Loom!

I finally found a loom!  It is a Rasmussen Loom, made in Seattle about 30 years ago.  The company was sold and is now known as 'Montana Looms' with headquarters in Missoula.  This is a table loom (I was looking for a floor loom), it has 4 harnesses that are operated by the levers on top of the castle instead of by treadles on the ground.  It's weaving width is 26" and everything is in pretty good shape.  Heddles are rust free.  It came with one 12 dent reed.  I bought it on Craigslist from a man in Auburn who just found he didn't have the time to use the loom as much as he wanted.  He sold it to me for $150!  A comparable table loom brand new would be around $1000.

I compromised some in this purchase from the ideal loom I have been searching for (a Macomber Floor Loom).  But I'm quite pleased with this intermediate machine.  I think it will satisfy my craving for a few years and then I can reassess my needs and space availability.

I lack a whole bunch of supplies to make weaving faster and fun.  I think I'll just slowly invest in pieces over time.  In the short term I bought a heddle hook and a simple 8" weaving shuttle.  It proved to be enough to get me started.

I really need one of these (pictured left), a warping board.  Warping your loom is a fundamental process to weaving.  This board allows the weaver to quickly and uniformly measure all the warping strands for your work.  I don't have a warping board, so I used instead the legs of a few dining room chairs.  This worked OK, but much of the precision was lost.  If I were dedicating a lot of time to a serious project I would need to buy (for about $60) or build a warping board.  

This is my first product on the loom!  A scarf, made of one skein of sock yarn, 100% merino wool, in simple plain weave.  The weave is nice, tight, and consistent.  Good experimentation.  The actual weaving process (after the loom was warped and threaded) took about 4 hours.  I estimate that is about twice as long as it would have taken me on a floor loom.  But I found that I didn't mind flipping the top levers so much as I thought I would.  Success!  The one thing that drives me crazy about weaving is the waste created in the warp... check out the pile of unused warping thread (Above right)!  

Looking forward to more experimentation with the next project.

Stuffed Animal Series: Elephant

I intend on knitting a whole series of stuffed animals for Baby Carlisle.  I've got patterns for a series of jungle animals, each about 8"-12" in size.  This knit up pretty quick and each only require one skein of yarn.  We developed a soft spot for elephants after our encounters with them in Kenya.  I'm so pleased with how this pattern shaped up and can't wait to get started on the rest of this jungle series!

Technical notes:  I used 1 skein of Cottonspring by Artyarns, color turquoise, 80% cotton, 20% wool.  Worked on double pointed needles size US 5.  Stuffed with organic cotton filling.

Felted Vessel

This is an exploration in a brand new process (as if I needed another hobby!) and I think I might be hooked!  Wet felting is the process of creating a dense cloth out of raw wool fibers, binding them by agitation.  The great thing about the process is that it is so fast and the product is so abstract and loose.  The Tin Thimble, the shop in Loomis California where I took this class, offers instruction on how to make scarves, wall hangings, bags, and other treasures through the wet felting process.  The vessels are made using a resist in the center and fibers are felted on either side of the resist.  I love the way this allows one to play with color and form.  To the right are the products of our 4 hour class, my vessel below.

I'm sure I'll use this in some way in the baby's room.  It is a nice way to play with form now that I'm not able to play with clay.  I like the looseness of the process and the informality.  Much faster than both knitting and ceramics.

I think I'm really more interested in making a felted cloth and sewing with that.  Below are supplies purchased for future projects.  I'm planning to make cloth to be used for some throw pillows and a bag.  Stay tuned for more experimentation with this new process!

Yosemite 2004

I was curious to compare my recent pics of Yosemite to what I remembered of my first visit in the Spring of 2004 with the LSU Landscape Architecture program.  I was traveling with a bus full of my peers and Max only dedicated one day to this amazing park... I've been itching to go back ever since!  What a whirl-wind that trip was, I'm still amazed at how much Max packed in to such a brief adventure.  Anyway, below are a few photos and sketches from that early trip.  (Landscapegoats, I thought you would find this particularly interesting).

View from Inspiration Point (Claudia, Madeline, and me).

Yosemite Falls in the spring - much more to see right after the snow has melted!

Yosemite 2011

We managed to find a couple of days to drive up to Yosemite.  Being so late in the season, the weather was perfect and the crowds weren't too bad.  The important thing (for me) was to see the park this fall before the snow makes everything inaccessible.  And to get a few good hikes in before my condition would prevent me from exploring.  So here are a few pics!

Because we made our reservations only a week in advance much of the campsite/lodging options on the valley floor were at capacity.  So we stayed outside the west entrance of the park at the "Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort".  We choose to split the difference between camping and a cabin with this enclosed permanent tent with a shared bathhouse up the hill.  Not too bad for $45 a night.

We began our first day by hiking up to Vernal Falls (about 3 miles roundtrip).  Now, were I not pregnant we would have continued up to Nevada Falls (4.8 miles), or maybe attempted a climb up to Half Dome (about 14 miles).  All follow the same Mist Trail, it just depends on how far up you choose to hike.  Vernal Falls itself was strenuous, spectacular, and I was satisfied.  These photos have a hard time putting the grandur of the falls into scale.  Really dramatic and rewarding hike.  (Here is a great resource for all of Yosemite's hikes if you're traveling in the area).

Also good that we completed this trail in the fall when the flow on the falls was down.  In the spring no one hikes this trail without getting soaking wet - the spray and the mist in the canyon is that intense.  Also a slippery trail would have made this a greater challenge to hike.

The rest of the afternoon we spent doing smaller hikes in the valley.  Below is Lower Yosemite and Upper Yosemite Falls.  Again, much more dramatic falls in the Spring.

View of El Capitan, Bridal Vail Falls, and Half Dome from Inspiration Point.

 We drove up to Glacier point in the evening to get this spectacular view of the valley.  In the photos below you can see Half Dome, and to the right of that, Vernal and Nevada Falls.  

A nice stop at sunset as we were exiting the park.  El Capitan and Bridal Vail Falls in the background.

We dedicated day 2 to the Giant Sequoias of Mariposa Grove.  Again, it is really difficult to photograph these trees!  How do you put such width into scale?  This forest felt very different than the last time I visited (with my class of Landscape Architects in 2004).  Sequoias thrive with regular controlled burning of the forest brush about every 15 years.  The last burn of this famous grove was in 2008 and the understory was noticeably scarred and cleared of much new growth.  After chatting with a ranger I learned that the last controlled burn had gotten a little out of hand and did more damage than intended.  The old sequoias were fine but the rest of its forest occupants looked like it was taking a little while to recover.

Growing

I thought I'd share, just in case ya'll were interested.  As you can see a lot has been happening in the last few weeks!  We've felt a few 'flutters', or kicks, in the evenings.  Very excited about our next ultrasound on Tuesday.

Recent Handknits

Vitamin D

That's the name of this sweater pattern I found on Ravelry back in May (before I learned I was expecting).  I was attracted to the pattern because of the great drape in front, the eyelit details, and the cropped length.  Very subtle and sophisticated.  This is by far my most ambitious knitting project.  The knitting always required reference to the pattern.  And I actually followed instructions, to the letter!  (I often have problems with this).

The yarn added to the project's complexity.  It's a DK weight by Madeline Tosh, merino wool superwash.  Very light and fine gauge.... I worked on size 4 US knitting needles.  This is one reason it took soooo long to complete the project... just a lot of small stockinette stitching.  I actually bought this yarn online without having seen it in person, another first with this project.  And I am so pleased with the material.  Great subtle variation.  I really like this Madeline Tosh line of yarn - great color selection and a great price.  This marks a milestone... I'm actually comfortable enough with my fiber and knitting knowledge to correctly choose the right yarn without seeing it myself.

I'm in love.  So pleased with how it came out.  This is a sweater I will wear (and have been wearing)!  Success!  I have a bad history of making sweaters and ultimately never wearing them.  But not this one.      And considering it has no front closure it should be perfect for the pregnancy!

Spiral Star Baby Blanket

It reminds me of a hurricane!   I just finished this blanket last night, the first completed project for the little one.  From center to point the radius is 23" (46" in diameter).  It's so nice to see in completed... I had so many stitches crammed on my needles it was impossible to get a gist of the shape that was being developed.  I pinned it in place to block it, it's still drying.  This project actually called for Madeline Tosh DK, the yarn I was just raving about, but the thought of knitting such a large blanket from such a fine gauge yarn made my head spin!  So instead I substituted a chunkier, cheaper cotton yarn (which is more practical for a baby than merino wool, right?).  The project was easy, fairly quick, and fairly cheap.  Very pleased to have one (of the many) projects for the baby completed. :)