Week 4 of 2025

I finished a set of towels this week -

The pattern is from the Jane Stafford School of Weaving - season 6, episode 2.

There are a few different weave structures, and it was a good learning experience. Link to my Ravelry page with more photos and details.

I also wove a table runner (link to my Ravelry page). It is 23" x 55" (not including fringe).

Since my weaving goal for this year is to try new things, for this one I wanted to try weaving with the same colour yarn, but in two different fibres. One is a matt cotton for the warp, and the other a shiny rayon/tencel for the weft (both in the colour way old gold from Maurice Brassard). The shiny yarn really picks up the light.

I am very pleased with how it turned out. The pattern is clear, but subtle.

The draft was much easier to weave than I thought it would be, and since it was a short warp it was very quick to weave (it took longer to twist the fringe!).

Works in Progress - 

Bubbly scarf

Handspun socks

2025 Cross stitch (joined up the outer border today!)

Photos from Around - 

Molly stopping before the road (she knows she isn't allowed to go further).

Such big snowdrifts.

Everyone is curious.

All the best!♥︎

Week 3 of 2025

I finished the Second Story Tee this week - 

It is a pattern by Debbie O'Neill. I knit it with a Knit Picks merino cashmere yarn that I dyed.

If I was to knit it again I would change the neckline - it is too high, and wide (I would do gradual decreases). I made it to wear as a vest (slipover I think, since it doesn't have buttons).

I started a new knitting project - the Bubbly Shawl by Ainur Berkimbayeva. I am using a merino/tencel blend that I dyed and spun.

It is really enjoyable to knit - never more than 20 stitches being worked at a time. I am not making it into a triangle, but more of a scarf (I have finished increasing and will work straight for a bit).

The weaving is going well - I tried out some different weave structures on this set of towels.

Photos from Around -

We had a blizzard this week (luckily every one was home).

It polished the surrounding field of snow to look like a lake.

Now it is very cold (-45ºC windchill forecast tonight).

The chickens are holding up OK, just touches of frostbite on the ones with big combs, still all laying well.

The cats are happy to stay inside (Miss Maggie won't share her bench with GingerSnap! so I had to bring in a bench for him).

GingerSnap! still has to be involved with everything - helping me change the tie-up on my loom (I have a Mighty Wolf by Schacht and it is very easy to change, but all those dancing cords are pretty exciting).

He is even involved with helping get Molly ready for a walk.

All the best!♥︎

Week 2 of 2025

This week I started a new weaving project-

Another set of tea towels using a pattern from the JST School of Weaving (Season 6, Episode 2). The warp is 2/8 cotton in three shades of green, and white. My goal is to be a bit more experimental with weft colours for these towels.

When I was getting the loom all ready to start weaving (dressing the loom), I realized that I use various height chairs to make the work more comfortable, and that they all involve weaving in some way.

When I thread the heddles (the "wires" that create the weaving pattern) I use a very low chair. It is over a hundred years old, made by hand with wooden pins holding it together. I refinished the chair in the 1980's when I was a teenager staying at my Aunt's in Quebec one summer (brought the chair home on the plane). A cousin replaced the rawhide seat - a woven pattern.

Here is a photo of the cousin (on his wedding day - his wife was a cousin of my grandfather).

When my children were young we went to see him and he showed me his floor loom, I had never seen one in person and was so impressed.

Next when I thread the reed (the piece that spaces the thread, and beats the warp threads in place when weaving), I use a stool that is a bit higher. The wool fabric on this was woven by my Mom in the 1970's.

When I am actually weaving I use a higher, older Leclerc weaving bench.

These are some woven items made by my Grandmother and an Aunt - these are catalognes (typical French Canadian weavings made from cotton and strips of cloth/rags).

I am glad to be carrying on the tradition of weaving.

Pets - 

The hens are doing well.

Molly having fun in the cold this morning.

Maggie and GingerSnap! were startled by the dog barking.

All the best!♥︎

Week 1 of 2025

I had a few finishes this week -

The 2024 temperature blanket was finished on the last day of the year!

It was a fun knit, and made me pay attention to everyday of the year in a different way.

A set of tea towels is off the loom.

These are at the same pattern as the last set I wove in December, but using different colours for the warp.

It is an 8 shaft twill pattern. The towel in the above photo is just woven with red - stripes appear in certain sections, and the diagonal line in the twill changes directions, weaving is magical!

We framed the cross stitch I finished earlier using a frame from the thrift store that we cut to size. It was less than $3, solid oak and had the glass (it frame a piece of needlepoint and looked like it had been made with reclaimed wood).

It hangs in my kitchen with two other cross stitch samplers I had made (one from 30 years ago, and one I designed and stitched a couple of years ago to fit the thrifted frame it is in).

On January 1st I started another cross stitch - this is my cross stitch for 2025 (the challenge will be making it last for the year), a quarter of the border is stitched.

Photos from Around - 

Cold temperatures this week made for a few days of amazing sundogs.

Pets at the Start of 2025-

GingerSnap

Maggie

Molly (her turn in a cone this week).

Some of the nine chickens.

We plan on adding a few chickens this year, but hopefully no other pets show up wanting to move in (GingerSnap!).

All the best!♥︎