2016: A Year in Review

🍷🍸  Happy News Years to You all !  🎉🎈

I hope there's plenty of good health, happiness and weaving adventures ahead in 2017 for you and me!  So whether you follow the trend to show what's on the looms on this day or, like me, like to review the past year to see what you actually accomplished, here are my annual offerings.   It won't be as long as some past years as much of my energy was given over to more domestic activities. Hey, that's Life!

So here's what is on my Spring loom as of today, January1st, 2017. The Tissart is empty and the Megado is waiting to be tied to the front beam so no action there (yet)

Table runners with 10/2 ivory cotton warp, sett 28 epi, and 10/2 weft in a dove grey. 12 shaft twill 

January 2016  

The year started with me still dealing with the after effects of my knee replacement.  I was just into the first three months of what my surgeon assured me was a full twelve month healing journey.   So rest when it was tired, ice packs and exercise.   Nothing better than weaving huh?

So be sure to click on the various live links to take you back to that particular project post for details on draft, sett and such.

I learned how to create a colour gradation in Fiberworks and wove these two variations on the same threading:

Magenta Ombre

We also headed over to Vancouver to see the grand kids and spent a few days away in what we like to call "The Big Smoke".   The traffic can be intense over there so Hub is always happy when we board the ferry for home.

Ethan and Madison last May 8th

February 2016

Bruce learned new tricks to help me warp up looms. What a guy!  He helps me every time I ask and  now even has his own warping tricks.  I'll be featuring his own post on his hobby later in January.

I loved the colour gradation thing so much, I did it again but this time in blues.

Moody Blues

March 2016

I became the keeper of all the family's pictures after my father died in July 2015.  I spent much time this year scanning photos and digitizing them to share with siblings and cousins.  Its rather time consuming but in a good way!

I was also weaving too and wove a pair of these eye catching turned twill scarves:

sometimes less is more!

April 2016


I really enjoyed weaving the turned twill scarves so much that I decided to do another pair, but this time change the flavour of the colours from muted to brighter!

...and sometimes More is better!

Next up was some lovely grape silk and a classic drall weave. A pair of scarves that were quite different than all said and done:

A Class Act

May 2016

... and the second one appeared in May...

On the Wing

We made a decision to list the house for sale and we began a clean up of home and property.... time consuming but necessary!    We also went over to Vancouver for my son's 40th birthday and see the grand kids.   Busy month!

Madison in her pretty pink party dress

June 2016

Another busy month with company coming from Michigan and later Denver to visit. We did trips around on the Island to Cathedral Grove and Coombs to see the Goats on the Roof.

I started some snowflake twill scarves:

Weaving Zen

The house was finally listed and we had 22 viewings in 16 days!  Most of the month was given over to cleaning and "living lightly" in our home.

Thankfully having a warp on the loom was great as I could just sit and weave in snippets of time.  The second snowflake was finally ready....

Summer Snow

July 2016

The sale of our home was complete and we got busy traveling up and down the Island looking for a new home. This became our daily job and evenings were spent cruising the Realty pages online for the next day's showings.

First anniversaries arrived of the loss of loved ones and gave us pause. I could hear Gudrun say "go for it", so we kept driving up island daily to find the right house!

Weaving?  Yes there was some going on. I started this eight shaft twill and it was a sanity saver.  (I think)  😜    What else? More scarves.... there seems to be a trend for 2016.  Are you keeping count?

A Good Idea

August 2016

Okay, we bought a house at last, and then the serious work of downsizing and getting ready to move commenced.  The warp for two scarves on the spring loom were something fun to do when I needed a break from all the moving stuff.  It seriously reinforced the policy for me of "No Naked Looms"

We gifted a scarf to our lovely realtor Karen for amazing efforts on our behalf.   She helped us find our dream home!

The weather was warm and so was the activity around the old house and property.  I still managed to complete weaving these two lovelies:

High Days of Summer

September 2016

Packing was well under way of our more personal items. I would say this time period was more about sorting and reducing. Sold off furniture we knew had no place to go in the new house  and there were several trips to the landfill and recyclers. We also made some new purchases with the new place in mind.  In the studio it became a race to weave off warps and then dismantle looms to a suitable size for the movers.

October 2016

Moving day arrives and I seem to be more of a bystander while others worked to do what we had contracted them to do.  Move the boxes and furniture or clean the empty house. All the utilities had been notified, change of addresses sent out.   By this time, I was also in a world beyond tired and so ready for all this to be over!

November 2016

This was a blurred month of day after day unpacking, and figuring out where to put stuff, all while the wind howled and torrential rains fell.  We had apparently moved at just the right time ahead of the nastier weather!

We also found a new family doctor, located where all the grocery stores are and took a few days off here and there when the sun came out.  We also started to realize that Christmas was fast approaching!

I worked on the studio and kept busy rebuilding looms. I also did the final finishing on the last projects off the looms from before the move.

December 2016

So the final two scarves for the year were complete. Same threading as the previous two but different treadlings for a totally different look.

Variations on a Theme

So I don't know if you have been keeping a mental tally but for 2016, but I wove sixteen scarves!  Not bad for a year in which we lost a great deal of time to our housing adventures.   As a bonus, there were also two towels woven off the Megado loom before the move too which were finally hand hemmed up.

16 shaft fancy twill

So what's head in 2017?  Well life feels much more stable now and so I hope to weave more of a variety this year.  My Christmas gift to myself was an order of 10/2 mercerized cotton.  I have plans! 

There's the ANWG conference in late June / early July in Victoria, BC which I would like to attend, even if just to meet up with friends and visit the vendor area.  We have good friends coming to see us from Michigan again this year, and my daughter and SIL will come from Denver in the late summer or fall. 

We also plan to visit and see our grand kids in Vancouver who are growing like bad weeds!  Here they are with a family friend just last night:

In between all this we have our new community and area to learn and explore and we also want to enjoy our garden and neighbourhood.

So if you are still with me, I'd like to repeat a message from my last post:

As of January 8th, 2017 I will be celebrating nine years (that's a 9 !) of keeping this blog, my Thrums Journal.  I traditionally have a little give-away to celebrate.   I have a selection of weaving samples from some of my past projects that you will recognize from past posts. 

So... weavers: please leave a comment, with an email address, on the previous post OR this NY's Day post, and you will be entered to win (only one entry per weaver).   Some visitors say they have difficulty leaving messages:   click on the word 'comment' at the bottom of the post and then follow the instructions.  There is a delay seeing your message as I have enabled comment moderation to eliminate some nasty spam (which you really don't want to see!).  If this somehow doesn't work for you, click on my email address at my profile and send me a note with your message, name and address and I'll add you in later.

The draw will be held on January 8th, 2017 and the winner will be posted here. So be sure to check back to see if you won!   

Its not done high tech... literally names written on slips of paper, shaken up and then drawn.   There will be handwoven samples from projects of anything from 4 shafts to 16 shafts plus project notes.     Good luck!    

I'd like to thank you all for being a regular reader of my blog !  Wishing you all a healthy, Happy  New Year..... and may your warps be smooth and your shuttle fly true!