Month: December 2004
I spun up about 1,600 yards of 2-ply sport weight moorit merino a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been in recovery ever since. Not only was that a lot of spinning, but it was spinning a darkish wool (red brown) in the evenings, but I was attempting to do it all with a long-draw to keep as much loft in the yarn as possible.
Well, obviously, I was doing it wrong. My 2 wheels are both castle wheels, which means that I sit directly in front of the orifice. When you draw out to the side…well, let’s just say that my rotator cuff has been in a lot of pain.
Toward the end, I tried sitting at 45 degree angle to the orifice, and treadling with only one foot. This allowed me to draw to the side, using my elbow, instead of draw backwards, using my shoulder. That was much better, but the damage was done.
I’ve been getting chair massages 2-3 times a week to try and get it to stop hurting. It’s mostly healed now.
But, this past weekend, I’ve been hunched over my navajo loom, working on the sampler that I’ve been working on since August. I made a lot of progress this weekend — about 4 inches worth. But then, I must have unwoven about 4 inches too. I’m nearly at half way point. Once I get there, I will take a picture, and play with my photo editing software to see what the completed sampler will look like. In theory, the second half is just the mirror image of the first half. I’ve had to do a lot of tweaking on the pattern. More on that later.
It’s true. Santa arrives on a red sailboat, not a sleigh. This is the annual arrival of Santa during The Children’s Christmas Party at Sequoia Yacht Club. There was a lot of flour and sugar thrown around (cookie making), and giggles (magician), and squeals (Santa’s arrival) to be had. And those were from the adults.
Sorry for the long absence, but we’ve been plagued with awful nasty bugs. I spent the entire Thanksgiving week in bed. If I never see another bowl of chicken soup, it’s too soon. No, not really. I love the stuff, but when it’s the only thing on the menu for 2 weeks, you get a little tired. Because as soon as I finished, Martin came down with the stomach version of the ickies.
But, I have been working on fibery stuff. I finally finished the triangle shawl that I started back in September. The yarn is superwash merino handspun thick and thin singles (rovings and spun yarn).
I originally intended this shawl for Sue, during her chemo treatment. And when Sue passed away, I just couldn’t face the shawl anymore. This past week, I picked it up and took another look at it. I realized that it was just the right size for me as it was, so I bound off using an i-cord bind-off. The shawl is about 5′ across the top, unblocked. I decided to leave it as it, for maximum fluff and air pockets for warmth. I wore it yesterday, and it’s nice and toasty. The point ends just before my butt, which means that I can sit down without sitting on it.
I like the way that the handpainted stripes are diagonal intead of side to side or straight up and down. And the plain garter stitch makes it really toasty.
Basic Shawl Recipe (below)