House guest.......

 I have a house guest for a few weeks - Theresa's Gilmore Gem II.  It's a cute sturdy little loom. I'm trying it out to see if I want to buy one for the beach cottage where space is a big issue. Unfortunately I don't have time to get a warp on it for the next week but the following week I'll get to it. I like it's look and design but the decision on whether to buy one or not comes after I've sat down and woven a warp on it.........does it fit me, feel good to sit and weave at, do I like the tie-ups. I can't wait to get a warp on it............

Yesterday afternoon after a nice visit with Theresa here and then into town for shopping at The Kitchen Company and trying out a new restaurant, The Horney Goat, I sat down at the loom. I finished weaving the all silver shawl and got this one started using white rayon flake for the weft. Ok, so I need to remember to ask at the restaurant who came up with that terrible name - beautiful restaurant, Theresa and I both gave it a thumbs up, but the name is bad......

Yummy feeling scarves

New yummy feeling scarves in my etsy shop. They have a space dyed rayon flake warp and tencel wefts.

Down to Earth Scarf - Olive - Buy it HERE

Down to Earth Scarf - Taupe - Buy it HERE

More new scarves to come, gingko scarves, but they are still drying, all need the fringes twisted and then the dreaded photography work......... the part of my job that I really struggle with.

Outlander

Ok, I'm hooked - I've been binge watching the first season of Outlander. It's right down my alley, historically themed books/series/movies. I only have 3 episodes left - ack!  The new season will be out soon but I don't have Starz so I'll have to wait until it's out on DVD.  I've been ignoring the books so far but think I'll have to make a long term commitment to read all 8 of them as soon after I read the next books up in my Library2Go queue (digital library books).


So, while I've been binge watching Outlander I've been spending time in the studio. I twisted the fringe on 3 scarves, they're now waiting to be photographed. I also got both the Macomber and AVL warped up..........and then there was some down time when I was so mesmerized by Outlander that I just had to stop and watch it..........

I put on a rayon flake shawl warp on the Macomber. Here's the beginning of the warp where I'm testing out using white rayon flake as weft and the same silver rayon flake for weft that I used for warp. I'll weave a shawl of each as I like them both very much. This is an 8 harness twill design.

Here's the all silver grey shawl being woven.

On the AVL a warp went on for 4 gingko scarves as I'm sold out of them. These will be lighter colors to go with the season. I was trying out weft colors here and will go with the taupe, silver grey and mint green for 3 of the scarves. I'm thinking I'll switch and weave the final scarf in taupe using my vines and leaves draft.

Here's what the back of the loom looks like with 40 harnesses threaded. It is a stretch to reach those back 8 harnesses when threading the heddles. Thank goodness there's an option to use the weaving program to raise the harnesses tromp as writ for easy threading. I can't imagine what a nightmare it would be trying to pick the next heddle up in the pattern without that. Theoretically I will have no threading errors this way but that's only if the computer program has no hiccups.

Studio time........

I got to spend quite a bit of time in the studio today. I got back to this scarf warp that's been on the loom for too long. I wove 2 scarves using the same taupe weft as the first scarf and then this scarf using a sage green weft. One of the taupe scarves will go to a benefit auction for our local Humane Society.

I also got a warp wound for the AVL to weave more of my gingko scarves - it's wound on the back beam awaiting threading through the heddles and the reed.

I started listening to the audio book Sarah's Key which is very good. I meant to download the digital book from Library2Go but accidently got the audio book instead.

In spite of the lovely weather and temporary break in the rain for a few days I'll spend tomorrow in the studio again rather than outside because of the need inside me to weave......

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May the leprechauns be near you,
To spread luck along your way.
And may all the Irish angels,
Smile upon you St. Patrick's Day.

Pad Thai Pizza

Yesterday I made Thai Pizza for lunch when a friend came over to knit/spin and watch 3 episodes of The Borgia's on Netflix - we've just finished watching the first season - this is a long term commitment of watching a series.........very fun. (I love period movies/series)  This photo is not very good or necessarily appetizing looking but the pizza/flatbread is outstanding.  Yesterday I tried out the fresh pizza dough from Winco grocery store - it was good but grew - it was like a super duper thick crust pizza which was too bready for me. Usually I buy the Trader Joe's fresh pizza dough but TJ's is 45 minutes away so not always convenient.  This is what's on this yummy pizza.

Start with your chosen pizza dough/crust

Spread a layer of your favorite jarred Thai peanut sauce on top

Next up a light layer of provolone cheese.....

very thinly sliced red onion......

roasted shredded chicken (I make this pizza the day after having chicken for dinner so I use leftover)

Now sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top - I love tons of cheese on pizza but for this one I go light on the cheese........just enough to hold it together.

Now bake it - I baked mine for around 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

After it comes out of the oven sprinkle on chopped peanuts, shredded carrots, bean sprouts and tons of cilantro........if you like cilantro..........I realize it's something people either love or hate - I love it so I add tons of cilantro.

Now dig in. I served it with a salad in a bag - the Asian salad.  Sam was thrilled to come over to leftovers of this pizza and ate a ton of it for dinner last night.

Etsy shop update

Newly woven towels up for sale in my etsy shop. I love the spring/coastal/beach/seaglass look of these.

It was tough not to keep all of them as my towel drawer is full but I did manage to squeeze one more towel in for my own use.

For anyone that hasn't ever used a handwoven towel they're really missing out.  They last what seems like forever. I wash and dry mine weekly and they just keep looking nice for years. I could never go back to store bought hand towels for kitchen or bath.........well, except for the cute embroidered towels I create and sell in my etsy shop.........

Re-entry is the pits.......

We're just back from 6 stormy days on the coast. It was great but 're-entry' always sucks. We're both thrown into trying to play catch-up with work, phone calls, the emails we've ignored while being gone. I've done all I can do today, will pick it back up tomorrow morning when I pull and box up orders to get in the mail.


Sam was pulling up vinyl and underlayment in preparation for new flooring we'll be installing. It's slow going but coming along.  Since I determined working with a crow bar was a one person job I went to the spinning group at The Wool Co and spent time weaving. We did get in walks in-between squalls, we had hurricane force winds but were able to manage not to get wet until this morning........as far away from the house or other shelter as we could be the skies opened up - we got drenched..........although Bailey didn't mind.

Here's the cottolin towel warp I was working on - very beachy colors - this one I used the seaglass aqua for the weft. I'm still working on this stash of cottolin although it's getting smaller. Maybe 2 more warps and all that will be left will be small bits on the spools.

Here I used the sand color for weft. Forgot to say - this is a 4 harness point twill.

Sure wish I had mentioned to someone before I decided to tie this new warp on to the previous warp. A friend would have reminded me that I don't tie on to warps because I can thread the heddles and reed much quicker. It's been years since I've done it, hopefully I won't forget how much I dislike it so it won't happen again. And then there was one warp end that the knot came undone as I was winding on the back beam.........now there's a warp end with a weight hanging off the back of the loom.  I won't get into warping methods because weavers are very divided on this subject.......other than to say I'm a back to front warper and tying onto the previous warp is too much like front to back with tangles as the warp ends have to travel both through the reed and heddles - argh.

But I got it on and started weaving on a new towel warp. I like these colors although they're not very spring/summery. They'll actually go well in my kitchen in the woods here so I'll keep a couple.

I started knitting another shawlette, this one using my handspun. I got a little further on it on the drive home.  This yarn was spun from some of my hand-dyed merino/bamboo - it was my Baltic colorway.

Bunnies!

New bunny towels in my etsy shop just in time for Easter and Spring.........or really anytime of the year as they're not pigeon-holed to Easter with having eggs or Easter greetings on them. Perfect for those who love bunnies or have bunnies.  I'm thinking I need a set but which design - I love the cute little bunny with the flowers but then also love the leaping bunny with the vines........decisions, decisions.

As I posted recently I rarely get time to put out any holiday décor anymore so I'm going to stock up on holiday towels for my own house, woven and embroidered, as they're easy to pull out of the linen closet and put out for the holidays/seasons. I always use woven towels in the kitchen and bathrooms but usually they match the décor, not the holidays so that will vary in the future.  So, which will it be.......maybe the bunny with the vines..........or maybe the cute little bunny with the flowers.......or maybe both..........guess I better get back to the embroidery machine........

At a loss

I'm at a loss as to what weft to use on the next two scarves. I've 'auditioned' numerous weft colors and so far this is the only one I've liked. I don't want to use the same weft for all three scarves. Will have to ponder on this some more before I get to scarf #2. I've got plenty of time for pondering as there are too many other things on the schedule for the next week, I'll be lucky to get time at the loom to get this scarf woven on anytime soon. What has happened to those days I spent in the studio from morning until dinner........I miss them.........

The Year of the Monkey

 Yesterday we went to Jacksonville for the Chinese New Year Parade. It turned out to be a beautiful day after it poured overnight.

 I love the dragons - so fun. There's a big history of the Chinese in this area due to the gold mining - not necessarily good times.

 I tried to get some pix of the hula dancers since two of my spinning friends were dancing in the parade but I only had my phone and I didn't get good pix of them. These 3 dragon pix were the only good ones I got out of the bunch.

 When we got home I got to work on stringing beads for the kits for the bow weaving program I'll be teaching at my weaving guild in April.

Stringing these size 8 beads on 5/2 perle cotton is quick work using a dental flosser. Of course putting together the number of kits I need will still take a number of hours to complete but it's a mindless, good watching movies on Netflix chore. Would love to get back to this today but today is sit down in front of the computer with Turbo Tax Home & Business day - argh.........

Summer shawls........

I finally washed and twisted the fringe on some summer shawls in beach/sand colors. A mix of cotton and rayon slub in tans, peach, pale aqua and off white - very comfortable on the shoulders on a chilly summer evening. Now up for sale in my etsy shop.

After I weave off the scarves on the Macomber a white summer shawl warp will be going on. Need to get another scarf warp on the AVL too.  But for the immediate I'm back working on the bow weaving program with putting together warp & bead kits for guild members.  A very time consuming chore but it will be so much easier than having all guild members stringing beads at the guild meeting - I can work on it while watching movies/shows on Netflix.

New book

Yesterday a box arrived from Amazon with the new Robyn Spady book - 'Weaving Innovations from the Bateman Collection'.  I've only had time to flip through it so far but from what I can see it's a beautiful book jam-packed with information and drafts for weaving. I can't wait to sit down with it in the next couple of days.

Last month I also subscribed to Robyn's new digital magazine, Heddlecraft which looks to be incredible........but then after taking two workshops from Robyn I wouldn't expect anything less from both her book and magazine. She's easy to understand, very knowledgeable and probably the most organized and easy to understand weaving instructor I've ever taken a workshop from.

Robyn also has a blog - check it out for invaluable tid-bits on weaving.

I hope both her book and magazine take off.

A bit of the irish............

 Today I played at the embroidery machine stitching towels - I love the Mendhika style shamrock above......in my etsy shop just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

I love this delicate shamrock design. These are also for sale in my shop. Am thinking I need to embroider a couple for my own house. Somehow the holidays come and go and I've never gotten out any décor - towels are easy.

I stitched a few other towels but those are for gifts so I can't post them here.

Slubs........

Finally some time at the loom. Yesterday I got a summer shawl warp on the loom, today I wove off the two shawls. Hard to capture the colors but overall it looks like sand - I can see wearing this on the beach.......maybe I will have to keep one to wear on the beach!

Slubs - argh. I put in occasional accents of novelty rayon slub yarn - love the way it looks but what a pain one of them was. The peach slub would go through the heddles, occasionally needing a little coaxing but the other slub yarn, a variegated one with the pale aqua color would not even go through the heddles. I had to make string heddles to accommodate it........luckily there were only 8 ends as that's all I had of that yarn.

Anxious to see how these look after being washed.......maybe tomorrow..........

Change of plans

 Change in plans yesterday in the ball of yarn I planned to use for the next shawlette. I was just a bit too worried about how the striping would turn out. I wasted a lot of time fretting over it before I pulled out this ball of Zauberball singles in reds. Yes, this will make a striking shawlette.

Current fruit infused water in the pitcher - mandarins and limes.......very light and fresh tasting......I need to buy some other fruit and some mint soon........

Feeling blah.........

Not sure why but I'm feeling blah today. It's not the torrential rains because I'm loving them, every rain drop and snowflake up in the mountains is good for fire season this year. I had a great past two days, one of them spent with my spinning 'peeps', the other spent with a friend knitting and watching episodes 4 thru 6 of  The Borgia's on Netflix........can't wait for our next get together to watch the next 3 episodes.


I had planned on winding a shawl warp today but I just can't seem to do it - what I want to do most is nest at the loom but by the time I finished up other mundane chores and pulling roving orders to mail I just didn't have it in me to start winding a warp.

And then there are 4 knit shawlettes waiting to be blocked. Although not productive at the loom I am productive working on holiday/birthday gifts. But who feels like getting on the floor to get the first one blocked........not me, at least not today.........

So I've pulled another ball of yarn to knit yet another shawlette, not sure how this one will look at it moves from color to color - will be fun to find out. I am pretty excited about getting gifts made early this year - no panicking for me come November this year. I might just go turn on the Sunday evening episode of Downton Abbey and get this shawlette started and not worry about being productive at the loom today...........

This and that.......

We spent the past 4 days on the coast. While those to the east are stuck in frigid temps we had mild weather although the second 2 days were drippy and foggy.......but nothing that kept us from walking the beach.  Friend Teresa and I met for coffee and then went to a meet & greet with knit/crochet author Susan Bates at The Wool Company. I bought one of her books and a couple single patterns, also bought some yarn to knit a gingko shawl which I already have the pattern for.........more to come on that once I get it started......after I do a bit more gift knitting.

While Sam was removing some tile and getting a final coat of paint on closet doors I wound a warp for more cottolin towels. Beach colors that will be woven in a broken twill design. I also finished knitting another shawlette - now there are 4 in the queue to be blocked.  Next time over I'll tie on the front beam and start weaving.

And what did Bailey do?  What he does best when not walking the beach or people/dog watching off the front porch...........

........yep, can't pass up that comfy couch.......

Flavored water

A few years ago at the ANWG weaving conference in Bellingham, WA the cafeteria had big containers of cold fruit infused water. Each container, each day, was something different. Walking in the cafeteria that's where I looked first, what kind of water would there be that day.

I've always put lemons and limes in my water but up until that conference I had never considered using apples, blueberries, strawberries, melons, peaches, etc.  Since that time I've made my own glasses of fruit infused water but when on Amazon one day I saw these pitchers with a separate section in the middle for adding the fruit so you're not fighting with it trying to pour the water in your glass. And lo and behold there are many books out there on the subject.  So, of course I bought myself a pitcher and book.......and bought a couple more for gifts.

The water I made for tonight's dinner & card playing with our neighbors is pear with cinnamon stick. I'm anxious to see how it tastes. It's only been melding for an hour in the fridge so far, a small taste looks like this combo will be a winner.........at least for me.  According to the directions the fruit will last for several days, many fillings of the pitcher - I haven't tested that theory out yet.

I'm not a soda drinker so this will be a nice way to change up my glass of water. I can't wait until we have fresh fruit this summer...........

So unlike me..............

It is so unlike me to sit and read all afternoon but that's just what I did.......in front of the fire........with hot cocoa........and popcorn. I had planned on winding a warp after dealing with administrivia and mundane chores but instead I gave myself permission to goof off.  It's not that I don't want to weave but I also want to do other things.  I tend to be driven when it comes to selling fiber but it's coming to a time in my life where I want to enjoy doing so many other things........there's limited time, if not now, when will I do these other things???

Yes, I will still sell my handwovens but I will be slowing down on the spinning/felting fibers which are the beefy income part of my business. Then I'll have the time to focus more on the handwovens, not just for sale but for myself.........there will be more time to design drafts to weave, drafts that have been in my head but have not gotten any further than that.

So, today I sat and read a book!  I finished 'Everything I Never Told You' and I'm just starting 'The Book Thief'. Both of these became available on the same day through Library2Go for digital download so I do have a deadline to read them unless I wanted to put one back on my list. Usually I'd be beating myself up for not being productive but I'm quite ok with it today....hopefully I can keep up with this slowing down and enjoying life a bit more.......and yes, I will be back at the loom shortly.......

And Bailey was quite ok with all this - he was laying just out of site in 'his' chair to the left of the fireplace.......