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.

Majacraft camp

Just spent a very relaxing but busy weekend in Rotorua at the Majacraft camp.  This is an annual event organised by Glynis and Owen; they looked so relaxed but I'm sure it took a lot of work behind the scenes to keep it flowing.  Several participants from USA and about 8 from Australia joined us.  Tutors were excellent including Flore Vallery Radot from Paris/Sydney, Heather Dunn and Mandie Chandler from Australia, and from NZ we had Jessicah Win, Heather Kearins and Genny Stevens.  There were a lot of "art yarns" floating around the campus in various stages of drying or being worn as neck warmers etc.  It was very free and if you didn't feel like going to a workshop you could sit on the deck in the sun and spin or walk around the shores of Lake Rotorua.

I have one of the early Majacraft Suzie wheels and Andrew was kind enough to give it some TLC so that the wheel doesn't wobble.  I was told my bobbins rattle cause they're more than 20 years old and the bearings are wearing.  I must give it a wax so that it doesn't look so neglected.

I cut it off!

Well, I went back to the cashmere scarf, threw the shuttle twice and broke two warp threads so out came the scissors and its gone.  Tied on some black merino in 110/2 TEX and have woven a scarf 2.2 metres long with not a problem.
Last post I also mentioned keeping knitting records.  Went to the knitting machine to repeat a project I'd made about 4 years ago, found the page in my work book with a few bits of information like tension, stitches and rows per inch but did I keep a record of colours - no - did I keep a record of the actual stitch pattern - no.  Nothing like making work for myself.
Have had a muddly week dyeing yarn for this, working on patterns for that, deciding which sample is best for this.  Now I have guests coming to stay so will have to return all the overflow from the studio back to its home and squeeze it in.  Enjoy your week.

Its been a while

It seems I'm still being plagued by the virus bug from Christmas time.  Appears it has probably left a residue in the middle ear causing what amounts to sea sickness (this has a name which I can't spell).  So no fun sitting at the loom or washing dishes, cleaning oven, etc.

Finally finished this little number with envelop neck in bamboo 4 ply.  The way the little chap is growing it will be too short soon so when I saw a ball of the same yarn in a "throw out" bin for $1.50 instead of $10 I grabbed it.  Figure I can take the rib off the bottom and knit downwards.

 This next might be a bit heavy for delicate ears!  When I finished the Poutama blankets I thought it would be
good to use the same threading for a new set of placemats for myself.  I raised all the odd numbered shafts using a tabby shed and slipped the lower layer out of the reed.  Then I put in two rows of tabby behind the reed and resleyed to the correct threads per inch, the tabby making it easy to find the correct threads.  With two rows of tabby inserted in front of the reed I then tied on the white cotton warp and pulled it through the reed and heddles.  I then went to the back of the loom and cut off the old warp, knotted groups of new warp ends and tied to the back apron.  Roll the warp onto back beam, tie to front apron and ready to go - when new dobby chains are made.  Six mats and one long runner later I did the same thing again to reduce the tpi for a scarf.  Met my waterloo this time though.  I used a 74/2 (48 wraps per inch) cashmere for the warp but after weaving 50 cm the threads started breaking.  I pushed ahead for another 50 cm but oh dear, an awful lot of broken threads.  Do I keep going for another 50 cm and a short scarf or cut it off and run?


I have read recently on a couple of blogs about keeping knitting journals or records of projects.  I keep a weaving work book and could pretty much repeat anything I've ever made but with knitting projects I've always delved into the waste bin and grabbed an old envelop - very elegant as you see above.  I had this rosey journal on the shelf for many years so thought I'd put it to use.  How long will this last?

My "baby" celebrated her 30th recently with a Zombie themed party so we had to join the fun in Auckland.  I contributed eyeball biscuits with a stuffed olive placed into biscuit flavoured with paprika and tasty cheese.  Also made fingers with baby carrots with the end slivered off and used a dot of cream cheese to attach an almond sliver then carved a couple of lines for knuckles.  After bbq and salad Rind served cup cakes that looked like brains. 

Proud parents! click to embigen.