HI - From the retreat

We are having fun and learning more than my brain can hold - Shelley

What a great teacher she made every minute count. It has been great group - Mary Tanti

A wonderful weekend - full of talented knitters, great food and spectacular scenery! - Marilyn Welsh

As a first time attendee to the retreat Margaret says - sure learned lots and have great swatches and notes to take home -  We had 3 Margarets at this retreat

What wonderful students!  I've never met a more pleasant bunch of knitters.  They were willing to be challenged and work outside their comfort zone, and to share their expertise with each other.  Shelley and Linda were welcoming supportive hosts.  The Tsa-Kwa-Luten Lodge is such a great place to stay--friendly staff, quiet rooms, and beautiful expansive views.  I only wish there'd been time to wander on the beach!  I can't wait to come back. - Margaret Radcliffe

It was a great weekend.  Learned so much this weekend - it was amazing.  Super instruction and hand outs and a fun fun group to spend time with.  It was the best so far - they only get better each time.
Linda

Everyone else is too busy having fun to write.  Pictures will be posted later.  You gotta check out the bears!

We should be in for a good weekend

We are all set for the retreat. Margaret is on her way. She is spending a few days visiting in Vancouver before the retreat. Look at the weather forecast. I can't wait to sit on the deck at Tsa Kwa Luten in the sun knitting.
See you there

Adventure to Quadra

This week a trip to Quadra will be different. The ferry is not operating for a week. They are building us a new ferry dock and ramp. In order to do this they aren't operating the ferry this week. So if any off shore knitters want to come to Quadra this week they can come by Water Taxi. It is a short walk to the store from the dock but it is uphill so if anyone wants a ride from the dock just call the store 250-285-2751 and we will put up the back in 5 min sign and pick you up.

Campbell River - Quadra Island (Quathiaski Cove)
Water Taxi - crossing time approximately 5 minutes
Service to operate in 6:00 am to 10:00 pm window, leaving Campbell River approximately every 20 minutes
No unaccompanied children under 12 years of age permitted.

This is the notice from the BC Ferry page. We plan to just stay on Quadra all week and knit - weave - spin.

Fibres West

I spent all evening setting up the booth at Fibres West in Abbotsford. Here is a sneak peak' I actually remembered to take pictures this time. Should be a fun show. Lots of great booth here.

Citron

Couldn't resist picking up some Zauberball Crazy the last time I was over at the shop, and knew what I wanted to make with it. Citron, a pattern from the Winter 2009 Knitty, is a great pattern (albeit with a lot of stockinette). It creates a wearable half circle shawl, perfect for spring.

The zauberball wasn't quite enough yarn, so I finished the ruffle with an orange Kroy sock yarn in my stash that my son helped me pick out.

Partners.....

Aren't they totally adorable!!!!!

Shelley and Linda, the dynamic co-owners of the infamous Fun Knits Yarn Shop, snuggled cozily together in the gorgeous tartan blanket Shelley designed and wove (she's a blanket-making maniac of late) and gave to Linda "because the colours are so Linda".

t-towels continued.....

I decided to add the red, and trade the robin's egg for a lime.  The 5.5 yard warp for t-towels is now on my Saori loom.  I'll try to do some weaving tonight after work and post some pics.

The colours are more vibrant than this which will show better when the weft is in.
Happy sunny Saturday to all.

Where inspiration dwells......

I was walking along the beach at Rebecca Spit a couple of mornings ago and chanced upon some garbage strewn here and there by the edge of the shore.  I picked up several pieces and then suddenly noticed that the colours in the collection of trash I held in my right hand would make a gorgeous t-towel.  At home I pulled the colours off the shelves stocked with cotton cones and here is what I have:

Question: I'm wondering about the addition of red and white - any thoughts?

I'll try to get it warped and wound onto the loom in the next couple of days.  And, in case you're wondering - the orange came from a can of orange crush, the pink and green from a kid's toy, the blue was inspired by plastic shreds of fishing equipment, and the robin's egg came from the cellophane wrapping off a cigarette package.  Not a nice sight but there appears to be an upside to everything.

Glorious cotton/boucle and a little recycled sari silk...

I'm crazy in love with our new 2/8 cotton and 2/8 cotton boucle - the colours are enchanting and although there are a variety of uses for cotton (handknit lacy summer shawls, crochet, dish/wash cloths, etc.) as a weaver, I'm over the moon about stocking this particular weaving staple. I purchased just about every colour we brought in and here's what they look like in my studio.

First I wove a t-towel, sett at 12 epi with 276 ends, using 2/8 cotton in ivory, black, rust, and brown for the warp, and brown cotton boucle for the weft.

And then I wove a sample scarf as I'm making a tunic and wanted to see how the fabric would turn out.  The sett was 12 epi with 72 ends using 2/8 cotton and cotton boucle in an emerald green and purple -- the green stood out too much for my liking (perhaps an olive would have worked better) so I chose another set of colours for my tunic warp.  The weft is Mango Moon recycled sari silk (one of my first purchases at Fun Knits when Shelley was in the little cottage) and pash-mohair combined into one strand.

And here is the new warp for the tunic fabric.  It's a combination of a reddish burgandy and a reddish purple (Sorry Shell, can't remember the names - I'll look for them at work on Thursday).

The weft is the Mango Moon recycled sari silk twined with purple pash-mohair.

And here it is directly off the loom unwashed.....

I'll machine wash and dry it a little, and let you know how it feels.

Happy knitting/weaving/spinning and whatever else gives you joy and meaning.

Watching and Celebrating

I'm having great fun watching the Olympics right now. I love the winter sports!

I'm also enjoying wearing my Celebration 2010 scarf, designed by Shelley and knit from our exclusive Lorna's Laces colourway, Olympic.

This scarf is so warm, and can be worn in many different styles. It was tricky to get started, but once I found a rhythm it was completed quickly.

Thanks for a great pattern, Shelley!

Even the customers want to work.......

Here is Lisa visiting (and weighing/bagging raw fleece at Fun Knits) from Moosejaw, Saskatchewan.  Shelley and I grabbed her up for duty when we realized how much she LOVES anything related to fibre.  Her fingers were magnetically drawn to holding and pulling the sheared sheep fleece from New Zealand.  She was wonderful!!!!

Thanks Lisa :)

Finished and fabulous

I love the blanket. I twisted all of the fringes and fulled it in the washing machine now it is hanging over the ironing board drying. It only shrunk 2" each way and it softened up so much. It is light as a feather but will be really warm. It turned out better than I hoped. Now I can't wait for it to dry. I will bring it to spinning on Tuesday for anyone wanting to see it in person.

Here is a close up of the fabric
Now I wonder what colour blanket to do next

It's off the loom

I wove all day today and with some help from Deb got the blanket off the loom. It is certainly bright. Tonight I am twisting the fringes and then tomorrow it will get gently fulled in the washer. Want to see some pictures.

I just love it and can't wait to get it finished. Fresh off the loom it is 48" wide and 72" long plus an 8" fringe on each end. It will shrink a bit in the wash. I will post a picture of it once it is fulled.

Kauni Blanket in progress

Yesterday Meika came over to help me weave the Kauni Blanket. She loves weaving but has never helped me on the big loom before. She usually weaves on my 16"  Louet Kombo table Loom

First we wound the bobbins. Then we got started weaving with a filler yarn to fill up the space before the real weaving starts. Meika crawls under the loom and works the foot pedal with her hands. I told her when to change sheds - After about 3 times she announced

" Grandma you don't need to tell me anymore. I get it" and she did get it.

Then she threw the shuttle and beat the weaving. I had to help her a bit with the beating so she didn't make it too tight. Once I showed her she got that too.

She needs to grow quite a bit to operate the loom from the seat but she tried. The last picture is about 15" woven on the blanket. It is quite vibrant as you can see. I would expect no less from Kauni EQ. You may notice the weave is fairly loose but this will change when the blanket is fulled. I love it and hope to finish it today and twist the fringes tomorrow then full it. It is 52" wide on the loom and I am weaving 7 ft so fulled it will likely be about 48" X 6 1/2 ft.

Weaving with Kauni

This Kauni EQ yarn is going to become a woven blanket. Ever since I started getting Kauni yarn I always wanted to weave a blanket with it. I imagined this great rainbow colourful blanket that would be so soft and warm but light. Finally I will get to see this. I wound the warp and it was amazing. Since there are 434 ends in the blanket I had to wind the warp in 2 sections. They looked great chained up and waiting to go on the loom.
I finished getting the warp on the loom late last night so today I want to play hookey from all of my commitments and weave. I can't even imagine how neat this will look. I think it will make little checks when I weave it. I am not sure. I will post once the weaving starts and show how it looks.


My loom is a 60" Gertrude Woolhouse loom.

Celebration 2010 scarf

We are having a fun knit a long over at Ravelry in the Fun Knits group. We are knitting the 2010 Celebration scarf. This is a fun and frustrating scarf to knit but will be very worth the effort when done. Brenda has finished her scarf already. She is the first to finish by the way and I guess she is extra motivated as she is attending the Olympics in person - lucky her.

This scarf is knit with one of Fun Knits exclusive colour - Olympic from Lorna's Laces. We are purposely stacking the colours to make vertical stripes of the colours. This may sound easy but it isn't. This all depends on tension and needle size and your individual knitting.

I call this 3D knitting as it defiantely adds a new dimension to your knitting.

Weaving and learning with Jane Stafford

Last week Shelley and I spent a few days on Salt Spring Island with Jane Stafford who was teaching three workshops on weaving.  It was FANTASTIC in every way!  Jane is an energetic, upbeat, fabulous teacher with a great sense of humour (and colour) who has been weaving for 32 years.

Jane with cotton.

Shelley and Jane.

A gorgeous mohair warp tied to another stunning mohair warp.

Showing us an easy way to tie on.

The cross - winding mohair onto the warping mill.

Shelley concentrating.

Jane pulling the end of the mohair warp and showing us there are no knots.

More beautiful mohair warps.

Cutting the fringe.

Shelley and I stayed at Green Acres Lakeside Cottages on St. Mary's Lake.  Our cabin was sweet and the view was gorgeous.  As well, we had a whole lot of fun together!

Me trying to take a photo of the two of us before we left.

Some samples of the weavings at Jane's studio.

We both came home with a wider, longer, deeper, passion for weaving.

A wonderful night to you all.