I Won....lots!

I won, I won! In fact, I won quite a lot. In an effort to support our local exhibition I decided to enter anything I could possibly think of that would fit in one of the listed categories. I did rather well, coming away with lots of ribbons and $70 in prize money.

That is a blue ribbon and $5 for each of nine firsts.

A red ribbon and $4 for each of 4 seconds.

And a white ribbon and $3 for each of 3 thirds.

Ahem.....that should be 3 white ribbons, but even though I was paid out and listed as winning a third place on the little crocheted, handspun pin cushion there wasn't a ribbon with it. Ah well, what are you supposed to do with the ribbons after the fair anyway?......I mean besides photograph them and show them off on your blog?

Huck-Lace Valance

It's done! I have a new, handwoven, huck-lace valance for the window in my wee Loom Room.


I wove it on my 4 shaft floor loom using the basic pattern from the "Huck-Lace Scarf" article by Madelyn Van Der Hoogt. Page 62 of the May/June 2009 issue of "Handwoven". I used Lin/Coton Superieur (80% linen, 20% cotton) purchased from Maurice Brassard Fils Inc. sett at 12 epi.



After the weaving was complete I wet finished the piece, hemmed the sides (warp is horizontal in the finished valance) and added a rod pocket of commercial fabric. The valance is approximately twice the width of the window for a nice gathered fullness.

It's a good thing the valance is quite full as it conceals a couple of mistakes I made in the treadling. If you look at the article in Handwoven you will see how difficult it is to see the developing pattern while it is still being woven on the loom. The lacy texture does not occur until the woven piece is wet finished. Only then do the mistakes appear obvious. This means that when my mind wandered a bit while I was weaving I was not entirely sure where I was in the pattern. If I knew for sure I had made an error I would have unwoven and fixed the problem, but I could never be sure.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the finished project. It's exactly the look I was hoping for.

It's My Way

I have been going through a tremendous amount of life turbulence lately, all of it out of my own direct control, and therefore causing me great stress. Chief Joseph's words, channelled by John Cali in "The Way of The Warrior", have been a very timely reminder to me to relax and not take life so seriously. I first discovered "The Way of the Warrior" in this beautiful video presentation by Reinis Ikass.



"The Way of the Warrior" has been so helpful to me that I wanted to make a habit of reviewing it each day, as a reminder of all I believe and how much easier life is if I simply "allow". I have gone through and personalized it for myself, substituting "my way" for "The Warrior's Way" so that it reflects "first person" writing style. An interesting side effect is that it makes "The Way of the Warrior" gender neutral and allows easier internalization of the concepts. As the reader I "own" the concepts more readily when I read "I always" rather than "the Warrior always".

I have John Cali's permission to share my revised rendition with you.

My Way

Adapted from "The Way of the Warrior", Chief Joseph.

My way is simple. It may be simple but it's not always easy.

I always speak my truth - no matter what the circumstances.

I am totally detached from what others think and say about me. (This is absolutely necessary if I am going to observe the first rule above.)

I always do my best to see the divinity in all that is. In this way, I shall never have any desire to own, control, manipulate, misuse or abuse any of the Great Spirit's creatures.

I always follow the highest path as dictated by the highest authority in the Universe - myself.

I totally trust in - and surrender to - the flow of my life. I know all is as it should be. Therefore I must always completely trust in - and surrender to - my Higher Self, my Soul, the Great Spirit.

I know all Love, all Wisdom, all Power lies within me - within my heart, my mind, my body, my Soul. There is nothing to seek, nothing to find, nowhere to go - except WITHIN.

I know with absolute certainty I have never made a mistake - I can never make a mistake. All of my life is simply a lesson in this classroom called Planet Earth. I learn as I go. All is as it should be.

I never take life on Planet Earth too seriously. It's all a game, after all - a game in the classroom of Planet Earth. And games should be fun. Enjoy the game - it won't last forever!

My heart is always full - and always grateful. I never know lack or emptiness - except, that is, when I create those illusions by getting too infatuated with the Great Illusion - the human experience.

I know the Great Illusion creates some highly interesting challenges - for example, the challenge to rise above the Great Illusion.

As I rise above the Great Illusion, I know this experience is as it should be - I have chosen it. And in this choosing, I am remembering my way back to the Light - back to my Home. That was the only reason for choosing the Great Illusion in the first place.

I know all my brothers and sisters on Planet Earth have the same destination I have - HOME. But each may take a different path. And I know that's okay! All will get Home - no matter what path they take. It cannot be otherwise - for ALL paths lead HOME.

I know the way of the wind. I love the wind, but I know I cannot capture it - I cannot own it. I can love it, luxuriate in its presence, glory in its energy. But if I try to capture it, it becomes something other than what it truly is - it becomes still and stagnant air. I can never possess it completely - unless I refuse to ever own it - unless I refuse to ever have sovereignty over it. I can possess it only by letting it be free - by letting it be what it is.

It cannot be otherwise. My Way is the Way of the Wind.

Snow Front

I searched and searched through the pile of felt looking for "piece #3, snow" which was to be decorated with sequins and beads and then appliquéd onto the tees and sky. I was looking for something small and snow mound like....like that curved bit bellow the trees there.

It took me a while to realize that almost one entire sheet of felt was "piece #3, snow". Nearly the whole front of the stocking is "piece #3, snow" and it was labelled with a tiny number 3 below the bottom outline.....nowhere near the snow mound shape I thought I should be looking for.

It's kind of nice having that whole large background piece in place. Now to start in on the layers and layers of dimensional, embroidered, sequined, beaded and appliqued pieces that make these Mary Maxim stockings so special.

Inkle Band Guitar Strap

My daughter's custom guitar strap is complete! I had to deconstruct an inexpensive guitar strap to get the findings to finish off the handwoven inkle band, but the results were worth the effort.

The guitar strap and the guitar got together briefly for this photo op, but the strap has a gig at the fall fair before the two will be reunited.

Snowflakes in July

It's time. Not Christmas time. Not time for snow flurries. It's time that I started working on granddaughter Kenzie's Christmas stocking!

These fancy Mary Maxim stockings are very detailed and take a long time to make. If I don't want to be rushing to finish it during the madness of the busy holiday season I had better get a move on. Kaylen would never understand if her little sister didn't have a stocking to hang on her very first Christmas.

I'm still knitting on the Aeolian Shawl though. I'm working on the 11th repeat of the Yucca Chart.

Weaving also continues. At the moment the floor loom is naked but I have other projects waiting in the wings. The Potpourri Warp has been cut off and wet finished. It will eventually become cushion covers, but for now it is being put aside as an entry in the "woven yardage" category of the Chilliwack Exhibition. I'm entering quite a number of things this year. I suspect that most of my entries have very little chance of winning anything but I think its important that we support our local fair so that it will continue for many years to come.

Natural Anti-depressants

Inspired by Andrea's example I wanted to write a list of MY natural anti-depressants too. Once I got rolling I found that it would be easy to list more than just ten. I encourage you to list your own favourite 10 natural anti-depressants here in the comments......and on your own blog if you have one.

1. A long nature walk.
2. A vigorous gym workout.
3. A hug from someone who understands.
4. The companionship of a dog.
5. Completing a successful project.
6. A smile....given or received.


7. A conversation with an exuberant child.
8. A quiet moment going within.
9. Brightening someone else's day.
10. Counting your blessings.

Growing Aeolian

Work on the Aeolian Shawl continues. It's been a while since I've knit lace and even at this early stage the rows seem very long.



It's a triangular/faroese shape worked from the top down, so the rows are only going to get longer and longer. I have to concentrate when I work lace, so I dare not pick it up when there are distractions. Progress will be slow.

Band Practice

My daughter has a beautiful new guitar and has started lessons. She asked if I would make her an inkle band guitar strap.

I just happened to have the exact colours on hand!

On the right is the first band I made. Despite my best efforts at calculating the required number of threads it came out too narrow----so I'll call it "band practice". With experience and information gleaned from the first band I was able to calculate the additional threads needed to get the desired 2" band.

With 152 warp threads this band took longer to get on the loom than it is taking to weave it.

Starting Anew

I've given up on the flax cotton blend yarn. I found it was showing signs of wear and fuzzing even while I was knitting it. I was afraid the finished stole would soon resemble a well used dish rag.

Still, the urge to knit lace remained strong and a trip to the local yarn store was necessary. The lace selection there was not large and none of the colours grabbed me as spectacular. I didn't want to wait for an internet order though. I bought "Alpaca with a Twist, Fino" in #2000, plum wine, which was the closest I could find to what I was really after, then I went home and over dyed it. I threw red and a wee bit of black into the dye pot and got the exact shade I had been looking for.

It's what I would call a "black cherry" colour. I will eventually knit the Lilac Leaf Lace Shawl I had started as I do love that pattern, but this overdyed alpaca/silk will become an Aeolian Shawl.

Potpourri Warp

I'm planning on placing an order for yarn to weave the huck-lace valance, but in the meantime I have thrown on a fun warp made from odds and sods of leftover knitting yarns. The dark brown used in the warp and also in the weft is some of my very early handspun.


I’m loosely following the idea from “Weaver’s Craft, August/September 2000”, “Potpourri Warp Pillows”. Two colours are used in the weft, one following the other in a plain weave and the way you handle the shuttles the weft automatically interlocks at the selvedges.

A Different Approach

The 50/50 flax/cotton blend was just too pretty and unusual to give up on when it didn't work for weaving.

(click for bigger)

I've got a good start on the Lilac Leaf Shawl from "Knitted Lace of Estonia" and it seems to be working well. I'm finding that the concentration and focus needed to knit lace is an appreciated distraction as I go through a rather stressful period in my life.

A Learning Experience

I guess I’ll call this “finished”. It was an experiment that I wasn’t sure would work, but I put a warp on the full length anyway just in case it was successful.

Note: The yarn is a soft grey/beige, not at all like the picture. Also, the fabric is hanging in a sunny window with the shadows of a tree splashed across it.

(click for bigger picture and more detail)
<------warp runs crossways------>

I was given a large cone of 50%flax/50%cotton yarn that is about a 32wpi thickness. It wasn’t all that strong, didn’t fare well in the “snapping between hands” test, but I loved the colour and the slubs and wanted to weave a huck lace window valance with this yarn as warp and weft. It didn’t work. The slubs in the yarn abraded and sloughed apart under the friction of the reed and the opening and closing of the sheds. I don’t consider it a total failure though.

Long after I knew that the yarn would not work for the planned curtain I kept weaving anyway, enjoying the process and learning from the experience as I went. I learnt that I can indeed control my beat enough to weave this pattern evenly. I definitely learnt to fix broken warps though after so many of them I started just tying in a new thread with knots, knowing full well that this would not be correct in a “real” piece. I learnt that the pattern is easy to weave, not too terribly hard to thread, and I will likely try it again with a wet spun linen which should not abrade so badly. I also tried rough sleying through the reed and gained confidence in warping my loom. Much learning happened so I do not consider this a failure even though I ended up cutting it from the loom with much wasted (the yarn was free though so I wasn’t terribly upset).

I have a question for experienced weavers. I would like to try this pattern again, but I’m a little concerned that I will be using the finished fabric sideways. When hung the valance will have the warp running sideways, not from bottom to top. I know from sewing that this would be “crossgrain”. Do you think that would be a problem? My loom is only 36” wide but that is plenty of width if I go sideways. Done this way I can even do several inches on one side in plain weave for a rod pocket. I tried that with this experimental piece and it worked very well.

Next Warp

I can see that this new loom is going to be a problem. She likes to be dressed at all times! I let her sit naked for less than a week while I contemplated my next project and gathered supplies. But Ooooh, you should have heard the weeping, the wailing, the gnashing of teeth (she does too have teeth....they're on the front brake).

Flax/Cotton warp ready to go on the loom.

Yes I could theoretically just get her dressed and then leave her sitting there looking all snug and happy in her new warp, but that only works in theory. You see I have this budding weaving addiction.....no warp can sit unwoven.

I can see this situation might lead to some serial weaving.

Cream Puffs

This little mound of cream puffs is on it's way to the guild's closing Potluck dinner.



Want my recipe?

Buy 4 boxes of mini cream puffs from M&M's Meat Shoppe and pile them high in a bowl. Dust with icing sugar and drizzle with chocolate.

Chocolate Drizzle is made by melting 2/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 Tblsp of butter then gradually adding warm water until the mixture is of a drizzling consistancy.

What? You thought I made them from scratch? Don't be silly!

Scarf Warp

My first warp on the new-to-me loom is an handpainted rayon for two scarves. The weft is turquoise bamboo. I'm weaving it in plain weave at 16 epi.

By 9:45 this morning I had the first scarf half done!

Warp Is On!

First warp is on! I've only woven the header so far but everything seems to be okay and weaving well. Which is a small miracle when you consider all the lame things I did while warping!

I did my own unique, hybrid style beaming.....and will do it differently next time!

Next, when threading the heddles I had to stop at one point to unhitch the centre of each of the harnesses to pass extra heddles to the other side out of the way. This was not because I neglected to count out the heddles first. No, it was because I'm an idiot who can't do a simple math problem!

Then when I got all the heddles threaded and the reed sleyed I suddenly just knew without looking that I had forgotten to take the warp UP over the back beam first. This was another thing I should have known to do, and even thought about a couple of times while beaming, but just had a memory lapse at the worst possible time. To fix it I loosened the warp, dismantled the back beam, put it under the warp, and screwed it back on.



WEAVING begins tomorrow!

Almost Home!

She's almost home. The new to me, 4 shaft, 36", Nilus Leclerc Artisat floor loom with a sectional warp beam.........got as far as the drive way.

Then the dratted hockey game started.

Flower Pincushions

I found a couple of different versions of this basic floral pincushion idea on Ravelry. Although the patterns were free, neither of them were written in English. This is my own interpretation of the general idea.

The first two photos are of the first pincushion. It's reversible.

My daughter liked it so I made one for her too.


They are both made from some hand dyed, hand combed wool that I hand spun. It's incredibly scratchy so can't be used to make anything wearable. This is a fun way to use some of it up.

Shaggy the Sheep

So here's the big fella I was showing you in bits and pieces as a work in progress.

I've named him Shaggy the Sheep. He was crocheted from Paola Navarro's Elton, The Sheep - Amigurumi Pattern .

I purchased large 400g balls of Bernat Worsted acrylic in the two main colours, but used only about 295 gm of the white and 155 gm of the "Heather".

Shaggy turned out a few inches larger than the pattern states but the pattern doesn't suggest a yarn size, yardage, or gauge so I had to take a guess.


He's 13" sitting...


or 20" when lounging around.

It took me longer than I expected to finish him. Not because the work was all that complicated or anything, but because I could only work on him for short periods of time before my hands ached. Crocheting thick yarn with a smaller than usual hook can be painful after a while!

Shaggy was created to meet a challenge my local spinners and weavers guild made this year. We are to show up at the closing pot luck dinner with something we've made in a "sheep" theme. No other guidelines, it just has to involve sheep. After he makes his official debut there, he will come home with me to be the mascot of my new weaving room.......which is coming along very nicely I might add. A few more days and I'll be welcoming a 4 shaft Nilus Leclerc Artisat floor loom into my home! Stay tuned.

More Teasing

Here's another little peek at the mystery project.



I've actually got more done than I'm showing, but until it's completely ready for the big reveal it's more fun to keep you guessing.

Cactus? Fungus?

Curious? More details in a future post.

Better Idea

I've decided on a different stitch pattern and now I'm much happier with the vest project!



I'm stranding two balls of the same "W-EC" colourway of Kauni against one another, just starting each ball in a different section of the colour sequence. I'm using Knitpicks Palette yarn in "Heathered Garnet" as the fleck of contrast. If you look closely at the picture (clicking on it will enlarge it a bit) you can see how the patterning is gradually getting darker. That is not just a trick of the light. The background and foreground are both getting darker in this section.

There are mistakes. I'll use duplicate stitch to camouflage them when I am done.

Having Second Thoughts

Now that I've got a fairly good start on the vest I'm making, I'm not so sure about the patterning. I L-O-V-E the way the Kauni yarn in the ribbing and background is progressing smoothly from one shade of grey to the next, but the stranded patterning?-----Meh.


When I did my swatching for this pattern I was working with a section of the Kauni that was dark. (The pattern I ended up choosing is everything above the line of gold.)



I really liked the way the Garnet Heather colour looked muted yet rich against the dark background and how the gold colour became little flecks of interest. I knew that the effect would be different and would contrast more against the light grey sections of the Kauni yarn, but----well, I didn't expect it to be so drastic! I didn't swatch that part and I'm more than a bit disappointed in how it looks. I also think that the small oval pattern looks fine on the small sample but when placed on a larger sweater it becomes too much, ya know? Kind of like a speckled disease or something?

So now I'm back to the drawing board. I love the ribbing, I'm keeping that, but I've got to come up with a new choice for the patterning. Should I go back to my original plan to put the patterning from Knitpicks Ladies Jacquard Sweater Vest in there?



My fear, with this large floral pattern, is that the outer motifs may end up landing in a target like fashion right over my boobs. Not so great hmmm? I guess I could count rows and estimate where the flowers truly would land, and then adjust if necessary, but----well, maybe I'm not so in love with that floral as I at first thought. I'm really not much of a floral or wild print kind of gal anyway. I'm not even one for wearing t-shirts with pictures or sayings on them. Honestly, most of my wardrobe is plain, solid colours. I can't think of a single thing that has any kind of print let alone a floral.

Hmmmm, now there's a thought. Maybe I should knit just with the Kauni, no patterning at all? What do you think? Chime in in the comments. I'd like to have your opinion. I'll also take it to Knitters' Circle tonight and get the other knitter's opinions.

Designing With Kauni

Originally this:

was purchased to make the "Ladies Jacquard Vest" from Knitpicks.com, but using Kauni 8/2 for the background. I thought the softly varied light grey to black shading would look more interesting under the Burgundy tweed patterning. Unfortunately the Kauni is a bit thicker than the Knitpicks Palette yarn that is called for in the pattern and I wasn't able to achieve gauge and still maintain a soft, drapable fabric.

So I have designed an entirely different vest for myself using Sweater Wizard. This vest will still have the varying greys/black background and the burgundy tweed patterning but the stitch pattern and neckline will be different. I'm hoping it will actually look better than the original plan. At least I won't end up with flowers planted directly over the...ahem..."girls".

Guild Challenge Met

All the bits and pieces I've shown over the past week are now assembled into something useful and worthwhile. A project tote, or perhaps a bag for yarn stash. It's 10" high, not including the handles, and a little over 24" around, about an 8" diameter.

• I took the handwoven fabric from the mystery bag given out by the guild for the year end challenge
  
• embellished it with embroidery
  
• crocheted over the wonky selvedges
  
• cut off the portion with the threading mistakes
  
• crocheted a circular bottom piece
  
• constructed a plastic canvas support
  
• used an inkle loom to weave bands for the handles
  
• sewed a lining (no raw seam edges anywhere) with a channel for a pull cord closure
  
• made a coordinating Kumihimo drawstring
• added a cord lock to gather and close the lining.

I left the fuzzy fringe end of the original weaving because I felt it added texture and interest to the bag.

All and all a very successful project, I think! I'll be proud to hand it in at the year end potluck.

Playing With the Band

Another chapter in the story of the Guild Challenge.

I'm putting a lot more work into this challenge than I need to, but I'm having a lot of fun doing it. I'm even learning a thing or two. For instance, I have finally got around to trying the little Kumihimo kit I bought at the last Fibres West.

I found that the long lengths of yarn needed kept getting tangled as I was weaving the narrow band so I first tried bobbin lace bobbins. I know there is supposed to be a way of using these for Kumihimo and also as bobbins when doing intarsia, I've seen it done, but even with a half hitch over the top they keep unwinding on me. Frequently!

So I've switched to the only other thing I could readily find, what I'm calling my "IKEA bobbins". I wound the yarn around the outside of the little bag clips and then just tucked the end into the clip before I closed it. It's working very well actually, and I may just use the idea for knitting intarsia as well.

So here's a close-up of my little braid. I'm finding that Kumihimo braiding takes a long, long time to produce any length.


The braid pictured above is shown much larger than life. In reality it is only about the width of a shoe lace for a sports shoe. That was a bit of a disappointment. There are eight strands of reasonably thick yarn in there! I thought the braid would be much wider. With it being so narrow, it isn't going to work for my original purpose, BUT I can still use it for this project, just not where I originally intended.

Of course that means I had to come up with another idea for the wider bands I will still need. In waltzes another new-to-me project. This is the first time I've warped my larger, chair height inkle loom. I've used table top inkle looms before, but this is the first time for the big guy.


Wondering where all this is going? Stay tuned. More will be forthcoming as it is worked out and worked on.

Adding a Framework

Further work on the guild's challenge project I introduced in the last two posts:

I stitched the ends of a strip of plastic canvas together. Don't worry, this will be a hidden support system.

I'm now in the process of adding a bottom piece. I'm crocheting it from more of that handspun. The centre portion of an ice-cream lid will provide additional strength and shape to the bottom.

Bottom of what? Wait and see. It's still a work in progress.

First Thoughts

Continuing from yesterday's post about the guild's year end challenge:

I originally thought I'd make a soft, lined, knitting bag. I even had wooden handles much like this that I could use. That fringe looked lovely folded down through the sewing slot in the handles. But after I dealt with that threading mistake 2.5" in from the selvedge the piece became too narrow for the wooden handles and I had to move on to Plan B.

I'm quite excited about my new idea. I'll give you more details about it tomorrow but for now I'll show this image of the work in progress and tell you a bit about what I'm doing.

Using dark brown handspun I've crocheted over those pesky selvedges to cover the floats while at the same time dealing with the raw edge on the side where there was a mistake. It's one row of single crochet finished with a row of crab stitch. By itself that very dark handspun stood out too much in contrast so I'm adding a bit of creative embroidery to bring the dark brown into the rest of the bag and at the same time liven up that otherwise ho-hum pink accent.

Rising to the Challenge

Every year the Chilliwack Spinners and Weavers Guild has a year end challenge for its members. This year paper bags with mystery contents were handed out earlier in the year. The bags held either yarn or a piece of handwoven fabric. We've been asked to take the whatever we find in the bag to make something from it that can be sold at the Christmas Craft Fair next November.

The two mystery bags I was given both held handwoven cloth. One of the pieces was a mistake free, and rather attractive weaving. I have ideas for that which I'll work on later.

The second bag contained a more challenging piece. It's a 26"L x 11.5"W piece of grey and dark brown plain weave done in handspun wool with a rather uninspiring, hot pink accent. Only one end has fringe.

The other end is cut off and machine sewn. Both selvages have long floats where the colours were loosely carried up the sides.

One side of the weaving has a threading mistake 2.5" from the selvedge that renders it unusable within guild standards for shows and sales, so I have to either cut it off and use the narrower width, or find a way of creatively covering the mistake.

Stay tuned. After some creative calisthenics I'll be back tomorrow with the day's developments.