Friday, February 28, 2014

Odds & ends.....

 A day of odds & ends being taken care of........twisting the fringes on 3 tencel scarves......
 
 ....hemming 3 table runners woven using the original names drafts I designed......
this one I embroidered in the hem the phrase used for the name draft - 'I Love Weaving'........

 ....this runner came of the name draft warp 'Sand and Sea'..........
 
....this off the same warp using a different tabby weft and tabby pattern weft......
 
......also spinning samples of new Ashland Bay colorways is underway,
very fun chore,  if it can be called a chore, those pix to come once finished......
 
 

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

You get what you pay for...........

Well, I have learned that with an employee I get what I pay for.......a gold bricking shipping/receiving/inventory control employee........Sam gets no compensation for his work which is why he was outside working on the property in (fluke) almost 70 degree weather and I was inside weighing, bagging, labeling wool roving, putting it into inventory records and then listing it in the etsy shop....oh, and there are many new colorways so add photography to that list. I spent the better part of two days working on this. Hmm, going to have to re-evaluate this arrangement.......maybe a little incentive so I get to spend time at the loom instead.

Here is a new line of roving from Ashland Bay Fibers called  Color Fusion - it's a Superfine Merino, 19 micron, and is beautiful. It's hard to capture the color variations in some of the colors but I did my best. These are in the Superfine Merino section of my shop (or mixed in by color with everything else if one browses the shop page by page).  I can't wait to spin up sample mini-skeins of this in the next few days to see the color once spun, it's a perfect wool roving for for nuno felting since it's so fine.  I'm going to put together a sampler kit of this line but probably won't get to that until next week.


Here are 9 new colors of the regular Merino roving, some really nice colors to add to the already huge line of this wool. They can be found in the Merino Section of my shop, or mixed in by colorway if one browses page by page.  I get to spin up samples of these new colors too. It's a time consuming job but oh, so fun to spin small amounts of many colors.  Now I need to figure out what to do with all the mini-skeins of discontinued colors or my sold out hand-dyed colorways as they're no longer pertinent.....maybe adding small bits of color to knitting projects? maybe to decorate gift boxes? I'll come up with something.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

A bit of this and that...........

I'm still in that spin up the stash mode - some of the fiber has been in my stash for at least 15 years - time to move it on to new homes or spin it. This was from something I carded on the drum carder at least 15 years ago - not sure what the fiber is but it's soft, maybe mohair just from the hairiness of it - definitely dyed silk added to it. It's very soft. Will make a nice couple of hats or I might save it to mix with other handspun for a woven blanket at some point - in the meantime it will go sit on the shelf and marinate with the rest of the handspun.

I can't believe everyone doesn't want to discuss curling with me anymore.  I've still got 3 curling matches dvr'd to watch - the men's final, and two medal rounds so please don't tell me who won what as I've managed not to hear the results yet.  Yesterday evening we watch the women's medal games - was so thrilled that the young British team (Scots) won the bronze, they worked so hard and are so serious about it all. And yes, was happy for Canada winning the gold - they deserved it after winning all the round robin matches and the semi-final. 

I checked out the curling schedule at the ice rink in Klamath Falls (over 2 hours away) because I'd love to see curling in person but the leagues play one evening a week and we will not be driving home from Klamath Falls at night over the mountain pass in the winter (the rink closes the end of March for the season). My goal for next year's curling season is to hopefully get together a group of friends to go over for the 75 minute beginning curling lessons - only $10 each - I think it would be a hoot.........and we could do it during the day rather than at night, and hopefully we'd be able to work around snow. It's not something I'd take up with no local rink with a curling sheet but it would be fun to experience sliding on the ice, throwing those stones and sweeping....wonder if there's such a thing as a gutter ball in curling, if not I may invent it.........


Saturday, February 22, 2014

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Life gets in the way............

Off doing other things recently....trip to the coast......family issues.......administrivia.......everyone wanting a piece of me.......all keeping me from the loom but am hoping to sneak a little time in finishing up the scarf warp today. I have piles of weaving waiting for photography work - can't sell it if it's not out there.....where do I find the hours??? Another huge order will be coming in from Ashland Bay Fibers any day now with many new colorways that will need photographing - am hoping Sam will do all the weighing, bagging, putting into inventory for me. Weaving is what keeps me going, centers me, and this past year I wove less than any other year since 1986.....I'm determined it will be different in 2014 but here I am, almost 2 months into the year, and I haven't woven near what I wanted to.

So with that said, I did get a little time on that scarf warp I had started weaving last week. Here's the second scarf crossed with a black tencel weft.

And here it is crossed with a burgundy tencel weft. Amazing how different that painted warp can look with 3 different wefts.

On another note - has anyone else out there enjoyed watching the Olympic curling as much as I have? I am so thrilled that it's being talked about more and more, maybe one day here in the states we'll see curling matches on tv not connected with the Olympics.  Between coverage being shown on 5 different networks on Dish Network (satellite) I have been able to watch 3-4 curling matches a day.........well, I haven't watched them all, many are still sitting on the dvr waiting for me to watch them. I'll be cheering for the Canadian women's team in the medal games - they are so good, I like the Brits too. Not sure who I'll be cheering for in the men's - I like Canada but also Sweden and the Brits are very good..............I was so dismayed when the 'Pants' of Norway lost in the 10th end so won't advance to the medal round - I would have cheered for them just because of those pants and that hot Thomas Ulsrud........yes, I called him hot.  And then there's Sebastian Kraupp of the Swedish team......

Parting shots of Bailey relaxing over on the coast during some great rain/wind storms we had.  He loves that couch, and those crazy pillows made from bathroom rugs.......

.....and he loves sleeping with his buddy Buster in his mouth.....why doesn't he get a cramp in his jaw???
 
.......rawhide chewie and 3 babies make for a wonderful afternoon...........


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

On the loom..........

I finally got that painted warp for 3 scarves on the loom. This is was the start of the first scarf. Shortly after taking this picture I realized that one of the rods tying up the treadles had fallen off back 1" from the start but I never noticed it because looking straight down on the weaving the color change is very subtle. So, I cut the weaving out and started over. First scarf woven.......slow weaving due to the error watching curling while trying to weave. The threading of this two block twill is based on Fibonacci numbers, the treadling is random playing. I 'interviewed' several weft colors (that's all that color you see underneath) but as I was weaving this scarf using the rust/copper weft I was thinking of a couple other colors on the shelf so before I start the next scarf I'll give those a try.



It's that time......

Yes, it's what I've been waiting for - curling. I've been dvr'ing Olympic curling and watching it here and there when I have time - right now it's on the little tv on my desk as I work on administrivia. The US team conceded to the Brits in the 6th end (that 4 ends before the end of the game for those of you not familiar with curling).  In the 4th end the Brits scored 7 out of 8 of their stones - yikes!  I had to watch what the US did, or did not do, again because I couldn't believe they let that happen - they just fell apart....and the Brits are good, very good. I've been enjoying the curling but really don't have time for it all - they're televising so much of it this year and my dvr hard drive only has so much space on it.......wish I could get it all recorded and watch it over the next couple months........that may happen with the second half of the games........

I never got to putting the painted warp on the loom Monday as planned, yes, life did get in the way - family stuff. And then yesterday Sam and I did some remodeling shopping.  But today it is raining pitchforks and shovels and I am staying in - heading to the loom now............

Sunday, February 9, 2014

On the wheel

This is what I started spinning last week at our twice a month spinning get together.  It's from my stash - probably from 15 years ago. I can remember carding it and adding some silk noil but I have no clue what the fiber is - it feels almost like mohair but I can't be positive at this point.  I'm determined to spin from my stash even though there are hundreds of pounds of Ashland Bay Fibers sitting in bins downstairs calling my name, not to mention my hand-dyed fibers - all are for sale in my etsy shop. I have my eye on several Ashland Bay colorways but I'll keep at whittling down the stash for a bit before I grab some.

One warp off, another to go on........

I finally got back to the loom to finish up that warp based on the name draft 'Sand and Sea'. I wove 4 placemats and a runner with green and tan for the weft, very subtle, then today I wove this runner using lavender and white for the weft. They are in the washer as I post. 

I pulled out a painted warp to put on the loom next, enough for 3 tencel scarves.....have decided on 8 harness turned twill blocks using a Fibonacci sequence for the warp blocks and will treadle random size blocks......will be fun to play. Not sure if I'll get it on the loom tomorrow but I'd like to think so.....sometimes life gets in the way........

Saturday, February 8, 2014

This and that.......

These skeins are the latest off the wheel - the mystery batts I was spinning. Not my favorite kind of spinning since it's a bit lumpy bumpy and it's medium soft, not something I want next to my skin, but I am determined to spin from my stash. I'm not sure what it will become, maybe something knitted and felted or if there's enough maybe a blanket.....will think on it a while.....quite a while.....
 
 I started knitting another Morning Surf Scarf as seen in Spin-Off magazine's Summer 2008 issue. The first one I knit was fingering weight handspun. This is out of a commercial yarn by Universal Yarns - Classic Shades Sequins Lite - can you see the little green sequins in it?  It was a fun yarn a friend and I bought last fall. I wish I had made the scarf a bit narrower but after doing a couple inches decided not to rip it out as this yarn gets very fuzzy with taking out stitches.

 We spent the past few days at the beach cottage - we'll be starting remodeling soon, we'll do all ourselves (except kitchen countertops) to keep the cost down.  Above you can see the tile wall behind Sam's chair (more on that in a bit) - the former pellet stove sat in this location. We took it out and gave it to a friend as the room is so small it would heat us out of there not to mention sitting just a couple feet away from it in the other chair and couch.  The closet door to the left will be taken out and drywall put up - we'll be opening that area up to the kitchen on the other side of this wall - the kitchen is woefully short on storage space.  That tiled wall behind the chair will be opened up on the top to see through to the kitchen - I'm thinking of hanging an old window frame in the opening for decor.  We thought about tearing out the entire wall and closet area but the house is so small we'd feel like we were sitting in the kitchen if we did that. So, back to the chair - we went out looking for a chair, I was thinking a used vintage cottagey small chair and ottoman to fit with the rest of the décor, an old chair that I'd slipcover - this electric leather recliner is what we ended up with - remind me not to go furniture shopping with Sam.......but he does love his chair.

 Here is Sam knocking that tile off the backer board.  Bailey and I supervised.

 Here it is with the tile removed - so much better.  Painting won't happen until after the closet door area is drywalled over but it already looks better.  The tile on the floor will stay until we get to replacing the carpet, the very dirty smelly carpet, we'll be putting in wood flooring, maybe one of the new engineered floors.

 The rest of our stay was spent relaxing and walking on the beach. This is the river inlet beach leading to the ocean, it's where we find most of our treasures.  Here's Bailey running at breakneck speed toward me.

 Just caught him in the corner of the frame - that is one happy dog.

 This is as far as he'll go into the water, who ever heard of a water dog that's afraid of water, he's our second Golden afraid of water. He's after that rock, every walk he's after that particular rock, not sure what he thinks it is. We were there at a very low tide so it won't ever get closer for him to get to without going deeper in the water......which won't happen........

 Treasures on the beach - snail shells that the hermit crabs grab when they need a bigger home. I'm sure there are agates somewhere in those rocks but I can rarely pick them out, even with my little agate cheat sheet.

 Small cockle shell on the beach - these are a dime a dozen

 I love the way the sand looks as the tide goes out - would make for a nice woven design, wouldn't it?

 I'm not sure what this is but I call it sea spaghetti - or it could be my hair after a windy day.

I have no clue what this little orange plant is - does it live in the ocean? or did it float down river from something on the land?  Don't know.....maybe I'll find out in the future......

Monday, February 3, 2014

Winners announced

Here are the winners of the Valentine pin giveaway
1 - Thistle Rose Weaving
2 - P (Pat)
3 - Sue O

But there were only 5 comments for these and I feel bad about the other 2 who didn't win - Lesley Ann and Tinker Tots, so I have a small gift for you too - a few of my handmade stitch markers.

Now I need mailing addresses so I can get these out in the mail. Thistle Rose I have yours, P I've got you covered too but I need everyone else's. I'll try to contact you but if you haven't heard from me because I have no contact information please email your address to cindiesam at yahoo dot com. 

I'll get them out in the mail as soon as I've got the addresses and can get out the driveway.........today on the schedule is the culvert at the end of our 1/3 mile drive being replaced from the log truck turnover in the ice last month so unless they finish early (or don't show today like scheduled) I won't get out to the post office until tomorrow.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Final name drafting


I started getting this warp on the loom yesterday, finished up this morning and started weaving placemats and will eventually weave some runners. This is another example of a name draft for my April guild program - it's 'sand and sea'. It's very subtle which is not good for a photo but I really like it - there are 3 colors alternating in the warp, a very pale blue, pale sea glass green, pale lavender. The ground weft is a bit darker sea glass green with a tan pattern weft. Warp & ground weft is 5/2 perle cotton - pattern weft is 3/2 perle cotton. The original thought was to weave 6 placemats and 2 runners, now am thinking 4 placemats (3 woven so far) and 3 runners - I don't think 6 rectangular placemats will fit on the oval table at the beach cottage - if I have 6 for dinner I'll use some round placemats. Am thinking at least one runner might lean toward lavender.

On another note for those of you who are curling enthusiasts....if any of you are. I found the NBC schedule for televising the Olympics and was very pleased to see quite a bit of curling including games the USA teams are no playing in. You can bet I'll be setting my dvr for all of it. If you're interested in the NBC schedule for when events are televised (in the States) click here.

In 12 minutes online registration opens up for the Complex Weaver's Conference....which is why I had to walk away from the loom. I'm hoping to get my 1st choices in seminars but even my 2nd & 3rd would be quite ok. I've never attended a Complex Weaver's Conference so I'm pretty excited. Sam and Bailey will hold the fort down here while I'm learning new things there in June.