On fun, and not fun

Fun: taking care of my adorable grandson for 2 days so his parents can have a night away just for themselves. It’s even fun, of different sort, I admit, when I have to learn how to use their baby carrier so I can carry him around the house all day on Monday because that’s all he wants in his “I don’t feel good” mode. Well or sick, he’s a gem, and it’s only the tiniest part of my brain that’ worried about the fact that I’m not weaving for these 2 days.

Not Fun: getting the virus he had. I’ve been down for 4 days now, spending most of my time in bed or on the couch, and a little bit of time working on my rigid heddle loom. I do need to weave off the warp I have on there, which I put on in December for a specific purpose, because I have a woman waiting for a sample that I need to do on that loom. Plus, before I know it, it’ll be time to do weaving demos.

Fortunately, February had been a great month for me, productivity wise, until the Fun/Not Fun.
So here’s the next installment of weaving I did before hitting the couch. It’s Tammy’s beautiful colorway, Blue Violets.

I wove these scarves in a pattern I’ve used many times – Swedish lace blocks running along both edges, with plain weave in between. This simple look is always well received, probably because it’s light and airy and looks great with everything.

As always, these scarves wove up quickly on my counterbalance loom. Time for another nap now.

February 26th, 2012 

Handwoven Lace Shawl

I've finished an order that I took in at a show in December. I feel really badly that it took so long. Yes, the customer assured me she wasn’t in a hurry, and yes, I told her I wouldn’t get it done before the end of the year, but February?! How the heck did I mak it take this long?

Well, I ordered the yarn in early January, but it was out of stock, not scheduled to arrive till late January. Ok. Then they sent it, and I waited a few days to open the box till I was ready to put it on the loom. Uh oh. Not the right color. I looked at my notes, and I’d put the correct color number in my notes, but it was wrong on the order form. Did I tell the woman the wrong color number, o did she write it down wrong? I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. If I hadn’t had an order for it, I would have used the color they sent me, since it was close, but my customer specifically ordered a color, and that’s what I was going to make.

So what was the order? A huck lace shawl in 5/2 natural/eggshell pearl cotton.

I knew that not only would this customer like it, but others would, too. So I warped the loom for three shawls. I wove them, twisted the fringe, wet finished, and pressed all three shawls.

Here’s a closeup of a section of the finished shawl...

...and a section of the draft.

Such an easy threading and treadling! And this all-over huck pattern is nice and soft, even in 5/2 pearl cotton. As always, I made this handwoven lace on my little counterbalance loom. The loom, and these shawls, make me happy. As does the snow that’s softly falling outside my window.

Your turn: what made you smile today?

February 11th, 2012 |