Yum

Yesterday a friend came over for our occasional lunch/Netflix/knitting get together.  We were to binge watch the second half of the new season of Grace & Frankie but I had gotten Book Club movie DVD via Netflix by mail so we watched that instead. Lots of laughs. With what's going on in the world and our country it's so nice to watch something that's light and entertaining.

I made a sausage, kale & potato soup.  It's based on Zuppa Toscano at Olive Garden, my favorite soup there.  I've made this recipe several times and it's a winner - it's from The Pioneer Woman's website.  And I had enough leftovers to send some home with my friend and for our dinner tonight. It's not a heavy soup but it's also not a low-cal soup as it's loaded with whole milk, half & half and a splash of cream - but it's oh, so worth it.

 

I've seen several recipes lately for roasted chick-peas. I've had a recipe from Two Peas and their Pod's blog along with a can of chickpeas sitting on the counter for a week so I decided to make those yesterday too for us to critic and snack on. Another winner recipe. I had some Moroccan spice blend in my pantry so that's what I used on these. The entire can of them is gone as of 5 minutes ago.  Next time I make them I'll have to try a different spice blend.

Have had no time for weaving for a few days - maybe tomorrow afternoon. I really need to get back to weaving or sewing so I can settle in to listen to my current audio book which is book 5 in the Outlander series - The Fiery Cross. I'm halfway through the 47 discs.  Is anyone else hooked on Outlander?  I know the books have been out forever but it really gained popularity again when Starz started airing an original series based on the books. The 4th season recently ended, it was based on book 4.

Spring towels

New spring towel warp on the loom........first two in teal (underneath), next two this coral......thinking about a cherry yellow, aqua and lavender for the remainder of the warp.

Auditioning wefts......

I've got the first warp on the AVL since moving.......which means since taking it apart piece by piece, all 40 harnesses off, all 80 cables off, all 80 springs off in addition to all the wooden and steel parts. I had run it through a straight draw without anything on it just to make sure it still worked but hadn't woven on it yet. Although I'm not in the mood to weave scarves it seemed like a good time to do some to make sure all is well with the AVL. In threading heddles harness 18 stuck the first time it was raised, spring went flying off leaving the harness cock-eyed.....then harness 31 stuck.  I ran it through it's paces a few more times and continued to thread, all seemed ok. I had a bit of time this afternoon to tie on and really give it a test - all looks ok as I was auditioning wefts in this sample. I'm thinking I'll go with the lavender, 2nd color from the bottom, then the teal, 4th from the bottom and the rust right above the teal. Three scarves, three different colorways. Of course, I may change my mind before I start weaving.........

For those who may ask - this draft was originally horizontal ribbons by Amy Norris published in the Complex Weavers Compilation book, I think it was 20 shaft but I could be remembering wrong so don't hold me to that - I took the draft and turned it so I have vertical ribbons, it's now 32 shaft.

I'm going to get a towel warp on the Macomber this week too. But alas, I think my last statement is in the mail today so taxes loom on the horizon. Somehow I let myself get talked into buying Turbo Tax Home & Business once again.......all along I was thinking dropping them off at a local accountant's office was sounding much more 'fun' but I guess since we dropped $79 on TT at Costco I need to use it.......

Table runners ready for new homes......

Handwoven rag table runners for sale in my etsy shop - look for these in the table runner section of my shop. Calling these 'rag' runners is a bit misleading as they are made from high quality cotton quilt fabric cut 1" wide for the weft.

New towels in the shop

I needed to stitch up a special order towel so decided to stitch a few more - love this lavender wreath......

.....and I decided to stitch up the country sheep on a seafoam green towel - love this for spring or easter.......also stitched up some more bunny towels.  All are in my etsy shop ready to find new homes.

Rag weaving fini

 This is the last of the rag weaving for quite a while...........

 .......it's been really fun........

.........now to hem them all and wait for a brighter day for good photo taking......

More rag runners.....

 More rag runners came off the loom yesterday. They sure are quick to warp and weave......

.....next warp up will have corals, rust, tans - 3 runners each in a different fabric......then I put the rag weaving aside, it's been fun. I'll probably put on a towel warp next. I also have some sewing I'd like to do - I need to design and sew/quilt a quilted wall hanging for over our couch.  Our last house didn't have as much wall space as this one, I need something fairly big for the wall the couch is on. I've been looking at some commercial patterns - one is very intriguing - not sure if I'll end up using that or pull ideas from it and go off on my own.......which is what I'm thinking......

Rag weaving

This type of weaving is usually called rag weaving, as in rag rugs.....in this case rag table runners. This comes from times when true rags were used for rugs rather than throwing those old clothes and sheets out, we'd call it up-cycling today. But can these runners really be called rag weaving - this fabric was never rags, it's good quality quilting cottons straight from the store..........after a lengthy stay marinating in my fabric cupboard.  I need to come up with another name so those who may be interested in purchasing a table runner know it was not made of rags.

The other day I was getting ready to warp up the Macomber with another towel warp. Then I opened that cupboard and saw stacks and stacks of fabric and thought maybe some table runners were in order instead.

I pulled out enough fabric for 9 table runners, that 2 yards each, that's 18 yards.  Did it make a dent in the fabric cupboard - heck no.....but I'm giving it my best.

There is still so much fabric in that cupboard. Actually it outgrew that cupboard and has taken over some shelves in another cupboard.

But I'm making a small dent in it. After 9 table runners are woven I'll set aside this idea again and move on to that towel warp. 4 runners down, 5 to go........