Can you tell that we are all in a weird mood? I think that we are all really looking forward to the end of the day when we will have a three day weekend streaming out before us. I actually was able to get myself out of bed this morning at 7 a.m. instead of ten after or twenty after or half past like it was yesterday. This is due to the fact that there is a Chinook blowing in and temperatures have risen and also the wind has been howling again. So morning was not the peaceful oblivion that it normally is. There have been things blowing around out on the deck. The cat has been meowwwing loudly for an hour to come in. Then there is that dog next door. It's not barking at the moment but it has been barking in the morning quite often in the last few days... yesterday I heard it barking for four hours straight. Dreadful. If I can hear it in the house like that, I can only imagine what it will be like when spring comes and the windows are open! Still I hope that something good will happen in regards to that canine.
Anyway enough about the barking hound....
This has not been a week of no progress on the homework... I have been working on all silk samples for level 3. I have a sample finished from a commercial hankie and as with spinning from silk hankies it is full of nubs and noils... a very textured yarn, but beautiful all the same.
I have also finished the silk sample for a knitted or crocheted sweater, with the 3 x 3 knitted swatch. I settled on a Bombyx silk blended with silk waste in a 80/20 blend.
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| 80/20 Bombyx silk/silk waste 3-ply yarn. |
I'm very happy with the yarn but only fairly happy with the knitted sample. I couldn't find a knitting pattern that I loved and so settled on a combination of lace and bobbles... which is pretty, but I'm not a bobble kind of person... I did however want a child-like pattern and what could say childish better than bobbles!
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| This actually looks better than I thought.... |
I also started the spinning for the woven piece and got fairly far with it... that's the most exciting bit because it is being spun in Muga silk.
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| This looks like gold doesn't it... I just love this stuff! |
I was lucky enough to be able to get my hands on some Muga silk...(which was a real score). It is gorgeous!!!! Like I can't stress how gorgeous it is. I have a very smooth worsted style 2-ply yarn that I am working on which I will use on my 6 x 6 pin loom and it is going to be awesome because I am going to use a very textured cinnamon coloured Tussah silk mixed with sari silk (no nubs and noils just bits of sari silk sticking out) for the 2-ply weft yarn but I'll only use it on every alternate weft pik. I'm really looking forward to finishing this. I think it will be gorgeous.... at least I am hoping. Meanwhile I have finished 22 metres of Bombyx silk for embroidery
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| This will be lovely for embroidery... |
and I will need blue silk spun for that as well as some black silk... which means I have to dye some Tussah.... that's what I intend to do today, dye a little silk black... in a crowded pot kind of way... only I'm going to microwave it. Meanwhile, I am still looking for the cocoons so that I can make a mawata... I know I have them because I saw them just a few weeks ago... but for the life of me I can't seem to find them.
I had hoped to have this section on silk for level 3 done this week but I have not made as much progress as I hoped. It's been a busy week. Again. Perhaps things will go faster from now on. We'll see. Things always go slowly when there are swatches to knit and weave.... and with Teapot away I have lost whole afternoons to hauling water and picking up Daughters from school and checking in on Mom and Dad. By the way things are almost back to normal with Mom and Dad. Still if they need anything, I do have to try the best to help out.
So I guess I had beetter head off and get those Daughters of mine to school... then it's home for a morning of dyeing silk and spinning that beautiful Muga.... I can't wait....
As for the rest of the day??? Who knows what to expect....
1 comment:
The yarns are absolutely gorgeous, Frankie, never mind that golden silk! It had ME thinking spinning - until I remembered how "snaggy" my fingers tend to be! However, I just had an idea for that dog. I wonder what would happen if you arranged for him to get a little dose of Valerian or Catnip, say in a peanut butter ball or a bit of hamburger. Both act as sedatives on dogs; maybe a dose would calm him down a bit and reduce the barking? Mind, if it's a terrier or something else high-octane, probably nothing is going to have much effect, unfortunately.
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