A few pieces short of a jigsaw puzzle

I started this 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle before my surgery - just couldn't wait - and finished it this morning. I neglected it for quite a bit during that time, just couldn't get up the oomph to work on it. It's a used puzzle, purchased at a sale at the local community center. I assume the missing 9 pieces happened before I got it, that I didn't lose *that* many, despite one cat's penchant for destruction. (I covered the puzzle with poster board when not working on it.)

I took a picture of the poster because the puzzle was too large to photograph without climbing onto something, not recommended for someone with only one useful arm. It's title is "Quilting Shed", although I think "Fiber Shed" would be more accurate. There is a spinning wheel, a loom, a sewing machine, lots of cloth and yarn, two cats, a dog, etc. Wouldn't it be great to have a studio like this?

Healing is going slowly. My left shoulder was a reverse replacement, which involves removal of some of the muscles (which one doesn't really need, apparently). The right is a regular replacement, so I still have all the muscles. This means twice weekly visits for passive physical therapy, plus passive exercises to do at home FIVE times a day, to prevent frozen shoulder. Then I also caught a cold after visiting the doctor's office to have the staples removed. Needless to say, I've been masking since then.

Xmas may be delayed this year, due to the weather. Not just snow but frigid temperatures. I'm not much of a holiday person, so I'm okay with whatever happens. And as much as I appreciate my SO and daughter for helping me while I heal, I have to admit I am enjoying some alone time for a change.

Hope you have the holiday you wish for!

Home and doing well

The surgery on Wednesday went fine. I came home Thursday, had a bit of a scare and went to the ER on Saturday (all is well), and will start PT tomorrow. I've been sleeping remarkably well in the recliner, but I'm sure the pain pills help that.

The anesthesiologist recognized me from a local fiber workshop she was involved in. I tried to talk her into joining the weaving guild. We'll see if I'm successful.

Just let it go

I posted about hoping to get all my looms warped before my shoulder surgery, but that ain't gonna happen. So then I thought maybe I could at least empty some looms and finish some weaving and knitting, but after today, I realize even that may not happen. What gets done gets done. Just let it go.

Knitting: Still working on the white 'Graham' slouchy hat. I started the crown today, but dropped some stitches while switching from circular needles to DPNs. I hope to get that back on track and finished by Tuesday night.
Spinning: The first ounce of the mystery fiber spun up really nicely, the second one not so much. I stopped after about a quarter of the way through, flummoxed over what the problem might be. Then I realized I may have been working with the roving backwards. Wool has scales, so sometimes it matters which end of the rope one starts with. I may get this spinning done, plied, and off the bobbin by Tuesday night.
Weaving: Following some instructions for a pieced poncho in Weave, Knit, Wear (by Judith Shangold), I started knitting together two pieces of woven fabric, to make a lap robe. But the number of stitches I picked up from one half does not match the number from the other. This project is not going to be finished before surgery. I also worked on one selvage of the soumak weaving, also not going to be finished by my self-imposed deadline.

I'm not big on social media (and just deleted my Twit account), but I started following @gardenercook on Instagram. I struggle with color, and her daily exercise of using watercolor to match the colors she finds in nature has me intrigued. I've been wanting to do something similar, but didn't know how to get started. It turns out she wrote a how-to book, which I ordered through ThriftBooks.

Next Tuesday's Handweavers Guild of America Textiles and Tea features Sheila Hicks. (Squee!!!) If you can't watch at 4pm EST, you can watch a recording of the interview online, either through HGA or FB.

A weekend away

Between divorces and in-laws (and outlaws), planning for holidays is a bit of a hassle. This year I suggested to my kids that we get together the weekend before Thanksgiving for "our" celebration, then they could do whatever with their various and sundry relatives. I rented a Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO) in the Beach Walk community of Michigan City, where we out-of-towners stayed. My plan was to do no cooking, and I didn't (if you don't count the microwave popcorn). Hiking occurred, despite the low temps and high winds, plus outlet shopping and lively UNO playing. It was a fun two days. I took knitting, but didn't actually do any knitting, that's how busy we were. (Here's a pic of a wallhanging in the Troll Den where we stayed.)

Knitting: The white Graham hat experienced a setback when I realized I had forgotten to change needle sizes after the ribbing. I'm caught up now, though.
Spinning: More thin spinning, this time a mystery fiber that I think is an angora blend. I'm also trying a backward draw instead of my usual forward draw.
Weaving: The gray soumak weaving is off the loom, time to finish off the selvages.

The Handweavers Guild of America has a weekly online program called Textiles and Tea. Last Tuesday I listened to Annie MacHale, author of two inkle weaving books, discuss her specialty, and it was good. If you have a spare hour at 4pm EST, log on and give it a listen. (It's also a good excuse to just sit and knit while being entertained.)

More fine spinning

This past week, I gave some New Zealand Romney top a spin, in search of a fine 2-ply. My technique still needs some work. I backed off the 14:1 ratio to 11:1, which worked better, but the result (14-16 WPI) was not quite as fine as the Corriedale (18 WPI). Ideally, I'd like to spin faster but feed in the yarn faster as well? Still finding my way.

Knitting: I finished the pink 'Graham' slouchy hat; separate post to follow. I started a white version of the same pattern. If you have a short skein (at least 75 grams) that you want to use up, I recommend this pattern.
Spinning: See above. I've also been trying to clear some bobbins of Shetland I spun quite a while back.
Weaving: I've made some progress on a wall hanging that uses super bulky merino woven in soumak.

The countdown to shoulder surgery has begun. I'm really looking forward to being able to weave on my inkle loom again. I thought about warping every loom I have, in anticipation of the day I can weave without pain, but that takes a bit of planning and time is running out. We'll see.

Vintage toy loom

At the weaving guild meeting this past week, one of our newer members brought in a toy loom she found at a thrift shop. She offered it up to anyone who wanted to fool with it, and it was just so darn cute, I had to take it home.

After performing a little research, I've come to the conclusion that it is a vintage toy loom made by a Swedish company called Brio, now defunct apparently. It's either that or a very good copy of one.

Later models have a bright red rigid heddle, but this one uses eye heddles. I don't think they are all there, so they may need a modern replacement.

I don't know how to warp a loom like this, but I'm sure I can figure something out, courtesy of our local library. Anyway, something new to fiddle with.

Knitting: Working on the crown of the pink 'Graham' slouchy hat.
Spinning: I switched to fine spinning Romney, with its longer staple, but 14:1 was still too tight a twist, so I dropped to 11:1. I think this will work better. Ready to ply.

Weaving guild meeting was about card, or tablet, weaving, all demo, no hands-on (we meet in rather cramped quarters). I think I would like the results from card weaving better than inkle weaving, as the fabric is denser and more sturdy. Right now I can't do much of either, pending shoulder surgery.

A little spun out

I'm done with the yarn I was spinning for a weaving friend. I tried to make it as fine as possible, but between my limited wheel ratio (14:1), the fiber (Corriedale roving), and my skill, it didn't come out as fine as I had hoped. Also, it feels like it has a lot of grist, meaning it is tightly spun and plied, so feels a bit coarse.


This was my first attempt at such a fine yarn, so I asked a couple of fiber friends for some hints. They were not all that helpful. My inclination is to try again, but with top from a long-haired breed, such as Romney or Lincoln or BFL, but neither of them could confirm or deny my ideas. Scrounging in my stash produced some mystery fiber (maybe alpaca?) that seems to have a long staple, plus about a pound of New Zealand Romney (why did I buy it?) So the experiment will continue.

Knitting: Working away on the 'Graham' slouchy hat.
Spinning: Finished the fine spinning for my weaving friend, to be delivered later this week.
Weaving: Worked on two weavings, both in shades of gray.

I celebrated a milestone birthday recently. These two tee shirts express how I feel about that.


Have a happy Halloween!

Random blanket/shawls/runners

When I started this project (in 2016!), I fully intended to weave a third panel and sew them together to make a blanket. I'm not sure what happened, but I ran out of steam (and maybe yarn). The first two panels hung in the closet, awaiting their fate. The cover of a recent Little Looms gave me the idea to reframe them as shawls. My daughter, however, thinks they would do better as table runners.

Pattern: Random-striped Blanket, from Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom, by Syne Mitchell
Weave structure: Plain weave
Loom: Ashford 24" rigid heddle
Warp: Yarn leftover from this vest
Weft: More yarn left over from the above mentioned vest, plus some similar yarn in natural or white
EPI/PPI: 7.5/7.5 (theoretically)
Ends: 166
Finished size: 45" x 18" each (not including fringe)


Finishing these two panels involved twisting a LOT of fringe.

I have no idea where my notes are for this project. For the vest, I developed a spreadsheet, which provided some input for these two panels. But otherwise, the details are lost to history. (If I ever come across those notes, maybe I'll update this post.)

This project was one of my first. There are a few floats, but otherwise it turned out surprising good. The yarn fulled nicely, too. I may still stitch the panels together, as they would make a lovely, if narrow, lap robe.

Seed stitch dishcloths

For some reason, probably because of the heat and humidity, I don't like to knit wool during the summer even though I have an air conditioned house that protects me from the elements. Instead, I gravitate to cotton. Well, summer is over, and so is the cotton knitting.

Pattern: Alaina's Simple Seed Stitch Dishcloth, by Alaina Privette
Yarn: Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Co. Peaches & Creme Ombres, in 'Shaded Pastels'
Needles: US7 (cast on and bind off with US8)
Modifications: None


It feels like knitting seed stitch takes twice as long as just knitting or just purling, as the yarn has to be moved front-to-back or back-to-front for each stitch. But once you build up a rhythm, it doesn't seem so bad.

There is a stack of handknit dishcloths by my front door, free to visitors, but apparently I have saturated the market. I still have a LOT of worsted weight cotton that doesn't seem suitable for much of anything else, but I will put a pause on dishcloths for a while.

Lost, not found

The weather is gorgeous today, but earlier this week it was cold enough I wore this scarf. Unfortunately, while walking the mall, I dropped it somewhere. I was too tired to rewalk the mall in search of it, but I did return several days later to check their lost and found. (I didn't want the scarf to think I had abandoned it.) Alas, no luck. I hope it found a new home and did not wind up in the trash.

Knitting: Finished the second seed stitch dishcloth, mainly because I wanted to start something new without it hanging over my head. The new thing is another 'Graham' slouchy hat which my daughter and granddaughter favor, this one in pink.
Spinning: A weaving friend requested some handspun for a project she is working on. This first required spinning, plying, and clearing two bobbins of Shetland that had been sitting around for several months. Now I am spinning some yellow Corriedale as thin as my wheel and I can go; it is taking a *really* long time to spin.
Weaving: Finished twisting the fringe on the blanket/shawl/table runner, and fulled the two pieces; separate post to follow.

Besides protecting the recliner with some "blizzard" fleece, I completely covered the TV couch, the only piece of furniture that the dogs are allowed on. It's a bit much, but very practical.

I also covered the seats of the livingroom couch and loveseat. One of the cats already puked on one of those efforts (and the fleece washed up very nicely). And here is more proof that the cats are "using" the furniture covers.

Have a protective week.

Garter dishcloths on the bias

When I decided to knit more dishcloths in garter, but on the bias, I tried to wing it at first. After all, one of my first knitting projects was a dishcloth. But for some reason, it was not working out very well. So I found a simple pattern that someone else had figured out.

Pattern: Garter Stitch Dishcloth, by Joan Janes
Yarn: Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Co. Peaches & Creme Ombres, colorway '130 Shaded Pastels'
Needles: US7
Modifications: None


This was more TV watching knitting, a great distraction from the incessant, repetitive commercials. (If "they" know so much about us, how come the only commercials I see are for products that I am not interested in and/or that don't apply to me for a variety of reasons?)

I recently sorted through a drawer of finished objects and came across quite a few dishcloths from an earlier era. So now there is a growing pile on the "gift table" near my front door. Just in time for the holidays.

Practice tapestry curves sampler

After helping lead a workshop on tapestry weaving, I thought about what we might cover next with the group (since they want to continue). Curves came to mind because they are hard. Rebecca Mezoff's book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving, has some exercises for weaving curves. I grabbed some yarn totally inappropriate for tapestry weaving and got to work.

Pattern: None, I did employ a "cartoon" to guide my weaving
Weave structure: Plain weave
Loom: Mirrix Tapestry Loom
Warp: 12/6 cotton seine twine (I think)
Weft: Some fingering weight samples from a natural dyeing workshop. I doubled the yarn for this piece.
EPI/PPI: 8/?
Ends: 42
Finished size: 23" x 5" (not including excess warp)

First, I just winged it, creating curves and outlining them as I went.

Then I clipped on a cartoon (using WonderClips - love them!) and wove line by line.

Next, using the same cartoon, I tried weaving the shapes first, then filling in later.

Finally, I turned the cartoon on its side and tried weaving vertical curves.

I decided what I would probably prefer to do is weave a few rows of a shape, then fill in the rest of those rows before continuing. That would help my old eyes keep track of the rows more easily. As it turns out, this is how Marcos Bautista (mentioned in my previous post) weaves!

Working with doubled yarn was tricky. I'm guessing it was sock yarn, which is usually superwash and/or contains nylon. It won't felt, so the doubled yarn would not "stick" together. Invariably, one of the plies lagged the other, creating selvage problems. Sometimes a weaver will lightly twist a "bundle" of yarn, but I don't think that would have worked in this case. Plus, sometimes the weaver may not want the plies to twist, for design purposes.

This was a good experiment - I learned a lot!

Supporting the arts

This past year or so, I have purchased some art. My budget doesn't allow for big ticket items, but I enjoy supporting emerging artists as well as the lesser known. A while back, I bought some weavings from Marcos Bautista during the Three Rivers Festival "Art in the Park" event. He also sells the items his family weaves in the Paradigm Gallery at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. That organization has a "Second Thursday" event where an artist from the shop demonstrates his/her art. This past week, it was Marcos! Besides getting to see how the weaving is done, up close and personal, I purchased a 2.5' x 5' rug that is NOT going on the floor. I laid it across the foot of my bed for now, but it will eventually go on the wall over the bedstead.

Knitting: Finished one seed stitch dishcloth, started another. I think that will be the last one for a while.
Weaving: Did some finishing work on the tapestry curves sampler - added beads, etc. Separate post to follow. I also started another wall hanging on the frame loom, using that jumbo bulky yarn; it will be mostly soumak. Also, I decided to turn some cloth I wove a long time ago (meant to be a blanket) into two shawls; it's ready for fringe twisting.

A little sewing has occurred. Well, not really sewing, as the "Blizzard" fleece is a "no-sew" fabric. I purchased a LOT of it on sale from Joann (never buy anything there that is not on sale and/or without a coupon) with the intention of making somewhat pet-proof covers for the furniture. The dogs are not allowed on the furniture except the TV sofa, and the cover I use for that is getting very worn. The cats can't be trained to stay off the furniture, let alone not puke on it, so I wanted something I could yank off and throw into the washer. So far, the recliner is protected. Of course, I have not seen a cat on that chair since I added the cover.

I have a date for my next shoulder replacement: November 30. I am both looking forward to it and dreading it. On the one hand, there's the discomfort, and the recovery is kind of tedious (six weeks in the sling, six weeks of physical therapy). On the other hand, it will be great to have two working, painfree shoulders again.

Have an easy week!

Wall hanging in shades of gray

I impulsively purchased some jumbo bulky yarn at the Portland fiber fest last spring. It is so bulky I could not figure out what to do with it. Also, it is merino and feels like it would not withstand much abrasion. After trying this and that, I ended up with a wall hanging.

Pattern: none, just my own concoction.
Weave structure: plain weave
Loom: frame rug loom
Warp: Maysville 8/4 Carpet Warp, in medium gray
Weft: Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok Jumbo, in 'Snow Storm', 'Gray Stone', and 'Arctic Cloud'
Decor: Cascade 220 Superwash in black; Ella Rae Classic in red
EPI/PPI: 5/2
Ends: 118
Finished size: 17" x 28" (without extra long ends)


I wove this sideways on the loom, so each pass had a loop on one side and loose ends on the other. Once it came off the loom, I puzzled over how to secure the selvages on all four sides. On what had been the top and bottom on the loom, now the sides, I knotted the warp and wove the ends into the fabric. But what to do for the loops and loose ends? Inspired by Sheila Hicks, I decided to wrap them, in black except for one vertical pair which I wrapped in red, from top to bottom.

I'm leaving the loose ends at whatever length they ended up being, which complicates photographing the piece. I'm still in search of an appropriate rod for hanging. Since it hangs rather lopsided, I may use a branch that will correct the skewing.

More help

After learning some tips and tricks for warping and tying on, I checked out a video by Liz Gipson, "Life after Warping". I almost didn't watch it because I already know how to weave on a rigid heddle loom. But it was also very helpful. I found it at our local library.

And speaking of our local library, several of us from both the spinning guild and the weaving guild spent a couple of hours at the downtown branch in honor of Spinning and Weaving Week (promoted by the Handweavers Guild of America). We demonstrated spinning and weaving and answered questions from the passers-by. The libary clientele is quite diverse!

Knitting: Still working on the seed stitch dishcloth.
Weaving: Warped my Mirrix tapestry loom and started a weaving of handspun gradients, from black to natural, so I could take it all to the above mentioned event. I also attempted to warp and weave on my Swatchmaker, but the yarn proved to be very sticky, which is why we sample. And I experimented (poorly) with an idea for woven diamonds on the SampleIt.

Last weekend, my SO and I went on another art studio tour, this one a bit south of here. We thought it wouldn't take too long, but we chatted up most of the artists and had a great time. One artist who used to weave but now paints with encaustics had an interesting weaving on her wall.

The base is old mattress springs! One of a kind, I'm sure. (Sorry my pix are not the best. A better photo can be found here.)

One of the best parts of this studio tour was how each artist had helpers in the form of family and friends who were incredibly supportive and informative, especially the spouses.

Our last stop was the studio of a weaving friend and her painter husband. I came away with a borrowed book on Sheila Hicks. One of Sheila's signiture moves is wrapping warp, which gave me an idea for finishing a wall hanging that was bogging me down.

Have a warped week!

Help

I hate to warp my rigid heddle loom. Invariably, the pegs pop off and/or I kick the loom, making the warp all cattywampus and/or the warp is grossly uneven.


Then a fiber friend steered me toward Amy McKnight and her hybrid warping videos. Ordinarily, you can't use a warping board with an Ashford rigid heddle loom, but she has figured out to do that AND wind on the warp without a helper. I am in awe.

And then what? Well, here's what. Sara Goldenberg White has an instructional video (courtesy of Long Thread Media, publisher of Little Looms) that shows you how to tie onto the front beam so that everything comes out even.

What did we ever do before the Internet?

Knitting: I finished the bias dishcloths and started one in seed stitch. I am discovering that watching TV is not conducive to knitting seed stitch. I make a mistake every other row when I am distracted by the show I am viewing. So I've been reduced to knitting sans TV.
Weaving: I finished my curves practice on the Mirrix tapestry loom. Now it's back to the skyline sample.

Last Tuesday, I visited the shoulder surgeon for my one-year checkup. The new (left) shoulder is still good as new, should last forever. I had him check out the right one. After testing its strength and flexibility, he commented that it was pretty useless. I wouldn't go that far, but the micro movements of knitting and the reaching of weaving are quite painful. So it will be replaced as well, after the first of the year.

Have a bionic week.

Garter dishcloths

I'm not much of a TV watcher, but I do stream some favorite shows. I'm too cheap to pay extra to eliminate commercials, but find them to be tedious and boring. Enter simple knitting. These garter stitch dishcloths are perfect for bridging the gap.

Pattern: none; just cast on 40 stitches, knit until the piece looks squarish, then bind off.
Yarn: Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Co. Peaches & Creme Ombres, colorway '130 Shaded Pastels'
Needles: US7 (but cast on and bound off with US8)


I'm always a bit reluctant to use a colorway that includes white or natural for dishcloths, as once the dishcloths get used, they get a bit dingy. But I have a lot of cotton yarn like this and plan to use it up one way or another.

Once upon a time, I knit a towel, but that took *forever*. Dishcloths are just the right size for a simple knitting project.