From Across the Pond

Last week, my normal daily trip to the mailbox ended in a lovely surprise! Does this shawl look familiar to you? It is nothing short of spectacular! The pattern is beautifully symmetrical, the colour bright and refreshing, the yarn, merino/ angora blend, is soft and cuddly. My difficulty is that we don't have a table for me to spread it out properly and so I had to wait for the work in the kitchen was done and get the pictures while we had a patch of sunshine today! The kitchen seems to be the best room for natural light here now. Dorothy says the pattern is called Girasole and she did tell me who designed it but I can't seem to find the name right now. Girasole is by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed - a lovely pattern. Thanks DebbieB!

Here's a close up of what I like to call the sunflower centre. I think my flash has bleached out the colour unfortunately. The knitting is simply beautiful! I believe this is what Dorothy was knitting while her hubby was under going heart surgery. I'm not so sure I could have kept my mind on the pattern at a time like that! A most special birthday present....thank you.

We have had more progress in the kitchen and here's a picture of the wood surround on the centre island.

There is also a touch of the wood at the far end wall which we are calling the 'message centre'. Our phone and calendar will be set up there once the jack is installed. The far right of the island is to have some tall stools so it becomes a breakfast nook. So the search is on for the right look and colour for stools or tall chairs and so far, no luck. We're in no hurry though and the right ones will appear in due course.

I like the wine rack built in and my recipe book shelf directly above. Clearly I need more books! Around the corner and out of view in this picture is a large stainless steel rod set into the wood as a showcase spot for my handwoven towels! I'll set some up and take a snap or two for the next post.

So... what's left to do? Well the tile back splash needs to be installed and the window sill and new trim needs to be painted. The painter, Shawn, is coming tomorrow to paint all the additional trims and the new 'old-fashioned' paneling in the stairwell. I hope to show you the before and after pictures of that next post as well. Trust me, its a big change!  

I had hoped to have the silk warp off the Louet before now but our Easter weekend was taken up almost completely by this fellow:

Connor is a Lakeland Terrier, so 'from across the pond' as well. His sire was directly from the Lake District of England and Cruft's 1994 winning terrier. Well, Connor is 13 in May and has struggled with ulcerative bowel disease since he was diagnosed at age 2. He has taken a daily medicine combination to supress his auto-immune system since then and has had tried special diets since he's allergic to most proteins (beef, pork, fish and lamb) He has dined on canned rabbit (at $2.00 a can, 2 cans per day) for a time, vension and until recently he has eaten chicken, barley and raw veggies. Now this poor guy is down to rice and cottage cheese with a little chicken as the condition has become worse. He's lost weight and his tail isn't so perky anymore. The vet gave him some shots to settle his system and told us to consider euthanization as he's in pain. This past week and weekend we took turns staying up with him all night as he was so ill and we thought today would be his last, but he has somehow rallied again and seems more his usual self. We may have delayed the inevitable, but for now he's still our couch buddy at night and he plays hide the ball in my loom bench (whether I'm there or not.) Ever reach for a shuttle and get a soggy dog toy instead? Ya, it's great....

It seems my great expectations of getting a third scarf off the silk warp was a bit optimistic! So there will be samples after all... nice ones too with silk yak blend as weft. Not sure what is going onto Lilibet next as I have been a bit distracted. I received my draft and threading notes for a workshop with Alison Irwin called "A Good Deal More On Four" that I'm taking April 24th and 25th so I must warp up my Jane loom. The outline reads:

TITLE: A Good Deal More on Four

INSTRUCTOR: Alison Irwin

DESCRIPTION: Learn how to expand your 4-shaft loom's potential with a little pick-up! Alison has a passion for it and over two days she'll introduce you to three techniques: Doubleweave Pick-Up, Mock Satin Damask, and Finnweave. This is NOT a round robin class. The samplers you'll create of simple light/dark images will be woven on just one warp because you'll be working on just one loom -- yours. What makes each part of this project distinct is each technique's colour order and treadling sequence.

NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 8 minimum, 12 maximum.

LENGTH OF CLASS: Two days (9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with an hour break for lunch).

WHEN: Saturday/Sunday, April l 24/25, 2010.

Sounds just what I need right now to get me back on track! I'm looking forward to it...

So that's it for this time...