If you read last week's blog post, you will remember that I finally got the loom dusted off and warped for placemats. Not a lot of progress has been made, but at least there's something new to show, which should give you an idea of what it will be like. After a few picks of grey cotton waste yarn, I started weaving with the turquoise yarn for the edge. There will be a fringe formed by the warp, and the grey waste will be removed at that time. Now the weft, 1/2" wide cotton fabric strips, will make the body of the placemat. I had some commercially cut strips, inherited with my loom. They are cotton batik. The label says "Princess Mirah Designs" from Bali Fabrics, www.balifab.com, but they don't seem to be around anymore. I'm also using fabric strips made from my stash.
When I reach 19" from the beginning of the turquoise, I'll stop using the cotton strips and finish the first placemat with another inch of turquoise, finishing with fringe. I'll have to put in some kind of spacer between the placemats. When I made the trailer rugs, I used cardboard strips.
I'm making quilts for the grandkids' beds, starting with Soren and Johan. They each have one wall in a special color, and I'm using these color samples as my guide.
I planned to use the "disappearing hourglass" and the "disappearing pinwheel" as patterns for the blocks, just because it's fun. There's a tutorial for the first block here, but I came across it first in a Missouri Star video. The second one is also available online.
I had a lot of fabrics that would be compatible with these colors, but many of them are very busy and more medium than light or dark, so the contrast doesn't show up very well. I like to take a photo and switch it to black and white to show the contrast. This is what I was getting. That could make the quilt very interesting, as long as some of the blocks are easy to make out.
I've started on the colorwork section of the Kultainen Käki Cardigan. My Ravelry page for the project is here. The pattern is for a pullover, but I'm knitting it as a cardigan by adding steek stitches in the center front. As with the quilts I'm working on, there isn't a lot of contrast between the fabrics, but I think it will show up well enough.
In this closeup, you can see three tan stitches. When there are a lot more rows, it should become more obvious. It should go faster, now that the foundation row is laid down.
I had a little help in wasting time this week from Sandy, who snatched my ball of the tan yarn, right from under my nose just as I was starting this row. He would have pulled my knitting out into the yard, but I quickly broke the yarn and let him have the ball of contrast color. When I finally got it back, it looked like this.
Here's a mugshot of the culprit. (I didn't bother with fingerprints.)
Sandy has grown like a weed! I weighed him on Friday, and he was up to 14.6 lbs. Just for kicks, I decided to measure him, too. He's now 15 3/8" at the shoulder, so no longer officially a miniature. As you can see from this photo, Dusty is still taller, but not by a lot. You can also see how much more hair Sandy has, even though they were groomed at the same time. Puppy hair grows faster. They both go back to the groomer on Tuesday. I'll try to get a photo of them then.
We dismantled the big playpen. We were expecting the Oregon grandkids to come to visit, and all the playpen was good for was keeping Dusty out of Sandy's kibble. Charlie had a difficult time figuring out how to fold the playpen up. It took him longer to do that than it did for me to straighten out my tangled yarn. (It's like one of those raincoats that come in an envelope.)
I did some tidying and cleaning in preparation for the kids' arrival. The chest of drawers in the guest room is useable now, so I put some freezer paper down in the drawers, so clothes could be stored there without coming into direct contact with the wood.
The kids didn't come his week, though. One of them had a digestive upset that would have made travel difficult. They will try to come soon, though. Cleaning the house should be easier, since it has been done so recently. That would be a nice contrast!
We stopped in Eugene on Tuesday on our way back from Florence, to have another look at the trailer we think we're going to buy. We're pretty sure it's what we want, and we put down some $$$ to have a first right of refusal, in case someone else wants to buy it. We mostly just need to figure out if we want to finance it or pull money from savings to pay for it.
We managed to walk every day after our return from Florence.
I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.
If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.
Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.
What's on my needles: Still the Kultainen käki cardigan and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).
What's on my loom: Placemats, but I had to dust my loom first.
What's on my sewing machine: Disappearing whatever blocks.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: We revisit Jolena's first month after she was released from her box in Adventures of a Busy Doll. It's another rerun, but I'm working on some new stories.
What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to White Silence by Jodi Taylor. I thought I had listened to it before, but I don't remember any of it, so I must have marked it "finished" by mistake. It's very good. I love Taylor's snarky dialog!
What's in my wine glass: Viña Crostata Macabeo 2020 from Valencia (Spain), a nice, crisp white.
What's my tip of the week: Puppy kibble make great treats for any dog except the puppy who eats it all the time. It's small, tidy, doesn't need refrigeration and doesn't add empty calories.
Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.
Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.
Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.
If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less.
Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.
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