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.

Mission Afghan

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch after a shower and shampoo.  The fans were on since I like to feel the fresh air from the open window.  (If I were a dog, I would be the one with my head out the window in the car with my tongue hanging out enjoying the wind on my face...). All of a sudden I was freezing cold.  I realized in a moment that the only sweater I brought with us was the big old Elizabeth Zimmermann Adult Surprise Jacket made with Hilda Yates' Bartlettyarns.  That is perfect for winter but I did not want to get into wearing in before fall even sets in.

So what should I do?  I had been in the work room taking care of a few more things. I began putting items in the bureau drawers in the bureau Fred from downstairs helped Dear One put in the work room last week. Anyway, I came upon an afghan pattern that I had brought in my luggage by a fluke!

It is a pattern I always wanted to knit but never got to.  Now was the time!  So off I went on a two-hour journey.  Well, if I am going to risk life and limb going out into all this city traffic, I certainly want to get as much done as possible before my nerves give out.

So, I took the Costco receipt with me to make things right there.  (On Friday we had purchased thirteen 2-pillow bags of pillows for the incoming missionaries who will be here on 25 September.  We provide a pillow, a fleece blanket, and a comforter for each missionary.  They bring their own sheets, but in case not, we have a few they can buy. You can imagine the spectacle of a flatbed cart with 13 very slippery bags of pillows driving out of the store trying hard not to bash into any of the other Costco customers.  We did make it to the car and Dear One stuffed them into the trunk and the back seat.  Anyway, when we got to the storage garage to unload the thirteen bags of pillows, we found we had fourteen of them.  Yikes!    Someone had to  go back to Costco and make it right.  That was my first stop.  The girl at the desk was flabbergasted that I would come pay for the extra pillows.

After the Costco stop I went to the beautiful Hillsboro Library to return two books.  After that I went to Joann Fabrics and Crafts to find needles for the sewing machine the nice Relief Society presidency has loaned me (which I discovered I REALLY REALLY NEED!  Today the long slinky skirt that I love but which hangs wrong due to my wretched midriff bulge had had enough of me stepping on it, and the hem started to tear. I have now pinned it and will stitch it sometime soon...).  While there I went through their yarn aisles.  They actually have a lot of them, unlike Michaels which is cutting way back on their yarn aisles.  I found some variegated yarn that I liked and bought it.

There were three more stops: the Asian market so I could get ingredients for Orchid's Cool Tangy Noodles, Pizza Hut for Dear One's pizza fix, then Grocery Outlet for some more bananas for the smoothie machine and scallions for Orchid's noodles, then back to Pizza Hut to pick up the pizza then home.  These long trips are a bad idea because I was so tired when I got home that my resistance was low and I ate two pieces of pizza and tall glasses of dairy milk....

So tired that I was in bed and asleep before 9 PM so I woke up at 11.  Since I knew I would not sleep, I did my Jesus Project reading then went out to start knitting the afghan.  Rats!!!!  I had left the yarn in the car and I was not about to get dressed to go down to get it at that time of night. I looked in my knitting bag and found some yarn I could use for a sample.

This is the sample square:

Of course, it is not blocked but you can get an idea of what it looks like.

Today after Church we picked up the yarn from the trunk and brought it in.  After lunch I sat on the couch and worked up the first "real" afghan square.  After this one you connect them together as you knit. I do not know how that will go but will show it off when it happens.

Here is the first mitered square ready to start square 2:

The yarn is Red Heart Super Saver Stripes collection. I picked up 8 different stripes patterns.  We shall see if they go together well. I think this is the brightest of them.