The Day Before the Big Day

This is the Indian who will be bringing me a turkey to go with the corn I already grew. That is , of course, a big lie! That is one of the fellows in native garb at the Chile Festival back in September.





Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but today is not. Today is the day I have to take my dog Polly in to the vet and today is the day she will not come back. It is so sad when this time comes. She was Kenny's dog. He picked her out of all the puppies in the litter. She slept under the bed until Kenny passed and then she slept on the floor on his side of the bed.



She mourned Kenny for a very long time and never did quit watching for him to come home. She was never far from my side. If I was in the basement, so was she. If I went in the bathroom she lay on the floor outside the door, waiting. When I went to Kansas and left her home, she didn't eat. She lay under the buffet and waited. When the neighbors came in to check things, she growled at them, but did not move.



And how is loyalty like that rewarded? It is rewarded with a trip to the vet so she can go to the Rainbow Bridge and find Kenny. When she is too weak to get up the stairs without falling, when she growls at Daisy for no reason, it is time. I did not do this for my selfish reasons, I did it because she was not happy. I only wish that when I get in her shape that someone could take me by the hand and make me happy again.

Trying the woven blanket again!!

Look at this!! I have a picture here. Hope it is here when I publish this! This is one block on my blanket. This is the right side. You know I wove the whole thing with the wrong side up, so was very suprised when I say what it looked like.

This is the full blanket. It measures 52" x 48". Just the right size to not be too big or too small. It is made with 8/2 white cotton and washable wool. The wool is not itchy at all.
This is what the wrong side of the block looks like. Looks as good on the back as the front! I am so proud of myself that I could jump up and down. There are a couple mistakes in this one, so I am going to make another just like it only I will weave it right side out and it will be just PERFECT!

Whole blanket, wrong side. I sure hope when I hit the publish button that the pictures will be there.

If the pictures are there please let me know how you like my blanket, because I am really a very needy soul!

The blanket unveiling at last!!!!

At long last I am able to get these pictures posted. Unfortunately I have lost complete control of my blog and it is going to do whatever it wants to do, which at this time seems to be centering everything I type. Trust me, if this is the worst that happens we will be very blessed!

Ok, now it I can do this on the left. We will go with that. This is the blanket I have anquished over for two or three weeks. This blanket has 960 ends. That means the warp, which is what I weave across is 8/2 white cotton and there are 960 threads. Each one of those threads had to be measured, cut and then threaded through a reed and then through a heddle. A heddle is what is raised or lowered to give you a place to put the weft (cross) thread to make the pattern. The weft in this case is a beautiful blue wool that I got from Joanne.

Since this is what is called an overshot pattern I throw 1 shot of blue wool in the pattern and then 1 shot of white 8/2 cotton in tabby. That is why there is so much white. This is actually the wrong side of the blanket. Let's go down farther and hope we have a right side! Before we leave I should tell you the name of this block is Lee's Surrender and the blanket consists of 4 blocks. Shown below is 1 block.

Here it is!! This is the right side. See how predominate the blue is in this picture? That means this is the right side. You know, I look at this and I am not sure which is the right side and which is the wrong side. I guess it really does not matter. Since I did not listen when Joanne was trying to tell me, I wove this whole blanket with the wrong side up unless , of course, the wrong side is the right side. By this time, I am so confused that I think I will have a tiny draught of something fermented and go to bed.

Well, it looks like this is going to center stuff for me again. I must confess, I am ready to give up and let the computer rule my life. So with that being said, tell me if you like my blankie!

Unveiling of the Weaving!!

Pictures have been postponed until this thing will cooperate with me! If you sign up as a follower you will be sent a message when it happens. Otherwise keep checking back!

Sorry, Lou

The Loom in Action

OK. This is your last viewing of the loom before the big unveiling which will happen on Monday, November 16. I am so excited! I can hardly wait to see how it looks!

This is the back of the loom all tightened to the proper tension and ready to be woven into something that will be a work of art, but something grandma and great grandpa did as a matter of course. Men were actually employed in the weaving profession a long time before us women settled on it as an outlet for our creativity.

This loom is 60" wide, which is a little wider than a lot of looms, but when I bought this from the lady who taught me to weave I had in mind that I would weave carpet for the whole house. That little projuect did not last long.


I would like to take a moment here to thank the lady who taught me to weave for doing such a good job. I think she retired from teaching after me. I don't know if she quit cause I was such a pain, she was just tired of teaching, or if it just worked out that way and my paranoia is kicking in here.

Any way, I would like to send a big thank you out to Marilyn H. here in Pueblo, Colorado for taking me under her wing. She is a true artist in every sense of the word and I have learned much at her knee. Well, not actually her knee, but you get the picture!

Now, here we come to the first few rows of the blanket. You should know that Joanne told me the pattern I was working on would need to be altered if I wanted this woven with the right side up, but I, in my haste blew that off and forged right ahead. So what you see here is actually the back side of the blanket! I really do need to learn to slow down and listen once in a while.

Now what you see here will be the right side of the blankie. I had to get in a very uncomfortable position to take this picture! Yes, I think I will start listening and taking that extra 2 or 3 minutes to do it right.

The problem with this overshot is sometimes you will end up with a "floating" thread and it would be nice if you knew it when it was happening rather then when you have spent weeks weaving and take it off the loom and discover it. So your alternative is to stand on your head and check the underside. This is all well and good except I have 2 of the lickingest dogs in the world.

Here is a picture of the pattern. The name of this is Lee's Surrender and there will be 4 of these in my creation. The blanket is all done and I am so anxious for you to see it. I don't remember when I started this, but I think it took me about 2 weeks.

So there you have it! I think the lesson I learned from this, or the words of wisdom I give you are ones my mother told me many times..."A stitch in time, saves nine." Which means had I taken the couple minutes to translate the tie up I would not have had to stand on my head!

This is Friday the 13th

Today is Friday the 13th and I laugh in the face of danger and all Friday the 13th suggests! I scoff at the beleif that because a day has a certain number it can impact my life in anyway. Well, that is different if it is my birthday. Then I expect gifts. If it were payday, then it would be important. But to say, "Today is Friday the 13th and it is going to be bad luck." Now that statement is ludicrous!

My blanket is finished and I will put a picture of it on this next Monday, just in case today has cast a spell on my computer. So for today I will try to catch you up on all the little events in my life.

Now see what I mean about the picture thing? I typed all that above and then downloaded the picture of the pumpkin patch out my car window and it appeared on top. This is well and good, but I am not smart enough to move it. I must study up on the moving of things.

Any way, this is a pumpkin field right up the road from me that I pass on the way to the city. There are a lot of pumpkins in that field and I have no idea what the future of the little fellows is going to be. Will they be seeds? Will they be cattle fodder? Will they just be turned back into the soil?

Earlier in the year, before Halloween, school buses and cars filled with kids came and spilled their load of humanity into the fields where the children slowly, and with much deliberation, chose the perfect pumpkin. This was very carefully carried back to the vehicle of choice and loaded aboard. I am sure these pumpkins got good homes, if you think having your eyes gouged out, your guts ripped out and a candle lit and thrust into your open cavity, having a good home!

Eventually these sacrifical pumpkins ended up in a trash can some where. Not my pumpkin. My pumpkin was grabbed and thrown into the shopping cart on the way to the checkout. I did not desecrate my pumpkin. Later this week I will cut it in half and bake it in the oven with a little water. Then I will peel it and run the cleaned pumpkin through the blender and make lots of pies.

My pumpkin will make many people happy for several meals. I may make some pumpkin soup, because this summer I made cucumber soup and that was really good. I had been wanting to try that, but this year a plethora of the cucumber made it almost a duty.

I seem to be rambling! I shall go do things I do and leave you to ponder just what lesson you should take from today's missive. It may very well, that it is nothing. Just thoughts of an old lady on Friday the 13th!

Introduction to the Loom

This is the front of my loom. This loom is a LaClerc and is 60 inches wide. This shot here is of the reed which is a 10 dent. That means there are 10 open slots to the inch. This reed is threaded with 8/2 cotton and there are 2 threads in each slot. There are a total of 960 threads. This is going to be a blanket for Penny when this is done.

This is how mine looks when it is through the reeds and ready to be pulled to the back. I am not very neat and usually end up with a very big knot! But I usually get it untangled after a few attempts and a whole lot of cussing!

This is the back of my loom before I thread the heddles which are the things that manipulate the threads so I can weave a beautiful blanket.

Since I have to do a bunch of work down stairs, and I never know where the next picture will show up, I am going to wait and work on the next section a little later. This is probably enough for you to meditate on today.

"Survivor" is on tonight so I should be able to work on the blanket and get it done so you can see it in a couple days. I know this looks complicated, but this is a craft you may want to try as it is very relaxing to do. If you stop to think about it, every skill you have in life is a learned skill. Weaving is no different and I am sure if you don't pursue it, you will never learn to do it.

Some where near you is a weaving guild so get online and find it and start there. Weavers are very gregarious people and will take you in and teach you this fine art. Men can and do make very good weavers. Men were weaving way before women ever tried their hand at it.

See you at the sale! Vail Hotel, Pueblo, Colorado, from now through Saturday, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM. You folks on the east and west coast may miss it!