Holiday show and sale

I finished Heidi Kirrmaier’s Fine Sand sweater pattern in sport weight yarn from Bartlett’s in Maine.  It’s just the right weight to wear in the house and I’m really pleased with it.  The pattern called for 3/4 length sleeves but I made them full length.  Now it’s time to start the sweater my granddaughter requested for Christmas.



The yarn arrived and I’m glad to see that the Electric Blue she chose isn’t as electric as it looked online.  Kraemer’s doesn’t do the shipping.  They job it out to yarn stores that carry their yarn.  Mine came from The Skein Shop in Cincinnati and was here in four days.  The yard is cotton/acrylic and goes in the washer and dryer, perfect for a 13-year-old girl.



I was down to the wire, getting that last set of towels completed in time for the guild’s show yesterday.  I took my stuff in Friday night to the Environmental Center and helped Mary set up our booth.  She has all the wire walls and hangers and I was glad she freely shared.



I used the fruit boxes to show off the towels and also to conserve table space.



I even managed to make a bunch of dryer balls.  Because they were so small I ended up selling them at 4 for $10.00.



It was a beautiful day, crisp but sunny.



Business was brisk all day which meant no chance to sit down and somehow I managed to eat my sandwich, a bite here and a bite there.  I looked at my Fitbit sleep record for last night.  It shows that I got up to go the bathroom twice and apparently I didn’t even turn over all night.  I was exhausted!



It was a one-day show, from 10:00–4:00 and it was already busy when Ian came by about 10:30.  I made that bag years ago to hold my cash and phone with the PayPal scanner.  I know I should make more because I keep getting asked for them but I just don’t like to sew anymore.



Mary arranged this unit by color.  It drew people in but they the only thing I sold from this area was a table runner.



The two scarves I sold were from here on the coat rack.  These were heavily browsed but it’s the towels that were the star.  I only have a couple dozen left which means I need to get right back to work since I often sell through Facebook at this time of year.  I moved the Christmas tree and mini-sweater ornaments to this end of the table but even so sales were underwhelming.  Nevertheless, they drew people in and that was the point.  I’m glad it wasn’t any longer than it was because it was busy and loud - not complaining, mind you.  People even came after 4:00 when we were tearing down.  We sure didn’t expect that!



We awoke to snow this morning. Weather is really just a lottery over which we have no influence.  I am grateful for yesterdays sunshine.

Fixin' - Again

I've been fooling around with colors, looking at Google images for both crocus and hyacinth.  After pulling off the sea glass green towels, I'm ready for some spring color.

After endless weeks of grey days, the sun is finally here.  I haven't walked the dogs in the cold days because it hurts to breath so was thrilled to finally have a chance to get out again.

We walked down to the mail boxes and then came back again.  This is the school bus stop, I find it ironic that the vehicle attached to the bike rack is a quad.  That's the vehicle of choice out here - you won't see any bikes.

Self portrait.

After our walk, I went back to work on the rag rug.  I figured I could knock this one off in no time and was appreciating this shuttle.  It's one of those that Laura gave me after her mother passed away.  I haven't used it before and it's perfect!  And then I noticed that a couple warps had broken, so I mended them and then noticed that a couple more had broken.  I had only woven 20" and had eight broken warps.  I saw the handwriting on the wall.  This was old warp and was probably further weakened by the hot tea I used to stain it.  It sickened me but I knew I had to cut it off.

I needed to do something happy so I wound a dishtowel warp in a hyacinth colorway.  I love to dress the loom just as much as I love to weave on it so enjoyed seeing these colors come together.  And then I quickly wound a five yard warp for three looper rugs, which I probably should have saved for another day.  At least that's what my back is saying tonight.  So I'm fixing to weave two projects and wish I had space for a third loom.

I have never received a box from UPS in this condition before. 

It's a good thing this is what was inside.  I'm so excited about these colors.  I have to be in town tomorrow but you know what I'm going to be working on this Thursday.  

I can't weave on Friday either because good news - I'm a library sub at Traner Middle School that day and again next Monday and Tuesday.  I knew that there would be no library subs until the entire catalog conversion was completed in February.  I started this journey last August and the wheels turn slow.

 I have new books in my fiber library, courtesy of Benita Story.  She had an extra copy of one and included the other as good measure.  I cannot think of a good reason to weave rag rugs and I don't understand why they get under my skin.  They do not sell well at craft fairs and yet I am compelled to weave them. 

These are two brand new books.  The one the left I purchased for our guild and it will be part of a scholarship fund raiser.  I don't get to keep it but I get to read it for a week until I have to pass it on.  I buy, they pay.  The one on the right just came from Amazon today and it's all mine.  It's perfect for me and my four-harness loomdom. 

This is me visiting with Laura.  She called tonight and so I put the phone on speaker and pulled off the rag weft that I'm salvaging from the failed rug warp.  I have to say that if you have to savage (note that savage and salvage are only one letter apart) a warp that it's good to have a friend along.

Stop me if you've heard this one.  So a knot walks into a bar.  I mean this guy is totally frazzled, at the end of his rope.  He doesn't know which end is up.   "Are you ready to order?" asks the barkeep.  "I'm a frayed not." he responds.  (It helps if you read it aloud.)

A Messy Weaving Life

I've gone back to spinning with my "happy" light each morning.  I've knitted in front of my happy light for the past couple months but find that it's the combination of spinning and the light that seem to energize me.  This morning the inevitable day came.  I had to put on a new drive band, something I've put off for years.  I've draped the old one there to show how pathetic the old band had become.  I had built up in my mind how traumatic the change would be, and of course, it wasn't.  Isn't that so typical?

I've decided that what I really need to do now that Lilith is a free loom is to weave a rag rug runner.  It should be a quick project to weave with most of the time involved in cutting, sewing and folding strips. I want to get the prep done so I can put this all away.  My work area is a mess and I hate it.  The cardboard box is loopers - an upcoming project.

It doesn't help that the studio is a mess too.  I've finally finished the warp that was on Maudie Mae for two months.  This winter has been a fog for me.  I'm in the process of hemming ten towels.  I find the easiest way to turn the hems is to lower the ironing board and sit at it.  The towels are a frightful mess until they're finished.  I'm always amazed how they clean up - ugly ducklings, they are.

This is the beginning of my new rug.  I'm just not capable of totally random colors so have selected blues and reds with a touch of yellow.  We rented the movie Argo and watched it this afternoon.  I wound eight pinwheels of sewn strips - I cannot watch with idle hands.  I am not a fan of suspense movies so was putty for Life of Pi.  I was surprised at how much I liked Argo.  Tomorrow all will be revealed.  We liked Beasts of the Southern Wild but I'm afraid it's too artsy for the Academy. 

This is what the looper rugs will look like.  I'd like to have at least a half dozen for my October craft fair.  I was sorting and cleaning the loopers that Hilary sold me and realized I needed more yellow. She sold me two bags of just yellow and I'm not going to start weaving until they arrive.  I think yellow is the ticket.  I love looper rugs.  This is ours, a bathmat.  It's as functional as it is beautiful.  

In the past month I joined OLLI, and through it have a library card for the university library, have already checked out my first book, and have enjoyed 12 hours of a fabulous geology lecture series.  And I also decided after spontaneous deliberation that my Lenten fast would be Facebook.  I'm rather sorry because I can't undo it and I miss the interaction a lot.  On the other hand, I cannot believe how much time that has freed up.

Deadline Met

Margi's birthday is one week from today so I put the pedal to the metal, well sock to wood, and finished up the towels today so I can get them in the mail. Towels look absolutely terrible until they're finished. I was a wreck, waiting for them to come out of the dryer and show me that I hadn't spend hours making ugly.





The first two towels are in the 2/2 twill that I as experi-
menting with. I thought they were really different while I was weaving, but from a distance, I can see that, not so much.


I really like the plaid on the third towel and took Valerie's suggestion for the fourth to make it straight twill. I hope the plaid doesn't break up the set idea too much. It's quite a departure from the other three. I'm always nervous when I give a gift of something I've made.

This week is Retro Photo Week on Facebook so I'll leave you with the blast-
from-the-
past photo that I scanned and posted today.

Back to Maudie Mae

Ian came up to check on me, because I can't hear him when I'm listening to my iPod. I'm back in my studio, loving the natural light and totally enjoying Maudie Mae. I had forgotten what a solid little citizen she is. I was so focused on getting acquainted with Goldie, that I hadn't woven on her in months.
I've started another set of dishtowels for a birthday present later this month. I'm doing these in 2/2 twill, again from the four-shaft pattern book. This exercise has really helped me to understand the interplay of threading, tie-up and treadling. This towel has a 14 treadle repeat: 3,2,1,4,3,2,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4.
This towel has a 16 treadle repeat: 3 4,1,2,3,4,1,2,4,3,2,1,4,3,2,1. I can tell you that I'm not ready for eight treadles yet. I still get confused and lost on four! I finally had to turn off the music. The temple I ordered for this size is still back-ordered and so I soldier on with the selvedges. However, I'm finally getting comfortable with throwing the weaver's angle. Click for big to see the difference the treadling makes in the patterns.

I'm a big fan of plain weave so the third towel will simply be tabby with stripes. I haven't decided what the fourth towel will be. It might be tabby again since it's so fast. I need to get this project off, finished and mailed. I've made a folder in my pictures for towels and am putting photos in of them when finished and how I made them. I hope that will be good information later on.