The Amazing Portable, Packable Eli!

Eli had so much energy this morning. Thank goodness Shaun is always up to the challenge...

I'm FREEEEEEE

The last 8 months working at Jurupa Valley High School have passed at an incomprehensible rate - both amazingly quickly and at the same time very, very slowly. This has been a great year though, and I'm that much closer to turning in my hours for my C's!

Thanks to my supervisor, Alisha, for all the support!

Tea for Five at Two-A-Tea

Aunt Marion treated the ladies to tea at a little shop in Glendora called "Two-A-Tea." Aunt Pat felt it was reminiscent of the tea house at Butchart with the happy yellow wall color. The scones and sandwiches were yummy, and we each got our own pot of tea: Wild Strawberry for Aunt Marion, Darjeeling for Aunt Pat, Apricot for Carlean, "Valentine" Strawberry Chocolate for me, and "Coco Mint" green tea for Abi.

There was a large party behind us having a bridal shower or something - they were really loud and obviously having a good time, too!

...even Abi had a good time!

Next Project: Felted Woven Bags

OK, I am suddenly inspired! I pulled out the skeins dyed at Aunt Pat's last summer in mottled reds and oranges, similar to the solid colors she gets from the eucalyptus vats. I have just barely enough to weave it in a loose tabby, so after the length is done I will the fabric to make it nice for small handbags.

Another school year, all but over

This is an art project Eli brought home from school this week. His last day is next Wednesday, but they have already started sending home everything. I'm pretty sure he had some help with this "collage" but it's from his own originated images and ideas.

Pattern Drafting Continued

Here is the rest of that sample swatch:

The top rows are an attempt to to raise heddle 1&2, 2&3, 3&1 with white weft, but it didn't work very well because the heddle tie-ups kept velcroing themselves to the warp threads.

The next row down is heddle 1,2,3,1,2,3 with brown weft.

The next row down is heddle 1,2,3,1,2,3 with alternating brown and white weft - white weft when a brown warp is raised, brown weft when a white warp is raised.)

The next section down is the same heddle sequence, but white weft with white warp raised, brown weft with brown warp raised.

The next section is the same as the top, before the warp got so fuzzed that I couldn't work it.

The next section is raised 1,2,3,2,1,2,3,2 etc. alternating brown weft under brown warp and white weft under white warp.

The bottom row pictured was the last one I worked before the previous posting, I believe, which was raised in this order: heddle 1,2,3,2,1,2,3 etc. with brown weft only.

This was lots of fun - now I need to string up my loom for a *real* project!!

Adventures in Pattern Drafting

 I am experimenting with pattern drafting with my rigid heddle loom, as the reed on my my 4-harness table loom is still desperately needing to be derustified. (And, I have no idea how to put it back to gether currently.)

I had started with 1 heddle and a pick-up stick, based on patterns from the book by Jane Patrick, The Weavers' Idea Book. It was nice, but once the pick-up stick fell out, I cut it off and decided to try something else.

Mach 2 sample, I used double threading per the advice of Theresa and , and my sample width is sufficiently wider to prevent the tensioning issues from side to center. Now it all stays roughly the same tension and only narrows by about 1" on each side from the heddle to the body of the weaving.

I will post full pattern notes on this with more pics once it's done, but for now, I will show you the first three: alternate warp color threading with white to heddle 1 and 3, and brown threads to heddle 2. All sections have the same repeat of heddle 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. The bottom section is with white weft, the middle with alternating white and brown weft, and the top with brown weft only.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Wow, was today a doozy. I felt like I was running in circles all day - well, at least all morning. First I forgot my coffee. Then I realized I also forgot my phone. Then, I had to turn around because I also forgot to pick up the gas card. This was after arriving at the pump and momentarily freaking out because it wasn't in my wallet. Several people at school were having the same kind of morning. I ended up heading back into the office several times, and I forgot to pack a spoon or fork to eat my lunch with. Arg. At least after the morning, the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Hope everyone else escaped unscathed!

More Spring Flowers, and Eli in Motion

Here are the latest hiking pictures from last weekend. Despite the Santa Ana type sorocco winds the week before, there were still a lot of flowers. Eli certainly enjoyed himself, at any rate.

Sheep Shearing, Again

Don came back for round two of sheep shearing, now that the Idaho flock has arrived. This time, he brought his apprentice. The party was also a bit larger this time. The sheep got all sheared in about two hours, and we got to set down for an extravagent picnic lunch, once more.

Altavia Anniversary

It was a lovely day to get out to an event. Most of us sat under the shade of a large pine in the park and enjoyed the company of friends. Aunt Pat got to finally deliver several bags of wool to Bjo, I mean, Baroness Flavia, and Shaun also got to hang out with his knight, Edric, for a while. Eli was in no mood to sit and relax, however, and ran up the hill to the playground several times. When I tried to catch up to him the last time, Uncle Bear had beat me to it.