Thursday, September 24, 2009

A Good Week

It was a good week, one of those memorable ones: good weather, good company and good times. Take four women, four days, many more than four projects and lots of consumable fuel:
steaks on the grill
These appear to be the World's Biggest Steaks, but really, it is a small grill! Honest!

I think we were somewhat modest in our wine consumption the first night:
wine bottles
but since I forgot to take any other photos of dead soldiers, there is no photographic proof.

We did get a lot done:
project pile

In this pile are some of the projects we worked on or finished: Lindsey spun 4 skeins of Black Coffee yarn, 2 skeins of white "coconut silk", has cashmere/tussah, Crosspatch Creations yarn, and black alpaca on the bobbins, is knitting a lace shawl off the bobbins, Lindsey's ribbon-knitted shawl called Shawl That Jazz is underneath Sue's loom (with cardweaving), with Sue's socks of Noro sock yarn atop, next to my knitted shawl and my bobbins of wool, then there are Sue's skeins of 3 ply wool, and a bag of wolf lichen we collected for dyeing. Dizzy yet?

Here are some details:
Lindsey's yarn
This is some of Lindsey's yarn: black coffee colorway dyed by Kimber Baldwin.

eileen working
This is Eileen weaving, and Sue, um, resting! Eileen is making this scarf:
eileen's scarf
which she finished, and then warped up again for another scarf:
eileen's scarf warp
which she started weaving at the cabin:
eileen's scarf beginning
and finished weaving at home:
eileen's scarf done
This is Cascade 220 sett at 8 epi, and the beads are size 6 pony beads on the fringe.

Sue had a mission:
sue's yarn
She was out to spin up a whole bag of wool, and turn into enough 3-ply for a sweater (she spun it all).

We needed a plan to accomplish all this spinning:
spinning day
This is the line up of spinner's chairs in front of the laptop, with an audio book: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, recommended!, and a full 18 hours long, which kept us in our chairs for several days.

Mornings were chilly, so we worked inside:
worktable
That is my Cricket, with some soumak samples on it; you might notice there were three of us weaving away each on our own little traveling looms this week.

It is wonderful to have the time away, to sit and spin until the wool is gone, to laugh and listen and talk (and take a brief walk or two). The weather was perfect, the company congenial, and the task at hand not onerous at all. There were even s'mores; we toasted the marshmallows at night in the outside fireplace.

Who could ask for more?

And yet, there was more to come:
first book
The First Book arrived when I got home.

This is my one-and-only advance copy, the rest are on that proverbial slow boat from China, to arrive next month. But oh! to see it at last is a joy.

Monday, September 14, 2009

September Showers

There is a soft rain falling, a lovely early Fall shower making everything smell woodsy. We have kitkidizze growing on our hillside, it's perfume is permeating everything this morning.

We had a shower yesterday of a different sort, however, being the Grandmas, and potential Grandmas that we are. Soon-to-be Mama Sarah received a bag of goodies from me, but first I had to make the bag:

big blue bag

Mama Sarah is the daughter of weaver Lindsey, so she got handwoven baby blankets too, and friend Sue knitted up a tiny cashmere hat and booties set for baby Erik. There was also a handmade quilt, and lot of other goodies, a few games and Eats! followed by stories and best wishes for the family.

There is a Big Sister involved, and while she was not there, she also got a few gifts:

small pink bag

A smaller bag, filled with a few things for a six-year old, along with all of the aforementioned best wishes.

Bag details: cotton/rayon fabrics, 20 epi, cotton weft, reinforced with interfacing, lined with cotton and batting and made like these. Bags are always good. Babies (and their big sisters) have lots of things to corral.

Just now, in fact, the car is loaded with bags much like these, as the Grandmas (and me! not yet a Grandma) head off for a retreat in the mountains :). The current rain is not slated to last long, so we are looking forward to sunny days, lots of food, wine, knitting and spinning :). :)! I can't stop myself: :)!

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Too Young to Protest

When babies are too young to protest, you can dress them anyway you like:

ella 2

Ella is turning one. This hat came from this book, and it's only good for one wearing (maybe two, if Ella ever has a sister)!

But cute? Who could pass this up?

If I get a photo of Ella modeling, I will post it. If the baby's parents are just too mortified to take a photo? Well, it was fun making it :).