How was your day!
Snow is in the forecast but the birds are unaware
The temperature is below freezing again but hasn’t stopped the bird migration. It seems every day we hear new songs and see more species at the feeder. This morning a flock of common redpolls stopped by for a frenetic visit. Mourning doves have returned and their song echoes in the woods.
Today a plump, Tufted Titmouse was stopped by and settled in the tree among the spring buds.
As long as the birds don’t care about our Hazardous Weather Outlook, neither will we.
So blue
Two projects completed, infinitely more to go. This will be classified as my blue period.
I tried this new technique, which is a woven quilt!
Both passions in one project. It’s from the book, Simply Stunning Woven Quilts.
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=islandnorcoul-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B004GGSX8K&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
I didn’t have the right fusing material on hand and tried using the zigzag attachment on my little ole’ Singer Featherweight but it was more than it could handle. There are some amazing 3-D patterns in this book.
The technique is simple. Fuse two pieces of fabric onto Thermaheat (double sided iron-on fusible material, which I didn’t have) cut into wavy strips and weave them together. I made it in case I couldn’t weave a few placemats in time for a trip to Washington, DC to visit my darling daughter.
But I did.
I didn’t use a thick enough yarn for the weft for the first placemat so it became a towel and I was left with an odd number of placemats. I will definitely try this again – but not before my trip.
An afterthought
It’s funny about mittens. They need thumbs. I am trying a new knitting technique, twined knitting, which creates a dense, thick, elastic fabric. So far I have used it with colorwork and haven’t explored all the textures you can create with it – yet.
I was so wrapped up in my twining and twisting and untwisting, I forgot to include a thumb in the second mitten.
I didn’t want to rip back and decided to insert an “afterthought” thumb so I searched for the technique on the Internet.
Almost all the results weren’t an afterthought at all. They required you to knit waste/scrap yarn as a placeholder where you wanted the thumb when you passed by the thumb the first time. There was my problem, I never thought about it the first time as I merrily knit and twined past the where it should have been.
I used the same technique, but instead of ripping out waste yarn, I placed the row above and below on needles and carefully snipped, from the center, the thumb stitches in between.
My main concern was the cut ends might be too short to weave in.
They were short, but not too short and I used a crochet hook to hide them. I can’t tell the difference.
Now they are drying by the fireplace before being sent off to a new bird lover’s home.
An afterthought
It’s funny about mittens. They need thumbs. I am trying a new knitting technique, twined knitting, which creates a dense, thick, elastic fabric. So far I have used it with colorwork and haven’t explored all the textures you can create with it – yet.
I was so wrapped up in my twining and twisting and untwisting, I forgot to include a thumb in the second mitten.
I didn’t want to rip back and decided to insert an “afterthought” thumb so I searched for the technique on the Internet.
Almost all the results weren’t an afterthought at all. They required you to knit waste/scrap yarn as a placeholder where you wanted the thumb when you passed by the thumb the first time. There was my problem, I never thought about it the first time as I merrily knit and twined past the where it should have been.
I used the same technique, but instead of ripping out waste yarn, I placed the row above and below on needles and carefully snipped, from the center, the thumb stitches in between.
My main concern was the cut ends might be too short to weave in.
They were short, but not too short and I used a crochet hook to hide them. I can’t tell the difference.
Now they are drying by the fireplace before being sent off to a new bird lover’s home.
A ski in the woods
Skiing conditions were perfect. The snow was soft and plentiful. I skied through the woods with friends to lunch!
Blue skies even peeked through for a moment.
Ausable Chasm ice
The temperature is gradually turning warmer but ice abounds. I had heard the ice jams at Ausable Chasm were at their peak. I may have missed it by a few days, but it was still pretty spectacular. There were both frozen and flowing waterfalls.
This is the view from the road. These amazing rock formations were purchased and made private in the late 1800’s, even before the Adirondack Park was formed. It is one of the oldest “attractions” in the United States.
Can you pronounce chasm? I usually mispronounce it and our neighboring town, Schroon Lake. Think school not shroom.
Finished and gone
Yesterday’s moebius cowl was frogged and returned to a ball of yarn. Ribbet.
A new version of the cowl is on the needles with the correct stitch count, after I took another look at Cat Bordhi’s video. The yarn is too pretty to be a mistake.
A couple of weeks ago, I finished weaving six twill placemats.
They have found a new home.
They looked better in person – a little narrow with a short fringe. I used 3/2 cotton and a draft from Twills on Four Shafts. I surprised myself with the pattern. I am still working on reading drafts and visualizing the woven fabric. I really shouldn’t be surprised.
My first moebius cowl
To frog or not to frog? That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the…
What fun and magic to knit a moebius cowl. The ingenuity of knitting a long-did I say long?- beautiful piece of fabric with a twist. The pattern was Sivia Harding’s Harmonia’s Rings
I enjoyed Cat Bordhi’s video, which showed me how to cast on for the moebius to get one twist in the round. Magic!
I didn’t pay enough attention to the part that describes how to count these double stitches. Instead of casting on 100- 200 doubled stitches, I cast on 240-480 doubled stitches. Don’t ask me how. I thought it took me a while to knit a round. So long, in fact, that I never bothered to count the number of stitches in a round. There were too many.
Because it was worked in the round, with a twist, it was hard to get a sense if what I was working on.
Now I have a beautiful piece of fabric, twice as wide and half as long. The yarn was from Zen Garden. Did I mention I ran out of yarn 2/3 through my bind off. I had some leftover sock yarn, which miraculously matched perfectly. That miracle still occurred within a mistake though.
So now, I have a beautiful, useful cowl, which only I will know has a moebius twist. If I loop it twice around my head the twist is lost. It feels so smooshy and soft though and can also form a hood.
Is that enough? Or do I frog? Is this a problem or an opportunity?
Island and North Country Life 