SUCCESS!!!

Well hello!!!  I have finished unraveling that awful mess that I have mentioned in the past couple of posts!  Woohoo!  Seriously, it took me like a million hours!  And... I was so excited that I didn't even take a picture of the finished unknotted yarn; it just went straight on the loom!  So, here is a sneak peek of my newest project... with the last of my beautiful two skeins from Conjoined Creations.  (But don't worry, this definitely won't be the last time you will see their amazing yarns in my projects because I am in love.)

As you can see from the second photo, it's a really loose weave, so I'm interested in seeing how the fabric turns out.  Also, it's a lot wider than the last couple of scarves I've made (actually, I think it's wider than all of them), but I'm really going for something different here, so we'll see how it turns out!

Random confession: My new addiction is "Army Wives", and I have been watching it non-stop all afternoon/evening while I've been weaving.  I just really like that show!

Well, I'd better go...  Lolo (the cat) is whining at me because it's time to play!

I'm boring...

So...  It is a Friday night!  And since I'm oh so exciting, I'll bet you can never guess what I'm doing!!!

Oh yeah!  I'm sitting on the couch untangling hundreds of yards of lace weight yarn a millimeter at a time!!!  Woohoo!  Ya know, I've got it down quite a bit from the ridiculous blob it was a couple of days ago, but even that small bundle is so incredibly aggravating.  And yes, I know, I should just cut my losses. (My husband is being driven crazy by the fact that I won't just throw the rest away.)  But I just can't.  It's such a pretty yarn, and I think its ridiculous to throw half of a skein away just so I can buy some more.  I mean, I know this stuff isn't that expensive, but still.  So, instead of doing something normal with my time, I'm sitting at home, on a Friday night, unraveling.  I am boring!

On an even more boring note, I haven't started a new project yet because I've been too busy trying to untangle this yarn!  There's a big, fat sarcastic yay!

And as if this post has not been random enough, here is a random note to end on.  Right now, it is 66 degrees in Cocoa Beach... oh how I wish I was there!

Silk!

Well, I have now finished my most recent project!  This new scarf is so soft and beautiful that I just had to wear it today!  As I've mentioned before the extraordinary yarn used to make this scarf is from Conjoined Creations (www.conjoinedcreations.com).  If you are into weaving, knitting, crocheting, or anything that you would need yarn for, check out their website!  Their colors are AMAZING, and you get beautiful, high-quality yarns for great prices!  They also have a list of stores all over the country that carry their yarns listed on the site, so you may have a store near you!  Seriously... check them out.  I'm in love!

Here are some photos of the new scarf!

 

What the photos don't convey is that this scarf is so so so soft and super light and airy.  And it has nothing to do with me, I just wove it up.  The beauty is 100% in the yarn.  I just love it!

Well, that's all I have to report for the day, other than the fact that the Etsy shop is still on the way.  You can be sure that I will post about it whenever I get it running!

Random:  It is a beautiful day where I live today, so I've got all the windows open, and I think it's the perfect day to bake an apple pie.  So, that is what I will be doing next!!!  Yum!

Sneak Peek and Faves

Well, I am about halfway done with my newest project, and here is a sneak peek!

This brand is my new favorite.  It's called "Conjoined Creations" and it is BEAUTIFUL!  I absolutely love it, and I think the fabric is going to turn out wonderfully!

But, that is all I have to update in the weaving world today, so I will end with some random faves of mine.

Fave Color: purple (duh!)
Fave Food: Italian and ice cream
Fave Actor: Gerard Butler
Fave Actress: Emily Blunt (right now)
Fave Season: Summer
Fave Thing to Cook: Sweet Breads
Fave Website: www.imdb.com (The Internet Movie Database)
Fave Animal: Horse
Fave Song: It changes all the time, but right now it is definitely "Starlight" by Muse.
Fave TV Show: Top Gear

Well, there are some random facts about me!  Tomorrow is Friday, it is supposed to be beautiful where I live, so YAY!  Happy early weekend!

Unwinding

Well!  Do I have something to write about today!  So, as promised, I started a new project on Saturday night with a new yarn I had not used before.  It is a beautifully soft, vibrantly colored lace weight silk (and for those of you who don't speak yarn, the lace weight means it is a really think yarn, more like string, I think).  And it comes in these adorable, artsy skeins.  They're all wound and twisted in really cool ways to make them look really pretty. (Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the pretty version.)  But, when you untwirl the contraption, it's just a big circle of yarn.  So, I find the end and start pulling the string out thinking, "how hard can it be?"  Oh how wrong I was!!!  I have spent hours untangling that awful mess, and it's still not done.  I sat at my kitchen table pulling one little tiny string out of endless knots so long that my back and eyes ached from the concentration.  I wanted to make this scarf a little wider for some variety, but eventually I settled for six inches wide because I couldn't handle it anymore.  Besides the fact that my husband and I have been eating on tv trays on the couch for a day and a half because my half warped loom was taking up the entire kitchen table and half the living room.  (FYI: I warp my loom with a warping peg which means that I thread the yarn right onto the loom, and if I want to have a scarf that's eight feet long, I have to put my warping peg eight feet away from the loom.  And it has to stay there until the loom is totally warped.  So that means that this project was taking up 8+ feet in my living room and kitchen for almost two days!!!)  Anyway, here is photo #1.  This is the leftover yarn from the skein I spent hours untangling.  And there's still plenty there waiting to be untangled!!!

So, as soon as I finished warping, I decided that there has GOT to be a better way!  And since I'm using a different color for my weft (the cross-wise weaving), I still had another skein to unwind, and I did not want to repeat that awful process.  So, I began scouring the internet for a neat way to unwind skeins.  And of course, oh so helpfully, I found a skein unwinder machine thing that I can purchase for... wait for it... $215!!!  Um, YEAH RIGHT!  So, I got a good look at the contraption and started wandering around my apartment for a way I could home-make a system like that.  I also found another website that explained how to prep a skein to be unwound.  So, I put this new knowledge to use, tried to think like my dad, and I MADE MY OWN!!!  Yeah, it is VERY simple and archaic, but it worked like a charm!

I used two of my kitchen chairs, my warping peg and clamp, a work clamp my husband happened to have lying around, and a wooden kitchen spoon.  My dad would be so proud!  ;)  And, in less than 45 minutes, I had unwound the entire 480 yards of yarn from the skein to my own cone!  I knew I had kept a couple of empty cones for a reason!

And hey, it's not pretty, but it is completely functional!  And it is a million times better than untangling that awful, terrible mess that I made of the other skein.  I was THRILLED!

So, this evening I began weaving the project, and I think I'm gonna like it.  It will be hard not to like with this amazing new yarn!  I have only worked with acrylic, cotton, wool, and the bamboo blend yarn so far, so 100% silk is a big step up (in both quality and price.  Yikes!)  So, I'm excited.

Well, that's all I have to report on right now!  I will definitely post a sneak peek photo of the new scarf when I get a little farther along!  Here's to a new week coming up and here's hoping for some GREAT weather this week!

Random: I'm pretty sure that no one will get this but my husband, but since he's the only one who really reads this thing it won't matter.  I threw in that "Top Gear" reference just for you honey!

Circus

Hello blog!  So, once again, my husband has been home with me a lot this week, so I haven't done a ton of weaving.  This, and the fact that the project I was working on was a slow weave, contributed to a week with not many updates in the weaving category.  However, here are the photos of my newest finished product!

The type of yarn is called "Circus" which I love!  And the colors are amazing: purples, blues, pinks!  I bought this yarn in bulk (because it was sooooo much cheaper that way), and I was pretty nervous about it because I hadn't worked with it before, but I LOVE IT!  Yay!  Super soft and cuddly (Great timing now that winter is almost over!)

Also, I've been working on setting up an Etsy shop, but it's not ready yet.  So, I will post the link and everything once I get it all done.  (Either I'm an idiot or it is a lot harder than they make it seem...)

That's about it for today.  Like I said, it's been a slow week again.  But, I'm getting ready to go warp a new project right now with another new yarn I haven't used before!  We'll see how it goes...

Random note:  My husband and I saw "The Adjustment Bureau" on Sunday and it was AMAZING!!!  I LOVED it!  I'm such a sucker for those impossible love stories!  It takes such nerve to look something impossible in the face and do it anyway.  Wow!  I just wish I could be that brave!  (Special note: be careful on taking my advice on what movie to go see, I'm all to apt to like just about every movie ever made! :) )  But seriously, the movie was INCREDIBLE!  I so want to go see it again like right now!

Random note #2: I finished the Chronicles of Narnia this week!  So, I will end with a beautiful quote from The Last Battle: "The term is over: the holidays have begun.  The dream is ended: this is the morning."  Love it!  Thank you C.S. Lewis for the best books ever written!

Happy weekend!

Unproductive Week

Hello dear void.  So, this week has been pretty unproductive in the weaving world for me.  My husband's been working days mostly, so when he's home with me in the evenings, of course, we hang out.  So, I haven't gotten much done.  But that's ok with me!  (Also, I'm off work tomorrow, and he's at work all day so I guess I know what I'll be doing... bring on the cheesy chick flick and yarn!)

Anyway, I have done a few small tasks.  Number 1: photograph my last two projects (yay!), so here they are!

The idea for this one came from Jane Patrick's book that I mentioned a couple of posts ago (The Weaver's Idea Book).  She gives a pattern, but of course I didn't actually follow a lot of it.  It's pretty cool with the gathered ruffley things.  It's woven pretty tightly (not the plan), so it still needs a few washes before it limbers up to where I'll really love it.

And this is the eyelash scarf I have been working on.  I'll tell ya, it was way more work off the loom than on.  I wove this sucker up in about two hours, but it's taken me FOREVER to finish it.  I don't love the knots, but there's not really much I can do to change that now.  I guess I'll have to keep it in mind for next time.  But, I LOVE the colors.  Aren't they so rich?!

Number 2:  I inventoried my yarn stash.  So, now if I finish something off, I will know exactly what it was, where I bought it and how much it cost.  Why will I ever need to know that? I dunno, but I love inventories.  (Yup, I know, I'm weird.)

Um... number 3: I have a plan for documenting all my work in a better way.  Have I put this plan into action? ...no... um... moving on.

So, I got a new pair of shoes in the mail today, and I opened the box and guess what I found?!

Just kidding.  But she did jump in just as soon as I got the shoes out, and she's been napping in there ever since.  It's ridiculous really.  She's just like a child.  You buy them a nice, plush, comfy bed to lay in, and they sleep in boxes and on pieces of paper you throw on the floor.  Really.  Awesome.

Anyway, as if that isn't silly enough, another randomness to end on... did anyone catch the "You've Got Mail" reference at the beginning of this post?  (I love that movie!)