I'm being productive.

Yesterday morning I wound off a 40-thread, 8-yard warp, tied it onto the old warp and wound it onto the warp beam. Then at various times throughout the day, I wove miniature rugs. I finished weaving off that warp this morning and cut it off the loom. There are 33 mini-rugs all cut apart and waiting beside the sewing machine for me to zigzag across the ends. And I already have another 40-thread, 8-yard warp wound off and ready to be tied onto the warp I just finished. If I keep going at this rate, I'll meet my goal of 500 by the end or March. The 33 I just wove bring my total to 146.

However, if I spend all my time weaving, I won't get any knitting done, and I DO have several knitting projects I need to work on. Also, the weather IS going to improve and I won't be stuck at home.

Weather & Weaving

WOW! It's been a long time since I posted here. No particular reason. Probably spending too much time on Facebook. I know of one woman who quit Facebook so she would post on her blog more. I'm glad she did. I always worried about her when she let her blog go too long - she lives in Israel, a worrisome part of the world.

We've had two weeks of freezing weather in tiny town, and about a foot of snow. We're not used to such weather. Snow is usually limited to 3 or 4 inches (usually less) and it disappears in 3 or 4 days when the temperatures rise. I didn't leave my house for at least ten days.

The seed heads from last year's garlic chives wore snow caps for a while.

The robins have come back early. They like the fruits of the flowering crab apple. I'm glad that I have some hollies and pines that they can shelter in.

These few are perched in the Japanese maple, which still has a lot of its leaves from last year. I took all the pictures through windows. The icicles are on the rain gutter.

With all this bad weather, I should have done more weaving and knitting than I did. I have woven 113 of the miniature rugs for this year's Walk through Bethlehem; my goal is 500. Here are a few of them.

 On the loom.

And off. I tried something different this year - tied three 44-end warps onto the 160-end one that I had woven on at the Walk, leaving about two inches between the warps. Then I wove three pieces at a time. I found that I don't like weaving that way, so when I finished them, I put on a single warp of 40 threads. I will continue doing one warp at a time until I get the 500 mini-rugs.

I'm also making 2-inch squares on a Weave-it loom. I keep that here by the computer and work on them while doing other things online. I have 183 so far, with no particular goal. I figure we'll 'sell' them at 4/'shekel' and have samples to show the kids how they can sew them together in different ways.

Here are two dozen of them that are all made from the same ball of yarn - very colorful yarn!

Happy New Year 2015

I've just toted up my knitting projects completed in 2014.

1 felted purse
2 Christmas stockings (actually these had been started in 2012, but I finally finished 'embellishing' them)
8 baby blankets (6 of them were to be given to babies baptised at my church)
19 shawls
9 scarves
23 hats
1 pair of fingerless mitts
1 dress for an American Girl doll
3 baby tops
19 wash/dish cloths
6 pot holders
1 cowl

I've also done some spinning, mostly while demonstrating at two venues.

And I have woven 7 rugs - 20 inches wide, lengths between 28 and 48 inches on the floor loom, and 76 tiny squares on a 2-inch Weave-it loom.

I'm starting 2015 with the following items on the needles:

2 blankets (one is for a queen-size bed)
5 shawls
1 scarf
1 pair of socks
1 summer top for me

I hope to complete these projects in 2015 and do others. One definite project is weaving about 500 mugrugs and 100 bookmarks, plus many more 2-inch squares for the Walk Through Bethlehem in December.

We'll find out in a year how well I succeed.

WTB

That stands for Walk Through Bethlehem.

I have been weaving at this event at the Nazarene Church in Mayfield since 2008. Last year it was scheduled for 5 nights, but we only got to do one because of the weather. This year it was scheduled for 3 nights and we got to do all three. God and Mother Nature smiled on us. The temperature stayed between 45 and 55, and there was no wind or rain. (It's raining now.) During the three nights (2 hours each night), we had a total or over 1,900 visitors.

During the year 2013, I wove 500+ 'miniature rugs' (think mugrugs/coasters), 60+ 'strips of cloth' (bookmarks) and I don't remember how many 'tiny squares' on a 2" Weave-it loom. These are things for the children to 'buy' with the 'shekels' they are given when they enter the village. Since we only did one night last year, I didn't need to make more items this year. My little products are very popular with the kids - there were 18 mugrugs and 2 bookmarks left at the end of last night. I took them into the fellowship hall, where all of us 'inhabitants of Bethlehem' gathered and announced that they were up for grabs. They all disappeared in a flash! So after they bring my loom back to me, and I weave three or four more rugs to finish that 12-yard warp, I will need to start weaving mugrugs. I think I'll shoot for 500 again, plus at least 100 bookmarks. I'll also make more of the 2" squares; I can carry that little loom with me and work on them at knitting meetings.

I wove one rug each night. I'll find out how long they are when I take them off the loom. Of course, I was talking, explaining what I was doing and how the loom works, almost the whole time. I really enjoy doing that. I'm really a rather shy person, but I have no problem talking to people when I am demonstrating weaving or spinning. I guess that's because I have something specific to talk about.

Any the rugs that look good enough for human use, I think I'll donate to Bellewood in Paducah. It is an agency that helps kids who have aged out of foster care do things like set up their first apartment. I donated some things there several years ago, and I think that would be a good place to take the rugs.

Fiberarts Stuff

I've been saying for about three years that I need to take everything I have on consignment at the Mayfield Art Guild gift shop out of there. Some things had been there for ten years and had not sold. (I think the Art Guild is the best kept secret in Mayfield.) About a week and a half ago, my friend Cathy asked me if I had anything I'd like to put on her table at the Project Hope (no-kill animal shelter) Christmas Bazaar. That was the nudge I needed to get my 'stuff'. I did that last Tuesday, then washed things to freshen them up a bit, and put new tags on them.

I only sold a few items on Saturday, but I enjoyed the event. Now I need to decide what to do with everything. The baby blankets, and probably the children's caps, will go to Hope for Life pregnancy resource center. I asked great-granddaughter Lexi today if she and her friends would like the handknit belts. She said that one of her friends collects belts. The one shawl can just be added to my shawl stash. Actually it will be the only one there right now, since I recently took all of the ones I had to my church. However, I currently have six more on the needles, and only one of them has a designated recipient. I don't know what I'll do with the rest of the stuff, but I'll think of some place to donate everything.

I spent several hours today with Lexi. Alyssa called this morning and asked if I could pick her up at school and take her to her orthodontist appointment at 11am. Since they were getting out early today for their Thanksgiving vacation, I didn't need to take her back to school. We had lunch at Panera and then did a little shopping. At Michael's and Hobby Lobby, she used coupons on her cell phone. My phone is not that fancy, so I pulled out a paper coupon at Hobby Lobby, but couldn't use it because the one item I bought was already half price.

When I picked Lexi up, I got to meet the 'lunch lady' that she gave one of my shawls at the end of last school year. The school is arranged so that the lunch area is right inside the front doors. I noticed some women sitting at one of the tables on the far side as I headed for the office to sign Lexi out. When Lexi came out of the hallway, one of the women got up and headed over to us. Seeing Lexi, she figured out quickly that I was the knitter, and came over to meet and thank me. That was such a nice experience!

Knitted wrapping paper, year 3

Two years ago, my then 11-year-old great-granddaughter told her mother that she hoped I'd knit my wrapping paper again that year. I have a tradition of giving my descendents Hallmark ornaments for Christmas. At some time, I had given Lexi hers in a knit, drawstring bag. I guess she wanted another one, so I knit drawstring bags for the six great-grandchildren, but wrapped the adult gifts conventionally. The two babies didn't give a damn, and I'm not sure what the 9-year-old boy thought, but the 11-,8-, and 7-year-old girls liked them.

Last year, I knit hats for everyone, including the adults and the unborn child, and put the ornaments in them. This year, I am knitting washcloths for everyone. My intention for the great-grandchildren was to match the towels my sister had given them with their names appliqued on one end. However, I learned yesterday that the four girls all have light purple towels. Doesn't matter for Lexi, since she's the only girl in the house. but the other three girls are all the same family. So . . . purple, lavender, and that bright pink might be good for Rose.

Michael's had Sugar n Cream 'dishcloth' cotton on sale last week, so I stocked up - one ball of each solid color they had (except yellow and orange, which I already had at home), but there were a couple of colors that were already sold out by the time I got there on Wednesday. I'll go back on Tuesday with a coupon to see what other colors they have now. I'll also check out Hobby Lobby (with a coupon, of course).

The washcloths have the person's first-name initial in garter stitch on a stockinette stitch field, with a garter stitch border. Very easy projects.

A Fulled Purse

Some people would say felted, but to me felting is done with unspun fiber. After the fiber is spun into yarn and then knitted or woven, the correct term is fulled.

Fifteen years or so ago, my friend Dana cleared some of her 'stuff' out of her mother's attic. She brought some of it to our fiberarts meeting and I came home with a large trash bag of wool.

Looks like so much yarn barf, doesn't it? Each piece is about two yards long. I have pulled out a lot of them, tied them together and rolled them into balls. This is what I haven't done anything with.

Here is what I've rolled into balls but not used yet. Several years ago, I knit two bags and fulled them. I recently completed another one (I had started it in May 2011 and then set the project aside). I don't remember how I had planned to do it when I started, but this is how I finished it.

I knit it in the round in stockinette stitch and am using the purl side as the right side, because that is where all the knots and tails migrate. On the flap, I bound off a few stitches every inch or so, alternating sides. The strap is just garter stitch. Actually this one was too long, so I did another one. Then I put them in the washer and dryer with a load of jeans to full them before I put on the strap. I had forgotten that garter stitch gets longer rather than shorter. The main part of the purse went from 15" to 10.5", and the flap from 13" to 9.5", but the strap went from 61" to 65". I had planned to have the strap doubled, but didn't like it when it was done. I figure it will make a good sash for my costume for the Walk Through Bethlehem in December.

And here is the final result, already loaded with wallet, check book, etc.