Of Checkers, Knit and Linen

It's been raining again this week. I have given up on ever getting the little house fixed... The contractor called Monday morning and said it would not be good if they dug foundation holes and then they filled with water so we are once again on hold.... Just hope the little house knows to hold on... no pun intended... lol

We've been working in the shop and since I finished the floor inkle loom (which I finally got warped last night...pics tomorrow) I have had nothing to do...so I decided to make a checker board and checkers. This is the day before yesterday's pic. I have actually got the grid marked and the dark squares painted, but I think they will need a couple more than the 3 coats I have already put on them. The "king" side of the checkers has rosebuds painted on them... as in The War of the Roses. While the colors in this war were red and white roses, I used red and blue because..well...the white roses would not show up on the yellow. This should be finished by the end of the week.

This merino 3ply languished for a while in my stash. I just could not come up with anything new to make with it so I made another scarf, 57 inches long. It turned out really well and I love it.

This is the linen single that I took off the spinning wheel so I could spin the lemon Romney. I don't know how much there is, but there is still this much to be spun. The smallest heddle I have for my loom is 12 epi and I'm not sure that is small enough, but then it would make a light and airy fabric... hmmm Or...there is such thing as linsey-woolsey... a linen warp with a wool weft. hmmmm...

Oct. 5-11... National Spinners and Weavers Week

Next week is National Spinners and Weavers Week... If you live near any yarn, fabric or fiber shops you might look for something special happening. It would be a good time to spin, weave or knit/crochet in public. I'm going to talk to the ladies at the library and see if they are having anything special...

The "sheep to shawl" shawl is finished...as of yesterday afternoon. The warp is 3 ply merino and 2 ply Cotswold...the weft is the 2 ply Cotswold and merino single plied with silk single... ooowww wonderful stuff. It finished at 74" length with an added 4" of fringe x 16" wide. According to the book, any time a person does leno weaving there is a narrowing of the width of the piece... so extra weft should be left... Well... it didn't seem to matter what I did, the leno would pull in. My advise... just plan your width around the width of the pulled in leno weave.

I love the way this turned out. I think I will add some beads and maybe some embroidery on the ends... We'll see...

DH and I are off to Durant to Ozark Mills today to get some more wool. While I have every intention of finishing the flax, it is not my favorite thing to spin. I find that it is almost like trying to spin twigs and occasionally hurts my fingers like I have stickers in them. The Cotswold was something new to me and I really enjoyed it. I think I will try at least one new kind of wool each time we go.

My diet is working extremely slow.... and to top that off... the steroid pack the doctor gave me for my wrist and elbow causes immediate weight gain. Sooo... doing nothing any different on my diet, I had an overnight weight gain of four (4) .. make that 4... pounds! But... lost a pound of it yesterday, so looks like I will have to lose all 4 again.. sigh Oh well... at least they are going...

Found some wonderful tea that I can drink with no sugar. I mean wonderful...

Have a good day....

Energy Efficient Window Film... I Like It!

We have 16.5 linear feet of windows in our office...facing west. The Texas summer afternoons are not easy in here even with the window shades drawn. Yesterday we started putting energy efficient film on the windows. We found some that reduces 70% of the sun's heat and 99% of the UV rays. (Did you know that UV exposure causes the back of your eyes to burn until they turn yellow? I didn't either until my ophtholmologist told me mine were yellow...hmmm) The picture makes it look like it really darkens the room...but it doesn't. It does however make what's outside much clearer by reducing the glare.

I have to say that I would enjoy this job much more if we had solid pane windows instead of having to cut all these little ones...but even with that, it is so worth it.

The snail/mushroom quilt is now ready to quilt and the le Tour de Fleece is finished... These are blogged about on Fabric Follies Two .

Have a good Sunday...

They're Here.. Cedar and Deer Antler Nalbinding Needles

They came in the mail a couple of days ago. I started this bag using them both..lol One is cedar and the other is deer antler and they both are comfortable and easy to use. Aunt Edna said Uncle Bobby had made about 9 of them so now she and the ladies at church want to learn to use them..grin And this is how the works of yesteryear are preserved...lol

I started the bag using the chocolate merino and the tan merino/romney x. This is my first 2 color work and the only problem I had was the beginning.. There is a little nipple of work at the beginning of the tan and at some point I will learn how to do it without that....

We got up early this morning and went to have all the pre-admission and lab work , etc..., done for the cardiac cath. I'm glad all that is done. Now all there is to do is wait for the call on Monday to tell us what time to be there on Tuesday. But they said to be prepared for it to be around 7am since I will be second in line. Yayyy...get it over and out of there...lol
I asked if there wasn't something I could do to keep from having this done every year... he said no... that some people just produce more scar tissue than others due to the stent being a foreign body ... That made me feel better. At least I know it's not something I'm doing that is causing all this...

Fair Isle Hat...Finished

It's done. It's not been blocked yet. I'm amazed. And speechless.

Breezy, Blustery Day

Fall has arrived... The trees are now that non-descript cross between brown and dirt colors with a little pear yellow here and there. The leaves are piling in the yard in between mowings and the sun is shining. Temps remain in the high 80's most of the time with a few cooler days. While I am looking forward to the cooler weather I am not a fan of the drabness of autumn and winter in this part of the country. Or maybe I'm just in a mood today... ;o)

The breeze today makes it a really good day to wash and dry the woven scarf and the finished yarns of the past few weeks. These yarns have not been dyed and I'm in love with warm natural colors .. the lightest being mixed wool, the darkest warm brown is Merino Lamb and the honey color is a mix of Romney/Merino. I'm in a hurry for these to dry since I can just see them mixed together in a pattern on my loom and making warm scarves.

Merino is Spun!

Yesterday I finished spinning the Merino roving that I have been working on for a while. Whew! Some days it seemed as if I were trying to spin cotton...seemed to ball up and not release during the drafting. But is sooo soft... Now for the dyeing process....grin