Missouri Trouble

Winter White

2011-01-05T07:00:00.001-06:00

Lately there has been a lot of white around, both outside...

And inside...

I finished knitting these mittens a couple of weeks ago. The yarn is Knit Picks Telemark 100% wool. Needles: US3 dpns. For some time I had been looking for something to do with this yarn that has been in my stash for too long. The natural white yarn kept saying "Aran" to me, so I decided to make a pair of mittens using motifs from The Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting. This was my first attempt at designing my own mitten pattern. The process was both fun and challenging for me. I know I definitely learned as I went along. On a second pair, I would do a few things differently, but overall I'm satisfied with them. I like to call them the Makem and Clancy Mittens in honor of Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, traditional Irish folk singers, who always performed in lovely creamy Aran sweaters. I've donated the mittens to Access Arts as part of their fundraising efforts.

And one last bit of winter white - some creamy white handspun yarn which I finished up on New Year's Eve. This yarn started out as a pound of Blue Faced Leicester combed top from Yarn Barn. This roving was so easy and fun to spin, I was sorry to use it up. I spun a soft single, then made a two ply yarn. After washing, I ended up with 645 yards of soft bouncy yarn which could be worn next to the skin without irritation. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to dye half of it, perhaps a medium blue, and do some color pattern knitting. There are some appealing hat patterns in a new book I've borrowed from the library - Quick Nordic Knits by Ann-Mari Nilsson.

Of course, dyeing the yarn would be straying from the "white" theme, but what's the harm in that? In a couple of months nature too will stray from her white theme when she opens up her spring paintbox.

Rise and Shine!

2011-01-03T09:46:00.000-06:00

It's the start of a brand new year. What are your goals and wishes? I hope 2011 is filled with good things for all of us.

Happy New Year!

Two Spins and A Knit

2010-12-20T13:00:00.003-06:00

Two spins and a knit - what does that mean? Well, those are the three fiber projects that I've completed in December so far.

For the past few weeks I've been concentrating on finishing up a few works-in-progress before the end of the year. The yarn below is a 2 ply blend of merino wool and tencel. It had been in my spinning project basket for over a year. Mostly I carried the fiber and a spindle around with me and spun it on the go. It's been lovely to spin but I decided "Enough is enough." It was time to wrap up this project. So it's plied, tied, and washed. Very soft with some sheen from the tencel. I think I'll probably weave with it.

Next came 8 oz. of lustrous tussah silk. Tussah silk is derived from wild silkworms and is usually a soft honey or tan color. (White silk comes from the bombyx silkworms who are raised in captivity.) Again this was a delightful fiber to spin but I only worked on it now and then. Happy to say, it also is all spun up! Two skeins of soft, luxurious goodness. I can see it as warp for an elegant woven scarf, using a bombyx silk yarn as weft.

Finally, one knitting project came off the needles over the weekend. These mittens are worked in Knit Picks Telemark yarn on US 3 double point needles. I've had the yarn for several years and wanted to move it out of the stash bin. The color and feel said "Aran" to me, so I selected a few cable patterns from The Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting, and tried my hand at designing a mitten. It was definitely a learning experience. With several balls of Telemark still in my stash and a few ideas for fine-tuning my pattern, I know there is another pair in my future. These mittens will be donated to Access Arts for fundraising.

So there are my two spins and a knit, all finished up before December 31st. I have one other spinning project in progress that I'd like to complete before then - one pound of some creamy Blue Faced Leicester combed top. It spins so effortlessly - a fine soft single. I'm over halfway through it. In fact, I think it's time for me to head on over to the wheel and get busy.

Anyone else trying to finish a few things before 2011 rolls in? Have fun with your fiber projects and enjoy the holidays!

Frost Flowers

2010-12-15T10:30:00.003-06:00

Winter has arrived all at once - blustery gusting wind, swirling billows of snow, and icy temperatures that made me run right back inside for a thicker coat and woolly gloves. It could have been oh-so easy to complain and moan about the miserable weather. But look at the gift winter has left on the window of our front door! Peering at the world through those frost flowers changed my view of the day and of the season. What other surprises are in store? Will I have my eyes and heart open to see and receive them?

Here are several haiku by the poet Basho to celebrate winter's arrival as we approach the longest nights of the year.

Awakened at midnight

by the sound of the water jar

cracking from the ice.

Borrowing sleep

from the scarecrow's sleeves

midnight frost.

Hello! Light the fire!

I'll bring inside

a lovely bright ball of snow.

Winter solitude -

in a world of one color

the sound of wind.

Winter has the upper hand now, so brew yourself a cup of tea. Get snug under an afghan and enjoy a good book or a bit of knitting. Make the most of the season!

Endings and Beginnings

2010-11-23T07:40:00.003-06:00

Getting back into my car yesterday at the library, I noticed the trees at the edge of the parking lot. I had to jump out again with my camera to get a few shots. Aren't these leaves wonderful? I love how the bright green along the veins feathers into the yellow - very artful, could be the inspiration for a textile project, perhaps some kitchen towels or a pair of mittens. I don't know what kind of trees they are but they are definitely one of the few that still are displaying colorful leaves before their winter's rest.

These chubby boys are two of the garlic bulbs that we broke apart and planted on Saturday. The variety is Bogatyr. I've never grown it before but it gets great reviews for both flavor and long storage from many of the gardening folks.

We also planted German Extra Hardy and Pink Music, both saved from our own 2010 crop. Garlic needs to be planted in the autumn. So while most of the garden real estate is quiet, the cloves of garlic are tucked in the ground, given a light feeding, and covered with mulch to keep them cozy. Hopefully the cloves will settle in and begin to send out their roots even in the cold months ahead while I'm inside weaving, spinning and browsing seed catalogues.

So that's how it goes. Some things are shutting down, finishing up, getting ready to rest for a few months, while others are just beginning, taking those first few steps toward a new season of life.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

It's a Woman's Prerogative to Change Her Mind

2010-11-05T13:43:00.007-05:00

I had intended to take a break from blogging for a while to concentrate on some things I'd really like to finish up. Well, you know how the unexpected has a way of popping up. Early the other morning I was hanging laundry in the backyard before the sun was up over the trees. When I bent over to pick up the basket, I noticed how the patch of clover under the clothesline was dusted with frost. Not enough frost to wither the tender leaves but just enough to give a magical effect. See how the edges of the leaves are outlined with white? It made me catch my breath for a moment, that completely random artistry of nature.

As long as I had my camera, I headed down to the pond. Not much frost effect there but I did see that the clouds were perfectly reflected in the still water.

Now I know neither of these things are especially remarkable, but in less than a half an hour, the sun had melted that dainty frost off of the clover and the clouds had moved on to wherever they were heading. And that is what I thought was so special - little fleeting bits of beauty that I wouldn't have witnessed if I hadn't been out hanging laundry. Keep your eyes open. You never know what you'll see.

Hiatus

2010-11-01T07:30:00.006-05:00

I'm going to take a break from my blog for a while. I have a few projects that I'd like to focus my attention on, so I'll leave you for now with a poem and warm wishes for the season of celebrating which is just around the corner. Take care!

Bird Medicine

Let me lean on you, goldfinch.
Your flashing wings the crutches
To steady my halting footsteps
Along uncertain paths.

Trusty white-throated sparrow
Welcome back from your summer sojourn.
Your lilting "Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody"
An aspirin of melody
To ease the aches
Of a bruised human heart.

Come chickadee, nuthatch,
Titmouse, cardinal -
Cool my stinging eyes
With visions of your migrations,
Your courtships and fledging offspring,
Your survival through winter's cold fist.

And you, barred owl, you
Will brew for me an evening elixir,
A honeyed nightcap of hoots, coos and chuckles,
So soothing, so seductive
My frantic brain must surrender
To the beckoning downy nest of sleep.

Only a moment now
Before the cares of a long day
Yield to night.
Just enough time
To sigh a drowsy thanks
To the creatures of feather and song,
Physicians of the wing.

Here Be Weavers ... and Winners!

2010-10-15T14:15:00.006-05:00

Early one Sunday morning late this past August, I looked out the back door and noticed a large spider web hung across the posts of the dock. Always attracted to spider's weavings, I walked down there to get a closer look. As I grew near to the edge of the pond, I gasped. There were webs everywhere, all decorated with dew drops. Webs in cattails, webs stretched across branches from one tree to another, dainty gossamers resting on the grass. With the sun just coming over the tops of the trees, it was an amazing sight - sparkling strings of beads in every direction.

I ran back to the house for my camera and took advantage of the prime conditions to get some nice shots of the webs. But the spiders' work provided more than just a visual treat. All the animal stories I read to my kids when they were small - The Wind in the Willows, Uncle Wiggley stories, Mother Westwind stories - have been permanently glued in my brain and have made it very easy for me to start constructing little tales from things I observe in nature. So why on that particular Sunday morning in August were all our backyard spiders building spectacular webs at the very same time? A spider celebration or holiday? A weaving competition? (Who could weave the fastest? The most artistic? The finest thread?) Or was it some sort of social gathering like we human fiber benders are so fond of, a spiders' weaving fling? See what I mean? What do you think was going on? In any case, it was a remarkable way to begin a Sunday.

The photo above is one of my favorites from that morning, so I thought I'd use it to announce the winners of the pink yarn and fiber contest. I used a random number generator to draw the winners. The Louet Gems yarn goes to LizzieK8. Barbara S is the winner of the soy silk roving. Congratulations! Please send me a PM so that I can get your prizes to you. By the way, the comments on why we pursue our fiber arts gave me some ideas to consider. There may be a follow up post on that subject sometime in the future.

To close this post, another weaving photo. This is what's on my loom at home right now - another project inspired by nature. My work can't match the spiders' exquisite creations but maybe they'll let me join in the fun anyhow. Have some fiber fun of your own this weekend!

Something to Remember, Something to Celebrate

2010-10-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

Pink flamingos in the heart of Missouri? No, I'm not going to tell you I spotted these exotic creatures on my latest walk through the woods. These flamingos live in the Animal Kingdom down near Orlando, Florida. I snapped a few shots of them while visiting with my Mom recently. But they're so festive, so pink that I thought they would be a great way to introduce this post.

October is a special month - Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's a time to remember friends and loved ones who have been affected by this disease. It's also a time to remember the importance of monthly self-exams and yearly mammograms. Breast cancer strikes 1 in every 8 American women. And it's not only women with a family history of breast cancer. Even women with healthy lifestyles and no family history are affected. This is not simply a public service announcement. I'm a breast cancer survivor, have friends who are survivors, have lost a friend to it. Chances are you have a friend or loved one who has confronted the disease, or are a survivor yourself. It's a cause close to my heart. So remember to take care of yourself and take care of your loved ones. End of sermon.

This coming week, October 4 through 10 is also a special week - National Spinning and Weaving Week. It's the time for all of us yarny types to celebrate our skills. Although it's not included in the name, I like to think of this week as a celebration of all the fiber arts - knitting, crochet, feltmaking, dyeing, the works.

I have been weaving for over 30 years now, fewer or more years for some of my other fiber skills. In truth, not a day goes by that I don't weave, spin, knit, etc., or at the very least, think about my current projects. I've been earning my living with my fiber skills for well over 20 years now. And I'm still not bored or tired of any of it. It's part of my life, as much as sleeping, eating, breathing.

What is it about these fiber activities that keep me so entangled in them? The answer is multi-layered. I've always enjoyed doing things with my hands. The repetitive motions of knitting are soothing and familiar, especially after a busy or stressful day. Spinning lovely fiber is meditation. Throwing a shuttle to and fro, watching the cloth develop, listening to the clatter and thump of the loom - the physicality of these activities just does something good and postive inside - like a vitamin. Thinking about and then trying out color combinations or new designs is a satisfying creative exercise.

There's something else too. Through all these years of fiber love, I've met the most inspiring, creative, wacky, sharing people. Many of them have become my extended fiber family. We share our successful projects and commiserate over and learn from failures. Knowing all of these amazing people has been an unexpected, priceless gift. I have a rainbow of memories that stretches across my life and into the future. All thanks to messing about with yarn!

So to remember and celebrate these two events, I've decided to have a little fun and offer a fibery giveaway, actually 2 giveaways. Here are the goodies.

First - 2 skeins (175 yds each) of Louet worsted weight Gems yarn. Cuddly soft Merino wool in a petal pink.

Second - 2 ounces of soysilk roving which I dyed a deep pink, almost raspberry.

If you'd like to be entered in the drawing, leave a comment telling me what fiber craft (spinning, knitting, weaving, whatever) you do and why you do it. I want to know what keeps others plying their yarn, creating their fiber rainbows, etc. Also, let me know which prize you'd like. You are welcome to enter both but I realize not everyone spins (yet) and so may not be interested in the soysilk. I'll choose two winners in a random drawing on Friday, October 15 and will announce the winners over that weekend.

In the meantime, remember to do your bit to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Celebrate and share the pleasures and rewards of the fiber arts. The flamingos and I wish you good luck, good health, and a happy October!

First Autumn Walkabout

2010-09-28T08:37:00.007-05:00

Here in mid-Missouri Summer held on tightly until her very last day, keeping the heat and humidity cranked up. Then an overnight thunderstorm swept all that away, and Autumn arrived exactly on schedule, pulling a few first treasures out of her trunk. These first days of the "official" fall season have been perfect, absolutely perfect. Clear, dry, golden mornings when I can step out on the back porch, gladly breath in the cool, crisp air, and realize that the warm cup of coffee feels welcome to my fingers. On such a day I have no choice but to grab the camera and take in some of the sights on the first days of autumn.

The rose turtleheads have thrived in all our summer rain. From a couple of transplants two years ago, there is now a growing colony at the pond's edge. I love to gently squeeze one of the blooms and watch the "turtle" open his mouth.

Among the turtleheads is one wild senna plant. It also loves wet feet but does not seem to spread. I'm going to save the seed pods (those green beany shapes) this year and try to propagate more next spring. Both the turtleheads and senna are native wildflowers.

There are still plenty of butterflies around. I found this one in the woods, sunning itself on a leaf. It has two common names - Question Mark or Violet Tip butterfly, Latin name - Polygonia interrogationis.

While in the woods, I came upon loads of mushrooms. All the rain and warm temperatures of the last week have brought on a huge fruiting in the fungi community. Wildflowers and butterflies are a piece of cake to identify, compared with mushrooms. In addition to all the bizarre and colorful varieties, I love the challenge of trying to ID a mushroom. I haven't had time to really study the photos I took on my walk, but check out all this wonderful weirdness.

They're certainly interesting, but aren't you thankful for chlorophyll-producing lifeforms?

What would early autumn be without masses of goldenrod with all those bumblebees nosing around them?

Yeah, I couldn't resist a shot of the old truck nearly buried in vegetation. Once a couple of years ago, I walked up to it and startled a handsome red fox out of the passenger seat. I still enjoy pulling that image up in my memory.

One final photo of these brilliant red berries. They are the fruit of the Autumn Olive tree. Pretty to be sure, and probably a good food source for wildlife. But it's a non-native, very invasive tree. The animals help spread its seeds hither and yon. There is far too much of it in the pasture and elsewhere, and it's difficult to eradicate. So, for me, the beauty of those sprays of berries is always tempered by what I know of the plant's true nature.

As usual it's wonderful to welcome in a new season. Like spring, autumn has a special feeling, a kind of easy comfort after the harshness of the previous months. Step outside and see what Autumn has brought for her stay. You know there are still more wonders to come.

Take care. Be well.

Mood Indigo

2010-09-27T09:00:00.004-05:00

My September weaving project - a trio of table runners. I wove these runners on my rigid heddle loom using some dark blue rayon mill end yarns as the warp and main weft. These yarns, which came from Yarn Barn of Lawrence, Kansas, had been in my weaving collection for a couple of years. It felt good to use them up. The accent stripes were synthetic novelty yarns from my knitting stash.

The warp is set at 12 ends per inch. The width on the loom is 18.3" and the length varies from runner to runner. Each one is different. For the first piece I used pattern sticks to weave weft and warp floats to create a single horizontal pattern. The accent yarn is the synthetic novelty yarn.

On the second runner I used the same pick up pattern but repeated it several times to make a wider border band. This pattern of warp and weft floats requires the use of 2 pattern sticks, one to make weft floats and another to make warp floats. It is a quick and easy pattern though. One stick remains in the warp all along. The second stick (which creates the warp floats) has to be reinserted each time it is needed, but it is easy to see which warp threads are picked up.

The third runner was the easiest of all to weave. It is straight plain weave throughout. For the borders I simply alternated wefts of accent yarn with wefts of the main color.

On all of the runners I hemstitched the edges while the pieces were still on the loom. Once all were woven I cut them off the loom, trimmed the fringe, and wet-finished them. Voila! All are finished and ready to use. Only thing is ... now I have an empty loom again ...

Wool Report

2010-09-23T07:42:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks back I finished spinning the fifth bump of 15 in my brown wool challenge. I had six bobbins filled, and with only one spare bobbin for the Reeves wheel, I decided it was time for some plying.

Two days later I had 5 fat skeins of 2 ply wool, washed, weighed and measured. Those skeins yielded 716 yards and weighed 14 1/2 ounces total. It's a good start on the yarn for my sweater. With 10 bumps of roving to go, I should have yarn aplenty. Still thinking about what color to dye it though ...

After those 5 bumps, I did feel the need for some color again, so last weekend I took a little detour from the brown and spun some blue 95% Border Leicester/5% mohair roving that I picked up at the Bethel Festival. It was an easy quick spin - 4 ounces of 2 ply yarn, 180 yards, about 14 wraps per inch. It's lofty, not scratchy, somewhere between sport and DK in size.

I've named it Up in the Clouds because it reminds me of the cloud photos I took from an airplane window not long ago. I'd like to use it for a knitting project. Any suggestions?

The New Kid in Town

2010-09-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Over the Labor Day weekend we drove up to the Bethel Sheep and Wool Festival. The weather was ideal - sunny and mild. It made for a pleasant day spent in watching the sheep dogs round up clusters of silly sheep, strolling through the sheep barn, and of course, checking out the vendor tents. I did come away with small amounts of two spinning rovings. But best of all, when we drove home, this little fellow was riding in the back seat.

He is a French Angora Chocolate Buck, born July 3 of this year. I've named him Truffle. He has joined Bailey and Tobin in the rabbit condo, so now I'm back to a trio of angoras once more. I usually give young angoras their first haircut somewhere between 3 and 4 months of age. By this time next month Truffle will be looking quite different for a time. For now he's settling in well. Here he is snacking on his favorite treat - a few tasty clover leaves.

Catching Up

2010-09-21T07:53:00.001-05:00

'Zooks! September is one of my favorite months and it's already more than half over. I guess that's an indication that there's been lots going on. I think rather than writing a lengthy post heavy with photos, I'll try making several shorter posts.

So for starters, here's the felted wren hostel that I made at our last feltmakers meeting.

I used a flat resist - a circle of 1/4" thick foam with a 12" diameter. The wools were all medium to coarse, all easy felters - Karakul, Romney, Border Leicester. (Even though it's splendid wool for rugs and other items that will get hard use, I just cannot love Karakul. It's too darn hairy.) Before I went home, I gave the remains of my Karakul stash to a friend.

I removed the foam resist as soon as the wools began to feel as though they were meshing. If you leave the resist in too long, it will be very difficult to get the ridge at the edge of the resist smoothed out. I was careful not to cut too large a hole in the loosely felted wool so that the entrance to my birdhouse would only be accessible to smaller birds. As it is, it's still a pretty generous opening.

At home, after the finished piece had dried, I needlefelted the green vinework to decorate the exterior. It looked cozy but still seemed to be lacking something. I dug up some curly Border Leicester locks from my wool stash and needlefelted some around the base of the hanging loop.

It's not the nesting season for any of our local bird crowd so I'm going to store my hostel until next spring. Then I'll try to find a sheltered, inviting spot to hang it. The Carolina wrens are pros at using small, protected nooks to build their nests. Hopefully a chirpy couple will choose my wren hostel for their 2011 broods. I'll let you know!

Summer Knitting Wrap-Up

2010-08-25T10:34:00.005-05:00

Late summer seems to be here. Orange school busses are rumbling through town, the college students have returned (and all seem to be driving at the exact same time.) Best of all, this morning it was a glorious 57 degrees outside when I got up! The sweltering heat this summer seemed to melt my creative energy away. But stepping outside and feeling that whisper of coolness on my skin was so invigorating. I feel ready to tackle some of the larger projects that looked too daunting in the pit of summer.

For now, here's a rundown of my smaller, less-taxing completed summer knitting projects.

Fungi Perfecti Socks
My original design. The yarn is Malabrigo Sock in a colorway called Primavera. One look at it when I undid the skein, and all the subtly-colored mushrooms that abound in the autumn bloomed in my head. Knitted on US0 and US1 double points.

A Quartet of Washcloths
The pattern for two of the cloths is my adaption of the Ripple Hand Towel by Kristin on Ravelry. The stitch pattern for the other two cloths is taken from one of the Barbara Walker volumes. The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold's Hempathy, a hemp/cotton/modal blend. Needles: US3.

A Hempathy Soap Sock
The pattern is one I've knitted for years and keep tinkering with. I think I've just about got it right now. The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold's Hempathy. Needles are US1 and US2 double points.

That's it for now. With a clear head, sun pouring in the windows, and a little coffee coursing through my veins, it's time to get back to fiber works. Cheers!

Silk Hankies

2010-08-17T07:45:00.001-05:00

The brown wool challenge is moving along smoothly. It's relaxing to sit and feel the wool glide through my fingers, to watch the yarn build up on the bobbins. However, over the weekend I pulled out a container of spinning fibers, looking for some angora. Instead of the angora, I came across a ziploc bag of silk hankies that I'd handpainted. Now don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly happy spinning the wool. But this little bag of silk was so colorful, so shiny, so tempting... I put the spinning fiber box away but the bag of silk hankies stayed out. What's the harm in a quick little spindle spinning project?

Silk hankies are one of the many forms of silk spinning preparations. Hankies are formed by boiling the silkworm cocoons to remove the glue-like substance (sericin) that holds them together. The cocoons are then stretched out on square frames. Layers of cocoons are built up on the frame to create a hankie.

It's fun to prepare a hankie for spinning. You start by carefully lifting a thin layer from one corner of the hankie.

Peel this layer away from the hankie.

You then use your fingers to poke a hole in the center of the separated layer.

Now slowly begin to stretch the layer into a large donut.

Stretch it out some more.

Continue to enlarge the silken loop by pulling on portions of the loop. When drawing out a section, your hands must be far enough apart for the fibers to shift and slide away from each other. If you pull on a section and nothing happens, your hands are too close together. You are holding onto both ends of the same fibers.

(Here's a tip for spinning any form of silk. Make sure your hands are as smooth as possible. The delicate strands will snag on any little rough or dry spot. I never work with silk right after washing dishes or digging in the garden. If the silk is catching on my hands too much, I will rub in a little hand lotion. A friend once told me that she sprinkled her hands with a bit of cornstarch before spinning silk. I tried this and it worked, although perhaps not as well as the hand lotion, I thought.)

By stretching out this loop, you are also reducing the number of silk strands in any one section. When to stop stretching and thinning the loop is the spinner's choice. I usually draft out my loop to about the thickness I plan to spin my yarn. It's sometimes hard to draft (or thin out) the fibers once you begin spinning because the individual silk strands are so long.

When you are satisfied with the thickness of the drafted loop, choose a spot and pull it apart so that it is now a very, very long ribbon of fiber. At this point I like to carefully wind the silk onto a wrist distaff. A wrist distaff is a sort of bracelet that holds your fiber while you are spindle spinning. The one in the photo is made from handspun wool. It's grabby but not too fuzzy so it does a good job of holding the silk without entangling the fibers. The spindle is a Golding 1/2 ounce high whorl spindle.

The actual spinning of this project is a piece of cake. Because I've already drafted the silk out as much as I wanted, all I'm doing with my spindle is adding twist.

Silk hankies have long fibers but also short broken bits too, so the spun yarn is going to have some lumps and bumps. I didn't worry about uneven areas or slubs as I spun. The spun single strand had lots of color mixing in addition to the texture. There wasn't very much of this fiber to begin with and the single ply was basically rather thin so I decided to chain-ply it, using a 2 ounce Golding spindle. After plying, I ended up with just over 12 yards of silk yarn. Not nearly enough for a project all on its own, but I think using it as an accent yarn in a weaving or knitting project will play up its unique character anyway. It's so soft and colorful that for now I'm going to hang it on my spinning wheel as I work my way through all that brown wool.

Calling Rumpelstiltskin ...

2010-08-11T11:30:00.002-05:00

The wheel ...

... My Rick Reeves 24 inch Saxony, single treadle. Made circa 1992 at the time when Rick and Marge were handcrafting each wheel, its beauty is more than just skin deep. It's an efficient spinner with large bobbins that can hold quite a lot of yarn.

The wool ...

... a medium brown fleece with a fiber diameter that is on the fine side of medium and has nice crimp. The sheep is one of a spinner/knitter friend's flock. The raw fleece weighed 7.75 pounds when I gave it to Bonnie and Carl at ABC Ranch to process into a fine spinner's roving. It came back to me in the form of "bumps", 15 bumps, each weighing about 5.5 ounces, or just a smidge over 5 pounds total.

The challenge ...

... to spin, ply and dye the entire bag of bumps by the end of 2010.

I would like to knit myself a pullover, not too heavy, from the yarn. As nice as the natural brown color is, it isn't a color I would wear. I don't know yet what color I'll dye it, perhaps a dark blue or teal green.

I'm using the Scotch tension system on my wheel with a large whorl to spin a medium single strand, with not too much twist. My goal is a two ply DK to worsted weight yarn that retains some of the lofty quality of the fiber. My samples have 20 to 22 wraps per inch.

Meeting this challenge by the end of the year seems like a tall order when I consider how little wheel spinning I've done so far this year. But one bump is spun and I'm well into a second, so I'm on my way. I won't do any plying until I get several bobbins filled.

I know this job would be a snap for old Rumpelstiltskin. But it doesn't seem like his sort of gig, just plain old wool, no flax, no gold, no greedy kings, no glamor at all really. The best I could offer would be fresh garden veggies and a loaf or two of homemade bread.

So it looks like it's up to me to get this job done. I'll float the image of a cozy sweater in my mind as I spin my way through all this brown wool. It does spin very easily, a definite plus. I'll post progress reports from time to time. Now back to the wheel ...

Pick o' the Day

2010-08-10T10:44:00.000-05:00

As summer oozes along, my fiber pursuits are progressing very slowly. And it's been such a weird growing season so far that our garden hasn't yielded much yet. But maybe that's about to change. This morning I braved the mosquitos and steamheat long enough to harvest a few goodies. Not much yet but it is a start.

What's in the bowl? Here's a rundown - Eight Ball zucchini, Red Burgundy okra, Black Hungarian peppers, two Orange Banana tomatoes, and a bunch of Sweet 100s and Black Cherry tomatoes. We've been getting cherry tomatoes for a few weeks but the zucchini and okra have just started maturing in the past several days. I hesitate to say this lest I call down the wrath of the Evil Empire (ie., squash bugs) but the zucchini patch looks promising. Perhaps some of you local friends may be getting pleading emails from me in the future.

So today's harvest may not be large enough to break out the canning equipment but that bowl holds the makings of a pretty good supper. Fresh and very local - yum!

Slithy Toves

2010-08-02T08:55:00.002-05:00

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."
from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Ever seen a slithy tove? Here's one -

Ok, ok, it's really a skink, a Five-Lined Skink to be precise. But whenever I spot a skink, I can't help but think of the poem Jabberwocky and all the made-up words Carroll throws about in those few stanzas. For one thing, the word "skink" seems to fit right in with the other nonsense words. (The entire poem is fun to read aloud to oneself or to others. I recommend you try it soon.) But I also just think that these wiggly, shiny creatures look like what a slithy tove might be. What do you think? What's your favorite nonsense word in Jabberwocky?

Five-Lined Skinks are common across most of Missouri. I think this particular skink may be a male because his stripes are not very visible. Females have visible stripes and a bluish tail. Young male Five-Lined Skinks have a bright blue tail. That feature makes it really easy to identify its species. Apparently the colorful tail helps protect the young skink from aggressive adult males.

The skink in the photo was sunning himself on the garden tool shed. He stayed still long enough for me to snap his picture, then gimbled hurriedly into the grass and I lost sight of him. He was probably heading off to the borogoves, leaving me to wonder if the mome raths were outgrabing yet.

Poetry, nature. Fact and fiction. Let it all in. Each day can be an adventure.

A Garden Junkie Goes to Heaven

2010-07-20T09:14:00.001-05:00

For myself and 300+ like-minded people, heaven was in Iowa this past weekend. Decorah, Iowa to be precise, way up in the northeast corner of the state. Enthusiastic gardeners from across the country gathered at the Seed Savers Exchange Heritage Farm for the annual conference. The Heritage Farm is a magical place, a showcase for heirloom flowers, vegetables, fruits, and even livestock. Spending the weekend here gives gardener/seed savers the opportunity to connect with each other, swap seed, attend workshops, and to explore the display gardens, trial fields and orchards.

Tucked in a tree-cloaked valley, Heritage Farm is the heart of this network of seed savers who are passionate about growing and preserving the genetic diversity of plants. No matter how often I visit, it is always a treat for all my senses to wander through the plots of flowers and veggies. I always come away with new ideas for growing strategies and a few more "must try" varieties added to my already lengthy list of tomatoes and peppers.

In addition to plants, the Heritage Farm has a herd of Ancient White Park Cattle, a rare breed. Fifty calves were born this season, and on a hay wagon ride out to their pasture, we got to see some of the calves cavorting among their mothers. As all young creatures do, they were busy exploring, so it was hard to snap a photo that wasn't blurry.

Several breeds of poultry also live on the farm in the growing season. The chickens with the kooky headdresses were fun to watch but I thought the Chinese black ducks and the grey hens were especially beautiful.

The annual conference also features a wide variety of workshops presented by knowledgeable speakers. I learned something in each of the four workshops I chose. In one of the workshops I attended, author/gardener Rosalind Creasy explained how and why she dug up a 100 square foot patch of her lawn and raised $700 worth of fresh produce from it.

Meals at the conference are another treat. It goes without saying, everything is fresh and organic, and there are tasty selections for both vegetarians and omnivores. This year's conference marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Seed Savers Exchange. Check out this birthday cake at Saturday's supper. On top of being a culinary work of art, it had moist layers of pumpkin and chocolate - delicious!

All in all, it was a marvelous weekend, stuffed with enough "food for thought" (sorry, I couldn't resist) to keep me motivated for quite some time. Oh, and Decorah, for being a small town, has a lot more to offer in addition to SSE, but that will have to be another post.

Exposure, Part 2

2010-07-08T12:41:00.025-05:00

Late yesterday afternoon the rain stopped and it seemed as if the sky was going to clear. I decided to hike down to the woods to get some more photo practice. Somewhere in my mind's recesses I knew that it would be wet down there and that after all the rain we've had this summer, the understory plants would be growing like mad. But these vague mental musings became mosquito-biting reality as soon as I reached the gate.

Not only was the undergrowth lush, wet and thick, but the creek which is normally a lazy trickle, was rushing over the crossing. It looked like a true creek, water tumbling along, with burbling, refreshing sound effects.

I wasn't in the mood for bushwhacking through a sloshy jungle, so I took a few shots at the edge of the woods and turned back to the pasture. Close to the woods is an old skeletal pick-up truck. It always attracts me with its jumble of parts and rusty surfaces, so I played around with the camera's exposure settings and various angles of the truck.

Within minutes, thunder rumbled and drops started to fall. I leaned into the driver's side of the truck for one last shot and quickfooted it back to the house.

After loading the photos onto the computer, that final shot made me laugh. It's such a mishmash of colors, textures and shapes. I'm already thinking about it as inspiration for some weaving. Just goes to show - you just never know where a muse will pop up!

Exposure

2010-07-07T13:54:00.030-05:00

Last night was the first meeting of a digital photography class I'm taking. Our assignment for the coming week is to play around with the settings on our cameras. Today's stormy weather has been an excellent chance to learn how to get a little more out of my camera. Between downpours I've been snapping shots in the backyard, changing the EV and ISO settings, and taking notes as I go. I'm already excited about being nudged out of my Automatic comfort zone. Here's some of my homework from today.

Purple Coneflowers

Daylily

Narrow Leafed Green Milkweed

Daylilies and Reflection at the Edge of the Pond

Another Daylily Variety

For all of these photos I experimented with exposure settings and was pleased to learn that I could make the colors of the flowers "pop" and darken everything around the flower by choosing my own levels. It may be that my mood was influenced by the stormy surroundings, but I especially liked the brooding darkness of this pond photo.

Of course, it would be very informative (and fun even) to practice adjusting settings on sunny days too - if one ever comes round again ...

Watching You Watching Me

2010-06-30T08:18:00.018-05:00

After dinner last evening I went out to the garden, hoe in hand, to plant some cucumbers and dill along one of the arbors. As soon as I started to work the soil, I saw this little guy looking up at me from the other side of the arbor.

I'm not knowledgeable about toads so I don't know his proper name. But I do know toads are welcome in my garden. As far as I can tell, they do no harm to my plants and they eat unwelcome insects and slugs.

He watched me as I hoed the soil, watched me tuck the cucumber seeds into the dirt, watched me cover the seeds and tamp the dirt lightly with my rake. The entire time he just looked up at me from his little hole, not even blinking. (Do toads have eyelids? I couldn't tell.) Only his elastic throat expanded and contracted.

After I finished planting, I went back to the house for my camera and took a couple of pictures of friend Toad. Then I just squatted there and looked at him for a bit. Some people might find toads "icky" or gross. If you take some time to really watch them, you'll see their skin is a patchwork of browns, tans and greys with a mottled texture. This toad's skin had lots of baggy wrinkles, almost like an elephant's on a very small scale. Toads don't leap up and growl at you. Mostly they just want to be left alone to dig their little holes and catch a tasty meal. Seeing this toad watch me so steadily for so long, I couldn't help but wonder what he was seeing and what went on in his brain. Mentally I wished him well and thanked him for adding some extra pleasure to my evening in the garden.

Raspberry Reverie

2010-06-29T12:15:00.013-05:00

They're back! Rubus strigosus. A little bit sweet, a little bit tart. Dusky red when ripe and oh-so-fragile. Careful! Don't squeeze 'em when you pick 'em. An antidote to summer's swelter. Red raspberries.

Our bushes are a variety that begins to bear fruit in June. At first it's a modest crop and the berries are pretty small. I like to call them nuggets. Every few days we can gather several cups of them.

Here's a recipe for Raspberry Nuggets -
Take 10 to 12 nuggets.
Make a cup of your hand.
Pour the nuggets into the cup.
Open your mouth.
Toss the nuggets in.
Chew slowly. Let that delicate flavor play on your taste buds.
Smile.

In addition to this recipe, I put the berry morsels in yogurt, on granola, in my morning oatmeal with maple syrup, and, oh my gosh, on buckwheat pancakes. Right now there are even enough raspberries to make a pan or two of my Ruby Slipper Brownies. Brownies are always a treat but the berries take a starring role in these.

Come September the bushes usually kick up production and the berries get larger and more numerous. You have more to show for your picking time. But I'm in no hurry. A bowl of these lovelies every few days is enough to keep me in smiles for the next month or two...

Lettuce Leaves and Swallowtails

2010-06-02T10:45:00.003-05:00

Thunderstorms rolled through this morning. Our rain gauge collected one and a half inches in the past 7 hours. About 15 minutes ago the sun appeared, so I ventured out to the garden. We obviously had pounding rain because a couple of my tender tomato plants are broken and all of the salad greens are flattened to the ground. I think (or at least hope) they'll revive in a day or two. But luckily I picked a huge basketful yesterday so we can still have salad with dinner tonight.

Isn't it curious? There was a time when iceberg lettuce was the ubiquitous lettuce in the grocery stores and restaurants. Now however, our lettuce choices are nearly as extensive as our yarn choices. I always plant several tried and true varieties - Green Ice, Red Sails, Oak Leaf, for instance. But I also try something new each year. This year the newbies include Red Salad Bowl, a burgundy red leaf with a smooth flavor and Blushed Butter Oaks. It's appropriately named. The ruffly light green leaves have a faint blush of red on the edges, and its flavor is, well, buttery-delicious!

After surveying the garden damage, I took advantage of the clearing sky to get a photo of one of my knitting works in progress - the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark.

The yarn is from Alpacas d'Auxvasse, a hand-dyed laceweight blend of 90% Suri alpaca and 10% merino wool. I'm using size US3 needles.

Now that the garden is demanding lots of attention, my knitting projects are moving along slowly. In the case of this shawl, that's just fine. It's too hot and sticky to even think about wearing a warm, fuzzy shawl. But I know I'll be happy to have it when the seasons change once again, and colorful just-picked salads are only a photo in my garden journal.

Poppies for Dad

2010-05-26T09:25:00.016-05:00

Several years ago I bought a brilliant scarlet poppy plant at the Farmers' Market and planted it in a spot reserved for flowers in the veggie garden. I never knew the variety but it reminded me of the little "Buddy Poppies" that the Veterans of Foreign Wars sell in honor and remembrance of all veterans. The following year I decided to start transferring all my flowers out of the veggie garden and carefully transplanted this little poppy to another spot. Sad to say, it didn't survive the move. But in the unpredictable manner of plants, the following year there were several volunteer poppies scattered around the spot where I'd planted the original. This year there are about ten poppy plants growing freeform among the veggies. Now I'm just going to let them come up where they please, bright red bursts of color among the lettuce, the garlic, or whatever.

I love the poppies for their color, their simple shape, the fact that they bloom only briefly and then are gone for another year. But I also love the poppies because of the connection to veterans of foreign wars, and one veteran in particular, my Dad. Dad served in Guam in World War II. He passed away 5 years ago today. So all those poppies blooming today in my garden are a fitting reminder and tribute to him.

Harry Z. Sennott
12 January 1925 - 26 May 2005

Endless Rain, Boundless Hope

2010-05-17T11:00:00.001-05:00

So much rain, day in, day out. So much rain that I've lost track of the inch amount. I just know that our yard has become a wetland marsh, a haven for lots of colorful, sweetly-singing birds who are busily rearing their young. Our garden, which should be nearly all planted and vigorously growing by now, is a weedy swamp. So when I awoke to yet another dreary day this morning, I had to push myself to find something good about the day. I pulled on my boots, grabbed the camera and headed out the door, determined to find something beautiful, something to feel hopeful about.

As you might guess from the photo above, my mission was successful. No sooner did I step off the back porch, then I was greeted by this sparkling patch of clover. Water droplets on green leaves always get my admiration - one of nature's tricks for embellishing her already perfect creations.

Out in the garden it is too soggy to do anything but step carefully, avoiding bare soil as much as possible. Early in April in a small window of dry weather, we did get a bed of lettuce, arugula and radishes planted. It has grown slowly but steadily so that now we are enjoying salads nearly every day. But the soil is wet and not at all "mudluscious" as e.e. cummings wrote.

On the back porch my small army of tomato, pepper and basil plants are getting bigger by the day. I can hear them shouting at me every time I step out there - "Get us out of these cramped pots and into the ground! We want to grow, grow, grow...!"

Around on the other side of the house the cherries are beginning to have a blush of color. Still too early for picking, but dripping with raindrops, they did look beautiful and held the promise of future tarts.

A young redbud tree along the garden fence next caught my eye. More of those elegant watery jewels on the heart-shaped leaves. Even sans sunshine they lifted my spirits.

Well the final photo is really a cheater, one I took last week sometime when the sun put in a brief appearance. The rugosa roses have recently started blooming. Their flowers are so old-fashioned, their petals so wonderfully disorganized. And the smell is exactly the right fragrance - not too spicy, not too sweet.

Did the rainy walkabout cure my another-rainy Monday blahs? Yes, I can always find something lovely, something hopeful if I put my mind to it. It just seems that I need to remind myself of this fact over and over... Am I happy about the never-ending rain? No, but I'll keep on hoping for those sunny days. Have a good week!

Off Loom Weaving

2010-05-10T08:10:00.002-05:00

Some weavers, myself included, weave their sturdy utilitarian fabrics on large looms that have many fiddly little parts. They make a lot of banging, clattering racket as they work.

Other weavers need only two fragile cattail stalks from the previous summer to quietly spin and weave their elegant webs.

I came upon this little bit of weaver's work the other morning when I strolled down by the pond. The weaver was nowhere to be found but I thought her delicate cloth must surely be a new gossamer mantle for a pond fairy. My sincerest compliments to the weaver...

April - Where Did It Go?

2010-04-28T08:50:00.001-05:00

I certainly don't have an answer to that. It seems like one day we were musing over April Fool's Day pranks, and now we're nearly ready to celebrate the merry month of May. I've been busy with fiber and garden activities, so here's one last post for April - a gallery of photos.

The branches of our cherry trees were festooned with blossoms a few weeks ago. That could mean a crop of tasty pie cherries in a couple of months for us or the birds, whoever gets to them first!

I have a warp of cotton/linen blend yarn on my rigid heddle loom and am weaving washcloths, using my handspun cotton yarns as the wefts. The inspiration for these first two cloths came from an article in Weavezine. I love the loopy texture that I can wiggle my fingers in, but it is not a fast weave. The cloths I'm weaving now are far less textured and much faster. I'll have pictures of them once they are off the loom.

The redbud trees look fabulous every year but this month it was hard to find a sunny day to take their picture and also hard to get a good angle to show off their rich color that is even more striking after the monotones of winter.

For a couple of weeks I was struck down by hay fever and washcloth fever. This combination resulted in 6 of these Double Bump washcloths, pattern by Missy Angus. The yarn is Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted in the four natural colors. Knitting this easy pattern in these soft yarns was just about all I could handle while dealing with the allergy attack. (Between these washcloths and the ones on my small loom, I had thought of naming this post "It's Good to Be Clean.")

I can't resist one last photo of the daffodils. We have a fairly large variety which means we have some sort of daffodils blooming for about a month. The variety pictured has multiple blooms on each stem and smells quite fragrant.

I did finish one other knitting project just yesterday. It's the Anita Caroline Scarf, pattern by my sister Bonnie. The yarn is Frog Tree Pima Silk, knitted on US4 needles. I especially wanted to knit this lace scarf because Bonnie had designed it in honor of our creative Mom whose birthday was last month.

I'm going to end this last post of April with one of my favorite spring time quotes from Herbs and the Earth by Henry Beston -

"The odor of a ploughed field in the spring is like a hand laid upon the heart, having in it all the beauty, the poignancy, and the tenderness of earthly living, all the poetry of the melancholy and ecstasy of spring, of the branch, the new leaf and the warm wind, and the sinking of some last great and solitary winter star."

Here in Missouri it's a golden morning. I hope your last few days of April are golden too!

It's Here, Definitely

2010-03-31T11:40:00.002-05:00

Here in mid-Missouri we're at that tipping point where the annual cycle of growth is about to accelerate wildly. Every morning now will bring some new bit of color to the tatters left by winter. It's an exciting time. You need to keep your eyes wide open for every little change. How can I be sure this is really that moment when there is no doubt that spring has arrived? Here are the signs -

All day long and then with even more gusto at night, the spring peepers have been serenading us from down at the pond. Their song is so sweetly romantic and hopeful. I love to sit on the back porch in the dark and listen to their singing, almost like a bedtime lullaby. Now each morning the painted turtles clamber up on fallen branches at the pond's edge to sun themselves. It must feel wonderful to finally leave the chilly mud and let the sun warm their shells. When I walk around the pond, they slip back into the water in a fluid, unconcerned manner, as if I am someone they know, don't especially dislike, but they simply don't want to talk to just now.

Out in the garden, while it's been far too muddy to plant, the weather is settled enough for me to pull the covers off the beds of greens we planted last autumn. Lo and behold, the spinach is growing and big enough to harvest a bit to perk up our dinner salads. There is something so extraordinary, so rich and buttery about this first spinach. Could it be that its fresh taste shouts "Wake up!" to our winter-dulled taste buds?

All around the yard and across the pond under the trees, clusters of daffodils are blooming. Is there anyone who doesn't like daffodils? I can't imagine it. They come in so many shapes. Some with long trumpets, some with short flattened trumpets, whites, pale yellows, brilliant yellow-golds. Some with double ruffly petals and an indistinct trumpet. Some with their petals tossed backward as if they'd been facing into the wind for days. One of my favorites has white petals with a rosy-peach trumpet. We only have a few of these, but daffodils very thoughtfully multiply over the years.

Wait a minute... Is this a sign of spring? It's sure no Easter rabbit that I've ever seen. No indeed, but after I finished knitting and felting this little hedgehog, he seemed anxious to get outside and check out the daffodils for himself. I couldn't resist posing him here and there around the backyard. I suppose it's a good thing the houses are spread out in our neighborhood; people might think I'd eaten one too many marshmallow peeps.

The pattern for the little hedgehog is from Fiber Trends, a Debbie Radtke design. The yarns are Cascade 220 Heathers and Lion Brand Fun Fur. I've made a number of these critters over the years and always enjoy making them. It's a quick and easy pattern. This particular little guy will be a gift for a friend who is expecting a baby in mid-May.

So now let's all bid farewell to March which is indeed going out as gently as a newborn lamb. Savor these days. Each one holds small and fleeting delights, things to feed your senses and soul. Happy Easter. Happy Spring!

Never Stop Learning

2010-03-17T09:20:00.001-05:00

As immersed as I've been in the fiber arts for all of my adult life, I'm sorry to admit that my sewing skills are few. I never had any home economics classes in high school or before. The little I know has been cobbled together on my own, with the result that I've never made a garment with which I was really pleased. My confidence in my sewing was nil. So I felt considerable trepidation this past Saturday when I walked into Daryl Lancaster's Jumpstart Vest workshop, my handwoven cloth in my basket. Thanks to our local Guild, Daryl spent the weekend teaching eleven of us how to create a vest that fits well using our handwoven yardage.

Here's a detail of my fabric which I wrote about in my last post. Originally this fabric had been destined for other things, not a garment. But I ran out of time to weave something simpler, less patterned for my vest.

Using Daryl's master patterns, we each made our personal pattern that suited our own bodies and tastes. We spent Saturday making our patterns, marking and cutting the pieces in our yardage using tailor's tacks, and fusing interfacing to the neck and armhole bands. On Sunday we fired up our sewing machines and began assembling our vests. Daryl is a very knowledgeable seamstress, fashion designer, and a superb teacher. She helped each of us over any obstacles, and for those of us with slim sewing skills, there were many. I was nervous cutting into my fabric, wondering if I was dooming a nice piece of yardage to a dark dresser drawer forever. On Sunday I was still nervous as I began putting everything together. Now it's true, there were a few areas where I had to redo and redo yet again, but by Sunday evening, I left with my vest complete except for the hand sewing.

We all learned so many useful tips as we worked on our vests. Learning how to put in a lining was completely new to me. This armhole treatment was tricky but the finished edge is well worth the effort and ripping out a few times.

Daryl demonstrated how to make bias tape from the lining material. We then used it for a Hong Kong seam finish on the hem and for the ends of the armhole bands. I really liked the neat, unifying look of this technique, all raw edges nicely tucked inside the hem.

Hand hemming towels, runners, etc. is always relaxing for me, so Monday I finished up all the edges. After one last pressing, I tried it on. It fits great and I like it so well! At last night's Guild meeting many of us from the workshop wore our finished (or nearly finished) vests. There were big smiles all around. Each of us had a garment made from our own hands that fits and makes us happy to be wearing it. For myself, I have new confidence in my sewing skills and a renewed desire to drive my sewing machine again. The lesson here - it is never too late to learn. Never.

Yardage

2010-03-09T08:41:00.017-06:00

It's been quite some time since I've woven a long piece of yardage. This cloth came off my 16 shaft Megado loom last week. On the loom it measured 5 1/2 yards. After wet-finishing, its length is 4 yards, 31 inches.

The warp yarns are a variety of 8/2 unmercerized cottons and cotton/linen blends, set at 24 ends per inch. For weft I used a lustrous 8/2 tencel yarn from WEBS. There are 12 colors in the warp which shade gradually to the center and then back to the other selvedge. The pattern, Fairy Hills, is one I've developed and use frequently. Among its many variations is this one which I call Double Pine Trees because viewed from one direction the design resembles a forest of little trees.

So what am I going to do with this almost 5 yards of cloth? Not towels, not table runners. It's for a special project coming up this weekend - and that's all I'm going to say for now, except that I've oiled up my sewing machine and purchased a packet of sharp and shiny new needles ...

Finished in February

2010-02-22T11:50:00.003-06:00

Last month, even though I worked diligently on many of my fiber projects, I didn't finish any of them. Not a one. Although I'm fairly patient, I do need to savor the satisfaction of completion from time to time. This month I kept plugging along and now, even though it's late in the month, I have two finished projects to share.

I'm calling this handspun yarn Missouri Dark Chocolate because 1) the rich color reminds me of - yum - dark chocolate, and 2) it's completely produced in Missouri. The fleece came from a Rambouillet x CVM sheep who was raised by a wool grower in the Kirksville area. I sent the fleece to Bonnie Ahrens at ABC Naturals to be washed and processed into a fine spinner's roving. The fine, soft fibers were a delight to spin.

I spun the roving into a cushy 2 ply medium weight yarn. After washing, processing, spinning, and plying, the 3.75 pound fleece yielded 1,232 yards/ 27.5 ounces of yarn. See those little waves running along the locks of wool in the photo below? That's known as crimp in sheep lingo, and nice wavy crimp like this usually yields a lofty, insulating yarn. It will knit up as a warm yet lightweight fabric.

My other completed project is this triangular knitted shawl. The pattern is Akimbo by Stephen West. The yarn is Pagewood Farm Denali sock yarn in two colorways, knitted on a US size 4 circular needle. I started this shawl last Thanksgiving and enjoyed working on it, but it had to compete with quite a few other projects for my attention. It wasn't growing very quickly. Luckily the Ravelympics came to the rescue. My sisters and I decided to resurrect our 2008 Ravelympics Team Sennott. I needed a knitting challenge to attempt to complete during the Winter Olympics, and the Akimbo shawl seemed like the perfect challenge.

My shawl was only about one third knitted when the Ravelympics began. To be honest, it's a good thing I enjoy watching many of the Winter Olympics sports. Watching those short track speed skaters, those crazy halfpipe dudes, the amazing mogul athletes, and others helped me knit right through my shawl in a much shorter time than if I hadn't attempted the challenge. Saturday evening I knitted the final stitches and freed the fabric from the needle. Yesterday I blocked the Akimbo. It's a lovely, eye-catching design. The colors will coordinate with many things in my closet. And best of all, our weather is still cold so I can wear it this winter!

Well then, two projects completed this month doesn't mean I'm nearly through with all my works-in-progress ... not by a long shot ... but I'm getting there!

Winter Rainbows (or Don't Cry, Just Dye!)

2010-02-01T09:45:00.007-06:00

Even a fiber fanatic with a myriad of interesting projects to distract her can succumb to cabin fever in the long thread of cold, grey January days. I know this. It happens to me occasionally when I can't get outside for a hike in the woods or a tad of spindle spinning in the bright afternoon sunlight. Last week I was feeling "blah" even though I was enjoying my knitting, weaving and spinning. When I saw that Bex at True Blue Fiber Friends was offering a microwave dyeing session on Saturday, it seemed like just the ticket to nudge myself out of my late January funk. Sure enough, I had a great time, learned a new technique, and came home with some colorful rovings to spin.

The roving I dyed was 12 ounces of 50%/50% wool/mohair that has been in the spinning fiber stash for a few years. Thanks to the mohair, it has beaucoup luster. I bought it with the intention of spinning sock yarn. On Saturday Bex mixed a nice array of Country Classics protein-fiber dyes and gave a demonstration of applying the dyes to your yarn or fiber, wrapping it in plastic wrap, and heat-setting the dyes in the microwave. Over the years I've done lots of dyeing in many techniques, but I've done very little microwave dyeing. The Country Classics are premixed protein-fiber dyes. No checking acid levels or fussing with dye assistants is required. And the microwave method was a revelation. Just a few zaps of Ready Kilowatt, and presto, the fibers/yarns are dyed!

For the blue roving above I painted alternating areas with Cornflower Blue and Mountain Aqua. Then using a sponge brush, I dabbed random splotches of Purple on top of the other colors.

For the remaining 8 ounces, I painted areas with Pine Green, Turkey Red and Chestnut. After it had dried, this color combination reminded me of our raspberry bushes when they are producing fruit.

After so much fun, I'm looking at my cream/white fiber and yarn stash with new eyes. Now I KNOW what I'm going to do with that natural-colored Durasport sock yarn, and that bag of ivory Border Leicester roving, and oh yeah, that very large bag of snowy merino top ... And yes, now I'm in the market for an inexpensive microwave oven for dyeing. It just proves what I'd suspected. Sometimes the surefire way to jog oneself out of a January funk is simply to dye!

Click, Click, Click Go the Needles

2010-01-21T14:00:00.002-06:00

My knitting has gotten out of hand recently. Well, no, to be more accurate, my knitting has been in my hands quite a lot this month. Usually I have two or, at most, three knitting projects that I'm actively knitting on at any one time. But right now I have 5 projects underway, all competing for my knitting attention. If knitting was my only craft, five projects would perhaps not seem so unreasonable. But weaving and spinning also make demands on my time too, so that's why I'm feeling like my knitting is a little (or perhaps a lot) out of control. To make matters worse, all five projects are interesting. I'm not willing to banish any of them to the "Knitting Basket of Limbo." So here they are, in no particular order.

First of all, the project that has been on the needles the longest is a Fair Isle vest in Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumperweight Shetland Wool. The pattern I'm using is Meg Swanson's April in Wisconsin Vest.

In the perfect vision of hindsight, I can see that I would have been wiser to have just knitted the pattern as written, especially considering that this is my first attempt at a Fair Isle vest. But no, I wanted a button-up vest rather than a pullover. Now that I'm up in the armhole and neck opening decreases, there is so much happening in every round that I can only work two or three rounds before my brain starts to beg for mercy. This is definitely an "early in the day with a cup of tea" project.

The most recently started project is a pair of socks. The pattern is Cauchy from Cookie A's book Sock Innovation. The yarn is Briggs & Little's Durasport. I launched this project a couple of weeks ago because I was on call for jury duty last week and wanted a compact project to take along in the event I was required to report to the courthouse. My juror number was never called, so a sock project has joined the WIPS. These socks are destined to be a gift and there is no deadline, so I don't need to rush to finish them. By the way, the graphpaper notebook (which barely shows in the photo) has a nice handsewn fabric cover and was a Christmas gift, from and made by my sister Bonnie.

The next project is the one I am focusing on the most right now. The pattern is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Green Sweater. Pattern and Briggs & Little Sport yarn are from Schoolhouse Press. Although it presently looks like a floppy shapeless thing with random holes, with time it will turn into a neat stockinette stitch cardigan with dolman sleeves. The knitting is easy and relaxing. I'd like to finish it while our weather is still cold enough to wear it.

Another conglomeration of yarn that doesn't look like anything recognizable at the moment is the Akimbo Scarf. Designed by Stephen West, this is a triangular scarf which can be worn in lots of ways. I'm using Pagewood Farm Denali Hand Dyed Sock Yarn in two colorways. The second colorway hasn't been introduced yet.

The last in my knitting projects quintet is a double knit tam. I've only finished the ribbing so far. The pattern is the Double Knit Trinity Tam by Bex Oliger, the intrepid knitwear designer and partner/manager of True Blue Fiber Friends. This is my first foray into double knitting and I'm enjoying it so far, although I can already tell it's not going to be a fast knit. I'm using two colors of Knit Picks Palette fingering weight wool. The pattern is lovely. Hopefully I'll do a good job with it, so that it can be used for an Access Arts fundraiser.

Well, there's my current knitting line-up. Plenty of variety and luckily it's winter, so chilly afternoons and long evenings allow for lots of knitting time. But did I mention, there are weaving and spinning projects scattered around our house too? So, that's all for now. I'm going to go whomp on my loom for awhile ...

Blue Jay Way

2010-01-06T12:55:00.010-06:00

In these harsh winter days I've been busy at my looms and spinning wheel, not inclined to write much. But today the weather was just mild enough for me and the dog to do a little walkabout around the pond and through the pasture. Sure enough, the spare beauty inspired me to snap a handful of photos. Just as I was ready to retreat to the warm kitchen, I walked round the old chicken coop and glanced at the weatherbeaten door. Stuck in a gap in the wood was an acorn, stashed there by some blue jay, I'm sure. A morsel of food, a bit of survival for the blue jay, a smile on a cold day for me.

Season's Greetings!

2009-12-24T11:05:00.002-06:00

Warmest wishes to everyone for good cheer, joy, peace and love.

Loose Ends

2009-12-21T11:00:00.000-06:00

Today a short report on a knitting project I completed over the weekend - a new pair of fingerless gloves for myself, using some jumperweight Jamieson & Smith 2 ply wool that I had in my stash. They only took a couple of weeks, knitting mainly in the evenings for an hour or so. See all those loose ends on the inside-out glove? They are the result of changing colors many times to make the pretty little Fair Isle motifs on the right side. I spent several evenings weaving in all those yarn ends - not my favorite thing to do.

But I tackled those ends as soon as the knitting was done. I was eager to wear my mitts!

The pattern, Knab Fingerless Gloves, is from Ann Feitelson's book The Art of Fair Isle Knitting, using seven colors of the jumperweight wool and US size 1 1/2 double point needles. I made a few minor modifications to fit my hands and suit my own tastes. Today is the winter solstice, shortest day of the year. I'm celebrating by wearing my comfy, colorful mitts - and no loose ends inside or out!

No Swimming Today

2009-12-15T09:30:00.001-06:00

The temperature was a nippy 14 degrees this morning when I stepped out on the back porch to watch the sun rising behind the trees on the far side of our pond. The light sifting through the trees and casting gleaming streaks across the ice made me catch my breath. It's true - I'm an easy target for being captured by nature's beauty, but the view from the back porch this morning just seemed like the perfect expression of a winter's day, even though there is no snow on the ground. The delicate early morning sunlight showed every little object to its best advantage, right down to the frostiness of the air.

Our river birches were certainly looking their best. Now that all leaves have departed, you can easily see the papery bark on their trunks. That texture really speaks to fiber-oriented people. You just have to step up close and touch those curling shreds, examine the lines and traces on the inside surface, a secret code to decipher.

And how about autumn leaves frozen in the icy water, their colors still dusky for a little while, one last memory of the year's growing season, before they darken and decompose. Some of the leaves this morning were dusted with a sugary frosting.

I'm a four-season person. I love to watch the seasons shift and enjoy the treasures offered by each one. One of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver, seems to spend much time watching these things too. In her poem Messenger from her collection of poems, Thirst, she puts it perfectly -

"Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished."

Best wishes for a beautiful day for all.

It's Never Too Late...

2009-12-02T09:30:00.001-06:00

... to be thankful for the riches in your life.

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend I had time to finish knitting something for myself - this warm, cuddly cowl.

As I was working the last few stitches, I kept thinking about the special people and critters who contributed in one way or another to the final product. I'd like to give them some recognition and thanks.

First off, the beautiful cowl pattern Buttermilk Sky is an original design by my sister Bonnie. I think it's the first cowl I've ever made. I wasn't sure how the furry yarn would work with the stitch pattern, so it was a pleasant surprise to see how the yarn and texture complemented each other. I think Buttermilk Sky would pair beautifully with many yarns. The stitch pattern is easy to learn and the knitting goes quickly, so there's plenty of time to make a couple for holiday gifts if you're in need of gift ideas.

The yarn is some that I spun earlier this year. It's a 50/50 blend of my angora rabbits' wool with some fine fawn-colored alpaca fleece. My friends, Bonnie and Carl of ABC Ranch, blended the fibers and processed them into a lovely spinner's roving that required absolutely no preparation on my part. All I had to do was sit at my spinning wheel and let the fibers glide through my fingers. The resulting 2 ply yarn was lofty and soft and measured 13 wraps per inch. I used a US5 circular needle which yielded a plush fabric with lots of halo.

Of course, there would be no yarn and no cowl whatsoever without the beautiful wool of my three angora rabbits. Each one is a different color and has his own personality. All three are friendly and easy to work with. Let me introduce them.

Bailey

Tai Pae

And Tobin

Thanks, woolly boys!

So, in this one simple knitting project, I have lots to be thankful for. As if that isn't enough, the weather forecasters are predicting some cold temperatures in the next few days. I won't have to wait too long to try out my cowl. Life is good!

Fruit of the Loom

2009-11-05T14:15:00.003-06:00

Next weekend, November 13, 14, and 15, the Columbia Weavers and Spinners Guild will hold its 20th annual Holiday Exhibition and Sale. I've been a participating member in the sale from the beginning and always look forward to this fun, but rather intense affair. Like all of the twenty-some participants, I've been hard at work all year, trying to produce fiber art that will represent the best of my skills. Many of my things are purchased by people I don't know, and I never see these items again. This year I decided to take some photos of my weavings for the sale so that maybe five or ten years from now, I'll have a reminder of what I was making back in 2009.

First of all, handfuls of brightly-colored woven bookmarks. These are so much fun to weave on a simple inkle loom. The color combinations and patterns are endless.

Next, a bevy of little drawstring treasure bags. On most warps, I like to weave a yard or so of fabric just for these little bags. This allows me to try out color, yarn and design ideas that might not be suitable for table linens. These bags are perfect for small gifts, jewelry, glasses, and special treasures.

Breadcloths always seem to be a popular item at the sale. A loaf of homemade bread nestled in a handwoven breadcloth is a gift that will be remembered for years.

I only have a few table runners this year. Several were given to special friends over the course of the year, so just three will be going to the sale.

While I may not have many runners, I'm bringing armloads of towels. Handwoven towels seem to be a perennial favorite project among weavers, and I'm no exception. They are also an extremely popular item at the sale. We usually have a wall of towels in a rainbow of colors, literally something for everyone's tastes. We find that people who purchase the towels often use them for other purposes such as table runners or even wall hangings!

So there's a summary of my woven items for the sale. In addition to the weavings, I'll be bringing some knitted items - several hats and scarves using my own handspun/hand-dyed yarns. And finally, an assortment of colorful little holiday hat ornaments - great for hanging on the Christmas tree or to warm the head of your favorite house elf!

Yipes!

2009-10-28T08:45:00.001-05:00

Look out! It's a bat!!!

OK, relax. He just wants to wish everyone a wickedly Happy Halloween!

Honeysuckle's Last Blooms

2009-10-20T10:45:00.001-05:00

Just as summer was giving way to autumn, I took the last pieces of Honeysuckle Twill variations off my studio loom. I had written about this project in a post early last month. The warp was a lustrous 10/2 Tencel yarn in natural. The neutral base allowed me to play with any color I wanted, but I decided to work with "flowery" colors for the most part.

Three of these pieces were breadcloths, using 5/2 perle cotton as the weft and a pretty straightforward twill treadling. Here are two of them.

One of my favorite weft pairings for Tencel is 8/2 unmercerized cotton. The resulting fabric is a nice blend of the two yarns. The Tencel gives a bit of sheen and a drapey (but not slithery) hand to the cloth. The cotton contributes cushy softness and adds absorbency. This blue towel is woven with the 8/2 unmercerized cotton using a satin tie-up.

For the final piece of this warp, I used a balanced twill tie-up. A balanced tie-up is one in which the number of warp threads rising is equal to the number of warp threads remaining down, so that neither the warp or weft is dominating on the face of the cloth. Again the wefts were 8/2 unmercerized cotton. I used a delicate salmon and light apricot - a final nod to the lighter palette of early summer.

I haven't quite settled on my next project for this loom but weaving these last few Honeysuckle fabrics was a fitting way to bring my summer weaving to a close.

Raddled, Beamed, Knotted, Weaving!

2009-10-05T11:00:00.000-05:00

This post is a follow-up to the previous one. During the past week I made some headway in getting all those miles of warp threads onto my loom. On Wednesday I spread the warp in the raddle at the top of my loom, being careful to keep the colors in their correct order.

My Louet Megado loom has an excellent built-in raddle on its castle, as do all of the Louet looms. A raddle is a device which keeps the warp threads in their proper places and helps distribute them evenly on the warp beam.

Once the warp was arranged in the raddle, I attached it to a dowel rod which I then lashed to the warp beam and carefully wound the 15 yard warp onto the warp beam. (I know, I know, these terms sound like something out of Star Trek, but, hey, weavers have been warping, beaming and throwing shuttles long before Gene Roddenberry was even born!) The photo below shows the warp coming down from the raddle, over the back beam, and finally wound nice and snug on the warp beam below. Spreading the warp in the raddle and then beaming it on took two hours.

The next step was to tie each warp thread to the corresponding thread of the old warp which was still on the loom. I plan to use the same threading as I used in my Owls towels, so tying the new warp onto the old saved the step of threading the heddles (the vertical white nylon items in the next photo.) I used square knots to tie each of the 520 new threads to the 520 old threads. I estimated I could tie about 100 knots in a half an hour, so that's another two and one half hours of prep time - and a lot of square knots!

It was late Friday afternoon when all the knots were tied and the old warp was pulled forward to the front of the loom. It in turn pulled the new warp through the heddles, through the reed, and all the way to the front of the loom. At that point I was able to cut off the old warp and tie the new warp ends on to a rod attached to the cloth beam. (The woven fabric is rolled onto the cloth beam where it remains until the weaver unrolls it and cuts it off.) This step took another hour. I didn't take photos of this process because the anticipation was too great! After all that preparation, I just had to get the warp tied up and begin weaving. So... that's exactly what I did.

As luck would have it, Saturday was a grey old day, perfect for staying inside and tossing my shuttle back and forth at my loom. Here's a look at the cloth so far. The weft for the first piece is 8/2 gold tencel. My inspiration for this fabric was an autumn sunset in our woods.

Now that the loom is dressed again, I can look forward to many happy weaving hours. I haven't yet added up the time spent in preparation. I'm sure it will sound like a lot of time and trouble to non-weavers, but for weavers, it's all part of the process. And as the saying goes ... You have to be warped to weave!

In the Beginning

2009-09-28T09:30:00.007-05:00

It amazes me still, even after so many years of weaving and so many projects - how a collection of cones of yarn turns into finished woven cloth. I perform the many little steps of the process which I know so well, but seeing the end product still holds a bit of magic for me.

Today's post focuses on how I start a new project. Over the weekend I measured the warp for a series of towels, breadcloths and other household linens. I'll be using a pattern of my own design and 12 different cotton and cotton/linen blend yarns.

For these yarns, I'll have a sett of 24 threads per inch, which means there will be 24 threads in each inch of my warp. This warp will be 21.7" wide. With a bit of simple math, I found that I'll need 520 warp ends for this project. Each warp thread will be 15 yards long. The planning got a bit trickier here because I wanted to arrange my yarns so that there are mainly tans and khakis at the selvedges, shading through some rusty colors into deeper berries and eggplant at the center. I had only small amounts of some of the yarns, so I started planning at the center and worked out to the selvedges. Doing my calculations from the center out allowed me to adjust the warp thread count according to how much of each color I had.

After I got my color arrangement worked out, I measured the 15 yard warp in bundles or chains of about 80 threads each. Measuring the warp took three and a half hours. Frequent color changes slowed down the measuring process somewhat.

Once the warp was measured, I laid it out in the order it will be arranged in on the loom. My first thought was "Wow, that's a lot of yarn!" Just for fun I decided to do a few more calculations to see how much yarn it was. 520 warp threads at 15 yards each equals 7,800 yards of yarn or almost 4 and a half miles, if you stretched it all out end to end. In addition I estimate that I'll use about 6,000 more yards of yarn for the weft. That makes a total of 13,800 yards or 7.84 miles of yarn for this project. That is a lot of yarn.

From all those miles of yarn I expect to end up with approximately 13 and a half yards of woven cloth. It's amusing to think about that mileage scrunched up into towels or runners, etc. This project is especially satisfying for me because all the yarns came from my weaving stash. Nothing extra will need to be purchased. Hmmm, almost 14,000 yards of stash yarn gobbled up by one project. Might even make a knitter overwhelmed with stash yarn consider coming over to the dark side ...

Keeping Time

2009-09-22T11:06:00.024-05:00

a true story with a happy ending

This clock belonged to my maternal grandparents, John and Anna Kruse. They lived in the area just southeast of St. Louis, across the Mississippi River in Illinois. Married in October of 1914, they farmed the fertile Illinois land and raised six children, five sons and a daughter. The youngest child, Anita, is my mother. Anna passed away when my mother was in her early teens. When her father passed away in 1959, my mother inherited this clock. She brought it back to Kansas City where we were living at the time. Over the years, my family moved to the Chicago suburbs, and later, when my dad retired, my parents relocated to central Florida. John’s and Anna’s clock moved along with them.

Time passes ... In the summer of 1997, my daughter (also Anna) and I took a meandering road trip down to Florida to visit my parents. During our visit, my mom asked if I would like to have her family clock. I was very pleased to have a physical connection to the grandfather I remembered fondly and the grandmother I had never known, and so the clock came back to Boone County, Missouri with me. When she gave me the clock, Mom said she thought it might need repairing, she didn’t know for sure. Over the years, I’d intended to find someone reliable to take a look at it. Time slipped by though, and I never got around to seeing if it could be repaired.

Now some more years roll by, until it is last month, August of 2009. After vacationing with my sisters in Massachusetts, my mother journeyed back to her hometown in Illinois for a short visit with family and friends. Since she was in our neck-of-the-woods, (relatively speaking) my husband and I drove to Waterloo to spend a couple of days with her. One afternoon we all visited my mother’s brother, Hubert, who lives with his son Hubie and daughter-in-law, Karen. It was a pleasant afternoon, catching up on one another’s activities and listening to my mother and uncle reminisce about their childhood on the farm.

One thing about my cousin's and uncle's home that is impossible not to notice is the extraordinary number of clocks in every room - clocks of many styles and shapes, all ticking and some occasionally chiming. In the past few years, my cousin Hubie has developed a passion for collecting old clocks, and has become very knowledgeable about fixing them. One thing led to another, and when we left that evening, we’d arranged to mail the family clock to Hubie to see if it could be fixed. Within a few days of receiving it, my cousin emailed that he’d adjusted and oiled the clock - and that it was running like a champ. He wondered if I’d like my uncle to refinish the wooden clock case. I remembered seeing all the beautiful old pieces of furniture my uncle had refinished in their home and said yes.

I was so excited to learn that my clock was working and looked forward to its return, especially after Hubie emailed a photo of it, resplendent in its finished state. In the meantime I asked my mother what she knew about the clock and when it had stopped working. She doesn’t know how long her parents had the clock, possibly it was a wedding gift. She did remember that the last time it was keeping time was in April of 1943 when her mother passed away. Imagine! The old clock had stopped working sixty-six years ago. World War ll was being fought, FDR was president, and people gathered around their radio sets to hear the news of the day. Now, like Rip Van Winkle, the clock has awakened in the twenty-first century, where people wear digital wristwatches run by tiny batteries and we hear about current events nearly instantaneously via the internet.

Last week the clock arrived in the mail, safe and sound. Not only does it keep time, it is stunning in its new transfiguration. My uncle removed the dark stain and gave it a lighter warm finish that shows off the beautiful grain of the wood. Now it sits on a shelf in our living room where we can see it from all directions. It has a quiet but distinct “tic toc”. Its chime is rich, mellow and soft. In the evenings its sounds make a perfect soothing background accompaniment to reading and knitting. I’m still musing on its history and thinking about how coincidental yet fitting it is that members of our Kruse clan gave it a second life.

I don’t know... Perhaps it’s the English major in me, always looking for a story. A newspaper clipping or postcard tucked in the pages of a library book, old black and white photographs of stern-looking families strewn on the counter of a flea market mall ... these fragments can set me pondering and speculating. What’s the story here? So now, as I knit or spin, I look up at Anna’s and John’s clock ticking so placidly, and my imagination stirs. What family vignettes did the old clock witness as it quietly marked time and the children grew? And also, why did the clock stop running after Anna’s death? Was she the one who faithfully kept the clock wound? Or perhaps, with the loss of this farm family’s homemaker, with so much to be done and several sons in the armed services, there simply wasn’t time to bother with the clock.

I don’t expect I’ll ever know the answers to any of my musings. But one thing I do know. The blood that flowed through the hands of that earlier clock-winder also flows through my hands as I take on this task. I look down at the little clock key in my hand and then up at the clock’s face. In the reflection of the glass cover, I see my family smiling back at me.

Dedicated to my mother and grandparents.

Delicata ... Deliciosa!

2009-09-20T17:40:00.017-05:00

It's only in the past two years that I've become aware of Delicata winter squash. On a whim I picked one up at the farmers' market and took it home to bake, just like any other winter squash. What a revelation! Delicata's flesh is rich and buttery without the somewhat stringy texture of acorn, butternut, etc. After that first experience, I was always hunting for Delicata at the farmers' market when winter squash season rolled round. To my frustration, they were not plentiful, usually only one or two scattered among a few vendors. Even more nettling was the fact that the Delicatas I'd managed to scrounge resulted in such tasty soups, stews and more.

Over the past winter I decided there was only one way to obtain more of this delectable squash - and a pretty obvious solution at that. A packet of Delicata seeds was included in our Fedco seed order. Now I've never been big on growing winter squash. They have no manners in the garden, sprawling all over the place, taking no mind of the needs of their veggie neighbors. And then there's my biggest garden nemesis, the nasty, ugly, destruction-bent squash bug. (Did I mention that I don't like them?) They can take down a squash patch in days with no remorse, leaving more repulsive little nymphs in their wake. However, the siren squash had so completely won me over that I willingly gave over a spot to three hills of Delicata.

Yes, the plants did send out vines in all directions, cozying up to the dill and scallions, sneaking across the path into the tomato rows. Each week I gently lifted the vines and repositioned them back in their allotted space. No, the squash bugs did not do them in. (They were far more interested in the three zucchini hills nearby.) The Delicatas produced first many big showy blossoms, and then to my delight, they began to set fruit. Ultimately the plants succumbed to the prolonged dry spell we've had late this growing season and a powdery sort of mildew I'll need to read up on this coming winter. But a couple of weeks ago, when we gathered up the fruits and cleared out the plant debris, we had a bucket of seventeen squash - far more than we've had from the farmers' market.

Delicata squash are not long keepers like Hubbard and some of the other winter squash, so I'm anticipating a flush of Delicata-centered meals for the next several weeks. The dish I fixed last night was so simple but oh-so delicious.

Preheat an oven to 425°. Slice the squash into 1/2" sections and clean the seeds out of the centers. (A melon baller worked like a charm for this task.) Place the rings in a single layer in a shallow baking dish. Brush them with a mix of olive oil and melted butter. Turn them over and brush the other sides, then sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until fork tender.

That's it! Now eat 'em with your fingers. The skins are so tender that if the squash are organically-grown, you can eat them, skins and all. I think they'd be fun to stack in towers or other imaginative presentations if you're so inclined. For my part, I'll skip the fancy presentations and enjoy the sweet treats as they melt in my mouth.

Hints

2009-09-11T09:18:00.008-05:00

Well, here are some clues to the answer for my last post. I should have known that not everyone is as "plant-geeky" as I am.

1. These blossoms are both plants in the Mallow family, however, neither are grown specifically for their flowers.

2. One has edible parts. The other bears fruit that is of interest to fiber crafters of many skills.

3. In the bad old pre-Civil War days, African slaves on plantations would have dined on one of these after a hard day of processing the other.

I can't bear to have a post without a pic, so here's an honest-to-goodness flower who is all over our vegetable garden - Grandpa Ott's Morning Glory.

Good Luck!

September Pop Quiz

2009-09-09T10:44:00.008-05:00

Just for fun and perhaps a bit tricky. First person to correctly identify the following two blossoms will receive a small handmade reward. Leave your answers in the comments.

Blossom #1

Blossom # 2

Weaving Honeysuckle

2009-09-02T14:08:00.045-05:00

No, I have not become so befuddled by the abundance of garden produce that I have taken to putting flowers, leaves, vines, or, perish the thought, vegetables in my weaving projects. Honeysuckle Twill is the name of the pattern that I am currently using for a long warp on my 8 shaft floor loom. My source for this small but versatile overshot threading is A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite Porter Davison. My warp is 10/2 tencel in off-white, set at 24 ends per inch. The original draft is a four shaft pattern. I decided to convert it to eight shafts in order to explore many possibilities.

The first photo is a piece woven in the traditional overshot manner, using two wefts. One weft is the fine tencel and weaves the ground cloth, or tabby, as weavers call it. The second weft, a 5/2 perle cotton in a deep purple, weaves the pattern. If I were to cut away all the purple wefts, a solid white plain weave fabric would still remain. The upper portion of this photo is how Honeysuckle Twill looks woven in its original, traditional overshot manner. In the lower part of the photo I expanded a portion of the design to create a border.

The second photo is of another runner still woven as four shaft overshot. However, I used two colors for the pattern weft (blue and lilac) and I also changed the treadling order, ie., the order in which I step on the treadles(pedals.)

For the next piece I used a very pale blue cotton as the tabby/ground weft and a light spring green 5/2 perle cotton for the pattern weft and again changed the way I was weaving the pattern. This piece is not woven as four shaft overshot but is an improvisation that requires eight shafts. Unlike the previous pieces, the reverse side of this cloth looks nothing like its front.

For the next piece, a towel, I completely abandoned overshot, retied my treadles so that different sets of warp threads were lifted together, and started weaving with just one shuttle. The weft is a light blue 10/2 perle cotton. There is no neutral colored ground cloth acting as a background for a pattern weft. This fabric is reversible. I especially like the arrangement of the large and small blocks of pattern.

The last piece in this post is still on the loom. I'm weaving with a deep berry 8/2 unmercerized cotton. This design is actually a small segment of the previous one, just repeated over and over. It creates a small over-all design. I wanted a daintier pattern because this cloth is destined to be cut up and sewn into treasure bags and other small items. I like the pattern for its appearance, but I also like that it doesn't require as much concentration as any of the other patterns, so the weaving goes faster and I'm not as likely to lose my place if someone talks to me. (This loom is in the studio where I teach.)

For this experimentation with Honeysuckle Twill I put a 13 yard warp on the loom. I think I've used just over half of the warp, so there are still more variations to come. In addition to playing around with changes in how the warp threads are raised, I have a variety of yarns to try out as weft, so most likely I'll run out of warp before I run out of ideas. That's the best kind of weaving - a pattern that leads you down many paths with always one more path to explore!

Red

2009-08-24T08:27:00.014-05:00

The weaving post I had intended for today is not quite ready, but last evening's garden walk suggested another theme. Our raspberry bushes are producing a modest crop, enough to put on our cereal or ice cream, or, best of all, just pop the little nuggets right in your mouth. Last night's berries looked so exquisite in the bowl, I just had to snap a picture.

Then, as I was walking back from the dock with berries and camera still in hand, the Giant Burgundy Cockscomb waved me over and had their picture taken too. Their sumptuous, velvety red seemed a perfect partner for the raspberries. This particular type of cockscomb is often nicknamed the Brain because of its convoluted shape. Mine are still maturing so I'm hoping they get brainier!

The other item I harvested from the garden was Red Burgundy Okra. Now I'm not a fan of slimy okra dishes but when I saw these plants in bloom last year up at the Seed Savers Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, I had to give this okra a spot in the garden. These are handsome plants with attractive flowers. And what's better, I've found that the fruits taste pretty darn good, and not one bit slimy, if dipped in egg, dredged in seasoned cornmeal, and fried in a bit of canola oil. The deep red candle-like shapes are also fun to arrange in various poses ...

I have to sneak a bit of weaving into today's post, so here's a runner I wove in 2007 that fits in with my red theme. This is a very old tied overshot pattern named La Belle Creole. My source for the draft was Mary Meigs Atwater's Recipe Book. The warp is 20/2 perle cotton, set at 30 ends per inch. The pattern weft is 10/2 perle cotton. Don't look at all those geometric shapes too long or your eyes will start to cross!

The Tomato Post

2009-08-18T08:42:00.014-05:00

It's true. They overwhelmed me, took over the kitchen, and demanded their moment of glory.... the tomatoes, that is. So here is a tribute to our 2009 crop of tomatoes. If you don't relish the summer love apples, you'd better not read on. But many of us spend 8 or 9 months of the year anticipating the arrival of the bona fide, juice-squirting-in-your-mouth item. 'Round about mid-June or early July, many local gardeners, myself included, start to see these orbs forming on our tomato plants.

Then days and weeks drag by, until finally the warm days and nights work their magic, and the tomatoes start to look like this.

Finally all is well! We have lovely, tasty tomatoes to enjoy with any meal we choose. Bruschetta topped with cherry tomatoes - yum! Pasta a la Caprese - you bet! Pizza with tomato slices, fresh garlic and herbs - bring it on! We laugh scornfully at those sorry supermarket globes masquerading as tomatoes.

And then one day, I look around the kitchen and all I can see on every flat surface is this.

That's when my delight morphs into panic. What to do with all these tomatoes before they get overripe and - horrors! - have to be thrown out. Some we give away to gardenless friends and neighbors. Some years I can the surplus. This year I've been slow-roasting them with garlic, fresh basil and a bit of olive oil. This marvelous concoction, the essential tomato goodness, can be frozen and pulled out deep in winter for pasta sauce, pizza, and much more. Tasting those roasted tomatoes makes summer bloom in your mouth for a few minutes, even on a sullen January day.

So here's to ya, my tomato lovelies - the Sweet 100s cherry tomatoes, the Jaune Flammes, the Orange Bananas, the San Marzanos, and the Aunt Ginny's Purples - all heirloom varieties obtained from members of the Seed Savers Exchange across the country.

I have a favorite memory of chatting with my Dad about the virtues of gardens, and tomatoes in particular. I quoted a phrase from a country and western song I'd heard on the radio. My Dad immediately knew the song and the artist. That tune and that memory always surface at this time of year. It's a song by Guy Clark. Here's the chorus:

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love and homegrown tomatoes.

On a muggy August day in Missouri, that about sums it up for me.

Weavers of the 21st Century

2009-08-10T07:18:00.029-05:00

I learned to weave when I was in my late twenties. With that first project, a sampler, I was hooked. I couldn't get enough of throwing a shuttle across a warp and watching cloth - handwoven cloth - grow before me. That was over thirty years ago. In that time, I've always had a project in progress on a loom, and my enthusiasm has never diminished.

For the past twenty some years, I've been fortunate enough to share my weaving obsession by teaching weaving classes at Access Arts in Columbia, MO. In addition to several adult classes, I teach a children's class once a week. Today I'd like to shine a spotlight on my young weavers. Anyone who wants a definition of enthusiastic weavers should visit this class. All the children in this class arrive eager and ready to sit down at their looms and get busy. They spend an hour and a half weaving and chatting with one another. They may not be aware of it, but they are reinforcing skills that support what they are learning in school: doing math problems, reading a pattern, remembering a sequence, developing fine motor skills, making decisions on color and design .... And they're having a good time at it!

When I was a kid back in the middle of the 20th century, I wove on one of the ubiquitous potholder looms. While I thought it was great fun to mix and match all those colored loopers and see how the colors worked - or didn't - together, I sometimes wonder how I would have liked the more complex and versatile looms my students weave on. In my heart of hearts, I hope that at least a few of the children who have passed through my classes will continue weaving as adults and that weaving will find a niche in their creative spirits to enrich their lives as it has mine.

In the meantime, here's a gallery of Weavers of the 21st Century in action.

E working on her table runner:

C weaving pillow fabric:

O concentrating hard on her pattern:

A weaving kitchen towels:

A weaving fabric for treasure bags:

M working on her first project:

E proudly posing with her pillow:

Weave on, kids. Help me pass this shuttle along to the next generation.

It's a Good Day When ....

2009-08-08T11:47:00.002-05:00

... the number of zucchini I gave away is greater than the number of zucchini I picked.

Have a good weekend!

Whoo's There?

2009-08-03T08:01:00.007-05:00

Several years ago I designed a weaving pattern inspired by an Irish tune I was learning at the time. Because this pattern was created for my Megado dobby loom, it is a multishaft threading that has the potential for lots of variations. As I played around with some of these pattern possibilities, one variation seemed to resemble many little owls looking out at me from the cloth. After washing the fabric, the owls were even more apparent. I was delighted with the serendipitous little birds and wove quite a few towels in that pattern. Of course, after a couple of warps using that threading for the owls and more, I moved on to other projects, but I knew I would have to invite the owls back to roost in my loom again sometime.

Well, they're back and as cute as ever. For this warp, I used 8/2 unmercerized cotton yarns in 6 pale earth tones arranged randomly across the warp. The sett is 24 ends per inch. (For you non-weavers, sett means how many threads are in one inch of a warp.) The weft yarns I've used so far are 8/2 cotton and 8/2 tencel in darker earth tones. Here's a close-up of some of the owls looking at you. Above the woven fabric you can see the warp colors.

The woven cloth from this project will become towels, breadcloths, and treasure bags. I put 13 yards of warp on my loom and have lots of weaving ahead of me. In addition to the owlets, I'll use some of the other pattern variations for this threading and perhaps discover some new ones. One of the variations I'll use is the original pattern I created for that Irish tune. But that's a post for another day.

Tour de Fleece 2009 - Mission Accomplished!

2009-07-28T10:16:00.008-05:00

My goal for the Tour de Fleece challenge was to spin a minimum of 30 minutes a day each day of the Tour de France. With the garden shifting into peak production during July, it was indeed tricky to squeeze spinning time into each day, but I did it! And the veggies are no worse the wear for it, or me either for that matter. At the end of the event, I had logged 1,180 minutes of spinning - just over 19 1/2 hours. 160 of those minutes were spindle spinning.

The real bonus is how much finished yarn came out of this effort. The total yardage of finished 2 ply yarn was 909 yards. I completed two projects that had been dragging along for quite some time, spun and plied the bamboo roving, (a new fiber for me), and got well into my current spinning project - 8 ounces of tussah silk. On Sunday, the final day of the event, I finished up garden chores early and spent 70 minutes, enjoying the glide and sheen of that silk through my fingers while listening to Celtic music on the radio.

It was an enjoyable challenge. I would definitely do it again because it kept spinning high on my list of daily priorities. Daily spinning is such a good way to maintain balance in daily life. I'm going to close with a photo of the finished bamboo yarn. I ended up with 285 yards of 2 ply yarn. It's shiny and smooth (mostly) but not elastic or lofty, so I'm going to plan a weaving project for it. Huzzah for spinning!

For Anna ....

2009-07-22T09:15:00.003-05:00

Who asked what I was going to do with the Eight Ball Zucchini that had gotten too big ...

Tour de Fleece Report #2

2009-07-22T07:34:00.009-05:00

In spite of the boisterous green beans, rowdy cucumbers and sassy sweet basil that have been spilling out of the garden lately, I'm still keeping to my goal of at least 30 minutes spinning each day of the Tour de France. For the past ten days, I've actually spun at least 35 minutes per day. My total number of spinning minutes now stands at 910, a tad over 15 hours. In keeping with the spirit of the bike ride, I've done a couple of rides of my own with spindle and fiber stashed in a bike pack.

Only about a 10 inch length of the bamboo roving remains to be spun. I hope to finish that today, then get it plied tomorrow. It's lovely fiber, and I've worked out some techniques for better control and consistent yarn. But I've never come to love the actual spinning of it, and luckily, there is no more bamboo in my fiber stash.

I've also made headway on my spindle spinning project, the golden merino/tencel blend roving. This was 8 ounces of fiber which I split in half. My intention for this project is to spindle spin each half, making two roughly equal balls of single strand yarn which I'll then ply together. Monday evening I finished spinning the first 4 ounces. Although there's still a lot of spinning ahead on this project, getting through that first 4 ounces feels like an accomplishment. By the way, this fiber is pure pleasure to spin, unlike some others... It gets smashed into my backpack or bike pack on a daily basis, yet is always easy to fluff up a bit and get right to the spinning.

So, only five more Tour days left. Good luck to all you Tour de Fleece participants. I wouldn't object to another rainy day, another valid excuse to stay inside and spin. Here's a final shot of the 4 ounce ball of merino/tencel with ... well, you know...

Gold Rush

2009-07-20T08:12:00.013-05:00

It all started last week when I decided it was time for my annual hunt for chanterelles, one of my favorite wild mushrooms. The spot where I hunt the chanterelles is a good one. I always come away well-rewarded. But this year, for whatever reason, (I suspect it's the two years of plentiful rain) there is a bumper crop of mushrooms. I quickly gathered lots of nice, fresh specimens, but had to step carefully because there were so many! Aside from the tasty culinary aspect, the chanterelles always make me smile to think that they are there all year long, and no one knows until they fruit at this time in summer. Seeing all the golden "fungi flowers" peaking out from between the sticks, leaves, and grasses of the forest floor delights me.

Later that evening, after cleaning, cooking and freezing my gatherings, I took my current spindle spinning project and sat out on the swing in our backyard for a bit of relaxing spindling. Visions of tawny mushrooms still spinning in my head, I noticed that the lovely merino/tencel roving was glinting golden in the evening sunlight. And furthermore, the spindle was one of Michael Golding's handsome, true-spinning gold ring spindles. That's when it hit me - gold is showing up everywhere!

Since then, I've just been following this golden thread and looking for gold each day. The weekend was filled with garden occupations: weeding, watering, harvesting, preserving. By yesterday afternoon, I felt like I needed to do something different and fun (in a non-vegetable way) before the weekend was over. I tucked my spindle and fiber into the pack on my bicycle and headed off for a ride to the Chance Gardens in nearby Centralia. I went into the rose garden first, and wouldn't you know, one of the roses at the entrance is this beauty. Its name tag identified it as "Caribbean." I loved how the center glows golden and gradually becomes deep peach at the edges of the petals.

The other portion of Chance Gardens has an Asian theme with waterfalls, rock sculptures and a cozy, shaded nook with stone benches - perfect for spinning and taking in the flowery view. After enjoying the spinning and flower gazing, I crossed the bridge over a small fish pond and stopped to see what the fish were up to. Those fish, those koi were the color of the yarn I'd been spinning, as well as some other golden variations!

So there it is, a golden thread crossing my path over and over again lately, bringing me joy in this last part of July. Of course, the chanterelles and roses will fade. I'll finish spinning the wool/merino roving, and the koi will be moved out, come autumn. But this vein of gold is now tucked in my memories where I can mine it anytime I choose.

How Does the Garden Grow?

2009-07-15T09:24:00.031-05:00

Today a gallery of flower and veggie photos from my walk in the garden this morning. The original starts for this day lily came from a treasured weaving friend and mentor who has passed away, but lives on in the beauty of these blossoms.

This blossom is from the prolific Eight Ball Zucchini. Only three hills, and yet we're handing the squash out like silver dollars to anyone we meet!

Indy Gold Wax Beans - We may have to start sneaking these into friends' pockets and purses soon too.

Aunt Ginny's Purple, an heirloom tomato. This is the first year I've grown this variety. It's late bearing, so no ripe ones yet.

Cucumbers! This is a pickling type called Cross Country. I picked a bunch this morning.

Coneflowers, of course. They multiply like mad. The originals also came from gardener weaver friend Helen.

Rudbeckia - Even on a cloudy day they create their own sunny corner in the flower bed.

I only had time to pick some cukes, dill, and a few other veggies before the skeeters drove me into the house. I think there may be dill pickles in my future!

Sorry for some of blurry images and wonky arrangement of the photos and type. I haven't completely gotten the hang of this blog formatting yet.

Tour de Fleece Report

2009-07-13T08:22:00.018-05:00

Ten days into the spinning challenge and I'm still on course. My challenge is to spin at least 30 minutes a day. So far, I've done more than than 30 minutes on all but one of the days. As of yesterday, I'd logged 485 minutes of spinning time - over 8 hours! Lucky for me, we've had several rainy days when I couldn't work in the garden and could spin guilt-free! The best part of this effort is all the yarn that's flying off my wheel. So far, two projects that had been sitting neglected in my spinning basket are finished. The tan yarn is a tussah silk/camel blend, two ply, spun from the fold. It's oh-so-soft to the touch. The grey yarn is wool two ply, also spun from the fold, very cushy.

On Saturday I started spinning 4 ounces of dyed bamboo. The color name is Malachite, and it's a beauty to behold, lustrous deep teal and turquoise. Spinning it, however, is definitely a challenge. Bamboo is a grass. After harvesting, it is chopped up and blended with chemicals to make a sort of mash or slurry, and is then extruded through spinnerets into a fine spinning fiber. The fiber that I'm working with has about a 4 inch length. Once again I'm spinning from the fold, trying to keep my treadling and drafting coordinated to produce a smooth yarn.

Spinning from the fold means that I take a 4 inch section of the fiber, like the piece shown in the photo above, fold it in half over my right index finger, and draw (or draft) the fibers from the tip of my finger. The treadling action of my spinning wheel inserts twist into the fibers. My left hand controls how much of this twist is allowed into the fibers being drawn or drafted into yarn, while my right hand controls how many fibers are being drafted at any given time. In spite of all the words needed to describe it, this technique is an easy, speedy way to create a smooth, even yarn - in most cases.

The bamboo, however, is slick, doesn't naturally grab onto itself like wool does, and seems intent on shifting around on my finger until it is a messy little jumble. I have about an ounce spun now, and still must keep my eye on the drafting area and the folded fiber. Not enough twist and the yarn drifts apart. Too much twist and I'm making luxury binder twine! If the fibers get out of order, I have loops sticking out of my yarn. It's definitely a good match for a spinning challenge. So, while I may not yet be at one with the spinning of the bamboo, the yarn building up on the bobbin motivates me to keep trying.

S Is For .....

2009-07-06T08:17:00.009-05:00

..... Summer with its golden mornings and endless shades of green. Long, languid days and crunchy fresh vegetables from the garden and farmers market.

..... Spinning. I sit at my spinning wheel early on a summer's morning, fiber flowing through my fingers, transforming into a personal yarn, filled with my thoughts and intentions for the day ahead. While spinning, I can watch the leaves of the cottonwood gradually become delicate, quivering filters of the morning light. A fleeting bit of wonder is tucked into this morning's yarn.

..... Silk, gift of the silkworms. Gossamer white or honey gold fibers glide through my fingers more easily in summer when the air is not so dry, when my skin is not so dry as in winter.

S is for summer silk spinning. A wish I didn't know I'd made is granted.

Le Tour de Fleece 2009

2009-07-03T08:12:00.027-05:00

Le Tour de Fleece 2009 begins tomorrow! Last year I learned about this event too late to participate. This year I signed on for the spinning challenge that runs from July 4 through July 26, the same time frame as Le Tour de France bicycle race. Each participating spinner sets her own challenge. My challenge is to spin at least 30 minutes each day of the Tour. That may not sound like much of a challenge for someone who loves spinning, but at this time of the year, our garden clamors for attention. Most of my free time seems to be spent pulling weeds, tying up tomato vines, picking veggies, etc. And spinning, more than any of my other crafts, gets dropped off the To Do list first. So, with a minimum of 30 minutes (either wheel or spindle spinning) per day, I should eke out at least 13 hours of spinning in July.

The project I'm starting the challenge with is one that is nearly complete: seven ounces of combed dyed grey wool from Little Barn. I split the roving in half by weight and am spinning each half on a separate bobbin on my Schacht Matchless wheel. I am spinning it from the fold for a smooth, compact yarn, and will then ply the two singles together. With less than 2 ounces left to spin, it shouldn't take long to wrap that project up and speed on to another. I haven't yet decided what will come next, but as this is also my year of spinning from a considerable stash, there are plenty of options. The fun starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the challenge, as well as spending some quality time with my spinning tools. We'll see how it goes ...

To Weave a Rug

2009-06-30T12:00:00.040-05:00

Sometimes after years of exploring the complexities of one's craft, it's good to return to the basics. To examine the simple elements carefully and see new possibilities.

That is how I felt after attending a three day Plain Weave Rug workshop taught by Jason Collingwood at the Yarn Barn in Lawrence, Kansas. Like many weavers, I started my weaving journey with plain weave, but over the years, I gradually added more shafts to my loom capabilities in order to weave all those intriguing and complicated patterns. Plain weave was no longer on my list of structures to use, except for hems or weaving in header. I signed up for the rug class because I'd heard good things about Jason's workshops and because I admired his beautiful rugs. I wasn't so sure about the plain weave thing though, and hoped I wouldn't regret my decision.

I have absolutely no regrets. By lunchtime of the first day, I had learned some valuable tips. Jason covered all aspects of weaving a good rug: appropriate looms, materials, warping techniques, getting off to a good start, several types of twining to use at the beginning and end of a rug, how to tie a snug knot with the thick 8/5 linen rug warp, how to begin and end the multiple strands of wool weft invisibly, finishing treatments, and much more. And there was, of course, the plain weave. He described and demonstrated many techniques, starting with the basic horizontal and vertical stripes, then moving on to various types of crossed wefts, clasped wefts, compensated inlay, and more. He also discussed techniques to eliminate long weft floats at the selvedges.

There were 17 participants in this class with a wide range of weaving experience. I think all of us found something to challenge us and to expand our weaving horizons. At the end of each day, I felt like I'd worked hard but also had gained some new and useful information. Jason was an excellent teacher, answering questions and helping individuals to understand the concepts and methods. He learned his skills from his father, Peter Collingwood, and is most certainly an accomplished weaver/teacher in his own right.

Here's my finished sampler. It was woven from the bottom up. The warp is 8/5 linen set at 3 doubled/working ends per inch. For most of the techniques we used three strands of rug wool on the shuttles. The finished dimensions are 11" x 30", excluding fringes.

In the close-up you can see some of the decorative (countered) twining, which I greatly enjoyed working, as well as a bit of compensated inlay, staggered dots, and a lovely knotted treatment for the warp ends. (Click on the photo to enlarge for a better look.)

Back home in Missouri now, I'm setting up a loom for more exploration of the workshop techniques while they are still fresh. I hope to post pictures and more information in the coming weeks. I must admit that I had a great time getting reacquainted with good old plain weave and now have a fresh appreciation for its simple and not-so-simple aspects.

Before I end this post, I'd like to add how much fun it was to visit the Yarn Barn and to browse all the fiber goodies before and after class. And yes, some of those goodies came home in our car: a nice supply of linen rug warp and a Toika temple for all the rugs I'll be weaving, some lustrous perle cottons for other weaving projects, and even a couple of skeins of Cascade 220 for knitting. Good thing it was only a three day workshop!

Small Gifts

2009-06-29T07:39:00.008-05:00

After more than a week of temperatures in the high 90's and high humidity levels, a storm swept through Saturday night, bestowing on us the gift of milder weather. It was a pleasure to work in the garden yesterday. The weeds didn't seem nearly so brutish as they did the day before. In the evening I took my pennywhistle down to the pond dock for a bit of practice. The pond was so quietly resplendent, reflecting every branch and shadow so perfectly that I had to go back to the house for the camera, to try to capture the beauty. Here's what the camera saw...

When I'd finished torturing the fish with my musical noodling, I took a quick walkabout to check on a few favorite wildflowers before the mosquitos began torturing me. This Tall Green Milkweed grows by itself in the middle of the grass. Its flowers are just getting ready to open. I thought that at this stage the flowers resembled the bursting orb-like fireworks on the 4th of July.

Small gifts can be quite ample really ...

Way Out West

2009-06-24T08:25:00.022-05:00

Last week we travelled to Kansas so that I could attend a weaving workshop at the Yarn Barn in Lawrence. (More about that later.) On the trip out, however, we drove farther west in Kansas to the Flint Hills area and visited the Tallgrass Prairie Nature Preserve in Chase County. With temperatures in the low 90's and plenty of wind, it wasn't the ideal time perhaps, but it was still a memorable side trip. Lots of wildflowers were in bloom - prickly pear, coneflowers, scurfy pea and more. But the flower that caught my eye most was this beauty - butterfly milkweed. Sure, we can grow it here in Missouri, but seeing the clusters of bright orange, some large, some small, scattered across the landscape made them seem remarkable, not just another variety of the humble milkweed.

The landscape itself is vast and open. Adjectives fail to capture its true nature. One rolling hill is followed by another. The information in the visitors center said that in the ancient days of the continent, the area was covered by large, shallow oceans. As I turned 360 degrees, seeing endless hills and sky in every direction, the word that came to mind was primal. I thought about how daunting the landscape must have appeared to settlers from the east coast or Europe who were used to shorter vistas and urban settings. And about how daily life without our modern conveniences would have demanded constant hard work and perseverance to survive. Such an awe-inspiring but formidable environment might have fostered great accomplishments in some, yet might have induced depression and despair in others. I was also amazed by the stone fences, hand built from the abundant flint. These weren't just short lengths, enclosing gardens or small pastures. They rolled up and down with the contours of the hills, disappearing into the horizon. How much time and labor went into their construction!

Here's one last picture. We only hiked a short distance up one of the trails due to the heat. At one picturesque spot there were benches for sitting, presumably for taking in the immense view and contemplating whatever one might choose to contemplate in such a place. This bench didn't look particularly inviting!

Next time: Rug weaving in Lawrence

Missouri Trouble

2009-06-15T09:48:00.007-05:00

Of the many patterns that weavers have at their disposal, the traditional floatwork (overshot) patterns surely have the most colorful names. These are the patterns used for many old coverlets and are what people often think of as North American Colonial weaving. Names such as Nine Snowballs, Whig Rose, Cat Track and Snail Trail, Lee's Surrender, and World's Wonder add another dimension to the woven cloth. I enjoy weaving the traditional floatwork patterns and feeling a connection to those earlier weavers.

My enduring favorite among these patterns is Missouri Trouble. Of course, living in Missouri, it is fun to weave a pattern with the state name. But more than that, I just think it is a graceful and visually interesting design. The draft I use may be found in The Shuttlecraft Book of American Handweaving by Mary Meigs Atwater. Ms. Atwater calls it "... a very famous old pattern - one of the finest." Each time I weave Missouri Trouble, I think about how the pattern got its name. Was it a reference to the difficult times when Missouri came into the Union? Was the weaver struggling to create a home in the frontier and dealing with the challenges of life in an unfriendly environment? Or perhaps it was the trouble of the design itself. The pattern repeat is large, just over 300 threads. Even woven in fine threads the main motif is around 7 inches by 7 inches. Threading or treadling errors could distort the beautiful shape. (My own weaving students, working with 20/2 cotton for the first time, are quite certain that the latter is the reason for the name.) Or perhaps, it was just a spontaneous name that popped into the weaver's head while working at his/her loom on a hot, sticky summer afternoon - in Missouri, of course.

We'll never know the origins of all these floatwork pattern names, but it doesn't really matter, does it? They just add a little extra zing to our weaving. I chose the name for my blog because both the name and the design give me pleasure, especially while I'm working at my loom on a hot, sticky Missouri afternoon.