I am getting the hang of my latest venture into card weaving. I warped and wove this second sample last night.
In contrast, I am about halfway done tying on my new warp of 500+ threads. Before I started, I looked up how to tie a weaver’s knot or sheet bend and found this great video.
Now that I have done it about 200 times, I have finally figured out how to keep the knot from “capsizing” and falling apart.
Tie one onto my loom that is! I have been so busy. My floor loom is languishing and has been sitting there with my last project still threaded so I can use the same stripe pattern for a new batch of towels.
Last week we were blessed with perfect weather and went sailing for 5 days on Lake Champlain. It began warm, got very windy, rained a little and cooled off. I swam 2 or 3 days off the boat (our hot water shower is not) and love fresh water.
We spent two nights at Valcour Island and explored the trails, lighthouse and other ruins. I thought I was tracking bear scat but now think it may have been coyote. In the late 1800’s, there were camps, the lighthouse and a scandalous, free love commune on Valcour. During the Revolutionary War the island was the stage for the first naval battle in the United States, when Benedict Arnold was an underfunded hero.
No approach shots because it was so windy but here’s a typical rock island with evergreens.
The lighthouse had its light removed in the 1930’s and was replaced by a steel tower as happened in several lighthouses along the lake. Happily now, the steel tower is an osprey nest and the light is back where it belongs.
The wind was behind us when we headed north and then spun around and followed us home, which made for a very pleasant sail.
Our life is basically a big vacation but we occasionally still need a vacation from our vacation. So we go sailing. This trip, we sailed five hours north on the NY side of Lake Champlain and today crossed the lake to Burlington, VT. We are in a minority at anchorages since the vast majority of boats are from Montreal and a wee bit bigger than ours.
My new towels are coming in handy on the boat.
The critters and I spent the day close to home. We had much needed rain and thunderstorms so I headed to the cave and finished weaving my placemats. They are off the loom and drying now.
During the height of the storm, the hummingbird feeder was the place to be.
And even the grasshoppers sought cover.
We’re friends again.
Not all my projects can be winners. I was eager to get back to the loom and make six placemats. I measured, wound and secured the warp without difficulty for a change. In all, I had about a mile of cotton; 280 ends, each about 6 yards long.
Looks good so far, right? After this it became a disaster and I was in no position or mood to photograph it. I tried to follow instructions to dress the loom from back to front and ended up with a snarled, tangled mess and a backache to boot.
So on to the winners. Remember that batch of beer I made about two months ago?. It’s ready! And good enough to drink! A winner!
My love of all things fiber continues to grow and expand. It began with knitting an Aran sweater in 2005 and, today, includes knitting, spinning, dyeing, weaving, quilting and sewing. In addition, I’ve always had a love of linen table fibers, as evidenced by the dining room drawers jammed with lace, damask, tatting, linen and hand crocheted doilies, tablecloths and runners, a few even hand made by yours truly.
My true addiction was revealed
yesterday. I couldn’t pass up a yard sale I saw on my way home from the recycling center. There were hand crocheted tablecloths, linen-hemstitched napkins, and embroidered table linens, all meticulously clean. They sparkled in the sun and smelled so fresh. I decided upon a crocheted tablecloth and set of linen napkins.
I got home and decided to organize the linens. Unlike my other fiber stashes, which are sequestered and scattered throughout the house waiting for inspiration, table linens have to be accessible. So they are. Stuffed in drawers.
Lo and behold, I already have a set of hem-stitched, linen napkins. But you can never have too many. I hung up the tablecloths, which were wrinkled because they had been jammed in the drawers, and, since it was a sunny, breezy day, washed a few of them and hung them on the line to dry. My domestic goddess is happy.
I am intrigued by rag rugs, braided wool rugs and more recently rope rugs. The Mountaineer, a local backcountry outfitter, has several coiled rope rugs, which are simply duct taped together, in their store. The first few turns are glued and then the balance are held together with duct tape. Way cool. The bright colors of climbing ropes really stand out this way. After a rope is used fairly briefly, it looses its strength and can’t be used for climbing so they use old ropes for these rugs. I have to figure out how to become the final resting place for old rope.
In the meantime, there was devastating flooding in the Adirondacks after Hurricane Irene last August. This dampened the inventory of a local hardware store which happens to carry climbing rope. It could no longer be sold as climbing rope and I bought it with the intent of taping up a rug. Then I thought it might be fun to weave a rug with it. While the end product is fun, the weaving itself was challenging because I basically had to pass a coil of rope through the weaving shed (that little space between the upper and lower threads) about 50 times. But in no time I had a rug, which has been claimed by my son and will be heading south today to keep his feet dry.
I am the trustee of my parent’s estate, which creates a lot of frustrating paperwork at tax time. Today was gorgeous though and I have shed my cast, so what could I do but take a walk. Tim and I walked to and fro our half mile dirt road, which means that I walked a mile in my boots. Yeah!!!
My new found freedom also enabled me to venture into the local thrift store, which is situated up a long flight of stairs. The first time in 9 weeks! I have sort of hesitated from shopping there since my patients could theoretically come in for an exam and see me in their clothes but what the heck. I was really on a quest for material and fiber but I found a Harris Tweed coat for $5.00!!! I have missed these opportunities for almost two months.
So I am now the proud owner of a Harris Tweed Coat woven in a point twill by James MacDonald! In addition, I found a set of hand embroidered napkins and a table cloth for $3.00. I also spotted a pair of placemats I had crocheted while we were living on our boat and I managed to stop myself from buying them back.
I am a work in process. I have started physical therapy, actually put a sneaker on my foot and used an exercise machine! Yeah. I was given permission to throw my crutches in the Lake and am walking about on my own two feet, with the aid of a walking cast. This goes in the Lake in three weeks. My mobility has enabled me to tackle and almost complete a myriad of projects and now I can cook and bake in the kitchen without the aid of a chair in the middle of the kitchen. I am still not getting out too much due to the layer of ice over everything so all my recent adventures have taken place at home on the range.
On the knitting front, I am working on two Santa Cruz hoodies as an overdue gift for two young boys. One is taking up a ton of yarn and I ran out of one color on the sleeve so did a sleeve-sleeve transfusion. I used the yarn from the long sleeve as I ripped it out, to knit the short sleeve. So while one shrunk, the other grew until they were even, then I had to add a stripe. As soon as I finish them, I have given myself permission to begin work on a Aran sweater for my son. He has approved the pattern and yarn and if I can stick to the pattern and knit the gauge, all should go well. (ha ha ha)
Circle of Loki
On the quilting front, I finished the cat quilt and Loki spends a lot of time sleeping on it curled into a tight ball. Once that was finished, I tackled the machine quilting of my kaleidoscope quilt. I had to wrestle the queen size quilt through my sewing machine but now have only the borders left. I devised a quilting pattern that avoids dragging the whole thing through the machine again. I am having mild panic that the marker I am using – now like an artist’s paintbrush all over the quilt- won’t come out as easily as the manufacturer says it will. Why do I always ignore the suggestion to try a test patch first?
Quilting
Weaving has had mixed results. I was able to use my walking cast to work the treadles of the floor loom but felt a bit like Herman Munster. So my twill scarves remain on it. I have been weaving with my rigid heddle loom and am trying to master a table runner for my daughter. The first was a disaster. I used rayon, which looked so pretty and shiny, but didn’t stretch – at all – and wasn’t able to hide my weaving errors. Now I am using recycled cotton and applying the lessons learned from the rayon disaster.
Weaving in progress
Baking is going well. I used my new crumpet rings with great success, make sandwich rolls regularly, have found a source of rennet to continue making mozzarella cheese and think I may have perfected the art of bagels. More about that later because it involves broiling, boiling and baking.
Crumpets
Rolls
Island and North Country Life 