Can You Believe It? Another FO!

I actually started this scarf about 6 weeks ago. I got about half done with it when I found out that I had a deadline on the cross-stitch blanket. So, I set it aside and worked on the blanket instead. As you can see, this is a much looser weave than most of the ones I've finished so far. I like it a lot better.

I decided to go ahead and do the Danish Medallions again. At least that's what I think they are called. I haven't looked them up in my book of patterns again. I also decided to start in the middle and end in the middle instead of on one side or the other.

How did I do that? Well, I used a piece of waste yarn on the right, from side to middle. Then I left a long black tail hanging out the middle and wove a little ball of black under the rest of the warp to the edge, set it aside and then picked up the verigated yarn. Four rows of verigated and then I started working the black ball from the left to the right, using a crochet hook to make the medallions. When I got to the far right side, and all the medallions were made, I cut the black long enough to thread it and weave it back to the center, using the waste yarn as a guide as to where it should go. Then I tied it in a little bow with the first end that was hanging there, just waiting for me!

It's actually a very easy 'stitch' to do - just time consuming. I take that back - making the medallion is not time consuming - weaving the tails in was! There were 4 tails at each stripe - two white, two verigated. I'm wondering how they will wear - will they come unwoven, or stay put? I'll probably never know. :)

I like the back side of this, too. A lot.

Uh oh! What do I see there?? Another little end that needs to be woven in. :) I'll do that as soon as I post this.

This poor project - I'm glad it survived. My loom stays on the table all the time unless someone is coming over for dinner. Then it gets shuttled (heh heh) back to the bedroom and left on the bed, with it's little box of extras, so we can use the table for a meal. Or at least make the room look a little better. Oh my. I'm laughing at myself. That poor thing was in and out of the bedroom numerous times over the past month and a half.

Then, when I started working on the scarf again Monday, it took me awhile to remember exactly how I'd been weaving it. Finally got the memory back (had to reboot my mind) and started working on it. Found it way tooooo fiddly and gave up. I worked on it off and on the rest of the day, then off and on yesterday. Finally got it off the loom tonight - somewhat in fear of what I was going to find when I held it up. I'd told Mel earlier today, "I don't like this scarf! I want to do something else!!!"

But you know what? I do like this scarf. A lot. I'm not sure I'll make another one like it any time soon, but I do like it. I've also learned my lesson for sure - the looser the weave, the nicer the scarf. More wearable.

So, I look at the scarves I have sitting over there, the ones with the tight weave and I wonder - what should I do with them? I think I might make some more just like them and then sew them together and make an afghan. That might be the best solution. And inbetween making those sections, I'll weave more loose scarves.

I'm feeling very ambitious tonight.
Must be the full moon shining in the window on me right now. At least it looks full. Full and absolutely georgous. Love it!!

What I've Been Doing - Part 2

I've been working like mad on the blanket I'm embroidering. The person it is intended for informed us that they are leaving the country, hopefully within the next week or two. Not sure how that is going to work out for them, but I decided that I'd better get busy and, well - get busy! So, I've been cross-stitching like crazy in any of my free time.

However, when we were at Nova Linea, I picked up a handful of small nails, as well as the fountain (and a 12 pack of TP). Over the past few days, while I cross-stitched I did a lot of praying - and that will continue until I'm finished with the blanket. But inbetween prayers, I did a lot of thinking, too. :) :) And one of the things I thought about was how to make a new 4x4 inch loom.

The one I have, a little green plastic Weave Easy Hand Loom, is falling apart. I've used it alot. I like using it. A lot. Little woven 4x4 inch blocks just seem to leap off this loom. I looked all over the internet and could not find a replacement - besides which, I figured a replacement would soon wear out, too. I looked at 4x4 inch looms for sale, but they are all different styles than this one and I have already made several blocks and want them all to be the same. So, I made my own loom.

HA HA HA! It is a funny looking thing, don't you think? But I made it. All by my lonesome.

I looked for wood at Nova Linea but didn't find anything that struck my fancy. Mel reminded me that we had that old shoe caddy at home that had fallen to pieces when we put shoes on it - it was make of wood. He'd used pieces of it to prop the window a/c stuff and hold it in place,

but there were several other good pieces left that I might be able to use. And I did. I measured the little green loom (about 50 times over the weeks I've been thinking about this!), and I measured the wood. I drew lines, make little marks, thought about it, muttered aloud about it, wondered about it, nagged Mel about it. He finally found pieces for a hacksaw in his tools, put it together for me, and went and cooked dinner for us both. I went out on the balcony and began sawing. Hack saws apparently do not cut straight down... or maybe it's my technique? Then I came back in, propped a stool on top of my legs and began nailing the 4 pieces together on top of the stool, measuring here and there every few hammer blows to make sure I was getting the right size. Why did I do it on the stool propped on my legs? :) :) :) Even writing that sounds weird. Well, because I didn't have any other surface to work on and bending down over that same stool to saw the wood killed my back. So, I propped the stool on my legs and then hammered it all at chest height, where I could actually SEE the nails and it worked very, very well. No bruises on my legs because I didn't hammer that hard, no smashed thumb or fingers, just easy pain-free hammering. And you see what I came up with.

The wood on the last bar began to crack as I was putting in the last few nails. I would have drilled holes first for the nails, but 1) Mel's drill needs charged, 2) he didn't have a bit that small and 3)I would have made a mess of it, having never really drilled anything before. So, instead of throwing the whole thing out and starting over (oh yeah, I forgot to mention - I glues the pieces down before I started nailing, so they were mostly glued together at that point), I decided to apply some glue to the cracks and see if that would hold the nails. And so far, it has!

As soon as the glue was dry, I made a 4x4 inch square - measured it back-to-back with one of the ones made on the little green loom - and voila! They are the same. Here are three photos, showing what I'm making: Front:

Back:

What I'm doing with them:

I'll write more about what I'm doing with them, and how I'm making them later tonight. For now - it's time to go eat dinner!

We've Come To See The Tapestries!

I've been working a lot on my embroidery project and my left thumb is beginning to tell me about it. Bummer. Woke up with pain in it this morning.

I love doing embroidery, though. Absolutely love it. Actually, it's a big cross-stitch blanket again, not a true embroidery project.

There is something magical about taking a needle and colored thread, pushing the needle in and out of the fabric in specific ways, changing the colors here and there in specific patterns and ending up with a beautiful 'painting on cloth.' It's so simple. So beautiful. So easy. (So time consuming, written in a whisper.) And the results can last well past the life-time of the artist who creates the whole thing.

Reminds me of visiting Stirling Castle several years ago and seeing this:

We actually got to watch a woman work on one of the tapestries while we were there. This is part of what began my interest in weaving, although I know that tapestry weaving is very different than what I'm learning right now.

While in Izmir, Turkey 10 years ago, we took a tour and saw rug weaving. This flicker account has a couple photos posted of what we watched. Here is one of them:

The photographer posted a couple other photos on his account as well. Check them out! (I wish we'd had digital photography and flicker accounts when WE went to Turkey!) I guess that this was my first real introduction to this sort of craft, not the tapestries at Stirling Castle. Wherever it happened, I would love to do this myself.

Sometimes when I think about things like this I wonder if we'll be able to do these kinds of things in heaven. I've probably written about this before, if so, forgive me for repeating myself. But in the New Heaven and New Earth - will we do things like this? Perfectly, over eternity to learn our craft, practice our craft, become better and better at it? Do it all for the glory of God, our Father and Maker, rather than out of self-pride?

I wonder. And I hope.

God has given us so much creative ability, so many different mediums to work with. A needle and thread. A brush and oils. A stick of chalk. A loom and yarn. A wheel and fleece. A piece of ground and a group of plants. A wheel and a lump of clay. A few sticks and a few dried reeds or grasses.

In our perfected body and mind, completely sinless, no pain, no frustration, no anger - what will we be able to do, to create with our own hands?

And the greatest thing of all - no sin.

Ahhhh - how I look forward to that! No comparing my work to someone else's and being jealous. No fear of causing someone else jealousy. The ability to do it for God with a clean conscience, pure motives, child-like knowledge that He will be pleased with my efforts and love me, no matter how it looks! :)

Someone recently told me that they are not looking forward to heaven because it will be so "boring" doing the same thing all the time. Actually, I began to question that person's salvation, but understood the pressures behind that statement as well (death looming in the family). I look forward to heaven because I'll have all the time I need to do whatever it is that I want to do, to do what needs to be done, to explore, to create, to relax, to live!!!

(PS - the title of this post comes from:

. Whenever I think of tapestries, that quote, originally said by Harrison Ford with a really bad Scottish accent, comes to mind. hahahaha!)

FO - I Really Like This Scarf

Yep, I really like this scarf!

I have a feeling that I've discovered something that I need to keep doing. It's not easy for me, but I'm going to try it again on a variety of patterns. What is it? you ask.

Well, I tend to weave really tight. While weaving this scarf I concentrated on keeping the weft loose. (Is that how you spell 'loose'? Looks weird to me.) Loose weft and a Mexican Lace pattern insert, combined with regular weave on the sides to give it more stability - and I have a scarf that is a lot softer.

Since the solid scarves are very, uh, solid :-), and tend to be a bit scratchy, I think weaving the acrylic more loosely and more lace-ily will make more wearable scarves. (I think I created a new word!)

I also really like the pale tan verigated yarn. A lot. I actually ordered 3 more skeins to be sent in the next box, used as packing material for what else I'm having Kara send me. I think that particular color can have a lot of uses in other color combinations. It looks a bit like bamboo to me, what with the green and dark brown and all.

I've already chosen my next pattern. Now I need to figure out which colors I want to use. I have a wide assortment of yarn right now, so the sky is the limit.

So nice to have a real stash! I've read about people's stashes and wanted one. Now I have my very own! A multi-colored stash of basically all the same yarn. Love it!

FO - Rainbow Scarf 1

I was going to write a longer post yesterday, but blogger was not working. Today I'm busy with several other things, so this will be short. Maybe. You know how I am - I know how I am! {{grin}}

First, here is my current Finished Object:
I wasn't sure I really liked this as I was working on it on the loom. I didn't tighten the last 6 warp threads on the left enough and the farther I wove, the looser they became. I finally resorted to finding a small dowel rod, wrapping the extra warp around it and securing it so I could continue weaving without fighting with excess warp drooping all over the place on that side. That worked really well, until I was finished and the scarf was off the loom.

After taking it off, I realized that both sides were way too loose. Fortunately, the way I wove this, I could grab hold of those warp threads and pull them taut. Took a bit longer than usual, but it worked.

I also was not sure how to finish the ends. I need to find some different methods, which means I need to not be afraid to experiment. These scarves are truly experiments - teaching myself how to do different things on the loom. I am not an expert and should not expect perfection from myself. If I don't try, I won't learn...which means I really need to go throw a couple of these things in the washer and see what happens. I've been afraid to wash them here because I don't have a dryer. Hmmmm - be right back!

Ok, two scarves in the washer right now with a load of sheets. So, this is probably not how you are supposed to wash them, right? But this is probably how they are going to be washed later, so might as well see how they turn out!

Back to this FO scarf...

I am going to try this pattern again with a different color scheme. I'm also going to try it using two shuttles and weaving both sides at the same time (left side with one shuttle, right side with the other shuttle) while leaving the center threads alone for 5 or 6 rows again. Then I'll manipulate the center threads with my fingers and a pick-up stick and bring the right shuttle through them as before. We'll see how this turns out. I'm hoping it will give more substance to the edges. Also, I'll make sure those side warp threads are as tight as they need to be at the beginning!!

I like the overall look of this pattern. Therefore, I want to do at least one more scarf with it, that time not having any solid side at all - just another pattern repeat. Should make the scarf bow in and out as I go from pattern to plain weave to pattern again. We'll see. I won't know unless I try - right?

I also like the rainbow effect of this scarf. I had to use an orange that is much softer than the other yarn, though. In a way that is good because this orange is so bright. It would be overwhelming if it was as thick as the other yarn - I think. I'm also thinking of other ways to use the rainbow stripes because one side is so bright and the other is so dark. We'll see!

I have enough thoughts on scarves to last me at least 5 years.

hahahahaha!

Also, I've discovered something I can make with the loom waste. I'm weaving the longer pieces by tying them together and making little squares. I've got 12 done so far and 3 of those 12 woven together in a strip with a black 1/3rd size block inbetween each of them. I'm planning to do a few strips and then weave them together to make a very unusual woven blanket/afghan. I'm having fun with it - it's quick and I can work on it while talking on Skype or listening to a sermon here at my desk. I'll post photos of it when I get farther along. Each block is completely different because of the different lengths of yarn being tied together.

I don't have anything on the loom right now. Am taking a break for a few days to work on my embroidered blanket. I have decided that this is the best way for me not to get burned out by either one and end up with more unfinished objects - UFOs.

About 3 weeks ago I ordered some embroidery stuff via a well-known handcraft catalog in the States. I was pleased, while looking at their on-line catalog, to see that they now deliver to Ukraine! (Actually, I couldn't miss that fact - they had a nice little Ukrainian flag at the top of each page and a statement saying that they deliver to Ukraine now. :-) ). So, I bit the bullet and tried and experiment.

It used to be a lost cause to have stuff sent over here via postal service. Either the box would be opened and stuff missing, or it would never arrive at all, or you'd have to pay a large customs fee to get it out of "jail" at the post office here. But...we got a box from my parents ok (I think I wrote about that a couple weeks ago), so I thought I'd try again.

And it worked! About 10 or 11 days after they mailed it, there was a notice in our box that we needed to pick it up from OUR post office! Mel got the notice, went to the counter and by the time I arrived, he was already outside with it. I had been delayed while taking photos of some beautiful bushes in bloom that still had raindrops on some of the leaves:

Here are two photos for your enjoyment!

So, I may just order a few more things from this company in the future. I'm also going to see if one of the shoe catalog companies will mail to Ukraine. As it is now, when we need new shoes, we have them sent to my parents and then my parents send them on to us. (Mel wears a 15 and I wear a women's 12 - you just can't buy those sizes here!) That means double postage/shipping costs, so if a company will send them directly to us - voila! Only one shipping cost.

We'll see if that works. :-) :-)

A New Project on the Loom

I've started a new scarf. I warped the loom last night sometime between 10:00 pm and midnight. :-) Amazingly enough, I did it correctly the first time for what I want. That is a first. haha I didn't start actually weaving on it until this morning, thought, because Mel had already gone to bed by the time I figured out that I really was too tired to go any further. Time does get away from me...kind of like what I wrote about a couple of posts ago. I get focused. Doesn't mean I am not aware of what is going on around me, it means I am focused on what I'm doing and want to keep doing! I have a bit of a struggle getting the back bar even. I don't warp the loom like the little instruction manual said to do it. I warp each individual thread seperately, so each is tied on the back beam, or dowel rod, that is them cranked back and around (I still don't know the technical terms for each of these parts and actions that I do). This helps me keep the warp straight and untangled and actually a lot more 'straight'. But as you can see in the photo above, it still ends up with one side being wider than the other. I've worked and worked on this and can't figure out what is going on. I've tried pulling harder on that side, but then one side is loose and the other crammed together. I've noticed that when I turn the crank closest to me, it seems that it does not pull evenly. I've even measured with a ruler and tape measure to make sure the front beam is spaced evenly against the loom before I start cranking the warp toward me. So, it's a puzzle about why and how and what to do. Fortunately, you really can't see a difference in the finished product.

I like this pattern a lot. It's a variation on 3 previous ones I've done. The yellow and black Bee (which Lyudmilla wears often, even to church last Sunday!), the red, black and white Lipstick, and the pink, green and yellow Flower Garden. This one may be called the lavendar Cotton Candy (but that's still up for grabs - we'll see what the final product looks like!). I do like it. I wonder what the back will look like??

FO Flower Garden Scarf

I warped the loom thinking of my tutor, Lyudmilla. She absolutely loves the colors pink and green. I'd been thinking about how I was going to do this for a long time. I mean a long time! I actually bought the yarn for this 4 or 5 years ago. At night I'd lie in bed thinking about how I could crochet a scarf or a shawl, or maybe even a small blanket for Lyudmilla out of her favorite colors. I wanted it to have the look of a green lattice with pink and white flowers, or pink flowers with yellow centers, or some combination of all of those. After receiving the loom, my thoughts changed to how I could weave something like that.

When I saw this particular pattern possibility it clicked. The first two scarves were kind of like practicing how to do it. First with yellow and black (not what I'd hoped it would be but Lyudmilla fell in love with it when she saw it, took it, and wears it every time she comes over now), then Lipstick reds, white and black (3 colors and I loved it, and Lyudmilla took it to give it to her cousin in the hospital to cheer her up) and then this - 4 colors (dark pink, light pink, yellow, green). Hear a happy sigh. I like it. And so does Lyudmilla! She saw it on the loom, immediately reached over and began to caress what was already woven, telling me these were her favorite colors. I told her I chose it all thinking of her, and that it was hers when it was finished IF she wanted it. She simply smiled her Mona Lisa smile. As is true of the other two I already mentioned, she likes the back better than the front. I find that interesting. I like both sides, but prefer the front. She wears the yellow and black one either way, tho, so I think her preference is slight. We'll see about this one.

I'm happy.

Now she would like to see one done in blue. With green. We'll see what I come up with next! The muse has to strike and stick around awhile. :-)

Bits n Pieces

The wind is howling again today. The very tall poplar just outside the office window is swaying back and forth, back and forth. The wind sounds as if it is roaring in anger at being forced to sweep between the 9 story building and our building once again. This continues to be the windiest January through April (now) that I've experienced here in Kherson. That doesn't mean it's never happened before, it just means it's not happened while we've been here.

After all the wind we had in Colorado from late last summer until the day we left at the end of December... There were times when I prayed that God would keep the aspens from falling on us in the middle of the night. The wind blows in Colorado all the time. I'm just not used to it blowing that hard for days and days on end.

We had rain here yesterday and last night, off and on, but in the early evening it cleared off enough for the the sun to shine brightly on the western faces of the buildings across the way from us. Usually they are just kind of gray 'over there' and I don't pay a whole lot of attention to them. Yesterday evening, however, as we were watching one of the original Star Trek Generations tv programs on the VCR, I glanced out the window and was entranced by what I saw. Such a different aspect of the same ol' same ol' view. I grabbed my camera and missed the end of the program, standing out on the balcony, looking here and there, seeing things I don't usually notice. Sometimes Kherson can be beautiful. I read an article this morning, and then watched a youtube video that came with it, about something that is happening in Malaysia. There is a temple there with many gold Buddha idols. While close to 100 people were recently waiting to meet with one of the head men at the temple, the idols began to move. Some moved their mouths (the YouTube video showed this clearly), others began to move hands/fingers, open their eyes or even to speak. Some emitted bright light.

I was skeptical, so I watched the first video and thought it was just a trick of moving the camera's angle to cause the idol to appear bright and then normal. I only watched a couple minutes of the second video where the idol's mouth began to move. The video is from a cell phone or something and is not good quality, plus other people keep getting in the way with their arms and hands holding up cameras as well. However, there is no doubt - the idols' mouth did begin to move, as if speaking. I watched a few seconds of it, and then refreshed the page to stop the rest of the download.

Several missionary biographies that I have read came to mind. Missionaries reporting that strange things like this did happen in areas where they went, and continued to happen until people became Believers in Jesus Christ. Their reports of the spiritual battles that went on are often poo-pooed by modern conservative Evangelical Americans especially. Yet - it happened by witness of those missionaries and it is still happening today.

The spiritual battle we are in is very real. Of that I have no doubt. None.

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I really need to get busy and finish my Sunday School lesson prep for tomorrow. I know the story from Luke 11 and I have a picture from the internet I'm going to use. The story Jesus told about prayer and borrowing bread from a neighbor late at night.

The book I am supposed to be using has me more than a bit dismayed, however. I do not like this book, but it's the one I was given to teach from. I actually ordered an English copy so that I could really understand what the author was trying to communicate. It's written for very young children.

This last paragraph from tomorrow's lesson illustrates what I do not like about it:
"God will give us all these things if we ask Him, because He has promised to give us whatever is good for us. But we must really, really want to be good." (emphasis in the original)

WHAT????? God will give us what he has promised to give us if we are really, really good??????? AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH. No way am I going to teach that! NO WAY. I don't care if it's at the end of the book and there are other chapters that talk about sin and repentence and Jesus. I will not teach that God will give us whatever we need if we are really, really good. Ei yi yi. I will teach what Jesus taught and not a thought more.
Luke 11:5-13 Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’
“Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This is part of what I'm trying to teach anyone in the Sunday School to watch out for. We need to be very, very careful what materials we use in addition to the Bible. Not all that goes by the name "Christian" is healthy and good. And sometimes heresy is mixed in when we least expect it.

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I'm thrilled to say that my tutor has taken 3 of my scarves. She wears the yellow and black one all the time and it looks really good on her, around her neck and under the v-front of her black coat. I am surprised that she wanted it, but it caughter her attention immediately and she wanted it. :) Yesterday she took 2 more, one of which I had thought seriously about keeping for myself - the Lipstick one. The other was the multi-colored one where I used a white warp and a single verigated bright colored yarn. She was taking them to her cousin who is in the hospital with pancreas problems. It doesn't sound good to me at all, like maybe this cousin has pancreatic cancer or something. Lyudmilla mentioned very, very briefly yesterday that she was concerned, but didn't go any farther than that. Her cousin saw Lyudmilla's yellow and black scarf and commented on how much she liked it. So, Lyudmilla wanted to take her one. I told her she could have which ever one she wanted, in fact, she can give them both away! She also saw the new one I have on the loom and fell in love with the colors. I told her I'd thought of her when I warped the loom and that she can have this one for herself, too, if it looks good when I'm finished. :) I'll post photos of it later. I have barely worked on it at all this week - too busy with that pillow and company!

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All for now. I need to put together a word game of some sort for my lesson!

This One Is Mine!

I finally finished the latest scarf. Of course it is too warm now to wear it, but that's ok. I like it. I like it a lot. I will keep this one for my own. The color name is "Lipstick". I kind of remember buying this yarn. The name turned me off, otherwise I probably would have bought at least one more skein. Isn't that silly? To not buy something I like because it has a name I don't like and no one would ever in a million years come up to me and say, "Wow! I love/hate your Lipstick color scarf!" I haven't bought lipstick in close to 40 years - I just don't wear any make-up at all. The more I worked with this scarf, though, and watched the pattern develop - oh my! I love the color red here - almost a magenta in it's lightest area, all the way to an almost black. The camera does not show the depth of color very well at all. It was visually pleasurable to watch the colors change as I wove. I warped the loom with alternating white and lipstick, making sure the last thread on each side was lipstick. Then I picked up every other white thread on the pickup stick to create the pattern (the last two threads on the right were lipstick). This caused the backside to have a long white stitch and what appears to be a long black stitch, but really is just 3 strands of weft yarn. The front - as much as I really do like the back, I love the front. It looks like jewels to me, maybe a scarf of rubys or something. :) I would love to make something else out of this color and pattern - like a full afghan, or at least a shawl.

Funny thing is - as much as I love creating these things, I never wear this stuff. I never wear scarves - unless it is well below zero F. Well below and I have to walk somewhere or the wind is howling and I have to be outside for awhile. I do NOT like stuff around my neck, never have - turtleneck sweaters, buttoned to the neck blouses, scarves, even necklaces. (Makes me wonder if at some point the cord was wrapped around my neck before I was born?) I do not even like winter scarves wrapped around my neck, or coats buttoned or zipped all the way up. Strangling sensations. Yuck. And shawls only get in the way. I've never understood how you can do anything while wearing a shawl, other than sit quietly and not move. They are always falling down off your shoulders and the ends get into everything you are trying to do. No, I do not understand shawls.

But I would make dozens for someone else! :-)
It's always the process with me, very seldom the finished project.

Warning Sign Scarf

Danger! Hazardous Material! Keep Out!

Whew! The farther I wove on this scarf, the more these kinds of thoughts started going through my mind. Ha ha! I probably will never do a scarf in these two colors again. Or at least, not in any kind of stripey pattern. :-)

Here is the finished scarf:
I'm not sure what's going on with the sides. I wove it with one shuttle rather than two, maybe that is what is causing the sides to curl inward. Or, it could be the pattern design it's self causes this to happen. Or it could be something else completely. Maybe it will wash and dry out. We'll see.

The color on the next two photos is terrible. The yellow is very bright, almost a flourescent yellow, not this dingy, ugly color. The last photo is closest to true color, but still not bright enough.

"Front" view:


Back pattern view:
On this particular scarf I almost like the back pattern better than the front. I like the fact that the front and back are not identical. Scarf can be worn to emphasize either side, depending on the person's mood at the time. :-)

Trying a new thing with the fringe. If I don't like the way it looks after it's washed and dried, I'll probably trim the very end and then unravel it to make it look fuzzy. We'll see.

Something New

I started a new scarf last night. I had hoped that this would look more like yellow stars on a black background. Unfortunately, the predonimate color is yellow. :) :) Next time I do this pattern, I'll make the predominate color a little less - bright? Less - shocking? haha What is new about this one is the pick-up stick I'm using. That stick gives me, in essence, another shed to use, which means I have more pattern options. Patterns that are made not with color differences, but with longer weft or warp floats. I like it. I started out this morning by filling two shuttles with black yarn. I wove for a few minutes and I wasn't getting the effect I was hoping for. I suddenly realized that the black yarn was creating the float/quasi star that I wanted, not the yellow. Fortunately I'd only woven about 10 lines of pattern. Unfortunately, I now have two shuttles worth of black yarn cut and rolled up into balls, instead of still in one long skein of yarn. Such is the learning curve. At least it is not ruined yarn! I'm not sure if I can buy yarn like this here.

I like using the stick. It is quite easy to manipulate and doesn't seem to slow my weaving speed at all. I like it! I'm looking forward to adding more sticks, or creating a non-rigid heddle thing (will have to look up the correct term for that!). Then I will be able to do even MORE patterns.

Probably a good thing I ordered almost $100 worth of yarn a couple weeks ago! Red Heart acrylic - not wool, just acrylic. Maybe someday when I have more confidence I'll try working with real wool yarn. I'll have to be picky about it, tho, because some wool yarns make me itch.

I love doing this! :-) :-)

Crankin' 'Em Out

Finished up another scarf this afternoon. This one went really fast. I also really like the colors - a lot. In fact, this particular scarf is screaming someone's name to me.
Every time I look at it, I hear "MELINDA!!! I belong to MELINDA!" So, after it's washed and dried, it's going to find a home over in XBK region. :-) I hope she likes it. Melinda is a purple lady. In fact, I think that poem, When I am old, I will wear purple" was written just for her, even before she becomes "old". She looks wonderful in these colors.

Warning - When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.


edited to add: Melinda is not like this. :-) hahahahahahahaha! But she does look good in purple. It's that beautiful white hair of hers.

FO - Another Scarf :-)

I finally finished scarf #4 yesterday.
I wondered how well the pattern was going to show on the finished scarf. I think it looks pretty good.
Here is a close up of how I finished the ends. You can't really see the "hem" in the photo. It's much more obvious in reality. It's an over/under stitch first with one color, then the next. Someday I'd like to decorate a whole scarf with it. A scarf that is going as a gift to someone. Or maybe a pillow. Or a shawl. Something plain weave with the embroidery stitch over it in a contrasting color. Dreaming. I am never quite satisfied with the ends. It's like they are a nuisance that needs to be figured out anew each time. :-) Scarf is about 76 inches long.

It's snowing again today. Just lazy flakes falling out of the sky, blowing hither and yon. Cold, too. Brrr. It hasn't been over 68*F here at my desk since we got back. The bedroom remains at around 71*F every night. Wish I could switch those two numbers!