Knitting and Weaving in the Methow!

The Nordic Mitten

The warp put through the reed
The warp through the heddles

The beginnings of my lace, the Swathmore lace

The Methow Spinners and Weavers Guild has a great project every year and if you look back in some of my post I briefly speak of it. Well this year it is woven lace. So I finally got a start on mine.I'm using a white mercerized cotton. Now, the way I came across this cotton was through a purchase I made many years ago at an estate sale, when I purchased a table loom. All kinds of things came with the loom,books, notebooks on weaving , workshop note books and a life that was no longer with us. A woman who loved to weave, I could tell by the many projects that she kept track of, carefully keeping notes, lovingly putting samples in so one day when someone long after she was gone would find some treasure in all these items. I remember how excited I was when I found this lady and her loom, I all most got a ticket in Snohomish for speeding, but was given a warning instead. So when I got home I marveled at the site of all these things and thought of what I was going to with them. But sadly I never did weave on that loom, but sold it to purchase the loom I have. With the hope in my heart that some day the knitting, spinning, weaving,quilting etc. will mean something to someone and give them the inspiration to go on to try what brings happiness to their heart. So back to my weaving project! This cotton was already in a warped chain, so all I had to do was put it on my loom. What happens when you don't start from the begging? Well you end up sometimes with something you didn't plan on. Because I waited till the last minute to get started on this ( it's due the second week of April) I'm sort of stuck to figure something out. The warp is very long, but didn't come out very wide. Now if I had done my figuring out on paper I would have known that. I did think of something to do when all is said and done, that I'll show you later. I've been almost avoiding working on it cause I'm not very inspired ( there's that word again). I will forge ahead and do the best I can. Even though spring is here I'm still finding the time to knit, and the example in the picture of the Nordic style mitten. I have one done and the other on it's way. I got this pattern from a book called "Folk Mittens" by Marcia Lewandowski. This book has been around for a while, but I finally got around to making something. The yarn that I used is my hand spun, the fiber is Merino-Targee cross breed sheep.I'm very happy with the yarn. I also have some news about me getting a new spinning wheel. It belonged to my dear friend Vicki, but she was looking to buy a new Jensen wheel.This is a Country Craftsman wheel, but I haven't got any information on the maker yet. I have been spinning on and find it pretty fast, but I'm catching up. I really think I'm going to like it. So then that brings me to having a wheel for sale. I'll do another post on that later. I'm heading over to the coast this Friday, and Saturday I'm going with Vicki , Dorothy and Anna Rose for Oak harbor for the "Whidbey Spinners and Weavers' Guild 36th Annual Spin-in" This is a really great weekend, I'm only going for Saturday even though it's for the whole weekend. That's about all for now. I love hearing from everyone so keep it coming. Knits Plent! Diana