Almost Summer

First tomatoes!

It's been over a year since I touched this page, and of course, a lot has happened.  I'm on the precipice of deciding when to retire right now, and it looks better every day.  I've spent the last two days in my studio, weaving on this vibrant warp that I dyed way back when I was one of the Tuesday Weavers, and have left in a box all that time, probably 10 years, at least.  I just love it, but have to say that it's been a lot of trouble.  I warped it on the trapeze with no problems, but then threaded it as Johann D...'s No. 32.  This is in the Davison book as a Swedish Lace Weave, but it is all Barleycorn, in my opinion.  It needs a selvedge, which I didn't add, and it's got huge vertical floats.  I finished it, anyway, fixed its selvedge mistakes just yesterday and am okay with it.  

Afterwards, I rethreaded it as Mary Ann Ostrander pattern, an old favorite.  I started weaving, was so excited, beaded the hemstitching, started weaving and then noticed at least five errors on the right side of the warp.  Well, I left the studio after marking the errors and did not go back in there for a very long time.  

    Tootsie, the 8-shaft was busier in that time.  My sister said she wanted kitchen towels, and that she likes red.  Well, Mom left me a lot of red yarn, so I went through Carole Strickler's book and found this pattern.  I've wanted to try Summer-Winter for a long time, and was really excited to see that this was a one-shuttle weave, after so much overshot.  I loved weaving these towels, though they weren't ready for her birthday or for Christmas.  I finished them in March, and gave them to her for no occasion.  I even got one for myself, the first one woven.  The set was too loose at first, so I had to tighten it up.  I kept the loose one. 

I did finally fix the mistakes, and on Monday, I started weaving the next shawl on the gorgeous warp.  After carefully checking for mistakes, I beaded the hem and started weaving in earnest.  I'm up to 43 inches at writing, and it will be my usual 108 inches long.  It's fun to be weaving again!  

  I don't yet have plans for Tootsie's next project but I'm thinking about two hand-painted warps.  Both are purple fading into blue, and I'll choose soon, especially if I go ahead and pull the retirement plug!

    In the meantime, I've been embroidering and knitting.

I've made a lot of mittens this past winter, great for walking the dog in the cold.  Even though I know how to make fingers on gloves now, fingerless gloves are best for giving treats and picking up... things when walking the dog!                                                                                        This blouse is the Box Box pattern from Merchant and Mills, made in cotton poplin.  I love the sleeves, but when I finished the daisies on the front, they looked like sunny side up eggs!  I haven't worn it yet, but I will soon.

And in my last post, I talked about the brake on Tootsie.  Dalton laser-cut this brake from 1/2" thick aluminum, and it fit perfectly.  Now, I have complained on this blog about Tootsie, but now she is my loom, as you can see, and I will keep her, no matter what!  The brake works like a charm.

I leave you with some baby pattypan squash.  I've never grown them before, or eaten them, but the one in the picture changed that.  It was ripe on Monday, and I pan-roasted it with some Shishito peppers and green beans for my dinner.  The seeds were from Monticello!  And it was delicious.