"Bath/Hot Tub Towels......."

I finished weaving 2 of the bath/hot tub towels and took them off of the loom. I had warp enough to weave 3 of them, but not enough room on the loom to wrap a final towel, so cut the first 2 off last week.

This is how they looked when unwrapped from the loom and still connected to each other.

A close up of where #1 ended and #2 started with the white woven spacer yarn in between.

After separating them.......

Sewing one of the end hems.......

The finished towels "in use". :)

I've tied the warp back onto the front rod of the loom and have begun weaving the last towel. I also have started getting the warp ready for my next weaving project, too. This one includes spinning my own warp/weft and dyeing it. I will begin posting those photos very soon.

"Some of Don's Christmas......"

Don's Christmas stocking seemed to hold things to do with eating as well....although, literally to eat and drink. Here he has opened some chocolates......

And a "little" bottle of Maker's Mark Bourbon.

He, too, found an ornament with his name on it. A wedge of Blue Cheese (made of fragile glass though!). The man LOVES Blue Cheese!

Carol Burnett made an appearance at our house that morning, too!

As did Monty Python and his crew!

Don also loves the movie "Christmas Story", so he found "Ralphie's House" under the tree.

Don has always been concerned as to how to store coffee beans after we buy them....freeze them or not to freeze them? Store them on the counter in an airtight container? Well, that dilemma has now been solved with his new "electric vacuum coffee bean canister". ;)

We hope that everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we did. Tomorrow, I'll post photos of our time later Christmas day when we went to Penny and Sheila's.

"Some of My Christmas......."

My Christmas Stocking was filled with many "goodies". Some of which were for use in the kitchen. Here are my new "wide end" tongs (notice they match my tee shirt?). I have since used them and they work very nicely.

Another cool kitchen tool....an adjustable measuring spoon, which I have also already used and works nicely, too.

One of my BIG SURPRISE gifts was an i Pod Touch. Don had been tech support for my old palm pilot, which had been causing frustration, so he decided it was time for me to have an i Touch. I have spent some time this past weekend learning to use it. He downloaded a really nice app for my grocery shopping that I like very much. It can organize what I have on my list by area in the grocery store. Neat, eh?

A surprise pewter ornament of Parman's Service Station, which is just down the hill from us! It is featured in the book: "Fill'er Up: The Glory day of Wisconsin Gas Stations, written by Jim Draeger and Mark Speltz.

The ornament that I had an inkling I might get, was under the tree, but I hadn't gotten to it before the one of Parman's. It is the annual "Capitol Ornament". Don has been getting me these since 2006. They are wonderful additions to our tree.

Another total surprise was the 1st season of True Blood, with the 2nd season ordered to be delivered when it comes out. Neat, eh? ;)

Another HUGE surprise were tickets to "Rent" and "The Lion King"! I am a VERY lucky man to have Don as my partner, eh? ;) He spoils me in the way in which I AM becoming accustomed. LOL

"Christmas Stockings 2009......."

Here are the 3 Christmas stockings of our household....from left to right: Copper's, Don's, and mine. The rest of this post will be "all about Copper". ;)

Copper with Dad......she doesn't look too happy, but that will soon change as we open her 1st present from her stocking.

Feeling "Oh So Festive"!

Giving me "the look" which means, "OK, enough with the camera, it's time to open my package".

She's on the scent.......

She's very interested, although she'd not had this treat before......

She "daintily" takes it from me and quickly heads to her bed to enjoy her "Chewolabar".

This is another package that we opened a little later. She definitely got into our little ritual of opening her packages. She DEFINITELY looked sad when she was told there weren't anymore to open........

"Ornaments......"

First off......MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009!

We have some ornaments on our tree that have some history. This is but a sampling......

This is a wax ornament that was sent to my grandparents (Mom's side) from Germany. It has 1965 scratched into the back of it.

This is the other wax ornament that was sent to my grandparents in 1965 from Germany.

Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann, 2 of the many Christmas ornaments my Great Aunt Dordy painted.

A cross that hung on my grandparents tree....once again from my mother's side of the family. It used to glow in the dark, but lost its "power" years ago.

An ornament I made for my son Sean in 1994 out of clay and painted it with acrylic paints. He is my guitarist.

And a clay ornament I made for my son Patrick the same year. He is my fisherman/hunter.

This is one of Don's ornaments.......he is "MY" Piano Man.......

We hope that everyone has a wonderful, safe, holiday! :)

"Random Seasonal Photos....."

What do you do with an extra "Christmas Stocking"? Why, you hang it on your loom, that's what!

My Great Aunt Dorothy, known to my part of the family as "Dordy", was a china painter and painted many, many pieces with a Christmas theme. This is one of her "cookie plates". :)

Tis the season of baking gifts for friends and neighbors. Believe it or not, these 2 loaves are the exact same recipe, BUT, the larger one had a egg added into the dough. An amazing difference, eh? The smaller one actually was quite large, but the one with the added egg is the all American "Super Sized"! ;)

Some outdoor decorations that we can see from our house. Across the street, Lonny and Charlie added lights to their house......

And to one of their trees, too.

Christina and Christen also have outdoor lights and added to their large tree inside the window, it makes a beautiful display for the neighborhood.

Don's creative "art photograph" of Christina and Christen's house, along with Lonny and Charlie's tree. A very pretty effect in my opinion.

"Last Crank-In Post....."

Here I am speaking with Susan, who is a very accomplished machine knitter. Everyone was so easy to speak with and happy to share information about what they were doing or how to do something in particular.

This was her work station.

And these beautiful pieces are some of her work. The color combinations are simply gorgeous! Some of her pieces were left "as knitted", while some were felted afterwards.

Barb and Susan working over at Barb's machine.

That's it for the crank in this month. There is another one scheduled at the Hawthorne Branch Library on January 23, so you can count on some blog entries from that one, too. :)

"Turning the Heel Lesson......"

Pat took on the challenge of showing me how to "turn the heel" on a sock. She'd brought an extra machine "just in case" someone who was interested came to the event and wanted to do some cranking.

Here she is having me thread the machine with new yarn.....

Through the yarn carrier down to the knitting cylinder.......

Placing it between the correct 2 knitting needles and attaching it with a clip (for weight) to hold it in place.

Slowly turning the crank with my right hand while holding the knitted yarn underneath with my left hand, to make sure there is weight/tension so the stitches will knit the new yarn and not drop off the cylinder.

Even though I was slowly turning the crank, everything seemed to happen so quickly!

Uh oh....a skipped or non-knitted stitch?

4 rows knitted!

The clip could be removed at this point since the machine had caught and knitted the new yarn for several rounds.

Oh the concentration! ;)

Picking up a non-knitted stitch (I think....). There definitely was a lot of "user error", but Pat also said the yarn might be a little too thin as well. Needless to say, I picked up on that comment right away, even though it really isn't any excuse, but I'm taking all the angles that I can get. :)

Pat is a very good teacher. Take it from one who recognizes and appreciates a person with patience. She took what could have been a very stressful situation and made it a relaxed and comfortable time for learning. Thank you Pat for helping make my first crank in even more memorable!

A few more crank in photos tomorrow......