beginner weaver....

when I learned how to spin a few years back, I became very enthusiastic and wanted to learn how to weave as well... actually - I always wanted to learn both! as a teenager I was keen to browse through craft books and magazines - but even though I was always busy knitting (or doing crochet) we didn't have enough money or room to buy a spinning wheel, never mind a weaving loom (and no, at the time somehow spindles didn't come up). my mother did own a small rigid heddle loom though - and eventually I asked for a small school loom, but not much came of it. in contrast to knitting weaving isn't something you pick up in passing, I guess! after fiddling about with our first warp and making small mats or runners, the looms went back into storage. I don't know what happened to my very small kid's loom, but we did save the larger RH and I took it with me when I moved to Ireland.

when I saw on the german mailing list for handspinners, that the wheel producer Kromski builds the "Harp", a rigid heddle loom, I eventually bought the widest model. I put it all together - just to hide it under the table in my wool room - with good intentions of course to use it very soon. but nothing came of it - until the RH and backstrap loom workshop with the OLG started at the beginning of march! this finally was the incentive I needed to get started! ok, the harp is still where it was before, but I managed to warp a smaller loom and wove a small table runner on it.

this is it:

the picture isn't great, but it shows the stripes I wove into the white linen and if you look very closely, you can see three blue stripes in the warp as well.

this is the weaving still on the loom, but it shows the warp stripes better. I had planned it quite differently though. being pigheaded I didn't listen - and used fine linen thread instead of thicker wool yarn. that was fine when I measured the warp, but when I finished warping the loom and started to weave, I realised that with a widely spaced fine warp like that I'd end up with onion netting, if I tried to do a balanced weave. instead I beat harder and ended up weaving a weft-faced piece. well, the warp was long enough for a scarf, but feeling the fabric I decided to switch plans to make a table runner. the linen yarn is too hard to wear close to the skin and with the fine yarn I'd probably sit and weave a scarf in 2012!

at first I also had problems with abrasion on the warp threads. I thought the linen would be tough enough, but moving the heddle up and down meant that eventually my first warp thread broke. I managed to fix it, but I became very careful afterwards not to move the heddle too hard! I didn't knot the warp threads or work a fringe, because the plan is to add some bobbin lace on both ends, done with the warp threads, which I left hanging quite long for this purpose.

so - the next project will be done with wool yarn - and I also try out another way of warping to see which one I prefer. I did find however, that weaving is probably nearly as addictive as knitting and spinning. I had problems going to bed at night - because I "just wanted to weave a few more rows" for the last few evenings:)) another bad habit in the making....

moebi-itis?

after finishing several time sensitive projects I am finally without a terribly close deadline (end of june doesn't count - yet:)) - and I have used the time to do something about all those leftovers flying about after being used in a larger project. I knitted several moebius scarves in a row - one for myself (at least that's how I planned it), the others go into a different kind of stash - the finished present stash. this is usually pretty small, closer to non-existent, but it's helpful to have something like that to hand when a small present is urgently needed. I used up most of my test sample of cashmere/silk blend, which I had dyed for the colibri challenge some time ago. eventually I used a different yarn, a wool/silk blend, but the colours came out nicely on this, too. it wasn't enough to do a larger project though, so I made a small scarf for myself, a "throat warmer" more likely. the one in white in the middle is the same material, but undyed. I used all of it, only about 50 cm were left when I finished the moebius! to be perfectly honest - I wanted to use an i-cord as finish (it gives a nice rounded edge) and after I had nearly finished it, I realised that I'd run out of yarn for maybe the last 20 stitches - so I had to unravel and go back one round to manage the finishing. I didn't want to waste a thing - so I increased from 3 to 4 stitches for the cord!

the last one in mint green is a blend of wool and silk - which I dyed with the flowers of a dark blue delphinium from the garden. this is not a leftover yarn, but I didn't have all that many flowers and only managed to dye a smallish hank in that colour. moebius scarves are a good project for smaller amounts of yarn - you can adapt the length and the width and just knit until you're nearly out of yarn. if you do a simple cast-off, you can manage with only a small amount after the last pattern row - if you do an i-cord, be careful and a bit more generous or you might have to undo your knitting until you're left with enough!

you can of course use any pattern you fancy for a moebius, but I usually knit a pattern that looks at least similar if not totally the same on both sides - because both sides are visible when you wear your scarf! the colibri coloured is knitted in ribs of 3 rounds k, 3 rounds purl. the white one is knitted in a sort of basket weave, which I also used for the "harmonia's rings" earlier. the mint green one is similar to the white one, but instead of the larger k/p pattern I used moss stitch over 2 rows....

all yarns are of course handspun, and I used a long circular needle, 120 cm, size 4 mm, for the knitting. the green one can easily be wound around the neck twice, the white one is slightly tight when worn like this - the one in front only goes around once....

while finishing the last moebius I also started on my "winter jacket" project in grey/white/light pink - at the moment the knitting goes quite fast, but that might slow down, either due to other, more urgent projects or due to the fact that eventually this soft, warm, chunky yarn might not be comfortable to knit anymore - if we do get any summer at all that is!

of course, soon the material for a project in bobbin lace should arrive as well - and then I am going to be off to make a bobbin lace fan in black silk "on the side". and then there is the gardening.... which I should have started weeks ago, but didn't, which means that I have to hurry up a lot now! and the workshop about rigid heddle weaving with the OLG - where I only managed to measure the warp so far and have to try and warp the RH loom, if possible today:)) the weaving hopefully is less fearsome......

zoo and other animals

shortly after DS's birthday we went for a daytrip to dublin again - visiting the zoo among other things. the weather wasn't exactly splendid, either grey and drizzly or just grey... but we did find a very trusting peacock, who was begging for biscuit crumbs (or better, whole biscuits!), which gave me the opportunity to get a close-up of his magnificent tail.

what a difference between the black and white body plumage and the fantastic colours of the "eyes"...

and I also found nice hints about what not to do - though no hungry inhabitants could be seen in this particular area:

I wouldn't want to be responsible for that:)

this fellow might be able to do serious damage to humans falling into his territory - but every time I visit the zoo (ok, only once a year, not all that often!) he lies around beside the "pool" and barely moves at all! he does have a gigantic head - and reminds me of a certain bavarian politician from some time ago! does that fall under the heading "bigheaded"?

something entirely different now:

yesterday I found two nice new links - the first one is a blog from a spinner/weaver, who lives on one of the Aran Islands - have a look, great pix of the island (among other things - she also weaves the famous belts called criosa)
http://www.maireadsharry.blogspot.com/

the other one is a colleague of mine from the Connacht Textile Crafters. Clare is a felter, she offers courses and also finished projects for sale on her new homepage:
http://www.felt-fantastic.com/
enjoy!

another year over!

no, I didn't fall asleep during january and just woke up to discover the new year! but when you have kids you might just as well measure the years in how they grow:)) DS is 11 now, easy to remember his birthday (can a mother forget her kids' birthday(s)?) - because he just made it in time to be born on valentine's day! and every year I have to "invent" a new cake. a few years ago it was a graveyard scene (inspired by one I saw in a book about fancy cakes), the year after it was a wizard's castle (dito - and a huge cake to boot - we ate castle for days afterwards:). we also had a hp cake - but this year it was to be the kids series "avatar - the last airbender" as inspiration. now, as I admitted before, my drawing and painting skills are nothing to write home about - so painting an avatar on top just wasn't a good option. I had planned to fill some coloured buttercream into piping bags and draw the signs for the 4 elements onto the cake - but the powdered food dyes (red for fire, blue for air, greenish-blue for water - and natural cream for earth - because I accidentally had used up all the chocolate one:)) made the buttercream separate, so that wasn't a good idea. eventually I drew the lines onto baking parchment, melted some chocolate and drew over those lines. this was reasonably easy to do, so I just used the slightly funny looking coloured cream as a base and put the cooled chocolate signs on top. bingo - son was happy, the cake was a bit more managable than the giant castle and it tasted good as well. I added some of the melted chocolate to the buttercream inside the cake. I wonder whichever fancy will take him next year....

enough about food. I did some knitting as well. I finished another "harmonia's rings" - but this time I changed the pattern slightly. I only worked 5 rows of pattern for each repeat, but the main change was, that I finished the upper rim with an attached i-cord with "loops" (= a few rows of unattached i-cord) instead of adding beads. and I finished the lower part with an attached i-cord instead of the rolled-up purl rows - which makes a nice rounded edge at the bottom. this one I'll keep for myself (at least that's the plan:)), very soft and cozy, but not too warm. both are actually the same blend, 70 % superwash wool and 30 % silk, handspun, 2ply. the dyed one was knitted with needle size 5, the white one was more tightly spun and plied and I worked it with needle size 4, albeit with a few more stitches all over.

this is a larger pic with details of both borders - the one with the "holes" could be used on another garment instead of button holes?

tomorrow we're off to Dublin for a visit to the zoo - so I better make sure that I have a small knitting project at the ready to get through the train journey without major boredom attacks!

harmonia's rings

when I browsed Kristin's blog a while ago and saw the picture of her "harmonia's rings" (pattern by Sivia Harding) - I really liked them and couldn't resist buying the pattern (well, ok, letting someone buy it for me:)). it looked so cozy with the folds around the neck and I knew that I had some nice yarn to use for it in my stash.

so I started the knitting with a blend from soft wool and silk - the one that I first dyed in the parrot colours and then overdyed it with blue to tone it down again! I also bought several small bags of bead mixes to add them on the upper rim - but now I think those might have been more visible if I had stuck to just one shape and colour for those! somehow the different beads vanish in the colour mix....

when I finished the pattern I had a feeling that maybe I had added one twist too much when casting on for the moebius - but I had a look again at a new pic from Kristin and found that mine does in fact look the same as hers! so - off I went, dug out a new batch of yarn (white wool/silk)and started it all over again:)) it's not difficult to knit and I could think of several people, who might like a cozy "scarf" like this - the next batch of present making will be full of "rings":))

this is a detail - with a green bead right in the middle (well camouflaged:)

I also worked the sample for my "knitter's" jacket - this is how it looks with the undyed yarn. it's soft, but not too loosely knit and feels very nice and warm. what I find surprising though: in the pattern rows 3 and 4 are knitted with a second yarn held to the first - but it's barely visible when knit up! I'll do two yarns so, the first is the 5ply, 4 fine yarns and the chunky single - the second one is much thinner, with only the fine yarns, but 2 instead of 1 ply of fine schappe silk.

I hope I'll manage to do the pattern before all kinds of other jobs start creeping up on me again...

I didnt' lie!

honestly, I only forgot to upload the picture of our eucalyptus tree! it's not totally in focus, but recognizable as such. I could only show the tip - otherwise you'd see the snow on the lower trees and shrubs underneath:)) it's amazing that a tree from a totally different climate area could do so well in cool and muggy ireland, but it's only 13 or 14 years old (grown from seed!) and already the highest plant in the garden - apart from the ashes on the border of our patch - which are well over 100 years old! and it has given me leaves and bark for my dyeing experiments to boot, even though I didn't end up with reds. I had everthing from yellow to light brown and light rust, so I think I should not complain. it's a good plant really, because the trunk on the lower part is free and it's easy to underplant, because it doesn't throw dense shade either. and I just love the rustling of the leaves in a breeze - a tree for all senses?:))

Irish spring? not really....

we have "palm trees" in the west of ireland! and we are already at the height of summer - as you can see from the very blue sky! well, ok, not really, but if you didn't see the rest of the countryside, you might be mistaken by the agave and the eucalyptus tree....

look at that! we are well after St. Brigid's day - and we have snow! I do like snow, but at that time of the year I am already planning the gardening and wouldn't mind to do at least a few scores outside! well, never mind - at least the sun is shining again and tomorrow we're supposed to go back to wind and rain, so we might as well make the most of it. it's not enough for the sleigh or snowballs, but at least it looks nice.... and it's not as if I'd be bored staying inside!

when the winter issue of "knitter's" arrived I really liked the cardigan on the cover. ok, the original yarn is way beyond what I'd consider usable - I just hate knitting with extremely chunky yarns! the pattern gives size 10 mm needles and I figured half of that would still make a nice outside cardie for me. but which yarn to use? I wanted to put some of the fine yarn on cones to use, i.e. some schappe silk (very fine), mohair (light rose), some cashmere and/or some fine, soft wool. and I also wanted to use the light grey fibre blend of silk with cashmere that I received as a gift some time ago! it's very soft with a slight lustre, but not too much. so I spun this up first and then plied it with 4 of the other yarns. never did a 5ply before:) it worked very well though, the thicker single of grey silk/alpaca fluffed up a bit and the 4 fine yarns stuck together, so it looks more like a 2ply... this is how it came out after washing. it looks nice after knitting it up, too - I just have to decide whether or not to dye it all. if I do, I'd dye the yarn in skeins, not the finished project. I was hoping that the different fibres/yarns take the same dye slightly different - to end up with a heathered yarn. but I'll give it a try on a very small scale first, I don't want to ruin the whole lot!

it feels very soft and cozy when knitted up and I like the raised simple cable pattern too, even though they don't show up quite as strongly as in the photo - with only half the yarn diameter. the pattern uses a second yarn for the two rows with cabling - and I decided to give that a try too. I plied a finer yarn with the commercials only, but used two instead of one very fine schappe silk thread. it's barely visible colourwise, but it does give a bit more definition to the cable, I think.... of course, I'll probably finish this cardie in summer or at least late spring - by which time I hope I won't need it for a few months at least! but then you never know how warm (or rather: cold!) the irish summer is going to be. if the coming one is anywhere near the last one - I might be better off by knitting old shopping bags into a raincoat!!