mmw: December 2017

8.12.17

December

November ended and December began on a warmish note. Now the cold has kicked in and we have a light coating of snow. We ended up cutting the tree down early (the day after Thanksgiving) and I decorated it by December 1. This is the earliest we ever put up the tree because the first couple of weeks are busy, which is good because I came down with a virus almost a week ago. I'm still fighting it, but at least feel well enough to do handwork.

Photo from the Turkey Day 5K. Our turkey hats from a couple of years ago were passengers in our backpacks for the run.

The loom in my studio space is finally warped and I got the header and one repeat done before the virus kicked in. The finished size will be 30" wide by 5 yards long, using my favorite Harrisville Shetland in Russet and Walnut for the warp and Loden Blue for the weft. The pattern is from A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Marguerite P. Davison (1975 revised edition), on page 14 it is John Murphy's Bird's Eye No. 57/VIII.

Threading the heddles in a pattern--2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3.

Sleying the reed, things are nicely lined up.

The weft yarn will be pretty with the warp!

At this point, Kathryn helped me wind forward and then back to make sure everything is nice and even. At that point,
I re-tied and snipped the excess ends.

Four rows of carpet warp and then four rows of plain weave before launching into the pattern.

I revisited the ornament pattern and adjusted the charts, increases, and decreases.
A great project to use up bits and bobs of wool yarn.

Knitting gifts for Jim and Ben...

...and making something for Andi. The pattern is the same one my mother used for the Girl Scouts when I was a little girl. I found a copy of the book a few years back. It's a nice little needle case.

Jim's sock are finished!

On a morning walk, I noticed the ducks were having a last paddle around the pond before flying south for the winter.

It was a gorgeous day after Thanksgiving. You can see there were some unusual trees this year! I prefer natural green. The other trees had a Dr. Seuss look to them.

Our little tree.

7.12.17

Thankful

Thanksgiving is a memory and we're plugging away to Christmas and the new year. The first week of November was very frigid and just in time for Joanne's visit. It was wonderful to see her and we had a fun time visiting a couple of favorite yarn shops, Anoka Fiber Works, and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden by the Walker Art Center. The sky was bright blue, the temperature in the low 20s, but the twenty mile per hour winds made the temperature feel like seven degrees. We walked around and enjoyed the newly renovated space. When we finished with our walk, we ducked into the Walker's cafe and warmed up with tea, coffee, and a large cookie. On our way back to the house we stopped at the Coon Rapids Dam. It was a rainy year and the Mississippi River was really rushing through.

The Garden opened in 1988, and features contemporary and modern art from the Walker Art Center's collection in an urban park setting. It is a partnership between the Walker and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board.