Second Loom Scarf - Stripes

I finished the scarf on the loom.




I'm very happy with the way it turned out. It's comfortable to wear and light enough for spring weather.




Pretty soon, I'll have made enough clothing and jewelry items to be able to wear something handmade everyday. I'm excited about embarking on a long-term project to connect the art of handmade with daily life.

WIP Wednesday - Loom Project 2

I am loving the weaving.

I decided to use Spunky Eclectic Panda Sock yarn in the color "Vampire Kisses." It's a self-striping yarn with short bursts of color going maroon to white to grey to charcoal to white and back to maroon.




This color way lead to a surprising effect in the pattern of my scarf once on the loom:




The warp is simply 220 Superwash merino yarn in a worsted weight. I added white stripes between the charcoal strands. The weft, which is the self-striping sock yarn creating the horizontal weave, has created these unexpected stripes of maroon, white, and charcoal in an almost uniform pattern.




Weaving continues to be a delight.




Happy Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday - Fingerless Gloves

In honor of WIP Wednesday, here's a sneak peek at my very simple, very warm, angora fingerless gloves:




This, soft, beautiful yarn has a shining blue strand:




It gives the gloves just a hint of sparkle within the halo of angora fur. I really think they're lovely, and I will soon finish the second glove!

Feel free to share any works you may be crafting/arting in the comments!

The First Loom Project

I have a number of creative projects going on. Jewelry, drawings, writings, embroidery, crochet...

But today, I want to show off my tabletop loom. My husband Dave gave it to me for Xmas. It's called a Cricket Loom, which apparently is just a rigid heddle loom. I know next to nothing about looms and weaving, but I have been educating myself!




Set up was pretty easy. I put the loom together quickly.




Warping the loom (stringing the blue yarn) became a somewhat meditative practice. It took a while, but it wasn't at all boring.




I used the self-striping yarn Dave gave me. It lends itself to a subtle effect in changing hues of the scarf. Creating the weft had its challenges. The edges are a little uneven, and there are gaps here and there from missing the warp on occasion. The thickness of the weft improved as I got into the swing of it.




The finished product! It's by no means perfect, but what a fulfilling practice! I can't wait to start a new one!

Meanwhile, I've been collecting seeds and seed catalogs. I prefer heirloom varieties from organic suppliers, but I recently got a box of mixed heirlooms and hybrids:




Anyone else excited for the coming gardening season?!

Weekly Wrap-Up 2 of March

Spring breeze -
the pine on the ridge
whispers it

The nights are cold, but the days are full of sunshine and the crocus are showing their colors in the front yard. Spring has finally touched upon New England.


Highlights of the past week or two include:

Seed starting! I filled up a 72 cell tray with peppers both hot and sweet, tomatoes large and small, and onions and leeks. I scratched in some worm castings from the vermicomposter, placed them on a heat mat, and beneath a grow light. This was Thursday night. Saturday night, I was ever so surprised and pleased!

Mini Vacation! Lover had a business meeting in Washington, D.C. I took the train down to meet him Monday night. We walked around the Mall to see the memorials lit up at night. On Tuesday, we visited the American Craft Museum, the Air and Space Museum, The National Gallery (both the West Wing and the East Wing), and the International Spy Museum.

New discovery. I was absolutely thrilled to discover a very chic craft store called "Make & Mingle" in the town of Fairfield. You can check this store out before a movie at the Fairfield theater, and then hit up Las Vetas for coffee. All in one area!

Maw. There's still an algae problem in the goldfish tank. I didn't want to add one more animal to the small aquarium, but I also don't want to use a chemical algae-cide. So, I got an algae-eating plecostomus named "Maw." We have an albino version in the other tank named "Valve" and he has really kept it spotless! Maw looks like the pic below.

Outliers. I read Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" on the train traveling to DC. I would strongly recommend it to anyone! It dispels the compelling American myth of the self-made man or woman, and portrays how no one is made successful without both practice and opportunity. It also touches on many other topics, including education and entitlement..

All in all, it's been a pretty good week. Next week we have our kick-off for Bridgeport Beautifies, a trip to Cape Cod, and to see "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo."