Drum Roll Please

 The comment counter says 37 but a couple of those were second comments from two people, and one who asked to sit this out.    For the rest of you, you had a 1 in 34 chance of winning.

Very high tech system in place..... I recorded each name as I approved the comments for posting. Then I cut each line with a name and folded it.

Then added it to our big burl bowl and just stirred and stirred until the moment felt right and picked a slip....

The winner is ....... Hilary!  Now in the slim chance I don't hear from Hilary in the next seven days, then I will draw another name. Edit: Hilary has contacted me and is thrilled to win the yarn.  Thank you everyone!

Hilary, the two skeins of lace weight super wash merino are yours.... get in touch please! They'll most likely have to wait out a coming blizzard   rain storm though.... (thankfully, the snow has failed to appear... so far....)

Just got home late last night from attending a funeral over in the Vancouver area. Our daughter in law's mother passed  away and all the family and friends gathered to say their good bye's. Adele being Italian by birth, she was Nonna to the grandchildren and I am Nana.

Both Ethan and Madison were there learning a life's lesson and not really understanding.   Madison in her little black dress and Ethan with a fresh hair cut and a big boy suit that made him look so grown up and so small, all at the same time.

If they call me Nonna by mistake, that's just fine by me too.  🌹

A Decade

Falling snow looks like faerie dust! Photo: Bruce Harvey

I can remember being more than a bit nervous about 'being out there publicly' on the internet and literally held my breath when I hit the publish button on my very first post.   I thought I would just blend into the crowd and no one would notice my efforts.   So imagine my surprise when I got my first comment!    That was January 8th, 2008.

So ten years ago today!   I had no idea that I would be still doing this after ten whole years.   Some of you are still following me after all this time too and for that, I thank you!

Blog popularity goes up and down like a roller coaster and then new social media moves the crowd along onto something more exciting like venues such as You Tube, Instagram and others.  Everyone wants to try the next big new thing.   Many of them require a smart phone and apps.  I actually don't have a smart phone right now so many of these new social platforms have yet to see me like Instagram and I have even dropped Twitter. I'm saving a lot of money not having one and that's something I can use to buy more yarn! (oh, yea... and pay other bills)

I like the steady familiarity of Blogger. Its a comfortable fit for me.  This is where I sit and write to you.

Every year I like to hold a blogiversary give-away and this year will be no different!  I have some yarn for a lucky commenter!   Its 2- 100 gram skeins of  Dye Cauldron's "Moon Magic Lace Yarn" in the colour way of Cherry Blossom. 

(75% super wash merino, 20% silk, 5 % stellina - 875 yards / 800 meters per 100 grams)  Its a lovely pastel pink with hints of peach and a touch of sparkle. It would make pretty warp for some snuggly, all girl scarves!

Knitting: 1.5-2.25 mm needles

Weavers:  15, 18, 24   (+/-)

So don't just sit there.... write me a comment, and then you are entered to win.  Only one entry per person, and leave me some way of getting a ahold of you or the prize will go to the next name drawn.  Also know that comment moderation is enabled to keep spammers away so your comment will appear after I click okay on it.

I hope you are warm and cosy where ever you are as the cold start of 2018 gets under way (or not too hot if you are from down under).  Any season is weaving weather really.

So once again thank you for reading my blog. The winner will be announced January 18th*, 2018.  * I've had to extend the date as I unfortunately have a funeral to attend.  :(

So what's on the horizon, way off in the sunshine?

The snowy Coastal mountain range which are on the mainland and the almost full moon (for the start of the year)!  That's the end of Quadra Island on the left.  If you look closely after the tip of Quadra, you'll see the end of Cortez Island.   Clear and cold at - 4 degrees.  My thanks to Bruce for the great outdoor pictures.

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....

.... and the Winner is....

So, if you are going to pull a name out of a hat, it should be a good one! Big thank you to hubby Bruce for volunteering his hat to the cause. (well, he found out about it after the fact...  :)

There were fifty seven names in the hat. I had to eliminate double entries and such, but the finals went in and were well stirred and shaken about.......

... then I drew one out....

Hilary of Crazy as a Loom!   Well, congratulations Hilary and now you have a decision to make:

Its time to choose which colour you'd like: periwinkle blue, cream and white, teal green or bronze/ gold.

I'd like to thank everyone who entered the draw with your comments. When I, or any blogger, writes a post and shares our thoughts and feelings, we hope there's someone somewhere out there reading it. Your comments are the reward for all the work and it makes a huge difference to us. Comments are what motivates us, fuels us to keep on writing and sharing. So when you read a post at a blog (and not just mine) and you enjoyed it, please consider  leaving a comment or question.  You'll make their day!  I had no idea of all the new friends around the world I would make when I started this blog six years ago. Thank you for following along.....

Now, I'd like to share something else with you. Some time ago, I wrote a Remembrance Day post about my various family members who have served in the military in some capacity. It seems that an internet search brought author Tina Bilbe to my blog and we exchanged emails about my maternal grandmother and her service in World War 1 at the Kingsnorth Airfield.  It seemed the history of  Kingsnorth Airship Station was apparently becoming a book.

Soon I was able to pre-order a copy at Amazon and it arrived yesterday! (the link takes you to the book at Amazon with a free peak inside)

I haven't had a chance to read it as yet but I will show these pictures:

This is a picture of the old airfield as it was in 1917 about the time my grandmother served there. It was later cleared away and rebuilt as the more well known airfield that was used during World War 2.

This is the sort of airship that used Kingsnorth Airfield at that time period.

.... and listed under personnel, is my grandmother Emma Worden.  From my father's family collection, here's her airfield pass:

 Here is Emma Worden as a young lady before World War 1.

These ladies are her three daughters and my mother is on the far left wearing the dark suit.  I think both my mother and hers would be thrilled with the mention in the book.

Back to weaving with the next post.... thanks for being there and lets get another year underway!

2013: Studio in Review

 I noticed that Martha at  Thistle Rose Weaving has done a review of what she accomplished for the year and thought this was a fantastic idea! All those projects really add up and if they have been gifted or sold, a photographic line up is a nice reminder of what you made. So here's a review of what came off my looms in 2013.

Three scarves featuring silk / bleached camel warp and crossed with bronze bamboo, natural camel / silk blend and a fine tencel in white. Bronze one was sold right away...

Three scarves featuring a silk alpaca warp. First was snapped up by Bruce, the second was gifted to my brother Kent.  The third was woven with a fine black tencel weft and sold to a bride groom for a mid December wedding!

There was much cleaning and preening of the big loom which took considerable time!

Two scarves woven in a fine silk yak blend and a fine black silk for a classy herringbone twill. One for my Dad, the other... snaffled by Bruce (again)  

The studio was completely reorganized with new shelves..... and a big sell off of equipment and yarn on Ravelry's Warped Weavers Marketplace. Downsizing will continue this year with more books to go....

Two scarves woven in 100% tencel and featuring colour shifts from eggplant to olive.

More exploration of colour with two more scarves... again in tencel and this time featuring eggplant to teal. It was fun to have bright colours on the loom. One of these went to Switzerland!

A long runner in 16/2 mercerized cottons, featuring flax and indigo blue.....

Then a dabble into huck lace and softer colours, this time orchid tencel.

Then a dozen guest towels featuring mercerized cotton warp and bamboo weft, all with hemstitching.

Then in May we had a week to ten days away on vacation!

More towels but this time kitchen sized in a neat, almost 3D- like  12 shaft pattern. Cottolin warp and regular cotton weft.

More colour, but this time exploring with keeping an old 12 shaft tie up in place and playing with other threadings to see what I could come up with.  Rather successful combination!  Both scarves sold within twenty fours hours of listing....

We had a brief vacation to visit friends and family in July...

This was a painted skein of silk merino blend and woven with nutmeg brown dyed pure silk.... all from Germany, and sold back to Germany!

Then, I had a custom order for two silver and gray runners for a client in San Francisco.  (Could be another request coming from them again this year too). 

With Christmas starting to loom on the horizon, I wove two table runners in a deep bright red huck lace using a delightful French linen. Both sold and no doubt were featured this past holiday.

Two shawls in the successful colour combo that came back from the gallery sale. The navy / magenta one is now MINE... and the teal / magenta one went to Switzerland.

Using a repurposed warp from another project, I teamed the black tencel with a fine Persian red tencel.  This one stayed in Canada and was a Christmas gift in Ottawa, Ontario.

Its more sedate twin, featuring a silver tencel also put on some miles and went to Switzerland for Christmas.

(Then I had two weeks away on family business) 

Can you imagine how fun it would be to travel to hand deliver some of these to the customers? These were the destinations of sales from the items woven this year. (I had other sales but handwovens from the previous year).

• Weaverville, California.
• San Francisco, California
• Folsom, Louisiana
• Ottawa, Ontario.
• Salmon Arm, BC.
• Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• Riniken, Switzerland.
• Rothenburg, Germany.
• Bainbridge Island, Washington.
• Homer, Arkansas.
• Redwood City, California

Totals are:

• scarves: 19 ( plus 3* more)
• shawls: 2
• runners: 5
• guest towels: 12
• kitchen towels: 9

I also have 3* additional scarves, woven in  late 2013 and finished in very early 2014.   Two more magenta and navy twill scarves (with one presold ) and one teal and magenta. Both are the same as those shown above.

So, all in all, a good year! I seem to favour scarves and hope to weave more towels these coming months. My weaving slowed as my knee became more cranky but I kept something going at all times.  There will be a fair sized interruption this year due to my coming knee replacement but I will resume when I can and use the treadling as 'exercise'  :)

Just a reminder that I have a blogiversary coming up on January 8th!  Leave a comment on this post, or my previous blog post and be entered for a draw to win a hemstitched guest towel, Be sure to leave some clear way to reach you. Please note that I have comment moderation turned on so your comment won't appear until I okay it to keep spam down.  It might be nice to add a comment what your weaving goals are for 2014 .... either projects or workshops.  Winner will be announced here on January 9th....