"Woody's 81st Birthday Brunch......."

We met our friend Woody Saturday morning, down at Sardine for brunch to celebrate his 81st birthday.

We were able to be seated right next to one of the windows so had all of the glorious sunshine streaming in on our table........temperatures outside that morning were in the single digits.

Woody with me......

Don with the sun in his face......as I said, we had fantastic sun throughout our time there.

Woody ordered "Creamed Eggs".....

I had an omelet of herbs, Gruyere Cheese, ham, and frites! Delicious! ;)

Don ordered the "Grilled Salmon", which I tasted and found very tasty, too.

Since this was a celebration and it was "Brunch", Woody ordered a Mimosa, too.

While both Don and I ordered a "Bloody Mary", which was also delicious (but not nearly as good as those served by "Bluephies" on Monroe Street).

As always, we had a wonderful time with Woody. Once again, Happy Birthday Woody!

Don wanted this photo because of the "undulating" walkway to the lakeside entries of Machinery Row business.

We then headed down to check out the new Willy Street location of the "Off The Beaten Path Yarnery" shop, originally located in Monona.

"Henry With Bib......"

I knitted Henry, Michael and Anna's little guy, a couple of bibs. They are knitted all in garter stitch, which makes for a quick and easy knit. I used Lion Brand Cotton, which is 100% cotton worsted weight. The report back from Anna is that they wash up and absorb Henry's little messes very well.

Could he be any cuter??!!

"Art, Eats, and Weaving....."

Art, because of this photo that Don took with the sun coming in the front room windows. This is the inside my Harrisville floor loom castle, with its numbered harness cables. Nice, eh? :)

And this is the Eats photo.......Don's "New Years Morning Breakfast". I thought since it was a special day, he should have a special breakfast. So.....a breakfast sausage patty, several slices of bacon, with cinnamon toast on the side, and his omelet filled with ham, bacon, sausage, green pepper, onion, mushrooms, 3 cheeses (parmesan, blue, and cheddar), and some seasonings. He was one happy camper (as shown by his taking a photo of it, eh?)! ;)

Here is the update on my weaving of the hand spun yarn scarf. I started yesterday with the black weft. All was fine and looked good. The black strip is plain weave which I wanted to be solid, so that worked out nicely. That is when I should have realized there were to be some problems up ahead.......

When I started the bulk of the scarf, the warp disappeared! No matter what sequence of treadling I did, the warp barely showed up, so I undid all of the weaving, untied the warp from the front rod and went to my weaving books to see what I could find for suggestions (which I'm sure you are thinking is what I should have done before beginning this project....I agree!). After looking there, I also made a phone call to a weaving friend, Jan, who lives up north. We have been corresponding via email for awhile now.....from way back when I was doing loom research. After leaving a message on her answering machine, I then got on the computer and wrote her an email about the weaving crisis! :) She was kind enough to write back numerous times and did some researching for me in her weaving library. After several back and forth emails again last night, we ended the evening with what I thought was my plan. Well.....upon waking up at 3 this morning, I "made an adjustment" to that plan.......I would follow one of her earliest suggestions, going back to re-threading the heddles from what they are now...1-2-3-4, to 1-1-2-2-3-3-4-4, giving the warp double coverage each time it is up. She also suggested a tie up that I will use, too. Thank goodness for Jan being there and making herself available to solve the crisis of my own making.

I will, of course, keep you updated on this project. ;)

"New Years Eve Party Participants....."

Mary and Made' joined the gathering and seemed to definitely be having a good time. ;)

Krista stopped by with Zoe. Jacob and Kai stayed home as they were not in top form....the family had been ill throughout the holidays. The twins are 6 months old already!

Rob's brother, John, is in the background.

Andy and Crystal, John's girlfriend, hanging out in the kitchen.

Rob "makes me laugh".........

Susan must've been saying something serious to Rob from the look on his face, eh?. ;)

Michael, Andy, and Lonny being social. Remember my comment from the day of sledding....."the Big Kid of the neighborhood"? I'm sure you can figure out to whom I'm referring. ;)

Once again, Don and I wish you a VERY Happy New Year!

"Photos From New Years Eve at Rob's....."

Dan and Erica stopped by very quickly to say hello and Happy New Year. Dan's band had an engagement to play and they couldn't stay long. Rob is opening the chocolate football that Don and I brought him......to "sweeten his bowl game watching" the next day.

Angela in "all" her glory of a "soon to be new mother" again. The baby (a girl) is due around the 1st of February.

"Uncle Rob" having a New Years Resolution chat with Benjamin......

Dad Andy helping Benjamin do chin ups, while Lonny looks on......

Charlie reading to Benjamin.......

More to follow......

"Dyed Warp and Small Loom......"

I would normally wait until Monday to write the next post, but I know you're anxious to see what the dyed warp looks like. Why would I keep you in suspense that long?

Here is the finished dyed warp in its final rinse. It looks pretty dark but as you will see, the colors lighten up and become quite vibrant when it is dry.

The colors blend from one to the other nicely. I hope that my plan for them to show through the weft, when woven, works. ;)

Having brought the small, 4 harness Macomber floor loom up from the basement, I proceeded to get the little stand I had constructed for it, attached. I needed the loom to be slightly higher than it was so that I would be more comfortable when weaving. Plus, I also needed to take the warp and woven sampler that I had left on it after a workshop from 2 years ago. How time flies!

The scarf warp spread on the loom and ready to be wound onto the warp beam. I LOVE Spring Clamps! They have made warping looms so much easier for me.

Another view of the warp which shows the color variation again.

The warp wound onto the warp beam. There is even some slight color variation on the warp from side to side.

Here I am cutting the looped ends of the warp so that I can thread them through the heddles. Notice the bright little strip of white on the warp near the end? That is from where I tightly tied a string around the mass of warp threads to keep them in place, and the dye was not able to penetrate through the bound area. When I tied the warp together in other places along its length, I loosely tied it so that the dye would be able to penetrate through the entire mass of warp threads.

Don got a couple of views of that process.

And a close up of the dyed warp thread, too.

I'm now in the process of spinning more yarn for the weft. I will most likely complete that today and then dye it, once again, using the crock pot. This time, I will be using straight black, hoping to get nice even coverage without any variation in its intensity.

More of this weaving project as it progresses.

"From Carding to Dyeing....."

If you follow the link below, you'll see me "picking, carding, and spinning" some Border Leicester Cross Wool, that eventually will be woven into a scarf. Don took several short videos of the processes, then taught me how to consolidate them into 1 video.

Processing wool video

After spinning 2 fairly full bobbins of singles (1 strand of spun yarn), I then plied them together to make a 2 ply yarn, which would become my warp for the scarf.

From the 2 bobbins of singles, I got approximately 2 3/4 bobbins of 2 ply yarn......

Which I then measured out using my "warping board", that I attach (using spring clamps...how did I ever do without them?) onto the side of my larger floor loom. The scarf is going to be woven on a smaller floor loom, which I borrowed from our friend Barb.

After tying and taking the warp off of the warping board, I then soaked the warp in water, to fully saturate it before putting it into the crock pot where it would go through the dyeing process.

After placing the warp in the crock pot (strategically placing the ends and middle together, of course!), I added a good "glug" of white vinegar to help set the dye. Supposedly I wouldn't need to do this as the dye I use already has a mordant in it, but it doesn't hurt to add it either.

Then on to choosing what 2 dyes I want to use. I finally chose "Alpine" and "Peppercorn".

I added the Alpine first, which looks bluer than I expected.....

And the Peppercorn looked more red than expected.

But as they mixed and mingled, the violet blends that I was hoping for became more apparent. I was a bit worried that I was going to have red, white, and blue yarn!

I covered the crock pot, set it on low, and left it to "do its thing" all day. In the late afternoon, I checked it, and finding the water clear, took out the yarn to see how the colors looked. They weren't as vibrant as I'd hoped, so back in they went with added dye, starting the whole process over again. I turned the crock pot off when we went to bed and let it cool down overnight. In the morning, the water was cold and the colors worked for me. I will post photos of the finished yarn soon.

Don and I would like to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, Safe, Productive, and Fun New Year!