Meet Naomi, my new cuddle bunny!   Isn't she adorable?     I have 'borrowed' these pictures from my friend's instagram account (with her permission).   Her creator / mother is Tracy who is technically my hairdresser, but after 8 years we have become good friends.    Tracy is aware of all our trials and tribulations this past winter and decided I needed some soft companionship to help during rough patches.    Her name is Naomi. She is crocheted with the softest yarn and is actually quite large. Most of her are those floppy ears but she also has a ..read more

So as I explained in my last post, spinning is all I can do for now while my back heals and I have been enjoying the time.  I have become much more familiar with my Hansen e-spinner and how to get the best out of it and my spinning / plying has improved.  It's a different approach to a regular spinning wheel and takes some time to get used to. (Or it did for me at least).  Anyhow, it has saved my arthritic feet and I enjoy the portability of it.     Some how I found this web site: FellviewFibres on line and bought some of their rolags to spin.  There is always a ..read more

 Yes, I'm still here.... I'm not even sure where to begin really..... It started with my mother in law dying November 30th at age 100.     Then I hurt my back in mid December. How?  I bent over to pick up something off the floor and felt it go. My lower SI joint / disc on the left side and it came with a big helping of sciatica.  Dreadful pain..... and I'm still dealing with it. Then the sky light above our hallway started to leak and there were no roofer to be had over the holidays so there was a classy plastic bucket set up in the hallway.  Our house painter fri ..read more

 Happy New Year to you all..... where ever you may be!  ? It's become a custom here at my blog to do a weaving year in review. To see what I was able to accomplish in my studio. I will admit right now that my looms are very quiet.  The smaller Spring loom is waiting for me to resume threading on two huck lace shawls and two lovely painted warp scarves are just under way on the Megado.     About mid December my left lower SI joint started to ache and I ignored it to my peril and now I have terrible back pain and hobbling through my day. Gel ice packs and pain meds are ..read more

I found this Nordic Santa today on FB (no  photo accreditation sadly).    This is what Santa should look like!   Not that one made popular by a certain soda pop many years ago.  Anyhow, this gentleman's hat, coat and  boots look beautiful and functional.....  He's ready to fly tonight! This is a different kind of Santa too. More earthy tones and rather polished appearance.  He seems to be doing quite well and can afford a better suit of clothes  I find it interesting that many cultures who don't normally celebrate Christmas, now embrace Santa an ..read more

This is most likely the last finished project for 2023.... or maybe I can squeak out a couple of scarves before months end?  Christmas sorta slows things down for a spell! This draft shown below may look familiar and yes I have done it before. It's a fun and easy weave and a great way to use up small part cones and play with colour.   They also make great gifts and people snap them up.   I gave a friend a choice of all the towels in my Etsy shop and she chose one of these as her gift, even though she got one last year.   So this has me thinking that us weavers perhaps over ..read more

The first time I saw this draft at Handweaving.net it was in a rather stark combination of red and white.  I almost went by it but took another look and I saw a very pretty pattern that had a lot going on.  Kinda busy but it intrigued me. When weaving up a busy pattern, I usually lean towards the motto 'less is more' and go with more neutral shades or softer colours. Let the pattern do all the talking!   The size of the yarn you choose also has a role to play.  Smaller grist means a smaller pattern, shorter floats (if they are over 5 ends).    I decided to go ..read more

I guess you could say that I started my Christmas preparations in July by deciding to weave  kitchen towels to restock my Etsy store  and planned and pre-wound no less than five warps. This is warp number three.   Warp number four is over the half way mark and I just beamed warp number five.    I have no idea what is next after that!   (yet) The idea is to have some lower price point items as this going to be a tough holiday season for everyone stretched money wise.   If they sell well, I may plan some more for at least one of the two looms.... I have w ..read more

I have been itching to weave a turned twill project for some time.  So I dug around in my stash of 10/2 cotton (of which I have a lot ? )   and pulled together some colours.   Now the drafts below show the basic arrangement of the two blocks and the colour transitions, but the actual colours are much more muted than the ones I grabbed off the colour bar.  I don't get that persnickety with the colours as I keep the original cones out and close to hand to view as I work.  These are Web's Valley yarns  and the entire range of colours have a muted or saddened quality ..read more

 A second helping of an annual towel exchange that honours the memory of Wayne Nicholson or Padre Wayne as he was known on weaving groups at Ravelry.    It's been a lot of fun exchanging towels and making new friends and that was the heart of Wayne's inner light. To reach out and touch people in a light hearted way.    He and I swapped towels, samples and conversations so he would have just loved this. This time, my towel swap partner was Nari in San Francisco who sent me this lovely towel of all over Swedish lace; sett 18 epi and has an 8/2 cotton warp and cottolin we ..read more