Two for May - YAY!

I finished this towel warp a few weeks ago, but realize I forgot to include it in my last post.

I wove 8 of them, these 3 with a cream weft, and a different color weft for each of the remaining 5. You can see them in my Etsy shop. Along with this shawl I showed you on the loom in early April.

In other fiber-y pursuits, I was motivated to do some embroidery. In my pre-teen years my Mom taught me how to embroider wit designs stamped/transferred on fabric. Honestly I don’t remember what I made. Pillowcases? Towels? Something else? Sure beats me. Then as a young woman I ‘graduated’ to counted cross stitch. After my husband died I created new Christmas stockings for the kids and I. Counted cross stitch on navy backgrounds. All using someone else’s designs.

A year ago I took a beginning embroidery class at the Weaving & Fiber Arts Center. We hadn’t offered such a class in many years, I knew I liked the teacher, and wanted to be sure the class wasn’t cancelled for lack of enrollment. I didn’t expect to learn new stitches, and I didn’t. I also didn’t expect to be motivated to do something new, but I was. In January I stitched my Christmas cards for 2024. I started with someone else’s design and ultimately made a few of my own. They were all admittedly simple designs, as was appropriate for their purpose.

Then a few weeks ago a friend sent me a link to an upcoming unjuried show. Some years ago (I looked it up – 2018! Where doe the time go??) I’d participated in a (juried) show called Co-Crafting Democracy. Well, the same people who’d organized that on were doing another. The 2024 show will be at the National Women’s Hall of Fame in nearby Seneca Falls. (Aside – coincidentally, my wonderful son went there with me for my first-ever visit for Mother’s Day this year.) With the subtitle Fiber Art and Activism, the focus is on the (mostly immigrant) women who worked in the knitting mill there until 1999 and those who fought for equal pay and other essential women’s rights.

I wasn’t going to submit, but one morning I woke up and had an idea. I would embroider something! I went to the local craft stor and purchase a hoop that would become part of the finished piece, as well as two adult coloring-type books that I hoped to pull design inspiration from. I made several modifications to one of those designs and transferred it to some cotton I had. (That wasn’t as easy as it sounds and there were a few mis-steps in the process.) Although I did have some design help with that book, this was at least 80% my own design.

I

knew I wanted words in the center of that circle. The specific words changed a few times as I worked. I looked at several online embroidery alphabets, none of which suited my skill level or space availability. (Mind you, that hoop is only a 7′′ diameter, so my letters had to be small.) But one of them set off the lightbulb in my brain...I could create the phrases in a Word document, print i out, and use that. So that’s what I did. This time I’d figured out an easier way to get the letters onto my fabric. Then it was time t do some sample embroidery to see what stitch(es) would work best. I decided on a simple stem stitch, with tiny stitches to accommodate the frequent curves.

They are far from perfect, but I am satisfied with my result. All I have to do now is figure out exactly how to deal with the excess fabric, affix the embroidery permanently to the hoop, and back it. There’s enough time to do that.

I finished the stitching itself on Memorial Day. That struck me as appropriate. If we – by which I mean humans – were simply kin to each other, stood up for each other, and joined hands with those different from us – wars would be a thing of the past. A girl can dream, right?

Moving on. So many lovely things happen in the spring. I put my roof rack on the car and got out for my first kayak of the season last week. Looking forward to many more.

After having it on my to-do list for weeks, I finally got a mess of rocks painted so I can once again start depositing kindness rock on my morning walks.

And I’ve been really enjoying my gardens. Weeding and mulching aren’t a drag for me; I enjoy the time spent there, especially in the spring. Here are some recent beauty shots. A lovely deep pink clematis.

A beautiful blue flax, with bronze fennel and golden spirea in the background.

And some peonies my son dug out of his side yard last year. I was hoping they’d be an heirloom variety with a gorgeous fragrance, but no such luck there. They are beautiful nonetheless.

The sad news is my Redbud. It has some type of lichen, which is really just a symptom of an underlying problem. I contacted my county’s Master Gardeners, who told me I needed an arborist. I was thrilled when I learned that my town employs one, as the town planted this tree on the right-of-way 8-9 years ago. I’ve left him a voice mail and sent an email with pix and hope to hear back from him soon. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can save this little tree.

I had bearded iris that definitely needed thinning. I posted on my BuyNothing group that I’d be digging rhizomes and when & where they’d be available. These large piles were gone within an hour, maybe less.

Now I really must go walk Jack. It’s already too late today, but maybe I can get the kayak in the water again tomorrow.

May 29th, 2024 

So much has happened

Clearly my best intentions are useless. In blogging, as in life, actions are what counts, not words. It’s now been a whole month since I wrote. Sigh.

I’m going to try to take things in chronological order. And I’m going to try to not write excessively – time won’t permit me to sit in front of my computer that long this evening, and you probably wouldn’t want to read it all if I could.

In early March I took a class at the Weaving Center, Suminigashi. Ever hear of it? I hadn’t till recently. A Japanese ink marbling technique. It was actually a two-session class, but I could only attend the first part. We used just black ink for this class. It was pretty cool. Here are my finished papers.

I couldn’t attend the second class because I went on a program with Road Scholar – my first but it won’t be my last. They did SUCH a good job giving us a very high quality program. I could go on and on about what we did for the week that we were in Santa Fe, but I won’t. I’ll just give you one highlight. We spent an afternoon at Ghost Ranch, where Georgia O’Keefe did much o her painting. The tour guide took us around the Ranch, very slowly, in small vans. They stopped frequently and we go out and they pointed out a specific visual, and then held up an 9′′x12′′ color copy of an O’Keefe painting and showed us exactly what she was looking at when she painted that scene. Wow! Here are 2 photos from that visit.

The weather was beautiful in Santa Fe that week – cool in the morning and sunny and warm in the afternoon. At home in Rochester? Not so much. Here’s my yard on March 23, the morning after I returned.

I got my taxes done, shared a lovely Easter day with family, and did a variety of mundane tasks.

I’ve joined a group of local women who write postcards motivating people to vote. They’ve been doing this since the Women’s March in 2017, growing their list of people willing to write since then. Their email list now tops 500, and it’s not all talk. This grou send out roughly 600 postcards EVERY WEEK!! The core group studies races, determining where extra encouragement is needed. Writers can pick up packets at a variety of locations, which include 20 postcards and stamps, a mailing list, and a script We’re encouraged to decorate the postcards to make them more eye-catching. Here’s one of the 60 I’ve already mailed. It feels good to DO something instead merely worrying. Or kvetching.

Then, of course, the postcards have to go to a mailbox. This is where I got sad. Or frustrated. Or some other unpleasant emotion. Not that long ago these PO drop boxes had big ‘doors’ that pulled down so you could put a pretty decent-sized packag in them. A few years ago they switched to a much smaller door that would accommodate a thick, soft package; all of the USPS Priority Mail boxes were too large to fit. When I went to drop off a batch of 40 postcards, I put a rubber band around them to make it a tad easier for the postal carrier – pick up one wad of postcards instead of a mess of single cards. Hah! The boxes had been modified again, this time there’s only a slot. Nothing opens. And a group of 40 postcards was too thick to fit in that slot. I’m guessing they did this because some jerks were putting garbage or other nasties in the boxes.

Then there was the eclipse. I made my grandson a Tshirt, and wish I’d taken a photo of it because it turned out much better wha you’ll see here. It just involved black fabric, a bowl, and bleach. Of course, my grandson did fine, but I got bleach on my favorite sweatshirt, so I decided I’d put decorative patches on it. Since there’s a big heart on the back of the sweatshirt, I went with hear on the front. When I have time I may do some simple sashiko embroidery on the hearts. Or maybe not.

On eclipse day my daughter had a party, with a total of 31 people – adults and children – attending. I offered to use the Tshirt technique to make eclipse bandanas and head ties. They did not work as well, but here you can get an idea.

Of course, because we live in Western NY, the weather didn’t cooperate. It had been sunny and beautiful Saturday and Sunday and was again on Tuesday. But Monday? We were SOCKED IN with thick clouds that never parted.

It was still very cool. It got darker out very gradually, and then all of a sudden, BAM, it was pitch dark! A minute later BAM it got much lighter quickly. I do wish it had been clear as none of the many kids there had ever seen a total eclipse. They’ll just have to wait.

Meanwhile I put a warp on the loom – all 16/2 Jaggerspun fine superwash merino. Long enough for a shawl and a mobius. I wove the shawl of 2 strands of 60/2 pink silk held together.

Here I was auditioning wefts for the mobi. I really wanted to like the navy (I’d already tried black), but I just didn’t. I ended up using a 30/2 cream silk.

I’m leaving in the morning with 3 of my line dance sisters for a Beginner’s Ball in Richmond, VA. Although I’ve attended a few local & regional line dance parties, this is a MUCH bigger deal – 850 people and 3 days of dancing! WOO HOO!!! I’ll leave you with this photo I love of my grandson and his dog.

April 10th, 2024 

Marching Ahead

Somehow it’s a whole month since my last post, despite my intentions and efforts. I was pushing myself to finish some things in the last few weeks, which kept me away from my computer. But let’s not focus on the negative.

I took the photo above on February 10. Those snowdrops were quite brave, as we had plenty of both very cold temps and snow after that. Since they’re not mine and I didn’t record the address where I snapped the image, I can’t tell you how they made out, but I am seeing lots of snowdrops on my morning walks now, in early March, so I know plenty of these little lovelies made it.

What was I so busy with? I finally admitted to myself that the USPS was never going to find the package I’d mailed on 12/18. So remade both the placemats and the handknit fingerless mitts, filed for a refund of the shipping & insurance coverage, and sent o a new package. Along with his thank you, my nephew kindly sent me a photo of the placemats on his table.

I made a batch of 10 more bead bags, although I apparently forgot to photograph them. I THOUGHT I had taken a picture, but it’s nowhere to be found. Not even in my recently deleted file. Oh well.

At a customer’s request I wove a batch of 9 more crackle towels. We kept in close contact throughout the process, and within hours of me listing them in my Etsy store she’d purchased 7 of the them.

After those two weaves I immediately warped my loom for some black & white gradient scarves in Tencel.

The Copper Shop Gallery at the Roycroft Campus in East Aurora had sold some items I’d sent them in November, so I wanted t send them a few more. A scarf from this warp seemed like a seller to me. Here are the 4 items that finally made it into the mail today.

They got the gradient scarf with white weft. I also wove 2 more. Personally, the blue is my favorite, but I think the black & white will move faster. We’ll see.

Not something I made but instead something I just think is too sweet not to share. This vintage tablecoth is hand emboidered. I’ pretty sure it came from my mother’s, but I don’t think she made it either. Maybe my sister knows???

Now I have to go pick up my grandson from school, and if I don’t hit Publish RIGHT NOW this post will continue to linger.

March 4th, 2024 

July Already?

July already?

Clearly my actions don’t match my intentions. On a regular basis at the end of the day I am clueless about what I actually did, about how things like balancing the checkbook and mowing the lawn could suddenly fill so much time. Somehow things do get crossed of my to-do list, although they’re not very exciting, and certainly not photo-worthy.

Someone in my BuyNothing group announced that her sour cherry tree was in fruit and offered anyone who was interested to pick. Isn’t it beautiful?! Last year the tree had much more fruit, but I did pick 3 scant quarts and made some jam.

I managed to get just one batch of towels woven in June.

Too much outdoor work to do, which called to me much more than the loom did. Like this...

This is an area of my front lawn...much of which is a hill. You’ve seen images of the corner garden before, sometimes just individual plants but I THINK occasionally the whole thing. When I started it, my plan was to expand it each year, to continually minimize the amount of hillside mowing I had to do.

This year I really dug into that goal (pun intended). This area is roughly 7′ x 7′. That’s a lot of grass that had to be dug up, the dir shaken off to the extent possible, amendments added, plants put in the ground, and the area mulched heavily. I added several more plants and a drip hose after I took this picture. It’ll still take a few years to fill up nicely, but it’s on its way.

Meanwhile, out back a calla lily I planted last year and chose not to dig and bring in, decided to return. Probably because it’s rig next to my foundation. Although that part of the foundation is just a crawl space, it surely is still better than being out in the open

Around the corner from the calla, I’ve had these 2 mallows for years. Often they get eaten by bunnies or otherwise barely survived and don’t bloom at all. This year I’m happy to see their beautiful flowers.

I find this light colored one particularly beautiful.

And here’s a lovely fragrant honeysuckle I put in a few years ago. I do love flowers with fragrance.

I also decided to try some new things with my sourdough starter. I made two batches each of bagels (no pix) and ciabatta rolls with 100% sourdough – no commercial yeast. I was happy with them both, despite their...rustic...appearance. Their taste and chewy-ness were right, at least in my opinion.

In May I showed you my embroidery for submission into an exhibit. The opening of that exhibit, in the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY, was Friday night. I was very impressed with the entries and tried to get pix of them all. Some just couldn’t be appreciated in the images I took, so I’m only sharing a few here.

A friend of mine knit a ballot box and created 3 little felted and embroidered issues going into the box.

I was really moved by this piece. I’ve heard this poem before, always powerful, and it stitched into the back of a very wearable denim jacket...wow.

Being a weaver, I was of course impressed by the work in this long vest, woven in rayon chenille.

This seemingly ‘simple’ piece spoke well to the fact that women still hold such as small percentage of seats in the U.S. House o Representatives (29%) and Senate (25%). So much lower than many other countries, so woeful, so in need of change.

Women’s health is in so much danger. I am fortunate that I live in NYS, but so many women, especially women in poverty, do no have access to comprehensive health care. Both maternal and infant mortality are rising as women are forced to carry pregnancies that are not viable and that threaten their lives.

Meanwhile, I continue to write postcards to get out the vote. The exact message varies from week to week, and is of course dependent on where those postcards are going. Although it’s certainly not everything, writing these cards is something. It’s something I can do. And who knows – maybe it’ll inspire me to do even more.

When I picked up my postcards on Friday there was a woman there selling necklaces she’d made. I made a spur of the momen decision to buy one, and I’ve since committed to wearing it constantly until November 5, election day.

I’ve seen a meme that I hesitate to post here, given my prior experience posting images that I do not own. But the sentiment is too good to not include. RBG is in the center of the frame, wearing her robe and one of her signature crocheted collars. The words are, “I want you to pivot your sadness and worry into numbers and strength.” Indeed, Justice Ginsberg. Indeed.

July 14th, 2024 | Tags: cotton, towels & linens | Category: Gardening, Life - As I See It, Weaving |

Lemon Chiffon handwoven scarves

 Like most weavers, I have quite a stash of yarns.

When I’m at a show (not very common for me) and I see yarn I like at a good price, I buy it. Then I come home and have to put away, and sometimes forget about it. Months later I’m looking in one of my boxes for something, and get a pleasant surprise at finding a yarn I’d forgotten about, particularly when the color & fiber still make me smile.

That was the case when I found 2 cones of 10/2 cotton in a color I was calling buttercream. After the scarves were woven I had to change the name – the color was richer yellow than what I think of as buttercream. I opted for lemon chiffon. (The color is much more yellow than it appears in the photos. I’d still call the color in the photos buttercream.)

I decided to weave some huck lace scarves from it. I love weaving lace, both huck and a variety of Swedish laces. I like the way they look on the loom, the way they wet finish, and the way they please and amaze my customers when they see them hanging at a show.

I decided on an overall huck threading for this cotton, warped up my little counterbalance loom, and set to weaving. The first two scarves were woven in what I think of as typical huck. (I know I don’t use the correct terms for these lace weaves. Unfortunately I didn’t know that when I started calling them by ‘my’ names, and somehow can’t seem to get the correct names planted in my brain.)

I’ve woven this pattern in 10/2, 8/2 and 5/2 cotton, cobweb weight cashmere-silk, 100% silk, and rayon. It never fails to please. think the cottons work best, but it’s pretty much always a winner.

This time I opted to weave the third scarf in what I call ‘windowpane’ huck. Same threading & treadling, just a different tie up.

For some reason (I don’t know why) I haven’t used this option in a while. It does seem a bit more fragile, more prone to snaggin a thread while wearing it, but it’s so lovely that people like it anyway.

The two scarves look so different, it really is magic that they’re so close in structure.

I took all three scarves to my show at Chautauqua Institute in July, and sold all three, bing, bang, boom. Shoulda bought more o that yarn when I saw it – buyer’s remorse in reverse.

Parting shot:
Mama Phoebe built her nest in the rafters underneath my porch. She’d just fed her babies and told them to be quiet since I was nearby.

July 24th, 2012 | 

I wove the lemon chiffon scarves with a 10/2 mercerized cotton. My notes tell me I sett the threads at 20 ends per inch (EPI). I generally use 12 EPI when I’m weaving lace with 5/2 cotton. I also looked up my records for what I’ve sett 8/2 at for cotton (or rayon) lace, and I generally use 18 EPI. I did just weave some 10/2 cotton lace (it’ll be my next post) at 18EPI because I hadn’t checked my records (hah!). It’s fine, too.

I don’t change the sett with the different treadlings – that is, whether I'm weaving traditional huck, huck lace (what I called huck windowpanes), huck bars, I use the same setts. 

Neck warmers

Trust me, I know it’s important to be consistent with my blogging. Important to my readers, important to my business, important t my structured-ness.

I try to be. I really do. Then I get so busy I barely have time to go to the bathroom, much less blog. And if that’s not bad enough, my sweet kids got me a Kindle for my birthday. Before I’d figured out how to download library books, I’d downloaded two word games when I registered it. Now there are real time thieves!

Like most people, I pop around the web. Most of my popping is related to weaving — looking for ‘the ideal’ loom, checking out my favorite weaving bloggers and sometimes looking at their favorite bloggers, etc. In doing so recently I stumbled on an idea that I thought I’d turn into a product in my inventory – on a small, trial basis – and see how my customers responded.

Introducing the neck cuff

These are 5/2 cotton & all have vintage buttons. I thought this new product was a great time to try a warping technique I’d read about but not tried – using multiple color threads without a warping paddle or other method to attempt to keep them in order. Instead, simply wind them as a group, then take them as they come rather randomly off the lease sticks.

I liked the ease of winding the warp, and the finished look, but I would not recommend this method for a warp any longer than a few yards. Those unorganized threads do a great amount of twisting themselves into tight, little bundles that require often tediou hand work to untwist in order to advance the warp. Maybe this would work better if I was a front-to-back warper and had spread the threads out in the reed as I warped, but I’m a back-to-front warper.

Anyway, I liked the way I could use multiple weft colors to achieve different looks. These two have a cranberry weft. Interesting how different a tabby/plain weave and a simple twill look, isn’t it?

I did leno with an E bead on one of the the cuffs with a lavender weft.

I for sure liked the final result of that beading, and for sure disliked the process of getting it beaded. Putting lots of beads on the yarn after I had it wound it on the shuttle, and then constantly pushing those beads back out of my way as I wove the areas of plain weave was a slow, tedious process. I only wove with beads one other time, inserting them rather randomly throughout the plain-weave scarf. I both loved the outcome & hated the process that time, too. This one used so many fewer beads and was so small, I thought it’d be fine, perhaps even fun. HAH!

I closed out the set with a 10/2 cotton in a sweet lemon chiffon color, with leno (no beads) along it’s length.

I’ve had the cuffs at two shows now, and have sold both lavenders. I don’t know how many more I’ll make, but a few, anyway. I’l do some more experimenting with colors, sizes, & buttons or other closures.

Parting shot...”Quit blogging and let’s go for a walk already!”

July 11th, 2012 |