Whew, what a week!

Well a couple of weeks really.  Feel as though I've been swirled around in the washing machine and swished out the spin cycle.

In four days I threaded three looms, wove two blankets and updated the laptop with fiberworks pcw and practiced ready for a workshop.  Spent a wonderful weekend at a workshop in Warkworth (north of Auckland) with Maryann Stamford, Australia, tutoring on using fiberworks.  Now I've been using this program for 8 or 9 years but within the first few minutes of the workshop I new I'd just been skirting around the edges, hadn't even looked at half the functions.  It was a fast moving program and those not familiar with using computers or keyboards got a bit lost; excellent notes and clear guidelines so I now have to sit down and go through it all again.

Got to cuddle (well talk with) Jack, our 5 month old grandson (and see my own kids) before heading home to prepare for a trip to Pirongia (south of Hamilton) for another workshop with Maryann on lace.  Again a two day workshop and learnt a lot, especially the relationship of lace to blocks.  This will be useful as Bronson makes great patterns for loom woven shibori.  If you ever get the opportunity to learn from Maryann take it as you get so much more than just the subject of the workshop and to those who didn't take the chance while she was in NZ bad luck.

My huck samples from the lace workshop.  The two at the bottom are positive and negative from a block design.  The light area in the middle on the right is pick up.

I had one day to gather my wits and on Friday Margaret and Jim Mecchia came over from Hamilton to "computerise" my loom so I'm now the proud operator of a compu-dobby.  Does that make me an IT geek!
Of course, I put completely the wrong warp on to try it out.  Nothing like going for glory, dark colours, turned taquete (a new structure to me) and 864 rows to the treadling.  Hmmm, have I been a frustrated pattern drafter for a while!  Anyway its going great and I'm getting more familiar with it.  To put this into context, when my husband bought me an electronic knitting machine many years ago it took me 3 years to turn it on.  Don't get me wrong I knitted, I could make the work sing, but I did it all manually.

So down to the loom, after a walk on the beach before the weather packs up ... again, more rain coming.

                                                                         Cave Bay

Entangled

Have you discovered "entangled" magazine yet?  Have you read "entangled" yet?

entangled is being edited and produced by Genny alias GrannyG and available online from zinio with the first issue for April being free.  So go check it out.  I'll wait while you have a look.

Its colourful, informative, well written and appeals to a wide range of fibre artisans.  I was going to spread the reading joy over several days but couldn't stop turning pages.

Now we need you all to subscribe so Genny can keep bringing great stories (and maybe give up her day job and get back to pod casting as well).

I had a very enjoyable day at the Creative Fibre Festival "Twist in Thames" on Saturday which was open day.
Met up with lots of friends and spent money I shouldn't have on stash enhancement.  While there a friend suggested I should post on the blog more often so I'll try but I do like to know someone is out there reading it!

First off I should have mentioned that the hat shown here knitted from thrums sold at the Whangamata market.  Of course the buyers husband said, why do you want to buy that, you can knit yourself, and the lady rightly replied yes, but I could never get the colours.  It was hand dyed many shades and tints of a wedgewood blue with bits of quarry grey and dashes of white where the warps had been tied all adding up to a great combination.

I've got myself into a bit of a corner this week in that three looms have to be threaded.  Hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday the computer box for my dobby will be delivered and installed which meant I had to have a 16 shaft threading on the loom to test it.

 This is half way in dreadful light as a "almost" cyclone was heading our way.  Every second thread is a variegated merino in berry shades and quite rich and the alternate threads are a bordeaux shade.  I'm threading a network twill and going to sample turned taquete as this is a technique I've wanted to explore for some time but having trouble finding much information.  I'm gradually piecing together how to arrive at the tie-up, treadling, etc.

 Loom number two is always threaded for blankets and I tie on the new warp.  Again dreadful light but you can see the white cross threads I use to keep everything in order.  This gold will be crossed with one blanket, gold to cream and the other in purple.  What would I do without the stairway railing to dry skeins on.

 The berry skeins are the weft of yet another project, summer and winter scarves, that I really should have been working on before the immanent arrival of the "box".  Its next, I promise.

One of these wraps was a commission.  When I started winding the warp I thought it was so pretty I wound enough for two.  I started weaving the top version and remembered the lass had said she didn't like spots so wove the second in chevron which she chose.  She didn't suit grey next to her face so I arranged the colours so the soft winter white could be uppermost but still keep neutral grey.  Lots of different threads in the warp and the weft a soft angora at about a 4 ply in kiwi terms.

Whangamata market

Winter has struck with a vengience; heavy rain warnings for Bay of Plenty and the Coromandel and my street is flooded at both ends so a great day to spend in the studio.

Saturday was market day in Whangamata where they open the doors at 8 am; how uncivilised.  It takes an hour to get there from my home.  A great crowd came through but I didn't sell a great deal; enough to have made it worth going but just little things like fingerless  mitts.  My friend with her jewelry stand, on the other hand, did very well and kept calling for help.  I did have visits from two people I supply and have enough orders to keep me out of mischief for quite some time so a good day to get on with it.

Weave, knit, spin

 There are actually two blankets here.  The one in the bottom right corner has black warp and the second has stripes of blues and greens similar to the warp.

 A shibori worm!  After the fabric came off the loom I dyed it using a shibori technique and then pulled up and knotted the supplemental threads ready to dye the loom controlled shibori pattern into the scarf.  I'm not going to show any more of the finished scarf as I think it is so fabulous I've put it aside for the Bay of Plenty Area exhibition.

 Another pair of Hodge boottees, these are a bit bigger at probably 6 months size.  Had a wee disaster as when I was finished knitting the reverse stocking stitch side showed on one of the fold downs.  Rather than reknit the foot I pulled a thread and reknitted the fold down.  Not as neat as it could be but when little feet are cold ....

See that peg hanging off the thread!  I don't know why I didn't think of this (saw it at Majacraft Camp).  I use pegs to hold yarn on the knitting machine, I pop pegs on loose warp threads on the loom, I use them in the pantry to close packets and in the freezer and now on the wheel.  No more winding it around (and around and around) the tensioner or the hooks where it never held anyway but I kept trying.

Talking of pegs (I told you I use them lots) this is a secret project I've been working on for an exhibition - monofilament and wire.  They don't mix folks.  But the weaving part of the project is now done and all these weights a distant memory.

Have been weaving blankets; was about to start another one when I realised that some of the mohair was handdyed (and had therefore been in hot water) and some was straight from the warehouse so put the unwashed into hot water for a few minutes so hopefully it will have shrunk it if it was going to.  So, while waiting for that to dry what shall I do?

I've replaced the foam on the knitting machine felt bar with door draft foam trim and ironed vylene on to that so hopefully the needles will slide properly and I'll be able to knit lace.

While dyeing the wool and mohair for the above blankets I threw a little romney sliver into each pot so I now have a collection of bits to spin more "compost" yarn (as learnt at the Majacraft Camp recently).  Must get some mohair locks from the Pokeno place when next heading to Auckland as they add vibrant colour and a little shine.

Last Friday I had a very pleasant outing to lunch at the Ohinemuri Winery in the Karangahake Gorge to celebrate the hanging and opening of an exhibition by Esther Nitschke, weaver from Whiritoa beach.  It'll be hanging right through April so if anyone's passing through the Gorge do pop in; the food and coffee are great too.

These boots were made for walking - or exploring Hobbit homes in old pohutukawa trees.

Yarny things, new and old

 You might not believe I'm a weaver with the amount of spinning and knitting that appears on this blog but this hat is knitted from thrums.  I have bags and bags of thrums which I'm trying to think of ways to use up.  I tried putting it through the knitting machine but the machine didn't like the knots - it might work to try weaving on the knitting machine.  It does take time to hand knit, pushing the knots to one side all the time.

Here we have spinning from batts made from the "compost" heap as seen at Majacraft Magic camp recently.  Wonder if GrannyG or Jessica would recognise their hand dyed sliver now.  Also bits of silk, rayon and shaggy knitting threads in there.  My drum carder is a bit small so I had to divide everything in half and make two batts to get a decent sized skein.

I've finally reached the point of deciding what to keep (and what to pass on) of my mother's.  Trouble is she kept everything and packed it in the draws real efficiently.  Who could pass up this old Patons Woolcraft booklet, cost one shilling.  When we in NZ changed to decimal currency way back in ?1967 that would have been 10 cents.  This is way older than that because tucked inside were these handwritten patterns, some in my mother's script and some in her mothers, all in fountain pen, of course.  Balaclava Helmet for Seamen,  Scull cap (Red Cross pattern), Mittens for Fighting Services.  Some of the patterns in the book are wonderful and could find their way onto my needles one day.

The poem at the end of the mitten pattern reads:
Rumour
Actual evidence I have none.
But my aunt's charwoman's sister's son
Heard a policeman on his beat
Say to a housemaid in Downing Street
That he had a brother, who had a friend,
Who knew when the war was going to
    end.

So that's all this time, I've got wool in the dye pot which should be ready for rinsing.  I'm preparing for a run of blankets influenced by the tui bird.  Also have some shibori scarves being woven on the dobby loom but white twill is rather boring to photograph.