So I threw my coffee and grabbed my parcel, ripped into it and found....
Lets spread that baby out, shall we....
The vintage knitting books are a hoot! There are a few patterns that bear a closer look and some that I had to go and wash my eyes after looking at. The knitting for men has some very nice patterns and I may have to actually bite the bullet and knit a sweater for Bill at some point. But don't be looking for that any time soon. Once it gets in the queue, it will number about 45th. So I won't get to it for a while. There were even a couple of knitting machine books with sweater patterns. I do not nor will I ever have a knitting machine. I don't have a thing against them. In fact I think that they are really neat! But I just can't see myself using one enough to actually justify getting one. But Kate the odd ball has one AND her IT Division has been asking, well, I think that it might have escalated to nagging by now, for a sweater of his very own. Guess where the knitting machine books are going to end up.
And now for another installation in the "Mine! All Mine!" category, is my very first weaving project. Introducing "The Blanket"
My wonderful weaving teacher decided that the first thing that anyone who was learning from her should weave was a blanket. Blankets are substantial things. It is like jumping in the pool instead of dipping in a toe. Everyone finished their blanket and I bet most of the people still have them. I don't know where my head was the first time that she explained what to do to start, the whole warping thing, but I got it so completely wrong that I had to start over. As in, lay my made warp on the big ass printing tables in the fabric surface design studio next door and untangle and rewind balls by hand. All 8 of them. I learned one lesson that day. Pay attention. Or so I thought. I don't remember any major screw ups of the winding on and threading, but that doesn't mean that there weren't any. Or maybe because I was behind now, I just looked over other peoples shoulders and did what they were doing. Then came the weaving part. When you place the weft yarns across the warp, you put them into place with a reed in a beater. I guess that I took the term "beater" a little too much to heart and beat the, well, the crap, out of it. If you look at the picture closely, you can see that the stripes on the bottom of the blanket are much closer than the ones on the top. Some where along the way, Sue came by and gently reminded me to not beat quite so hard. I would do anything for Sue, just so long as I didn't disappoint her. I eased up on my beat. I was suppose to have 12 pics per inch (that would be 12 weft shots of yarn in one inch) and I had closer to 18 or 19. Just a little tight.
I didn't quite get it perfect, and this is a close up about half way up. The wool is Briggs and Little and there is also some light blue mohair that Sue seduced me with. I love my blanket and I think that it is looking quite good for being almost 18 years old and in need of a wash.
2 comments:
I have named my next post "I would Do Anything For Sue"
I guess this means a "Happy Birthday" is in order! I agree that your blanket is lovely. I can't believe a teacher would make that a beginners project! She obviously had great faith in her students. And obviously a well deserved faith at that.
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