Looming looming

Hello again from your friendly carpal tunnel sufferer (who's checking it out with a doctor this week because Ow.) For days now I have been steering clear of typing and scrolling and knitting and unscrewing any lids from pickle jars, which leaves me with... the loom.

I know it looks like there's zero progress from last week but that's because weaving is a lot of repetition and same old same old until suddenly there's nothing left to weave into. And when I say repetition etc., I mean the following activities:

Wooden frame thing into upper notch

Push yarn thing from right to left

Adjust new yarn strand to track a 45 degree angle from right to left

Use wooden frame thing to pat the 45 degree yarn into place

Tug the end of the yarn to make sure the sides are even with the inches that came before

Wooden frame thing into lower notch

Push yarn thing from left to right

Adjust new yearn stand to track a 45 degree angle from left to right

Use wooden frame thing to...

You get the idea. And then periodically you have the thrill of unclipping the gears so you can roll your work onto the frontmost tube, to make room for more from the backmost tube. I know it's hard to see just looking at the back end, but I have actually done that quite a few times over the course of the week. All the buffer cardboard so close together tells me I'm getting close.

You know what would be smart when setting up a new project? Colour-coding the ends of the cardboard strips so you start with some red, then move to orange, then yellow, then green. Then, when you're rolling to the other end and start seeing yellow or orange, you'll feel like you're getting somewhere.

Knitting's much the same on the repetition front, but you can multitask with it if you get bored, even without adding in cables or lace or shaping. With weaving, all you can do is make the fabric more interesting by switching up the size of yarns you're pairing up, or doing a plaid, or both, or even doing a double width which is a magic trick I really do want to learn some time.

Since I can't do any of these things till I have this baby off the rails, I am gonna get back to it. It's cold and windy out, but I am about due to see a sun patch landing on this table, and I'm not sure there's much nicer than sitting in one of those to finish a simple project.

Hope you have a great weekend, and a great weekend next time too! I am begging off Hugs till April 5, in the hopes that resting this arm will get me back to normal faster. Meanwhile, take care of yourself via nice times and treats.

 

 

Revisiting my Knitters Loom

I've been struggling at the edge of the news whirlpool lately, have you? And my carpal tunnel issues are still a bother, so I decided to block out the noise with my Ashford Knitters Loom, still bearing signs of a previous project.

I looked it up here on Hugs and it seems the last time I played with the loom was in September of 2014. 2014!!! How is it possible I went ten years without weaving? It scares me to think how much longer it's been since I sat down at my spinning wheel. 

I see from my previous notes that this tiny scarf/belt/strip of fabric was sitting at about six inches wide. Well, it's less than that now.

Also it looks like I let the finished work get up too close to the heddle. Or do I mean the reed? 

 

I seem to recall I never did figure out the names of all the parts. Just how to make them work. (which I have also forgotten.)

Either way: time to roll things down into the finished bit. At least I remember how to do that.

And how to use YouTube to look up an instructional video from Ashford for the rest. It's rainy today and I don't have anything else pressing, so with luck I'll be semi-expert again by suppertime. I certainly have enough yarn wound and ready, to get on with!

I probably need a good audiobook for this project, don't you think? I am leaning toward Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly. I've certainly had it in my queue long enough, and it's everything I like in a book.

 

Hope you're having a good weekend so far! I am, but I think I need a nap before I tackle any more of this weaving business. Looking forward to seeing you next Saturday too. Who knows, if I pick something lengthy like Dickens on audio, I might even have set up the wheel again. H'mmmmmm.

 

 

 

 

Snow Clothes

This week I trekked to the Art Gallery of Ontario and saw some recently gifted paintings by William Kurelek, a painter of Ukrainian-Canadian descent who passed away in 1977 too young - only 50. I shared some other images over at Instagram but I thought you guys might be most interested in the textile details!

This closeup, from The Batchelor, shows the strangest sock hole I have ever seen. It's like a brand new pair was attacked by a dog. maybe he knit them himself since he still has the yarn for repair!

I love this tiny glimpse of two children and an out-of-control snowball from Souvenirs d’enfance:

I don't care how much those kids are bundled, they gotta be cold.

I remember playing in the snow at night from my own childhood, so the moonlight and shadows in Home on the Range really caught my attention. Check out the closeup shenanigans!

 

I also loved this half of the painting, Life, focused on a little girl watching the people who are diligently cutting up logs, which are being gathered up for winter fuel to heat their house.

Lotta baking going on inside, to warm up those workers! And this poor kid's darted outside without a hat or stockings.

 

It was great to get out and see some art in person, especially when I'm having a hard time making any of my own... ugh, that heavy sweater I knit is still weighing on my right arm. The carpal tunnel issues are improving but: no knitting for this girl yet, le sigh.

Hope you're getting in some good crafty time as the winter drags on (or the summer, depending on where you are). Thanks for dropping in and I'll see you next week!

 

 

 

 

Stitching tools

One of the things Instagram has cursed me to think about more is darning. For some reason the algorithm knows I have some jeans that need mending, and a longing to do a better job on holes in my handknit socks. 

Well, I have so far resisted getting help on the socks, but the darning thing sent me searching online where I found a magnificent Canadian shop and bought these beautiful threads. They even came wrapped in this beautiful dragonfly tissue paper!

 

The shop is A Threaded Needle - you might know it, in which case, why didn't you tell me about it! - and I spent a very pleasant non-doom-scrolling time browsing all the exciting materials and tools there before restricting myself to thread (some silk, some cotton) and needles.

The ones pictured above are specifically for stitching through jeans. These ones have minute ridges to help the needle pass through fabric. They came in a tub with a tiny cork and I think you'd have to zoom in on this pic even to see them, sorry about that...

 

I am super excited to try them all. 

 

So: how did my eye/screen judgment match up with the fabric I'm trying to mend? Let's have a look.

The thread on the left is too heavy a weight for this cotton/linen denim, and the colour on the right is too dark, but that little strip at the top of the four-colour set is perfect.  

Now for the darker jeans.

Am I good or what? The colour set here is a washout, and the variegated blue is too dark, but the solid blue could not be a better match. 

And now I have so many great colours I can use for embroidery, which is another thing Instagram keeps prodding me to pick up again and maybe do better with this time.

 

Let's hope I have greater resistance to the algorithm's attempts to lure me into dog rescues and fostering because I have zero dog experience and a pretty small house.

Hope you have a great weekend lined up. We have sun at the moment, and I'm going to bid you farewell till next Saturday so I can go spend some time in it. Thanks for dropping in and I'll see you soon!