Piling on

Sorry for the silence but stuff keeps happening. A friend passed away from melanoma (get those moles checked!), then last weekend I came down with some kind of bug (Covid test was negative). So while still recovering from surgery, I am also recovering from illness. I was able to abandon the brace this past week and while I am still not supposed to do much, my shoulder is loosening up. Oddly, my other shoulder now feels better, so maybe no more joint replacements in my future. (Fingers crossed.)

Meanwhile, I completed two more jigsaw puzzles and am now puzzled out.

The velcro straight jacket

I knew I would have to wear an immobilizing brace post-surgery, but was not prepared for all the velcro. There is an armband around my upper arm to keep me from moving my shoulder, a cuff around my wrist, and an over-the-shoulder strap, all of which is attached to a wide band around my chest. All of these pieces are covered with a LOT of Velcro so they stick together. Last summer, I planned to finish a poncho I had been knitting, but didn't. Just as well, as today is the first day cool enough to wear such a thing, plus wool clings to velcro like a burr on a dog. Interestingly, I've discovered that superwash wool is relatively easy to peel off of the velcro.

The staples were removed this past week, and I asked if I could knit again. Sadly, the answer was NO because apparently I also had a bicep tenotomy during the surgery. Two more weeks of the brace, then two weeks after that I start physical therapy. Hopefully, somewhere along that timeline, someone will say it is okay to knit.

Another book I recently purchased is Annie MacHale's Three-Color Pickup for Inkle Weavers. This is advanced inkle weaving at its most challenging. One needs to be relative proficient at Baltic pickup before tackling this, so I requested a book from the library that should help with that.

Before my surgery, I was feeling a bit bored with fiber: I was tired of spinning the red Tunis and frustrated with the inkle weaving and not able to do much else. Now I am getting antsy to get back at it, have lots of projects planned. Hopefully it won't be too long. Meanwhile, there are jigsaw puzzles to tackle.

(One piece is missing. I purchased this puzzle used from the community center, so don't know if the piece was already missing or if I lost it.)

Idling

I'm still recovering from the surgery, and will be for a while. My energy level is low; not sleeping well is not helping, either. I've been using a "lift chair" - a motorized recliner - as my primary residence, although sometimes I shift to the couch. Lying in an actual bed is not yet comfortable.

While twiddling my fiber thumbs, I ordered a book I mentioned before, Tommye Scanlin's Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond, purchased from the Woolery. (I'm a bit anti-Amazon right now). I also purchased the latest Little Looms magazine. One can dream, can't one?

It's surprising all the things one can do with one hand, frustrating about all the things one can't. I did try to knit a bit on the Habitation throw since I am knitting continental, but after a couple of rows, gave up. Knitting activates micro movements in the shoulders, plus all the velcro on the immobilizer grabs at the wool. I've talked to enough people who have had shoulder surgery who regretted not giving themselves time to heal properly. I understand the urge to forge ahead, but don't want to make things worse instead of better.

Home now

Just a quick note to say that the shoulder replacement surgery went well. I'm home and sometimes feel almost normal. The dogs are at the kennel for a few more days, the cats take turns sleeping in my lap, my SO and daughter help with the stuff I can't do one-handed. So all is well. The aftermath of this surgery is more painful than hip replacement, so it will be a while before I can do any fibering, though.

Weaving Krokbragd on an Inkle Loom workshop

This past Saturday a dozen or so of us attended a workshop called Weaving Turned Krokbragd Sheep on an Inkle Loom, presented by Joan Sheridan via Zoom. One never knows how a remote workshop will work out, but this one was great. Joan had pre-recorded parts of it on video, with closeup views of the work at hand, so we were able to see (and repeatedly view) what to do. She also provided (at an extra cost) kits with the necessary yarn and doodads needed to not only weave sheep but to make a keychain.

The warping is a bit different with Krokbradg as one needs three heddles to make this work out. While the warping took most of the morning, the weaving was the most difficult part for me, as the heddles kept hanging up. I may play around with some alternative ways of handling them so they don't bunch up so much.

But weave we did. It's a fun project with fun results. But do you notice something odd in the photo below?

After I had woven a good eighteen or so sheep, I noticed an extra warp thread. What is so confusing is I had repeatedly counted warp threads, from the initial warping to the heddling to the weaving. And still one escaped my notice. Sometime I will reheddle and see if I can figure out where that errant warp came from.

Links of interest:
Heritage Spinning and Weaving (retail shop)
Joan's blog

Second brain fart

I thought we were supposed to warp our inkle looms for the Saturday workshop, but I was wrong; warping is part of the workshop. I can see why because it is different from any other inkle warping I have done before. There has also been some confusion over when the workshop starts, as the instructor is on CDT, not EDT. That has been straightened out.

Knitting: Still working on the Habitation throw (and will be for a while).
Spinning: The red Tunis is FINISHED!!! I still need to weigh and label the skeins. There is a LOT of yarn. I have no idea what I am going to do with it.

And this isn't all of it!

Weaving: Carefully removed the warp on the inkle loom in hopes of restoring it at a later date. I used painter tape to hold it all together.

I'm posting this progress report a bit earlier than usual because it will be a busy weekend. There is the "Turned Krokbragd on an Inkle Loom" workshop on Saturday, so my usual Saturday chores are pushed to Sunday. Then I need to prep the house, deliver the dogs to the kennel, precook some meals, etc. in anticipation of surgery. A lot going on at the last minute, it seems, even though we decided to skip the Michiana Pottery Tour this year.

Brain fart

When I decided it was time to start the second half of the Habitation throw, I went looking for another set of needles in order to avoid removing the first half from its needles. That's when I discovered that I am not knitting it on US6 like the pattern calls for, but US9. At first I could not figure out how this happened. Initially I was playing around with knitting the pattern with worsted weight yarn and must have neglected to switch needles when starting with the fingering weight yarn. Since this throw is for me, I am not starting over.

Knitting: It will take me a while to catch up with the first half of the Habitation throw.

Spinning: Most of the red Tunis is plied. One spool is empty, and I will probably two-ply the rest.
Weaving: I got burned out on the letters and numerals on the inkle loom. The warp needs to come off so I can prep for the inkle workshop next Saturday. I'm going to try to preserve the warp so I can put it back on at a later date.

Several years ago, the weaving guild I belong to visited the Wabash Woollen Works. I thought it would make a nice outing for the spinning guild as well and have been organizing that. At first, I wasn't sure there was much interest, but I was wrong. It won't be until November, so I should be healed enough to go, courtesy of my SO/chauffeur.

Another bad news week

It's been another one of those weeks where bad news piles up on the personal front. A friend in hospice on the one hand, family drama on the other. At least I am peripheral to the family drama, just playing a supporting role. Still, it is rather unsettling.

Knitting: I'm almost to the halfway point on the Habitation throw. Instead of knitting it end-to-end, I'm going to knit each half, then graft them together in the middle. The end result will be a bit larger than the 40" x 40" size described in the pattern, but that's okay. When it comes to throws, the bigger, the better.
Spinning: I started plying the red Tunis - huzzah!

Weaving: The inkle band has been rather frustrating this past week. After struggling with the wider letters, I decided to move onto the numerals. But they are difficult, too. Sometimes inkle weaving looks wonky on the loom, but evens out when the tension is released. I'm counting on that.

I bought a new cell phone (some would say, FINALLY). What pushed me over the edge was one app I depend on no longer worked on my old (old, old) phone. The purchasing process just about sent me over the edge as well. Later, I noticed a cell phone kiosk as Costco. Next time, I told myself, I check there first.

Bad news week

I won't go into all the details, but my SO now has Covid, despite being fully vaxxed and masking. The weak link in that scenario was babysitting his 3-year-old granddaughters. Apparently, they were the vectors. He's doing okay, no fever or overwhelming fatigue or lung issues, but it will be a while before we can see each other again.

Knitting: The knitted swatch went through the regular laundry and didn't felt or shrink, just got really fuzzy. So now I know not to use that yarn for another L-Bag. The Habitation throw continues to grow.
Spinning: Red tunis, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Weaving: Still working through letters on the inkle loom. 'Z' nearly did me in; I'm going to skip it for now.

At the weavers guild meeting this past week (which I Zoomed), we were asked to bring our favorite weaving book. My favorite is usually the last one I bought, which in this case is Rebecca Mezoff's The Art of Tapestry Weaving. As you may recall, I took an online class from her, which was very helpful. However, trying to find a particular demonstration on the videos or a specific explanation in the printed material was pretty hopeless. This book fills that gap nicely. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in tapestry weaving.

If you are looking for a book about design, you can't go wrong with Tommye Scanlin's Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond. The exercises in this book are for more than just tapestry. I checked it out from the local library, will order a copy as soon as I get a round tuit.

I've been feeling the urge to dye again. And to weave something besides inkle bands. So far, surgery is still on schedule. I'm anxious to get that over with.

Still sparking joy

While searching for some holey socks that could be repurposed, I found myself digging through a tub of handknits and handwovens that I never wear. They are mostly scarves and shawls; there are even a couple of sweaters. (I tried on one of the sweaters and nearly could not get it off!) I considered adding these to the bin of fiber I've been offering up for free - there were a couple of Kidsilk Haze shawls that someone glommed onto the first month of giveaway - but discovered I am not ready to part with any of them.

Knitting: I finished the swatch I was knitting to felt (but not in time to make it into the weekly wash). It took me so long because that Habitation throw is addicting! Each row takes longer, so progress is slower.
Spinning: Red tunis, of course. Now that the end is in sight, I am more diligent about spinning everyday.
Weaving: Still inkling letters.

The inkle loom has been clamped to the diningroom table for ages, and quite frankly, I was tired of seeing it there. For the inkle workshop at the end of September, my laptop will need to be tethered to my modem, which is in the den. So I moved the inkle to the TV coffee table. The lid of the coffee table is hinged so that it can be raised vertically while remaining horizontal. Add a folding chair and it's a perfect place for inkling.

Drawing a blank

I truly cannot think of anything fiber-ish to write about this week other than the usual progress report. I guess I'm a little discombobulated after being diagnosed with "borderline" diabetes. I've been reading Diabetes for Dummies, which has been illuminating. For example, I did not realize that the propensity for diabetes is inherited; it is triggers like being overweight (especially visceral fat around the waist) that cause it to rear its ugly head. I'm okay, taking medication, watching what I eat, getting exercise, etc. Just thrown for a loop.

Knitting: Making progress on the Habitation throw. The color combinations are "interesting".
Spinning: I finished enough for a second ply, and decided to go for a third ply, of the red Tunis.
Weaving: Inkling letters is challenging but fun.

Even though I am fully vaccinated, I have started wearing a mask again when out and about. The last thing I need pre-surgery is to come down with a case of the Delta variant. What I consider the "countdown" starts next week when I will have one month to go until my shoulder gets fixed. Unlike hip replacements, shoulder replacements are a one-off - should last the rest of my lifetime. Stay safe!

Sock it to me

Like most sock knitters, I have a LOT of leftover fingering weight yarn. Some people use it to make "crazy socks" which is definitely one idea. I've also seen larger projects like blankets incorporating LO sock yarn, which is what I am interested in. One fiber friend that I follow on IG (amyhesting on IG, Amycakes on Ravelry) posted about a throw she was knitting from her LO sock yarn. So that is what I am doing now.

This pattern is surprisingly fun because of the (sometimes unexpected) color changes. It's fairly quick because of the US6 needles. And it is light and airy, which I appreciate in a summer project, as does Beau.

Knitting: See above. I also started a swatch of the yarn I tried to crochet last time, to see how well it felts.
Spinning: Yes, more red Tunis.
Weaving: I decided to give up on the last practice warp; there were too many loose warps, plus I was nearing the end anyway. I warped anew, to practice lettering.

The spinning guild met inside and in person this past week. Unfortunately, the building at Salomon Farm where we usually meet had been booked, so we met in the Big Barn... which has no air conditioning... and we were asked to mask... and there were fans running. It was hot and we couldn't hear each other. Show and tell was skipped, but I did manage to get rid of more fiber and yarn and a couple of handmade frame looms.

Fairly done

I picked up my county fair entries last Sunday. The judge's comments were generous and positive, but the process could use a few tweaks. The protocols for drop-off and pick-up are well organized, and comment sheets were attached to the items. In the display area, each item had a little card identifying the entrant, but nothing else. It would be helpful if the cards included information like the category (there's some overlap) and some detail about the item, i.e. title, content, technique, etc. Or maybe I am spoiled by art museums.

Spinning: Still plugging away on the red Tunis.
Weaving: Managed to get some inkling done this past week. The trick is to stop *before* my shoulders start to hurt.

I have some yarn I tinked from a sweater project that never got finished. In an effort to bust it, I started to crochet an afghan with it. After almost finishing one square, I've come to the conclusion that, one, the pattern is a bit too difficult (and some of the instructions are missing and/or could use better punctuation, and two, the color runs in the variegated yarn are too short for crochet. I'll have to come up with another idea.

An A for Effort

All my fiber arts and needlework entries for the county fair earned blue ribbons, and one a gold "Best in Section" ribbon, but I don't know what that means, or if it is even meaningful in any way since my work was the only entries in most of the sections. Sunday evening I will pick up my pieces and receive the judge's remarks. We'll see if that sheds any light on the results. Since it looks like my fiber friends did not enter anything, maybe I should wear all my ribbons to the next meeting, or would that be too passive aggressive?

We missed the races

Spinning: I accomplished some spinning this week, and that's about all.

My granddaughter wanted to bake and frost cookies, so that is what we did one day. Despite my trying to inculcate a "less is more" mentality, her motto seemed to be "half cookie, half icing". When I suggested they were inedible, she declared, "They're not for eating, they're for decorating."

For pain relief, I take three aspirin in the morning and three in the evening, targeting inflamation, plus I apply emu oil to my shoulders twice a day. Thursday I neglected this regimen in the morning, and by evening, my left arm was nearly useless. The inkle loom is still clamped to the dining room table, but every time I think about weaving on it, I also think about how much it hurts. I want to keep my skills active, in anticipation of the workshop at the end of September, but I may have to practice in ten-minute bursts.

Maybe not the best laid plan

As the cortisone injections wear off, my shoulders remind me why I want/need replacements. I scheduled surgery for the Wednesday following an inkle weaving workshop, forgetting that I will have to cease all pain relieving treatments about two weeks before that. Already I am having difficulty at the inkle loom, can't wait to see how non-functional my left shoulder will be by the end of September. At least I will be able to continue cortisone injections in my right shoulder.

Spinning: At least spinning doesn't hurt my shoulders. Since I decided to call a halt to spinning all the red Tunis, my attitude toward it has improved.
Weaving: I find twenty minutes of weaving at the inkle loom to be my limit before having to rest. Unfortunately, that left me halfway through one motif and I am having trouble picking up (HA) where I left off.

One of the members of the spinning guild has made inroads in recent years to get fiber arts included in the county fair. I've never participated, but decided to this year. And if you are going to enter one thing, you might as well enter several.

There was no fair last year, thanks to the pandemic, so you can submit anything created in the past two years. Unfortunately, many of my handwoven and handknit items were gifts that have already been distributed, but I came up with five to enter. The judges are not very well versed in fiber arts, so I don't expect to win or even get any helpful feedback. But it will be fun to take my granddaughter to the fair and show her my entries.

I give up (sorta)

I gave it the ol' college try, but the red Tunis just became worse after my attempts to clean it using hand cards. So I decided to continue spinning (and picking as I go) until I have enough to ply. Then the rest of the roving is going to become dryer balls. I want to move on to better things.

Spinning: I did spin a little more of the red Tunis this past week when not tearing my hair out over the hand carding.
Weaving: I finished not only the heddle pick-up exercises in Anne Dixon's book, but also the unheddled pairs and unheddled singles and pairs exercises. Now I am starting the combined unheddled and heddled ones.

The inkle study group met today where I not only learned how to pick up unheddled and heddled combinations, but picked up a few tips to improve my technique. There is something to be said for learning in a group vs being self-taught or learning from YT videos. Next time, we hope to tackle Baltic-style patterns.

The spinning guild met for our annual picnic (no shared food this time) under a park pavilion (it's been raining almost non-stop around here) this past week. I spread out my decluttered offerings and got rid of about half of it. The next day I found MORE bits and bobs of fiber. I plan to keep hauling this stash to meetings until no one wants any more of it.

Closet decluttering

One day I tried to store something in a closet, any closet, but all of my closets were too FULL. There is not a lot of storage in this house besides the bedroom closets. Even though I am the only one living here, in a three-bedroom house, it feels like not enough room. So I decluttered. Again.

After consulting with my granddaughter, I eliminated a lot of crafty things that she has outgrown: construction paper, glue sticks, markers, googly eyes, etc. We also sorted through jigsaw puzzles and craft kits. (Try as I might, I could not interest her in crafts - too tedious.) And then I hit the fiber stash.

The larger bin contains vast quantities of yarn that fall under one of two categories: Project Leftovers and What Was I Thinking? There are also some unused or little used tools, like spindles. The smaller bin is mostly samples of this, that, and the other, bits and bobs of fibers from workshops and swag bags and sampling. I plan to take all this to the next spinning guild meeting with plans to offer everything up for FREE. I may also take a couple of homemade (not by me) frame looms.

Weaving: Almost done with the heddled pick-up exercises from the Anne Dixon book, The Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory, that I started in the last mini-workshop. We have another mini-workshop scheduled for next Saturday.

There is a basket of cotton yarn in the den beside the Ashford 24" rigid heddle loom that I am itching to weave. Arthritis in my shoulders makes that difficult to even think about. I've tried exercise, physical therapy, yoga, massage, medication, CBD, and corisone shots, but nothing has made much of a difference in the pain and mobility issues. BUT I now have a surgery date the last week of September for replacing the left shoulder. The tentative plan is to replace the right one a year later. With all medical procedures, I'm a bit apprehensive, but in this case, mostly relieved. I hope I am as happy with shoulder replacement as I am with hip replacement.

Pillow top to doll blanket to whatever

A while back (September, 2018, to be exact), I suggested to my granddaughter that she pick out two yarns and I would weave a pillow top with them. She selected the yarn left over from a crib blanket I had knit her, using blank Knit Picks superwash wool dyed with KoolAid, and pink Lion Brand Fun Fur (eyelash yarn). I was a bit dismayed, but soldiered on as grandmas tend to do. I didn't keep very good notes in Ravelry, but I think the plan was to weave the top using soumak stitch; each pass of soumak was divided by several passes of eyelash in plain weave. The problem was the eyelash did not pop through the top of the piece but through the bottom.

Soumak

Soumak reverse

I like the reverse side better, so hemmed the piece that way, using a zigzag stitch on my ancient Kenmore sewing machine (and I didn't do a very good job).

Weave structure: Soumak stitch (the "standard" one - there are a lot of different soumak stitches)
Loom: Ashford SampleIt (I assume)
Warp: 8/4 carpet warp (?) in white
Weft: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash Worsted Bare, dyed with blue raspberry KoolAid, and Lion Brand Fun Fur Solid, in Soft Pink (101)
EPI/PPI: 7.5?/???
Size after hemming: 8"W x 10"L

Soumak

Soumak reverse

At one point, I thought this could be a doll blanket instead of a pillow top, but my granddaughter decluttered and all the dolls were evicted. I suppose I could still turn this object into a pillow top, but she didn't seem very excited about the idea. For the time being, it is a resting spot for some of her air dry clay sculptures.

In situ

This project is one of many almost finished ones in my UFO pile. With the passing of years between start and finish, frequently one's excitement wanes, but I've decided the UFOs either need to be finished or frogged.

Old dog, new tricks

Have you noticed that we learn the most from our mistakes? I've been experiencing that quite a bit with inkle weaving. When I am doing something correctly, I don't always know how I am doing it correctly... until something changes and suddenly I am doing it all WRONG. Figuring out what is wrong and how to right it solidifies the lesson, though.

Sometimes what I am doing is not wrong per se, but could be better. I tend to pull the weft thread too tight and the yellow doesn't show through the heddled design. Not wrong if that is your intention, but if you want to see the yellow, something has to change. (Different colors might have worked better, too.)

Sometimes when things are not going well, we need to ask for help. I am getting my inkle help from fellow inklers - we have another workshop scheduled this month. That blasted red Tunis, though, required my posting a question on my spinning guild's FB page. That resulted in links to two "No Fleece Left Behind" videos on YT:

No Fleece Left Behind
No Fleece Left Behind, Part 2

I will give these methods a try, although I reserve the right to abandon this roving altogether if I so choose.

Spinning: See above
Weaving: See above but also I managed to hem another UFO that has been sitting around for about three years. Separate post to come.

Over a year ago, my dishwasher stopped doing a good job. I reverted to handwashing while I researched a replacement, but then the pandemic hit. Now that things are better, my daughter helped me pick out a new Bosch 800 series dishwasher and my son-in-law installed it last Sunday. OMG - it does such a great job. And it's nearly silent, too! I've been washing all my dishes and glassware as I felt like nothing got very clean with handwashing. I am also experimenting with how best to load the machine - very different from my old KitchenAid, which was over 25 years old and spent most of those years running on softened well water that still contained a lot of iron. I thanked the old girl and gave her a good pat, then kicked her to the curb, literally.

Inkled

I follow a blog called Inkled Pink. Not many recent posts but for a while the owner was posting "daily band practice". That's what inkle weaving is - the creation of warp-faced bands. My goal is to practice a bit every day, most recently trying to learn pick-up, but I still found our recent mini inkle workshop to be helpful.

Two members of my weaving guild have been supporting each other (mostly remotely) as they explore inkle weaving. Cindy and Phil (who insists he is *not* a weaver despite evidence to the contrary) showed a select group of us how to pick up both unheddled and heddled designs. I had (mostly) mastered unheddled but could not figure out the heddled version. Cindy demonstrated and I learned what I was doing wrong.

Yellow is unheddled, gray is heddled

The group hopes to get together again, as the 2.5 hours *flew* by.

Spinning: Despite running the red Tunis through the drum carder, not enough VM fell out - there is still a lot there, so the spinning continues to go slow. I'm afraid if I take a break from it to spin something else, I'll never make it back.
Weaving: Inkling (see above).

The pandemic may not be over, but it is starting to feel that way for me and mine. My granddaughter is not vaccinated yet, so still wears a mask indoors when we are out and about, and we have been out and about A LOT. She spent a week at "zoo camp", then attended a kids art class at PFW. She is spending Tuesdays with me (I sense a book coming from this: Tuesdays with Grandma) which means I transport her hither and yon. She is also taking tennis lessons through parks and rec, piano lessons through PFW, and now she is interested in chess! Yesterday we spent some time at the local chess club (and learned a few things), then visited Artlink to see the member show. She is 10 now and even more fun to be with. I don't know much about chess, but if we are going to play with any frequency, I will have to up my game (so to speak).