Weaving A Gem Of A Life

Update x 3

The calendar said April but it was still winter outside.

Inside the studio, it was all spring. The colors of these wraps are so positive and cheerful.

LV received her wrap on Wednesday, and immediately did a tandem wrap with her daughter and a friend!

On another front entirely, I completed my second weaving sample for the COE. This one required five different patterns of light and dark threads, with each pattern woven square.

All I can say is trust me, weaving patterns square is SO not my strength. I had to weave the first sample, five twill patterns, 3 times to get it right. The second sample required 2.5 weavings. Maybe next time I’ll get down to only twice? For these required samples my goal is to use up stash and meet the requirements; pretty is not an issue. The first sample (below) is mercerized 5/2 cotton, the second (above) is Bambu 7.

Next update is Jack. I guess that we took too much advantage of the spring days that we did have. Last night the poor little guy was limping badly. I’d been giving him a baby aspirin every morning for a few weeks since I saw him limp a little. It clearly wasn’t enough, and I clearly wasn’t reducing his walks enough. So this morning I gave him a dose of his prescription pain relievers, and called the vet for a refill. I’m also making each of his 3 daily walks short – just once around the block. I can make my solo morning walk longer to make up for Jack’s shorter morning walk, but haven’t exactly figured out what I’ll do on the mid-day walk when I’m also missing length. (Our nighttime walk has always been short.) I’m taking Reiki training on Saturday. My primary goal is to help Jack; I’m crossing my fingers on this.

Stop me before I dig again

Despite what I said on Wednesday, the weather Thursday was so beautiful that I had to go out and work in the yard. Besides, with rain coming, it only made sense to get some things in the ground, didn’t it?!

So first I dug up this small plot. Previously it held only violets, and it’s location between my walkway and the neighbor’s fence seemed perfect for a few peas. They could climb on his fence and I could pick them right outside my door. Dig out violets, add leaf mulch, plant about 15 peas.

Then I thought, “Hmmm. Maybe it’s not really sunny enough there for peas. And since peas need something to climb on, why not plant right along your fence, on the opposite side of where the flower garden is? After all, it’s full sun there, for sure.” So that’s what I did.

Then I called my old country neighbor, a true farmer who grows most of the food for her family. I wanted Becky’s insight into when she puts potatoes and carrots into the ground. She confirmed what I remembered from prior conversations: put potatoes in now. If the tops freeze, it’s fine; in fact it makes the potatoes sweeter. The carrots have to wait a few weeks.

So I dug this area.

I only had a few organic potatoes with eyes in the kitchen, and made 8 or 9 sections of them. I’ve never grown potatoes before, and after I had all the work done, I was left with lots of doubt. I’m not at all sure that the area I dug is wide enough for potatoes to grow. But I planted them nonetheless. Then last night I was wondering to myself why I used my precious fence space for potatoes? After all, they’re not climbers like peas, nor do they need supports like tomatoes. Although I’d like to get more potatoes into the ground, probably next week, they won’t go next to my fence. I’ll save that space for tomatoes and/or sweet red peppers and/or ……?? I also want to plant some kale and lettuce, and think I’ll do that right out front in my flower garden, where there’s also full sun and plenty of space.

This morning, before I did my walk and Jack’s walk, I loaded my buckets into the car and went back and got more mulch. No big containers, just 6 five-gallon buckets. I believe I’ll have enough for all I want to do this year. At least I hope I will.

Needless to say with all that physical labor I didn’t get much weaving done. I did start AT’s wrap as planned. What a difference!

And here I’ve compared the two wraps on a shot from under the loom. Reminder: LV’s wrap is woven with a natural weft, AT’s with a dark gray weft.

I got quite a bit of weaving done today. Less than 70″ left to weave. Although I am tied up all morning, I may be able to get that woven tomorrow afternoon. If not it’ll have to wait till Monday, since I’m fully committed on both Saturday & Sunday.

1 down, 1 to go

Before I had to leave to take Jack to advanced dog class (yes, we’ve gone beyond puppy class) on Tuesday evening I finished weaving LV’s baby wrap. With the natural cotton/hemp weft, every bit of Easter egg-y color is fully retained in this sweetly colored baby wrap.

Today I’ll start AT’s. Hers will look quite different with a gris fonce (dark gray) weft.

EB, who got both of the wraps from that last warp, was kind enough to send me a few photos of her and her little one. Doesn’t mom look happy?!

Like me, she reported that she can’t really feel the difference between the 8/2 unmercerized and 10/2 mercerized cotton wefts. She does catch a bit of the sheen of the mercerized cotton in the sunlight.

Although the temperature didn’t get very high today and the wind was quite strong, the sunshine was so appealing that I couldn’t stop myself. I went to Agway and bought a few seed packets.

Although I had plenty of land at my old country house, I couldn’t grow many veggies because of the combination of wildlife and really crappy soil full of clay and rocks. Now I have nice sandy soil, just not very much of it in terms of square footage.

Both peas & carrots should go in the ground as soon as I can work it, with potatoes following close behind. I’m going to plant the peas along my neighbor’s fence – they can climb up there. The peas & potatoes will go along the back edge of my property…up against my neighbor’s garage.

Yesterday I filled my trunk and back seat with containers of leaf mulch that the town was giving away. Plenty of work shoveling and then lifting those containers into and out of my car – out much easier than in. I don’t recommend using the 20-gallon Rubbermaid totes like I did – too heavy! I’ll be paying for that one for another day or so.

I won’t be able to get back into the ground for the next few days, as the temps are supposed to fall, with Sunday’s high only 30 degrees F. That’ll also give my back a chance to recuperate. By early next week I hope the weather turns and that I can get those 3 crops in the ground. I may have the time to get another load of free leaf mulch before it’s all gone – but only in the smaller containers. 🙂

Looking forward to fresh food from my garden! Think I can keep them safe from squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks? I can only hope.

How I spent my Easter vacation

I didn’t weave at all on Easter Sunday. But I do have a nice side shot of LV’s wrap, with a natural cotton/hemp weft, from my weaving on Saturday.

Instead, I started the day by giving Jack a springtime haircut. I intended to do before & after pix, but forgot the before so just the after isn’t particularly impactful. Instead, look at the nice material he left for the birds to use in their nest building!

I don’t know if the birds will think it’s great stuff or not. I’m going to leave it there in the yard for a few days and see what happens.

After that I played in the dirt for a while. I got an area that was crammed with violets and lily of the valley cleaned out. My neighbors were happy to get the lily of the valley, and I want to plant clematis in that space, so it’s all good. After that I spent some time figuring out the best way to use my new Garden Weasel edger. Once I got the hang of it, it worked quite well. Affordable, easy to use – I recommend this tool.

Then I spent a bit of time just hanging out with Jack, reading a book, and taking a walk – all in today’s really beautiful, warm sunshine. Especially appreciated since we’re looking at a week of partly wet with cool-to-cold temps.

Next I took a mess of photos of placemats and towels and got them uploaded to my website Handwovens for the Home page.

A productive and enjoyable day.

Spring Studio

I’ve been busy making my studio look like springtime, thanks to LV & AT.

As planned, on Thursday I started winding the warp for their custom baby wraps.

The colors, going from rose pale to jaune pale, then to vert pale, bleu pale and lilas, are so like Easter eggs.

Very fitting, since tomorrow is Easter. If you look at the far right side of the images you can watch the progress as I set up the warping valet and put each bout on the lease sticks.

I got all 4 bouts wound on Thursday. Then yesterday I beamed the warp.

And even got the heddles and reed threaded before I called it quits for the day…at around 8PM.

I have learned through experience that the best way to do things on my Macomber and with my body, is to sit in a regular folding chair to thread the heddles and to stand to thread the reed. With wide warps I also stand to tie onto the front apron. These put my in the best body positioning and things move along without pain.

I can only hope that this warp will behave as sweetly as its colors through the weaving process. Time will tell. With some other commitments this morning, I should be able to do the tie on and start weaving later today.

Weaving A Gem Of A Life

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How I spent my Easter vacation

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