Weaving and Knitting

Well, not weaving exactly, but preparing to. I'm going to weave some rugs. I don't know yet if it will be at the Walk through Bethlehem or at home.

First I wound off 200 threads, 8 yards long, making a cross between the second and third pegs on the top of the board. (You can see a very small bit of my yarn stash in the storage boxes behind the warping board.)

I wound off the warp threads 22 at a time and placed each group with the lease sticks on either side of the cross. What looks like a real tangle of thread really isn't.

When I moved the warp to the loom, I used my raddle to place the threads evenly across the width I want the rugs to be. There are eight threads in each one-inch space.

Then I had to tie the warp onto the warp-beam apron. After this, I wound the warp onto the warp beam. I used slats from an old venetian blind occasionally to separate the layers. Tomorrow I plan to thread the heddles and the reed and tie onto the cloth-beam apron. Then I'll be ready to weave.

I took several knitting breaks during this warping procedure. I didn't feel like working on any of the projects I already had going, so I grabbed some burgundy yarn left over from my grand-niece Kaillee's afghan (yes, Pauline, I finally remembered what I made for her), a size 9, 16-inch long circular needle and cast on 80 stitches to do a knit 2, purl 2 ribbed watchcap for the Seaman's Church Institute. I started that first round just fine, but about halfway through it, I realized that I had switched to the knit 1, purl 1 of the seed stitch I've done so much of recently. I had to tink (that's knit spelled backwards for you non-knitters) to the spot where I went wrong. I did it again in the next round, but caught myself after only a few stitches. It took a few rounds to get my hands reprogrammed.

I have about eight inches done so far. In a few more rounds, I'll start decreasing for the top. I'll need to use double-pointed needles after the first or second decrease round. I think I'll go work on that for another hour or so tonight - I may even finish it.