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| Okay, I am Closing My Eyes and Jumping In |
| 07.31.06 (9:46 am) [edit] |
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Here is the new, hopefully improved, Version 2 of Yarn's the Word
I have fixed my webrings so they work correctly and you can surf without interruption.
I hope you enjoy.
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| Could You, Would You? |
| 07.29.06 (10:38 pm) [edit] |
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No, I am not trying to be like Dr. Seuss. The thing is, I am getting sick of pop under ads on this blog host. So, I am seriously considering moving AGAIN. Question is, will you put up with my move once again? I highly crave your input. Thanks!
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| Weaving Line Up |
| 07.28.06 (11:47 am) [edit] |
I have ordered the other 3 reeds for the loom.
'Nuff said.
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| Ta Da... |
| 07.20.06 (7:09 am) [edit] |
Okay, there were not too many votes in my poll, but they were unanimous. So, if you did NOT want to see my weaving, well, you had your chance. So, here are some pictures.
The one with the extreme close up and the long shot was the last scarf I did. It was really a lot of fun and did not take long at all. I combined 3 commercial yarns for this one, because I wanted a lot of fun and texture (which does not show well in the picture). I used Gedifra's Distrada (in 2 separate colorways), a boucle Fonty yarn and a smooth Heirloom 8 yarn. What I learned about this project was not to get too "impressed" with my new skills, as I thought I had the perfect way to warp this, only to end up with a mess. So, another thing I finally learned was how to remove a warp from a loom without a great deal of effort and tangling. Nothing to make you feel as stupid as finding out you have been doing something the extremely hard way when there is really an easy solution.
The second scarves, the group of 2, were scarves one and two. The one on the right, as well as the closep, was the first one I did. It is completely done with my handspun. What I learned on this project was how to successfully warp the loom and how to dress the finished project. Yeah! First project completed.
The one on the left in the picture of the two scarves is handspun warp and fiber festival hand dyed warp. What I learned on this one - I needed a different size reed to really make this one look nice, but I plodded on. I also learned how to weave with 2 yarns on the same shuttle and to keep them from tangling.
More to come soon. I haven't started another yet. I am waiting for my Betty Davenport video on Rigid Heddle Weaving and my Ashford Book of Rigid Heddle Weaving, hopefully to come in tonight.
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| Straw (Yarn) Poll |
| 07.18.06 (8:03 pm) [edit] |
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| Loft Living |
| 07.15.06 (8:02 am) [edit] |
Last weekend we went to see the newlyweds and their new home. It is just as adorable as they are! (Okay, so I am a bit biased.)
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| More Fun Stuff |
| 07.12.06 (6:19 pm) [edit] |
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Catch some more of the fun we had at our retreat at our new group blog, Twisted Friends.
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| Swatching |
| 07.06.06 (7:42 pm) [edit] |
Here are shots of my swatches I did at the workshop/reunion. Doesn't look like much for a whole weekend of classes, but you must remember, we had spinning (lots of it!!) to do and assorted other activities, such as catching up with each other, swimming and boating.
I don't have a mosaic swatch. I started one, but was ambitious and had several pattern repeats. I needed stitch markers, since I had a hard time concentrating on the pattern. No matter, though, I know how to do it, I just need the right time and place to complete it. I was especially proud of the intarsia. For some reason, I have resisted doing it till now.
We will be off again this weekend to visit the newlyweds. Can't wait to see their pictures of Australia!
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| Almost Heaven |
| 07.05.06 (7:22 pm) [edit] |
So, when the Gracious Queen gives me a gentle nudge, I know it is time to creep out of my seclusion and type out a narrative of my spinning retreat.
9 of us got together for a 1 year reunion of our dyeing, spinning and knitting workshop with the awesomely talented Lynne and her equally talented fellow teacher, Sandy for another round of fun, frivolity, fiber and plenty of good instruction on entrelac, intarsia, stranded knitting and mosaic knitting. We were joined by 3 newcomers, Elayne (not new to me, of course - I nudged/tempted her into coming with me this time), Mary Ann and Jerry. A great time was had by all.
From the looks of the things I knitted, it seems I was not productive at all. Two tiny swatches, but wow - I was proud of them. (Pictures to follow shortly.) Of course, a lot of the time was spent spinning and shopping for fibers that Lynne and Sandy had brought for sale. Some more of the time was spent visiting/ catching up with friends and building bonds with new friends. The facilities were wonderful. The Red Rooster Retreat is a marvelous house situated on Smith Lake in Alabama, a beautiful lake with 500 miles of shoreline. It was just like being at home with someone to cater to your every wish. We had unlimited free snacks, 3 delicious meals per day, sumptious bathrooms - with real, fluffy yellow towels, completely decorated with a quilted shower curtain. The beds were also decked out in quilts (the Red Rooster is primarily a retreat for quilters). We had a refreshing swimming pool, and the owner graciously treated us to an hour+ ride on his 12 passenger pontoon boat. The evening weather was perfect for a relaxing cruise.
Here are pictures of The Twisted Friends (which is what we have been named by Lynne), the Red Rooster Retreat and, ahem, a sample of what I said I would never do. Yep, you guessed it... now I am bitten by the weaving bug and have The Knitter's Loom winging its way toward my house this very instant.
Here's a shot of our "workroom."
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| Spinnin' Wheel Gotta Go Round! |
| 06.27.06 (9:37 pm) [edit] |
Well, early in the morning Elayne and I head off to Cullman, Alabama for this. Woo Hoo! A great time to decompress from all of the wedding excitement. See ya later 
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| Ready for The Trip |
| 06.23.06 (1:23 pm) [edit] |
Here they are at the airport. Notice Jessie's adorable "going away" outfit, even though Phillip was dressed for the long haul. (24 hours of travel ahead of them at that point.)
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| Getting My Land Legs Back |
| 06.23.06 (7:51 am) [edit] |
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Thanks to all my friends for the marvelous compliments and congratulations to my son and new daughter!! I keep running over the pictures I took trying to find some more that are "good enough" to post. I was going to post a going away picture, but I see that photobucket is down right now. Oh, well.
As my friend, Pam pointed out to me last night, I forgot to tell the story of the one bump in the wedding, so here goes"
Phillip had checked into his room on Saturday. He would have stayed with us, except we thought my stepmother was going to come and share our room. She had a serious incident with her hip (not a break) and got scared to make the trip, so she did not get there. But, I digress. The first room they put Phillip in was a smoking room, so he had to get it changed. Then, they put him in another room that would have been okay, but the pipes burst, so they had to move him again. Sunday morning, he had to check out by 11 and could not check into their special VIP room until sometime much later (which would have been during the wedding, actually), so he had to bring his stuff over to our room. When it got there, Phillip realized his black patent leather shoes, which he had bought, were not there. Numerous frantic calls did no good... the shoes were nowhere to be found. Bill graciously let Phillip use his shoes, but then that left Bill wearing a non dressy black pair. Finally, when one of Phillip's groomsmen, Jeff, who used to work for Disney, found out what was going on, said "hey wait, this is a theme park... they have COSTUMES here." So, the desk clerk called costuming, and procured another pair of patent leather shoes for Bill. Emergency averted... everyone went to the wedding happy.
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| I Do! I Do! |
| 06.20.06 (9:49 am) [edit] |
Okay, I know this is what you have all been waiting for. So far, the only photos I have are some I took with my digital camera. Some are dark, as the reception hall was dark. Even moving out into the hallway to take pictures did not help too much with the lighting. But, here are the first of a series (hopefully) of photos to come. Enjoy!
The whole weekend was marvelous and everything went off better than expected, except for one little incident which I will relate when I am feeling up to it. But, in the end... everything went happily ever after. It truly did feel like a fairy tale come true. The happy couple are presently in mid air on the way to Australia! We had the honor and privilege of taking them to lunch, then to the airport yesterday. They were so cute.
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| Website of HTRAEELGOOG |
| 06.15.06 (6:01 pm) [edit] |
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To slightly misquote a timely reference: "this website will give us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it." Okay, that is what is happening to me today _ admit I am addicted to it. I stayed up late into to the night playing with it. Have you guessed yet what it is? Click to see and be entranced. And, here I am supposed to be getting packed up for the wedding. We leave tomorrow morning and will stay through Monday morning at The Grand Floridian in Disney World.
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| Never Say Dye... |
| 06.14.06 (4:38 pm) [edit] |
Do you remember this anemic looking fiber? I dyed it before my workshop with Lynne Vogel, before I knew what I was doing. I never liked it. Did I throw it away? No, I am too cheap to throw away good fiber. It just needed TLC. I am almost finished remaking this stuff.
First of all, some of it got thrown in the after dye pot when I was doing natural dyeing:
That would be the roving at the very top of the picture on the right.
The rest got blended with brightly dyed mohair in the picture on the left(which also did not look so great when I first got it - free mohair from the lady with the llamas, but after washing and dyeing... bee-yoo-ti-ful!). So, it got carded with the anemic fiber (some of the very pale yellow can be seen in the middle of the mohair), and out came great looking skeins (see middle of the picture with the rovings and yarns).
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| Okay - I Learned Something New |
| 06.12.06 (5:27 pm) [edit] |
Well, Donna pointed out that clicking on my pics don't lead to a larger picture. I am ashamed to admit that I didn't know how to do that and was just using little pictures on my blog. So, here I am testing one, in honor of an upcoming Disney wedding. (BTW, this stamp picture was composed of nothing but flowers and could be seen at the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival).
So, from now on, I will try to do better.
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| A Week Before the Wedding... And All Through the House |
| 06.11.06 (1:37 pm) [edit] |
Here are some sneak peek vignettes of stuff that will be used in the next 7 days:
For the rehearsal dinner. Long sleeved jacket too - in Orlando - for crying out loud - but I am not showing a full view of my fat arms... no way.
Appropriate flirty shoes to go with the rehearsal dress. Just cause I have fat arms doesn't mean I can't have cute feet.
Accessories for the wedding. T-Minus 7 days, 3 hours and 6 minutes.
Peek-a-boo of jacket fabric, closure and skirt.
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| Self Striping Dye Experiment Gone Bad |
| 06.07.06 (1:49 pm) [edit] |
Blah... I don't care for how this turned out. It might be better once it is dry, but I made some bad mistakes. For one thing, the coral red and teal bands were supposed to have white stripes in between for a mock fairisle look. Wrong... bled together. Too much dye,too little yarn. Then the UGLY yellow in the center was actually supposed to be green. Herb Green, in fact. If I had green herbs that looked like that, I certainly wouldn't be cookin' with them.
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| Graduation! |
| 06.07.06 (9:49 am) [edit] |
Here's where the mother-of-the-groom was this past weekend:
Congratulations to Jessie on getting her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation and to Phillip on getting his Master of Arts in Animation!
And yes, I really was there:
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| One Colorway... Three Ways |
| 05.29.06 (6:52 pm) [edit] |
Okay, you might think I'm stuck in a rut here. But, actually, I love this colorway and find it to give predictable and pleasing results. So... number one was done on Knit Picks yarn, and this is a Faroese Shawlette I knit from it.
Then, here we have the back of the same shawl...
Next, comes my very first try at dyeing self striping sock yarn. Unfortunately, this was just a sample, so there is not actually enough to knit even a whole sock... Same colorway, different application.
It really is the same, but the picture was taken in artificial light.
Number three usage of the colorway will not be posted. This was done on 5 oz. of Finn wool and will be a "participant" in the hand dyed roving swap we will have at the Lynne Vogel workshop reunion retreat at the end of June. And, I have a sneaking suspicion which lady might really want to get this roving in a swap. Only time will tell, though.
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| Good to be Back! |
| 05.27.06 (4:13 pm) [edit] |
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Aww... thanks for all the lovely commments. It is so good to be back (and with a camera). Donna, the colors did not show true on the hand dyed scarf. They are actually more autumnal than the flash washed out picture portrayed. I really like the way that one turned out, too!! Elayne, I can't wait for you to see the "cubes" in person. I feel almost like a fiber shop now!!
I hope you have a truly nice, fun, fiber filled summer this year Sarah Elizabeth
And Pam and Blaine, I can't wait to see the two of you again, too and am excited you will get to meet Elayne, too. Blaine, I hear that cockatoos make really cuddly bird pets. I'll bet yours is a sweetie!
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| So Here It Is! |
| 05.23.06 (6:47 pm) [edit] |
Here is a picture of my newly organized fiber stash. Like most people, once I saw how much I had all together in the same place, the more I realized I really do not need any more. How long will it take to spin all this up? Who knows, but I'll have fun trying.
(To put this in perspective: each "cubicle" is 1 ft. by 1 ft. and about 15 inches deep)
Also, here is a picture of two scarves - same pattern, different yarns. The red is made from E. Lavold's Silky Wool and the second from hand dyed roving - handspun yarn.
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| Yeah!! Pictures Again... Soon to Come |
| 05.21.06 (5:11 pm) [edit] |
But, here is a preview, along with my newest mascot:
Isn't she a beauty? This is our new 6 month old Timneh African Grey Parrot, Bongo. (And yes, she is already talking and also whistling Goodmorning Starshine, which is what I sing to her every morning when I uncover her for the day!)
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| Bah Humbug! |
| 05.07.06 (10:23 pm) [edit] |
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Still no digital camera. No pictures makes this blog really dull :(
I am getting frazzled over wedding details... (Don't EVEN ask)...
And feeling sorry for myself (well, maybe a little) for not getting to go to MDS&W - yeah, like I REALLY need more fiber - if I had a working camera, you would see I do not. Right now, I would settle for some down time to get some of it spun up.
Ah, I surely am looking forward to my retreat at the end of June with Lynne Vogel and my fellow students from last year's workshop.
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