Giving in to Temptation

I couldn't keep from casting on the "Echo Flower Shawl."


I thought it might actually be useful this summer. I'm using Bare 100% Merino Lace Weight yarn from Knit Picks, and putting beads in where the pattern has twisted sts. It's going fast, partly because I'm finding it very entertaining.

The pattern is "Echo Flower Shawl" by Jenny Johnson Johnen. The yarn is left over from Daphne's Lace Christening Gown. (I really overestimated the amount I needed for that project!) There's a KAL for the project already on the Knitting Community.

Soon I hope to start the Busy Bee Throw, a pattern just issued by Knit Picks. It's a Granny-square-type crochet throw designed by our own Shaina Scott, EdwardRad on the Knitting Community and YumiYarns on Ravelry. If a KAL (CAL?) doesn't appear soon, I plan on starting one. I'll be using City Tweed DK, which will make the hive "cells" a little smaller, but it should be a great use for the yarn.

On Saturday the Mary Megs Atwater Weavers Guild stopped to see my fiber studio as part of a "Park City Tour" to see how we were set up for weaving and other fiber fun. One of the ladies took photos of my bench. She's going to ask her DH to make her one like it. From my house, they went on to Karan's and then to Margareth's, where they had lunch.

My Multi Scrap Scarf is going well. I'm up to 32".

Part of the week was very nice. By Wednesday the ground had dried out enough to hike on the trails above our house. Friday it started to rain again. At least we got good hikes in on Wednesday and Thursday.

I promise some quilting next week!

What's on my needles: Echo Flowers Shawl and the Fair Isle Flower Socks. Ready to CO the "March of the Fibres" cardi when I get a chance. I planned on doing the CO this week, but got sidetracked (again).

What's on my Featherweight: Ready to start next month's blocks from First Ladies. Another class meeting this week.

What's on my wheel: Still Full Circle spinning fiber in "Pigeon." No progress there.

What's on my loom: Still the Multi Scrap scarf, but up to 32".

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson and then The Void by J. d. Horn, both from Audible. Now I'm reading The Tutor's Daughter by Julie Klassen. Still reading Death by Cashmere in iBooks. Also Ann Budd's Sock Knitting Master Class on Kindle.

What's in my wine glass: Lindeman's Cawarra Shiraz-Cabernet 2014. The big bottle.

What's my tip of the week: When traveling with a project that requires beads, putting the beads on a strip of masking tape or painters' tape will keep them from rolling away. They can still be picked up from the tape easily with the crochet hook or needle.

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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Blocks and Cables

The Pine Burr quilt is coming along. Here's Block 11:


And Block 12:


I should point out here that this is paper-pieced. The pattern is "Pine Burr Made Modern" by Konda Luckau from May/June 2012 McCall's Quilting. I've had the pattern and the foundation sheets in my notebook since it came out, but wanted to improve my paper-piecing techniques before trying it. The "Delectable Pathways" quilt gave me a good start. A recent class and the purchase of an Add-a-Quarter Ruler made it a lot easier for me to do paper-piecing. I'm going almost totally scrappy on this quilt, unlike the one in the magazine. With all different background fabrics, the piecing of the background will show up more. I think the effect will still be nice, though.

Here's a photo of the first 12 blocks on my design wall. (Sorry about uneven lighting. I have track lights in my studio.) This isn't how they will be arranged. I'm going to play with them when I have all 16. There will be sashing, cornerstones, borders, etc., too.


Now there are more, but it's hard to get a photo of them all together because of the table in front of my design wall. 

Here's Block 13:


And Block 14. Only two to go!


Thursday was a very busy day. Common Threads met at Karan's again. She's working on a hot-air balloon mobile for her first grandchild. It will be a series of little hot-air balloons with the little baskets to carry the tiny imaginary people up into the clouds. She has two of the balloons done.


She's also making progress on her "Flying South" cardigan.


Susan has been working on "zentangles," something I had never seen before.


Ginny was there, too. She's still hand-quilting her pillow shams.

Then, Thursday evening, the Park City Quilt Guild met. We were supposed to bring examples of how we worked with color or how we chose the colors.

Linda brought this great quilt top, where the border fabric was an inspiration for the other fabrics.


Several people mentioned that they often choose a fabric with colors they like together, then use that to pick the other fabrics for a quilt. You don't even need to actually use the inspiration fabric in the quilt.

Colleen blew us away with this awesome Baltimore Beauty:

She had a class a few years ago with Elly Sienkiewicz. That's when she started this. It's all done by hand. She shifted the traditional red-green color scheme off a little, to great effect.

Davidene showed how using one unifying color could make mismatched fabrics work together.


This quilter challenged herself to use orange and pink together in this great tulip quilt (Jill's sister, I think, but I've forgotten her name). : 

Jill brought this Twister quilt to show:


And here's what she made with the leftovers:


Jill took this quilt top entirely apart because she didn't like how it looked. This is the new, better, version.


I took my "Thousand Years of Friendships" quilt, where I took a ball of olive-colored yarn with me as I chose the fabrics.


I also took "Antique Diamonds," made from the Keepsake Quilting Millennium Quilt kit given to me by a friend who was cleaning out her quilting studio. The color choices here were made by eliminating any wild fabrics and then matching up lighter and darker fabrics for contrast. Then I strung some colors together just to emphasize those colors.

Both of these are hand-quilted. (I didn't photograph my quilts at the meeting, because I was busy holding them up but these old photos show the colors well.)

In knitting news, the first Johan sock is done:

The yarn is Stroll Tweed in Flagstone Heather, sort of a slate gray in real life. (It sort of looks blue-green on my monitor.) The pattern is "Bavarian Twisted Stitch" from Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles," but I tightened up the gauge for my skinnier feet, didn't twist the purl stitches and used a regular flat toe.

I started these socks on the trip to Oregon last summer to meet Johan, our new grandson. Guess I've been suffering from "first-sock syndrome." The second one will go fast. I just picked up more sock yarn at Knit Picks latest sale, and I have lots of plans for socks I'm dying to make.

I tried something new (to me, anyway) with this sock. I always wear out the bottom of the heel, so I knitted with two strands across that area, cutting the extra strand when I reached the gusset/instep stitches. Here's how it looks on the inside:

I think the extra strand will stay put. Watch this blog for a report on how this works in practice!

I'm ready to start March of the Fibres sweater, but I decided I needed more gray Palette yarn, so I have some on the way.

On Saturday, the pups and I went for a short "hike" in Toll Canyon, an area adjacent to our neighborhood. It was a nice day, and we met other people along the way. There wasn't enough snow for snowshoes, but my Yaktrax would have been welcome.

Sunny and Rocky have 4X4, so they were able to run. I just had to be careful.

Sunday was church, the opera and practice for The Messiah Project...performance this coming Sunday.

What's on my needles: Working on the Johan Socks, one sock done. Also still working on the second Martha Washington's Wreath appliqué block for my First Ladies quilt, not much progress this week, and worked some more on hand-quilting my "Spring Flowers" quilt.

What's on my Featherweight: Pine Burr, ready to start block 15.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle spinning fiber in "Pigeon."

What's on my loom: Still some warp for another scarf.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Music from Park City's Messiah Project. Finished listening to An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor, then Breakfast With Buddha by Roland Merullo, both recent "Daily Deal" offerings from Audible and both very enjoyable and beautifully written. The second book is a novel about a road trip a man takes with his sister's guru. It's about the nature of religion, anger and joy. Very special. Now listening to The Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L. A. Meyer, the second in the Bloody Jack series about a British street urchin who disguises herself as a boy so she can work on a ship as a cabin boy. This one was available from my library as an audio download, so I'm listening on the Overdrive app. Finished reading Beyond the Cliffs of Kerry by Amanda Hughes on the Kindle app. It was an interesting story, but the writing didn't flow. Just starting Jennifer Coburn's Tales from the Crib, also on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Corbett Canyon Merlot. ("You had me at Merlot.") Always a decent wine.

What's my tip of the week: When tracing templates on fabric or otherwise drawing on fabric, place the fabric on top of a piece of sandpaper. The sandpaper will keep the fabric from stretching as the pencil moves across it. Slight pressure on the template helps. You can glue the sandpaper to a stiff surface, like a piece of wood, plexiglass or heavy paper to keep it from sliding around.

I found this item all ready to go at a quilt store. the plastic can also be used for glueing, but I don't do that very often.


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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Classy Clasps and Shifty Shafts

Last weekend was the rug weaving class with Jason Collingwood, "Four-end Blockweaves." 

We met at the Officer's Club at Ft. Douglas in Salt Lake City. The class was sponsored by the Mary Meigs Atwater Weavers Guild.

Jason Collingwood is a world-renowned rug weaver and teacher located in Colchester in Essex, England. For a month or two every year, he travels the world and teaches rug weaving. He also sells his rugs and will weave them to order. He's the son of another famous rug weaver, Peter Collingwood, who authored and coauthored a number of books on weaving. Have a look at his gallery!

The class started on Saturday, November 9th, and ended on Monday, November 11th, Veterans' Day. I was afraid that much of it would be way over my head, but the hardest parts were just barely over my head, which made it possible to just about get everything. Jason is not only a wonderful weaver; he's also a fantastic teacher. 

Here are a few of the things we learned:

Jason showed us how to start a rug with twining, and we got to practice at the beginning of our own rugs. 

Here he demonstrates starting a new yarn:

And here, weaving in ends:

We learned the correct way for placing a temple:

These rugs are double thickness, with the upper layer thrown through the shed alternately with the lower level. Block weaves create a pattern on both sides, with the pattern on the back appearing in the opposite colors from those on the front. With my rug, the brown will be the background on the back, and the beige will be the pattern. Here's what I had at the end of the first day.

It doesn't look like much progress, but some time was spent with lecture, questions and demonstrations. Of course, the fact that I had to pick out a lot might have something to do with my lack of progress. At least I wasn't the only one who had to do that. 

Here are the students ready for day two.

There's lots to learn. Jason wrote out the "formulas" for various patterns on the board and drew diagrams to illustrate what he was talking about. 

We learned how to clasp two yarns in a pick to get three colors in our pattern without adding another layer. Here he shows us how to get enough weft in the shed using the clasp. I had actually tried this before, after reading about it in one of Joanie's magazines, so I caught on to this technique quickly. 

What I didn't remember (although I could have read it, but didn't understand it because I had no idea that you could weave with two layers) was how to hide the connection where the two yarns clasp. If you place it where the background is, it doesn't show. 

Here's my progress at the end of day two. I used the clasping technique to get the orange color into the rug.

On the last day, we learned some more sophisticated techniques. Jason showed us how to set up the loom for shaft-switching:

This allows for more flexibility in patterns with the same warp by allowing you to move individual warp threads from one shaft to another one simply by pulling the thread closer either to one heddle or an adjacent one. (Jason has levers for this on his own looms.)

Using a pick-up stick can accomplish the same thing as shaft-switching, but takes longer.

Here Jason uses this nifty tool to demonstrate how to create a number of different finishes for a rug.

Margareth finished her rug with twining similar to the twining she began with.

Here Jason is taking Margareth's rug off the loom to demonstrate how it's done:

Here's my three-days' work: 12" using a variety of different techniques. The embossed technique is called "Summer and Winter," because it makes it thinner but denser in some areas. The thinner parts are reversed on the back.

I'm continuing to work on my little rug at home, so I can solidify what I've learned. The most challenging part? Using the technique for being able to weave a greater variety of patterns and still alternate colors, which gives you a better selvedge. That was a real brain-twister!

Vintage Stitchers met on Thursday. Rebecca brought out the scarf I wove for her with her Koigu yarn. She was very happy with it. 

Here's Rebecca's baby quilt. She had been invited to a baby birthday party. Julie said she would make her a photo-transfer label for the back, based on the invitation to the party, which featured photos of the one-year-old little girl, whom her family refers to as "Monkey." 

She based this quilt on this one of Julie's, which has a turtle in the lower left-hand corner. Turtle is what they call Julie's granddaughter. (You may have seen this quilt in one of my previous blogs.)

Rebecca's finished her wall quilt, and here it is, installed above her bedroom door. She needed a ladder and help to put it up. 

This week's cuteness: Daphne needed to have an unpleasant invasive procedure at the hospital, but she was a trooper. Her reward was a lolly, something she doesn't get often.

We had several days of snow this week, but I'll spare you the photos. I'm already dreaming of taking the trailer to Southern Utah for a holiday!

What's on my needles: Green Pastures cardigan for Daphne, first sleeve done. Dogwood Blossoms, Christmas Waffle sweater and Green Tea socks with the heel almost done. 

What's on my loom: Little progress on the Christmas present scarves. The smaller loom is the one I took to the class with Jason Collingwood. Finishing up the warp, so I can return the loom.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Wolf". First bobbin finished. No progress this week. 

What's on my Sewing needles, Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, piecing the Delectable Mountain block panels. Appliqué panel #3, No progress this week.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I was listening to The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore on the Overdrive app, but got busy because of the class, and it expired. Someone else has it, so I've reserved it again. In the meantime, I'm listening to Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer. Still reading Cry of the Peacock by V. R. Christensen on the Kindle App, purchased through BookBub. Intriguing story. Listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast.

What's my app of the week: Turner Classic Movies has an app that allows you to watch right on the app. It's called "Watch TCM."

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

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 were harmed during the production of this blog post.