Back in the saddle...sort of...

October 30, 2011

Things have been crazier than you could ever imagine girls and boys.  I am trying to get settled into a very small room and a very difficult situation.  Moving definitely sucks!  

I did, however, find a little down time.  Actually, after days of breathing paint fumes and cleaning chemicals, working my job, packing, unpacking, bending, lifting...etc...well, I am sure you get the idea, I was actually plain old exhausted and took a couple of days at my leisure.  I still have tons to do, and of course finding a place to tie up my backstrap loom is once again a dilemma.

So I mounted it onto the copper pipe loom so that I could at least complete the piece I was working on.  Now I can concentrate on finding a proper tie up.  I don't care for weaving on the copper pipe loom, I don't like the sounds it makes, or the smell of the copper on my hands after I am finished weaving for starters.  But the piece is woven.

It is the skull piece for my friend KraftyMax's son.  He is 6 yrs. old and I was just fiddling around trying to save a botched plain wv dbl wv attempted warp.  I did post some progress pics a while back, and now it is as finished as I can get it for now.  I was thinking maybe a belt, but out of the 36 in. warp I only got 22 in. of woven web.  Not quite long enough.  It is also, in all probability, too wide for his belt loops.  Again, it was an adjustment thinking and technique trying to save the warp from the trash can.  It may turn into a pencil pouch or something else for him when it grows up...still thinking on that one.

So here are the pictures of the completed band.

Warp face double weave, so reversible.  I only did one 'cross bone', because I didn't like how it turned out.  But I am quite happy with my little skulls!

I am working towards my standard Monday, Wednesday and Friday postings, but may still be a little sporadic for a time.  Please hang in there with me, I will get back on schedule as soon as possible.

An apology!

Monday, October 24, 2011

I owe you, my fans, an apology.  It has been one full week since my last posting, and I am truly sorry.  For you as well as for myself.  I have run into some snaffoo's in my personal life that have had me without...well...alot of things for the last week or two.

First I have had an unexpected move.  This has been very stressful, to say the least, and it has lead to a total lack of concentration, as well as creativity.  I have a life long friend who always says  "this too shall pass" and I am going to hold it to her this time.  Desperately.

Through all of this, some very good friends have stood by me, some...not so much.  Funny how that goes.

BUT, I am in the new place, dogs are safe and I have a place to rest my head.  So all is not horrible.  There is going to be alot of ongoing adjusting for all of us, me, my dogs, my friends, their dogs, their child...you get the picture.  LOL  But I am welcome here, something I never felt in the other place. 

I am also getting a few more hrs. at my job what with the holiday season approaching.  So my friends, this blog will probably not resume it's usual Monday, Wednesday and Friday posting until next week.  I will try very hard to reach that goal, if not then the following week for sure. 

Still lots of unpacking to do, but I will indeed figure it all out.

In the meantime, Thanks to you all for your patience from me, Lacy and Wiggles.  We will talk to you again soon.

Maybe this post should be called 'Manic Monday'?

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Well gang, it seems I am still in the creative slump that has had a hold of me for about 2 weeks now.  As a result postings are getting difficult. 8~(  

So today I will just post a 'Thank You' note to all of my fans and wonderful on line weaving/fiber art buddies.

I actually received yet another gift from my friend 'Popsicletote' from the Ravelry.com site.  She is so talented and generous.  She actually hand-made me a reed to play around with.  She put it together with twining, and she actually did it on a backstrap loom.  On top of that, she actually sent me five wonderful skeins of yarn, a wool-cotton blend!  It is a fine yarn and I can use it for sock knitting or for weaving, either one.  Tempting to do socks as I haven't had any really nice sock yarn in quite some time.  How did she know that blue is my favorite color?

We often do what is called a Weave-a-long on Ravelry (aka WAL) and usually they have some sort of theme.  OF course there are no weaving police, so often there are wide and varied ideas going on.  The one going at this point is for plain weave.  Either plain even weave, or warp face plain weave.  As a result alot of the gals are doing, and experimenting, using the backstrap for plain weave.  (I have discovered that as far as terminology goes, it is understood that plain weave is neither warp face or weft face, otherwise it would be stated as such.  So here on in, assume when I say 'plain weave' that you can see both weft and warp.)  

And, actually this is what got me started on trying to do some plain dbl wv.  If you recall the pink and blue piece a couple of posts back was the best one so far.  

What I usually do is warp face dbl wv and they are definitely horses of different colors.  I think they both have their place to be used to their best advantage, and at this point I still prefer my warp face dbl wv, and warp face plain weave also.  This may have something to do with the fact that I am still learning how to do plain dbl wv.  Mostly, I think it is the cleaner lines that make me prefer warp face dbl wv.  Plus you don't have to factor in the color of the weft, as it is never seen.

The learning process for the pln dbl wv is how I ended up doing the skull piece I have on the loom at this moment.  I didn't get it just right for pl dbl wv and converted it over to wrp fc dbl wv.  Often when I am learning a new technique I will have to 'adjust' my thinking.  I end up with alot of extra bands that way, and luckily, I have learned to save the warp yarn somehow and I usually even make a envelope bag out of them, so no waste!  That is a good thing.  I would only have so much need of a narrow band, and the little bag's make great give-a-way's.

For now, here are some pictures and my 'Thank You' to all of the folks out there, you know who you are, who enable and encourage our fiber art addictions!  I often find surprises of gifted fiber related boxes in the mail box.  Thank you one and all.

I think she got the thin reed pieces from disassembling a dinner place mat another lady from Ravelry sent to her.  Again, generosity.  The gold trim is one of her hand produced pieces.  I am not sure what technique she used.  Might be weaving, might be braiding.  Trim for our weaving's has become a hot topic of late also.

Sky blue and teal.

 

And how did she know that I am a bag lady?  All the way from Oregon?  Isn't that little blue bag just perfect for weaving tools!

I've been doing some spinning also!

October 13, 2011

Here is another one of my on-going projects.  Spinning up some wool on my hand carved spindles by Ms. popsicletote from Ravelry!  Aren't they cool!  The yarn isn't bad either.

I have had the roving for quite some time now.  As a matter of fact I have a LARGE basket full of roving in storage that I just keep chipping away at.  I think this will turn out to be sock yarn at some point...not sure though, I might try weaving it into something who knows. 

It spins up nice and fine and I usually use my spindles as support spindles in my lap in my recliner as I am listing to the television.  Aren't the colors vibrant!  Did I mention I am into the Fall colors lately?

This spindle is a phang, and it is carved of cypress and spruce.  The whorl is bark!  How cool is that?

 

I added the phone for a size reference. 

Did I mention Fall colors?  lol

I love the way all of the roving looks in one basket with all of those vibrant colors.

And I have even been chipping away at some cotton roving.  Spinning is great when I am don't have a particular weaving idea going on in my head.  I love using my own hand coiled pine needle baskets too.  Hand crafted anything is the bomb!  This spindle is one I got in a swap along with the pink and yellow roving you see in the basket above.  Great for cotton.  Just the perfect weight.  Not that I know much about the technical end of spinning yarn.

 

O.K. I think I am all caught up now.  See ya soon.  Gotta go work on those Christmas presents.

I've been doing a little bit of knitting.

October 11, 2011

I've been working on a pair of all cotton socks.  Un-mercerized at that. I wanted to try a tube sock for the first time, and of course in my small living area do not have immediate access to all of my yarns.

So I decided to make the two toes opposites, the bodies the same, and the cuff's will be opposites also.  They are called bed socks in one of my sock books.  So that is what I have intended them for, sleeping in or just padding around the house in.  They are not intended to wear inside of a shoe.

Since they are of cotton, they will of course shrink considerably so they are made larger than needed.  Actually much too large for me in all probability.  Luckily I know several ladies with largish feet, so they can easily be gifted out for the holiday's.  I also know several who absolutely love purple. 

I have read that because they spiral, they wear well.  They form fit the foot, and as the heel never rests in the same spot, they are less likely to get holes in them.  Knitting hurts my hands at times, especially doing the heels and toes.  Probably grip the needles waaaayyyyy too tight.  But between that, and the fact that getting socks to fit well is problematic at times, I don't knit often. 

I was on a mission when I decided to take up knitting.  I wanted something more portable than weaving and it worked well for that.  Unfortunately, not a soul in Florida could teach me how to knit a sock and so I had to learn it all on my own.  It took me over a year, but I did master it.  Started out with Christmas stockings and then onto human fitted socks.  I probably made about 30 or so pairs.  Then it was back to weaving, my first love!

So here are a few pics, they have been on the needles for quite some time and I am trying very hard to get them finished.

First the proverbial knitting basket.

And a close up of the spiraling. 

I am husbanding my sock yarn.  As you can see I had a little left over from 2 previous pairs of socks.  I will make the cuffs out of the same yarns, but opposite of each other.  I think they will be cute, and I happen to know an 11 yr. old who will adore them.

Kind of into the Fall time of year!

October 7, 2011

This one has actually been done for a couple of weeks.  I have to smile when I look at it, reminds me of candy corn.  LOL  I Just forgot to post it.  It is my first piece with 100% linen.  The yellow was sent to me by a fellow Ravelry member, Mr. cphilip, and it is the linen.  

I had actually decided to go for some supplemental weft (brocade) but didn't like it at all.  So I just did it in plain weave.  I usually don't like orange at all, but have of late been craving it.  I had intended to use it for the supplemental weft, so I am still craving it.  I even added in some of the copper mystery yarn that I found hidden away.  I love the sheen of it peeking out of the regular brown.  

It comes as a surprise to me that the yellow linen has some sheen also.

I do like the finished piece though.  I think it will make a nice table topper for the Thanksgiving time of year.

Houston, I adore these skulls!

August 6, 2011

I think Monster, my friend Max's six yr. old son, is gonna love these!  I know I do!

I have been playing around with the design and I like the first one the best and the middle one the least.  I am going to try to turn this into a pouch of some sort for him...maybe even a shealth for his Thor's hammer's handle, or a sword, perhaps a gun?  Who knows what it will grow up to be since it is so totally off the mark from what I started out to do.  

The original plan was to do a little pouch for sliding on to his pants belt.  Maybe for coins or marbles and such.  But as it is going to be so thick from side edge to side edge I am not sure.  Maybe it will be a pencil case.  By placing the skulls upwards and downwards both I think that there will be no wrong side or right side so which ever I decide it should be o.k. 

He has the skull drawing I did for him (see previous posts) hanging on his bedroom door.  His mom framed it out with duct tape that also has skulls on it.  Wayyyyy cute!

I did my first attempt at acrylic painting for him also.  That one is Captain America's shield.  Let's just say that painting is not my best thing.  However, it has the dignified spot on the wall just above his desk in his room.  How cool is that.  I have hit one something a boy can like.  Good thing there are lots of action heroes!

Rss back up and running! WaHOO!

August 4th, 2011

This is just a little update.  I have indeed started to get my Facebook back up to par...again.  Every time they make changes it blows up.  Somehow I can't see my friend's avatars, but other than that it is working fine again.

So although I am terribly behind in my postings, (they are usually a month or so ahead) I am going to post a little something for tomorrow the 5th.  I will keep on the Monday, Tuesday and Friday schedule.

I did indeed finish the little experimental blue and pink piece.  I used the Handwoven magazine for January/February 2011.  There is an article on double weave book marks and I have now tried several of the techniques.  I have also used the Jennifer Moore video I bought months ago in Georgia.  

I am not sure yet which I like best.  True Finnweave (a form of dbl wv) looks beautiful on the front, nice clean lines with no hatching at the edges, but is absolutely not reversible.  The others have varying degree's of this hatching on the edges of the motif's, along with varying degree's of reversibility.  My goal is not reversibility.  My personal goals are clean lines, less bulk than warp face double weave, (because the threads are spaced further apart you also get a larger piece for the same amount of yarn, so it is economical also) better drape, and I don't care at all about the reversibility.  I figure that if I want reversibility I will just use my warp face double weave techniques.  (Like the skull piece I have been working on.)

So that being said, remember that the skull piece was supposed to be plain weave double weave and I had some threading (warping) issues, and converted it over to the warp face dbl  wv.  I find wrp fc dbl wv much more straightforward and it has much cleaner design lines on your motif.  But unless you use fine thread, and I prefer #3 crochet thread, it is very thick.  The fine threads are just too tedious and difficult to see for me, even though I love what they produce.

So here are pictures of the little practice band, and I do wish I could remember which section I used which technique.  I will definitely keep notes on that the next time.  My handwritten journal has turned into my weaving bible.  I keep very accurate notes, on thread count, width, warps per in, length etc...But I didn't think to write down which technique was used for each design factor.  I think the ones I like best are the ones on the opposite end from the squares.  I believe they are done in the #3 technique in the Handwoven magazine (the one that looks a little like a heart is actually not, it is part of the motif on those bookmarks.  The squares and the first diamond are done in the Jennifer Moore technique and are reversible.

RSS Grafitti

Today is Monday, October 3, 2011

This post is simply a test to see if my feed is working properly again.  Please let me know, somebody anybody, if you can see this on your facebook page. 

I really enjoy the blog, but I am aware that most of my followers do not use a reader and simply glance at the posts on Facebook.  If it isn't working then I am having trouble getting motivated to blog. 

Hopefully I have corrected the problem.

Thanks so much,

Marsha

Pine needle basket coiling.

Social networking, blogging, tweeting...what for?

October 2, 2011

It is Sunday morning.  I am sitting with my coffee going through my usual 'waking up' routine.  

Email, check, Facebook Fan page, check, horoscope, check, Facebook personal page, check...wait, where the heck is my horoscope?  And there are no tweets on my FB page or my blog kisok.  Well, dammit, FB has screwed things up AGAIN.  Worse, I think they did away with the RSS feeds altogether...but I am not sure.  I am not a computer illiterate, but I can't seem to figure it out, again, nor do I wish to spend my morning all irritated about it.  

All of my 'fans' Avatar's have disappeared also.  Who knows what I accidentally clicked on for that to happen...sure as hell can't figure out how to undo it.  I just don't understand why in the world every few months they have to fix things that aren't even broken.  I am very very very tired of relearning how to use my own social networking page.

So communications are down with most of my fans, I can't even find half of them...what ever subscriptions are I don't seem to have many of those.  

I also gave up my Artfire shop not long ago.  It got to the point that I was spending so much time on the computer I was fighting for time to actually produce art.  Not to mention every time I sat down to do some, I had to think and think and think about what might sell.  This has actually taken a very lot of the fun out it for me. 

So, I have made a corporate decision.  Instead of all of the hoopla on Facebook, I am going to concern myself with my blog, as I always have actually, instead.  I will check e mails, and Facebook in case someone is trying to reach me there.  But it will no longer be a critical to me.  I will be spending my time here, and on Ravelry, and if I can find one I like (that makes sense) I might move over to another social netowork.  Maybe.  

I like that the blog is all up to me.  I can add kiosk's, or feeds, or widgets as I please.  And not as they make me do.  

I have been rather slack on the blog of late.  I only have one post done ahead instead of my usual month or more.  So tomorrow there will be a post as usual, and from there you may see more than the usual Monday, Wednesday and Friday posts.  This blog has kind of become a sort of diary to me.  So if my ramblings and my life/art interest you...stay tuned.  This is where I will be concentrating my efforts.  Along with my art of course.

Oh yeah!  Look what I did!