Vacations

It is amazing what can be done during a vacation. Even though school is starting to pick up (just started a mini boot camp for incoming Kindergartners), I am  still finding time for me. Last weekend, I spent the day at the annual dyeing party for our guild. I tried the painting of a sock blank (will load those pictures when working on that project) and dyeing a warp and a fleece.

There is actually 4 chunks of fleece. This fleece is from a german dairy sheep from Blewitt Pass. I visited the sheep last summer and they looked like happy fleece (especially when it was time for the milking).

Over 3 days, I finished up the spinning & plying. Still need to work on not overspinning but I still like the product. Not sure if it will be part of a hat or something else (I think there is less than 50 yards). Will need to think about it...

Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece: Custom-Color Your Favorite Fibers with Dip-Dyeing, Hand-Painting, Tie-Dyeing, and Other Creative TechniquesHand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece: Custom-Color Your Favorite Fibers with Dip-Dyeing, Hand-Painting, Tie-Dyeing, and Other Creative TechniquesTeach Yourself VISUALLY Hand-Dyeing (Teach Yourself VISUALLY Consumer)

Pickled

This summer has been an eye opener for me. I am reading Animal, Vegetable, Mineral  and really thinking about the food I eat. I signed up for a share of local produce from the local CSA. I am trying new vegetables because of this (which means I am looking up new vegetables).

 I tried the jam earlier and will try not to buy a jar this year. Now onto the vegetables. Between my produce box and sister-in-law. I had enough beets to try to pickle them. I had never tried a golden beet so I look forward to opening that jar.

 

I love the colors of these jars. What I am learning is patience. With jams, you can crack open one of those jars and enjoy (and also find out if this grand experiment worked). With pickling, you have to wait. Before this batch, I pickled wax beans. Only have to wait 2 weeks for those. With beets-not even supposed to touch them for 24 hours, then let them sit for a week to develop their tastes. As I told my husband, it is going to be a long wait.

Summer projects

I love the summer because I have time. I don't feel like I have deadlines to meet, standards to achieve, parents/school expecting things of me. This summer, I really took a break from teaching. Yes, I taught for 1 week at a math institute (my way of giving back to the profession) and I attended a Writer's Workshop in Olympia to work on a piece for publication.

Some of the things I am working on this summer...

So I tried planting potatoes in a black garbage bag. I am not a gardener and I thought this could be the simplest way. Now it talks of watering the plants every day. I didn't. They talk of adding more 'starts' as the plants grow. I did once and then forgot about it. This weekend, I noticed the plants dead and it looks like my dog, Bonnie, had been rooting around. I was actually quite surprised that I had potatoes. Will probably roast them with some fresh zucchini.

So the guild is sending around pre-warped looms to work on a color gamp. This is the front.

This is the back.

And here I am almost done. Pretty. Now of course I have to wait until the other weavers are done before I get my section back.

Having time and a loom in the craft room means that I can then do my own. Still working on towels. I figure they can always be great Christmas gifts (especially the surprise gifts that always seem to be needed).

These are towels 4 & 5. There is something very soothing about doing twills & tabbies (not shown). Of course when all done, I will post my towels.

I even learned to tie a string heddle because somehow I missed a # 3 shaft (had done it on #4 and tried the cutting and bending the heddle back on-would not recommend to anyone).

Slow Wool

Fleece-I seem to have it everywhere. I find that it is easier to clean the white fleece just because you know when it is clean. The brown fleece is a challenge. I'm not sure but I think that a brown fleece just has more lanolin in it. I really try not to over wash the fleece but I have a feeling that I am not washing the brown enough. My hands do feel good after working with it.

So I thought I would try spinning the brown. Well-too much lanolin and it is looking like an arty yarn. That is okay but it wasn't what I was looking for. I tried felting it and haven't seen it felt. Maybe too much lanolin. So now I am experimenting with mixing white with the brown.

The white doesn't seem to have as much lanolin so maybe mixing the 2 will do the trick.

So the white wants its' spot on the batt and the brown wants to stay separate.

Interesting mix. What I am finding is that even after carding the wool, I need to then use the hand carders to really mix the 2 fleeces. Maybe I am starting a new trend-instead of slow food, I am making Slow Wool. Off to spinning now.

Letting Go

There are things to be learned if you  just open your mind to it. I have learned about tension from my loom. Now I am learning about when to let go. People hear that I am enjoying my fiber crafts so things get donated my way. Some of it is good, some bad, and some just outright ugly. Now the fleece in mind isn't necessarily ugly. It has sat in a bag for a good 5 months. Lovely shade of light brown. Not sure what the animal was-definitely not sheep. Couldn't feel that lovely lanolin. This weekend, I decided it was time to try to clean it. Every time I had looked in the bag, I saw leaves and little bits of dry grass & weed. I thought I could handle it. I sat on the rocks in the front yard and tried to clean it. It just wasn't worth it. It gave me no pleasure, like when I had cleaned the wool fleeces. None of the dried grass, weeds, or leaves seem to want to leave the fiber. It just wasn't worth it to me. So I let the fiber dry on the racks (and got some strange looks from the dog walkers) and will be throwing away a large outdoor garbage bag of this mysterious fleece. In a way, I feel much lighter already.

Time

So school was officially over on the 17th. The plans to spin, weave, and knit were all in place. Sometimes life happens. I volunteered to help at a math institute in Quincy, WA. So every day, I was back up an my normal school day getting ready to team teach 2 groups of students moving into 1st grade. It was fun but challenging. On Thursday, we had to stay late because the institute had a math night for the migrant families. It was fun to meet the parents of our children. Many did not speak English but you could tell the love & pride they had in their kids. These are hard working families that are doing whatever it takes to help their children have a better life.

So between 3-6 p.m., I sat in my classroom with my partner teacher and worked with fiber. She is knitting a scarf for a foreign exchange student that is returning to France and I brought my spinning wheel. This was a 50 gram package of pencil roving. It was wonderful to spin (merino). I am getting better at having more consistent thickness. I ended up with about 106 yards. Not sure what I will do with it-give it away, knit a scarf...who knows. I do have one more package. Maybe do some mittens?

Oh I love going on fiber tours. Our local shop organized a tour to Spokane and I had a blast. I won 2 books (actually stole them doing a book giveaway-it pays to be the only spinner/dyer). The pattern booklets were on sale for $1 a piece. Hopefully I will try the skirts in the booklets (the real reason for buying). I also was able to feed the weaving (lease sticks for table & floor loom) and 3 cones of thread. I even had a $20 credit for fiber to spin. It is hard to tell but the bag has teal blended fleece. Now that I have my new wheel, I will have plenty to do this summer.

Now I just need to get the craft room finished organized. Then I am going to have a great summer playing with all of this. Pictures will be posted as I start & finish projects.

Lessons from the loom

I think I need to approach my life like I approach the loom. I received a handmade table loom right before Christmas. It is a beautiful piece of work. It has 4 shafts and a very funky swinging beater. It came loaded with warp so I was able to weave 4 towels (how I wish all looms just magically appeared warped). I loaded this warp again when I was taking my class. I like the idea of towels-small projects-tweak the weft a little and each towel is different. My kind of gratification.

So the loom has been giving me grief. The 4th shaft has been giving me the shaft (pardon the pun :) It is hard to shift into it. It pops out while beating. It was driving me nuts. I kept thinking maybe the tension was just too tight on it. So I called up my weaving instructor and asked her to look at it. She has always been fascinated by it. So off I went on Saturday and she just let me talk it out. Because it is a handmade loom, I think she is a little hesitant on advice because it isn't like all of her table & floor looms. I got out the hammer and pulled out 1 nail. The cord loosened. Low and behold, that was all it took.

So now, how do I 'loosen' the tension in my life. Do I hold onto something so tight that it makes any movement difficult? I think that might describe me. I have my vision of how things should turn out and forget out the factors-people. I need to loosen my grip and let things flow. I know what I need to do and what I can do. I'll just go along on 'beating' my own weave and let others make their own weave.

This was made on Wordle. I just put in definitions (without the articles) on spinning, weaving, & knitting. Think I might print it off and put in on my loom room door.

The loom room has been painted. My husband keeps moving anything fiber related into the room. My job this weekend will be putting away everything so that it makes sense to me (and still leaves room for my daughter to stay for the summer).

As I have been spinning on the Louet Hatbox for the last 2 weeks, I am still struggling with thick & thin but it's all good. After I have been setting the yarn, I have started a shawl. The actual color is red & orange (thank goodness for Kool Aid) but I love how he took this photo in black & white. He has framed it and put it up as my first piece of art in the room. I really do have the best husband.

The Beauty of Guilds

So at the last spinning/weaving guild, this cute Louett Hatbox spinning wheel was brought in. Since my wheel has been ordered (and hopefully shipped tomorrow), I asked to borrow this one from the guild. Luckily I have lots (did I say lots-should say lots & lots) of ready to spin fiber. Since my fiber is from some local German dairy sheep, I have done all the cleaning & carding. I am so afraid of overwashing the fleece, I end up having lots of lanolin in the fleece. I just finished my first bobbin and my hands feel wonderful. Now if I could only consistently spin.

Happy Mother's Day

What a great day. Homemade tortillas courtesy of the school parents. A beautiful sunny day. And now my own room for my creativity. Frank has set out painting this morning. No, it won't be finished on Mother's Day (the gift I requested) but now I get to start planning in my mind where the loom, sewing machine, spinning wheel will go. And of course, our daughter will use it for a place to sleep this summer (that's all she wants-a place to sleep while off from school). I'll post  later when the room is set up. I am pretty excited-a big sliding glass door onto the covered patio, light, lots of storage possibilities. Life is good.

Memories of Mom

It has been almost 6 months since my mom died. I think of her daily. I am fortunate for all the funny memories of my mom.

My mom came and lived with us for about 12 weeks when the condo she lived in was having mold removed. It was quite an interesting adventure. Lots of good memories...the frozen sausage incident...Erin not seeing Mom asleep on the couch because she had covered herself completely under a blanket...Mom going for a walk and Frank calling me because she was gone for over 2 hours.

While she was visiting, she started knitting and made many hats for my students. As a way of thanking her, I made her a pair of socks. She picked teh Coriolas pattern from a Cat Bhordi book and she picked the brightest orange sock yarn. She would definitely be ready for Halloween.

The only problem with using a Cat Bhordi's pattern is that the socks fit the recipient. When Mom passed away, I couldn't fit into the socks that I had made her. In the donation box they went. I hope someone has some warm feet courtesy of my Mom.

I kept passing this yarn at my favorite yarn store. I bought it on April 1st with the intent of making the same pattern that I had done for my mom. I also set the deadline of Mother's Day. This would be my creative tribute to my mom and now whenever I wear them, I can think of my Mom.

End of class

So the weaving class is over and now I need to stay ahead of my weaving projects at home. The last project that I did in class was weave fabric to make a bag. The guild had set out a challenge to make a bag for the fair. We were all given cotton warp. When I had received a handmade table loom, there were 4 cones of yarn. This was a green/brown mix. I am not even sure what the fiber content is. It isn't necessarily my colors but I figure this is the time to use it up. I followed the Rose Path threading. It really gives a different look from each side. It actually is the color scheme that my mother-in-law likes. Now I need to figure out how to make some bags out of it. I'm thinking a tote and a zippered bag so she can keep all of her knitting stash in the bag. Now if I can get on the ball, I can even have it down by next Sunday (Mother's Day). We will see. If not, I can always give her one of the handmade towels from my class.

Kinder Weaving

So I have been able to work with 2 kids a day using the Easy Weaver. It always amazes me when 5 & 6 year olds have patience. Of course, as usual I am working the rigid heddle part. The one nice thing is that these kids (many who would never have any creative arts experiences) get to share one of my favorites. I get to give my undivided attention for 15 minutes to a student. It is so relaxing after a taxing lesson of reading, writing, or math and I get 15 minutes of just 1:1 for fun.

Weaving with Kindergartners

So I decided to try weaving with 5 & 6 yr. olds. Not sure what my thought process was but thought kids need to experience the art of weaving. I was able to borrow an easy weaver. I found out that kids have a difficult time doing 2 different tasks with 2 different hands. My little boy has the typical mistakes (missing warps, too loose, too tight, etc. When I helped hold the heddle, it worked much better. I then had a little girl do her project (they are making mug rugs for Father's Day), I worked the heddle and she worked the weft. Boy, this girl had patience. She really was meticulous. I hope the rest are like her. Will post some pictures later of the works in progress. Wish me luck getting 38 kids through this project.

So after 2 weeks in weaving class, I am finishing up my first set of towels. I am pretty stoked. I am learning about open & closed shafts, how to weave in ends, making plaids and twills. I think I can conquer the loom...

Oh how it is be 'sleyed'. Since this is a class loom, it is different to me. I am having to learn to go from the back to the front. Okay-I get it. Let's learn something new. So I draw my ends through half of the heddles and find out that I have gone backwards. So out I rip 4 inches of heddles. Luckily this is supposed to be a sampler of twills and is going to be less than 10" wide. I can do this. The Tourette's in my head is starting. One of the instructors is telling me how much she loves to sley the loom. I am thinking she might be a little kooky. She is telling me to find the zen of it. I buckle down. Finish the heddles, taking the ends through the reed. Now time to tie off. I can do this right? Oh no. I can't seem to get the tension. I am feeling the tension but not my project. After a couple of attempts, I finally get the loom done. It has taken my whole 3 hour class to get to this point. At noon, the teacher tells us that class is done. I haven't thrown the shuttle once. Luckily, I have a great teacher who leaves the studio open for another 3 hours. By the time I left at 3, I am almost done with the sampler. Oh yeah-who has 'sleyed' the loom!

1 Sock Down

With 1 sock down, it is time to start the next sock. I used the Spiraling Coriolis from New Pathways for Sock Knitters from Cat Bordhi. I might actually meet my self-imposed deadline for Mother's Day. This is the same pattern that I used when I knit a pair of socks for my mom. She had chosen a very vibrant orange (which I thought was hysterical). It is amazing that every time I went to my local yarn shop, I was drawn to this orange blend. I know that when I wear the socks, I will always have my fond memories of my mom.

And yes, I am in a hotel. That is the beauty of knitting socks. I can knit while my husband drives and when we are in for the evening. Guess I better start the next sock while watching t.v. :)

Busy Saturdays

After a week of teaching, it is time to do something creative for myself. Teaching after spring break can be exhausting when you are trying to get back into the swing of things and trying to make sure that 5 & 6 year olds can get back on track for less than 50 days of school.

I love it when I can wake up on a Saturday morning and have the energy to want to do something for myself or my family. I figured I would start with the family. I made belgian waffles for Frank & Evan. Then I made the dough for Whole Grain Garlic Knots with Parsley & Olive Oil (http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/apr/06/no-knead-to-know-basis-new-cookbooks-preach/). I was even nice enough to leave the kitchen clean.

Time for me. I signed up for a weaving class through the community education class through the local community college. Now I own 2 looms (floor & table). I have used both by looking at books and jumping in head first. I know there are mistakes on those finished products and I figured it was time to learn exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

Great class-even had a warp thread break and learned how to fix that (every project I had done in the past has had this happened but I just ignored it). Finished my sample towel & towel #1 (and yes, we were spoiled-the teacher had warped all of the looms for us). My loom is the weave with yellow/green/blue on it. I included the other looms from the other students because they are so pretty.

I guess the pictures didn't make it on the last post.

Socks

I love homemade socks. I remember the first pair I knitted. They were different lengths and a little baggy. I learned to knit 2 at a time so at least if there was a mistake, it was on both of them.

I just finished these socks. It only took me a couple of months. That's okay. They are still mine and fit me like a glove. My wonderful local yarn shop had a sale for one of the owners. It was 59% of 1 skein of yarn. I fell in love with this sock yarn. It made me remember my mom. My mom passed away in November, 2009. I only made her 1 pair of socks and they cracked me up. She picked Orange. Who knows what she was thinking. I teased her about having a pair of Halloween socks. I used the Cat Bhordi book so these socks fit only her feet. They were her Mother's Day gift that year. I hope I can finish this yarn into a pair of socks for me by Mother's Day. I figure it would be a fitting tribute to my mom.

Idle Hands

I remember hearing 'idle hands may by the devil's tools' when I was a child. Of course, because of my issues with paying attention, I thought this expression was hilarious. To this day, I cannot sit still. I have to be doing something with my hands or I can get into trouble. I wonder if I had been allowed to knit as a child in class, I would have stayed out of trouble. Hard to tell.

So instead of cleaning the house, I figure it is time to cook. And what better thing to cook but Honeycomb Candy. So I tried it and it was fun. Not sure how it tastes. Still waiting to break it into chunks. We'll see. Of course, by the time it will be ready to taste, I will be onto something else.