What doesn't kill me will make me stronger...

The Bay Area Spinners and Weavers are doing a study in advancing twills. I love twills, so this is the perfect project for me. They are providing all the looms and materials, so this should be a snap. Just follow the instructions. Right? Wrong!

When I arrived, I had to untie and retie the treadles on the small 8-shaft loom. That took about an hour, but I learned something new since my loom only has 4-shafts and you do all the combinations with your feet. Now it's time to start weaving. Yea! The weft is a beautiful slubby linen and I'm using an end feed shuttle. The first throw comes to a screeching halt. The little slubs are catching on the tensioner and making my selveges pull in like crazy. Arrggh! And the skinny treadles are hurting my feet. And since the sides are pulling in, I can't beat the weft in completely. What a mess! Then I notice a broken warp thread. Our instructor comes in to help and decides that the warp was sleyed too wide and is causing part of the problems. So she cuts off what I've struggled to do and I move over to the 4-shaft loom. After I go get something to eat and chill out for a while.

So I come back, fed and happy and ready to start again. This should be a snap. I'm weaving on a loom that's almost exactly like mine. So I'm going along and get almost to the end of the first pattern when I notice 3 broken warp threads on the right side. Our instructor fixes them and I continue. Two more throws then 3 more broken threads. Being the optimist that I am, I take this as my opportunity to learn to tie a weavers knot and repair broken warp threads. So we practice with a small rope until I get it down pat, and I move back to the loom. I tie a knot, and snap! It breaks again when I snug it down. So I try again, and again, and again... Now I'm getting frustrated again. I see the cone of warp thread sitting by the loom. I wind off a piece and pull. It snaps in two with hardly any force at all. Ah-ha! This loom is warped with weak thread. I give. Weaving gods - 2, Theresa - 0.

Although I didn't get any actual project finished, I did learn a lot today.
- Never assume that someone else has set up your work properly.
- Check tension frequently on loom and shuttle
- Always use good quality yarns for your warp since it has to hold up to strong tensioning and frequent abrasion.
- I can now tie up treadles on a 8-shaft loom.
- I tie a mean weaver's knot.
- I finally really understand how to read a pattern draft.

Since I have yarn here at home to do this study, I'm just going to warp my loom and do it here. I need the warping practice anyway...

Tencel Scarf Project

Just finished the prototype for the shawl I want to weave. When the Lone Star Loom Room closed it's storefront, I bought some 10/2 Tencel in a beautiful lilac. I had knitted with Tencel before and it has a wonderful drape, so I thought it would make a really nice scarf. And I was so right! Here are the specs and pictures:

Project: Scarf
Materials: Warp and Weft - 10/2 Tencel (Lilac)
Pattern: 2/2 horizontal herringbone twill (p.34 of Handweaver's Pattern Directory)
Dimensions on loom: 11 3/8" x 72"
Dimensions after finishing (not including fringe): 10" x 68"







I'm learning a lot with each project, mostly things not to do or things that could be done easier in a different manner. I'll be glad when all those things are burned into my brain and projects will move along faster. This was my first attempt at warping from back to front. I thought for a while that it was going to go in the trash, but thankfully, it straightened itself out. And James was home so I had an extra set of hands for tensioning. Overall, it was slow going because I'd read a little and do a little, check my work, and do some more. But the end product certainly justified the time. I wish you could feel through the screen. This stuff is soooo soft!

Gimme a Little Grin.

It was a momentous Valentine's Day 2009. Not only did I get candy, flowers, and champagne, but also pics of Riley's first missing tooth. It had been loose for a while, but he wouldn't let anyone mess with it. Then while out running errands that day, he handed it over to mom from the back seat with the comment, "Here, hold this for me." So how he's working on getting a second one out. I can still remember my grandpa pulling all of our teeth. Although we did try the string on a doorknob, we never could get it to work. And I could never pull my own tooth! Thank goodness for grandpas.

Go Fish!

It's been a while since I posted, but here's one of the things I've finished lately. This was one of the most popular patterns on Ravelry in January, and when I saw it, I just knew that I had to make it for Riley and Tucker. For you non-knitters out there, Ravelry is like Facebook for knitters with 298,877 members! Anyway, the pattern is called "Fish Hat [Dead or Alive?]". I knitted these in acrylic so they'd be washable and stand up to the wear and tear that two boys could dish out. I call my version "Rainbow Trout".






And this is Riley modeling his hat.

Highland Triangle Square

Finally finished the endless baby blanket for a very good friend who finally got pregnant. I decided on Cheryl Oberle's "Highland Triangle" from the book Folk Shawls, but I wanted to make it into a square. Surprisingly for me, it was a simple task. Just do corners instead of ends. I'm very pleased with the result, but if I were to do it over again, I'd do two more repeats of the last edging on the corners. And it actually went pretty fast (3 months). Here are the stats, along with a couple of pictures.

Highland Triangle
Designer: Cheryl Oberle
Yarn: Snuggly DK
Quantity: 10 balls
Needles: US 6

There Goes the Neighborhood!

We live in one of those guard gated communities, so imagine my surprise to see this in the driveway three houses down! I'll bet they have a lot of fun driving around town!



We were packing up the car to go to DH's family Christmas celebration when we saw the big chicken. I have to admit that their family thing has turned into a lot of fun now that all the kids are grown, the gift exchange has been abandoned, and we just eat and play games all day. Although, I haven't figured out if it's the "Apples to Apples" game, or the fact that every one brings a sampling of beer and we have a tasting that lasts all afternoon that makes it such a good time. Probably a combination of the two. We really lucked out this year with the weather (all the fun happens outside). It was warm enough for shorts this year, and no rain! We need to do this more often. Below is a photo of all the brothers. Guess which one is mine. (Hint: My mom says he's never going to grow up.)

We say Merry Christmas!

I've had a wonderful December leading up to Christmas. Instead of exchanging gifts this year, we've adopted a family and bought for them. I've always done the usual small things for people each year, but I have to say that this was so much fun. If your family is like ours, we buy for ourselves everything we want. So when it comes time to buy gifts for each other, it's incredibly challenging to come up with ideas. The only hard part of buying for someone who has nothing, is knowing when to stop. We concentrated mostly on clothing and shoes, and a camera for the mom. The people who are delivering the items are also cooking a meal for them, so it sounds like the family will have a wonderful Christmas.

So if you're feeling like a Scrooge this year, find a way to pay it forward. It seems like the more I give, the more I get back.