Project Updates…

First, I have to say that this was the coolest birthday I’ve ever had.  As much as I grumble at social networking sites, I have to say, it was a blast putting my feet up on my desk, knitting a tank top, and watching all the birthday wishes pop up between Facebook and my blog.  It was like being at your own party and doing none of the work.

Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to wish me a Happy Birthday, both on Facebook and on my blog,  it really meant a lot to me, and I appreciated each and every message.  Know that they were read and treasured.

I’ve left a few threads hanging so to speak, and I need to tidy up loose ends before I head out on the road again.

First, my dishtowels.  I finished them, six in all, I’ll swap three at the guild exchange, and keep three for myself.  For all my griping about not ever having woven a dishtowel in my lengthy career as a weaver, I sort of enjoyed the exercise and am pretty proud of the way they turned out.  I’ll let you know what I get back in return when I return from Oregon and the ANWG conference next week.  Brianna will have to exchange the towels for me since I can’t make the guild meeting.

Speaking of Brianna, this is the time when I smile and say,” shoulda not left this ’till the last minute, just saying…”.  She would then roll her eyes and exclaim, “MOTH-ER…”  Truth is, she did wait until the last minute, the towels are due in one week, she was threaded by last week, had to deal with some crossed threads, and then got sidetracked by a major high school event she got sucked into at the last minute taking up every night last week into the weekend.  Monday morning she woke up really sick.  She has been out of school for three days, and only today crawled out of bed to fix the cross threads and fix the tie-up (you can’t weave plain weave on a five hundred pound loom lifting six of eight shafts when the treadles are all the way on the left of the 45″ loom).  I explained how to  put the plain weave treadles (which is 95% of the towel) in the middle to get the best leverage of the treadle.  After a lot of fiddling, she was finally weaving.

OMG!  These are truly adorable, and I’m sooooo disappointed I won’t have one for me.  She only put on enough warp for five towels, forgetting she has to weave 15 samples.  So there will only be four towels, three get traded and I get none…  🙁  The challenge here was to use complementary colors, she loved purple, so the border thread had to be yellow, and of course the sheep are black and white. )

In case you want to weave these towels yourself (which I may have to do…) they are from Best of Handwoven Top Ten Towels on Eight Shafts.  It is an eBook which in itself is pretty much fun.

And my coat/dress, still without a name, is chugging along.  It is 85 degrees in the studio today and hard to touch wool.  I’m sweating all over my keyboard.  Regardless, I’m going to have to put this project on hold for a bit, since I spent the day prepping and packing, I teach all day tomorrow at an elementary school in Morris County, my yearly appearance, where I talk about fiber to all the second grade classes.  I adore these kids, and it is so much fun to share what I do with them.  So I had to pack a loom, a spinning wheel, wash some fleece, etc.  Friday I have to take care of all the bills, balance checkbooks, and take care of the stack of paperwork on my desk, and Saturday I pack.  I’ll try to fit in a few hours on the unnamed coat/dress before I leave Sunday for Oregon and the ANWG conference.

Meanwhile, here are the photos I have so far, this is a pretty in your face piece, should look great on a runway, and I have to say one of the most challenging things I’ve ever sewn.  The underarm gusset was laborious but came out fantastic, and I like the juxtaposition of the grainlines from the front/back to the side insets.  Since they are one with the sleeve, the stripes had to be going in the opposite direction.  It is all coming out swimmingly well, and it fits like a glove.  So far…  The front panels/collar section still have to be added, and some kind of button closure, it is hidden on the pattern but I’m thinking I might want it to show.

Stay tuned…