Unveiled

Dobby and Winky wanted to know what were all the goings on, going on? 

You see, we've all been needing a little spinzen.

Gingie and I took ours in the form of some merino/silk fiber. At the same time, I was prepping for a rag rug (that was to be my last mandatory project before I could start playing with my new drawloom).

Rag rugs mean cutting a LOT of fabric strips to be used to weave with instead of yarn. I'd hoped that this rug for our front hall would use up most of my fabric stash. Sigh. Dream on. I am pleased with how well the rug turned out!

The pattern is called Rosepath. To finish the fringe, I learned to do four-stranded braiding. It's supposedly flatter than three-strand. Anyway, since I'd completed the rug, I wanted to get a quick start on dressing the drawloom to show off it's paces to the masses. (I've been waiting so patiently to get started!) Unfortunately, we decided Sophie would need to relocate for a temporary hiatus. Twenty minutes and...

Yep. That's Sophie, relegated to a corner of our bedroom. And "the masses" came in the form of over 60 people in our house for an "Out of Towners' " party. Why 'out of towners'? Remember when I was being cryptic about a secret?

I was weaving yardage using a pattern from Twill Thrills to make a chuppah (wedding canopy) for my daughter and son in law. This is ecru and whipple blue tencel.  

We did a trial run in the living room to see if it would work. Then, the real thing:

Unveiled.

Spinzen

I've been somewhat housebound, so I've been able to get a thing or three done (silver lining).

Per request, I made a ski hat for my son in law. Perhaps you've noticed that I never do it the easy way. Instead of making two hats and sewing them together, I cast on with two strands of yarn together. Then, I separated the stitches onto two circular needles and voila! To give it some body, about three inches up I crossed the yarns over each other (kind of like switching colors for intarsia) and back.

Both yarns are superwash merino by Lorna's Laces. He should be plenty warm in these freezing temperatures!

I put one last warp (thinking positively) on my Gilmore loom. I just put him up for sale and am Hoping someone will jump at the chance to bring him home!

That's white 5/2 pearl cotton for the warp and some cotton softball for the weft. I had enough for two baby blankets. The second one is a grey-blue that almost completely emptied the cone!

And I'm still working on the 60/2 silk scarf.

I'm loving it!

But most of what I've been doing has been spinzen. I've been enjoying peaceful, calming moments at my wheel with the yak/silk blend I showed you here.