Whew!

Dear Alice,

Gosh, it was good to spend some time with you on Sunday! We Chicks loved hearing more of your weaving exploits. Wasn't it a great lunch that Mary, Ellen and Pat put together at the last minute? Potato Salad really says that summer is here!

When I got back on Sunday afternoon I asked Scott and Stew to make dinner; I really had to weave to finish off the shawl fabric if I wanted to enter it for jurying for the Guild's Art Fair booth. I did finish up the weaving Sunday evening, then glued another wooden dowel, since it looks like I may have about 1 more yard of weave-able warp. It was so horribly humid Saturday and Sunday that I used the hair dryer to dry the glue quickly. I still had beads to string onto the fringe before I could wet-finish the shawl. Saturday I had planned ahead enough that I picked up some beads at Findings, but I really didn't know how many I was going to need (of course I didn't have enough!) In fact, I couldn't even finish one end! Ahhh...what time do they open?

Monday was a busy day with meetings and setting up for the week, so I did finally finish fringe at 4 p.m., fulled the piece more than I had planned, and then mangled until it was time to leave for the guild's meeting of all the sellers. Puh! It was still damp.

The fabric is heavier than I anticipated, Alice. I knew as I hurried that I should have made notes about how long I agitated the samples and what temperature water. The fabric feels luxurious and really nice; it is just heavier than I wanted. Haste makes waste.

Lessons. Lessons. Lessons.

'Tis as you say. One lifetime isn't enough to try all the things that weaving has to show us.

Thanks for all your lessons,
Nancy

Textures

Dear Alice,

Oftentimes I don't take a walk through our "little boring woods" at Lake Ann and therein lies part of the problem. A change in thinking is needed. Following are several of the lovely things I saw last weekend, scenes that inspire textural ideas in weaving, color ideas in knitting.






































































































Please click on the photos for an enlarged view, and especially so you can actually see the Loon in the last photo!

How are those naps going?
Nancy

Portable Projects

Dear Alice,

What did you do when on the road and couldn't take your loom along? Drawdowns, I'll bet. I prefer to keep the fingers moving, so usually it is a sock-knitting project I take along. Interweave Knits had THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SOCKS in the Fall '07 issue, the Tyrolean Socks, by Ann Budd. I had to have them! So, whilst in San Antonio, I made my fiber-fix stop at the Yarn Barn of San Antonio, bought a couple of skeins of what I mistakenly thought was wool, and began the long process of knitting these beauties. Have I said before that I am not a "lace-knitting-person"? Jaaaa, well, I am not a cable person either. The Tyrolean Socks became socks with only a 6.5 inch cuff when I had to frog them at least four (yes, four times on the last sock!!!) I had to do it. I had almost reconciled in my mind that I could fudge it. How could I not, when the piece of paper that caught my eye, underneath the chart (which was constantly being lifted out of the little plastic sleeve as I moved the place holder up), said (and I quote):

"4. Correct Your Mistakes If you discover an error in your knitting, rip it out and knit again. Rudolfs Blaumanis (1863-1908), a Latvian classical author, wrote a play entitled, "The Prodigal Son". The erring son regrets his worthless life and laments:
Why cannot one do with a spoiled life the same as with a spoiled mitten--rip it
out and start again from the beginning.
"SO. . . RIP! It is a soul purifying experience wwhich never takes as much time or trouble as you've imagined it will. If you succumb to the temptation to ignore a mistake, you may well need to give the mittens away so that the mistake does not haunt you. Or you may find yourself "confessing" to every viewer who would otherwise be in total awe of your talents." This is from Lizbeth Upitis's book Latvian Mittens. How could I go on after reading that? R-I-P!!!


These will become pair #2 of the seven I wish to give to Mom this year. Her birthday came and went last month; she says she doesn't need anything nor want anything and if you give her something, you have to come clear out a space for whatever it is. I think you can never have too many hand-knitted socks. Surely she has room in her drawer for useful clothing?



Here's the other portable project. When I first saw the Coriolis sock in Cat Bordhi's new book New Pathways for Sock Knitters last December, I could not get it out of my mind. I had to knit this sock! It is the most beautiful architecture of a sock that I have ever seen. I did my duty and knit the baby-size sock after I gifted myself and bought the book (remember the little blue ones?) Now I am fully engaged and this is a pair that will fit Mom, too. Even more in the experimenting department...these are knit with a bamboo yarn. A summer sock. Perhaps my friends in warmer climes can stand a pair of bamboo socks?

Last week I saw a photo that was so fun! An a capella group of young men at the University of Illinois, The Other Guys, were photographed for their performance in California this past winter. Every gentleman was dressed up in sport jacket, seated on a low wall with one leg resting crossed at the knee and their socks were exposed: EVERY SOCK ON EVERY GUY WAS DIFFERENT! I mean EVERY sock!!! Now there's an idea....

Alice, there are just not enough hours in every day.

Loved the rain,
Nancy

Michigan's Answer to Texas's Bluebonnets

Dear Alice,

The lupines that I planted several years ago in a dry, sandy spot near the mailbox are alive with color. Oh, it makes me happy to see something that can survive that difficult corner! The Tall Yellow Coneflower will shine in late July, and the Little Bluestem is coming along, too.

Scott and I saw the last few blooms of the Texas Bluebonnets at the end of April and they were lovely. We have our own version here in Michigan, and they love our sandy soils. One Memorial Day weekend as we made our way north, they were resplendent in the sandy woodlands, and I resolved to try them here. They are a success--they are spreading by seed.

The colors in this photo remind me of the almost four yards of "It's Spring Alice!" that is slowly winding on the cloth beam. It will feel so good to have that piece behind me. Six shuttles. Whatever was I thinking???

We'll talk soon,
Nancy

Cheap Cat Toys

Why is it that cats love to park themselves in the sunshine and on the least likely "cat toy" ever conceived by man?

Meet Frizbie, Suzy's 15-year-old kitty, who is dozing on a narrow cardboard box filled with more cardboard into which one is supposed to pour catnip. It makes him wild when the catnip is fresh. Today, it is not a bad spot, since the sunshine made it the most desirable perch in the entire house.

What Frizbie wants to know is why, why oh why, doesn't his mom get him treats like the Three Ginger Cats' Mom?

Catching Up

Dear Alice,

You have probably figured out by now that my absence is due to overbooking.

So here's the sequence of events since the week in San Antonio:

Weekend of May 3, Marvelous, Magical Color Workshop thru AAFG by Lois Bryant

Here's Lois with one of the many beautiful pieces she shared with us in the workshop that weekend.




We were to study colors taken from photos taken from magazines, calendars, our own collection or any source of inspiration. Here you see the colors I was playing with. The blues/greens/yellows are now a warp on my Little Alice.

Weekend of May 10, Opening the Cottage and a Good Walk in the Woods


Of course there is a lot of work to do to open the cottage for the season, but first one must take a walk in the woods to hunt morels. Even though it was the Mushroom Festival in Mesick, MI, we were skunked. It was just too cold. We did have a wonderful time walking the hilly woods, and the dogs had a blast together!







Weekend of May 17, Weaving History Conference at the Handweaving Museum, Clayton, NY.
...a lovely photo of Ruth Holroyd by Mary U. Ruth's presentation, the first of the weekend's programs, received a standing ovation by the group.



and this weekend--Steve's Birthday!





along with preparation of our 'float' for the Dexter Memorial Day Parade on Monday, and the beginning of door to door campaigning. It is also time to get tomatoes in the garden. More to come.

Sleep well!
Nancy

Silence is Golden

Dear Alice,
It has been several days since you last heard from me...it is not that I haven't been thinking of you. Sometimes Life gets in the way. I did at least get one letter written to Suzy, and a postcard off to Roger from San Antonio. His socks are finished (last week in San Antonio). DH has modeled them for me since I fear they would hang sloppily from my own feet. The decision to have a heart on one or both soles was made unconsciously, since I forgot to pack the red yarn to knit the heart on sole #2.




No matter. I think it is more fun to have just one heart appearing when propping one's feet up for a rest.








But, otherwise, don't they look really conservative?







So what has been happening in this Golden Silence (aside from the fact that I have rarely had any truly Golden Silence in the past thirteen days)? First we went to San Antonio to watch Suzy graduate from her USAF Basic Training. A tearful reunion, since we all missed her tremendously....








She had Town Passes Friday afternoon and Saturday all day, so we enjoyed the Riverwalk and Mexican food, Fiesta and loud music everywhere. Saturday we all took in the boat ride, and yes, more Mexican food! For us Michiganders it was a tough two days of adjustment to the heat at 86 degrees. Hot food will cool you down, right?









After siblings and spouses flew back home, Scott and I stayed for more days of Botanical Gardens, The Lady Bird Johnson National Wildflower Center, more gardens, and sightseeing. I'll send along photos of the others as soon as they are developed. For now I will stop...many more things to do and I don't want to bore you with the details.

I hope all is well,
Nancy