Finally, time to knit.

No knitting updates worth showing, or loom building either. The socks - Broadripple #2 (green with pink toe) and Cascade Anklet for me are slightly bigger. Branching Out is close to completion but looks the same. By next week, though, I expect to have all of these finished, and have Icarus well under way. How, you make ask, when I've made so little progress lately?

VACATION! For the next week we'll be relaxing on Lake Winnespesaukee. So I'll be spending the next week knitting, reading, knitting, swimming, knitting, etc. Oh, and sleeping. Hopefully I'll have better luck with that than in recent weeks.

Here's a peek of what it looks like:

Bear Island cam

If you take a boat ride and head out between the two closest islands, you end up in Center Harbor in about 10 minutes.

What's so special about Center Harbor? I'll have a little contest, and pick a name from those who guess correctly. The winner will receive a little memento from Center Harbor. Extra credit if you pick the day I visit there. So, leave a comment by Sunday, August 6th with your answer.

Looming

loom

One entry found for loom.
Main Entry: loom
Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: origin unknown
1 : to come into sight in enlarged or distorted and indistinct form often as a result of atmospheric conditions
2 a : to appear in an impressively great or exaggerated form b : to take shape as an impending occurrence (definition from Merriam-Webster)

The second definition seems to be more appropriate these days, as most of my time and energy is consumed by work, so little else is getting accomplished. At least, not as much as I'd like. So, for a quick update, my project status:

Branching Out, which looks longer in real life. I've completed 20 repeats, and almost reached the end of the second ball of yarn. Seven or eight more repeats should do it.













Then, the looming loom. DH is helping with the assembly, so it's going a little faster. Next step is threading the heddles on the heddle rods. All 800 of them. Let's hope no one sneezes.














Then, the second Broadripple sock for my SIL. We were in NH in early July, so she was able to confirm that it fits.














The fixation with Cascade Fixation has claimed another victim - I should be able to knit some ankle socks for myself pretty quickly. I'm going to try a short row heel, as I prefer its appearance on this type of sock.











Well, I feel better reviewing the week, as my unfinished projects loomed over me. More was accomplished than I thought.

No lace for you!

No lace knitting to report, along with no non-lace knitting to report. There has been knitting, as I decided that I wanted to make my Secret Pal a little something. So that's complete, and the regularly scheduled lace knitting will resume.

As will the loom assembly. There was a bit of a delay due to a hole being in the wrong location. I called Harrisville on Tuesday at noon, and had the replacement part by Thursday evening. Since it was one of the feet, I didn't make a lot of progress until yesterday.


There is still quite a bit of assembly left to do, so I'll keep working on it.

Maybe by next weekend I can weave something. I had better weave something before we go on vacation so I don't forget what I learned at the workshop.

Some assembly required...

By the time this is all put together, I will have an intimate knowledge of every piece of this loom. According to the directions, the loom takes 4 to 8 hours to assemble. It's taken me 3 hours to get ready to assemble, not counting wait time. To start, I unpacked the three boxes and identified every piece on the list. The next step is to lightly sand, then apply the finish to the wood pieces. The loom is made from rock maple, which is a beautifully grained wood. To allow the natural patina to develop, one applies tung oil to each piece, let sit for at least 1/2 hour, then apply another coat, sit another 1/2 hour and wipe off the excess. Oh, and don't let the cloth with which the tung oil is applied sit in the house, or spontaneous combustion could occur. So much for assembling the loom over the weekend. DH brought the boxes into the house Saturday afternoon, once I returned from my stint at the thrift shop (no purchases today) and the library (time to renew the card). After several hours of unpacking, sanding, wiping, oiling, oiling and wiping, I'm finally ready to start assembling. It's now 8 PM on Sunday, and time to get ready for the week. So no assembly yet. I really do enjoy putting things together (20 years as a process/manufacturing engineer will do that to you) and am looking forward to getting the loom operational. Here are all of the pieces:














In knitting news, I finished the first Broadripple sock for my SIL. She had picked the yarn over the Memorial Day weekend - one sock pink, one sock green. With that in mind, I decided to take it one step further, and swap the toe colors as well:














Other knitting news is secret, as something is in the works for my Secret Pal. I know she's a Red Sox fan, so will try to find something appropriate. Sorry, the World Series is out of my control.

Weaving at last

After many months of anticipation, I spent the last week of June at Harrisville Designs, at a "Learn to Weave" workshop. This particular workshop is for those who have very little experience in setting up and weaving on a floor loom. I stayed, with four other wonderful women, in the charming "Chelsea Mills Boardinghouse." Charming is the most applicable description for Harrisville - to include the boardinghouse, the town, the business, everything.

I set off for New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon, and knew I was close when I saw this moose at the rest area in Vermont:














Then it was off to Harrisville, which is 10 miles east of Keene, NH. I was the only one at the boardinghouse on Sunday night, so made lots of progress on Icarus.

We warped the looms first thing on Monday, well it took most of the day, then started weaving. Tom Jipson, the instructor, is a great teacher, and let everyone work at their own pace. Over the course of the next day and a half we learned all kinds of weaving patterns, then worked to develop a rhythm. This is what we had at the end of the first warp.















The second warp was set up as a twill, and was equally as long. The third was for Bronson lace, and then a type of pattern called "Summer and Winter". I had a great week, loved the weaving, and this followed me home:

















Some assembly required.