Winter wrap

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Christmas brought an ice storm to our region.  Then it warmed.  The sparkly, ice laden branches dripped ice and it sounded like it was raining.  My neighbor’s birches haven’t straightened up yet and I hope they survive. I’m conflicted because they look so pretty  as bowers.

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Now the temperature is plummeting again.  Our roof has been making some sort of explosive noise now and then.  Not to worry?  I didn’t see any big snow heaves on the ground and am not sure what causes it.

The cold weather, of course, gives me the opportunity to stay inside and play.  I was on my own for a few days last week and confess I stayed in long johns and slippers for most of (more like all of two) the day.  I managed to put winter garb over my warm clothes and ventured out with microspikes on to take some photos.  The base surface is a sheet of ice.  These thaws and freezes have acted like a Zamboni to make a smooth treacherous surface.  Microspikes are little crampons which slip over your boots (or crocs to the hot tub) like galoshes.  They allow me to walk the ice almost fearlessly.

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I had a few requests for knitted gifts and tried my hand at slip stitch knitting.  Both hats have a twisted braid brim and I think I’ll use this instead of turned hems (my second favorite hat brim) whenever I can.

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Then I’m back to the loom where I have a few towels to finish weaving.  I was dismayed to find my warp was crooked because the warp stick got caught on something.  So I get another wonky towel.  I give away the good ones and keep the “seconds”.  If you saw my linens, you’d think I had no idea what I was doing. Do I?

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At least I’m not getting blisters on my keister anymore thanks to a little cushioning on the weaving bench.  Now I look forward to a new year filled with unions, reunions, births and PROJECTS!

Whoa, what just happened?

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First of all, Christmas has already come and gone in my house. Kids live afar, families are complicated, so we celebrated with the whole famn damily thus weekend. It was a blast.

But, how did this weekend pop up so fast? I look forward to it all year long and suddenly it was here. It arrived in the middle of an ice storm, during which our county was in a state of emergency and travel was strongly discouraged due to iced roads and fallen trees and power lines.

As a result, we stayed inside for 36 hours before we broke out and went skeet shooting and sledding, wearing microspikes and snowshoes. And a good time was had by all.

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To keep things simple we had our first white elephant gift exchange. I supplemented it with a white elephant knitting exchange. I included four hats, two woven scarves and a rope trivet. Gifts were stolen, trades were made, everyone was happy and it warmed my heart.
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We spent three nights (short for me since I went to bed after 2) in the cabin to make room in the house and I slept like a baby. The wood stove kept us warm in the loft, while I heard trees cracking outside and coyotes howling in the woods.
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And now they’ve headed off to other family gatherings, the house is quiet and only the ice remains.

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I’m happy I received a digital photo frame, which already has this year’s pictures to make me smile.

No pressure

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With my Aran sweater off the needles, I am in the final throes of holiday knitting and weaving. I have two more F’ing deer hats to finish by Friday. Four dish towels are a twinkle in my eye on the loom and scarves abound. One finished, one warped. I have to keep moving because the thermometer read 14 degrees below 0 this morning.

I played with how tight to beat the strands on this scarf and ended up with nice color interplay.

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I had envisioned a gold brown tweedy fabric but initially, when I packed the threads too tightly, it appeared black. So I loosened up and found the effect I sought. Next I embellished the ends with a Mexican Lace effect. Voila! I love it, in silky wool.

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Counting the miles

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In the Pool and on the loom. I am hanging in there with Master Swimming. I may still be the worst swimmer in the pool but I am also the most improved. I’m able to swim at least a mile already, doing the freestyle, without gasping for air, but still with a few cramps. I may grow to love this. As I learn to relax, I get the sense of floating in the pool. Just wait until I wear my handmade red bathing suit!

I decided I needed to make a few towels for gifts for this weekend. I haven’t been on the loom for ages! I set it up to make about six towels at once. It took 508 strands of 7.5 yards of cotton which ran through my fingers at least twice: when I measured it on the warping board; and when I threaded it and wound it on the loom. That’s more than two miles of thread.! My arms are tired this morning from swimming a mile and weaving two. I may even be getting exercise at the loom. My exercise ball is the perfect height seat when I sit inside the loom for hours fiddling with it. It took me at least eight and maybe ten hours to measure the warp and dress the loom. Then it took about an hour to weave each towel. Six towels may take 16 hours. But as with socks, there’s nothing like hand knit or woven.

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Time to fill a void

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My big knitting project came off the needles this morning, an Aran sweater designed by Alice Starmore, Irish Moss. I love it and hope my daughter does too. I missed my self imposed Thanksgiving deadline, but made Christmas with time to spare.

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Sewing it together went perfectly. The pieces matched up and my finishing technique has improved over the years. The shadows the cables create are wonderful and now my wrist has a chance to rest from all the twisted purls the pattern used.

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Although it went pretty fast, I finished just in the nick of time. I have deferred lots of little projects and some weaving because I was so focused. Now I have created a void that beckons to be filled. Here’s a starter. Pirate hat, redux. The right size this time? Second time’s a charm.

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Just breathe

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I am preparing a talk about our lighthouse caretaking adventures and have been poring over photos, videos and sound clips.

This is what we heard all day and night in Alaska.  We had our own meditation instructors swimming around the island.  If only I had remembered this my first few times in the pool. I recorded it in a high tech fashion.  I put my iPhone in a metal bowl.

WARNING: Listening to this clip may cause you to either fall asleep or become so completely relaxed you find it impossible to do anything for the rest of the day.

To(o) Organize(d)

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I hit a breaking point. My work area was a disaster. I knew I had crossed a line when Tim cleaned around my work area because there was so much stuff in piles on the floor. So I got to work. First I moved my weaving and spinning equipment off the floor. I haven’t committed to where I want to permanently install my warping board so I hung it with my rigid heddle loom for now. Wreath hooks hold it over a door when I measure a warp.

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I was feeling pretty good after that first step.
My work table was cluttered with all my works in process. I considered two ways of organizing a work space. Leave everything out to remind me what I am working on or hide everything. Looking at all my plans was paralyzingly me so I chose to hide them away. I hope I remember all my projects. I left the quilt in process on a shelf with its quilting hoop; found a bag for my braided rug and material; stowed my yarn, alpaca and llama fleeces; put my quilt pieces and batting in a tub; and found a place for my rope collection for future rugs. I had a pile of tee shirts I plan to make into a quilt for me but they made a big pile. So, I cut out the logos out for the quilt and saved the bottoms for future rug strips. Somehow, the same amount of material seemed more organized.
I went from this

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To this

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Feeling real good!
To think all my quilting fabric used to fit in this little trunk.

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I’ve come a long way. Now where is my measuring tape?