Wednesday, December 27, 2017

OK, Jim . . .

My brother has once again reminded me that I have been ignoring my blog. I've been doing other things, like knitting:





That is two shawls, a scarf, a baby sweater, a baptismal blanket, and finally a Christmas stocking for my youngest great-grandchild. (It's hard to believe that Violet will be one next month.) I've done other knitting as well, but those are the things I have finished and photographed.

From November 29 through December 3, I wove rugs in the rug stall at the Walk through Bethlehem in Mayfield. We had good weather. (Two nights were a bit chilly, but not cold enough to get frost on my loom as I did one year, and there was no rain or wind.) Over the five nights we had more than 3,400 visitors! I put on an 8-yard warp, figuring that would be plenty. The first night I wove a white rug and figured out how much "filler" (cut-up t-shirts) I would need for each rug. The second night I wove a gray one; the third night a blue one and started the "hem" (some cotton yarn, which will be turned under and sewn) on the fourth one. The fourth night, I finished another white one and started the fifth (blue) one. The last night, I finished that one, and didn't have enough warp left to start another one, so I just continued with the yarn I was using for the hems. I'll find some use for that bit of weaving. The amount I wove each night was directly correlated with the number of visitors - I need to weave as I talk to people about weaving. We also 'sold' about 250 each of miniature rugs (mugrugs) and 2-inch squares to the children for the 'shekels' they are given when they enter the village.

Carmen was the vendor in the stall, with help from Rose for three nights. They sold the miniature rugs for 1 shekel and the 2" squares, 4 for a shekel. On the second night, Carmen discovered that some of the kids were trading just one of the 2" squares for something at another stall which cost 1 shekel. She told the mayor (Teresa is the mayor of Mayfield, and also a very active member of the Nazarene church which puts on the Walk, so Carmen calls her the Mayor of Bethlehem, too) about that, so at our get-together in the church fellowship hall after the visitors have gone, Teresa told the other vendors about it, so it wouldn't happen again. 

After the Feast of the Epiphany, when the decorations come down, I'll hem the rugs and donate them. Then I have another weaving project I want to do before I start weaving mugrugs for 2018. I've already been weaving 2" squares while I play Words with Friends on Facebook.