Another season

I finished the Summer and Winter dish towels and think I should have taken Sarah Jackson's advice and made a simple sampler.  The towel on the left is the last one of five and I used one shuttle and the same weft for the tabby.  It's pretty muted.  The weft in both of these isn't in the warp.  It's interesting but I preferred the wefts from the warp palette.

The instructions in Handwoven called for the order of the wefts. I really like the way summer and winter looks but I'm not in love with two shuttles.  I say that, yet I didn't mind two shuttles in shadow weave.  I'm working on commissioned placemats right now and after that I'm going to make a turned taquete sampler.  I like all the color with just one shuttle - it's much more fun to weave.

Here they are and if I do it again I will pay close attention to values.  I don't want another overpowering color like the purple again.

The program at our guild meeting last Wednesday was given by our spinnners study group on heritage breed sheep.  I've wondered what happened to my passion for spinning but it went away and I don't know why.  I even had stored my wheel in it's bag.  After they concluded their presentation I realized that I know exactly when it stopped - when I was no longer involved with the sheep.  I took this picture about 90 minutes after the meeting.  I got my wheel back up, dug out my Forsythe mini-combs and found some locks that I had washed and slightly felted, rolled up my sleeves and went to work.  I've washed more locks today and am waiting for them to dry.

I'm working on a sweater for Delaney and tried it on her to check the size.  Lookin' good.

And speaking of Delaney, her parents just bought her a Kindle Fire for kids.  Now that we have her more often it makes a lot of time to fill, especially since we're not TV people.  She took to it right away and really likes Sesame Street.  I have no idea why she needed both feet on the table but apparently that makes it work better.

The irrigation canal was turned off the first of the month but there are residual pools that attract water fowl.  I still like to take my morning walks along here but will probably be looking for a new route when the canal turns into an ugly gash in the earth.  The Covid infections have increased and we still have no snow.  That's about it in a nut shell.

 

My Favorite Month in the World

 I am very fortunate to count myself a member of the Knitterbugs, an active group who have become even closer over the course of quarantine.  We used to gather three times a week in different locations - a restaurant, a knitting store and when we lost our third location, in each others homes.  Now we use a cell phone app called WhatsApp to keep in touch and Zoom to host our three meetings.  Attendance is random but we just chat and knit and meet in parks when conditions allow.  This was our meet-up last Sunday afternoon, the largest group I've met with but we practice social distancing and move our chairs occasionally, to keep in the shade and also to talk to someone else without shouting.  I'm going to miss this more than I ever dreamed.  We're going to try to meet outdoors on the days when bundling up is sufficient.

One of the group had these signs made up as her contribution to the election effort.  This one was spoken for but she dropped two off at our house the next day, one for us and one for our neighbor.  This brings our election signs collection up to five and it's getting crowded!!

Our neighbors Joann and Lee have a grandson only three months younger than Delaney.  We've talked about play dates since we found out we were expecting.  Lee even put a gate in our fence in anticipation.  Last week the day finally arrived.  The weather was perfect and they were both awake at the same time.  Delaney was super shy at first but Jasper goes to preschool and helped her feel at home.  He very graciously shared his grandma.  I'm looking forward to more, and hopefully before the weather turns.

I knitted this little rabbit for Delaney and she has loved him to pieces, literally.  I'm going to have to knit another pair of pants as these aren't holding up well.  I'm also in the process of making him a companion, because everyone knows there's no such thing as one rabbit.

I haven't been able to do one of my favorite things, sit on the patio and read.  Mornings are too cold now and usually I'm so involved in something that afternoons become evenings before I know it.  Delaney took a super late nap yesterday and I took advantage of the time for a me-and-patio timeout.  You can see the fingers of autumn at work.  We've now been Oregon residents for five years and I've loved all of it.

I've had a tough time with my feet.  I'm still doing the exercises I came home with after two months of PT and it's just going to be matter of sticking with it.  So far I've been good and they haven't gotten any worse but I'm hoping for signs of improvement.  Alas I haven't had much success with weaving footwear.  I need a stable sole and generous forefoot without being so wide I depress two treadles at a time.  Years ago I remember the weaving instructor Laura Fry saying that she wove in ballet slippers.  I've just learned that this is a common practice.  I got on Amazon and ordered a pair - so far, so good.

I haven't been doing much weaving this year and I really do miss it.  Babysitting won't last forever and I can always weave afterwards but I can't do it the other way around.  I'm still on the Summer and Winter weave structure battleground.  These colors are hideous.  You don't have to tell me that.  I bought a bunch of cones of 8/2 cotton from the Yarn Barn of Kansas mill ends club several years ago - great deal, but only if I use them.  I've had these so long they've got dust on top.  I think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  I got betta' - I'm not dead yet.