Thankful 🍁

I had some running around to do on Saturday.  One was a stop at my bank downtown and I was surprised by these lovelies!   Sugar maples in all their glory.... on Alder Street. I stopped and took a quick snap or three with my cell phone. A gentleman also going to the bank machine said that its much like the blossoms in spring..... a few brief and glorious days of colour.

My timing was perfect everywhere I went. As you can see above, no traffic and any parking spot I liked.   Same thing at the grocery store.... "you should have seen it here two hours ago" said one tired looking staff member.   I breezed around the store and there was no line up at the cashier.  I even got a flu shot with no waiting.     

🍁  We have very much to be thankful for.   🍁   

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving  and we're foregoing turkey this year and doing a leg of lamb instead. All the prep work is done.   Its just hubby and I as usual, and this year,  that's okay with us as Hub isn't feeling too well.    

He was out a couple of days ago and took these pictures down by the waterfront here in Campbell River where we have miles and miles of beaches like this. You can pull over and go sit on a log and watch the water for wildlife and shipping traffic.

The mountains are over on the mainland and as you can see, there are more than a few extinct volcanic cones over there! Well, we hope they are....

Meanwhile, here at home, this is the ornamental cherry tree in the front yard and our little 'burning bush' on the side of the driveway

The chestnut has gone golden and starting to shed leaves.....

On the weaving front:  I have just completed 10 yards of towels and completed finishing, pressing and snapping the  'beauty shot' pictures.  So a post on them is coming very soon.   Towels are fun but they are a lot of work and take time, especially when you are hand sewing hems !   The spring loom is waiting to be reloaded and I think I will shift my attention to the Megado  for weaving time.       Enjoy the sunshine while you can.....   🍂🌞 🍁

Cabbage Rose

Some time ago, and most likely last spring, I was browsing on Etsy and I saw this painted warp by Carr Park Artisans and fell in love. I liked the softness of the colours, the gentle merging of greens, then into cream, then peach and pinks. 

Some warps out there on the internet are sharp with jarring colours.  Now I like bright jewel tone colours but sometimes they can lack finesse.    Some add in some streaky black and it ends up like looking like something from a Killer Zombie movie.

But this appealed to a softer side of me and next thing I knew, it was paid for and being shipped!   200 ends of  8/2 tencel.... and 5 yards long.   It was going to mean two shorter scarves and no samples, plus shorter fringes.

It reminded me of these soft peonies and greenery gifted to me earlier this year.   The painted warp's name is Cabbage Rose and it fits well. 

So I went looking for a nice draft to use and one that would have the same tie up as my last project so to save some time and energy.    I found the Maltese Cross, or # 168 in Carol Strickler's  Weavers Book of 8 Shaft Patterns and I played with the draft until I got this:

Its difficult to convey a painted warp so I just used a generic soft pink for the 200 ends in the middle and added olive green, shale grey and lemon grass 8/2 solid dyed tencel for the edges.   I made some changes to the border threading. You can also see my starting border, and reversing that border treadling would be used at the end of the scarf.

It seems some newer weavers these days are not framing their work or have not been taught to do this and they simply weave the draft 'as-is' and while that's okay... it looks like something is missing to me.    Playing with a weaving program (any of them!) can go a long way to trying things like this out.   Watch your float lengths!  Be sure to check the back view as well.

I also used a soft grey colour as the weft above as I wanted to see details clearly. I knew my first colour choice as weft would be olive and that would obscure my view of the edges.

My second scarf? I went with a rich dark purple called amethyst as it worked well with all the colours.

The weaving went well and soon I was twisting the fringes, or 'twizzling' as my dear friend Wayne would say.  Washed, pressed and trimmed up all went as per usual but then they sat and waited out one of the first bad weather fronts of the fall to roll through. Then it seemed every sunny day we got, we had business away from home and the rain settled back in again. So finally I just turned on every light in the studio and got the camera out to see what I could get.

This scarf is shorter at 58 inches in length and I call it Lilypad.  The colour shifts in behind the pattern are soft and subtle and add to the iridescent effect.

Then this moody little number is called Twilight . Its longer at 69 inches.  I thought of summer sunsets on the back pond behind our house, complete with frogs, fish and dragonflies.

The soft green hues of 'cabbage' definitely come through the amethyst !

I have ordered another cabbage rose warp, much wider and longer this time and I think Christine will be doing several of them in short order due to demand.  Send her a note as to your desired length. I found 5 yards a tad bit short for two scarves, and it was too long and skinny for a shawl.


Every pond needs a faerie princess right?  Here's my 4 year old grand daughter Madison who is now kicking butt at her beginner Brazilian jujitsu classes (along side her older brother Ethan).    She got her very first stripe on her belt.

New Toys

Last December I saw a post on my Ravelry group "Warped Weavers" about a new miniature electric spinning wheel that was part of a kick starter program.  Curiosity took me to the link dreamingrobots.com  and I watched a short video on the little purple wheel featuring its designer Maurice.

Most e-spinners are quite spendy and beyond my reach. Okay, if I could try one and then decide it might not be!  Motivation is everything isn't it?

As word of mouth spread, they quickly had their four thousand units, then five thousand units all on preorder.   As more were ordered, then more do-dads could be added based on the monies being raised.

A basic electric eel wheel came with three bobbins and a choice of purple, or black and cream. I ordered the purple "deluxe" which meant it came with 7 bobbins, orifice hook, orifice reducer, USB cord, and wall plug.

Roll the clock ahead to last week, and it finally arrived! I had been watching many others receiving their units and posting them to the Facebook group or the Electric Eel Nano group at Ravelry.  Lots of videos posted, hints and tips  and yes, some complaints, but many very happy people too.

So here's my new gadget.... and it worked right out of the box.  Speaking of the box: I must say this is my one pet peeve as it came damaged.  It is far too light a grade of cardboard for sending a delicate little wheel like this through the postal service, with just a small sheet of bubble wrap around it.  Ultimately, all was okay but here's the box before opening:

Some parts were loose, some were in a small plastic bag and thankfully all were present and unbroken. 

This e-spinner is very small and light. It can be used with a cord plugged into the wall, or a USB cord to your computer or phone.  I bought one of the recommended power packs on Amazon:

TalentCell Rechargeable 12V 3000mAh Lithium ion Battery Pack for LED Strip, CCTV Camera and More, DC 12V/5V USB Dual Output External Battery Power Bank with Charger, Black

You can see it in the photo above and its about the size of a pack of playing cards.  I'm totally free now to spin wherever  and the power pack lasts for hours and hours. Incidently, it can be used to recharge your phone, Kindle, or be a back up power for your computer.  Hub like the fact it can power his telescope and might borrow it. It takes 6 hours to get a full recharge, so basically overnight.

If you buy an Electric Eel Wheel  yourself and want to use an external power pack, be sure to read their recommendations as its possible to burn the motor out if you use the wrong device.  (Yes, they sell new replacement motors).

I plan to either get some rubber suction cup feet for the wheel or have it mounted on a wood base, or ?   Right now I use a corner of the power pack against the back corner to weigh it down. Tensioning is done with a stretchy elastic cord and I must say it works fine, but I have seen some wheels with home made scotch tensions after they have found parts at the local hardware store to make one.   Non skid matting or kitchen silicone hot pads are popular underneath as well.

There are two very small magnets set into the shell and they hold the little orifice hook in place so it doesn't disappear. I lift one end of the hook and tuck my end of the fleece / yarn under the hook to hold it.  Nifty!

So if this is a portable wheel and its meant to travel, then it better have a case. I have seen makeup bags, travel cases,  and even old 1950's style overnight bags used.  One thing they all had in common was they were either hard shell case or well padded so to protect the wheel against bumps.    So I went looking around at various on-line retailers and finally settled on this and its being made up for me:

It will hold the wheel, spare parts and bobbins, and lots of fibre to spin.   As for spinning: what you see on the bobbin currently is a fine silk merino blend by Louet.  I think this wheel would be ideal for spinning uber fine silk and other fine exotic blends. 

Oh..... I am weaving still. Its not all about the new toy in the house!    

The weather here has taken a decided cooler note at nights and there are a few leaves turning on the chestnut tree already so autumn is here.  I'll close for now with a picture or three of our summer baskets.

Bohemian Gypsy

I had seen many woven versions of # 728, from  Carol Strickler's " A Weavers's Book of 8- Shaft Patterns".  It went onto the 'to-do' list, someday.   It seemed the perfect combination of pattern and potential  exploration of colour a weaver could find.  Endless possibilities!

I planned for and wound a 8 yard warp of 8/2 unmercerised cotton on my warping mill and that was a major commitment in itself.  So many cones of yarns, tracking the colour order..... and it took a few afternoons. It was also great for using up small part cones and stash bust as well.    Then it hung around for a couple of months while other projects jumped to the head of the line up as my interests changed.

As a warp just hanging there, it somehow wasn't as appealing. Sort of a congregation of dark broody colours. I had used three shades of purples, a magenta, medium blue and a cinnamon with a dash of off white as the glue between stripe groupings.   Along with the cones of warp yarns I had tucked in a cone of bright raspberry pink as a potential weft yarn..... and that is what saved the day.

I got it wound on along with my trusty helper, Bruce, and soon I was threading away.   Tricky threading to keep track off, plus watching for the colour changes to happen in the right spots! It seems I had the bright idea of making some changes in colours while winding the warp and the next day forgot I had done it. So long story short, I had to flip out 4 ends and hang 4 of the new and improved colours. It meant I had 6 weighted film canisters hanging off the back to adjust.    Reminder to self: make notes and read them!

So, the bright pink raspberry apparently did the trick and transformed this warp into something very special.   Its a party for the eyes!  

I end up with 6 towels (finished dimensions 20" x 29"). Three in the raspberry, one woven with the darkest purple in the warp, one used the magenta from the warp and another I used a soft lime green.  It sort of fades away next to the brighter ones, but when viewed alone and by itself, has a charm all its own.

Soft lime weft:

Magenta weft:

Raspberry weft:

Dark purple weft

... and a bonus table runner with short fringe!

About the time I was hand sewing the hems on the towels, I found this skirt being advertised for sale on FaceBook as 'Bohemian Gypsy".    Well, how about that?   My little kitchen towels are a fashion trend.

Here's my "Patron of the Arts" actually weaving!  Its taken me 23 years to get him to try throwing a shuttle and he did very well. "Over and under" the floating selvedges,  and marching along the treadles.  So one of the towels had a small section he wove and I left it in.  It was simply perfect, in all ways...   💖

A Tiny Perfect World

Sanne of  Mölnbo, Sweden found this sweet little find at a flea market and snapped it up.  Some person spent many hours creating this little Vavstuga. Click to enlarge and see the special world and be sure to count the cats!

Don't you wish you could join them? You get the impression you'd be welcome!