Year End Wrap Up

After a month of blogging every day I took a bit of a break from the computer. I didn't think it would last 4 months, but it did.

I have realized that cleaning and cooking have become my hobbies that I devote most of my time to these days (everything is better when it is considered a hobby).

I have finished a few different things over the past few months though.

Knitting -

A hat from a local raw fleece that I had cleaned, combed, spun, then dyed with indigo a few years ago. This is the second hat that I made with this yarn (I never wore the first one and took it apart).

This pattern is Mehendi by Svetlana Volkova.

A scarf made with some handspun, a merino/silk blend that I had dyed. 

The pattern is Easy by Martina Behm.

Christmas socks with handspun yarn (a BFL/nylon blend that I had dyed).

Weaving -

Tea Towels. Mainly woven with cottolin, but also some bouclé. This was a stash busting project to use up odds and ends. The warp is a natural cottolin. The pattern is A Baker's Dozen e-Book from Webs, one threading with lots of different weaving options to try.

A scarf with a handpainted warp - something I had never tried before. 

I used a Knit Picks lace yarn - Shimmer, an alpaca/silk blend, which dyed and wove beautifully.

More photos and details on my Ravelry page.

More tea towels in a favourite pattern (Cajun Inspired Towels from the Jan/Feb 2015 issue of Handwoven magazine). These just came off the loom and I am considering them finished for me, because my Mom said she would hem them in exchange for new towels.

Quilting -

A small (18"x24") Christmas table mat. I wanted a little pad for an end table that has a lamp and other things on it, so nothing fancy was needed. I realized that since machine free motion quilting is my favourite, that is what I did (plus a little bit of invisible machine appliqué).

I haven't been sewing much because my machine needs to go in for repairs, but with COVID some things are on hold. We did take the machine apart and tried a few things which helped, but it needs more work.

Woodcarving - 

More spoons, these from a crab apple branch that fell in the yard.

About 4" long.

A long spoon from a silver maple branch that fell too.

About 12" long.

Stained Glass - 

Since I now have a work space for stained glass again I made a piece using all kinds of odds and ends. It was lots of fun, but it has been awhile and I can see I need more practice.

Photos from Around - 

The bees did well this summer, they produced a lot of honey for us.

They are wrapped for the winter now, and we can't wait to see how they do.

A Great Horned Owl spent a lot of time around this past fall.

We harvested vegetables into October (unusual for here - we had about an extra month of growing weather this year).

Part of why cooking is my hobby, we had a great harvest with the extra month, so I did lots of canning.

Beautiful colours of Swiss Chard during the final harvest.

Molly.

Sunrise.

Molly loves to dig her ball in the snow (luckily she doesn't dig in the dirt the rest of the year).

Miss Maggie prefers the warmth of inside these days.

Molly as a new puppy two years ago,

and how much she has grown and changed in colour.

 And how the carpet has worn out, and how our home renovations are going.

The view from our window this morning - December 31st, 2021.

-31ºC with -45ºC windchill (-24ºF/-49ºF) - a good day to be inside!

I wish everyone the best for the New Year!♥︎

Lots of Weaving

This past week has been about weaving.

I finished my first card weaving piece. This was really easy, and enjoyable to weave.

I ended up with about 1.5m of braid. It is made from 8/2 unmercerized cotton in 4 colours.

The design is created by turning all the cards at a time. The top design is turning the cards 4 times one way and then 4 times the other way while weaving. The bottom design is 8 times each way. I believe this type of design is called a threaded in design. There are many other ways to card weave, and I look forward to trying out some other designs. The braid is quite thick and strong, because it is 4 layers of thread. The reverse side of the braid is a different pattern (it's visible in other the photo).

I also finished weaving the boucle towels (before washing).

Since some of the towels needed a loop, I wove a small band. This is the first time I have woven boucle cotton on the inkle loom - I was surprised it worked, but it was a bit hard to weave.

This is the fabric, and braid after washing. The white line on the fabric is a thicker cotton, where I cut the towels apart.

Nine towels - all hemmed, and ready to use (each one is different).

Nice and bright, spring time towels (although it is very chilly outside, -33ºC this morning).

I also finished spinning another skein of yarn. This one is a merino/tencel blend that I dyed. It is chain plied, so the colours wouldn't be too blended.

Photos from around -

Molly's frosty face from digging her ball in and out of the snow.

The little white house was moved to a new location this week.

All the best!♥︎