The lovely Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Suffolk has arrived. A bags full for the previously mentioned Papa sweater. I might have to get it on the needles today. We'll see.
There are a lot of fibery things to work on today! I've started making the string heddles for the tapestry loom and need to complete the red ones and go on to a set in a different color. The blanket is a little over half way woven. It's in the center grey part so not very exciting to see but at the end it will get a mirrored set of stripes as the beginning did.
I have really enjoyed working on this project. It has also made me very comfortable with the location of my treadles. The order requires I treadle 1-3-5-6-4-2 and repeat, so basically every other treadle. It translates to top layer, middle layer, bottom layer, bottom layer, middle layer and finish on the top layer to start over again. I work 1-3 on the left foot and 4-6 on the right foot. The Delta loom has maintained a fantastic shed through the whole process. It does a beautiful job of separating the layers even with the sticky Harrisville Shetland. This is not to say I have been perfect, I spied a bubbly throw when it came around the beam on the bottom layer, looked fixable and a fulled wool blanket is very forgiving of little loops and imperfections.
The cabled cardigan has seen quite a bit of love this week. I am just about at the sleeve decreases for the back. I do need to get back to the hand spun fingerless mittens at some point. I was wishing I had them "on hand" earlier this week. The kitchen rug on the Barbara V loom got some work done on it too.
On farm news everyone survived the deep freeze. The horses did manage to ding up their water trough. Someone is smart enough to break the ice with a hoof, and they broke a part of the rim of the Rubber Made tub right off. It's still usable, but it won't take another hoof blast in the frigid cold and maintain integrity. Horses are hard on things. They love playing with their grain buckets during the day, and it isn't long before I am replacing one or more. They so enjoy it though. It's not uncommon to see Nick or Imp walking around with one in their mouths or kicking it like a soccer ball between them. I've tried the regular Jolly Balls, but no one likes them. It's a bucket or nothing.
The girls were not bothered by the cold at all. Thursday morning, I took a little walk up one of the small critter trails behind the barn. I thought I had spied eyes in the dark...maybe Puck. It was an out of the ordinary thing for me to head on that path and in the dark so I had five silly goats running from their paddock and hay, bleating that I was abandoning them. I find it amazing they are so watchful of my movements.
I practically broke my neck as they crowded in so close they tripped me up. The headline could have read something like, "Woman Dead in Woods, Mobbed by Gang of Goats In the Night". If there was something interesting lurking it was long gone with all the commotion.
The temperatures have finally moderated up to normal levels, it's about 27 degrees F and should be another relatively warm day. We had snow yesterday. Nuisance snow, enough to make the roads hazardous ( it did) but not enough to get excited about or plow the driveway for.
Lastly, I am going to leave you with something that gave me quite the belly laugh, in the store I might add. My Mother's birthday is New Years Eve and we all go out of our way to make sure things are birthday and not Christmas like. It means a special card MUST be procured and yesterdays drop into town was fueled by that fact. My Mom and I try to best each other with funny cards for birthdays. (Mothers Day is flowery card day). I think I have a winner here.
10 comments:
Lots of yummy gray yarn!!
How does that beam protector attach to your loom??? I used a loom yesterday that had one, but it fit into a slot that was built into the loom, so that wouldn't work for me.
Glad the blanket is going well. It's cold enough here that I could use one!!! Once the heat has had time to warm the sunroom up it won't seem quite so wintry in here!!
Bailey tries to dig through ice ( and sometimes succeeds) with his paws, so I imagine horses would learn pretty early that their hooves could break through a lot of ice.
Frozen Rubbermaid cracks.....I know because I've dropped a container of frozen brownies on the floor, only to have the brownies survive, but the container crack. (That fits right in with my priorities though!)
Great card!
Sue
Sue, you were weaving someplace else yesterday? Dang I'm missing you updating your blog!
The cloth protecter has two large flat headed screws that go into hole drilled into the beam. You can adjust it a bit for thicker fabrics. I like it too especially with a project that is a little bit wider and has you leaning over a lot. All my projects seem to get small hay bits woven into them, but this one hasn't been bad.
The ice breaking is new, I suspect Imp who likes to play in the tank in summer. The hard part for the horse is it is high, so they really have to lift their front leg and leave themselves three legged to bust the ice. They have done it infrequently in years past, but usually go for the heated tank. Imp....;-)
I'm lovin that card, so appropriate because she helped goat wrangle during their visit and clipping bottoms was part of what needed to be done. HAR!
was trying to figure out what a cloth protector was - went back to look at the picture. ah yes - I've got something similar in the Macomber only it just slides on - makes for a nice wide area for sitting shuttles for multiple shuttle weaving.
you know to make it so you were just walking the pedals you can change your tie-up around so the treadles are in the order you like.......but then this is a good learning experience for all the times that won't work.
lots of ice here, bit of snow on top of it. hoping to make it to weaving guild today but need the temp to warm up some more - can't navigate the ice rink of a hilly/curvy driveway we have yet.
I wish you lived close to me I really need a weaving lessons. I love all that gray yarn!
This was really a lot of wool, but I think I have more! One of my suppliers gives maximum discount when buying more than 12 kg, and I have still a lot left of the last order plus the wool yarn from the other supplier I use. I love the grey color!
Very cute card! Love that gray yarn too.
Hi Theresa, I got a good laugh from the card. Seeing the progress on your blanket is lovely. Makes me think of cuddling up in weather such as we have been having with a good book, hot chocolate, and crackling fire. This a a great time of the year to be weaving it too. Seeing that and hearing the news from my old home guild makes me miss the long peaceful winter days at the loom...
I love funny cards too. I think you're mother will be more than pleased with the one you've chosen. I've seen temples on a couple of blogs and don't understand what they are or how they work. I need a real live weaver in my vicinity.
Sharon,
Lynette's blog has a great tutorial on temples.
http://dustbunniesundermyloom.blogspot.com/2009/03/templeslove-em-or-hate-em.html
The doors always open if you are passing through to Bend. I can have a loom waiting and we can go through the mystery of choice! Tag on a day or two at the end of visit maybe. ;-)
Julie, if I loved closer I would be happy to help. Have you checked out the guilds in the area?
Usually lots of willing weavers there.
Renee, but you get to spend long not so peaceful days drawing! And you can do that while sitting at some of the nifty coffee houses to boot.
Grey does seem to be the color of choice lately.
Charlotte, I do wish I could find a wholesale supplier for wool. If I make many more blankets it's something I should really investigate. How's the study going?
That card is a whoot!! Love it, the grey yarn looks very warm and yummy!
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