On the loom & needles.........

This week I got another towel warp on the loom - I've been weaving bright colors this last year so decided to go with more subdued colors this time and I love them.  Actually the reason why I chose these 3 warp colors was because I had mega cones of each of these 8/2 cottons. Of course I've hardly made a dent in those cones but at least I'm using some of it. The first towels I'm using a pale seafoam green weft and love it. Original plan was to use the 3 colors in the warp for wefts, I may still do that for some of the towels but right now I'm loving weaving this seafoam.  This is a two block twill.......seems I've been loving weaving two block twills this last year too.

And here's what's on the needles. A friend gifted me with this Malabrigo sock yarn over a year ago, I kept it right on my sewing table trying to decide what to use it for. My original thought was a knit shawlette but I just hadn't found the perfect pattern yet.......that I already hadn't knit. Then I decided on socks and I'm so glad I did - I love the way they're turning out. The pattern is called Tidal Wave Socks.  I have knit these before and love the pattern. Here's the link to the pattern on Ravelry.  Just enough to have something to think about while knitting the leg portion but not so much that I can enjoy watching tv in the evening. 

This morning I blocked the cowl I knit a few weeks ago, when it's dry I'll share a picture of that.  Now off to throw the shuttle on that towel warp.........

 

This and that.......

I have gotten a little bit of fiber time. I'm nowhere near where I need to be to keep my sanity but I'm trying to work toward getting back to what my normal had been for 2+ decades. How did life change? I need for it to change back, at least partially back to what it used to be or 'funny farm' here I come.

I put some handspun on the loom recently for a double weave/width afghan. Color is not quite right but it's close, and that was after working on it. Newer version of my old camera takes terrible pictures colorwise, just don't get it. Anyhow, that skein on the top is the weft.

Here it is in progress. The join is on the left hand side. When this comes off the loom it will unfold to be twice it's width, which is around 42" before washing.  I'd like to think I would get it off the loom today and be able to start twisting the fringe but I've also got 3 fruit trees to prune and I need to help Sam get the bird netting over the garden structure.

I finally finished a pair of superwash merino/bamboo/nylon socks that have been on the needles for probably a year. A project that I'd just pick up here and there when I needed to grab a quick project to work on while on the go. They feel super soft, with our weather these may not end up on my feet until next winter. Time to get another pair of socks on the needles for my on the go, no thinking necessary, project.

At the sewing guild meeting last week we learned about Swedish weaving, which is not really weaving (as we weavers know) but embroidery on huck fabric - the embroidery sits on the top of one side of the fabric. This is my sample in progress. I think I may be pulling my thread to tight - looks fine but once washed it may pull.....I need to consult my fellow guild member to find out. This is very fun and very addictive......the last thing I need is something else fun to do as I don't have the hours to do what I want but that's ok, I'll fit it in somewhere, sometime.  I'm thinking I need to make myself a couple of towels, maybe even make a few gifts for later in the year.

Busy week ahead.  I'm hoping to find time to start winding a warp for bumbaret towels although I'm learning life gets in the way all too often. All those colors of 8/2 cotton are calling to me to make super colorful towels.

This & that..........

 I've been doing more ice-dyeing...….it's stacking up waiting for me to do the photography work. I also bought some socks from Dharma to ice-dye. Here are two pair above the ice-dyed rayon/silk devore scarves. They take the dye so well - I love them.  Today I have a batch of 8 pair of socks ice-dyeing along with cotton fabric underneath them to be dyed for whatever projects may come along, mostly probably quilting projects.

 It's that time of year again to make gift bags.  I leave them out on my table to work on here and there when I have a bit of spare time.  I generally take my own bags when grocery shopping but occasionally I open the back of the car and there aren't any in there......so I save the bags to recycle. I wonder if Trader Joe's ever thought this would happen to their bags when they printed 'reusable recyclable' on them.

 Here's one of the finished bags, this is the larger size.  Yes, they aren't beautiful holiday gift bags but I like them. I do still have to hit up the Dollar Store every once in a while when I run out of my homemade bags.

Here are the cows this morning, from left to right - Gwinevere, Stan, Ollie and Moo Latte.  They are not actually staring at me, they're staring at the guy on the roof trying to pull the chimney stack out. Today the new gas fireplace install is happening although we're in a holding pattern waiting for the gas company to arrive to shut off the gas as these guys aren't allowed to touch the main shut off and we don't have a secondary one outside.  Back to the cows. It looks like the piece of property behind us has sold and there will be houses built - it's going to be a sad day when I no longer get to see and talk to the cow gang...…….and I instead hear construction work going on and have houses behind us.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

 Here is Day 4 of the 12 Days spin-a-long. I love how each days colors are a progression in color from the day before.

The second sock of Sam's Christmas sox is finally finished. It's harder to find time to knit on them without him seeing since he's semi-retired and works from home much of the time. So, the one finished sock was in his Christmas stocking - second one still on the needles until yesterday evening. Next up on the needles is a new knit cap for him as I noticed recently he needed another for beach walks.......but I'm not behind on this knitting, it wasn't to be a gift, recently saw the need. 

Career sox finished

I can't tell you how long these sox have been on the needles - maybe two years, I really can't remember. I was in-between projects so thought I'd finish them up. Now they're ready to wear if we ever get cool weather.

I can't go into all the fire updates because it's just too much to write and it's too depressing and downright scary. The fires surrounding our area and are growing by leaps and bounds. The fire closest to us is the top priority fire in the nation but only has a fraction of personnel fighting it compared to other fires a 10th of it's size - the west is overwhelmed with fires and there is just no more support coming. There are so many fires and so many fires with evacuations. Here we have been told they will do their best with what they've got - not a warm & fuzzy feeling. The smoke is in the hazardous stage at our house, so thick that there is very little visibility, no air support working the close fires as they can't fly due to the smoke. I'm not sure how many hours one would have to drive to escape the smoke at this point. It smells of smoke inside the house even with it being closed up and the a/c running - there's no escaping it. We did get over to the coast for a bit but the smoke eventually made it over there too. Doing the rain dance here hoping for the fall rains to come earlier rather than later this year.

It's been a long time......

 It's been a long time since these socks were cast on........can't say exactly how long since I'm too lazy to go back and look on this blog but somewhere around 1 1/2 years, give or take. When I pulled out my knitting bag and saw that I was still on the first sock I decided they needed to be knit and off the needles. I love feather and fan but I didn't really enjoy knitting the pattern in these socks........so glad they're done........

So, a new pair of socks are on the needles and is this color way ever fun. These and another pair in a different color way will be knit as simple socks, as in no patterning. These won't be on the needles as long since I can knit on these even while in the car. These and the other color way in this Regia Fluormania are to be gifts but I'm loving the bright colors so much I might have to buy another skein to knit myself a pair.......how cheery would these be on a dreary winter day.........

On another note - fire season starts tomorrow......we're in our third year of drought......it's going to be another long ugly fire season.........

I decided this past week was to be the week of finishing up some socks that have sat on the needles for months - I worked on these in the evenings here and there. The rainbow striped ones were knit from Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock - I did not enjoy knitting these at all which is why they were on the needles for months. The yarn split and the one time I needed to frog a few rows it was so sticky it was almost impossible to take out - argh. It's a shame since they have such beautiful colorways. But I am a fan of the Wisdom Yarns Poems in worsted weight - I've made numerous knit hats and fingerless mitts out of it and will make more in the future.

These socks were knit from Knit Picks fingering weight yarn in natural that I hand-dyed. By winding on a board I can create a self striping yarn including the 2" cuff in a solid color. These are men's socks. Always fun to knit my own hand-dyed.

Speaking of dyeing - yesterday I spent 8 hours outside dyeing superwash merino roving - 14 1/4 pounds. In the future I may set my limit at 10 pounds to lessen my back and foot pain from standing on concrete for hours. The goal is to have the last of the roving in the dyepot by 2pm on dye day since there's still more time waiting for the steaming process and rinsing, not to mention clean-up. So, a new deadline of no later than 1pm last roving in the dyepot for the future. Pictures to come of yesterday's dye day once I get the roving braided.

Today is lunch out with a fiber friend so no dyeing - I'm concentrating on picture taking of scarves recently woven so they can be tagged and ready for sale. Later this afternoon either weaving or weighing out the next batch of roving to be dyed.

Handspun handknit socks

Last night I finished a pair of handspun handknit socks. I have no clue what fiber this is - usually I'm very good at labeling my handspun but this time all the tag had on it was the weight & yardage - no fiber type. I used a couple of new techniques on this pair of socks that I learned recently from fellow sock knitters. First - I learned how to crochet a chain with waste yarn directly onto the knitting needle to start my sock from the top of the foot at the toe, knitting a short row toe, then picking up those stitches off the waste yarn and continuing the sock up to the cuff. In the past I had crocheted a chain with waste yarn and then knit into the chain - this was much easier - thank you Cheryl. Second - I received a worksheet to figure out how to make socks that will fit my feet perfectly - I measured all different areas of my foot all the way up to my knee and then figured out how many stitches to start with - this is a great technique for handspun which may be different than commercial yarns used for many patterns. I ended up using 46 stitches for these socks - they fit me perfectly - thank you Yolanda.

Tidal wave socks

Yes, I am weaving but I'm weaving a white on white scarf, advancing twill weave structure in merino/seacell but it just won't show up in a photo so I'm not posting it. I'm also knitting, usually in the evenings. These are my Tidal Wave Sox, pattern by SWTC (Southwest Trading Company), fiber is also by SWTC called Tofutsies which is a blend of 50% superwash wool, 25% soysilk, 22.5% cotton and 2.5% chitin. Chitin is a fiber from shrimp and crab shells, label says it's "naturally antibacterial"......all I care is that it doesn't smell like shrimp and crab shells!

I also recently knit a pair of yoga sox - heel & toe missing but they'll keep the center of my foot and ankles warm during yoga practice. Jury is still out on them, wore them for the first time Monday and they moved around too much, was thinking maybe take some stitches out on the next pair. Machine washed & dried them so they shrunk a bit, fit better this morning but still not perfect. Maybe putting ribbing along the arch of my foot would help........will give that a try with the next pair. Will have to take a picture of them at some point to post.