Bogged Blog

Yep, it happens maybe not to all of us, but at one time or another, most of us. Now is my time when there are so many things going on and lets face it, life is much more interesting living it than writing about living it. ;-)

I promised some pics of the outdoor crew, I didn't get everyone but I got some beauties of my little red pony.



He's 20 you know and I think is looking pretty darn good.



Dandy doesn't know he's moved into the "senior" realm and I sure am not going to tell him.



Big Sal the AVL Production dobby loom left a little over a week ago. It is nice to have all that space back. Even broken down she took up a fair amount of floor space in my back room. The Murphy loom is happily out there with a prayer flag warp on him. I got it wound on and tied yesterday, even a little test weaving and four I have made two threading errors in the first two inches. I transposed the order in a portion and will have to cut the whole thing off, and rethread those couple of inches.

The new aprons have been installed on the 32" Macomber and they look great. I need to replace some rubber pads and then we are good to go. Maybe I'll get a small maiden warp wound this week. A big maybe....

The pillowcase warp is now well into the third case, a pretty sunny yellow and I'll certainly get pics
soon.

One of the triple weave blankets I made back in 2011 has been bound in linen and given away to a happy couple for their first wedding anniversary.



 Hopefully it will be used and enjoyed and worn out!

My Mother came through her third hip surgery pretty well and after a long recuperation is scheduled to come home Friday. What a long miserable summer she has had with this. Fingers crossed that other than regular PT she can go back to just enjoying life, and some shoe shopping....;-)

Sewing has been slow, a few things finished, many more cut and awaiting to become something. I have a few new patterns in the mix I'm excited about.  Here is one most recent make.



 A lovely Japanese cotton paired with some great medium weight lightly crinkled linen pants. The tunic is another modified Sewing Workshop Florence.



I have also taken the Sew House Seven Mississippi Ave dress and done some modifications to make a simple camisole.



 A staple in my wardrobe in all seasons. This one a light linen. And oh heck, how about a selfie wearing it and the crinkle linen pants.



The blouse was made last fall and is the Sewing Workshop's Liberty pattern.

I can't promise that going into the fall we'll get more regular with posts this year, but I'm sure going to try. And I do keep up with the blogs I read even if I don't always comment.

Parting shot: Oh NO! She found it again....

Spike

Triple Weave Update

I am very happy so far with the blanket progress. The triple weave is working out just how it should. There was only one spot where I caught myself making a mistake in treadling and easily unwoven and restarted correctly. The addition of the fishing line and using the temple has meant very little abrasion on the selvage edges. We've had no breakage what so ever and I might add, it is actually Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift used for the pink. I didn't like the Harrisville pink I ordered, it had too much violet in it for my taste. While both shetland 2 ply, the Jamieson's is a much softer spin, making it more delicate in this application. My selvage ends are not stellar, but they aren't bad either. The wool likes to slide around on the fishing line and I think in the end, once the line is pulled from the blanket and the piece is finished, they will be decent serviceable edges.

The folds also are looking much better than on the twill blanket. Not crammed at all and the fishing line has helped there also, as has the temple. The 10 epi set looks just about right too.

I have thoroughly enjoyed weaving this so far and have about 30-36 inches done including the stripe sequence that will be at either end.

On other weaving news I am woefully behind on the prayer flags and am spending the whole day catching up on them. The house will get a lick and a promise vacuum and it will just have to do until next week. ;-)

Now, there is another little loom that has been keeping me up late at night studying. I saw this and with a little negotiating it managed to find it's way to my house.

It needs some TLC, a new string to hold the stand open, maybe some minor modifications but I think will be great fun to try my hand again at a small piece of tapestry. Both Jennifer and Tommye have been extremely helpful with making sense of this piece of equipment and of course, the inspiration to even try in the first place! Mentions should also go out to a couple of other blogs which, if you haven't visited, you should! Go on...;-)

They are:

ArgoKnot

Kathe Todd-Hooker (who also happens to have written a couple of very useful tapestry books)

and My Life is But a Tapestry

Onto farm news, the horses were indeed overjoyed with the treats. The goats too and I had Cece latch on to me like velcro once she got a whiff of the berry treats.

I just about completed my holiday shopping but have a couple things still to get via the internet. I finally made my dive into town yesterday and while it was picking up in the center of Ashland by the time I left around noon, I'm sure it was a lot quieter than either Friday or Saturday would have been. I purchased a wonderful little pin to use for my much loved woven shawl.

Carol and Kris at the Web-sters brought out an amazing selection of shawl pins. I felt like a queen surrounded by treasure there were so many to chose from and all beautiful. I also ordered a sweaters worth of Rowan's British Sheep Breeds in the Steel Grey Suffolk. This is earmarked for my Dad, but I will also be taking home a good amount of the Black Welsh for a sweater for myself. I love love love this yarn. Minimally processed, good springy wool in the natural colors of each of the breeds offered.

The weather, which could be called Indian Fall, is predicted to be just perfect this week. Cold and clear at night and sunny and in the low 40's during the day. Perfect for riding, perfect for dog walking or any other thing you might want to do outside. Mother Nature is always the perfect muse especially when this might be your other choice......