Hot Spot

Our internet went down at 11 am today. I know the exact time because I had just finished listening to The Silkworm and was trying to borrow the next book in the series from the library.

After we tried the usual things we called Spectrum and they agreed there was a problem: we were not receiving a signal. They were going to send someone out between 2 - 3 pm today.

At 2:30 pm the repairman came out - checked the house equipment inside and outside and climbed the pole closest to the house. Still no signal.

 

 

Our internet and phone service was restored before 6 pm. I could see that they had been working on several poles out on the main road.

I thought it was speedy service but, drats, for the time lost that I could've been immersed in another 18-hour Cormoran Strike audiobook.

 

 

Old Stump

There is something about the gnarly old oak stump surrounded by the young green of Miner's Lettuce: color, texture, character. It draws my eye to it and makes me pause.

 

 

 

Fiber Preview

Prepping fiber for the next spin.

 

Today's produce box.

 

 

New Series

 Finished the first . . .

 

library audio book

 and immediately started the second.

Library audio book

Something Different

 

Cat House

 

It's Huge

Pizza for lunch with family. The pizza box is so huge, it's ridiculous.

 

 

Yes - ridiculous, and fun, and delicious.

Too Late

 Lights out at 11:56 pm - nearly midnight - staying up way too late in order to finish a book.

 

Library ebook

Tiny Tremor

I woke to a tremor this morning. The Man asked, "Is it an earthquake?"

A moment later Mattie whimpered a bit as she dreamed her doggy dreams so we knew she hadn't been shaking the bed.

 

Rainbow

A light misty rain + the morning sun =

 

 

End of Warp

I finished the weaving on the 10" Cricket loom and I'm happy to say that the single bobbin of 8/2 Tencel took me all the way to the end of the warp.

The warp tension was starting to get wonky so I decided to play it safe and stop at 82" of weaving.

 

I like to hemstitch before I cut the warp off the loom.

 

 

I also checked the warp for any woven threads that were missed ("floats" or "skips") and immediately found one. Drats, towards the end of the warp, probably from the uneven warp tension.

 

 

I fixed it and supposedly once the scarf is wet-finished the repaired missed thread will "disappear".

 

But. Hmm - you know - since the float is so close to the scarf's edge I may take out the hemstitiching, unweave for about an inch, take out the skip, and hemstitch again. I will think about it.

I checked the rest of the scarf and found no other floats.

I cut the scarf off the loom.

 

Straight Shot

This week I have really enjoyed weaving on the Schacht 10" Cricket loom. In addition to weaving outside a couple of times, it's been moving around the downstairs family room all week: by the fireplace, my desk, the couch, the Charkha chair. I love how portable it is.

Today The Man helped me carry the Gilmore Little Gem downstairs. I created a space downstairs for a new loom. I had been thinking of getting a larger loom to weave wider cloth.

After weaving on the Cricket this week I instead decided to fill the downstairs space with the Wee Gilmore. Having it downstairs will make it more convenient and accessible.

 

 

Also, it's a straight shot out the door to the front porch and garden which makes it the best reason to have the Wee Gem downstairs.

 

Before the Rain

A rainbow appeared this morning during our morning walk down the driveway.

 

 

This afternoon I reinforced the weatherproofing on the chicken coop which means I added additional feedbags and twine. I know it's not pretty but Sage and Kochi don't seem to mind.

 

Loom Love

Today Boots seemed particularly enamored with the Cricket Loom.

 

 

I had to constantly shoo Boots away from the loom. Jack came over to see if maybe snacks were being handed out.

 

 

When I stepped away I made sure the Cricket was well out of reach.

 

Rain's a Coming

Spending time outside while the sun still shines.

 

 

 

Wings of Prosperity

Earlier today I wound one bobbin with 8/2 Tencel using the electric bobbin winder. The winder has a foot pedal control and it is crazy fast. I only use it for very fine yarns.

 

 

My plan was to wind a nice fat bobbin that - maybe - could weave the entire scarf without using a second bobbin, i.e. no joins.

Oops, too big, it wouldn't fit in the boat shuttle and I had to wind some off.

 

 

I used some handspun cotton yarn as "waste yarn" to weave a header and then hemstitched with the Tencel.

 

 

Weaving in progress.

 

 

 

 

Warp: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn, color "Wings of Prosperity".

Weft: Maurice Brassard 8/2 Tencel yarn, color "Burgundy".

Hearts a Plenty

I spent all day at the Weaving Barn today.

The second Tuesday of every month the Little Looms Weaving group meets from 1 to 3pm. It meets the same day as the weekly morning session of Spinners' group. Since many of us attend Spinners' we started a monthly potluck about a year ago.

The potlucks have been fantastic - casual, fun, delicious, and balanced. The healthy fruit and salad dishes are nicely balanced by the baked goods - pies, cookies, brownies - and other sweets. And we're not even mentioning the monthly Birthday cake. Perhaps as a result the group has expanded from 8 of us showing up to 20-plus in attendance. Coincidence?

Today we wove heart ornaments with Paper Band, a stiff basketry-type material. Pat supplied us with the materials, instructions, demonstrations, and scoldings when we didn't weave properly, "You didn't go over, under", as well as chocolate to fill the wee ornaments.

 

Easily Diverted

A bit chilly this morning. I found a nice spot in front of the wood stove to thread the loom.

 

I thought I would be weaving today but I got distracted diverted to spin "Cataclysm".

 

Into the Whirled (ITW) November 2023 "Cataclysm" 80/20 Merino/Silk

Take Two

This afternoon I started warping the 10" Cricket loom to weave a Pooled Warp Scarf.

 

 

Easy peasy, except when it's not. The colors were so similar I couldn't differentiate the purple-gray from the greenish-brown from the gray-green. I took the yarn off the warping peg and laid it out on the floor to try to align the colors.

 

 

I tried warping again but still couldn't get the colors right. I caked the yarn back up and swapped it for another Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock skein with higher color contrast.