Charleen's Fiberblog

One Job Down ......

so many more to go!

I made this to go in back of a sofa, a primitive console table. I've rearranged the living room furniture and decided to recycle it into much needed shelving for the studio.

Here's the plan.

I'm not going to bother and stain the added shelving.

This just makes me smile! This is mostly 8/2 and some other mill ends.

I wish I could say the rest of the basement studio is looking as organized as this but ....... well, my weaving was calling me.

Hot damn! 912 ends and I didn't make one mistake. That's going down in the record books! I tried lashing on again. I'm not a big fan but I want to use my handspun for warp and I want to cut down on loom waste. I took a little more time (that's probably the reason I don't like it) and it worked out well. I probably won't use it for cotton warps but it doesn't hurt to have a few tricks up my sleeve.

I started and finished the first blanket today and I'm paying the price. How long has it been since I wove and here I was throwing the shuttle over 38". It wasn't a pretty picture. I don't know what I was doing with my right arm but I must have been pulling it back to far because I kept getting the thread caught on the edge of the breast beam and my right shoulder and wrist are a bit tender. I guess that's what I get for trying to cram so much into this week.

Here's a closer look at the twill. This is the second draft on the previous entry. I wove 1.5" in plain weave, 42" of twill, and another 1.5" plain weave.

Tomorrow I'm going with either the third draft or the hopsack, which is fabric woven with 2 ends up and 2 ends down.

I wonder if weaving wide warps will help tone up the triceps?

Speeding Things Up

This is only the first coat. I did cut in with a brush, but before I put on the second coat this afternoon I'll make sure to get into the places the roller skimmed over. I've been watching Fresh Coat and picking up lots of tips. One is to use a mini roller when doing shelves. Maybe it's obvious to others but I just never thought of it. I picked up a 6" roller/pan combo yesterday at Home Depot and used it today.

This summer I've got a lot of 6 panel doors to paint and I'm definitely getting the 3" one for that. They recommend using the foam roller for the final coat. What's painting a cabinet have to do with my previously listed plans? If I get this finished by tomorrow, when both of my sons are off work, they will be able to move Josh's huge tv up into his bedroom, clearing out one of the 3 tvs in the living room. Maybe I forgot to mention that Josh brought home 2 tvs when he moved back home in February. So my living room has three tvs and two spinning wheels. I put the Joy in its travel case and stowed it in a corner in the dining room. They'll put the other tv in the basement this weekend. So it really is part of the plan. A more peaceful spinning room.

A Quick Check In

I'm back to school, teaching two new courses, and this weekend I started work on my thesis. BUT I forgot to show you the last bookcase I made for the family room, which has evolved into my husband's home office. The stain really is even, but I took it early in the morning when the sun was shining in.

The Viking is still not repaired. I took pictures of the two new blouses but they hung pretty funny without the buttons so I'll just wait and take a better picture when I get the buttonholes done.

You know, it doesn't really matter how old your kids are, you're still going to worry. Just in case I didn't have enough to occupy my mind, Dan bought this on Wednesday night and brought it right over. It is one big, scary machine. That being said, he's promised me a ride as soon as he gets the seat changed. You know there will be pictures of that!

This is what you get when it's too dark to see through the viewer and the display just shows pitch black. I lightened it enough for you to see the basic outline.

August Carpentry

It seems like I always end up building something the weekend before school starts. A couple of years ago it was bookcases for school. Last year I made a cabinet to keep homeroom files and hold my podium. Today it was two bookcases for the new thesis room.

I finished the second one and trimmed them both out. When I get home from school tomorrow I'll stain them, Tuesday I'll poly them, Wednesday they'll make their way up to the second floor.

I got quite a bit of sewing done this weekend, too. I made the Italian Blouse (short sleeves) in a wine Indian batik. I would have finished it, but it seems that my automatic buttonhole stitch gets stuck half way through. Luckily I tried it out on some scrap material. This is the new Janome 8080 I bought over spring break. The plan then was to take my Viking in to be serviced. Did I? Of course, not. So I took that in on Saturday and when I get it back I'll take the Janome in. It's still under warranty (hopefully I'll find the receipt). So the Italian Blouse waits. I did finish two pairs of pants. One was a gray tencel twill and the other a cotton lycra twill. I hemmed them tonight. This makes the 7th and 8th pair of Cruise Pants. I have navy blue linen and natural linen ready to cut for two more. Cut out, and ready to sew, are the Zipper Jacket (short) and the Casablanca Blouse (shorter version, without the tie).

Kitchen's Almost Done

Here's a follow up to my kitchen painting. I changed the color I used for the sponging, going with a green which was close to the cactus in the border. I still used Cotton Fluff as the base coat. I mixed five parts of the faux glaze to one part of Valley Mist, sponging with a sea sponge to get this subtle result. Putting on two coats of satin sealer really gives it a nice sheen and will make the area between the counters and the cabinets easy to wipe down. The trim will have to wait until this weekend.

I haven't done any more weaving, but I finally finished the edging for the Indigo Moon Brushstrokes vest. I ended up using a k1p1 ribbing instead of the crochet. After the third rip I realized I wasn't going to get the results I wanted. As soon as I can clear some space on the dining room table I'll block it and post a final picture.

I Hate Painting Ceilings

Just in case you didn't hear me the first time - I hate painting ceilings! My neck and my lower back hurt, but my ceiling is painted. I have two different height ceilings in my kitchen, along with two beams and a ceiling fan in the dining area. That translates into too much cutting in.

Above left, what I'm starting with. It actually looks pretty good in the picture, but, trust me, it's not the sage green, like the cactus, that I was expecting. I lived with it for five years. It's time to move on. The paper and border are in great shape, so I'm just painting above the border. I picked the background color, Cotton Fluff, from the almost white of the vessel, above right. The Faux Glaze will be mixed with Caribbean Green. I know this a really dark teal green, but I'm making it very transparent using a very small paint:glaze ratio.

I did get the first ten colors of the gamp woven. I have to run out tomorrow and get 10 more bobbins. I've numbered on the side of the bobbin to help me keep the colors straight.

Pictures of that tomorrow.

Unexpected Three Day Weekend

I got a call at 4:30 AM Friday. When's the last time you got good news at that time of night? Well, the power was out at the high school and we got the day off! I'm sure we'll be making it up in June, but once again, I'm only thinking in the present.

I got the room put back together:

I finished the cotton hooded baby sweater:

And I figured out where I was on the Sheep Shawl started so long ago:

How sad is it that this is my progress picture from 6/29/03!

Another Snow Day

After spending yesterday painting the new shelves I can really use this snow day. Hopefully I'll have more fiberly things to report.

We didn't get much snow, as witnessed below

but the majority of it came so late that the secondary roads were just a mess.

Off to play.

Free Day

I can't call it a snow day, since we don't have any yet, but I am home. A Nor'easter is on it's way, at least the school districts around here took it seriously enough to either call off school or have drastically reduced schedules.

I finished both of the shelving units yesterday afternoon. They are caulked and ready for painting. And before you ask, yes, I actually own some of those free weights on the stand (just don't ask me if I use them)!

Off to buy paint.

Sunday Already?

Wow! Sometimes time really has a way of escaping, doesn't it? I had a short week last week. No school Monday, got out early Thursday due to the impending storm that wasn't really that big, but it was big enough to give me a two hour delay on Friday. So why does it feel like my whole week was taken up by school?

I did decide to continue on with my crocheted border for the Brushstrokes vest. I took out the first one, went down a hook size, and picked up less stitches. One more row around, then a finishing row of crab stitch. Thanks to all who gave me advice.

This weekend I'm trying to put together two shelving units to hold the receiver, speakers, and my growing collection of cds and dvds. They are to flank the television and eventually I plan on making a shelf to span the units and enclose the tv, hopefully making it look like it doesn't dominate the room. I needed to take advantage of this lull in the weather and get outside and cut some of the wood. The garage is so wet (from snow melting off the car) that I couldn't work out there, so I ended up working on a drop cloth in the living room. Just a little tip for those who may be planning the same project. When you are scooting down the side pieces screwing in the shelf supports, make sure you ass clears the previously screwed down supports. Ouch! Of course, the fact that they are only about 3/4" high doesn't say much for my arm strength or, for that matter, the size of said ass.

There has been a little fiber progress. The hooded cotton baby sweater has been sewn together and is drying now. I finally got the two green plaid baby blankets serged and I'm going to have to handsew the hems. My machine is going to need to go in for a tune up.

I hadn't realized how long it's been since I've spun. The last thing was the Brushstrokes. So I pulled out two balls of Shetland roving I bought at Rhinebeck and got one of them spun yesterday.

This came from Eileen Testo, Weston Hill Farms, along with a 2.5 pound fleece that is washed and waiting my attention. Come to think of it, when was the last time I carded anything?

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we were very organized (at least with the cooking). Everything is made, or prepped to the max. The count will be under 30 this year. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law went to visit my niece and her husband, who decided to stay in Atlanta with their two young children for the holiday. The pumpkin pies aren't really as dark as they look, but that's what happens when you take a picture at 11:00 PM. Off to clean up this place.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!