Slipper-y preparations

I've worn felted slippers for several years. The pattern used is made with a double strand of worsted and the slipper turns out quite substantial. Good for general wear, but too thick to weave in.

Then, last winter, my sister gave me a pair of felted slippers made in the style of ballet shoes, and made with one strand of worsted. I was delighted to find I could weave in them. This is a VERY IMPORTANT finding. While weaving overshot, or some twill that involves dancing across the treadles carefully, I am fine weaving barefoot. But with plain weave, or a twill pattern that involves using treadles side by side, i.e., treadles 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, I bruise my feet pretty badly. The treadles are close and I can get a good speed up with these patterns, so as I release, say, treadle 1, I'm quickly pressing down on treadle 2. Treadle 1, on the way back up, whacks my foot where the big toe joins. I have had 2" of pretty bad bruising there.

It's not good to continually bruise a certain place, I don't think, so when I wore a hole through the ballet type slippers, I knit some more. I have 3 pair now, (good to slip into a suitcase for travels. I felted these this morning:





Cute, huh? Now I'm working on a pair of the sturdy, double strand type for my son-in-law, at his request.

I have a sample warp on the loom. A friend gifted me some 24/2 wool, which I could never afford to buy, so I stuck on a sample warp of white. It's 10" in the reed, 30 epi and I'm weaving 10" samples of plain weave, single strand weft straight twill, and double strand weft straight twill. My plan is to have 3 sets of these. One will remain as cut off the loom, one set will be hand washed, one set will be machine washed and fulled. Then I'll see what I know.

I still want to get an overshot tea towel warp (sample warp for my next coverlet) on and woven before I go to Germany in November. I'll try some of this 24/2 wool on that, too, just for grins.

I really like coverlets made of all cotton because of the easy care. Throw it in the machines. Even though traditional coverlets are crossed with fine wool, it's never appealed to me because of the care aspect. So, I'll sample it with the tea towel warp, wet finish in different ways, and see if I could live with a coverlet crossed in wool.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Now for a little prep work

The coverlet is done. I'll try to get a pic of it on a bed up soon - too late today. The rugs are done. I dug my sweet potatoes today after returning from Weaving Guild (which was delightful, as always).




I use raised beds, and these were grown in an 8'x4' bed. I dug them with a hand trowel and my fingers. I LOVE raised bed gardening.

So, sweet potatoes are off the list of urgent things to do. I have several things to do to the house and yard before cold weather hits, but I also need to wind warps for dyeing. A friend and I are going to have a dye day, bring the warps we have wound (or measured, depending on your nomenclature), and I have zero, count 'em, zero warps ready. I want to have at least 4 or 5, but mostly they'll be narrow, so that's not such a big deal. I'll be using 8/2 Tencel. The Tencel gods have decided there will be no more 10/2 in natural available, so 8/2 it is. I'll just have to sett it close enough that my 10/2 Tencel colors will give me the desired effect.

So, about this winding/measuring deal. When I take yarn from the cone and wind it on the warping board in 100-end bouts, I call that "winding." When I put it on the loom, I call that "beaming." However, not all weavers use these words. Some call the process of putting the warp on the warp beam "winding," and the warping board process "measuring." It would be nice if we all referred to it as the same thing... probably not going to happen.....

I still have a lot I'd like to accomplish before I head off on my winter trips. I hope to get another overshot tea towel warp at least beamed, and possibly woven, and the next coverlet warp on. I'm on a coverlet/blanket rampage, and I can't stop!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday odds and ends

I work a part time job - a/k/a/ my day job - at KMST Public Radio in Rolla. I usually work 8 a.m. - noon. Since last Saturday, though, we've been in Drive Mode. Twice a year we go to our membership and ask for money, and as annoying as it may be, we cannot survive without it. So, last Saturday from 4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., Sunday noon - 5:00 p.m., and Mon. through Fri., from about 5:40 a.m. - 1, 2, 3 o'clock, depending on how much I felt up to, has been spent at the office. It's much easier to process pledges a day's worth at a time, but I must admit that I left today shortly after 1:00. I am, to quote an old neighbor, "wore to a frazzle." Very tired.
In the meantime, in my pastime of weaving, I've been weaving a rug for a young friend who's getting married.




This is Pendleton worm. I saved my neutrals/solids when I recently cleared my raw product of worms of all other colors. The background is light blue, the window squares dark blue. I warped enough for two rugs, and I'm glad I did. Though difficult to get a good read on until it's off the loom, it seems to be very............uhmmmm, blue. I don't think they have anything against blue, but still, it's really ..... blue.
I felt lucky to get this one completed working late afternoons and evenings this week. Today I sewed other colors together, and will weave another rug this weekend - hopefully less blue. I'm on a time constraint for this gift - no pressure!
I also hope to get the coverlet pieces machine stitched and hemmed this weekend. (I only work from 2:00 - 10:00 p.m. tomorrow, and have Sunday off.)
In other odd things this week, I learned by happenstance that my iPad2 does not actually send photos anywhere when you choose that option and put in an email address. Which means photos of my art entry, which I blithely sent from my iPad a couple weeks ago, never got there. Luckily, I had permission to be late with my entry, and sent photos off last night, using my dinosaur desktop. Note to self: when sending anything important, CC yourself so you know if it sent.
My refrigerator was bereft of food this evening, so I drove to the grocery and picked up supper:




Don't know if you can see, but that's freshly smoked pork steak, slaw and Shock Top. It's going to be great, and my dog is anxiously awaiting the leavings of the pork steak.
Hopefully,next week I'll have enough breathing room to start eating healthier than this week has been. Here's where I'll start: my garden:


But right now, it's take-out from the local grocery and no alarm tomorrow morning. Bon appetit!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Beginning the finish

The coverlet pieces are off the loom, washed and dried. They've been sitting on my couch for most of this week, looking at me reproachfully as I hurried by them up the stairs to thread and beam the rug warp, as I finally finished the kitchen paint job, as I did a myriad of things that I'm sure were essential. But this evening I finally stood in front of the coverlet pieces and started our conversation.

I had already laid them out on the floor to see if they came close to matching, and they do, for the most part. I think there is actually a snowball's chance in hell of making this one work. I'm pretty determined to give it my best shot. This translates to sewing the pieces together by hand first, matching the pattern with each stitch, before I take it to the machine and make it permanent.

It's important the pieces stay as un-tensioned as possible, so I started out on my zafu and a pillow, so I can sit cross-legged for a period of time and still walk tomorrow, and the floor supports the bulk of the coverlet, so gravity doesn't pull on it. This was my workplace tonight.





Not saying I'm going to stay on the floor. I have it started now, and I know exactly where the needle has to go into the pattern (on both pieces) to make it match (I think). And I think I can keep the correct tension going even if I'm not sitting on the floor. Who knows, maybe I'll graduate to a chair! Whoo-ee! Party Down! (But the zafu is pretty comfortable, too.)

That's all tomorrow, though.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad