My Own Funky Cosmos

PATTERN UPDATE 3/13: V8626 is spoken for. Laura e-mail me your addy please
S2560 is spoken for. Cindie I will hold it until we can meet up. Majorsue, V8772 and S2808 is set aside for you but I will need you to e-mail me with an address also! And ladies, I don't care who takes what, so if you are being shy and want a couple of more that's fine with me. Just let me know.

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Geezum! A week and a half just passed by at warp speed. Just what happened to all that time? Was it a big black hole I was in?  Maybe not but it sure seemed busy and the time change only added to things. I really, really dislike losing an hour of my day right from the get go.

Last week Charlotte had her turn in the vets office for some much needed dental work. The little shadow has officially reached ancient status at 15 and along with being bestowed a title she also lost some teeth. It's all about give and take here. ;) I dropped her off in the morning and Gene came home with the groggy bundle late in the afternoon. She bounced back pretty quickly considering age and the number of teeth that had to go. Yesterday was her last on antibiotics. And as I pointed out to Gene, between her and Peter
our disposable income for this month and next has been pretty much disposed of!

Big Sal is ready for threading. I ended up putting all the heddle bundles on but one that was such a glommed up mess I chucked it. At some point I will have to buy additional heddles, but it's unnecessary for what we're doing now.

I auditioned some new patterns up in the sewing room. The first is Sew Liberated Schoolhouse Tunic. This is not a new pattern, it's been out for a few years but I had never given it a go. I'm so happy I did. The only adjustment needed was a bit added to the mid back yoke for broad shoulders and of course, pockets on one of the versions I made up. The first run through I used some pretty floral cotton gauze's.





These have been in stash for a year waiting for the right project. The fabric is too delicate for pockets. I could see straining and ripping the fabric even with reinforcement under heavy use so left them off.

The second rendition I used a heavier weight Japanese cotton.





 It isn't quite decorator weight, but certainly heavier than most quilting cotton. Nice season spanning weight, good drape and beautiful eggplant color.



The pattern worked well with this print. I have two more new ones hitting the sewing table and those will be in the next post.

A much needed pair of brown pants.



 I wear a lot of earthy colors and while black is a staple in most folks wardrobe, brown is a workhorse in mine. These were made from Sewing Workshops Trio pant, which I've modified over the years. I often use this pattern when I want cargo type pants, but on this pair I just did some nice long front pockets and left it at that. One of my birthday presents was a gift certificate to Fabric of Vision and with that I splurged on some silk fabric. I love silk but am not fond of sewing it. I kept the pattern simple and timeless with a loose flowy A line shaped tee. Easy to make up and even easier to wear.



The rain was awful last week, but after Monday's downpour it looks like a clear, sunny week for Southern Oregon. The farrier is coming today and I'm hoping to get in the garden and do some weeding. Our warm winter hasn't done me any favors that way. Grass has popped up in many areas and it all has to be weeded out. It's hard too because I am unsure at this early stage if I'm not weeding out some things I want there.
The 50 odd bulbs I planted are coming along nicely too, early though...it's all very early this year.

Lastly, I purged a bunch of patterns. If anyone is interested in any of them, let me know, I'll mail it to you.
Otherwise these are going to Goodwill next week. Sizes run from about 14 up to 22 on some. These are all unused/uncut.





Parting shot: Mother Stella cleaning the masses. She is actually pulling on Rodgers skin with her front teeth. If he ends up with a bald spot (a very clean bald spot no doubt!), I'll know why....

Organization = Creativity

For me at least. A few of you have commented on how much I get done. Have you all forgotten the nine month warp to do two pillowcases??!! ;) I will say that being organized with my fiber spaces allows me to be much more creative. To me good organization is a creative process in and of itself and I spend a fair amount of time thinking about ways to become (and instituting), efficiency. Imagine my delight and excitement when I happened to stumble on someones sewing blog (link would be here if I could find it again) and saw that they took their stacks of fabric and made mini bolts with them. I can do that!!!

I've always hated piling my fabric up. It's messy. It's uneven, it offends me at times and I find myself mimicking my Great Grandmother, compulsively folding it again and again. It also gave me an excuse to reorganize some things up there. It's such a small space, every foot counts.

Gene gets lots of boxes of stuff for his business and we recycle as much as we can. A lot is saved to reuse, a fair amount is broken down to start the outside boiler Rube and now, it can be used as the middle "bolt" part to keep my fabric organized. I tape up the end, put the yardage on the tape and I am good to go. I even have a free shelf and I would have two if I cleaned out all the shoes I don't wear.

The lovely tomato red plaid is slated for a spring coat. I waited 4 months for the fabric to go on sale at Fabric of Vision. It's Italian and mostly cotton and I am totally smitten with it. Here's a photo with the lining I have for it and the pattern itself.

I will be making a muslin of it first. On the sewing table in process is a vest out of the last of the Carhartt fabric.

I have to make up a little artistic back panel of some kind. That is in the works.

Towel 4 is also in the works. The weft for this is a deep ruby red 5/2 mercerized cotton.

The silk warp on the warping board.

It doesn't look like much right now. Oh so pretty but very subtle.

I'll get pics when it's wound onto the loom for sure.

I also couldn't stop myself from picking up just a bit more Nature's Palette. This time the Organic Worsted Columbia wool in 5 skeins each of Autumn Leaf (gold) and Natural (cream).

Wow, stuffed in a lot of pictures on this one.

Parting shot: A Very Vocal YIP-EEE!

Silk

I'm on the fence about silk. In some things I love it, in others, it doesn't send me. I did however find some tussah silk yarn I love. It all started out with some reconnaissance for my Dad. He informed me he wants to work on a silk scarf during his visit and what are the local resources like. First I went really local, like my stash and sent some pics of lovely Gems silk with a Curious Creek Fiber yarn, which he liked.

It was set aside. But, being my father's daughter in some respects I know he, like me, would like some other options and that's what I was looking for. I came up pretty much goose eggs for fine silk fiber in the valley except for a very small amount of some lovely Silk Tree #6 in the most amazing gold. I had just the project in mind, one I had been searching for a complimentary silk casually for a while and the 2 skeins available might just do it if I planned right.

In fact Llamas and Llambs in Jacksonville had another 2 skeins of a lighter brighter yellow which I had them hold. I'll pick them up next week. So, I wrote my Dad, told him he'll need to find silk at home or order something up from the Silk Tree and here is a list of colors that would go with that Curious Creek yarn, Earl Grey. The trouble came when I started twisting that lovely CC fiber with my coveted golden silk. Then instead of keeping the secret to myself, I had to send a picture to my Dad.

Needless to say, we have some lovely silk coming in #14 gold and #5 grey. It should all arrive in time for the visit starting the 15th.

While I'm on my silk kick, I'll also update on my merino/silk spinning adventure. I've fallen hard for this fiber.

Who would have thunk it after all my complaining about merino, but it's true. I love spinning this.

So, heading off of fiber and into the world just inside my front door.

The much anticipated settle bench has finally made it from Cindie's garage to my foyer and it is just as wonderful as it looked.

That silly looking raccoon just puts a grin on my face. We use a bench there a lot. In fact every time we go in or out so having something so unique has made the changing of the footwear extra fun. And it's always nice to have a little extra storage for hats, mittens, gloves, flashlights and scarves.

There's lots of other news but I'll save it for the next post. Instead I'll leave you with this silky duo.

A Few Little Goodies

Never let it be said that adversity keeps me from shopping! ;-) 

Gene is up and about, moving slower than usual and still tender, but he's up more than resting and weaning off the pain meds except at bedtime.  He was able to conduct training last night for the volunteer fire department he's chief of. It was good for all our spirits. Mine because he was out from under foot for a few hours and his most likely for the same reason.

I took myself down to town in my own car (which is running like a top), for just a fun shopping excursion. Honey buns and silk pieces, a great book,  and some patterns that I think will lend themselves well to woven fabric. 

My dear friend Kris also had some Harrisville Shetland wool that she was purging from her weaving stash for me as a gift.

 The roving came from Cindie at eweniquely ewe. I fell in love with the colors and when I didn't make it to guild meeting she mailed it off to me. I've been draping it about and petting it for a bit before I break into it for spinning. 

Honey buns and silk are for more prayer flags. It's nice to have a varied selection of fabrics for them. I redid the too narrow warp, making it wider and a higher sett. I've done a bit of weaving playing around with some ideas before  I start in earnest a few flags. 

The book, Designing Woven Fabric by Janet Phillips has been on back order for a while and it brightened up my week when I got the call from Web-sters that it had finally arrived. The book is an intense study of twill fabrics and is just loaded with ideas and color photos. Each fabric has a clear draft and Ms. Phillips goes into detail about the design inspiration and process. It is an expensive book at $59.95 but for me at least I am finding it worth the cost. 

When the Poodle Hits the Pond

I got the Murphy scarf warped, threaded, woven and finished yesterday. It was a very fast 10" wide scarf with about 80 ends total. I wanted to try a multicolored yarn as weft this time and some Curious Creek Fiber's mohair and silk boucle had been trying to grab me every time I walked by it.  Yesterday was the day to ball it up and let it do it's thing. Hence the title of this post. I have to say, I much prefer vertical striping and when I use this again (and I will use it again), I will do so in the warp. However, the scarf feels wonderful, nubby and soft all at the same time with that silk sheen coming through on the mohair loops.

This will go into the humane society heap of scarves. Gene loves it but feels it might be too girlie for him to wear, plus as he said, he would wreck it catching the loops on stuff. I've seen what he does to hand knits . I know this to be true.

Yesterday mid morning I ran out of yarn for the saddle blankets. I had forgotten how weft faced saddle blankets and wool rugs are and bought nowhere near enough of 

the dark natural brown. The nice gals at the Websters have tucked into their magic holding closet 8 more skeins of the same dye lot for me to pick up when I get to town.

I had some problems with the selvage and there is a big old skip there in the blanket

which I fixed by hand weaving the last of my yarn into. I broke a couple of teeth on my

temple. When they say to remember to loosen the warp some before placing, they mean it. I really should have a

metal temple for this project with heavier teeth instead

of the finer one I have. We'll limp along until another can be procured. Thankfully all fixes are under where the saddle goes and none would cause any chaffing problems for

the horse. I am enjoying the weaving itself and have a few horsey friends I would like to gift with a saddle blanket. I think the next go round I'll use a heavy twine that Harrisville makes for the warp. I'm not in love with the 8/5 linen at all even though it is traditional. I used this for a tapestry I started on Barbara while I was refurbishing her fabric frames. It is nice to use, strong as all get out and doesn't have that loose twist that I find so annoying with the linen. The beauty of making anything yourself is you get to have it your way!