This and that........

 We spent the past 6 days over at the beach cottage - the weather was picture perfect, couldn't have been any better. My 24" Macomber resides over there, for years I've dealt with the ratchet brake, which I hate. I finally ordered a friction brake so that got installed a few days ago..........only the old crank handle doesn't fit on the new drum - argh. Sam will take the handle to the machine shop at work to see if they can make the square hole bigger, otherwise I'll also be buying a new handle. I also put 400 new heddles on the first 4 harnesses, decided to order 400 more which were already waiting at the post office here at home today - will replace the old bent heddles next time at the cottage.

 And then there was the new IKEA cart I had to get. I've been lusting after this cart (Raskog) for 3 or 4 years but am so conscious of the limited space available so hadn't bought it. Well, I saw it on someone else's blog last month, commented how I've been good at not buying one.........but then friend Kathy emailed not one hour later saying they were stopping at IKEA in Portland on their way home from WA and did I need anything. I said no, didn't need a thing. Then I quickly emailed back telling her to get this cart for me........which she so kindly did and I met her at the highway as she was passing by my area to get it. It must have been a sign seeing it on a blog and then being asked if I wanted/needed anything at IKEA - it might have been bad luck if I hadn't bought it.........

 So, what's really been going on at the cottage is new flooring. Here's the living room with the new flooring. The house doesn't smell anymore like dog pee in the old carpet from a previous owners dogs - hallelujah. We went with Coretec Plus which is a 'luxury vinyl plank flooring' with a cork backing. Real hardwood was out of the question price wise - wood composite was also out of the question as it can have problems getting waterlogged.........like when big dogs drink water and leave a trail throughout the house. This is perfect, totally waterproof.  Cousin Jim was a huge help in laying this flooring. We still have the guest bath to go - new carpet in the bedrooms will be installed soon.

 And here's the dining room, we also put this flooring in the kitchen, down the hall, laundry room, mater bathroom and the guest bath is the only room left to have it laid in. What's really special about this room are the new French doors we put in.....well cousin Jim and hubby Sam put them in last Thursday. There had been an old rusty, rickety, black sliding glass door that looked terrible and was hard to use. I convinced Sam we couldn't leave it..........what a huge improvement. Pictures are deceiving, this is a fairly small house with small rooms - my camera does a great job of making it look big.

I recently found this fun tote bag that seems fitting for the grower's market on the coast - "Always be yourself unless you can be a mermaid, then always be a mermaid"

Just not for me...........

Today I got the Gilmore Gem II loom warped up for some patriotic table runners. Theresa loaned me this loom so I could see if it was a loom I'd be interested in ordering for the beach cottage. Well, it's just not right for me. It's a quality made sturdy little loom but just doesn't work for me. I made myself a pros and cons list when I started today and the cons were overwhelming.  So, now I'm thinking of putting some money into fixing my 24" 8H Macomber that was 'dropped on it's head at birth'. I think I'm just a Macomber gal - I've had my 40" 10H Mac for 30 years - it had decades on it when I bought it and I will never give it up.

Yesterday was my guild hands-on program on bow weaving. I taught 30+ fellow guild members how to bow weave, most finished their beaded bracelets by the time the meeting was over, others well on their way to finishing. It was a bit overwhelming to teach that many but I had two friends, Linda and Margie, who kindly offered to be helpers - they were life savers. I think everyone enjoyed the process and had fun.

I'm done weaving for today, will pick it up again another day. So now I'm off to work on hemming a huge stack of towels while I watch the first episode of the new season of Outlander. I signed up for Starz on our satellite service just so I can watch this........and after I watch that I know I'll still have more towels to hem so I'll put on Thursday's dvr'd episode of The Vikings.........

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......

A little loom time

I got a bit of loom time yesterday. I wound a 12 yard warp for towels, got it wound on the back beam and threaded through the heddles. All that's left is to sley the reed and tie on.....but that won't happen today. I'm doing something very unusual for me - towels in plain weave, I just wanted these very simple that would end up in a nice plaid or stripes. Generally the only time I use plain weave is when weaving chenille. I love structure and I love color and usually combine the two. The other unusual thing I'm doing is using 6/2 cotton, I always use 8/2 or 10/2 for towels. I picked up a large number of beautiful muted colors in 6/2 earlier this year so I wanted to give it a try for towels. I'm using a fibonnaci striping sequence: 34-8-21 (warp ends) and rotating the four colors throughout.

Temps look like they'll be good for dyeing this week - hopefully I'll get in a day or two of painting roving.

More Stainless on the loom

This is the warp I wound and got on the loom this morning. The warp is 8/2 tencel in black, grey & light grey, the weft is Habu stainless steel & silk in a grey color. One picture shows hemstitching in progress at the beginning of the scarf - the needle is not my usual tapestry needle but a regular sewing needle to show how small the grist is of the stainless steel silk. It does kink a bit but not too bad at all, it's very easy to weave with just like the stainless steel wool. Another picture of what the scarf is looking like as I weave, colors in the warp gradually changing to the next color. Then another picture where I held my hand under the scarf to show just how transparent and fine this scarf is. I'm anxious to see how it reacts after it's finished and washed, should hold a scrunch like the stainless steel wool. I usually put on very long scarf warps but in sampling many of these different fibers I've only put on enough for one scarf - this time I'll get two scarves off this warp....haven't decided if I'll use the stainless silk on the next one or just use some tencel......will decide when I get to it.

Stainless Steel on the loom

Ok, so I couldn't stand it, yesterday I wound a warp to try out the wool/stainless steel blend on the loom. I wound a warp using a fibonacci striping sequence in grey 8/2 tencel, black 8/2 tencel and Habu ramie (space dyed). I then wove a scarf using the Habu wool/stainless steel blend in a coal grey/black for the weft (sewing thread size in grist). Here's a picture of what it looked like on the loom and a picture of the sample piece from the end of the warp that I've scrunched up - it holds the scrunch because of the stainless steel. I'm going to wash the scarf shortly - will post a picture of the finished scarf and scrunching at a later date. These pictures aren't the best but take my word for it, it's very cool fiber.