Livin' La Needle Loca

...and a finished object! This is Friendship Star: Specs: Started 4/10/16 Finished 5/30/16 Friendship Star kit by Laura J. Perin It was very satisfying to stitch one of her more straight-forward pieces. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from Tucson Twilight. It might take me quite a while to get back to that piece. Originally my weekend plan was to weave as much as I could. I assembled my bench and attached the Baby Wolf trap. I tried out a few picks of weaving and decided that this new setup would work well. Before sitting down to what I hoped was several hours of weaving, I knew that I had to clean up my studio. I put away the items that had been pulled out to save them from rain damage and didsome general straightening up. Much better!  I still don't have a clear plan about where to store my loom when it's not in use, but I'm not going to worry about it anymore. As I was putting away the skirt and top patterns (from the outfit I made), I remembered t...

...and it's a 3-day weekend! Our cherry harvest was a bust, mostly because the animals ate all but one cherry on the tree. This is what we harvested: We been harvesting lots of berries and the Husband has been baking berry tarts. Here's the latest one with our one cherry baked in the center: Coming soon is our small apricot harvest. Our main Blenheim apricot tree is getting pretty old and is not setting as much fruit. The rogue Blenheim apricot tree is coming along, though. And the clematis vine is doing well along the side wall: Up this weekend: Weaving! And this time I mean it! The first thing to do is assemble my weaving bench and attach the Baby Wolf trap to the loom. Then I'll tweak my set-up until I'm more comfortable while weaving. I need to do a little reorganization now that the rainy season is over. I had moved some canvas storage containers and some press-board bins out of the area where water sometimes collects. Since my studio was ...

...in which I work a little on several projects. The Costa del Mar shawl [ Ravelry ] and the Friendship Star canvaswork project are getting the most play right now. I hope to finish Friendship Star this month so I'm concentrating on it. Here's what it looks like as of this morning (sorry for the wonky photo): I haven't taken a current photo of the shawl, so I can't show that yet. Maybe next week. *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Working on section 5 Friendship Star (needlepoint)  Finished 75% of the multi-color border 4-shaft weaving sampler No progress, other than practicing my treadling to try to get the optimum shed for each one Works In Progress: Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatom...

...and the weekend report. I did not do all of the crafty things I thought I was going to do this weekend.   Instead, I woke up on Saturday with the need to clean house. I've learned that I just need to go with it when that happens. I spent the next few hours dusting, mopping floors, and vacuuming. I do love to multitask when I clean, so that meant that I also loaded the dishwasher, stripped the bed, washed the sheets, remade the bed, and put away (or recycled) 50-million little items that were just hanging around (coins, receipts, old grocery ads...).  My shoulders were sore, but the house looked much better. I didn't get lunch until 1:30pm.   While I did the laundry, I ate lunch and read. I worked a little on the needlepoint piece, but I just wasn't up to weaving.   Since I pretty much wiped myself out cleaning, I decided that knitting and watching Outlander was a better idea than stitching and listening to the washer and dryer. I vacated the studio for the li...

...and it's been a day! It started off with Microsoft Windows 10 automatically installing itself on my work PC...and I needed to finish something for a client. ARG! Chalk up about half the day when I couldn't do anything on the machine and then the research to figure out why the stupid thing wasn't displaying anything.  It's owkring now, but it's days may be numbered... In the garden, the Husband harvested some carrots: Last week, I took this picture of the Tivoli squash we have in the back yard. This week, it looks like this: Wow! That was fast! And finally, we have Queen Faviola blooming in the courtyard: Up this weekend: More weaving! I'd also like to attached the hanging loops to the Hawaiian shirt quilt, so I can give that back to its owner. I have some major housework to do, but it requires an empty house (read: no one tracking dirt and garden stuff onto newly mopped or vacuumed floors). Hopefully, the weather will cooperate! ...

...see yesterday's post for a photo of my weaving project in process. *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Finished section 4; started section 5 Friendship Star (needlepoint)  Finished the white border, a third of the way into a multi-color border 4-shaft weaving sampler Wove about 3 inches of plain weave, started the first 2x2 twill Quilt hanger for The Hawaiian Shirt Off Your Back quilt Still trying to figure out the best way to attach the tabs. Works In Progress: Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) WIPs To Be: A peacock or mermaid quilt for me.

...where we talk about how I spent the weekend playing with the loom. (I know...big surprise!) My Baby Wolf stroller (wheel assembly) arrived on Friday, so the first thing I did was install it. It only took me 2+ hours to do that, not because it was difficult or complicated, but because the Husband was out all morning and I had to go searching for tools.  The Schacht video on how to install it was very clear on which tools were needed as was the list of needed tools in the printed instructions. I had to find something that would work as well as the 2-inch wooden block they suggest you use. I found a couple of 2-inch bricks that I wrapped in paper to protect the loom from scratches. I found all of the other suggested tools and got started. Inserting the first bolt was fiddly, but all of my experience of putting Danish furniture together came in handy here. Inserting the second bolt was a PITA. What they don't tell you #1: When the directions tell you to "tap" the...

...and finally photos of the latest spinning project. First, the eye candy. The Husband bought me some new flowers for Mother's Day. This is Mimulus naiandinus: This is is Rhodohypoxis baurii "Pintado": and this is Meadow Foam: Next, the Finished Object. This is Empress handspun [ Ravelry ]: and the close-up: Specs: Started 7/20/15; Finished 4/30/16; Batt (2.0) from Purlescence Yarns; Tour de Fleece 2013 prize; 148.9 yds. chain-plied, 13 WPI Up this weekend: More time with the Baby Wolf loom! My BW stroller arrived today, so I plan on installing it tomorrow. The wheels will allow me to position the loom in front of one of my storage benches, which I hope will work for this first project. I think in the long run that I'll have to buy a real weaving bench, but I need to know the optimal height for me and I won;t know that until I've tried a few options. I plan on sleying the reed and getting the tie-up right for the twill patterns ...

...I missed the Tuesday weekend report in favor of getting the recap uploaded. The company party on Saturday was fun. It was a little smaller that usual, but that was nice for a change. It made it easier to talk to people and it wasn't crowded. My cupcake turned out pretty well. I used a recipe that started with white cake mix. To that you added instant pudding mix, eggs, oil, and water, plus mini-chocolate chips. It made a good cupcake base. I used whipped white frosting from a can because I didn't have time to make frosting from scratch. As it turned out, I had a terrible headache all day, so not having to make one more thing was a plus. I used Hershey's chocolate drops and dark chocolate chips for the paw prints on the top of the cupcakes. I also made one Cruella deVille cupcake with white and black frosting. (I wonder why no one ate that one?) You can see photos of the other contributions in this Flickr photo album . The Daughter sent flowers for Mother...

...yeah, I've been running a little late on the recaps. And there wasn't much for April anyway. Finished: 4/3 Linda's Dream (needlepoint) 4/30 Empress handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Batt (2.0 oz) from Purlescence Yarns 148.9 yds. chain-plied; 13 WPI Books: Taming of the Queen, Philippa Gregory The Japanese Lover, Isabel Allende Minus Hour, Skye Knizley Shadow Rites, Faith Hunter Safe Secret, Fern Michaels Becoming Marta, Lorea Canales Started: 4/10 Friendship Star (needlepoint)  Learning about my new Baby Wolf loom! Works In Progress: Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch) Tucson Twilight (needlepoint) WIPs To Be: A peacock or mermaid quilt ...

...Happy May! We have a few things going in the garden. Our lone cherry is ripening: We also had some mulberries, but the birds have already eaten them. We still have a few Icelandic poppies: And the occasional calendula: In the last week, an amaryllis plant has bloomed. These flowers are huge: Up this weekend: Our company's holiday party is Saturday. We're a little later than usual this year because the office move in January set us back a bit. Our theme is Disney and I'm making cupcakes in the 101 Dalmatians theme. I'm using white cake with mini-chocolate chips and white icing with (I hope) paw prints on top. If I can't get the paw prints to work, I'll just use chocolate chips as spots. Sunday is Mother's Day and I've asked to spend the day in my studio. I want to warp my new loom! .

...and  can now add a weaving project to the list. First, here's a look at the Friendship Star canvaswork as of this morning: Still no photos of the finished Empress handspun [ Ravelry ]. I hope to have them for Friday's post. And I need to do my recap for April... *WIPs roll call* Worked on: Costa del Mar (knitting) [ Ravelry ] My count was off on repeat #2 of the 3rd section. Currently tinking back 2 rows to get to a place where the count was correct. Friendship Star (needlepoint)  Finished the center motif; working on the white border 4-shaft weaving sampler Wound the warp and chained it; ready to dress the loom when I have enough time to do so Works In Progress: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Valley of the Heart's Delight sampler design (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ra...

...and the weekend report. So, new loom! I had a blast watching YouTube videos about weaving! Webs published two videos - how to wind a warp and how to warp your loom - that were very good. The best part was that the instructor used a Wolf loom in the warping lesson, making it easy for me to see how it will work on my loom.   Most of my weaving books are for the rigid heddle loom. I looked through the few that weren't and realized that I don't own a good basic reference. After checking on Ravelry, I ordered Peggy Osterkamp's Weaving for Beginners: An Illustrated Guide . It will take a while to arrive. In the meantime, I will continue to do online research.   I couldn't get started until I had an actual project in mind. I went through all of my Handwoven magazine issues trying to find something that wasn't too daunting to become my first project. I also put the question out to my Facebook friends who weave.   It became clear that I needled to learn how to rea...