Weavin' and Stuff

Several years ago I sent for a sampler plant fiber pack from Cotton Clouds and spun up fiber like bamboo, rayon, ingeo and different kinds of cotton.  I put all the little skeins in a bowl and admired them.  Until today.

 I did a bit of sampling with my homemade widget.

 Warped up the loom for basketweave center panel with plain weave borders.  All the little skeins will go on in order until I run out of yarn.  The resulting cloth will yield some pillows!

 What the kitties do while I am weaving.........tangles anyone?!

 They tear around the house buzzing everywhere sounding like a herd of elephants. 

 Then they wind down, admire the squirrels out in the front yard and then nap for several hours.

 Bill finished all the electrical for the house.  He put up the fan/light in the breezeway.

I am making progress on the sweater/shrug for Marsel........did I ever mention she has a long wingspan...I am knitting forever on the back!

On the Move

Caleb moved out of Lake City to take a job promotion in Jacksonville.  We went today to move him from his apartment into his brother's in Jacksonville!  These guys have made several moves in the four years we have lived here-this is move #4 or is it 5 for Caleb!?  So glad we get to be a part of their lives.........and we are getting pretty good at the moving business! 

While Caleb took the U-Haul truck, the pickup truck came home with the things that wouldn't fit in the apartment.  So not only do we move, we also store!  At least he kept his cats......... (We were quite the caravan-Caleb in the UHaul truck, Bill in his pickup and me in the rear with Caleb's car!  We only had an hour and a half drive so it was certainly doable!)

In the knitting realm, finished clue one of my latest MMarioYahooGroup mystery shawl knit-a-long!  (Yes, if you recognize this yarn it is because it is the leftover yarn from the Triggy shawl but I have plans to dye this when the KAL is finished!)

As Eclectic as Always

I dyed the sample skein of the mystery wool and tried to make it the same color blue which I accomplished but the skein might not have enough black added.   

I can always make it darker but if it is too dark, I will be kind of stuck.The blues blend perfectly but I am not sure about the dark factor.  I am going to look at it and think about it for a few days.

                            

I cut the golden weaving off the loom.  This is the pile of warp waste is known as thrums.  I threw them away this time but in the Spring will save them for the birds to use as nesting material.

I laid the clotht outside to see the color variations caused by the manipulation of the handpainted warp that I used.  This was inspired from a recent issue of HandWoven magazine.  Plain weave 8/2 pearl cotton weft in gold and Araucania cotton yarn for the warp.  I think Nyki approves!

Here it is after I tossed it into the washer and dryer.  It shrank very little but the weave did tighten up.  It feels very smooth.  I think it is going to become a backpack next week!

I made two loaves of Friendship Bread-also known as 10-Day Amish Bread. This time I added a can of pineapple and walnuts.  All I can say is wow!  If you want the recipe, just ask for it in the comments and I will be glad to send you a pdf.  I used to make this a long time ago and Caleb asked for some recently so I got the recipe from my Mom and have been fermenting several different batches on the counter many weeks now.  This combination is the all time best!

 On the knitting front, I finished David's vest using the fingering weight yarn from KnitPick's Palette line of yarn.  I am thinking of adding a stripe at the front of the chest.  I had planned on doing that and forgot to during the knitting.  I would use duplicate stitch to add it now.  Another decision I will defer....

A Neighborly Visit

Our neighbors recently brought home this couple.  Today they surprised me and the cats, with a visit!

Aren't they beautiful?!  I wanted to hear their call but other than a little bit of clucking they didn't talk too much.

I finished plying the second skein of the mystery wool .  Now I have to dye the sample skein I made so that it matches these so I will have a total of 550 yards of this yarn.  Since the sample skein is already yarn and not able to be spun dyed, it will be interesting to see what I can do so that it will blend in with these.  Another day's adventure.....

We're All Spinning

I spun up the rest of the newly dyed wool and plied one skein so far.  It is very soft and cushy.  200 yards in the first skein, will have about the same in the second.

Bill put up both of the ceiling fans on the veranda.  We both did our own kind of spinning today!

All this spinning tired out the kittens........(she is growing much faster than PuffDaddy at this age!)

                                           They play hard and then sleep hard for several hours! 

                                      Like every Mother, I get a lot done while they are sleeping!



Slow Saturday.........

I woke up my brain with a quick project using some of the shells from the other day.  These were little wooden frames from my daughter's garage sale.  I covered the back with fabric scraps and then glued the shells in place.  I finished the wood with some of my beeswax.  They smell as good as they look now!

 While I was out by the pool, I saw this guy hanging out on the side.  Pretty, isn't he?!  It has been so dry,

I had to add a little more than an inch to the pool's water, about an hour of running the hose.  We are praying for rain!

 After working around the pool, I came in to run the wool from yesterday's dye pot through the carder.  This looks like a volcanic beach to me so that's what I am calling it.

 I save the scraps from the carder drums for spindling; I love to spindle from this tangled cloud of 'waste'.

 Before I left the sewing/craft room, I did a little mending.  Bill blew the knees from a pair of jeans so I hemmed them for shorts and the green was a dress that just didn't fit right on the top so it is now a skirt!

 I couldn't wait to get spinning the freshly carded wool.  It is working up just so nicely.   I will fill this one bobbin tonight.

 I am plugging away on the golden weaving.  I just love how the gold weft makes the warp shimmer.  It was a very dull looking skein of cotton before I added the gold.  What a nice surprise this is turning out to be.  I will look for another skein of this aracunia cotton to try again.  (It was a souveniour purchase when I went to my daughter's LYS.)

 While I was happily playing inside , Bill was tackling some outdoor projects.  He unloaded his new attachment for the John Deere.  This was custom built at a superb discount for him; he will be painting it black since that is a paint he has on hand.

 He dug up a East Palatka Holly from out back and planted it in front where a queen palm died.  The holly will embrace any cold this winter might throw at it!

 He also worked on the front porch to hook up the wiring so that he can install.......

 these two lights/ceiling fans.  The cats are enjoying the boxes until they go up!

This was a nice end to my day; a "just 'cuz  I love you " bouquet!  Hope your Saturday was just as enjoyable as mine.

A Finger in Every Pot!

The nights have been cool (54) but the day warms right up. It sure gave the pond a surreal look this morning that the cats really enjoyed!

And well, me, too!
I finished the second wall hanging using the shells. I will be mailing this one out to our friends!

I tried to echo the layers of green, beach, water, sky and even made loops to give the impression of froth on the waves. I am loving this creative avenue! I use scraps of Lopi yarns this time.

The two alpaca scarves went into the bowl for their soak........one dyed blue,

the other left natural colored! These are so soft! Will get them in the mail soon, Mom and Sis!

As long as I had the stuff out to dye , I set the mystery wool in the dye pot, too! One half in black, the other half of the fleece in blue.

I haven't spun any colored wool in a while so this will be a treat!

They dried in no time at all today, beautiful warm sun and no humidity!

I started a vest for David using the leftover yarn from Abigail's sweater. ( I haven't forgotten Marsel's sweater , it has just been set aside for a little bit...Knitting isn't monogamous you know!)

Cocoa Beach

Off to our annual trip to Cocoa Beach. Perfect weather and great to see friends.

There were great waves so lots of the shells were broken but it is fun to search for just the right ones.....small and with a hole in the top for use in weaving!

We walked through miles of shells like this. It is just so calming to be oceanside!

After working up an appetite, we went to the end of the island to the Lobster Shanty for lunch where my husband has as much fun feeding the catfish as he does himself!

He cut up pieces of his food and salad and tossed it to these guys and made their day!

My shells, sea glass and fishing weights look pretty all clustered together! The beach rocks will go into my water fountain by the pool. You will see several of these shells on another wall hanging I will make for our friends for a thank you for the day!