Summertime (more or less)

This happens every summer: yardwork takes over and fiber falls by the wayside. However, the weaving guild is having some summer sessions for their study groups. I want to participate in the inkle weaving one. The loom is sitting on the dining room table, just awaiting my attention. Too bad the weather is so nice. ;-)

Knitting: I *did* fix the pocket on the Reader's Wrap. It looks okay but only because I fiddled with it to get it to lay right.
Spinning: Over 200 yards of the red Tunis is now plied. Even though I thought I was being meticulous in picking out the VM, while plying I noticed more. There is still almost a pound of this fiber remaining. I plan to run it through my drum carder, to see if I can knock most of that VM out before spinning the rest.

I gifted the waffle weave dishcloths with instructions to use them and abuse them and to let me know how they hold up. The towel and placemat are staying here. Sometimes you just have to gift things to yourself.

Reader's Wrap, naturally

This project is basically a big rectangle with pockets. On Ravelry, a few knitters ask how to make this using different yarn. In my uncharitable moments, I think, OMG, people! Knit a swatch! But I know that, as a beginner, I slavishly followed pattern instructions, rarely daring to go my own way. This one would be difficult to get wrong, though.

Pattern: Reader's Wrap
Yarn: Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool, in '98 Natural' (total yardage: 870.6 yards, 425g)
Needles: US9 (although I cast on and bind off one size up, US10)
Modifications: Used seed stitch instead of moss stitch for border and pockets

For some reason, one of the pockets ended up wonky. At first, I was going to just let it go, but that didn't last. I resewed the pocket, but I still had to do some fudging to get it to look right. I am rather baffled as to what the problem is.

If you want to bust some stash and don't mind miles of stockinette, this is the project for you.

A towel and a placemat

For some reason, weavers appear to be fixated on weaving tea towels. There are towel exchanges within guilds, between guilds, at major conferences, etc. I'm not a tea towel weaver. In fact, I don't think I even own anything that could be considered a tea towel. I am on a fiber diet, and there is a lot of 8/4 cotton warp in my yarn closet, however, which makes nice tea towels.

Weave structure: plain weave
Loom: Ashford rigid heddle, 24"
Yarn: Maysville 8/4 cotton carpet warp, in pink, yellow, aqua
EPI/PPI: 12.5/12.5
Size after hemming, prior to washing: Towel = 17.25" x 29", placemat = 17.75" x 13"
Size after hemming and washing: Towel = 16" x 26.5", placemat = 16.5" x 11.5"

Originally, there was enough warp for two towels, but something happened to my thought process (a.k.a. a brain fart) that prevented me from stopping where I should have. So, just as I ended up with three-and-a-half waffle weave dishcloths, I wound up with one-and-a-half towels; the half towel is now a placemat. And, just for fun, I doubled the weft for the placemat, using two colors at a time. I like the result.

I secured the ends with an overcast stitch, then zigzagged on a sewing machine, then rolled the hemmed and finished using a zigzag stitch. Plain weave does not shrink like waffle weave, nor did these items shrink in a wonky manner. I'm pretty pleased with them, despite the selvages.

A gathering

Both my kids have May birthdays, so we usually get together around Mother's Day. Of course, last year that was not possible, so this year's gathering was extra special. My son and his girl friend had visited last October, for my birthday, but otherwise had not been here. My daughter managed to slip out of work early and pick up my granddaughter, so we had more than the usual suspects. We actually ATE OUT, then visited a couple of local galleries before heading back to my house for rhubarb pie and homemade ice cream. It was SO GOOD to see them!

Knitting: I finished the Reader's Wrap, BUT. One of the pockets looks wonky. At some point, I will fix it, but for right now, I am counting that project as DONE; separate post to come.
Spinning: Still working on the red Tunis.
Weaving: The towels are in the laundry as we "speak". Separate post to come.

Also in the laundry are most of my masks. I will keep a few on hand, as some places still require them; I will comply. I thought it would feel weird to stop wearing a mask everywhere, but actually it felt quite normal. We are more adaptable than some would lead us to believe.

P.S. The cortisone has kicked in and my shoulders feel MUCH better.

Waffle weave dishcloths

The impetus for this project came from a program at my local weaving guild. They are getting better about including something more than weaving cloth on a harness loom for sewing, so part of the presentation involved waffle weave on a rigid heddle. I warped my Sampleit loom prior to the program, not realizing just how much shrinkage would occur. If I were to repeat this project, I would start with a wider warp.

Weave structure: Waffle weave
Loom: Ashford Sampleit
Yarn: Elmore-Pisgah Peaches & Cream in 'Daisy Ombre' (although my SO calls it 'Buttered Popcorn')
EPI/PPI: 7.5/7.5
Size prior to hemming: 8"W x 10"L
Size after hemming, prior to washing: 8"W x 8"L
Size after hemming and washing: 6.75"W x 7"L

I began and ended each dishcloth with an overcast stitch (as described in Finishing Touches for the Handweaver, by Virginia M. West) to secure the warp and weft. I wove seven rows in plain weave at each end of each dishcloth, to fold over for the hem. (The odd number is because the pattern provided by my fellow weaver starts with the heddle in the down position; it is a personal quirk that I always begin weaving with the heddle in the up position, throwing from the right.)

Not trusting the overcast stitch to be secure enough, I also sewed a zigzag stitch at each end with my trusty Kenmore sewing machine. Then I rolled the hem and zigzagged again. As you can see, there was some pull-in; I don't have a temple for this narrow of a width.

Since these are workhorse dishcloths, I ran them through the washer and dryer just as I would for any cotton dishcloth. The expected shrinkage occurred, but the hemmed edges shrank less than the rest of the fabric. Perhaps I should have refrained hemming until after the shrinkage.

I gave one of these to my SO with the instructions to use it as he would any dishcloth, even though it is woven and not knit like the others I have given him. The others will go to my son and daughter, with the same instructions. I want to see how they hold up.

The instructions came from a YouTube video, but I don't have the link. A quick search reveals there are several videos out there to choose from. The Weaver's Idea Book, by Jane Patrick, contains several "mock waffle weave" patterns. Regardless, all involves the use of a pickup stick. I was able to weave each dishcloth in a single sitting, despite my shoulders.

I thought I had enough warp for four washcloths, but the last one was only a half. I considered turning it into a coaster, but instead tucked it behind the kitchen faucet where my wet hands drip water.

Divide and conquer

When I first learned to spin, I asked my instructor how much yarn to spin on each spool for later plying. Her answer was rather vague - about three-quarters full. The more I spin, the more useless I have found that suggestion. What I do now is weigh the roving I plan to spin (using a kitchen scale), then divide it in half or thirds, depending on how many plies I am planning. So a 100g ball of roving becomes either two 50g balls or three 33g balls.

I don't pre-draft by elongating the roving, as I invariably end up with thick and thin roving. Instead, if I think I need to thin out the roving, I divide the roving lengthwise.

Then I spin each sub-ballsworth (is that a word?) on a separate spool. When I ply, I invariably run out of one spool before the other(s). If two-plying, I can just wind the remaining single into a center-pull ball and ply that from either end. Similarly, I can three-ply from a center-pull ball and the remaining spool.

When spinning large amounts, like the current red Tunis, when I run out of yarn on one spool, I pick up the next ball, divide it, and start spinning on the empty spool, then I spin additional roving on the non-empty spools.

I hope that explanation makes sense.

Spinning: Red Tunis. Need I say more? I am on the third spool of the first ball of roving.
Weaving: I put on my big girl panties and dragged out the sewing machine to hem the dish cloths and the towels. The dish cloths have been through the wash already (post to follow}; the towels were late to the dance, so will be washed next week.

The CDC now says the fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks. Yet when I ran errands yesterday, every place I went, masks were still required. I'm okay with that because how do we know whether someone is fully vaccinated? You can't ask - medical info is private. My county is about 40% fully vaccinated, not enough for herd immunity. We are not out of the woods yet.

Yesterday I received another round of cortisone shots for my shoulders. There is a numbing agent included in the shot, so for a day or two, most of the pain is gone. Then it returns until the cortisone kicks in after a few more days. So today is relatively painfree. Sometimes I worry that I am being a wimp about the pain, but the PA who administered the injections told me the surgeon described my arthritis as SEVERE (all caps) in my chart, which he had never seen before.

Happy Mom's Day

I'm not one for holidays, especially the more contrived ones. However, after my widowed dad remarried late in life, I made a point of sending my stepmother a Mother's Day card every year. She really appreciated it, even told me I was her favorite stepdaughter. (I was her *only* stepdaughter.)

Knitting: Both pockets are knitted and blocking. All that is left is to stitch them onto the Reader's Wrap.

Spinning: Still plugging away at the red Tunis.
Weaving: My warp measurement was off, so I will get only 3-1/2 waffle weave dishcloths. The half one will probably get folded in half and turned into a coaster.

I really need to develop a case of finishitis. There are quite a few UFO's lying around here. All they need is some finishing work like hemming. And then there are those fleeces in the garage that I have yet to tackle. So much fiber, so little time.

Time crunch

Some days I feel somewhat overwhelmed. How did I ever manage to get stuff done while I was still working? I know I clean more since replacing all the carpet with laminate - carpeting holds onto pet hair whereas the laminate allows for tumbleweeds of detritis. And now that things are opening up a bit, I'm out and about a bit more. Then there is the yard and garden and some home improvement and repair. Gah!

Knitting: The blocking of the Reader's Wrap was a success! The curl is gone, so I have been knitting the pockets. One down, one to go.

Spinning: More red Tunis. As I spin, I hold an internal debate on whether to spin it all or leave some as roving for future weaving projects.
Weaving: After the guild program on waffle weave, I tried my hand at it and failed. But I was following the directions for some "pseudo" waffle weave patterns I found in a book. This week I unwove that bit and started over, following the instructions from the program. Success! I think there is enough warp on this loom for four dishrags, so I will carry on.

My SO and I spent Saturday on the local Rural Artist Studio Tour. Last year's event was cancelled, and some of the regulars apparently chose to forego participation this year, but we still had a good time chatting up the artists. Then we stopped at a new microcreamery near downtown. As we chowed down on double scoops of hand crafted ice cream, we wandered around the historic West Central neighborhood. What a delightful day! Maybe someday, when the state reaches herd immunity (barely halfway there now), we will be able to be out and about without masks and social distancing.