High Fiber--Happy Memorial Day!

We had Vintage Stitchers at my house on Thursday. Barbara finished sewing the binding on this quilt while she was here.

Carol has been working on this "moment of insanity" quilt. (I've had several like that.) The reason it's a moment of insanity quilt is because she had no idea how many blocks she was going to have to make, and then she lost track and made too many.

The extras ended up on the back:

Janet makes a lot of charity quilts. Here's her latest:

She has an eye for color. They are comfort quilts. She backs them with flannel or Minky.

I worked on my appliqué for the Delectable Pathways quilt. I'm almost done with the first of the three panels.

I finished my first woven rug. It was a little wonky, but I thought I would fix some of that with wet finishing (blocking). Here's how I blocked it: I sewed some overcast sts along each selvedge to hold the blocking wires.

Then I soaked the rug in Kookaburra Wool Wash for half an hour, turning it over halfway through. Here's the rug blocking:

When it was dry, I was pleased with the rug. It wasn't perfect, but most of the distortion was gone. Here's the rug in powder room:

I've started the second rug. I've decided to stick with stripes until I take the rug class in November.

The yarn is Wool of the Andes Bulky in various colors for weft and Maysville 8/4 Cotton Carpet Warp in natural for warp.

I've been reading about rug making, and read in The Craft of the Weaver by Ann Sutton, Peter Collingwood and Geraldine St. Aubyn Hubbard. One of the things I read was when weaving a weft-faced rug (one where the warp is covered up more or less completely) you should beat with the shed still open, beat again with the shed closed and beat a third time with the next shed open. I've been doing this, and the warp threads disappear completely.

Here's a closeup, showing how the warp threads are completely covered up:

Speaking of the class in November, Karan, Margareth and I ordered our yarn for the class:

The four cones in front are mine: Brick, Mushroom, Dune and Chocolate. Karan's are upper right and Margareth's are upper left. The yarn is Collingwood Rug Yarn. WEBS was having a sale for all of May, and this was included in the sale yarns, so we bought it, even though we don't need it until November.

I finally finished the first of my Fiji Socks. I started these in Wisconsin before Zachary was born, so that was more than a year ago. The second one will probably go faster. For me, "second-sock syndrome" means I can't put down the second sock until it's done. Although I have a lot of pots on the stove right now....

The yarn is Stroll Glimmer in "Fiji." (Hence the name.) Too bad the angelina doesn't show up well. It's very sparkly. I'll try to post a photo taken in daylight closeup. Maybe it will show up then.

Saturday was a very nice day, so we took the pups and went for a late-afternoon hike. some of the wildflowers are blooming already, especially the Balsam Root, shown here with Rocky and Sunny.

They look as if they just had a tiff and aren't speaking, but they really are best pals, and this was the only one with the sun on Rocky's face. (Black poodles are so hard to photograph!)

For a gratuitous baby photo, I thought you would enjoy seeing Soren in his new bike helmet, getting ready for his first bike ride:

May we remember those who have worn our uniform and be worthy of their sacrifice.

What's on my needles: Daphne's Bunny Suit, front and back done. Ready to start the sleeves, and Fiji Socks.

What's on my loom: The second and bigger rug. It's going better than the first.

What's on my iPad: Listening to another Audible audiobook, D. E. Stevenson's The Musgraves, and various podcasts, including Seyne Mitchell's Weavecast and Benjamin Levisay's Fiber Hooligan podcast, new episode available today.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Espresso." Finished the first bobbin.

What's on my Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, blocks finished, and making progress on the appliqué.

What's in my wine glass: Scheid's Gewurtztramiemer 1999. We didn't expect a white this old to still be good after all these years, but it was wonderful!

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber—Adventures in Weaving and Other Fiber Fun

In spite of a busy week, there was some progress on several projects. The appliqué part of the Delectable Pathways quilt is coming along. 

I worked on it some during the Common Threads meeting, which took place at Margareth’s. We got to see her loom, which is situated with a lovely view of the mountains surrounding our area. (Her loom is beautiful, too.)

Margareth had been working on the warp for an afghan.

She showed me how she moved the reed to one side (to the left in this photo) to enable her to move the heddles out of the way for threading. She will be using the double-weave method to make her cloth twice the width.

Margareth had one of her finished projects on display on her dining table, this table runner:

Margareth invented the design for this heart afghan, which she trimmed with a crochet lace. It’s a real inspiration, seeing what she’s made in the few months she has been weaving.

My rug is coming along. The smaller one is about half finished:

I’m using Wool of the Andes bulky in several colors. Details are in last week’s blog post. Margareth and I will be taking Jason Collingwood's rug class in November. We decided to buy some of the rug yarn he uses, and Karan joined in to  order the yarn we need for the class through WEBS, since these yarns are included in their special May sale.

I also managed to get a bit of spinning done. The first bobbin of Full Circle Espresso is almost done. Here's how it looked a few days ago. Just imagine the bobbin fuller now. It's also darker than it appears. My photo needed the flash.

Tuesday was Daphne’s third birthday. Her parents got her a little bicycle.

We got her an Olivia doll and three books about the precocious pig. She had her first real birthday cake:

We joined the other grandparents at her birthday party by Skype. We all had a great time, although Skype doesn't allow us to taste the cake!

The week also included Tuesday evening’s practice for the Park City Singers spring choral concerts, which took place Friday and Sunday evenings, and dinner and the opera Wednesday evening. We saw The Barber of Seville at Utah Opera. We’ve seen this opera before, but this was the best performance we’ve ever seen. The audience was almost rolling in the aisles, it was so funny, thanks to amazing choreography and hilarious visual gags.

I’m ready for a quieter week, though. My social life is cutting into my fiber fun! Also hoping our spring weather comes back! It has dropped back to the 40s!

What's on my needles: Daphne's Bunny Suit, front and back done. Ready to start the sleeves. (A boo-boo on my finger has cut into my knitting fun, making the other activities easier to do.)

What's on my loom: The rug shown above, half finished.

What's on my iPad: Listening to another Audible audiobook, Dean Koontz’s Whispers, and various podcasts, including Seyne Mitchell's Weavecast and Benjamin Levisay's Fiber Hooligan podcast, new episode available today.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Espresso." First bobbin almost done.

What's on my Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, blocks finished, now piecing the pieced blocks together with plain triangles in strips, and making progress on the appliqué.

What's in my wine glass: Parducci Small Lot Blend Petite Sirah, 2008, a new addition to our list of favorites.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber—Spring Comes to the Mountains!

Our daffodils bloomed just in time for Mother's Day!

The hummingbirds are back, too. The hiking trails are almost clear of snow. The mud is starting to dry on the trails, so we decided to take a hike in Toll Canyon, near our home, on Wednesday. It looked like a nice day when we started out, but it started to rain while we were out. The wildflowers are starting to bloom, though, and it wasn't too muddy yet, so it was a nice hike.

After we got to the car, it really started coming down, then it rained for the rest of the day and night. We had thunderstorms almost every day for the rest of the week. Saturday was sunny, but still cool and breezy at our elevation. However, Mother's Day was beautiful, warm and sunny. (Insert happy face here.)

The rain meant no spinning on the deck, but there was lots to do indoors. I got a good start on the rug for our new powder room. It's what's called "weft-faced," because the weft (horizontal threads made by the shuttle) completely covers the warp (the threads installed on the loom in the process of warping). I'm using Wool of the Andes bulky.

The colors I'm using are Chocolate, Suede, Masala, Bare and Hazelnut. I don't know the name of the blue, and I think the color has been discontinued, but it's sort of a peacock blue.

I used some of blue yarn to make a header, along with some crochet cotton. All of that will come out when I take it off the loom. I liked the blue with the other colors for the powder room, though, so I decided to throw in some at the end of the sequence of stripes. I divided the remaining blue yarn in half, so I would have enough of it to make a stripe of the same size at the other end. The middle will be a white (Bare) diamond shape on a background of Hazelnut (sort of a rusty brown). I'm finding the diamond a little challenging. I discovered the diamond shape was lopsided, so I had to unweave some. I either need a cartoon (pattern drawn on paper or Pellon used under the warp threads) or I need to do the two sides first and then the diamond, although that would require weaving without an open shed, and beating with a fork (not like making scrambled eggs, though). 

Three Wishes Fiber Arts, the only store that sells weaving and spinning supplies in this part of Utah, is closing, and they had a lot of things for 50% off. It's a long drive, so I ordered some 10/4 mercerized cotton for dish towels, sight unseen. I'm happy with what I got, though. I should be able to make a lot of dish towels out of two 2-lb. cones:

The weaver's guild meeting Thursday night was very interesting. We learned about how to use a 4-shaft loom to weave designs made for 8-shaft looms using a "split-shed" technique. I'm not ready for that yet, but I have all the information to get started if/when I do, and it's good to know it's possible. It's more time-consuming using this technique on a 4-shaft loom than using 8 shafts, but if 4 is all you have...

I'm very excited about a rug-weaving class coming up in November. Jason Collingwood is coming to teach. (He's a famous rug weaver!)

Deanna, who taught my private class when I first got my loom, gave me some tips on how to get the diamond in the middle of my current project to come out even.

In spinning news, Tour de Fleece is coming up, and Team KP will be joining in again. I'm sure we'll be getting more information when the time comes. I'm practicing my spinning to get ready. Here's my second bump of Full Circle "Pigeon," plied and ready to take off the bobbin:

I got 284 yds., 18 wpi, but it still needs washing.

Now I'm spinning the "Espresso" color. 

I finished the front to the sweater for Miss Daphne's Bunny Suit. Here it is blocking:

Just the sleeves to go, and then on to the pants.

I'm making progress on the hand appliqué for the Delectable Pathways quilt. I'll try to have a photo for you next week.

We haven't had a gratuitous baby photo for a couple of weeks, so here's one of 13-month-old Zachary:

His mother said he was stretching before his dance solo. (The dance solo involved some bouncing on the Dora couch, shown in the photo behind him.)

Tomorrow is Miss Daphne's third birthday. I hope to have some photos for you next week.

What's on my needles: Daphne's Bunny Suit, front and back done. Ready to start the sleeves.

What's on my loom: The rug shown above.

What's on my iPad: Listening to another Audible audiobook, Debbie Macomber's Hannah's List, and various podcasts, including Seyne Mitchell's Weavecast and Benjamin Levisay's Fiber Hooligan podcast, new episode available today.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Espresso." Well into the first bobbin.

What's on my Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, blocks finished, now piecing the pieced blocks together with plain traingles in strips, and making progress on the appliqué.

What's in my wine glass: Woodbridge Zinfandel 2011. Excellent!

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

High Fiber--Ready, Sett, Warp!

Common Threads met at Georgette's this week, and we had some varied projects. Margareth had finished this woven wrap:

Janet had made progress on her Dogwood Blossoms sweater. The photo didn't turn out, so I'll have to show it another time. Lone was working on needle felting:

Joanie finished her Moebius scarf while we were together:

Georgette was starting a new needlepoint project. She showed us this knitting project she had finished. It's a reversible cable scarf:

Barbara had finished the socks she made using my hand-spun yarn I made for her:

The charity quilt only needs a label. Karan is going to make one for it:

I took my "Delectable Pathways" appliqué to work on and the blocks I still needed to remove the paper from (from the paper-foundation piecing). The pieced blocks are all finished, unless I've counted wrong.

On Saturday I finished the "Ocean Placemats" and took them off the loom. I needed to sew around the edges and hem the selvedges:

I've been spinning in the evening. I'm working on the Full Circle Roving in "Pigeon." Here's my progress on the singles:

Knit Picks was having a Dishie sale, which made the other colors as cheap as the yarn in the kit. I was planning to make rugs for the new bathrooms using WotA bulky yarns and leftover carpet warp, and needed a couple of colors I didn't have in my stash anyway, so it was a good time for an order. We also need a bathmat, and I thought Dishie would be perfect for it. I'm planning on using the "Absorba, the Great Bathmat" pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting for that. I ordered Dishie in "Linen" for the bathmat and "Fiesta Red," "Clementine," "Conch" and "Creme Brûlée" for more placemats (still have plenty of "Swan" left over from the other placemats). The "Linen" Dishie is on backorder, but the other stuff came on Saturday:

We had nice weather on Tuesday, so we took the pups for a hike down in Salt Lake City, where the trails were dry and the snow was gone. We hiked up to a location called "The Living Room." There are flat rocks arranged like couches, where you can get a panoramic view of the city. I thought you would appreciate this cute photo of Sunny waiting for Daddy to come up with a treat in his pack:

It snowed the next two days. Again!

What's on my needles: Daphne's Bunny Suit, front done through part of the bunny pattern, and Dogwood Blossoms. 

What's on my loom: Warping for the bathroom rugs now.

What's on my iPad: Listening to another Audible audiobook, Debbie Macomber's Hannah's List, and various podcasts, including Seyne Mitchell's Weavecast and Benjamin Levisay's Fiber Hooligan podcast, new episode available today.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Pigeon." Well into the second bobbin.

What's on my Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, blocks finished, and making progress on the appliqué.

What's in my wine glass: Crane Lake Malbec 2011, one of our favorites.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.