Merry Christmas Everyone from my family to yours!

Somewhere on somebody's blog there was a link to knit a square for Grandmother Purl This sounded like a fun idea and immediately made a square and then read the fine print where they said to use natural machine washable fibers. So I restarted using some of knitpicks 100% merino superwash. It was fun to knit and loved the easy lace pattern that I found here . It's a simple 4 row repeat pattern that's very easy and yet looks very nice. This picture doesn't do it justice.


When that was done, I discoverd the Afghans for Afghans website and felt compelled to knit a vest for a child. I'm about half done



and have enjoyed using up handspun yarns that I had spun and were just sitting on a shelf. This pattern is great for using odds and ends of yarn. They need 900 sweaters and vests by November 3rd. Again, it looks better in person, but you get


the gist of it. It's knitted in one piece and you switch colors whenever you want with a solid back. It's interesting that I never could find anything to do with this yarn because it's in small amounts. As I knit this vest, I think about who will wear it. It makes me feel good because I get as much out of it as the person receiving it. It's like putting a little bit of yourself 'out there'. I have a few handknit hats that I will add to the package when I send it.

That's all for now. Enjoy your day!

So my diet is coming along - I'm down 9.5 lbs as of yesterday. And yes, this is more of a lifestyle change rather than a diet, because I never was very good at diets. Mostly, just eat alot less and no junk food. I'm also trying to eat more veggies and fruits. I was walking, but my knee is still bothering me and have to take frequent breaks from standing (which is why I'm here writing).

I've started knitting the jaywalker socks using Lorna Laces sport sock. It's a fun knit, but I'm a little disappointed in the color changes - it's coming out 1 row of purple and 1 row of light purple - just not real exciting to watch as you knit.

I've started another rug. This time, after some unweaving, I sat down and did a color sketch of what I wanted - to scale and I'm hoping this helps because I'm used to using finer rug yarn and more intricate designs. The designs I'm doing now are larger and look different as I'm weaving. They look too big until I get the rug off the loom. So, we'll see.

Cat on a rug

My latest rug off the loom. My cat seems to think it's hers. There are about 10 other rugs underneath this one. I'm trying to develop some simple southwest style rugs that don't take me a month or 2 or 3 to make, so that I can sell them at a reasonable price. There is a furniture store that my dh has done business with in the past that will display them for me. My problem has been that I don't have a consistent 'style' so that when they're displayed they look well together. My other problem is that when I design, I pretty much design at the loom. Even if I create a design on graph paper, it always changes when I go to weave it. So when I weave, I also unweave. I've learned that it's better to unweave or start over than to continue doing something that I don't like. So, I weave slowly.

My diet is progressing slowly. I seem to have lost steam. I've lost only 5 lbs and am disappointed with myself. At least I made some progress, just not much. I've injured my knee somehow and walking is painful. Yesterday I walked a mile and had trouble making the last half mile. Then the rest of the day I could barely walk. I'm better today, but not much. I think it's a bone spur or calcium deposit irritating something. I don't feel as if my knee is going to give out, just major pain when I change position or walk for very far. I hate being 'out of commission'. I hope this goes away soon.

replying to posts

I don't get many comments on this blog, but when I do, I'd like to respond to them. However, for the life of me, I can't email them personally because I don't get a copy of their email address. There must be some way to do this. If you know how to find the email address of people who leave comments, please leave a comment with directions on how to do this. Thanks!

So I'll just publicly thank Judy for her comment regarding my rug. I also liked how the shading came out. When I was weaving, the shading seemed too abrupt, but when placed on the floor the color changes appear more shaded and less abrupt. I used 3 plys of yarn and would change colors 1 ply at a time. I plan on doing more rugs with shading because it was fun to do. I was attempting to produce a type of rug that doesn't take forever for me to weave and yet still has some tapestry work in it.

Today, I'm winding a warp for some cotton towels using foxfibre 10/2 cotton for some Christmas presents. I have another rug almost completed.

The only other news is that I'm on a diet. I've been Very overweight for the last 15 years. I had my one and only child when I was 39 and put on a lot of weight and have never lost it and over time have kept getting heavier. I never used to have problems losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight until I hit 40 and had a lot of weight to lose and I guess I just didn't care enough to or felt I had reason enough to lose the weight. I just have been unable to get to point where I was willing to take responsibility for my weight and have the attitude it takes to drop the pounds I need to because it's really all about attitude (at least I think so). It's how I quit smoking years ago. With the right attitude, difficult things become easier. Anyway, I've lost 6-1/2 pounds and feel optomistic for the first time in a long time that this is doable.

So, wish me good luck on my journey to better eating and exercise habits. I'd really like to knit me a sweater that looks good on me!

The big ball of yarn on the left with some help from some size 10.5 knitting needles and my hands has become the shawl on the right. It was an easy knit and fun to do. It is a gift to my next door neighbor who now lives in a quasi-nursing home in Prescott. She's in her 90's now, and is always cold. I use to visit her when she lived next store and in the middle of the summer she would be dressed in sweats and with no air conditioner turned on. This is Arizona, where it gets really hot!

This is the undulating twill scarf I wove from some merino/tencel roving. It's a very nice scarf, soft, wonderful feel to it. I see I can very easily spin thinner yarn when I'm going to use it for weaving. This was navajo plied and came out at about a sports weight. The warp was varigated colors which was why I navajo plied it. Unfortunately, the weft being a dark purplish blue overwhelmed the colors of the weft. Originally, I was going to do a shadow weave, or I would have made the weft thinner, probably by 2 plying it instead of navajo plying the yarn.

I finally re-warped the rug loom on the porch and am working on a rug. I'll post pictures as soon as it's done.

This is my latest rug right off the loom. I'll need to take a picture outside, because this doesn't show it to it best. I liked the way the shading turned out around the center tapestry. I have some yarn in brown tones and want to do a rug with that, but first it is time to rewarp the loom. I don't like warping the loom, and consider it a necessary evil, something that has to be done properly, and so I always enter into the process with a little trepidation.

The weather here is still very hot and humid and it's hard to be motivated to work. I hope to someday live in a cooler climate with a true change of seasons and cold enough to wear sweaters,scarves etc. It would also be nice to live where in addition to the humidity there is also rain. Arizona teases you with the possibility of rain - off in the distance - and you pray that it makes it close enough for it to rain right where you stand. So, even though the county where I live has had flash flood warnings and watches for most of the month, it really hasn't rained much where I live. I can't imagine living where you grow to hate the rain, although I did go to college in western Oregon many years ago and actually did get quite depressed from the continuous cloud cover, rain and wind.

So now as soon as I get motivated, I'm going to starting winding a long warp for the rug loom.

Well, here's my cat. This is Yowie and like most cats, she loves wool, and also my rugs. I had this yarn out to look at to decide what to make with it, and as soon as I turn around, she's laying on it.


This is a scarf I'm weaving on my Glimakra loom. The picture doesn't show the colors at all accurately. Anytime the flash goes off, the colors are distorted. This is some merino/tencel handspun yarn, that I spun several years ago. I'm trying to use all this handspun that I've got.. It's wonderfully soft and springy. I'm so use to weaving rugs, and beating hard, that I'm having trouble beating without beating it hard. It's an undulating twill that you can somewhat see in the picture. I'm enjoying the weaving as it's something different from what I usually do.
The unweaving continues on the other loom.

We are all enjoying a somewhat quiet Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow night I start a class at the local community college. I haven't been to school in so long, it should be interesting to see how I do.

Unweaving

I'm learning quickly how to unweave a disaster. The color changes in the rug didn't look right, and it turned out not at all like I had envisioned. So, I am unweaving - it's hard to admit that an idea didn't work - but I'm not finished yet. I liked working with the 3 strands of yarn - it opens a whole new world of color and color transformation. I liked the feel of the rug. It's very solid and thick and will wear well. My edges were nice and straight. With the price of yarn, I have to try and save the yarn I won't use, at least for this project. I even had done a small sample and liked what I did, but somehow it looked bad in a larger piece.

I also have to try again. I recently watched a TV show about Hershey's chocolate and how he discovered his own version of milk chocolate because the Europeans wouldn't share their secrets on making milk chocolate. Success comes from not giving up. He experimented over and over until he came up with his own recipe for milk chocolate. I have trouble dealing with failure. I want to be right the first time out, but real success comes from the process of trying again and again.

So, I will continue with this idea I have, but in a slightly different format. I'm going to add a bit of tapestry work that defines the change of colors. I'm also going to limit the number of colors. So I will start with dark grays that lighten up to a creamy white and back to dark gray. There will be some tapestry work in black that will add to the rug. But I have to order more yarn as I am out of the grays.

I'm also going to start working with some block weave with color gradations. I have to order some linen warp which is so expensive!

I'll keep you updated.

It's hard to get good images in the middle of the day - at least for
those like me whose photo-taking qualities are lacking. This is a hibiscus - the flowers last only one day. Beauty is fleeting! I do enjoy some of the knitting blogs I read that have such beautiful photos of landscape and flowers, in particular - Smatterings - her pictures are wonderful.

This is a new rug - note the yellow rug is off the loom! - can't show any pictures until I finish the fringe etc. There are some issues with the rug due in part from being on the loom for so long.

This rug is an attempt to do something that weaves quicker and yet is still fun to weave and hopefully pleasing to eye. I decided to weave in plain weave and have subtle color gradations. The colors really are nicer than the picture shows and once again, I find myself really fascinated with how colors react to each other. This rug starts out in a dark gray and blends into a lighter gray and then I used a gray wool that had been overdyed in a green. The greens will progress into a gray purplish color. I'm using 3 strands of wool and as I change colors, I replace 1 strand with the new color and then 2 strands with the next color and then 3. However, the blending is still not as subtle as I had hoped and think the next rug I'll use 2 shuttles (1 with the current color and one with the new strands of color. I'll problably have to use 2 throughout so that the edging is uniform.

I've also taken some handspun and wound a warp for my other loom and plan on weaving a scarf in an undulating twill. I had originally planned on doing a shadow weave, but the one yarn is space dyed and as I was winding the warp, it blended in too much with the darker color yarn and I didn't think the shadow weave would work.

Blogging is not as easy as I thought. I read numerous blogs everyday and look forward to what I might see. They are inspiring. However, the actual writing and thinking about what I want to put on this blog is more difficult than I had anticipated. For example, I spent several days thinking about the next rug, but when I go to write about it, I seem to only have a short paragraph to say about it! So, all those bloggers that have been blogging for several years, my hat is off to you!

It's good to be back

It's been quite awhile since I've posted anything. I've had this awful job that seemed to suck any creative energy right out of me. I'd look at my looms or yarn or weaving/spinning/knitting books and nothing stirred me. I use to love to weave tapestry rugs and I couldn't for the life of me come up with an original design. Well, things happened at work that I won't delve into here, but the end result was that I quit. No two weeks notice, just went home after the incident at work, called human resources at work and told them I'd quit. I'd never done that before. I'd always had a job lined up and gave 2 weeks notice. This job didn't warrant that. The next day I felt terrible instead of what I thought I'd feel which would have been elated. However, it's now been 3 days since I quit and already the creative juices are starting to kick in and I feel so much better. It was the right thing to do, even if it should have been done months ago.

So, since I've quit, I wound a small warp to weave a scarf made from handspun alpaca and soysilk. The weft will be some silk I had spun a couple of years ago. I have a Dorothy table loom that I will probably use, but I need to order more heddles.

I've also been weaving on the rug that's on the front porch and am on the home stretch - about 8-9 inches more to go. This rug has taken almost a year to finish, about the length of time I was employed at the job I just quit. I have to say I am sick to death of this rug. I just want it to be finished so I can move on.

I've also been doing some spinning - I dyed some mohair and blended it with some dark dark chocolate brown wool - I think it's corridale/romney or something like that - very soft - It's spinning up nicely.

And last but not least, I dug up an UFO that I had forgotten about and am knitting on that. It's made from handspun and dyed CVM/Romedale yarn and is wonderfully soft. I'm just not real crazy about mitered knitting mostly because it's slow for me to knit and I hate having to weave in all the ends. This pattern is from the book called Knitted Shawls, Stoles, & Scarves by Nancie Wiseman.

Nature's Fury

It's hard to see from this photo, but the cloud in the background is a 1000 acre fire near Sedona. It looks like an atomic bomb - I was just thinking this morning that we really haven't had any major fires nearby and on the way into town this afternoon from the top of windy hill, it was a massive plume of smoke. They've evacuated 100 homes - Sedona is full of multi-million dollar homes - hopefully it will blow away from town and away from homes.

We're at least 45 miles south of Sedona, but it's still impressive.

On a more fiberly note, I've mostly been spinning and actually making progress on the rug I've been weaving for ever. This is 525 yards of romney single ply with kid mohair blended in dark tangerine and a dark grey/teal - a nice yarn if I do say so myself - I'm thinking of knitting a shawl with it.

I can tell when I weave a rug and it's the downhill stretch because as I weave, my mind gets caught up with what the next rug will be. I've been thinking of using some of my churro handspun yarn and making a simple striped rug with possibly some twill worked in somehow. I think I have enough warp on the loom to do another rug. Another idea I've had is to use the same colors has the current rug but use mostly stripes with very little tapestry work in it.

Well, say a prayer for the folks in Sedona - and I'll be back hopefully a little more often than I have with some news, like finishing the rug

I can't even think of a title of this post. Today was another dyeing day. I dyed roving in various colors and also dyed some more of the romney fleece. I finished spinning some of the fushia/yellow fleece. It came out as a beautiful peachy color. I have a little left and am blending it with the salmon colored fleece. It's hard to imagine that this was the garish colored fushia in the last post. Alot of the fushia color didn't take (thankfully) and most of the yellow did, so it came out like this.

Very little progress on the rug - maybe a few inches since I last reported.

My ds and I went to Prescott yesterday for a day of shopping and eating out. This is something we don't do very often as it's an hours drive to anywhere with a mall. I don't even really enjoy shopping the way I did years ago. However, we both enjoy eating out and getting away from home for awhile.

Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend

Dyed in the wool

Well, it's been awhile since I've written anything. I haven't done much weaving, but I did buy a fleece from Jean Kamenicky of Grants Pass Oregon. It is a beautiful, lustrous, soft romney fleece and very reasonably priced. I washed it last week and today on my only day off this week, I am dyeing it in 6 oz increments in various colors. I do love to dye! I created a beautiful blue green that is my favorite so far. I still have a fushia with some yellow added that's still cooking as I write.
Four colors today and more in the coming days. I don't know why, but I love to take a relatively clean fleece and wash and dye and spin it. Don't know what I'll do with these colors, but I'll find something to do with them. I saw a beautful picture of a shawl from the Maryland show on yarnahoy's blog. It amazes me what people can do with yarn.

April 17, 2006

Finally a day off work. Here's the yarn I made from the roving I displayed. It's the style of yarn I sell on ebay or etsy. What I spin for myself is finer, and usually from a fleece that I've bought. My current favorite wool is CVM. It's so nice and soft and is easily spun. I also have been spinning some churro that I bought on ebay that will make a great rug wool.

I am making progress on the rug and in fact, when I finish here, I'll be out on the porch weaving away!
Only 25 more inches and I'll be done.


I have some rugs to make for some friends to complement the entertainment center my DH made for them. They want some kind of a 'yei' picture rug which is something I said I'd never make because it has religious meaning to the Navajo. So maybe I'll talk them into buying one made by the Navajo and I'll weave something else. The two doors which hide the TV have inlaid pictures of a Navajo woman receiving a gift from a Yei. He also did other inlay work on the the smaller doors.

This is a closer view of the inay feathers on the loom that my DH built for me. This picture was taken when he was building it about 2 years ago.

This loom sits on my front porch because there is no room inside for this loom. My house has been taken over by weaving and spinning stuff! One of the reasons I started this blog was hopefully re-invigorate myself to weaving rugs. The rug on this loom has been there for awhile and it's time to finish it!

Due to the high cost of medical benefits, I've had to go back to working full time so we can have decent healthcare, which doesn't leave much time for doing what I love to do. So I find myself doing more spinning and knitting, which I can do in the evening.

This is some roving I recently dyed. I handpaint roving to spin into yarn to sell on either ebay or etsy. After I'm done handpainting, I take the leftover dye, put some roving in a pot of water, and heat it up to about 175 or 180 and pour the dye in - lots of fun to see the colors blend. The one on the righ was only 2 colors - turquoise and yellow. I have an account at etsy - www.skyweaver.etsy.com . If you haven't taken a look before, check out etsy.com. Lots of crafters selling there craftwork on this site. The cost for selling is very reasonable. I do better there than on ebay, where I barely break even on costs.

First Post

Well, for so long I have been reading other people's blog about weaving,spinning,knitting that for some reason, I decided it was time to start mine. I'm not even sure why. I love reading blogs, it's inspiring to see what others are doing and who knows, maybe I'll inspire someone.

I am firstmost a weaver of tapestry rugs. I learned Navajo style weaving about 10 years ago and then spent time in Northern New Mexico Community College in El Rito New Mexico learning Rio Grande style weaving. The tapestry techniques are similar, but the looms are very different. I have come to prefer the 'standing' or 'walking' loom. This picture is my current long term work in progress. It's a take off of the 100 stars style of rug that would have the 'stars' throughtout the entire rug instead of a zigzag line. I like several types of rug wool. This is Wild & Wooly from Burnham's trading post in Sanders AZ. I bought white and dyed it in bright colors. I also like to weave with Churro wool. Churro is my favorite. It has a wonderful history in that it came from the original sheep brought by the Spanish into the southwest hundreds of years ago.

I am fortunate to be married to a woodworker. My DH made this loom and if I can find the pictures I'll post some of the inlay work he did on it. It's a walking loom with a 36" weaving length with 4 harnesses.

Anyway, this will have to be it for a first post. I know nothing about the workings of blogging, but I guess I'll learn as I go.