Week 16 of 2025

This week I finished weaving a buffet runner -

It is to coordinate with the table runner I finished last week.

It is 20" x 47". Woven with 2/8 cotton for the warp and 2/8 tencel for the weft. 

This is part of my 2025 year of experimenting with weaving - the third matt/shiny project. The last one wasn't successful (the orange runner shown here), so for this one I only changed one variable - colour, from the first one (the gold runner shown here). I am happy with how it turned out - I think this weaving pattern is just more visible than the one I used for the orange runner.

This is the Earl's Canvas, a fancy twill pattern - it is a very nice pattern to weave.

More details can be found on my Ravelry page.

Photos from Around -

Down the road

Miss Maggie

Molly checking up on a sleeping GingerSnap!

All the best!♥︎

Week 15 of 2025

This week's weaving project is another table runner - 

The pattern is the Royal Holiday Runner from Handwoven magazine, issue Nov/Dec 2016.

This is part of my year of weaving experiments - for this project I used readily available 4/8 cotton for overshot for the first time, and wanted to see the sett that works for me (ended up being 15 ends per inch).

I wove it using 2/8 unmercerized cotton in white, black and honey for warp and tabby weft, and 4/8 unmercerized cotton in honey for the overshot pattern weft, all from Maurice Brassard.

It is 23.5" x 36". More details can be found on my Ravelry project page.

I also finished a little sample quilt for a recent free motion quilting class I taught (today the class was all about feathers, and everyone did so well!). The mini quilt is 27" x 25".

Using so many different quilting designs isn't something I normally do on one quilt, so it was lots of fun to stitch.

For the final photo - the big hunter stalking some birds (no luck and he came in for supper shortly after).

All the best!♥︎

Week 14 of 2025

This week I finished another set of tea towels -

I revisited the Heavy Meta Towels pattern that I wove last year. 

When I modified the pattern to make the horizontal and vertical stripes the same width and wove a table runner, I knew I would try some more towels (the runner was a short warp to see if the modification would work before trying a long warp for towels).

This time I modified the pattern to make a one over one "weaving" pattern.

The warp in 2/16 unmercerized cotton in beige, and the pattern weft is 2/8 unmercerized cotton in various colours (the tabby weft is the same 2/16 beige cotton as the warp).

A varied the treadling patterns a bit, and also which side I chose as the "right" side when I hemmed the towels.

I finished knitting a hat this week too. 

The pattern is the Beeswax Hat by Any van de Laar. I knit it with a commercial merino/cashmere yarn that I had dyed.

Photos from Around - 

This week we had more snow (pretty, large snow flakes), the chickens were a bit leery to come outside for their treats (the temperature was around freezing, which they have no problem with).

They did all come out.

The fresh snow was so pretty (mostly melted later in the day).

Miss Maggie is always happy outside - as a feral cat it took a while for her to be comfortable outside.

GingerSnap! was definitely an indoor cat when he showed up, but he loves it outside now the weather is warmer (I worry about him not being cautious enough outside like Maggie).

All the best!♥︎

Week 13 of 2025

This week I finished a small quilt -

It is 11" x 27".

I recently had the privilege of teaching a free motion quilting class and was reminded how much I love machine quilting - it is like doodling with thread and fabric, so I had to make something.

I started with a small " quilt" (well a 2.25" nine patch made from squares cut 1.25"), and added a large border.

I used a hera marker to mark out the spines of the feathers, 

and stitched them first.

Once the feathers were stitched I filled in the background (used two different designs), marked on a 45º angle, 3/4's of an inch grid (like the nine patch) for half of the background.

The quilting was stitched with a 100 weight Invisifil by Wonderfil thread for the top, and regular thread for the bobbin (I finished off a few bobbins) - all on a domestic sewing machine. The batting was one layer of cotton and a half layer of wool for the puff.

It is a little runner for an old washstand.

Of course I have to have a pet photo - that hen had lots to say!

All the best!♥︎

Week 12 of 2025

This week I finished spinning a skein of yarn -

This is a 3 ply, BFL/Nylon blend for socks (the little skein is the leftover).

The fibre started like this (I dyed it last December).

I started another spinning project. This time something I saw on Ravelry about spinning a braid of fibre two ways for striped socks. I divided the fibre into two (about 60/40), one part will be spun in a way to create a long colour changing yarn (chain plied), and the other a traditional 3ply creating blended colours.

I dyed the fibre with bright colours I don't usually use, just to see how it works. This is another BFL/Nylon blend, dyed this week.

I finished knitting the Bubbly Shawl, it was fun to knit and the pattern well done, but I just didn't think the final product would work for me (the points along the edge stuck out of my coat in an odd way), so the yarn is back in a ball (it is handspun - merino/tencel blend that I dyed too).

The Pets - 

Miss Maggie was trying to hide from GingerSnap! with no luck.

A walk in fresh snow this morning (lots of new coyote/fox tracks too)

The chickens took a bit of coaxing with treats to come outside in the fresh snow (not too cold).

All the best!♥︎🇨🇦

Week 11 of 2025

This week I wove another table runner -

This one came out to about 21" x 40" (47" including fringe).

As part of my year of experimenting with weaving this is another matt/shiny project (with 2/8 cotton and 2/8 tencel in the colour Orange Brulé from Maurice Brassard), but for this one I chose a closer sett (24 ends per inch instead of 20 epi like the Earl's Canvas table runner from January), 24 epi is the recommend sett for a twill weave.

I used another fancy twill pattern, which was visible on the loom under tension (cotton warp, tencel weft).

The closer sett also made the square design weave to slight diamonds.

Once the fabric was washed and pressed the pattern isn't as visible as the last experiment. I don't know if it is because it is a darker colour, if there are longer floats (loose threads) in the pattern, or the closer sett. I was dissapointed with the finished result (also there were many problems with weaving which didn't help my opinion of the project), but it was a successful experiment for me to determine sett when weaving 2/8 cotton and tencel - I prefer 20 ends per inch. 

Pets -

Miss Maggie

GingerSnap!'s daily ritual before Molly's walk.

So many chickens standing on one leg.

All the best!♥︎

Week 10 of 2025

This week I finished weaving a set of tea towels -

This is a new-to-me type of weaving structure - M's and O's.

When they were on the loom the threads were straight,

After washing the threads moved around, and created curves.

I wanted a new set of kitchen towels for spring, so put a long warp on the loom and ended up with nine towels and a couple of little cloths. I tried different colours, pattern, and threads for this project - more details can be found on my Ravelry page.

Photos from Around -

The chickens are really enjoying getting out now the weather is warmer.

All their beautiful eggs are so different (and so different from store bought ones).

Delicious hydroponic tomatoes from the basement this week.

The snow is really melting and everything looks so dirty, but it's still fun for Molly to dig in.

So tolerant when they are waiting for supper time.

GingerSnap! surprised me by making it up and down the tree with his large cone.

All the best!♥︎