Weaving A Gem Of A Life

On Giving

Howard Zinn quote

I firmly believe in what Zinn is saying in that quote. It also fits in with my “It’s a Wonderful Life” theory of life: we will never really know the impact of all of our actions, behaviors, and words on others. This is true whether they are positive or negative.

I also know that what I have done since January has definitely felt right to me and has encouraged me to keep doing it and to do more. Giving – of my time, my energy, my humanity, my possessions – helps me, too. It strengthens my spirit, makes me happy, allows me to believe that being kind in my own little way makes a positive difference in the world, creating ripples that I will never see.

What have I been doing? I’ve been using my albeit limited talents to make things to give away. It all started with an inspiration from another member of my Guild. At the December evening meeting Suanne encouraged us to make things to donate, and told us she was knitting hats, scarves, and mittens that were being distributed through her local library. As soon as my Christmas gifts were made I started knitting, and ended up donating 1 hat and 15 pairs of mittens.

Then I started sewing. I made 10 bags to donate to the local pediatric hospital for use in their Beads of Courage program.

In fact I just finished my second batch of 10 bags. I made shopping trips to 2 local craft thrift stores for the fabric and ribbons, so I also supported their donations to local organizations with my purchases.

2nd batch of bead bags

Next I was inspired by another weaver via Facebook. (If you’re in my Facebook Second Wind Fan Group you already know this, but I’m repeating it here for those who are not.) She was donating ‘woven hugs’ – shawls – to people with cancer. I warped up my loom and was off and running.

Rainbow hug warp on the loom

My inspiration weaver and I had some conversations while I was working and decided we were better off to each do this independently, not to try to actually partner on the project.

So I did some thinking and decided to honor a dear friend of mine by offering my ‘woven hugs’ to people dealing with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. They can go to the person with the disease or their caregivers/loved ones. I plan to weave 3 of these hugs per month. Here are the 3 finished hugs for this month, all 100% mercerized cotton. (Note: I mailed the one in the first photo – the red one – out this morning.)

Rainbow hug, red

The hug below has a golden ‘flake’ weft, for a thick & thin texture.
Rainbow hug, golden

This hug has a *very* dark purple weft, reading navy or black, depending on the light.
Rainbow hug, dark purple

Every batch will be different, with colors and fibers that strike my fancy. As an added benefit to me, these hugs will allow me to use up my stash in a new way. Win-Win! I am offering the hugs at no charge, but will appreciate being reimbursed for shipping.

At this point, I am making this offer to people in my Facebook Fan Group and blog readers only. So if someone in your life has dementia and you’d like one of this first batch hugs, let me know. You can certainly email me directly instead of leaving lots of personal information in a comment to this post.

If I have any left in a few days I will make the offer to a wider group, perhaps on Facebook, perhaps in another way.

As I was finishing those hugs, my daughter texted me with what I thought was a brilliant idea. I could weave towels in yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, and donate proceeds from them to support Ukraine. I ordered the yarn almost immediately. I ordered 2 different yellows and blues, partly because I wasn’t sure which would be closer to the flag colors when I saw the yarn in person, and partly to enlarge my design options.

yarns ordered for Ukraine flag towels

It hasn’t arrived yet, but I’m *psyched* about this project! Because I had to order the yarn, I don’t feel like I can donate 100% of the sale price, but will cover my actual yarn costs per towel and donate the rest.

In between all of the above, I was finally almost finished with the socks that had been on my needles since November, so it was time to dye the next sock blank. I decided I wanted multi-colored stripes, so here’s what the yarn looked like immediately after applying the dyes.

multi-striped sock blank

And here’s what it looks like after rinsing, drying, and winding into balls. It remains to be seen how it will look as it’s knit into socks.

multi-striped sock yarn wound into balls

Whew! Finally done with this post. Thanks for sticking with me. Maybe I’ll remember to post more frequently so each post can be shorter. But maybe not. 😉

Still busy

I have woven some new towels but I’m still working on hemming them so no pix yet. I have, however, completed some other projects.

First, I finished my knitting of mittens to donate for this season. Here are the last 6, all kids sizes. This brought my count up to 15 pairs of mittens and one hat. I’m happy with that, even though I used all worsted weight yarn so each item went pretty fast.

6 pairs of mittens to donate

I liked the colorful nature of using a different color of yarn for the cuff. And although camouflage is never my aesthetic, I thought it would likely appeal to some of the kids so went with it.

Then I finally went to the local craft thrift store and bought some fabric to make myself an apron. I like the fact that the ‘front’ fabric is a little fancy with that bit of gold running through it. (That doesn’t show up great in the photo, but it does in real life.)

It was a bit of serendipity that the store had the perfect coordinating fabric for the back. It’s sort of like an old-fashioned mattress ticking. After having made 6 for Christmas gifts, my apron came together quickly.

my apron

Since I was in the sewing mode, I jumped on a project that my Guild learned about. A local pediatric hospital, specializing in children with cancer and other serious illnesses, participates in a program called Beads of Courage. Basically, the children collect beads throughout their treatment, one for every medical event. The beads are collected in a cloth bag until they have enough to make a necklace. The hospital always needs people to sew bags, and I was happy to go through my fabric stash (most from all those masks I made) and come up with enough appropriate fabrics to make 10 lined bags.

10 Beads of Courage bags

Interestingly, it took me about the same amount of time to open the seam and thread the ribbons as it did to do all the sewing.

I just learned that the local hospital gives these bags to about 30 kids a month. While it’s really sad that so many kids needs them, it inspires me to make more. I plan to make 10-12 a month. So the next time I go to the craft thrift store I’ll pick up fabric and ribbons specifically for this.

That and the regular activities of life have kept me busy enough. Plus I’m updating my Etsy shop, piece by piece, if you’re interested in checking it out. Some changes will not be obvious to you; they’re things mostly designed to drive more traffic to my shop. But I like the new banner at the top of my page.

Use what you have

What we have here in Rochester, NY is snow. So use that snow!

I purchased a dozen plain, undyed, 100% cotton towels specifically for this purpose.

Then I used the formula of Kathrin Weber for snow dyeing. 2 cups soda ash to 1 gallon water for soaking. Lots of snow, dye on top. No drainage; let the towels sit in the muck as the snow melts. Leave them sitting there for a day after the snow is all gone.

I have to tell you, my reaction to the towels immediately after dyeing was quite different from what it was at the end. I dyed 4 in the first batch and rather hated them when they were done, so I only did 2 in each of the next batches, trying different techniques. As it turns out, those first 4 are stunners! Here they are, and the dyes I used…named Into The Fire.

Into The Fire snow dyed towels

dyes used for Into The Fire

The next batch? Too bright, too…just too much for my tastes. Here’s Bright Reflections and their dyes.
Bright Reflections snow dyed towels
dyes used for Bright Reflections

Then I wanted the colors to ‘break’ and to complement each other, so purposely chose dyes that I knew were mixes of several other colors. I got lots of muddiness, IMHO. Dark Woods and their dyes.

Dark Woods snow dyed towels
dyes used for Dark Woods

These last 4, although dyed in 2 different batches with slightly different colors, look similar enough. And are lovely to my eyes. Spring Will Come – and the dyes I used for the 2 batches.

Spring Will Come snow dyed towels
dyes used for Spring Will Come 1

I will be posting these towels in my Etsy shop later today or tomorrow. Who knows if they’ll sell? If not, I’ll have a bunch of new towels in my closet – thinner and stiffer than my handwoven towels but they dry well.

Finally revealing Christmas

I was FINALLY able to get together with my friend and give her the Christmas present I’d made, so now I can reveal them all.

It all started with this.
apron pattern

I bought enough fabric to make six reversible aprons – print on one side and solid on the other. (Note that the pattern isn’t designed for that so it was a modification to do so.) Three prints and three solids that I would mix up so no two aprons were the same. Two pockets on each side. I would weave a towel to coordinate with the colors for each of the six recipients.

First I cut out two of a multi-veggie print. Uh oh. Only then did I realize that based on my fabric layout one of the prints would be upside-down. Well, it is what it is. So I learned from my mistake and didn’t do that again.

The first apron/towel combo went to an out of state friend (since high school – MANY years ago) and her hubby. They got the upside-down print, and straps following the pattern directions. Their apron is backed with a denim fabric, and burgundy predominates in their warp to go with their burgundy countertops.

first apron-towel combo

When I tried the apron on after it was complete, I decided that while the concept of a single tie for both waist and neck seemed like a good idea, in practice it wasn’t the best. The apron either gapped or rode up (or down) around the neck. So I modified that for the five remaining aprons, making separate neck and waist ties. The women and men in each family could adjust and re-tie as needed.

Next I used the veggie print, right right side up, backed with a neutral cotton-linen blend. This went to a niece and her husband, also out of state. I have no idea what her kitchen looks like, so kept the majority of her towel a neutral gold-ish.

2nd apron-towel combo

I moved to what is my favorite fabric, all hot peppers. I knew I wanted to use this for my daughter and son-in-law, and back the dark print with a solid light gray. Knowing my daughter’s tastes I also made the body of the her towel light gray.

3rd apron-towel combo

My sister and brother-in-law got the other hot peppers, this time backed with that blue fabric. I know they can handle more color in the kitchen, so went with cranberry for the majority of their towel.
4th apron-towel combo

Now for the last two apron-towel combos. My out of state nephew and his wife got a rather vintage-looking teacup print. I backed it with the solid gray, and used since I also have no idea about their kitchen used gray the for majority of their towel.

5th apron-towel combo

And last, another great friend got the teacup print, backed with the undyed cotton-linen. I used the teal of the print background along with a pale pink for the majority of her towel.

6th apron-towel combo

I didn’t think my son would wear an apron, so he got two towels, both in guy-type colors. 🙂

two towels for my son

Now I need to make myself an apron! The one I use isn’t great.

**********************

I also finished up the weaving of the inserts for my 2022 Christmas cards. I got 38 inserts, at least a dozen more than I need. I also have some left over from my 2021 cards, so one of these years I’ll have all the extras I need and won’t have to weave more. 🙂

weaving for 2022 Christmas cards

*****************

The other really big thing I did was finish all my year-end reports for the accountant. This shouldn’t be as big a deal as it always seems to me. I mean, really, is the IRS going to be concerned if I make a mistake in recording my TINY amount of business income or expenses? But it always makes me anxious to do the work. And now, with the need to use 2 different computers (the old one has QuickBooks on it and nothing else), it takes more physical, as well as mental, space to accomplish it.

kitchen table with 2 computers

But whew! It’s done! Now just waiting for some statements to come in the mail.

Moving forward

If you’re visiting hoping to see photos of the gifts I made for Christmas, you’ll have to wait and come back. My visit with my friend got postponed so I’m still not sharing those and spoiling her surprise. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to show you!

I’ve continued to knit for donating to people who need things. Just one hat-and I probably won’t knit more unless they are requested-and 3 pairs of mittens. Two are for primary-aged kids, one for toddlers. More mittens on my needles, this time for elementary-aged kids or adults with small hands. I’ll keep knitting mittens until the weather warms up dramatically.

1 knit hat, 3 pair mittens to donate

I’ve also done a fair bit of work preparing for my 2022 Christmas cards. I spent a bunch of time deciding on a weave structure, planning it out for the number of ends I need and centering the design. Just 185 ends. Wanting to stick to my stash yarns, I decided on 20/2 mercerized cotton, sett at 36 ends per inch. Doesn’t take long to measure out the warp or get it on the loom.

2022 card design weaving draft

I downloaded an audiobook, planning to listen while I wove. Well. Since this design is weave-as-drawn-in, that also means 185 picks. It therefore requires far more concentration than I can achieve while listening to a book, or even listening to music that will tempt me to sing along. So I stick with NPR. Still, I learn that I can’t weave more than 3 cards at one sitting or I lose my focus. No biggie; I don’t need these for 10 months. Although of course they can’t tie up my loom that long. 🙂

Now it’s time to start auditioning wefts, again sticking with the colors of 20/2 cotton in my stash. I started with a light-ish blue. Not enough contrast. Plus I wasn’t beating hard enough so the design was elongated and unclear for that reason as well. Next I went to a very dark purple. Both too dark and beat too firmly.

2 color audition samples

Moving on. Here’s a nice Christmas red, beat to just about square. Yep, this’ll work. I wove 5 of these.

2022 card-red

I didn’t want to weave 30+ cards exactly the same, as it would be even more challenging for me to maintain sufficient focus. So I dug out a Christmas green. That worked, too, so I wove 5 green.

2022 card-green

Then I found a slightly darker blue, although it’s slightly thicker at roughly 6,000 yards per pound compared to the 7,200 yards per pound of the 20/2. So I couldn’t get this color quite square, but I was okay with that. And although it’s not my favorite color combo, I wove 5 blue.

2022 card, blue

Woah! I found a small spool of gold metallic, so wound a bobbin with that and the gold 20/2 and checked it out. I liked it so wove 5 of these, as well. You can’t really see the metallic in the straight-on photo, so I took one at an angle, too. I also couldn’t get this design square as the gold & metal together are thicker than 20/2, but again was okay with that.
2022 card-gold & metallic

2022 card-gold & metallic, angle

Because I liked that, I tried using that metallic thread with the red yarn. I definitely preferred the red on its own, but wove 2 cards with the red & gold because I’d wound a bobbin with that much thread.

2022 card-red & metallic

Then, since I like the gold with the metallic, I figured I should try the gold on its own. Meh.

2022 card, gold alone

So I wove an additional 4 (so far) cards in just red.

If you’re counting, that’s up to 27 cards. I don’t need many more. But it’s clear that I have A LOT of warp left. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll keep weaving this design or just cut it off and toss the remaining warp. It’ll depend on where I am mood-wise when I get to that point. I’ll weave one more red, then I want to try one with just metallic, then…we’ll see.

It’s a real change for me not to worry at all about the fact that my selvedges are sort of ugly. They won’t be seen. 🙂

Weaving A Gem Of A Life

Categories

Archives

On Giving

Still busy

Use what you have

Finally revealing Christmas

Moving forward

Weaving

What Else I'm Reading Now

Tags