Some Summer Knitting

Sometime in July, I decided that fall would come sooner if I started knitting sweaters. I wound up casting on 3 in 2 weeks. To be fair, one of them is a baby sweater, EZ's February Baby. And one of them is a vest, the Eco Vest from Knitting Green. The third one is February Lady. So far, the baby sweater is done, the main section of the Eco Vest vest is done, and I'm down to the armholes for February Lady. Is it any cooler out yet?

Cricket Fever

Last May, I won a Cricket rigid heddle loom (donated by Schacht, thanks!) as a door prize at Colorado Weavers Day. I tried the scarf pattern with the yarn it came with and really struggled. Took a lot of getting used to since the heddle isn't attached to anything. I had a hard time getting an even beat, and a hard time keeping the fell line parallel to the cloth beam. Took a while to get a feel for what amount of tension gave a good shed and still allowed me to lift or lower the heddle. Finished the scarf and the loom sat empty for a couple of months while I glared at it.

A few weeks ago Jeanne Marie brought 2 scarves she wove on her rigid heddle to evening weavers group. They were lovely! She warped it with a solid color of wool, then alternated the wool and recycled sari silk in the weft. I thought maybe I should try again.

Wendy gave me some lovely yarn several years ago that I couldn't figure out what to knit out of it. I warped the cricket and started to weave, keeping in mind that it's not a shaft loom and just going with it. The next day it was finished and I was one happy camper!

Then I thought about this alpaca boucle yarn I've had for way too long and never did anything with. I also have a good-sized stash of sport weight alpaca in lots of natural colors. Random stripes of boucle in the warp this time, and a similarly colored sport weight to fill in the gaps. I chose a sport weight weft that was a little darker and browner and wove it all while my bathroom was being de-leaked. Even got it hemmed before the handyman left. ;)

This one shrank up quite a bit in the wash, but it feels just yummy. I put on another warp with sport weight alpaca for a color and weave scarf that I'll be starting today.

And that, my friends, is why I always try something new at least twice before I decide I don't like it.

Loom For Sale- SOLD!

This loom has been sold. 
Posted in several places simultaneously, the most activity (and the person who bought it) came from the Warped Weavers Marketplace on Ravelry. If you have weaving equipment to sell, try there!

I just upgraded from a 4 shaft table loom to a 4 shaft floor loom courtesy of Sue from Mew Mews Yarn Shop, who is moving (her house, not her store) and selling all kinds of things. Thanks, Sue!

So, in order to preserve domestic harmony, I now have a loom for sale. It's a 15" wide 4 shaft Nilus LeClerc Dorothy, with lots of extra heddles. I'm asking $250. It comes with a storage bag the previous owner made. Local sale only, I'm not willing to pack this up and ship it. If you're interested and live somewhere between Ft Collins and Colorado Springs, leave a comment.

Dimensions: open for use- 22W (includes crank) x 21D x 18H
                   folded for storage- 22W x 28D x 9.5H

BCW Towel Exchange towels

We finally had our exchange last Monday, after postponing several times. Here's the ones I wove on my 8 shaft table loom. My first warp with random stripes, and my first attempt at plaid (also random). I brought the plaid one in to exchange, but the striped one stayed at home because the bad weaving didn't improve in the wash. ;)

That's too bad, because I really liked the pattern of the striped one. I noticed that my friend Jane's blanket had a cool weave structure, so I charted it one day. It would take 12 shafts to weave as it is, but I shrank it down to 8 shafts and added color. I love the pinwheel effect! I'm going to try that again in thicker yarn for a baby blanket or something similar.

The plaid one was the first towel picked. I really like it and I'm very pleased someone else did, too. It just came together. 

I chose one of my favorite twill drafts from the past study topic and reversed it every now and then, changing colors as I felt the need to.