Craft Fair Prep

I tied another warp onto the 8/4 cotton warp, but this time I used these wooden clips that Melissa gave me. You slide two dowels through the cross into the holes on the clips which are lashed onto the front beam.
Here's another view. Last time I tied on the front, I used lease sticks for the cross. This was so much faster and easier to see the next thread - I was done in no time.
Not to belabor the point, but here's the total view, in case you know a wood-
worker friend who could make a set of these for you. They are the hot ticket for warping from the front.
These are the colors I've chosen for my first set of hit-and-
miss place mats. I thought I'd keep the palette a little soft and see if they strike anyone's fancy.
This is the color pathway I chose for the second set of mats. In for a penny, in for a pound. The strips are wound and ready to weave. There's nothing to do but weave them and not do this again!
I went over to Mim's for a couple hours this morning and visited with Laura, who is visiting over the Memorial Day weekend from Oregon. It's always fun to catch up with old friends. I cut these strips and sewed them after lunch, and then checked my phone for messages. I forgot that I had invited my neighbor Gere to come over at 3:00 and I'd show her how to knit.

Actually Gere was just refreshing what her grandmother taught her. I introduced her to Elizabeth Zimmerman and showed her the first knitting book I ever bought - Knitting without Tears, which Diane Soucy said I needed to own, and she was right. I loaned Gere needles, stitch markers and Diane's baby sweater pattern - she already had the baby yarn. We talked about gauge and she understands her sweater will be smaller than the pattern. She learned long-tail cast on and knitted on circular needles for the first time. It was fun getting better acquainted and she was thrilled with her project when she left a couple hours later. We plan to make this a regular Neighbor Knits event and are recruiting other neighbors.
I should have been winding my pinwheels while Gere knitted, but instead I knitted along with her. I ended up watching TV tonight and winding them. These are pseudo hit-and-miss as the order is not random but the colors are completely unrelated. I need to weave as much as I can tomorrow but we have company coming in the afternoon for a couple of days and I'll be in town Wednesday all day again.

I was able to assemble a dozen hat kits last Friday. Surprisingly, it takes about a half hour to select yarns, wind the yardage and put a kit together. My spun Shetland wool bin is very empty right now. I haven't been under this much pressure since I was in college! Now I know what Julie was talking about as she got ready for craft fairs last year. I'm still looking forward to Saturday.

Nothing new to report on the weather front.