Woven

I've finally finished my class project for the four harness loom class I took at Weaving Works.



This scarf is woven from Hazel Knits Artisan Sock wool. The warp and fringe are Deep Peacock, and the weft is Grape Harvest. This yarn is from the 2009 HK Sock Club.

The loom sett was 9 epi (ends per inch) and my pattern is plain weave (tabby) with a basket weave stripe at each end. The blocked scarf is 52 inches (1 m 30 cm) long and 6 inches (16 cm) wide. The fabric drapes beautifully and is very soft.

Nordic Heritage

I spent a couple of days last month happily immersed in learning some traditional Estonian knitting techniques at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard.



This fledgling mitten cuff samples techniques from Kihnu, a tiny island off the coast of Estonia. The two color cast-on is called Kihnu Troi, and there are also two lines of Kihnu Vits braid. The workshop, "Estonian Mittens" was taught by Nancy Bush, author of many inspiring knitting books including two studies of Estonian knitting traditions, "Folk Knitting in Estonia" and "Knitted Lace of Estonia." She is also proprietor of The Wooly West.

The class was terrific and much more comprehensive than other classes I've had recently. Along with teaching the techniques, Nancy narrated a slideshow about the history and traditions of Kihnu Island, and played Estonian music. She brought lots of samples of mittens and other knitted items,



as well as books, fabric, woven belts, and many other Estonian fibery goodies. I found these patchwork bags especially appealing. They are for holding a work in progress:



Nancy is a wonderful teacher - so full of ideas and history and stories from her trips to Estonia, and very very patient and thorough with students. It was a grand day out knitting.

Oh yes, the yarn in the Kihnu cuff sample at top is (of course) Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, in Plum and Laguna.

Sleying the Reed

This little workhorse four harness loom was made by Dundas Loom Company of Missoula, Montana. It is residing with me for eight weeks while I take a beginning weaving class at Weaving Works. I've finished four weeks of the class, and this is my second warping of the loom but the first time without assistance.

This warp is for a sample project 5 inches wide and about 12 inches long. I'm using shetland wool yarn with 24 wraps per inch, which should yield 12 ends (threads) per inch (EPI). 5 inches times 12 EPI means I need 60 warp threads. I wound the warp threads in class last week, using a warping board to create a loop of 30 threads, with a cross in the loop to help keep the threads in order. When the loop is flattened out, it becomes a 60 thread warp.



The first step in warping the loom (I'm warping front to back) is to tie one end of the warp to the front (breast) beam, and feed each thread through the reed. This is called sleying the reed. The reed is the comblike part of the beater that keeps the warp spaced evenly, and that allows the beater to pack the weft. On this loom, the reed is made of metal. Each thread gets fed through a reed dent, using a tool called a sley hook.



Close-up of the sley hook (or reed hook). Sleying is done left to right, one thread at a time. The hook fits between the reeds, front to back, and catches the thread to pull it through the reed. Every inch (12 threads) I tied the sleyed threads into a slip knot at the back of the beater, to secure the warp. It took me about an hour to sley 60 threads.



This view is from the left side of the loom. Here you see the sleyed warp hanging through the reed at the back of the beater. To the left are the heddles hanging from the four harnesses of the loom. The next step in warping is to put each of the 60 threads through a heddle on one of the harnesses. Only then can I tie the warp to the cloth beam (front) and warp beam (back) and start to weave.

Beautiful

This rose is one of a vase full of beautiful pale orange roses, purple mums and pink lilies, which was a gift from my sentimental northern friend.

Also, a finished object of which I knitted about one eighth:



This blankie was presented to the new owner, age 4 weeks, yesterday. She slept through the whole event so I can't say whether she likes the color. Her mom was happy with it, anyway, especially since it's washable. The blanket is made from Dream in Color Classy (worsted weight) color Go Go Grassy. It was a collaborative effort, knit by 8 different rower-knitters. Mom is our sculling coach.

FO 08

These are my projects that were started and (mostly) finished in 2008. The mosaic was made using Big Huge Lab's Mosaic Maker tool.

My one goal for fibery adventures in 2009 is to learn to weave on a four-harness loom. Oh, and maybe knit a few socks.

Happy New Year, everyone! and Good Luck!

Plum Chilly

It's very, unseasonably, miserably, cold, snowy, slushy and icy here in the Pacific Northwest, and my knitting has turned from socks to mittens. Or gloves. Or glovey-mittens. These are intended for a photographer friend, who likes to photograph in the icy cold but occasionally needs his fingers & thumbs free of woolly covering. I plan to knit these as fingerless gloves, then to add colorwork mitten-tops and thumb-tops.

I am using Ann Budd's "Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns" for the basic glove shape. I made the corrugated cuff with Wendy's brilliantly simple technique.

The yarn is (of course) Hazel Knits artisan sock, in Rogue Plum and Laguna.

Happy Festivus to all my wonderful readers (all two of them)!

Like a Rolling Stone

My brother and I worked out a great deal for birthday gifts this year. For my birthday, he went to his local yarn store and chose a skein of Blue Moon Socks that Rock in a colorway he liked (Moss Agate). For his birthday, I knit the yarn into some woolly waffley socks to keep his feet warm this winter. These socks are already well-travelled: they went to Boston with me and most of the first sock was knit at 30,000 ft elevation, both east- and west-bound.

Moss Agate has green, gold, plum and a bit of brown. The garter/waffle rib pattern created even stripes with very little pooling. I made the sock legs longer than usual (for warmth) but then found I would run out of yarn, so I added toes in a complementary color from yarn in my stash. My brother loves them - and they fit!



project name: John's Birthday Socks
pattern: garter rib (modified)
designer: Charlene Schurch, Sensational Knitted Socks
main yarn: BMFA Socks that Rock (lightweight) color Moss Agate
toe yarn: Claudia Hand Paint Fingering color Honey
needles: 2.25 mm (US 1)
size: men's size 10, cast on 72 stitches
my gauge: 7 st/inch
Ravelry project link
project notes: I modified the garter rib pattern by knitting two plain rows between each rib row, which gives the fabric a waffle look.