Weaving A Gem Of A Life

Hanging the roses

I have the transparency done and hung. It’s not perfect, and I would make different decisions if I were going to do it again, but I’m happy with it. I debated about making it monochrome or using several colors, and honestly, I don’t know which I would have preferred. I may make another transparency at some point in the future, but not right now.

To both remind me and potentially help others, I used 16/2 linen for warp, sett at 10EPI, and doubled 8/4 cotton (rug warp) for the inlays.

I made it to hang in the front section of the bay window in my kitchen, where there’s no crossbar to interrupt it, but I don’t have the right rod to hang it with. I’ll pick one up soon.

Elephant jokes

When I was a kid, elephant jokes got very popular for a time. In case that wasn’t happening when & where you were, here are a few I remember.

Q. What’s red & white on the outside and gray & white on the inside?
A. A can of Campbell’s Cream of Elephant soup.

Q. How can you tell if an elephant has been in your refrigerator?
A. You’ll see his footprints in the cheesecake.

Not good, huh?

Again, maybe just where I grew up, but the elephant jokes transitioned into nun jokes.

Q. What’s black & white & gray?
A. Sister Mary Elephant.

That’s the nicest one I can remember.

So why am I posting about bad elephant and nun jokes? Because of my dyeing, specifically my black and white and gray dyeing.

It took some days longer than I’d anticipated to get my warp bouts wound for the shawl, and then more days to find the time and energy to dye them.

I was quite surprised when I took them out of the ‘scour’ bath (soda ash and Dawn) to find these odd yellow blotches on the yarn. Fortunately it washed/rinsed out.

Then I laid them on my table in the basement and set about dyeing. Oops! Had to stop mid-stream and run to the store since I ran out of saran wrap, darn it!

Got it finished, remembered to wind tiny bouts of both natural silk and 10/2 gray cotton to see (a) how the dye would take on the silk and (b) if I might like the gray & black as an alternative to white & black. Interestingly, the silk and cotton both took the color the same
as the tencel. Hmmmm. Not what I expected.

Did my usual steaming of the wrapped yarn, then soaked it all for 12 hours in a 5-gallon bucket of water.

Took it out of that bucket, only to see that there was a LOT of red on the yarn where the dye ‘broke.’ I have no problem with the dye breaking on this, and in fact got some comments from customers that they like the color variation, but this was most definitely too much red. So I rinsed quite a bit, then put it into 3 large dishpans with a little bit of Dawn to soak for another 12 hours.

After that second 12 hours and plenty more rinsing, the red is virtually gone. Thankfully. But when I was hanging it to dry, I couldn’t help but think of those old elephant and nun jokes.

Sharing my food

I decided not to plant those luscious little Sugar Cube cantaloupes again this year, since last year squirrels or chipmunks munched into them before they were fully ripe for me to pick.

So I put in a few tomatoes (which have really suffered with our lack of rain), a few sweet peppers, some lettuce, beans, Brussels sprouts, English cucumbers, and English peas. This year, for the first time ever, someone (I’m thinking squirrel or chipmunk vs. bird, and the chewed bits are way too high for bunny) has decided that they need the peas more than I do.

I’m okay with sharing my homegrown yummies with the local wildlife, but not when they get the lion’s share and I get very little. So I guess I won’t put in peas next year. Sigh.

Or maybe it’s just that they’ve all discovered that my yard is full of goodies and they’ll eat whatever I plant. Interestingly, my lettuce is left alone, as are my beans. Someone, however (and I’m thinking bunny on this one) is eating the tasty tops of my lovely garden mallow, so I won’t get many flowers from them this year. That’s okay with me. Munch away, little friend. I don’t eat the flowers so you’re welcome to them.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

I arrived back home about 10:15 last night. By the time I (mostly) emptied the van, walked Jack, and took a shower, I was about ready to drop. Both set up and tear down are bears, and this weekend’s heat and humidity had everyone just dripping.

But I will do this show every year, if they let me. The grounds are beautiful, the show staff & volunteers can’t be beat, the customers are pleasant and generous, I have a wonderful space under the trees, what more can you ask for? (Go visit their website now. I think they change the pictures fairly frequently, but I’m in the header right now. Yay!)

A woman spent a fair amount of time talking to me about my little RH loom, and about her photography hobby. She asked if she could take my photo, and sent me 4. I’m posting this one because I simply can’t imagine why I was making that weird face. She also sent some nice ones, but why share them? 😉

I returned the rental van, put almost everything away, and got all my computer entries done. I know you’ll be shocked when I tell you that despite my ‘must use stash’ mantra, I ordered 6 pounds of undyed tencel yarn. My handpainted scarves and shawls were big hits, comprising over half of my sales. I don’t know what percentage of my products are handpainted, but I think it’s less than half.

I doubt that my sales experience matches anyone else’s, but just in case this info is helpful, almost 40% of my scarf sales were cowls, and 30% of my shawls were mobius wraps. Don’t know that I’ll have time to make more of either in the next few weeks.

Before my next show, at the end of August, I have only a few ‘must makes’ in my head. I sold all 3 of the black & white shawls that I’d painted, 1 of the 2 black & white scarves, and 1 of the 2 cowls. So I AM going to paint more black for both shawls and scarves.

If time permits without making me crazy, I’ll weave a bunch of towels, as I sold 10 this weekend. Rather unusual for me, so my stock is quite low and I’d like to have more for the next show.

I also only have 4 bookmarks left, but they are last on the totem pole. Maybe I’ll weave more, maybe not.

I’m watching my grands all day tomorrow, but I think I’ll measure out some bouts for dyeing tonight and/or tomorrow night. Then maybe dye on Wednesday. While that’s processing I’ll work on the transparency, which I am enjoying and am eager to see off the loom. That’s so slow, it may well still be on the counterbalance loom when I have the black & whites ready to go.

Come visit me

I’ll be at Chautauqua Institution all weekend, showing and selling my weaving. Entry to the Institution is free on Sunday, and parking is half price (maybe only after 1PM).

Stop by and see all my new work!

Weaving A Gem Of A Life

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Hanging the roses

Elephant jokes

Sharing my food

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

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