Something unexpected

I guess this makes it official. I must be the very last person to know when anything new a wonderful happens. Here, I thought I'd spend some time this afternoon on the computer updating the blog, FB, and Ravelry, and that all came crashing down as while on Ravelry, I saw that we can now enter weaving projects. Yes, that's right, weaving! Did you already know this? No? Well, then, please let me know so that I can feel some satisfaction that I've made someone else's little place on this planet a little more illuminated...

So, how did this ruin my easy afternoon? I now have to find my notes, which are scattered on various pieces of tattered scrap paper so that adequate details on my weaving projects can be entered in. Crap!

Oh, and in case you're not on Ravelry, here's what you're missing:

As mentioned in a recent post, we used my woven napkins for the first time at last week's knit-in. There are 6 napkins to each set; the green ones were started way back in May (and, yes, they literally took forever to weave) and the pink ones were started towards the end of July (but only took 2 weeks to work up, go figure). Both sets are plain weave and cotton, with the blue warp in the pink set being a mercerized cotton. Unfortunately for me, they both shrank a healthy amount. The green set was planned to be 13 x 13 and was woven to 15 x 15 on the loom. After washing, they were 10 x 13 1/2. The pink set was planned to be 13 x 13 also, so I shot for 16 x 16 on the loom and got 12 x 13 3/4. Please don't ask why I changed the width up also, because as I write this, I'm realizing just how stupid that was.


I also need to give a very big and very public "Thank you" to Irene for helping me out by giving some tips on finishing the hems on these napkins. I am the most inept person when it comes to sewing and was having horrible tension issues with the bottom thread on my machine. Irene found that the new pack of bobbins that were a recent addition to my sewing stash were too small for my machine. Never in a million years would it have crossed my mind that that would truly matter, but there you have it. She changed out a larger bobbin for the small one that was I had been using and presto-change-o, the stitches looked 100% better.



Last weekend, Sarah, Erin, and I travelled over to Allegan for the Michigan Fiber Festival. This is literally a dream for a fiber shopaholic (or a nightmare, depending on how you look at it) and I tried very hard to be a good girl. There plenty to see for inspiration, like this woven bag on display for a vendor selling handbag straps and accessories (of which Nancy tells me is an "easy log cabin pattern"; will definitely go into the project queue).




I walked away after purchasing only 4 skeins of yarn. Two were skeins of Comfort that were on sale for half-price. These will definitely come in handy when it's time to work up chemo caps for Knit Michigan 2010. Now, I just need to find cool patterns for them.






The other two skeins were sock yarn. One was a superwash merino/bamboo/nylon from Yarn Hollow and the other was a superwash merino/nylon from my8kidsmom, both of whom I know and love to support when I see them at these events.





As I was purchasing the sock yarn from Rachel (aka my8kidsmom), she pointed out that I've said time and again how much I hate knitting socks. After telling her how bored I tend to get while working them up, she suggested that I give patterns by Cookie A a try, which I've never done. So, the following day, I picked up a copy of Sock Innovation, and set out to knit up the Vilai sock using Rachel's yarn. I must say that it's going pretty well so far, given that I'm still working on Nancy's sweater and have all the other stuff in my life going on.

That's about it for projects. The only other Ravelry update that I made was to also add the Dale of Norway Vancouver 2010 pattern book to my collection. Suprisingly, the book is half adult and half child/baby sweaters, mittens, and hats. Maybe some of the new babies in Chuck's family will have some vintage Dale wear coming their way....