There's a Treat Inside!

Every weekend I volunteer at a local nature preserve. And every weekend I do a very un-environmental thing and pull through a local Mickey D's and get breakfast to eat on the way. It's always the same order, which includes a large cup of coffee with a package of sweetener in it. Now I've made this order from Milwaukee, WI to Fort Meyers, FL. Even in Bray, Ireland, they got it, despite the fact that the whole American "filtered coffee" thing confuses the entire EU no end. But for some reason, at the Sign of the Golden Arches in this neck of the woods, they struggle with the concept of "Open package of sweetener. Add contents to coffee. Give coffee to customer."

Saturday before Thanksgiving I went to the Golden Arches Steakhouse, made my usual order, including "Large Coffee with a pack of Splenda." The kid behind the counter, not old enough to shave, asked "You want the pack of Splenda in the coffee?" "Yes."

That question was really a warning shot across the bow. I was about 2/3 of the way through my coffee when I realized there was something in it. Visions of dead rodents dancing through my head, I pulled off the lid, and this is what I found.

There was a "treat" inside, alright!

Way Overdue

Finishes from more than a month ago. Nothing like being ahead of the power curve, eh?

I put a warp on my little table loom for the first time. It was just a small warp, 1 yard total, so I could test an overshot pattern. The shed is tiny, and changing the harnesses using top-mounted levers made my shoulder ache, so I doubt I could ever do a full-scale project on this loom. But for what I got it for, to do test pieces on, it worked quite well. I think Little Loom will be well-used as time goes on.

Not to worry - that garish orange is just my "trash yarn" for spreading the warp threads.

 

The pattern I was testing is an old overshot pattern called "The Cross of Tennessee." This particular version came from a copy of Original Miniature Patterns for Hand Weaving,  which tells me that the pattern gets its name because it's a cross and tab pattern that was a favorite of weavers in Tennessee. It really doesn't pay to put a lot of weight on these patterns' names. If I've learned anything from perusing Helen Bress' Coverlet Book (a massive 2 volume set that I figure can help weigh the house down if we ever get another hurricane) and my more recently acquired Brown Book of Weaving Drafts (Miller & Schillo), it's that these overshot weaving patterns' names are far less consistent than even quilt pattern names, which certainly win no awards for standardization. Perhaps it's because they've been around a lot longer, or because individual weavers can vary them so much by their choice of threads and treadling, or by moving the blocks around. But here is a photo of my test swatch of "Cross."

"Cross of Tennessee" in 10/2 off-white warp, 5/2(?) purple weft.

 Among other things I learned that a repeat of 56 threads sounds intimidating, but is quite do-able if you just take your time with it. I'm planning to weave a table runner in this pattern with the colors below - light tan for the warp, dark brown for the weft. It will be 5 pattern repeats across with  twill borders. The warp is wound and chained, so now I'm in for a long round of threading. I am not looking forward to it. While I understand there are weavers whose favorite part of the process is dressing the loom. Not only am I not in their number, I believe the right therapy would do wonders for them.

3/5 perle cotton dark brown for the weft, 10/2 perle cotton light tan for the warp.

In other realms, I finished the "Easy Lace Scarf." It looked great when it came off the needles. However, I read in the Yarn Harlot's blog that you absolutely should block all your knitted goods. Even though I doubted it needed it, I blocked the thing. Turned out it was a Very Good Idea. The scarf came out looking even better than before. The yarn is King Cole superwash. Looking at the label, I can't tell if the entire line or just the colorway is called "ZigZag." It took me a while to find a pattern for this yarn where the colors didn't pool, but once I did, it was off to the races! This was a great traveling knit; it took about 3 repeats to have it memorized. It was just the ticket for long waits in the doctors' offices.

Completed "Easy Lace Scarf."

And the Blue Heron Yarn has found a project.

This is the current state of the Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief, a Ravelry download. I'm having to vary the pattern a bit because the yarn is about half the weight called for, but I was looking for something that would show off the variegation of the yarn. This is succeeding nicely. The photo does not show that there is a silver metallic thread running through it that adds a great sparkle. I was concerned about what it would feel like when it knitted up, but it turns out the whole thing is surprisingly soft. You just have to love it when things break your way.

Prickly pear cactus - and no, this was not photo-shopped in any way.

Thanks for stopping by and remember - follow your heart and the rest will follow, right? 

Of course right!

Endings and Beginnings

The loom is bare, the Easily Enjoyable Lace Scarf will be done any time I decide to cast off, and the end of the Pomegranate Sampler is in sight, so it is time to figure out - what next? The question is especially important as the orange trees are in bloom, and that lovely fragrance wafting through even closed doors means that the temperate temperatures will soon be over and the time of hunkering inside becoming one with the air conditioning will soon be upon us.

All that remains of the last of the "Getting Things Done" stitchery projects.

The options are many, but I've settled on a few. I've spent considerable time reading up on and studying an overshot pattern called Cross of Tennessee. It's a venerable old pattern, and attractive to me not the least because I am a native of the Volunteer State. I've never attempted this one before, so I've wound a 1 yard warp and put it on my little table loom - which, like this pattern, I've never tried before. So all of this is going to be a learning experience.

The little loom warped, waste yarn going in, just a few more shots before I can start finding out if this is going to work.

As far as stitchery goes, I'm planning to start no fewer than 3 pieces. There is a method to my madness - I'm aiming to have something reasonably easy, something moderately challenging but not crazy-making, and something that might have me tearing my hair out.

The easy pattern is one I've had for years, the Sarah Emerson Sampler by Gloria & Pat. I've had the linen and 6 skeins of dark blue DMC for years; this one really should have been on last year's "Getting Things Done List." It has several different kinds of stitches, but I've done them all before. That coupled with the single color has convinced me that it should be reasonably easy.

  For the "moderately difficult" piece, I saved my pennies and was finally able to order the DVD of 10 years' worth of the Sampler and Antique Quarterly. It has been a veritable feast and has kept me occupied for hours as I've perused articles and studied the patterns. With such a bounty, you hardly know where to begin, but I've selected a modest pattern from 2003 to try first, the "Hearts and Flowers Spring Sampler."  The overdyed threads and fabric may well arrive today, and I cannot wait. I haven't worked much with overdyed thread, and several of the stitches will be new, so it lands in the "moderate" category. But it's small, should work up to about 3" x 7 1/5, so it shouldn't make me crazy, and the variety of stitches and happy pink dogwood in the center were just too good to pass up.

The final one will be mostly cross stitch, but it's one I've designed myself, incorporating antique motifs and a wisecrack my Grandfather made, "If everybody liked the same thing, there would be a dreadful shortage of kumquats." I think I have done a good job of designing it, and thanks to Design Seed, I think I've made good color choices, but I won't really know what's going to happen until I start stitching. If it's like my "Crows" sampler, there will be much pulling out and reworking of stitches, and even a certain amount of drama before I'm happy. (In fact, I'm more than half planning to do a complete re-design of the Crows sampler one fine day.) I've a feeling I'm going to need to go back and forth between the professionally designed ones as I sort out all the problems I've made for myself on the original one!

Such a bad case of "almost but not quite..."

And finally, I'm tackling some more knitting. I have a beautiful skein of Blue Heron Yarn, Deep Water.  I've found a pattern on Raverly, The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief, that I think will show the yarn off nicely but be simple enough that I'll have a chance of actually completing it.

Pretty colors - and sparkles too!

And that's how I plan to stay off the streets and out of the pool halls, for a while at least.

As in honor of the day, I'll leave you with my favorite Irish "blessing," which is probably as contrived as green beer, but I get a kick out of it.

"May those that love us, love us.

And those that don't love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if he can't turn their hearts,

May he turn their ankles,

So that we'll know them by their limping."

And in the meantime....

Finishes, Major and Minor

The Valley Forge Dogwood scarf is finally off the loom, and I was mighty pleased with the results if I do say so myself. 

This is the pattern made me want to weave. Like the dogwood blossom it's named for, I cannot get enough.

Pick whichever ones makes you happy, and that's the "right" side.

This shot shows the two ends. I'm rather proud that the circles are fairly close in size, which means I was keeping my beat pretty even throughout the project. Pretty good, considering how long the thing was on the loom!

For those that keep track of these things, the piece is 5" wide x 6' long.The warp and tabby are 2/10 cotton, and the weft a lace weight merino yarn that I wound tripled. It's warped and woven 24 threads to the inch, and the pattern comes from the "Overshot Novelties" section of Marguerite Davidson's Handweaver's Pattern Book.

Got it into the mail and off to the biggest big sister just in time for Christmas.

The minor finish was finally framing a piece I've had for several years. Michael Everett (http://michaeleverettstudios.com/) is a Florida artist who does wonderful pencil drawings of Florida landscapes. I bought this print from him at a local art show. I've been wanting to frame it, but for some reason they don't seem to make the sectional pewter frames anymore; they've been on back order at several major suppliers for years now. So I got a black frame on sale and spray-painted it.

 It's still not the optimal frame for this piece - I miss having my professional framing buddy Jenn  from Jacksonville handy! - but at least I can get it on the wall.

And in the spirit of New Year's Eve, I leave you with this little ditty by Odgen Nash...

Tonight’s December thirty-first,
Something is about to burst.
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time bomb in the hall.
Hark, it's midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year!

 

Frog is a Verb, Not a Noun

NOT the kind of frog I'm talking about.

I'm not sure where the term "frogging" came from, but for those who don't know what it means, it's when you pull a knitting project completely apart, wind the yarn back up and either completely give up or start over again. I'm told it comes from saying "rip-it, rip-it, rip-it" as you pull your work apart. There's been so much frogging at my house, you'd think we lived in a swamp.

I went back to work on the Wool Peddler's Shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle. First I had to do some un-knitting and re-knitting to get the stitch count right. But more trouble lay ahead. When I had started the project, I kntted American, not Continental Style. And I knit tight. So tight, that when I tried to purl the knits and knit the purls to begin the lace section, I could not get the needles into the stitches. So "rip-it, rip-it, rip-it" and start over again Continental style. Unfortunately, when I reached the point where the lace begins, something went very wrong very soon. I don't think third time is going to be the charm with this, so I'm going to take it to my LYS after the holidays and hope that I can just un-knit back to where all was well and get myself sorted out. I hope.

Off I went to a third project, the Lacy Prairie Shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle. And it just would not work. It's like I had a mental block about this thing. It's not that hard a pattern, but I was knitting it and ripping it out so much, I felt like I was in a time warp. I finally decided that the problem is that I've already one triangular shawl, the Garter Stitch Prairie Shawl from the same book in the exact same yarn, Cascades 220 Heather. I used it to teach myself garter stitch. So why am I making another triangular shawl in the same yarn from that book? So it is officially frogged. I bought all the yarn Oberle called for in her pattern, but stopped it well before the number of stitches called for - the thing was getting quite large, and I wanted a shawl, not a blanket! So I've plenty of yarn for another project. Which will not be another triangular shawl.

When you have this...

You don't really need this.

I went back to the Seriously Simply Shawl that I had started at a class a while back. No matter how I knit and un-knit, it just would not work. So I studied on the thing, and realized I had made a serious error fairly early on in the class. Nothing for it but to frog it. I re-started it several times, realized the pattern was actually asymmetrical, decided I didn't like it, and, well, "rip it, rip it. rip it."  It is well and truly frogged.

Back to the stash, until inspiration strikes.

  But all has not been lost. I got a ball of King Cole ZigZag superwash sock yarn off the sale rack a while back. It looked bright and fun, but proved to be very frustrating. I tried various patterns, but the colors pooled terribly and the projects were frogged. I finally tried the Easily Enjoyable Lace Scarf by Polly Macc, and it was just what the doctor ordered. The color variegation couldn't be falling more nicely, the pattern took about 3 repeats to memorize, and it has become the perfect waiting room/doctor's office project. I'd hoped to have it ready for Christmas. It's not quite there yet, but not to worry. We have a tradition in our family. We promise projects for Christmas, but we never specify which one!

This piece is not going to go bounding off the lily pad!

Inch by Inch, Row by Row

That is how the garden grows, and that's how things are progressing here.

The Valley Forge Dogwood scarf progresses steadily and has passed the half-way mark. Had an interesting set back. I was happily weaving away, then realized things just looked off. Not unattractive, just wrong. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to take a picture of what I was getting, but it was late and I was plunged deep into that "What is wrong and what do I do about it?!" panic mode. I finally figured out that my pattern, which is from the Margaret Atwood book, has the treadling pattern written right to left, and my treadles are tied up left to right. I had been "stomping as writ," that is, treadling right to left. And yes, it was very late when this was happening, I should have been in bed hours before. Some artist's tape and a sharpie to remind me of my treadle order has solved the problem. I could re-tie my treadles, but not only would crawling around under that loom be physically painful, but I'm afraid I could mess up my loom for life because of the way the Wolf Pup's harnesses are hooked up to the treadles. The artist's tape solution is much easier.

Ana one, ana two, ana t'ree....

Once this scarf reaches length, if I've some warp left (The odds are good, I give myself lots of room on warps) I may re-treadle the "error" just for my records. The pattern I was getting was not unattractive, it was just not the Dogwood. But that's the fun of overshot. It's not any thing, it's just what it is. Like the Vulcan IDIC - Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations. (Gee, Star Trek and hand weaving; I wonder if anybody's ever gotten them in the same sentence before?)

When I took Art History in college, I annoyed the instructor when he announced that "op art" was a completely new was of dealing with color and shape and I asked if he'd ever looked at an overshot coverlet. He was not pleased when I brought him pictures and could show him that women in the hills and hollers of Tennessee and North Carolina were getting "op art" effects on their looms 100 years before Andy Warhol and his crowd came up with it. A quick browse through the 'net let me find this picture of a Double Bow Knot piece, probably woven early in the 20th century, though the pattern is much older. I couldn't find what I was looking for, a picture of a older coverlet where the weaver had used various colors in her warp and weft. The book Textile Arts from Southern Appalachia: the Quiet Work of Women has some marvelous examples of coverlets woven in the late 1800s and early 1900s that show a skill with pattern and color that would make a modern artist weep with envy if they would look at them. (A personal rant I will spare you because as someone who does "craft and "fine art" and  "illustration" I know I can far too easily start frothing at the mouth on the subject. Suffice it to say that it really annoys me that somebody can go on line, print out a bunch of black and white images, cut them into strips, paste the strips onto squares of foam core, piece the squares into a kimono shape with wire loops, hang them on a wire, enter them into a Fine Arts show and win a prize, while I can hand-spin silk, dye it, hand-weave the fabric, sew a kimono and not be able to even bring it into the same room as the foam core and glued-up printer paper because it is "craft." Grrrrrrrrr.....)

From HistoricWeaving.com, a piece that shows what my art professor assured me were uniquely 20th Century approaches to the use of color and form for "vibrational optical effect." Yeah, right buddy. 

I decided to re-visit Wendy Johnson's Seriously Simple Shawl that I started at a knitting class at my LYS in an attempt to learn to knit lace and read charts. Step One: figure out where you left off. First the stitch count was off. So I did a stitch-by-stitch reading and realized nothing on the chart corresponded with what I had on my needles. I finally figured out that while in class I had missed the center stitches, and had been doing so for  several inches. Nothing to do but start over again. Which meant going to You Tube to figure out how to do a tab start. So I started again. And promptly got into trouble again. And again. Sometimes the only thing keeps me sane is my conviction that you learn more about an art or craft when things go badly than than when things go well because it makes you really dig into how it all actually works. But then, there's also wisdom in the quote "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If you can't do it then, you may as well give up, there's no point being a damned fool about it." So that is now a ball of yarn and set aside for the time being

"Seriously Simple" is in for a serious wait.

So I went back to another start, the Lacy Prairie Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawl book. Her Simple Garter Stitch Prairie Shawl was the first major project I ever did - though I suspect it's about half the size it's supposed to be. When it got big enough I could almost sit on it - and I am not a short woman - I decided it was time to call it a day. (I really like the patterns in this book, but now that I've been working them, they seem awfully big to me, some of them nearly blanket-size. Has anybody else noticed this?) I still had about half the yarn I'd bought for the project left,  Cascade Heathers, a beautiful flecked green that reminds me of the rhododendron and mountain laurel on the Blue Ridge, so I decided to tackle the other prairie shawl.  When I took a closer look at what I'd done, I decided I was not happy with the lace, it looked lumpy to me. So true to form I've taken it apart and am started it on larger needles. I think my guess was right; I am happier with how it's coming together. That at the moment, I can only knit even the simplest lace by myself in complete silence with no distractions. It takes my complete concentration, even a cat going by is enough to mess me up!

Teah, the Queen-cat, plotting her next distraction

Ever onward....

The Little Dresser

Okay. I used to have a roll top desk. It was a lovely thing - probably the nicest piece of furniture in the house. But it was also a very large thing and I have to think back more than a decade to remember the last time I actually sat down at it and used it like, well, a desk. Mostly it held the bills and accumulated whatever miscellaneous pieces of paper that wandered in the door. So I've sold the thing to somebody who has coveted it for years and will actually use as a desk.. So to find a home for the various bits and pieces that were living in the desk, I bought myself a small dresser and refinished it.

The first step was actually the hardest. My usual thrift stores came up completely dry, then the second and third tier stores let me down. I even looked at some new ones. They wanted $70 and $110 for laminated chip-board junk I could twist with my bare hands. But the last store I stopped at, with an attitude more of "dotting the I's and crossing the T's" than any real hope, had just what I wanted - a small, simple wooden dresser. It had taken some hit points over the years, but it was sturdy and the price was right - $30.

I was sanding the first drawer when I realized I needed to get a picture!

I cleaned it up, and sanded it down.

I liked the handles, but one was missing, so all of them had to go.

I put 2 coats of MinWax Mission Oak PolyShades on it and added simple porcelain handles. It came out darker than I had really wanted, but it fits neatly in the home office. So I am a happy girl.

Pretty good for a first try in refinishing!

Heaven only knows what trouble this success is going to inspire me to get into!