Twelfth Night

This is Twelfth night. This is the night, that if it was still a holiday, we would be hanging our Old Christmas Day stockings and tomorrow we would be having our Old Christmas Day celebrations. But this year it falls on Thursday as you can see, and since everyone is in school both today and tomorrow, we will be delaying our Twelfth Night celebrations one whole day and hanging our stockings tomorrow and taking our tree down on Saturday. We have also been invited to my parents house for a nice dinner with friends. And so, the Christmas party continues for another few days. By Sunday you will hear no more about it... I promise. The funny thing is... I just got some nice new catalogues in the mail yesterday and one of them is covered in pink and red hearts... like Valentine's is only a few weeks away! It's enough to make your head spin around like Linda Blair's in The Exorcist.  Next thing you know I'll be out looking for Pussy Willows for an Easter tree again.

Yesterday was a day for getting on with it. I didn't get my level 3 books updated as I had hoped since when I looked at my cotton samples from way back, I realized that nature/the gods of spinning had worked their wicked magic and had underspun them while they were hanging in my studio. I'm sure that humidity wrecks havoc with things if left long enough. So I wanted to put some more plying twist in them. That way they would hang the way I wanted them to.... which meant getting what was on my wheel finished and off. Therefore I spent the day finishing the spool of merino and then I didn't have enough empty spools so I plied off two spools of alpaca. Gosh the alpaca is beautiful! After that, I was able to get to the cotton and I took it off the wheel and washed it last night. It hangs in a perfect U just the way I want it to. This morning, I will work on the other skein of cotton making it hang in a U too (U2 get it... snork, snork gufaw.. hey I know I'm a nerd! By the way I'm listening to U2 actually.... I'm listening to the mix of music I have on my computer, but U2 was on a few mins ago! Uh, Ah, sorry for the digression!) Then I will do some sizing (that's the sticky stuff that my cotton will get coated in to make it stiff... most of your store bought clothes comes with that stuff on it too.) and I will need to boil a skein of cotton as well. Then my cotton samples will be ready for my books. I will have one more sample of blended cotton and silk to do and I will have the first section of the level 3 books done too. Yeah!

It sure feels good to finally see good progression on the homework for both level 3 and level 5.  It makes me feel like I am full of accomplishments. So here is a pic from yesterday's work.....

Alpaca to the left and it looks absolutely delicious. Cotton to the right and it is gunned cotton and is nice too. Then there are the two spools of merino so far. Still have to finish filling the one on the left. Of course pics never do this justice.

I have had a change of thought on my level 3 50 hour project. I had planned on doing a baby blanket using my pin looms and weaving blocks and putting them together with crochet. But in the meantime I was sitting in the living room yesterday working away at the spinning and BAM right out of the blue I had a wonderful thought. Back in the fall when my gallery had their show, I had looked at one of the shawls hanging on the wall in the gallery of one of my fellow spinners and weavers and promptly fell in love.  Her shawl was done in black and plain weave but it was done with a break in the weaving every so often. (I can't explain it very well so I'm not going to even try... you will just have to be patient and wait and you will see it when I get it finished.)  It dawned on me yesterday that I could do a colour gamp (I know most of you don't have a clue what a colour gamp is... it could be a foot fungus for all you know... but a colour gamp is a really cool thing that weavers do with colour in weaving... you can see one here... or here....) with the same idea on my rigid heddle loom (which is really easy to thread) using the 25 shades of logwood.... oh that would be just jim fine and dandy.... really! So my level 3 instructor.... (who reads here sometimes)...  can look forward to some weaving.... from me. Oh I am so excited.... I can't wait... this is going to be sooo good.... (if I don't screw up : \ yikes!)

It is still dark and the dear ones (Teapot and the daughters) have left for the day. The rabble (the dogs) are not too obnoxious this morning and are waiting for me to go back to bed.... as I do most mornings for an hour. So I will begin my Twelfth Night... since it still feels like night... and then begin on that cotton.... who knows I might even get the new exercise bike put together today....

Enjoy your Twelfth Night and I hope your catch the animals in your area on bended knee at midnight, tonight.... as the old adage says....