not much to show

i've got a project on the loom that i just can't seem to finish. i know the reason is that i have not been working on it! yikes..... i've been working on a stealth knitting project that is finally completed. it was not complicated, just had a deadline. as does this weaving project.

i was wandering around in the stash and found this lovely yarn. by the amount i had purcashed, i must have been thinking sweater. well, it's going to be a poncho. i have it on my larger loom warped to the brim!

i totally hope that what i want to use this for will by unnessecary. what is it? well, the trip to mary-land of course. the last several years have been cool (at least by my standards) and this will be perfect to toss on in the morning and in the damp barns. so watch.... this is the year that it's in the 90's.

i finished the spinning for the guild knit-a-long and cast it on last night. i'm not completely sold on this.......

i'll keep going and wait for amythefibergoddess to give me her opinion. it is soft beyond belief so it is a delight to work on. the further i go, the more it reminds me of a garden..... beans, peas, carrots, beets...... need a bit more to decide.

what happened to spring....

i'm going to make a concentrated effort to get my fiber stuff posted. there has not been a lot of fiber things happening, but i did have some fun. the annual 'girls weekend' took us to the lovely state of New Hampshire to my cousins cabin in the woods. they name it 'little bear cabin' after a sighting of.... you guessed it... a little bear. we didn't encounter any on our outings, but did see amazing stuff.....

the afternoon we arrived it was in the low 70's, just perfect for a hike.  there were few signs of spring other than the lack of snow :)

and the brightening of the trees. you could see hints of buds and the smells were amazing.

our destination was this pond with loon and beaver. you could see some activity on the trees...

several had fallen in the area, all with the same tell-tale teeth marks! we shopped in Concord and i found a charming yarn shop, The Elegant Ewe. while the others were playing in a bookstore, i had myself a fine time in the shop. there was a wide variety of yarn, wheels, looms.... it was all there. i left with two balls of knitting fever painted desert laceweight for.... you guessed it weaving.  i even got some knitting done on my knit-a-long poncho...

want to do it all over again!

happy spring

it seems that i totally missed the month of february. can't even use the usual excuse that it's a 'short'month given that it is leap year and there was an extra day. i even celebrated the 'pay-it-forward' concept of the day. what did it look like in fiber you ask?

i was a weaving maniac. amythefibergoddess decided that silk was missing from her fiber line-up. she acquired 10 skeins for us to play with. they dyed into stunning works of art and i wove 4 of them into scarves. it was a bit trickier than i'm used to. not much leeway for mishaps. i was able to calculate (and i use that term very loosely) it so the entire skein, all 400 yards, became a scarf.

i also jumped into the 'miss babs' weave-a-long. i have several skeins buried stored in the stash and i chose ~celebration~ in a lovely lace weight. i couldn't be happier with how it turned out and will brave the masses to hit her booth in may.

yes, another poncho. this was a birthday gift and the recipient was very specific about the design. purple and exactly like the first ones that i had done. the purple was easy, i had a bunch left over from a would-be sweater. i warped up the new kromski loom only to discover that i really needed to use a larger heddle. i pulled it off and it was draped over the living room chairs for several days. when i finally got past my mad, i discovered that there would probably not be enough to do the entire project. amythefibergoddess to the rescue. we tried overdying some of my yarn with poor success, so we used a skein of her corriedale farm yarn. it was genius! just enough difference in texture to add to the design and the color was spot-on. i had big plans to add knitted elements and fancy it all up.... but the birthday girl was firm. so it is just what she asked for.

amy also had some yarn that she had woven into a table runner and tossed the left overs my way. i was pretty darn sure that i wouldn't have enough, so i taught myself a new stitch. the leno.

i must admit it really came out well and looks great on the table. i've got another wrap on the loom and have finally gotten around to completing my spinning project. i was gifted with polwarth/silk roving in the stunning ~hemlock reserve colorway. it's spun, plied and washed. i have 330 yards of a dk weight yarn. i'm working on the complementary color for the noro-shawl.

i've also been helping a friend learn to knit. she has taken to it like a duck to water and wanted to knit a poncho. so..... we're doing it as a knit-a-long. side 1 is done and we completed the lace part of side 2 today. she is going out of town for spring break and wanted to get to the mindless part of the knitting. with the way she is going, i need to pick up my pace to be ready to put this baby together.

whew..... that's it for now.

gift giving

i'm on such a roll with these dang woven scarfs..... i just can't stop. thinking about them, weaving them, planning the next one, who can i unload gift them to. my niece has a birthday coming up this week, so i tried planting the seeds at christmas about a poncho. well, it was like launching a lead balloon. my sense was that she was not interested, not no way.... not no how. so, she got a stunning merino/mohair scarf....

suits her perfectly! interesting thing about dropping subtle hints: she has no recollection of the conversation and when i gave her the scarf, it almost sounded like i could try for a poncho. or she was just trying to be nice ;)

amythefibergoddess and i are at it again in the dye kitchen. the second annual artisan market is fast approaching on february 27th, and yesterday we did sock yarn......

saturated, colors... oh so lovely. as we were rinsing up, amy suggested that i take some of her merino/tencel home to try on the loom. i could not say no. she is a sorceress!!

warped my schacht using a different technique. instead of tying to the front beam, you use cotton yarn to reduce wast. so far, so good...

i zipping right along!

i've been weaving....

not only did i get a new loom for christmas, my child was gifted with a 15" cricket as well. if you do the math we have..... 3 rigid heddle looms living our house. each had their own stand, shuttles and additional heddles (well, only the schacht has extra heddles). true to my nature, when i jump in, i go all the way!! so what have i been making?

this is a terrible photo, but it's the first project off the new loom. i wanted to try it out before i started my sisters holiday gift and i wanted to have it be something that would be in my life. it's a subtle gray houndstooth pattern scarf for my patient spouse. not a peep has come out since the looms have started to arrive. it will be a lovely valentines gift, don't you think?
after the practice, i warped up for my christmas craft. amythefibergoddess helped my dye some wool early in december in anticipation of this project. i wanted a deep, scarlet but was equally pleased with the rich plum that the yarn became.

as i was warping, i was aftraid that i would run out of yarn, so i used the lighter skeins to add in a subtle stripe. it wove beautifully, just the size i was going for. i seemed the edge and voila.... a poncho. this is the third one i've done and i couldn't have been happier with the finished product.
i need to make one for me, but i've got lots of other items to work on......

sarves are flying out of here! i've been experimenting with patterns, colors and yarn weight. it's been exciting to find yarns that i purchased (and had forgotten) that work for weaving....

this beauty is a merino/mohair blend that i bought the first yeat i went to the new england fiber fest. the colors are stunning, subtle changes in warm tones. it's going as a birthday gift to live with my niece.
i also joined a weave-a-long on ravlery (didn't i say that i'd jumped in with a splash?) using miss bab's yarn. sure enough, i found several skeins and i wanted to try out the lace weight yarn before i started.

it's all ready to go. i'm adding in the purple to try for some subtle color changes in the fabric.

wrapping up the old-year....

things got away from me there at the end of 2015. finishing up the semester, holiday baking, holiday knitting, holiday weaving...... but i got it all done. voila.....

we constructed our usual five gingerbread houses. there was a moment of frustration when in my hast i didn't let the frosting set. i was able to selvage all but one, so grandpa got the crooked roof. we delivered them quickly so the four pawed creatures would not be tempted to investigate those yummy smells. and boy, did they have the most amazing aroma! i'm not sure what i did differently, but they smelled fabulous. the wine cardigans were gifts for my honey's work associates. the ladies had pearl necklaces and the dudes had buttons. i knew well in advance that he needed these, but it was down to the wire to get them finished.

i have fallen in love with houndstooth. really, its more like lust. i just can't seem to weave enough of these. this one was gifted to a very dear friend who is quite finicky about apparel. i was assured that he would love it, but until he put in on (and then didn't take it off.... the entire afternoon) i was wringing my paws :)

these were gifted to our yoga friends. we've been going to this class as a family twice a week for the entire year. you can really build a yoga family when doing down-dog together!

santa left this under my tree......

a 32 inch kromski harp rigid heddle loom and stand. i love my schacht to pieces and wanted to have one with a bit more width. we're still in the early dating stage, trying to figure each other out..... but i did get this done

remember the yarn amythefibergoddess dyed for me? well here it is woven, washed and drying. i was afraid the i was going to run out of yarn as i was warping, so i mixed in some of the lighter weft yarn and the stripes are stunning. it's all stitched and wrapped, waiting under the tree for our family christmas celebration tomorrow. i'll post photo's of the recipient modeling it :)

while i love the width, it has become a challenging finding a spot that is safe and yet i'm still part of the conversation. until the tree comes down this is the best spot.
i'm certain that 2016 will be filled with crazy, fibery adventures!

It's been over a month.....

and I realize there have been no updates. I kept meaning too.... But  (fill in the blank with busy, busy, busy:)
The tree was harvested and is the prettiest ever. I wanted it to fill the spot from floor to ceiling and does it!

Christmas on the farm was the first weekend in December. It gets better each year. Amythefibergoddess brings a perfect group of vendors together to fill her garage with all sorts of gifts.... Ornaments, soaps, baskets, fiber, yarn... A complete shopping opportunity.
I've done some of this....

yes, there was lots of grape juice involved but i assure you it did not interfere with the end result. we even managed to do this....

get amy started with her new loom. it's a kromski harp ( and i think she really likes it). as we draw closer to the end of the year, i've been baking, shopping, wrapping and finishing some last minute knits. this....

has been a great opportunity to get them done. sadly it is also the perfect place to grade papers, so that has taken precedent. there's still lots to do and more to show and i'm making a vow to do it more regularly......

and i leave you with a wee reindeer!