This is a waffle weave pattern I've used before from Simple Weaves, Sophie and I are making some kitchen towels

...with the assistance of my littlest apprentice. 

It followed me home...

 We've been talking about this since before the earthquake. Finally, it was time to re-do our kitchen!! So, drum roll, please...

As best as I could, I tried to take the Before and After pictures at the same angles.

All I needed was tile for the backsplash, but the flower mosaic was so pretty, it followed me home.

Check out the handwoven towel and rug. (And you can see Julia and Sophie in the background.)

Just like my butcher block, I had this one counter made lower than standard. It's just the right height for me to knead and work at.

Ta da!!!

My nephew took a liking to the sheep I just finished knitting, so it followed him home. This is the third time I've used this pattern. I wanted to use up more of my old handspun.

A friend of a friend offered me the opportunity to pick some cotton. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but it followed me home.

This full 13-gallon bag reminds me of a pot of gold. In my right hand (your left) is cleaned cotton. On my left hand, are the seeds and plant matter that came out of it, along with the next bit to work on.