holiday time

I'm having a lovely time with the grandchildren. First my granddaughter here for 4 nights and now my grandson is staying with me for 7 nights. I showed my granddaughter the first step in crochet and she is picking it up very well. We were to busy with it and I forgot to take a photo but I have a picture of what the hairdresser did with her hair. I gave her a crochet hook and some yarn, so she can keep on with it.

Today I showed grandson how to knit on a spoolknitter. I'm sure there might be another word for it but I cannot think what it is. In Dutch you call it punniken.

He likes doing it, but it will take some practise.

Samples still not cut from the loom.

another sample

After a lovely Christmas Day with the family and friends at Boxing Day, I managed to do some weaving tonight. I have my granddaughter staying with me since Christmas Day. What a pleasure to have her here.
So far I have woven 3 samples on the same warp as my last one, Tencel.

They are either woven with different yarn in weft or different in order of twill and plain weave. I threaded on 12 shafts so that I could play more. After cutting and finishing them, I will be able to make a decision how I will weave the scarf.

I wanted to weave 1 more sample and managed to do so. I'm using yarn on a sewing type bobbin. I only have 200 yards so I want to use as little as possible for the sample and did not feel like rewinding on a weaving bobbin. I used my highest shuttle and after a few throws discovered that I needed something to keep the bobbin in place.

Here you can see the space for the bobbin

 In this photo you can see that even this shuttle is not high enough for the bobbin.

I had to turn the shuttle on it's side when weaving nearer the edge (meaning top or bottom) of the ondulé reed when there is less of an opening of the warp.

If I did not do that, this would happen. The bobbin catching on the warp threads

Sample 4 is woven and I cannot wait for the samples to be cut and finished but it's late and tomorrow is another day. So, it will have to wait. Daytime is for granddaughter at the moment and in the weekend we'll do a switch and her brother will come to stay.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

talk

On Wednesday I went to a talk by Monika Stadler, about her mother Gunta Stölzl. Very interesting to hear first hand about her life. Monika has edited a book a few years ago about her mother. The English version is sold out now, only the German version is still available. Her talk was very much like what is in the book. She showed lots of slides and talked them together. She did have some samples with her. But she only has samples from the period that her mother was weaving in Zurich. Any of the Bauhaus weavings are either in museums or have sadly been lost forever.

Regarding my own weaving: I'm weaving some samples with the ondulé reed, so that I can decide how I'll weave another white scarf with the reed. Also, the samples can be used as "feelers" for our guild exhibition next summer. One more sample to weave before cutting them of the warp.

finished scarf

 The scarf is finished and looks and feels good.
Should have made a longer warp so that I could have made some "feel" cloths.
Planning one more warp to make another scarf and those "feel" cloths for the exhibition.
I have a few more months before it all needs to be ready so I can weave something completely different first.
Other things are getting in the way so no warp made as yet. Loom has been empty for to long already.....

Here a photo of the before(top) / after(bottom) finishing.

snow

Yesterday we had snow but by the time it was evening most had gone as we had sunshine all day. But this morning it was snowing a lot and it is staying........
Makes good pictures though.

Granddaughter getting her snowman made

Grandson starting his snowman

Horse and ponies out in the snowstorm

Regarding weaving, the scarf is finished but needs fringe twisting before wet finishing.
Empty loom needs to be dressed very quickly. Just the weather for it.

the end in sight

After a month of non-weaving: at last the end of the warp in sight.

The scarf is growing

But the post brought these this week:

I'll have time reading when the warp is cut from the loom.

first snow of the season

Not yet Christmas but today we had our first snow this season

by tonight it had all gone again