Bushwhacked

OOF I overdid it in the social arena today. It has been a great day, though! My new knitting student is stellar, my Wallaby is walking along, I am restocking the Mermaid Scarf pattern over at Knit N Stitch and itching to work up something new.

Time for some dinner, some catsitting and then begging off weaving class in favor of an extra early bedtime.

Progress

Knitting continues on the Wallaby. I managed to write the directions down wrong and had to rip out all of the pocket and re-do the decreases, but have re-knit it correctly and am well into new yarn now. I am really happy with it so far but almost wish it was some bright shiny color instead of natural brown. The next one, maybe. It was so much fun to sit and knit with Linda and the ladies at the store this afternoon. We talked about Movie Night, about having a holiday party / open house and about having a Winter Knitting Olympics.

Tomorrow I have a new knitting student. I am very excited to steer someone down this path. Now I just need to find my handbasket...

I had another interview today and hope to hear back next week. This position is exactly what I love to do and excel at. It is close to home and a relaxed environment. Fingers and knitting needles crossed.

Mama cat has finally decided (after 7 months) that pettings are good and that I distribute them. Now she follows me everywhere for snuggling and stroking. Luckily she is soft and floofy.

Still Awake

I am falling down tired, but waiting for the laundry to go into the dryer (smart laundry), and too excited for tomorrow to go to sleep. This is a recipe for waking up late and missing my appointment, but yet....

Managed some tidying today and moved some stuff into the garage. Yay space! My dream of emptying the closets, adding shelves and reorganizing is still a dream, but I am one step closer. Visited the catsitting cats and gave them all scritches. They are ready for their 'parents' to be home, and may finally be warming up to me in desperation :)

The Wallaby knitting is moving along - I am decreasing the pocket and will soon join it to the body and keep on going.

Not a thrilling post but better than a stick in the eye.

The full moon is so pretty tonight - amazingly bright and clear. My yard is all lit up like when the cops had the DUI checkpoint floodlights on. The kind of night that is best appreciated out in the country, not here in town with the streetlights vying for my attention, washing out the moonshine.

High Fiber Diet

Well, we carpooled to the SoCal Handweavers' show and sale today and had a great time. It seems like I saw every friend I have - I suppose that happens when you surround yourself with spinners. There were some new vendors with some very yummy roving and yarn, but I managed (barely) to contain myself to only spending my gift certificate. Picked up a back issue of Spin Off and some Finn roving (which is nigh on impossible to find) in white, of course. As usual, almost all the fiber and yarn that I loved beyond reason was natural colored (white / brown /gray). Gee, I have plenty of that! Anyway, the place was jam packed and the vendors were selling as fast as they could.

It was fun to talk knitting / spinning in the car on the way there; I didn't even think about working on my sweater during the ride. We talked about novelty yarns and then ran into John Pitblado who teaches a novelty yarn class - what luck! We will have to have him come out and teach a Riverspinners class. I think having a rigid heddle weaving class is also on the table. And a party. I am going through cream puff withdrawl.

Saturday will be the Lace Day - I will have to see about carpooling and maybe volunteering. I have been lace free since February (boy it seems like a hundred years ago) and it will be nice to dip my toes back in the pool.

Falling

Time to check in for a bit. It has been dry, windy and alternately warm and cool here, leading to a general feeling of ' am I sick or are these dust sniffles? '. All the lotion and hair conditioner has come out from storage, as well as the flannel jammies.

I am still working in weaving class, warping up for an overshot practice piece. One mistake in the warp became 2 and then 3... what a mess. I muddled thru and learned a lot about just doing things correctly in the first place! Threading has commenced and I should be ready to throw a shuttle in a couple more weeks. Home weaving has been on hold, although I have repaired the warping board and have a long list of things that need to be made up, and soon.

Mama and the kittens all got sterilized last week and are recovering nicely. The boys look a little... deflated. The girls got more of a Brazilian wax. Want one?

Knitting has recommenced after a long wool-free summer. The burgundy Icarus shawl has been dusted off and is looking good. I have also been threatening to have a Wallaby KAL for a couple years now and finally started one so that I will be able to help the class. The brown romney I was spinning last winter is just the thing and progress is swift.

Driving has been cut to a minimum until I can save up the $400 I need for the rest of the repairs it needs (my oil change ended up being $300 in repairs and that was just the things that would have killed me on the way home), but I think I can carpool to the Handweavers' show this weekend, so fun is still in my future!

The Happiest Time of the Year

Today is a good day. A great day. A day second only to 'get the space heater out of storage' Day. Today is......First Handknit Socks of the Season Day. My feet are all toasty warm now (that brown rock is Dozer with a walk-on role).

In other news, I spent a good chunk of yesterday warping and sampling for Martha's blanket. The sample is coming out beautifully, but the pets were not as happy.

Dozer wonders if he measures up. Tuppy has decided to appoint himself Master of Scissors. Perhaps he is showing me he knows he goes in for the snip this month? He really is a sweet cat... anyone want him?

Parade of Finished Objects

First, the upholstery fabric. I think it came out quite well. It softened after wet-finishing, but the blue did not pucker noticeably and the boucle bits in the white stripes became more prominent. It has a good weight and a dense enough texture to be approved for upholstery by my weaving class, so I call it a success. Now to find cheap pillow forms and some foam to make a weaving bench pad.

A wide shot of the cottolin fabric. This is the twill side, and you can barely, barely see the herringbone pattern through the textured, striped yarn. This picture is after wet-finishing, a trip through the dryer and having the holy hell ironed out of it. Measured shrinkage was minimal, although the cotton portion did fluff up considerably. The fabric has become much softer and more pliable. The tabby side also came out well, but the picture is not very interesting. "Yup, looks like cloth, Martha". A super-close up of the twill portion. Hopefully you can click to enlarge but I can see about setting up a weaving folder on my flickr account for better viewing. I really enjoyed working with the linen, broken warp threads notwithstanding.

I have also discovered that I am sick of using a dummy warp. It is meant to give extra length to the warp so that you can use every inch of your fashion fabric, which is valuable for dear yarns or handspun. I find that I lose more weaving time, and gain more stress, than I had in the weaving process in that last 6 inches. I will stick to tying a back apron rod onto the warp beam.

Next on the weaving plate? Overshot sampling in weaving class and cotton tea-towels (full size) at home. I also need to warp up for the gray blanket.

I Made Waffles!

First, the world's darkest picture of waffle weave. One weft portion is handspun cotton singles, the remainder is the 8/2 2-ply I used for warp. I just need to cut the washcloths apart and hem them. I remembered to leave an inch for hemming this time! I hope you can see that the squares, after washing, became much smaller and deeper. The fabric is very squashy.My new project - cotton / linen 2 ply for both the warp and the weft. Sett is 24 epi, threading is herringbone (style?) on 8 shafts. This is just a little 1 yard sample. I can see the twill reverse direction in this picture (it makes little waves), but it is nearly impossible to see in person. I will try some tabby weave later for comparison.I am learning about a sticky shed, about an in flexible yarn, and about working with flax in single-digit humidity. I think it will soften after washing. I will take it to my dressmaker friend and see if it will work for its intended purpose - a skirt. It is so nice and light though, she may approve a blouse.

Well, weaving is all I want to do today, but it is off to demo spinning and weaving at the fair. I will remember to bring my charkha this time and hopefully figure out something to pack as a lunch.