So much fiber, so little time

Last minute plea

If you have a Facebook account (which I don't), and you're interested in better fitting clothes, could you please go to www.missionsmallbusiness.com, click "support", then search for ZYZYGY and vote? (If the website can't find ZYZYGY, then put in Cold Spring, New York and it will pop up.) Bonny Carmicino has been working on a pattern-making method to fit real people, and she needs 250 votes by tonight to get one step further to a small business grant.

Farewell, Huey

My lovely boy died much too soon.

Unexpected seasonal gift

Madelyn (aka Technology-Is-Hard-Barbie) will no longer be the editor of Handwoven. I knew that lifetime subscription would pay off eventually! Her last column is an ode to why she should never have been an editor in the first place.

I also smiled when I saw the shadow weave circles throw in that issue - been there, done that, but I think I like the draft I used better. It has bigger circles and smaller pointy bits. Glad they featured shadow weave, though. It's a lot of fun.

And my reason for the season: at this latitude, today is 8 seconds longer than yesterday. Yippee!

Crackers for crackers

I've been on a cracker baking kick lately. The lower left cracker is topped with "everything bagel", lower right with "artisan bread mix" (flax, mini sunflower, anise, poppy, sesame and something else), and of course plain sesame. They are insanely good and great to carry to work for when you just need something to chew. The next batch of dough will have some of the fresh herbs and garlic from my CSA share, which fortunately is getting past the EFFING LETTUCE phase and into actual vegetables with some "there" there. (We got purple string beans today - I did a double take at the bag, because I couldn't make out what they were at first.)

Why didn't this happen here?

So close, yet so far - coulda taken some eedjits out of the gene pool with all the illegal fireworks (bought in PA) that went off around here last night. Fortunately, none of the critters cared much. Unfortunately, I haven't heard of any local Darwin awards yet.

CSA time again

Yippee! Our CSA started up again today with many leafy green bits plus turnips and eggs. I've used up a lot of what I dehydrated last season, particularly the spinach, so it's nice to start over.

I turned the finished wrap over to the Hangar Theater to be part of an auction basket for the play Penelope of Ithaca. The play was commissioned for the theater, and they really wanted a handwoven item to be part of it. Hope it works!

Flip shawl in progress

Here is Flipper on the new stand. I'm about halfway through the shawl and want to be finished in time to twist the fringe and wash it tomorrow. The dark stripes are alternating medium gray and green which are so close in value that I had to be careful with the lighting while measuring the warp to be sure I had the right order.

The stand is great, but I think I want to get the "Flip trap" because I keep looking for a place to put stuff like scissors and tapestry needles. Halcyon is the only merchant so far who shows the trap on its website. Schacht hasn't added it to its site yet, but the holes are definitely there in the front of the loom for attaching the gadget, so I do believe, I do believe ...

Quick updates

The swatch was just about perfect: even selvages and square, but drapey, sett. I'm wrapping stripes to decide what the final version will be.

Also, the stand for the Flip arrived today, though I'm not sure I'm in the mood to do more tonight than count hardware.

And lastly, I got an email from a very dear friend with a picture of his newborn granddaughter wrapped in the Aran blanket I knit for his son in 1981. I'm so amazed that it was in such good condition and that they still had it.

Timing is everything!

The new issue of Handwoven (May/June 2010) arrived today, and it has an article on weaving waffle weave on a rigid heddle with one pickup stick. I'll have to read through it to adapt to my finer yarn stash, but that's handy news. I know the loony Xenakis boys have been touting 4 shaft work on rigid heddles for years, but, um, look at their other publications ...

The stand for the Flip loom is en route, courtesy of the always knowledgeable and helpful Lois at Bountiful. Useful fact: if your Schacht Flip was made before Feb 2010 (that means the ratchet gears for warp advancing/tightening are on the inside of the frame), you need an inexpensive adapter to fit the loom to the current stand. My loom was made later, but Lois took the time to find out in order to save me $9. I also ordered one of each of the 8 dent and 12 dent heddles and will eventually collect the full double set.

I'm just about to take the sample warp off the Flip and wash it. I goofed folding it and broke some warp threads, but that was total user error. Pictures tomorrow, maybe, although I've got a brunch in the morning and a barn full of horses to feed later in the day.

Well, lookee here!

Actual weaving! Here is my new toy, a Schacht 20" Flip rigid heddle loom. It's inexpensive, well designed, well built and fun to weave on. Plus it was made to use two heddles, so you can weave at setts from 8 epi to 24 epi (once you collect the full range of heddles).

I did buy the travel bag for it, which is handy to keep assorted four-legged critters and their hair out of the warp, and I will eventually buy the trestle stand. For now, I clamp it to the grooming table, which is exactly the right width, and weave standing.

This first sample is 80% merino / 20% cashmere that I bought in bulk many years ago in several colors from Webs.

I can has laundry

My elderly washer committed suicide about two months ago, but when I began to shop for a new one, sticker shock nearly killed me. I finally decided on this little beauty which arrived yesterday and was photographed in action :)

I am kinda sorta knitting again now that Buki doesn't attack the stuff on the needles so much, but it will still be a while before I get back to lace. I've got an appallingly heavy (for me) hat/mitten/sock set going right now.

Zombatar!

This is my Plants vs Zombies zombatar. I've gotten hooked on the game, because there are lots of levels and it makes me laugh.

(Brains!)

Woodstock

Forty years ago I was ten years old and about 10 miles from Woodstock. We went to the nearest grocery store afterward, found nothing but a few rolls of paper towels, and had to cross the Delaware into Pennsylvania to buy food and sundries.

And I still hear "And it's one, two, three, what are we fightin' for?" in my head? Something's not right.

CSA time again

Our former CSA decided at the very last minute not to participate this year, so my neighbor and I had to scramble to find a new one. Since we're both inclined to support the smaller farms, we signed up with one run by a local high school teacher. It's been a great success! For very little difference in cost, we're absolutely drowning in vegetables, and I've been eating, freezing and brining for a while now. We even got tomatoes today, despite the potato/tomato blight, along with glorious heirloom cantaloupes and our first dozen eggs. All hail the vacuum sealer!

Buki has been here over a year. He's slowly growing a brain and is much quieter indoors as long as he gets his long walk in the morning. Poor dog scares the daylights out of smaller dogs because he's so loud when they meet, but he really does like other dogs. A friend just got a pair of young puppies, and Buki is very patient (although barky) with them.

Not much fiber stuff going on. I've done a bit of spinning and have yarn on hand to knit a jacket for myself for the fall. I have the basic shape and patterns in my head, but our lovely cool summer suddenly turned gross and hot, which makes a lap'o'wool unappealing.

My mood has improved

I saw this and laughed (the guys with the ties particularly crack me up):