Tuesday, July 30, 2013

the good life

Lovely day yesterday, so, the outside almost became inside
I had a little watcher next to me when weaving
The warp is nearing its end

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

more thoughts on tie on

I realised this morning that my warp is 40cm wide and not 30! I should have made 5 bundles and not 4. That way I would not have the wide division between the bundles.
Had I made 5 bundles I probably needed fewer weft threads to spread out all the warp threads.
I blame the heat ;-)
Will make not for next warp, not to make the same mistake again.

Monday, July 22, 2013

tie on warp

Something I learned at the Andreas masterclass was to tie on an easy way. My loom has been standing idle for the last 2 months or so. High time to get behind it again. His idea is to do things as easy as possible. So to tie on, just divide the warp into large bundles. Say 4 for 30cm wide warp and make the ties like this.
What I found was that is took very little effort to tie on with just the 4 knots, re tying them only once meaning in total 8x knotting.
Theory is, that this way, the warp is spread out so that you need little weaving before your warp is ready to start weaving.Not sure if that really was the case but having just the 4 knots worked very well. Definitely will use this method again.
I've decided to weave a few more cushion covers to brighten up the settee. After that, I'll still have more warp left. Will see what to do with that.

Far to warm outside (32C officially today but my thermometer was reading 39C!! this afternoon).
I had to much sun last Wednesday and have suffered the days after. I was unable to see my daughter arrive at the finish on Friday. That hurt. I'm a lot better now compared to last week but keeping out of the sun as much as possible.

Friday, July 19, 2013

finished

Daughter finished her 4 day walk today. She came in 17th from her starter group of around 700+ in the 40km group. She has my full respect doing this and I'm very proud of her. So different from 2 years ago when she had chemo every other week.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

weavers market Hoorn

Today I went to the Weavers Market in Hoorn. You can get an impression here from last year. This year there were about 150+ stalls and the weather could not have been more perfect.
Nice to bump into so many people, some only seen recently, others not for a while. So it was nice to have a chat.
I could not resist this
It's made by a Dutch woman named Maja, who has been doing this for quite some time now but it was the first time I saw such a large piece made by her. She uses the batik technique. Unfortunately she does not have a website.
It's all cotton and it will be nice and warm this winter.
The only other purchase was this baby alpaca yarn
Lovely soft yarn and I just liked the colours. 300 grams should be enough for a project sometime in the future. For the moment I'll just enjoy looking at the colours.
Having walked around all afternoon it was time to go and have a look at the harbour and have a drink there before returning home.

Daughter is halfway with her 4 day walk. Some blisters but she is doing well.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

proud mum

Today, my eldest daughter is walking. Not just any walk but this one. Starting now, between 6:15 and 7:00 today. It's going to be a very warm day, so wishing her well with her 40km. And after today, 3 more days to go! Here are all the routes.
I'm a very proud mother that she is taking this on.

Monday, July 15, 2013

lavender weekend

Yesterday I went to the lavender weekend here. And it looked like this
Long drive to get there but worth it.
My own lavender looks like this at the moment
But there are some gaps,
so a good excuse to buy some more ;-)
When I planted my lavender garden I planted 3 of each variety but this time I just bought 1 of each new one and will fill up the gaps and if I need more, I'll just take some cuttings and grow more myself. All the new ones are different again from what I already have planted. I just love all the different plants and flowers. And the smell!
It is very hot at the moment, so I'll just keep the new ones well watered and will plant them when it is cooling down a bit. To warm to do any hard work.

Still time out from weaving. Last week I had granddaughter staying, and this is all the weaving I did ;-)

Sunday, July 07, 2013

present

Life is full of surprises. Yesterday I received a gift for my knitting. It's a holder so that the stitches do not get away from the needles. Handmade by Constance. Thank you! It really works. My moebius scarf is coming along nicely, knitting when I feel like it.

Saturday, July 06, 2013

weaving exhibition

The exhibition in Geldrop of 5 years Weefnetwerk was opened today.
There was a lot of work on show from 38 Dutch weavers, 6 weavers from Gent Belgium and 9 Guilds. A lot of hard work must have gone into putting all this together as one harmonious show.
My scarf (the middle one) was shown like this
The weather is warm and sunny making it a nice journey getting there and back.

Last night and tonight I saw the hedgehog for the first time since last year. Not sure if it's the same one but good to see one again.
Looking forward to tomorrow as my granddaughter will be coming to stay.