Chances

I like to pair up cones of yarn to sit on my desk together..... and just look at them. Usually they have similar depth of shade where are both equal in intensity of colour.

I like to watch them in different lights, natural or home.....  at different times of day.
Some get put back in the closet and new ones come out to play this game.

Coppery Pompeii (8/2 tencel) sat side by side with Amethyst for a couple of months while I made up my mind.  Would the copper over power the purple?   They are technically opposites on the colour wheel. Would they just go 'blah' when woven together?

Apparently not! In this balanced, reversible six shaft crackle weave (no tabby) they hold hands quite nicely.   As nice as Fiberworks is for design, colours and all its bells and whistles, sometimes you simply have to put the real colours together as real threads and see what happens!

This picture above and below were taken when we enjoyed a brief patch of sunshine, then.....

... the sun slipped behind a light cloud and the light was more diffuse and look at the difference below.   No camera flash  and on automatic setting 'landscape' on my DSLR.   The iridescence becomes to the fore front and it changes the colours entirely.  Its has life and glow.    

All because I took a chance and committed some real yarn in the game. 

The second scarf is nice too.  I went for a tried and true neutral classic, black.  It gives good pattern definition and will pair up nicely with suits and top coats or other more formal clothing. It can also be for a man as well. 

But why do I feel I should have gone back to my stash and tried something else?  This was a safe choice. Copper is a difficult colour to work with and I've been trying to think what else might have worked.   Dark teal?  Navy blue?   This will be another project at another time...

Whether its colour, weaving structures (or even our lives in general)..... you have to be willing to take chances, a risk. If it doesn't work you learn from it and move on. In weaving, you simply lose some yarn or string. Its not the end of the world.  

When it all comes together, you can really feel it.  Your first thought is "how did I do that?" and "how can I do it again?"   That would be that inner voice or gut instinct that I over rode as I reached for the cone of black instead.    😳

The second run of fencing was completed this past Monday and it looks and smells great!   There are approximately three to four neighbours in a row all getting shared fences replaced and the air is full of fresh cut cedar.

A neighbourhood cat was surprised in our yard by Hubby yesterday and it took a leap for the fence to make a getaway..... and was somewhat surprised by the five foot tall fence when it used to be a shorter four feet.  A rather elaborate gymnastic display ensued where much dignity was lost!  

The raccoons are not going to like it either then!

But we sure do!

Friendly Fences

Its January, and winter.
In Canada no less.

Yet here we are replacing two runs of fencing on the east and west sides of our back yard in January with relatively mild temperatures for this time of year.  We had a fence panel on the east side blow down last winter and its been 'juried rigged fixed' for some time.  It was all due to start last fall, but it got too late in the season.  So now we are ahead of the curve for 2019's busy spring season and fencing contractors' schedules and also before the gardens spring to life again. (Which is any time now given how mild it is!)

Below is the west side of the yard, shared with our neighbour Dave. Its a nice open look as they remove the old fence panels which are well and truly all done. Most likely the original fence from 20 years ago.

The east side has been cleared, new cedar fence posts set into concrete, and five foot cedar boards installed.  It goes quite quickly once the posts are in place.  They have connected it nicely to our run of black picket fencing across the back, and also the side gates near the house.  I took this picture while they were at lunch yesterday.

close up view

An old tired panel waiting to be taken to its final rest

 Then this picture (below) was taken about 3:30 pm yesterday ....and the east side is all done.  Just finials for the post tops to be added.  Our neighbours on either side have been great and participating in this project fully.  The fence is a foot taller than the old one and we'll adjust quickly to the new view.

 Meanwhile I kept busy inside the studio with Bruce helping me to beam on  an eight yard warp of 8/2 cotton for some tartan towels.   I haven't woven towels in some time so this will be fun.   'Dress Stewart' anyone?

All good to go!  By the days end, we had it all loaded onto the warp beam. I'm going to weave it as one long piece and then cut apart into towels later.

Meanwhile over at the desk I'm busy twisting fringes on the completed scarves.   Its been really hard to get a decent picture so I'm hoping for a sunny day (sunny moment?)  once they are complete and pressed.

Purple weft above, and black weft below

So, who's this I hear you asking?

This is a stock photo I found on line of a young Irish Terrier pup.   We are hopefully expecting to be new parents to a pup to be born in March, and newly homed with us in May.   We have requested a female and now wait to see how this all works out. Irish terriers have 4-6 pups per litter and we are on a list with other prospective parents...... so *fingers crossed*!  The kennel where we are dealing, raise both Airedale and Irish terriers and it just so happens that the Irish mum is first to have her litter and the Airedale pups won't be ready until late October.

Our love is for Airedales  but no new Airedale could replace Calli and so I had concerns on that score.  Irishes run to about 25-27 pounds which is half the size of Calli but have all the heart and love, plus quirky  personality  that terriers have.   Here's a link to more information on the breed.
They are known for being healthy, few issues with genetic type conditions, hyper allergenic and good temperaments.

Now you know why the fence must be tight !

A link to a short video on the breed:       https://youtu.be/zrLGzCoU77U

2018: a Year in Review

Happy New Year!

Its hard to believe that yet another year is coming to an end, but 2018 is in it final hours for us here on the west coast of Canada.  We are just having a lazy day hanging around the house and no plans to go out or 'party-hearty'.  We leave that for the younger set. We're more the 'jammies and TV' types now.

We do have a bottle of Prosecco chilling and plan a roast beef supper.   

But this is all in 2018 and this is being posted on New Year's Day.  So basically old news! 😁

2019 right now in its early days is a fresh slate and everything is possible.   So lets start with what's on my loom as of today:   This is the best I can do with my lighting situation this time of year.... its a subtle pattern with this colour mix!

Its 8/2 tencel,  24 epi, warp colour is Pompeii and weft is Amethyst, and this is a six shaft crackle weave for two scarves. I'm undecided as to my second weft colour will be right now.  The draft is from Handweaving.net

So how did 2018 go for weaving results?  Well, my personal feelings on this is I was not as active or productive as in years past and this was due to many reasons, mostly personal.  We had a death of a family member,  a health crisis and then a cancer diagnosis and treatment (still on going in fact),  the emotional toll of all of this and then a death of our much loved dog Calli.  We'll be a long time getting over that one, if ever.

We felt the need to slow things down and restore some calm in our lives and so we stayed close to home, but took some nice day trips around our area and south of us to explore our part of the world.  That was great fun and went along way to helping us feel better in ourselves. No doubt we'll do this again in 2019.

Due to my husband's treatments, my foot surgery was postponed and finally dropped. It seems I must first determine why I'm so intolerant of post operative opiate pain meds first and what, if any, alternatives there are before going ahead with any foot reconstruction. To that end I have been going to pain management sessions and will continue on in 2019.  Arthritis is something I will have to learn to co-exist with for many years to come.

Of course my favourite loom, the Louet Spring, is the one with the foot treadles. I feel more connected and totally 'all involved' when weaving on that little loom.  Best decision ever to buy that loom back in 2008!  Heck, it was ten years old this past October.... time is flying by!

So what's ahead for the coming year?   well, nothing concrete as yet.  I want to play more and be more inventive with colour, and weave what speaks to me.  To try to avoid getting into the 'production mode' state of mind because it then becomes more of a job and not so much fun anymore.  I much prefer shorter warps where I can play for a time and then move onto something new.  It means much more warping and beaming but that's okay as the Spring is easy to load up.  I also like all the weaving steps and find them satisfying.

I used much of my 2018 weaving yarns from my stash, with only a few painted warp purchases. I'm not set up currently to paint my own warps right now as Hub is working on sorting out his models in the garage space.  I'd like to carry on rediscovering old friends (yarn) stored in bins and let them see the light of day.   That leaves more money for other fun purchases such as books ("Stubenisky Code" by Marian Stubenisky and the new, soon to be released new book by Laura Fry "The Intentional Weaver").  Thanks to some enabling at my Warped Weavers group at Ravelry, I got involved with a Kickstarter project for a electronic spinning machine called an  Electric Wheel Eel Nano which won't be shipped until August.  More information and video here Yes, I have two spinning wheels already but with my feet, it would be fun to have something to play with while I recover from the inevitable surgery down the road. ( I'm to be "no weight bearing" on the foot for three months!)

I will take a hiatus from commission projects for the coming year. They take a large chunk of my time and so nothing else gets done that is on my to-do list. I like to revisit old drafts from time to time but even old favourites will loose their glow if done to death!

I want to go and see the grand kids this spring in Vancouver,  also possibly visit an Airedale breeder down island this spring as well.  We acknowledge its time for another pet in our lives but still making decisions about the size and breed. Something half the size of Calli would be more practical and still have all the love! Its all under discussion....

So the year in review as follows....

January & February 2018

The 9/2 linen huck lace runners were fun to weave and I love the crisp hand of the cloth...... but out of three runners woven, two had treadling errors that were missed on the loom.  Bummer....

March 2018

These two scarves used a very old draft from the 17th century and the warp was a champagne coloured silk from the stash.  They are very pretty!

April 2018

Two more scarves using a painted warp from my stash from Iridescent Fibers.  Its fascinating to weave with a painted warp as the weft looks different with each colour change!

May 2018

Hub had his surgery.

June 2018

Calli died

Then we started doing our day trips and you got my travel posts.

Deep Bay, BC

July 2018
Cape Lazo, BC

Finally some weaving again with the Chocolate Cherries scarves.  The darker tones suited me at the time. That will tell you something of my mood.....

August 2018

I was finally inspired to weave something colourful and fun again with two Fire Iris shawls.  Again the painted warp was by Iridescent Fibers and I incorporated it into shawls.  They are my favourite item of the year actually....

Another drive and a post on Discovery Passage and our summer forest fires.  There is a uninhabited island on fire and burning off in the distance, with the blue smoke blending with the heavy cloud.  The clouds never did send a drop of rain to help.  They left it to burn and I wondered about the animals living there.

September 2018

These two scarves were fun to weave and the pattern is very satisfying to build. I can see using this 8 shaft draft again for a shawl?

October 2018

Then in the spirit of playing with string and 'what if' came these two colour gradation, braided twill shawls.   Three colours in the warp and two very different looks!  Both shawls were sold to one customer. I like to think she couldn't decide which she liked best either.   😊

Then there was a shawl commission where we revisit a popular past favourite. My blog post had a confusing title of 'going south' but it was the shawl that went and not me unfortunately!

.....and that led to a small but equally happy project of my sister Melinda's table square:

November & December 2018

The year concludes with this (newly purchased) painted warp shortie scarf..... plus the resulting solution to a problem. (to come next post!)

So let's tally things up:

• runners: 4
• scarves: 9
• shawls: 5

Total: 18 completed woven items, plus a further 15 from the mystery project
( and,  actually a further 26 more on top of that!)   I'll share what this is soon..... but I will tell you now it was great fun!

Happy New Year !    (click to enlarge)