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I’ve been working on a small shawl, to demonstrate that my Sterling Sheep yarn doesn’t have to be used for socks, and also that you can get a nice sized shawl from one skein.
Finished!
Here it is, done at last. It’s the Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn Clark, which I’ve done before. A lovely design, well written pattern, adaptable to many yarn weights. I did an extra row of the border lace to make it as big as possible . . .
Last scrap
and ended up with this much yarn left over. About five and half feet. I’d say that’s an efficient use of one skein!
Splish splash, I was taking a bath
Of course, a piece of knitted lace isn’t really done until it’s washed
Pinned!
and blocked
And an arty picture taken of it.
On the weaving front, it is only weaving in the most generous sense of the word — there is warp, three strands, and weft, six strands.
No blocking required
I hacked back some bamboo and trimmed the leaves off the canes. Then I pulled out the old bamboo X that the hops vines were climbing up and used the trimmed bamboo to make this woven trellis. I also yanked out the dead Cape honeysuckle that the hops were tangled up in, but that’s growing back from the roots, even though the very woody old growth got killed off this past winter.
I recently had the sad duty of cleaning out the stash of a long-time weaver, spinner, and knitter, Jane Garrett. Jane was 89 years old, and had seemingly done everything in the fiber arts, from turning fleeces into sweaters of hand-dyed, handspun yarn, to weaving fabric for a reversible, double weave coat, making clever animals out of yarn, knitting beautiful lace shawlsand practical slippers, weaving miles of hand-woven dish towels, etc., etc. She left all her fiber related stuff to Seaview Weavers Guild, and after her death, her daughter Sally called me to come pick it up. We were glad that Sally decided to keep the loom her father had made for Jane, and that she hopes to learn to weave.
As Sally and I sorted through boxes and sacks and piles and mounds of (mostly) neatly labeled yarns, fiber, buttons, tools, scraps of handwoven, binders of weaving samples, and so on, I came to a couple of conclusions. One, don’t keep everything. Scrappy stuff will just get tossed when you are not there to hang onto it. Two, don’t leave the best for later, because later might not arrive in time for you. We found two ounces of quiviut fiber, a couple of pounds of silk, about half a pound of angora, a sack of alpaca, several pounds of merino, etc., etc., all ready to be spun. Massive amounts of handspun, waiting to be knitted. Cones and cones of cotton, waiting to be woven. By ruthlessly tossing, we managed to get the usable stuff and the spinning wheel into my Volvo stationwagon and have enough room left for me.
The spinning wheel is being kept by the guild to have available for long-term loan. It still had Jane’s last work on it, a lovely merino/tencel blend. There were two bobbins done and one on the wheel, with a little fiber yet to spin. I spun that off, and decided that Jane had intended to make 3-ply. The top yarn here is the three-ply, about 85 yards. The lower yarn is 25 yards of two-ply that I made with what remained on two bobbins after one ran out.
Jane's yarn
Probably the worst of the lumpy bits in the top yarn are my spinning — that tencel blend is very slippery, and took some getting used to! But the bottom yarn is all Jane-spun, and I’m relieved to see that it’s not perfect, either. The plying is all mine — like the curate’s egg, parts of it are excellent. I think I’ll make it into a lacy neck-warmer type thing, and use the two-ply to have an extra lacy edge. Pattern suggestions are welcome!
The wheel, a Lendrum single-treadle, is one of the ones I learned to spin on and has seen a lot of use. The flyer has grooves worn in it by the passage of miles of yarn.
Jane's wheel
Who knew that spinning wheels could get crow’s feet, or maybe laugh lines?
At our meeting, as the guild members chose items from Jane’s legacy to us to incorporate into our stashes, we decided to make note of where these things came from, and include that fact when we bring the finished items back to guild Show and Tell. So Jane will still be part of our meetings, as long as her stash lasts.
My Winter Yarn Club is now being offered at my online shop, www.damselflyyarns.etsy.com . The first shipment will go out on Saturday. The colorways are exclusive to the club members for three months following shipment. If you like getting surprise packages of yarn, why not join up?
Awaiting the dye pot
You’ll get three skeins of hand dyed yarn, one each month for three months, suitable for knitting socks, scarves, or other smallish projects. The skeins can also be used as warp or weft for a handwoven scarf.
Bonnie’s socks being finished, washed, blocked, and praised at the Seaview meeting, there was nothing left to do but deliver them.
Here they are settling into place on Bonnie’s feet
and here is Bonnie, modeling them in her kitchen — she likes them! In fact, she loves them.
Note all the lovely handwoven hand towels piled up on the right. This woman is a serious hand towel collector.
Spending time with Bonnie always involves stretching the mind and doing some color work.
I got to choose just which shade of red is red to me to make my personal color wheel for the Gamp for All Seasons Horoscope Weaving that Bonnie prepared the calculations for. Dare I say that I have a goal of getting this weaving done by the end of the year? I have to get back up to speed on the loom first, and have a couple of small projects in mind. Watch this space.
And speaking of weaving, click over to see the first issue of WeaveZine, Syne Mitchell’s latest online venture. Not content with having the world’s first weaving podcast, WeaveCast, she’s also created the world’s first online weaving magazine. The woman is unstoppable!
A nice day, this end of 2007. The sun came out, and I got some knitting done, plus a nap in a sunny chair. I hope you make time for cozy naps, too.
The Blue Blob is moving along apace. I’ve started the border edging, which first involves a whole bunch of increases, so the stitch count per row is now 480. At my most blistering pace of plain knit, that takes about 20 minutes, and once I start putting the beads on, it’ll slow to a crawl. But, I work on it pretty much every day, and will certainly have it done by the end of January.
I’m also working on a pair of socks for Bonnie. I calls these Bonnie’s Bordejays, because they are the cuffs of the Bordello Sock on the Jaywalker Sock pattern. This socks are my part of a barter, and I dyed the yarn, which I call Flaming Purple Passion. Bonnie’s part was to calculate the warp for my personal Horoscope Scarf, and I’m really looking forward to weaving it up.
My tiniest cousin, Mary, came over for dinner and got her Christmas Bob. Note that she is wearing a very nice sweater.
I’ve also been dyeing yarn to have a good supply for the St. Distaff’s Day Spin-In. If you find yourself in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, on January 5th and need some yarn, spinning fiber, or other goodies, please stop in!
I’ve got a giant pot of black eyed peas soaking to make Hopping John for our open house tomorrow, which will be accompanied with spinach salad, cornbread, and good friends. What more can one want?
Have a Happy New Year!
