Down the Rabbit Hole


I have an FO to announce! My first woven article (a scarf) is complete. As I blogged about earlier, this was a project that I completely underestimated. I thought it looked easy but in fact, it was a multicoloured, multi-fibre warp with fairly complex tie-ups and treadling. I just really liked the picture and since I've developed an affection for Tolani scarves, I'm all about trying to create my own similar effect.


Project Name: Turned M's and O's Scarf
Designer: Emilie Pritchard
Source: Handwoven Magazine November/December 2004 issue
Materials: 8/2 mercerized cotton black, teal and tan, chenille in natural, warp
10/2 pearl cotton white for the weft.
From: Camilla Valley



I ended up cutting off the first 20 inches I wove because I was missing a few threads from one of the sections and it was thinner than the rest. I still had the threads hanging off the back of the loom so I was able to do some re-threading and tie on again to get the pattern correct.



I had a brief heart attack when after cutting off the erroneous piece I realized that "loom waste" included tieing on and getting started again but fortunately, my guild mentor who helped me measure the warp had given me an extra yard or so. Whew - lesson learned.


The true beauty of the piece comes when you wash it and those straight panels of pattern shift around and make the oval shapes. The fabric really softened up too.


I admit it - I'm smitten with this new hobby. I'm so glad I got the 8 shaft Baby Wolf too!


I wrote to Schacht to ask a technical question last week and gushed at how much I was enjoying the loom.


They wrote back a lovely explanation to my question with the following opening line


"Welcome weaver!"

Putting on the Ritz

My blogging has taken a back seat to a few other distractions lately. Next post I will have some finished objects to show off so there has been progress! However, for the last couple of weeks Chez Veritas has been busy preparing for twin sons Butch and Sundance to graduate from high school. This particular institution does it "old school" complete with girls in flowing white dresses and boys in white dinner jackets and bow ties. My dad came to visit from BC for the blessed event and helped the boys with their bow ties, cumber buns and cuff links.

The ceremony was 3 hours long (it's a big high school) but the kids looked so great and they were so full of energy and excitement. Don't you remember feeling the excitement of your whole life open ahead of you?

Mine was one of about 5 cameras snapping pictures so I only got a few after the ceremony. The boys were itching to get home and get out of the monkey suits so I had to snap quickly. Here they are with their dad. Not the best shot of him but I had to beg all 3 of them to take "just one more picture."

You can take the boy out of the playground but you can't take the playground out of the boy! I hope they always have a touchof "imp" left in them.

The Path Less Travelled

I think I know why I suddenly wanted to learn how to weave. I think I wasn't pushing myself enough with my knitting. While my current knitting projects are very wearable, they aren't exactly challenging. Zen knitting I told myself. I've got projects on the needles with minimal shaping, neutral colours and simple stitches. Blech! They will be lovely when they're done but it's like a stroll down a suburban sidewalk versus a hike through the wilderness. I'll take the wilderness anytime.

When I got the Baby Wolf loom; I chose a project that called for the equipment I had. Six shafts, 12 dent reed etc. Sure the warp was multicoloured but how hard could it be? I fell in love with this scarf from a Nov/Dec 2004 issue of Handwoven. I started winding the warp at the guild and another older member took pity on me and helped me. She wouldn't let me quit and when it was finally on the loom she said "That's the most complicated warp I've ever done in 30 years of weaving". Figures I choose it for my first project.

I carefully threaded the heddles. Of course, I ran out of heddles on two of the shafts and had to perform a midterm "heddle transplant". I took about six weeks to get the warp all set up and then last night, I was finally ready to weave. A quick check of the peddles lifted the threads highlighting two crossed threads so I was able to fix that quickly. I gingerly started down the pattern and after an hour of weaving - I had this!! It's always so cool when it looks like the pattern. Once the scarf is washed, the chenille threads will shift as will the others and the rounded curves will be revealed.

The thrill of learning something new has reminded me that I need to choose challenging knitting projects. No Zen here!

Remind me of this next time I get in over my head and start whining.

EZ Does It

"Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crisis"

Elizabeth Zimmerman (EZ)

I must admit that when I've thought of this quote by Elizabeth Zimmerman over the years I thought she meant to use knitting as a distraction from one's troubles. A kind of "Grannie on the Bugs Bunny Show" approach where one knits blissfully as the world crashes down around you.

I now know exactly what she really meant.

It's been a challenging year this 2009. On top of all the global issues, in February I learned of the tragic loss of a former co-worker in a plane crash. Then last month a dear friend and next door neighbour of twenty years died in a car accident. Both were men in their forties with families and communities depending on them. It just doesn't make sense.

It's times like these that make us reach for our knitting as a way to soothe ourselves and when I found myself thinking one day "I have nothing to knit" - I knew something was wrong. Like any rabid knitter; I'm rich with projects. Upon closer examination, I realized that all of my projects had hit a transition point. All of them required me to step out of my comfort zone and shift to the next leg of the journey. I suspect that this is what causes many projects to languish So - I embarked upon a "pushing through the transition" binge.

I sewed up the shoulder seams and picked up the neckline for the hood on Roam. I've never knitted a hood before. This baby is in the home stretch.

I started on the sleeves of the Americo Simple Cardigan in lovely grey Alpaca. This is a store sample. The yarn is wonderful and the pattern is very straightforward. I am looking forward to finishing it.

I cast on for Bijou by Marnie McLean. This will be a combination of my friend Hope's hand spun (merino/tencel) blend and my hand spun in a merino/tencel laceweight in Indigo from Tactile Fiber Arts. The braid of merino/tencel there is from the Sweet Sheep and will be spun to match Hope's hand spun to blend in with hers.

I plied the Shetland/Pygora/Silk blend from Hopeful Shetlands. This is a 3 ply chained ply that should knit up to a worsted weight. I'm thinking of either Amanda or Espresso from A Fine Fleece.

I even pushed on to thread the heddles of my Baby Wolf to make this lovely scarf. This is my first project.

It's clear to me now that Elizabeth Zimmerman knew that knitting is a metaphor for life. If we can tackle a short row or tricky collar pick up then maybe, just maybe those small successes can spill over into other areas of our lives and we can push on through.

I like that it's never too late to have an "Ah, ha" moment.

Chasing Cars

I *HEART* my baby wolf.

Actually, I heart both my baby wolves - the one you see to the right and the one that taunts me.

One sunny summer day when I was 8 years old, my family was riding in our 1972 Datsun station wagon in the country. A hound dog came bounding out from a bush by the side of the road where he had been waiting for a car to pass so he could chase it. As the dog ran along side of us barking, my father decided to play along and so he brought the car to a complete stop. The dog was so caught off guard by this (he almost bonked his head on the rear tire when he stopped so quickly) that he sat there puzzled for a few minutes pondering his options. "Now that I've caught this object of my affection - what the heck do I do? Do I bury it? Chew it? Lick it?" He eventually trotted away, ears and tail dropping in defeat.

I know exactly how that dog feels.

I'm pleased to announce that "the loom is in the house". After much consideration, I decided to purchase a loom. Resistance is futile. I'm enjoying the weaving lessons so much that I know I will want to weave - serious weaving. I know Schacht makes a great product and my Matchless wheel has been a perfect fit for me. The Baby Wolf Loom by Schacht had everything I wanted - power without being too mammoth. When I found one at Shuttleworks in Calgary that had all the elements I wanted (8 shafts with high castle), I decided to go for it. (Don't look now but they've created a walnut Baby Wolf for their 40th anniversary).

My husband picked it up at the trucking depot and brought it up to the "loom room" for me. After his part was done, he looked at me and said "Now what?"

The Schacht booklet that comes with the loom tells you how to assemble it but that's all. We got as far as we could on our own and then a generous guild member helped me put the rest of it together. I did get the Deborah Chandler book Learning to Weave and it's excellent. I did wind a warp at my weaving lessons but that whole lesson is a blur and the loom I'm using for lessons is quite different.

This much I know. Once the warping reel, raddle and video (maybe actually seeing it again will help) arrive - I'll be venturing into uncharted territory. I shall prevail.

Or

Maybe I'll just bury it in the backyard.

Acting our Age

I've been taking weaving lessons. My teacher is a retired Home-Ec teacher who told me to just come over straight from work every Monday night - she would make me dinner. I was so there.

When she told me I'd be sleying the reed on the loom. I got all excited. Wow! This hobby is way more exciting than people give it credit for I thought. Turns out...THIS is sleying - in weaving terms anyway.

The great thing about my spinning and weaving guild is that I feel so young. The average age is about 62 so I clock in on the low end. That is...until "the kid" showed up. No, really...she's thirteen years old. When she arrived at the guild meeting with her mother, I thought "poor kid's been dragged to this meeting by her fibre addicted mom." Turns out it was the other way around. This young lady is willowy, blond with intelligent deep brown eyes and the soul of an artist. As we were weaving together at our last lesson I was thinking how beautiful she would be in about 2 or 3 years. Let's see - bright, polite, pretty and loves the fibre arts. Why she'd make a perfect daughter in law. I began plotting in my mind how I could convince my twin teen aged sons to drop by the guild meeting when I suddenly realized that at age 18 they were too old for her! My babies were too old!!! That makes me.....as I was processing this horrible realization, she asked our teacher a question that blew me away. "Could I bring two of my friends to the next guild meeting? They're 12 and want to learn to weave."

These fibre arts that we love so much are quite trendy with young people these days. My 13 year old guild mate is not an isolated incident. She's part of a trend. What's really touched me most is the absolute joy on the faces of the older guild members as these young people come to the meetings and take their first tentative steps towards becoming weavers, spinners and knitters. These people have buried husbands, sold their looms to go into retirement homes and struggled with aging eyes and hands that don't quite work so well when you need them to. Most importantly, they know that these arts aren't taught in schools or even within homes any more. They are the keepers of the crafts and these young people represent the future. This blanket was woven in four hours by a guild member in her eighties. You don't make magic like this in four hours without decades of practice and love.

We're seeing this passing of the torch in many ways and some of us are better sports about it than others. Some of our beloved magazines have a younger, hipper vibe. They feature designs flattering those in their twenties. A woman "of substance" wouldn't be caught dead in that stuff. The styling has an edge to it and everything comes with a hood. Ah, for the good old days when knits were classic and each issue of our favourite magazine had scores of patterns we couldn't wait to start! Drat that new editor. It just hasn't been the same since she took over.

We need to take a different view. Yes, things may be changing but if we're honest, so are we. Let's support those young designers and editors who are reinventing the craft. All of the designs may not be for us but if it brings new fibre artists into the fold - hurray! If you love knitting, weaving, spinning enough then you'll be wistful yet a little glad when next you look at a new set of designs. It's the way things should be. After all - every woman has three distinct stages to her life:

1. Babe
2. District Attorney
3. Driving Miss Daisy

Feeling Blue

We're in the bottom of the ninth inning of this long, cold winter. I have warm comforting projects - mostly in Alpaca chugging along. Roam has been ripped back and I'm almost back to where I was before. There's something about March however that makes me yearn for colour and this year - I'm all about the blues.

There are several young designers that I think have a true ability to create garments both fashionable and wearable. Connie Chang Chinchio is top of that list and her newest design Varese pullover gave me my latest "gotta have it" moment. I ordered the Silkie Wool 2 ply from One Planet Yarns and received the package Thursday. The yarn came beautifully wrapped with a sachet of loose tea and a tin of hand balm. What a nice touch! Connie's prototype was made in a chocolate shade but I've opted for the salt spray colour. It's grey, blue and pale aqua. The hand is to die for. I think this will be very wearable.

After paying a visit to Julie at the Needle Emporium last Friday. I also scooped up the latest Noro book "Flowers" by Jenny Watson. This lovely shrug cardigan caught my eye. It's made in Noro's new cotton/merino/silk blend yarn called Chirimen. A great all weather piece for cooler air conditioned buildings in the summer yet still appropriate all year round paired with chocolate trousers and a turtleneck.

I'm not sure what this obsession I'm having with shades of blue means in the greater scheme of things. To me it's all about blue skies and sunny days. Oh lord let them be just around the corner!

Phoebe's ready to frolick in the fields!