New Loom Update and More
The newest loom has been accommodated, and has its first warp on. I'm using the threading I showed in the last post, and it's disappointing. Maybe it's my choice of colors, but this is still a "getting to know you" warp, and I am still learning lots about the loom. For example, if you know me, or have been following my blog for a long time, you might know that the brake on the Norwood I used at Tuesday Weavers gave me nothing but trouble, thereby earning it it's nickname, Bastard, or "B" for the more tender weavers. Well, guess who has the same dang braking system! Argh! I step on the brake and the wheel goes WHEEEEEEEE!!! So every time I step on the brake to release, the warp unwinds too much. I have to get up and wind it back to where I want it, then use the front ratchet to wind it up. I'm used to the lovely, well-behaved braking system on LeClercs, but I can work with it. It's good for me to get up more often, right?
The contrast between the vibrant gold and the medium blue is just not enough, as you see. On the first towel (oh, these are kitchen towels, by the way), I used up odd bobbins left from the Christmas place mats I wove on Beverly, and the dark colors worked best, but I chose this gold for the first one, because it looked so good just laying on the warp. Each towel will be 20" wide and 30" long, with an inch hem allowance on each end. There will be take-up, of course, but I think they'll be plenty big. It's all 8/4, so sturdy, and using up stash, always a plus.
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Also happening is the luscious hand-dyed warp with the blueberry tercel weft. I do love it, but I think after this scarf, I'm going to cut it off and rethread into an overshot pattern. On the next, I'll use the blueberry weft, but on the next, I'd like to use that yummy alpaca-tercel I have in cream. It'll have a nice halo, and be so soft.
But it's not all weaving! I finished August's Sock of the Month on the 31st! Whew! They're "Flowering Quince" by verybusymonkey. I just love her patterns! The yarn is from Uneek, the sock yarn dyers who make the color changes the same for each sock, if you make one sock at a time.
And then I started September's, The pattern is "Rumplestiltskin," again by verybusymonkey. I've finished one pattern repeat, halfway to the heel turn, two socks at a time. 
But last Friday, I wanted to cast on something new. My daughter in law bought some yarn in May at Modern Daily Knitting when we went there for their inaugural retail opening. It's their Atlas yarn, dyed by Malabrigo, in the color way Favorite Pair. And I decided it was time for me to learn brioche! I used Carol Feller's pattern Novio Jr., but let me tell you that I cannot recommend it. She touts it as the perfect pattern to learn brioche, and it could be, but she leaves a lot of details out, so that you'll buy her companion Tutorial video. The pattern is 7 Euros, fair, even a little cheap, but that's because the tutorial is 25 Euros! It says you get a 30% coupon to use when you buy the pattern, but when I finally caved, and went to buy the tutorial, after the third frogging, the website said the coupon was invalid!
Well, YouTube exists for a reason, right? I watched Purls Soho's video on brioche increases, then tried them on a swatch until I felt confident. Off I went again, ripping out two more times when realized that I was doing the increases too close together. Ms. Feller words the pattern in such a way, that it seems that increases come every other row, but that's incorrect. They're done every 4th row. Now I'm to the point that I don't need the pattern too much, and am peacefully brioche-ing away. The picture is of the inside, and I like the way the increases look better on that side, so I'll be using that for the right side.
I'm making sausage this afternoon, and I bet that pork is cold enough to grind now. Enjoy the lovely weather, and happy weaving, knitting and however else you craft!
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