This Happened Today....

So after a month of total upheaval, paint cans, drop sheets, along with vacuum cleaners and floor mops, we are finally back to normal!   There are a few pictures to re-hang but the worst is over.   The six rooms look great and really freshened up... visibly brighter with fresh painted ceilings.

Its taken time to do a thorough cleaning of the rooms, and then the rest of our space since everything was crammed every available spot and then some!  Think spring cleaning but late November instead.

Then we had to catch up on life, pay bills, see doctors, dentists , write Christmas cards, get gifts for the grand kids ready to mail away....  and get back to weaving again!

This is 9/2 French linen for some runners. The colour is new for me and is called brick. Its a coppery red and quite smooth and shiny.   The  eight shaft draft is a new one and I'll show you that later when I have some weaving actually going on.

The rearrangement of the studio has given me much more room in the sunny alcove.  Its much easier to load a warp or lift the loom up for the tie up's.

I lost my sewing table and my serger and sewing machine are tucked away into an overflowing closet. That's a challenge for another day.... sorting out the closet into a more manageable mess!    I use the serger quite often and so that presents a problem.  My old desk was a cheap particle board thing that has been around since the late 1980's  and has been recycled.   I bought a gently used desk and even with my Handwoven collection across the back, there is oodles of room. I'll just bring out the serger and set it up on the desk when needed.  I also inherited the family's file cabinet. It makes sense though for when I do up bank statements and such.  I can put my iPod tunes on top and my printer too.  (looks much better than our bed there in the last post)

By the end of this afternoon when I left to go and have supper, after Bruce helped me beam on the warp, I had 25% of it threaded.  Feels real good to be back in the saddle again!   This Christmas thing might slow me down a bit.   🎅🏻🎄

Year's End

Christmas preparations are well under way.   I see lights every where, homes with trees showcased in the living room windows and traffic is heavy on the roads as everyone dashes to and fro.

We'll be staying close to home for the holidays, just hubby and me!   Our time with the grand kids will happen after New Years when things quieten down a smidge.   Its all just fine with us as we don't get too cranked about Christmas anyhow.   Its an awful lot of pressure on a young family for one day and so we actually prefer to do it at a quieter time.

Our daughter in law sent us a picture from a recent photography session and they are making selections from the professional's cd to purchase.   So the copy I have (for now) has their watermark but its still a great one of the grand kids.   So here are my little darlings!   Ethan (3 1/2 years old) and Madison (nearly 10 months old). I want to know how they got Ethan to sit still that long!

As of now I have completed sorting all photographs from the Family Collection. Boxed up anything not being done during the scanning phase, such as negatives and slides.  Its become more compact but still is a sizeable lump in the studio.  But its a far cry from ten box loads it was three weeks ago!

To be fair, the two Home Depot boxes are full of negatives, slides (to be viewed and done later) and a lot of scenery and travel shots that won't be done for a *long* time. The main portion is the envelopes top right and the stack of albums from the blue lid and up.  The plastic box with the blue lid and down are full of documents which will be used for genealogy and the ongoing family tree at Ancestry.  Most of them will be scanned as well to be part of the permanent record.

 I'm researching scanners and various on line articles on how to do this project right the first time. Its looking like the Canon scanner we have is likely suitable for the job.  Now wouldn't that be nice?

So the anniversary date of when I first started this blog is coming up on January 8th. Its hard to believe that I've been at this for eight years!  Some of you have even been following my antics for all those years too.  (big warm thank you!)  Some of you are newer to the blog and enjoying reading older posts.  I've heard from many of you via email, become fast friends with many and had some even come to visit me.

This is when I like to do a 'give-away' to readers as a thank you.  This time the gift is a recently completed huck lace guest towel ,  of 10/2 mercerized cotton and with a fine bamboo weft.  It features extensive hemstitching as well.   Now I must admit that its not entirely perfect and is what we call a second with a treadling error. Its still lovely and only weavers would know.... your house guest will never notice as they dry their hands.

So how do you enter the draw?  Well, I would like you to write a comment (see blow the post and click on the 'comment' word)  and tell me what you like about my blog? .... what keeps you  coming back?  

**Please be very clear with your name and an email to reach you.**  

I will make the draw by old fashioned, well stirred  "name in a hat" style and announce the winner on January the 8th.

 In the mean time, the good news is,  I am back to the looms once again!  I have made a good restart and it feel great to be back on the bench again.  This break away from weaving has been beneficial in a few ways in that my knee has had better time to heal but I was still productive every day, and now I can get back to the looms feeling energized and ready to start the new year!

I have been weaving for a time most afternoons and I'm happy to tell you that I have completed one scarf and started another. Plus I have two towels done on the Megado.   So I'll keep on and hope to have some show and tell for you some time soon!   Here are some pictures:

An eight shaft elaborate point twill, woven "network style". What you can see there is one repeat measuring 7 1/2 inches.

I've shown this one before but it does show the scarf being "treadled as threaded".  I had wound the warp forward to start the second scarf and suddenly realized I had forgotten to take a picture!  I was feeling pretty good about finishing one scarf and eager to start again!

Purple and teal towels done and I'm moving onto a pretty shade of blue cottolin next!  I'm having fun again...

I'd like to wish you a Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Yule!

and Io Saternalia!

For the more traditional of you out there, Merry Christmas !  We hope you enjoy time with family and friends and no doubt there will be good food and lots of it. I hope Santa brings you some yarn as well as other goodies!

I hope 2016 is a healthy and happy year for us all. I know that I'm sure looking forward to seeing happier times and definitely more weaving in the weeks and months ahead!

Remember to leave a comment for an entry into the draw for the guest towel give-away January 8th!    I will be back with a New Year's Day post about what is on the loom AND  my annual studio year in review....

We Now Resume Our Regular Programming....

Wasn't that a crazy month??

This time period last year, my husband was quite ill and in and out of hospital. Christmas happened but it was a diversion. This time, Christmas was front and center and demanded my full time and attention. Hubby couldn't handle the walking around stores, due to still recovering from his knee surgery, so I did the shopping. I can well understand why some people shop through out the year and stash things away.

Well, the crazy time is done and we are starting a new year. We just got home yesterday from spending time with family and Ethan our grandson. He's eight months old now and a going concern. He never stops moving, exploring, and trying to talk (or 'babbling '). He's sporting four new teeth and more on the way.

Opening gifts

Waiting for supper

Sitting with the big boys on the couch

He's growing up so fast! It was fun spending time with Ethan and his parents and also my other family members. Its really what this time of year is all about.... Before we knew it, we were heading for home.

We had our first New Year's eve out in some time visiting with friends . We normally stay home and stay up just long enough to welcome the new year and then head for bed. We had a great time chatting and laughing and before we knew it, it was 2 am + and we headed for home. I felt like a kid sneaking home after curfew!

So now we start a new year. A report on the studio:

• the big loom, the Woolhouse, is empty but there's a warp half wound to go on.
• the last project, the snowflake twill scarves are done but being 'finished'.
• The Louet Spring has a second runner underway, with a new project being formulated in my mind.
• The Megado still has the book mark warp with only one done  *must* do more!
• I have built a list of more items to de-stash and part with (so watch for the coming sales)

I'm looking forward to getting back to the loom benches once I have my house back in order.

Santa left me a new iPad 2 for Christmas and one new app I have treated myself to is iWeaveit  but have yet to try it due to lack of play time but it will be fun to play around with a different program in a more convenient sized and lighter tablet.

So there is just a week to go before the draw for a tea towel! The winner will get a choice between the recent turned twill towels in muted colours... or the royal blue waffle weave.

I hope the coming year for you  is one filled with much happiness, good health and time to explore with your looms! There is much to look forward to...

Grandad Bruce and Ethan, taken December 30th, 2012

Merry Christmas...

Just a note to say hi. 

 I guess you are all in full Christmas preparation mode like we are!

This is post is to cover a couple of topics.  I recently had a request to add some way of subscribing to my blog posts. I looked into what is available and it seems that Blogger has a 'feed burner' which I have added to the top right hand corner of the screen.  You simply enter your email address.  They send you a confirmation email which you must click on to activate. What happens then? Well, when I post, you will get an email to tell you. That is only when you'll get an email.  Its a neat service feature and I hope you will take advantage of it.

Edit: I subscribed to my own service and I got a full copy of this blog post, with pictures, on my iPhone and also on my laptop. This was neat! The only thing is, it doesn't give you anything else. You still have to visit here for the other older links to various topics and to visit other blogs listed here. Just letting you know how it works...

Secondly, I have a count down clock on the right hand side bar for Thrums Blog celebrate another year. That's coming up on January 8th, 2013.  I like to do something special to mark the occasion.  So the one way I can track who does read my blog is through the "Regular Readers" (currently sitting at 277 as of today's date). So if you haven't signed up before now, this would be a good time. Who ever is signed up as of January 8th, 2013 will be eligible to win a prize of  a handwoven tea towel.  

• If you have signed up as a follower more than once, I'll enter your name one time only.
• Once I have announced the winner, I'll contact you via your listed email on your profile (and/ or) your blog. I will wait a week to hear from you. So please check and get back to me.... because.....
• If no response by January 15th, I will draw again and a new winner will be announced.
• If you opted to follow privately, I can't access your name or info... sorry!

I have 'met' some great new friends through my draw: DebbieB, Martha , Dianne, June, and Charlotte who is north of the Arctic circle in Tromsø,Norway ... they are all former winners of my draws. 

It will be a busy time here for a week between Christmas and New Years.... and there will be snuggle time with the grandson too. I'll try to get a post up before all the festivities begin!

Gothic Diamonds

I have been resisting climbing onto the Christmas merry-go-round this year. It just  seems far too much hype this time around. From carols being played *before* American Thanksgiving dirty dishes were washed and put away,  to ads running on the television showing perfect homes and holiday decorations and the (well dressed and coiffed)  Hostess pulling the perfect roasted turkey from a spotlessly clean oven. I'm not trying to be a "Ba Humbug"  but it seems like we have all gone slightly bonkers.  This topic could get quite socio-political, so enough said for here.

There have been just grown-ups in our immediate family for some time and while its great fun to visit family, the real sparkle in Christmas comes when there are small children. That puts the fun back!  I spent an interesting time at a Toys R Us toy store a couple of days ago shopping for our grandson who will be eight months at Christmas! We are looking forward to seeing him and his parents during the holidays.

Someone asked how my hubby was doing since his knee surgery?  Well, for the most part, he's okay but he seems to still have pain and swelling with his knee. Its a slow recovery this time round, and this is his third time for this procedure.  He's not a very patient 'patient' but has been writing his railway stories.  He's soon to publish part three of a story of a tourist train on which he was he was the engineer during 1999-2000. I had a lot of rides on that train and had a hand in some of the shenanigans!

Another person mentioned that Calli hasn't appeared for a while... well, she's doing just fine. She is well settled into our lives and has us wrapped around her paws. She is a real creature of habit and certain things MUST happen at certain times of the day, and she's quite the "Supervisor of the Day's hours".  If you are late with something (usually food related), then you get The Stare until you realize your terrible error:

Most afternoon's she stays with me in the studio in this pose:

I had the Louet Spring up on crates for a new tie up and she was close by. She really is a sweetie and is very gentle. She hardly ever barks and when she does, the squirrel was asking for it!

Weaving has been slowed by the impending Christmas prep and I didn't have anything to show you but  I do now!  Some time ago I saw a scarf somewhere on the internet where the weaver had used clear lines or borders to divide a double pattern. It seemed to throw more emphasis onto the pattern and was quite effective. Granted they had used a variegated warp which added to the drama but I thought I would give it a go myself.

I found this eight shaft twill pattern in Carol Strickler's  "The Weaver's Book of 8-Shaft Patterns" and played with it to make it fit my needs:

I used a cream 20/2 silk and a hand dyed muted violet 20/2 silk that I bought in 2000 from Treenway Silks. I used a 30 epi sett and a 15 dent reed. The 245 warp ends measured 8.16" at the reed and was 6.3 yards long.  As you can see there is something of a twill progression here and so close attention was required.  While I don't have it memorized as yet, portions of it run nicely one into the other and make sense as you treadle.

Here is the first scarf under way (all silk) and the colours here are very close to the actual scarf. I've discovered that this violet shows more gray than anything!
I quickly realized that between using some of the violet for warp and then weft, I was running short and there was not enough for scarf number two. It's a difficult match but somehow I wasn't worried (for once!)
Scarf number two was woven using an orlec yarn (yeah, I know...) but the colour was a dead match! That seemed more important this time round...

Here's one on the fringing board and with the slightly yellow halogen nearby, the scarf turns more gray. Of course that nicely demonstrates that purples and yellows are opposites on the colour wheel and where they meet is gray.

Next up was adding some glitter. It seems to be my trademark feature. These scarves have a lovely soft hand to them. You can't tell the difference between the all silk and the one that has orlec but I *know* the difference. I changed the beading arrangement so I could keep track of which is which for sale purposes.
I used 11/0 Japanese Delica beads in a soft violet that are lined with silver so they sparkle, creamy seed sized fresh water pearls and rich purple Swarovski bi-cone crystals. There's fifty six pearls per scarf alone.  Its totally feminine.

In this picture above, when you enlarge it, you can see the natural pearls, wispy little strands of silk made by the caterpillar, all along with computer made beads from Japan. Quite the amalgamation!

We had some brief sunshine this morning and so I set them up on a white background, all the lights on full and flash on the camera... but I think they are too dark. There's nothing like real daylight to show something off naturally.  (Hurry back sun!)  I think I will re-shoot them another, brighter day...

This is the all silk scarf  (above) There is cleaner colour definition between the cream and violet.

This is the orlec weft scarf. It has more of a purplish cast to it. The yarn seemed finer too.

I'm in the middle of threading the Louet Spring to weave two table runner in the same pattern (but no stripes!)  Its a slow go with all the Christmas running around going on right now but I suspect many of you are having the same difficulty.  The snowflake scarves are still under way on the big loom and calling loudly.

I just keeping thinking that weavers 'down under' don't get interruptions in the middle of their prime weaving season. Their winter is in July!

Tis the Season

Its the day before, the day before Christmas! Isn't it funny how my childhood memory of  December 23rd  is extra special. It was the peak day of anticipation! I think it has always given short shrift as a day that is in the way of the 'real days'... or if you are an adult, its the day that isn't nearly long enough!

We are about as ready for Christmas as you can get here and grateful we aren't being affected by nasty winter snows or floods. We have a roof over our head, food on the table and reasonably healthy!

We had to reacquaint ourselves with our tree and its where abouts! Last year we were treeless due to the kitchen flood and impending demolition. The boxes has been taken down to the garage to be stored and never made it back to the house until recently. As I pulled out the decoration boxes with 27 years of Christmas past, I found that mice had check things out sometime this summer! Fortunately, they just nibbled on the tissue paper and then exited, so we only lost a few items.

Our tree has a star theme and we have a snowman theme for decorations around the home. You are greeted at the front door by these handsome fellows:

Then on the mantle, along with garlands and lights:

There are a couple of other smaller cohorts but this is the troop leader! Then there is my favourite:

Just love his sweater and scarf! Then this year we have our very own handmade stockings by Lynnette !

They feature her handwoven fabric along the top and in mine, the foot. I have them filled out with some tissue paper to give them shape until Santa fills them! Bruce's is quite the dandy huh?

I have received some lovely woven cards this year!

From Martha in Utah on the left and Joan in Kamloops on the right.

Now we have some other creative, personalized cards...

This one is unique! Alison took close-up photographs of snowflakes (no small feat!), placed them into a computer program and digitally played with them and created her one of a kind card, with small added snowflake to the front. The card stock is beautiful quality as well.

Then my two friends who live thousands of miles apart, both sent 3D type cards! (Funny how that happens..)

Guess that's why they are my friends!

Last one is by a long time family friend Joan Rowan who is watercolour artist. Every year we get a printed version of one of her recent paintings:

"Made In China" The mountains at Zhang Jai Jie, artist Joan Rowan

Joan and a group were in China earlier this year and visited the Zhang Jai Jie region with its uniquely shaped mountains, that inspired the floating mountains in the film Avatar.

I'd like to take this time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to thank you all for visiting my blog through the year. I have come to know some of you rather well and feel I have friends around the world now. I hope your time with family and friends is a memorable one! 2011 is just around the corner and I see it as a fresh, clean slate on which to lay out your plans and dreams. One goal we have is to bring a new puppy into our lives in the spring.  The plan is a male Welsh terrier and his name will be Gwyn ( Welsh for 'fair').
This is not him, but he will be something like this:

This is Griffin of Snowtaire Kennels and he's just too cute for his own paws. I don't know how they got him to lay still for the picture...

Happy Holidays everyone!

'Tween Times

This is Lorraine, my mother in law and she is very happy with her shawl! The size is perfect for her and she wore it all the time. It's first outing will be at the coming bridge game when the gals come to play cards this week.

I think of this week as the 'tween time' as Christmas is just over and New Year's is not quite here.

We had a lovely time during our week away and Santa was very good to us. The joys of air travel were not as interesting as some have experienced in the past week or so. Minor delay leaving, then our flight back yesterday was delayed for 2 1/2 hours due to increased security there and elsewhere and delayed planes because of the snow back east. We had some chilly temperatures but no snow and it was a green Christmas. No one was complaining though as the snow will appear soon and we'll make up for lost time.

We came home with full bags of loot and laundry and found that the reno has started with our old kitchen floor being removed while we were away. So life will get back in full swing here shortly....

Here my hubby Bruce is 'enduring' a frenzy of love and licks minutes after coming home.
The dog, Connor is *extremely* happy that we sprang him from the 'doggy resort'. There is only so much fun an old pooch can stand at age 13 and he's been sleeping soundly to catch up on his beauty rest.

The mailbox was full and there were some beautiful woven card inserts to grace our mantle this year...


The first to arrive was this boundweave card from my friend Gudrun .


Then this tri-axial woven ribbons done by Louise .


Then my friend Joan in Kamloops, BC. sent this lovely bird's eye twill


Then yesterday after we arrived home, we found this summer and winter tree beautifully woven by Lynnette. We had an elegant lunch with Lynnette and her hubby Michael and a good chat. In person hugs are so much better than emails! (I'll show you what she made me for Christmas in the next post)

I'll leave you with a picture of Lorraine's lovely tree that had a Victorian theme. I hope you all had a great Christmas and getting ready to greet 2010!