I had a wonderful day with my Mom......

Which doesn't happen all that frequently as she lives over 303miles/487km from where I live.  It so happened that I had the day planned and she came into town and joined me in shopping for some material and fibre.

First stop was to Fabricland which had a sale on quilting fabric 'buy 1 metre get 3 free'.  So I added to the stash.

 I went to check on the discounted bin which was 50% off, and found some pretty yellow floral material which I'm hoping to make a top for the summer.  We'll see.  All good intentions pave the road to 'you know where'.

We met up with my sister Jackie and went for lunch after material shopping.  I couldn't eat lunch fast enough as the Hand Weavers, Spinners & Dyers of Alberta were holding their annual conference in Edmonton this past weekend, June 1-6.  That's where my Mom and I headed to next.  Unfortunately I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't take one picture! UGH!  Thinking back to it now I was too busy looking at everything that it never occurred to me to get the camera out.  Not like Robin from For the Love of Fiber.  She blogged about her weekend going to 3! fiber festivals.  She takes some wonderful pictures.  

Anyway the following pictures are what was added to the fibre stash from the HWSDA 2010 Conference.

 Beautiful sock yarn from Twisted Sisters & Company Fibre Mill.  They carry beautiful alpaca rovings, but what caught my eye was this chocolate brown sock yarn with a tinge of blue through it.  70%Alpaca/15%Nylon/15% Merino.  It feels wonderful, it's very sturdy for sock yarn.  So I cast on that same evening for Birch Leaf Socks by Nancy Bush.  Pattern can be found in A Gathering of Lace, produced by Meg Swanson.  

The silk bag pictured below is from Studio Celeste.  I immediately knew that it would be perfect for carrying around a sock in progress.  Studio Celeste is in the midst of developing a website so there isn't a link I can send you to.  They have wonderful silk fibres, and imported wearables.  They're based in Lethbridge, Alberta Canada.

 Four skeins of Studio Celeste's silk/nylon yarn.  I had a heck of a time picking these colours.  There were too many to choose from, but I'm hoping to incorporate some of these in a weaving project.

 Another booth which I had singled out was Homespun Haven, owner Sharon Wickstrom.  I've visited her shop at her home when I've been on holiday in Armstrong, B.C., Canada.  I've also caught up with her at other fibre festivals, but this is the first time that I really took a look at her weaving yarn.  So this time I picked up 1/2 lb of 2/8 Tencel in red, and blue.  Then 1/2 lb of 2/8 Bamboo in green and beige.  I'm hoping to design some sort of runner for a buffet cupboard with some of the colours that I've been gathering.  It's going to take me awhile to figure out how to combine several colours that compliment what's going on in the colour scheme of my living room.  So hopefully it won't take forever to figure that out.  Coordinating colours just seem to be an exercise in exasperation for me.

 Last but not least I finally cashed in on Knit Picks book sale last month.  Vogue Knitting Shawls and Wraps is a varied collection of 43 patterns.  Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush has been on my list for a long time now, and not only are there some great patterns, but some great information of the history of lace knitting in that region of the world.  Finally I'm really looking forward to doing some hand-dyeing, and the Teach Yourself Visually book really has it laid out well for the 

beginner dyer. 

 The dyeing bug bit me when I saw these jars.  

 Funny how these things start.

Where there once was a wall......Now there's a window.

This is my DS house which we're helping to reno. I have since figured out that between doing renovations at our home (because of a flood) and working on DS house, I much prefer the demolition side of tearing down and throwing out. Finishing work like drywalling, sanding, and trim work is a pain in the backside, and takes long to do.It started out all innocent, 'Oh let's open this up and it'll make it brighter in here!' To then actually stepping back and thinking that this is a support wall so we'll have to do some creative building. Thus an extra wall was built to support the support wall and put in a header before we cut the opening. (The headers not up yet in this picture.)

Renovations continue as well downstairs in DS house so that we can utilize the basement suite, and make it it's own contained space. So a couple walls were put up to close it in. The entry into the suite. (Primed and waiting for molding and baseboards)The kitchen area.

Finally the last wall in the laundry room. Enough about renovations.....there's been some weaving going on at my house.I can't describe how exciting it's finally been to sit down and finally start weaving. I'm using left over yarn from the stash, and if I would have had one straight afternoon I could've had this scarf done. Saturday night I couldn't stop. 10:00pm rolled around and I thought I should really stop, but then it soon turned 11:00pm and I was starting to make mistakes and I decided to quit for the night.

The biggest challenge was warping, and then tieing on, threading it through the heddles, and getting my coordination working with the loom. I was exhausted but just thrilled that I had tackled it along with a couple great books which were a BIG help
Weaving Made Easy by Liz Gipson
Hands On Rigid Heddle Weaving by Betty Linn Davenport

More sock knitting is happening as they're great for packing along.Calloway Sock Pattern by Cookie A. I'm using Knit Picks 2.25mm dpn, Yarn: Briggs & Little Durasport 1 ply in colourway: Smoke. It's a tough little yarn and I'm putting it through it's paces. I like to knit my socks with a tight gauge and this 1 ply seems to be holding up. 80% Pure Wool 20% Nylon.I love this pattern. Diagonal Lace Toe-up Socks. What makes it even more loveable the price is FREE!! From a wonderful designer WendyKnits. You'll find the pattern on her website under Free Patterns with the added bonus of over 40 more free patterns. I'm using Knit Picks Harmony Wood 2.00mm dpn's. Yarn: Regia The Sockwool Jet Set Color. 4 ply.One more shawl that I spied on Smoking Hot Needles. Monika was knitting this up and I had to follow. I'm such a follower of people with great ideas ;)
Pattern: Multnomah designed by Kate Flagg. It is a free pattern you can find on either Ravelry or Hello Knitty. I'm using Knit Picks Harmony Wood Circular needles 3.25mm. Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light. Colourway: 4275

Anyways that's all folks! Time for a nap....

Where am I going with this???

I've been waiting anxiously for this in the mail. Now that it's here I'm not sure where I'm going with it. Up to this point I've been borrowing all the books on weaving from the library, and after doing some reading I know I'm going to have to take some classes. I was naively thinking that weaving was going to come easy to me, I'm not so sure about that now.
Kromski Harp, Rigid Heddle Loom 32"
How it came packed......some assembly is required.
My assistant Noodles.
She soon tired, and took a nap. Right in the middle of my work area. I was trying to assemble the stand for the loom, but it was a two person job and I had to wait until DH was home.
All done! She's a Polish beauty! Now I just have to find the time to warp.
In the meantime I've been slowly progressing on my DD's Pakuna sweater. Blocked the back piece last night which then I can sew the front to the back in order to pick up and cast on for the sleeves.Next I've been forever wanting to knit a pair of Latvian mittens. This is the fourth time ripping this project apart, but I think I've got the size right now.
I'm using 2.00mm dpn with three different colours of yarn. The white I'm using is from my stash Gaella Irish Worsted Knitting Wool. The dark blue is also from the stash Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Artic Pool Heather colourway. The light blue I had a heck of a time finding. None of my LYS carried the type of baby blue I needed so I ended up going to Michael's and buying Bernat Satin worsted weight. The pattern I'm using is 10e Kurzeme, Alsungas (graph 108) from the book pictured below Latvian Mittens by Lizbeth Upitis. Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2008 also has a pattern of one of the mittens from the book. The instructions for the mitten in Vogue is a little easier to follow, and it would be a good intro into knitting Latvian mittens.