Warping Day, And The End Of A Project!

 This morning I began another project to use up lots of yarn.  I thought!  I found three full skeins of I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby in Navy, Medium Mossy Green, and Linen.  Well, those might not be the actual names but that is the closest colors I can suggest.

The first order of the day was to empty the kitchen island and scrub it immaculately then measure its length. I thought it was 60" long.  Turns out the creators of the island skimped on the length by three inches.  Makes me mad if I think about it, but it works so, bucking up here at this late date!

Now came the warping of the 32" Ashford rigid heddle loom.  The plan was to make a baby blanket of about 30" by 45".  I thought I would use the random 2, 4, 6, 8 warping thread pattern.  Which to me meant to start on the two selvedges with 8 ends navy then 2, 4, 6, or 8 white threads, then the same with the green then back to navy and green.  So I followed that plan.  

In the meantime since the last time I warped the loom I have learned that it is a good idea to have each end thread be in the holes not the slots.  This is what I did.

Another tip from a weaver was to take bulky weight yarn and double it over, keeping a loop at the left end of the loom, and using it that way for packing the end of the yarn by the apron rod.  I did that, too, and it seemed like such a great idea.  When the weaving is done it will be so easy to pull out those threads. And keep them for next weave...

Now it was on to the weaving.  I wove a little less than two inches then did the hemstitching then kept on  weaving.  By the time I had woven 6-7 inches I knew absolutely that I was not going to use this yarn to make a baby blanket. At least not a woven blanket. Sad.  Oh well.  Good to learn it now.  

This yarn was just too nasty for weaving though perfectly fine for washable knitting.  I will now take the yarn off the loom and begin a knitting project. Oh well, again.

Here is the loom all warped up.  Well, at least the first part of the warping process is done anyway.  Next I had to wind on with paper separators.  That worked just fine.

Here you can see the shuttle ready to weave.  You can also see that the heddle has been threaded, the yarn tied onto the apron rod and the red packing yarn installed.  The first inch-plus weaving is done and you can see the hemstitching is in process.

Here you can see the icky weaving and the hohum pattern.  Everything I have woven before was cotton that had such a nice hand feel to it.  Except that one shawl that was woven with bulky weight yarn.  Too bad.

Emotional Support Chicken #8...a Giant!

 Since Dear One received his moose on Monday I have been knitting up a storm.  Three days, quite a few partial balls of yarn, and a full bag of fiberfill...and a giant Emotional Support Chicken is ready to hop into a box and head west.

Here she is:

This chicken was knitted using two strands of worsted weight yarn held together and using US #10 knitting needles.  This is the largest chicken yet. I hope its recipient likes it.  It made me happy to knit it.  I can say that the comb is the best one I have made so far.  This is acrylic yarn rather than the wool scraps I have used for every other chicken I have made.  It was a little taxing on my old hands but worth the effort.

New-ish Knitting Project: Pressed Flowers (Shawl) Cloth

 Some time ago I saw a beautiful shawl that used mosaic/slipped stitch knitting.  Since I had embarked on a program of learning as much as possible about mosaic knitting, I thought seeing this was providential.  It also seemed that every podcast I saw was about Pressed Flowers Shawls.  Now, I hate to spend money on knitting patterns (because there are so many glorious free knitting patterns on Ravelry and other places) but I really wanted to knit this sort of thing...so I bit the bullet and purchased the pattern.  I probably won't knit the actual shawl, at least not for a long time...too many other projects in the queue ahead of this one!

Reading the pattern was not as simple as I had thought it would be.  I read and re-read then started watching YouTube videos on Pressed Flowers.  My first efforts were dreadful but I kept going.  Finally I had a friend having a birthday and decided to try my hand again.  This is what I made:

This made me happy!  By the time I finished it, I felt comfortable with "Pressed Flowers" and was confident with pressed flowers knit flat.  Now to see if I can knit pressed flowers in the round!

The yarn here is I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby.  I think I used US 6 needles.

And if you are wondering what the strange "thing" is under the pressed flowers cloth, it is a copy of The Blue Zones American Kitchen.  We watched a Blue Zones series on Netflix I think it was, and became inspired to work on refining our eating and increase the odds that we can live to 100.  We shall see.  There are 100 recipes in this cookbook and Dear One has found one that he is interested in trying...the 16-bean soup recipe.  Back in the old days when we had all our children at home "on the farm", we made Magic Bean Soup which Dear One really liked.  

We will probably try this soup.  I will let you know.

Amiguri Pocket Bunnies

 Last week when one of my medical appointments fell through for a variety of reasons and I finally saw my person, it was too late for the appointment but it was very obvious that she was expecting a baby soon.  We made a better appointment for two weeks away (the day before my birthday! so it is easy to remember) and I decided to make her a baby gift for her little girl.  The last baby gift I made for a medical person did not turn out as I had hoped but as I have no shame, I gave it anyway.  Amazingly the baby is reported to love it.  That makes me happy.

When I got out into the car after the failed appointment I had a few minutes before the next engagement so I looked in my phone for saved knitting projects and found the perfect gift:  Amiguri Pocket Bunny.  It is a small project and seemed do-able.  

This is what I have made so far.  Still not happy with them and hope to try again in a few days.

Here are two faceless bunnies.  Usually I make animals with just eyes but this time I need to make faces which will be embroidered.  I am not completely happy with these but they will be fine for practicing the faces...so when I get a good bunny made the face will go better.

This photo shows the bunny tales.  I think they are kind of cute.  They are also less likely to choke the baby since they will be harder for the baby to pull off.  Pom poms are not good for babies and tiny children.  I made a hat once for a grandchild and took the grandchild on some trip or other, not a long one, and when we arrived at the store or wherever we were going, the pom pom no longer existed and the car was filled with wisps of yarn...lesson learned.