Something new

Here it is almost March and time for the Hawthorn Makers Market to start for the year.  For the past few years the March market has been part of the Glenferrie Festival and we had 2 good years in our tent on the street, followed by a not so good time last year when it was exceptionally hot and we almost had trams in our tent.  Fortunately this year we will be back in our usual venue at the Hawthorn Arts Centre, just a couple of minutes’ walk from the main part of the festival.  The weather this year is forecast to be much kinder than last year but I still think I’d rather be indoors.

I’ve been working on something new – some waffle weave face washers. 

I’d done some waffle weave as part of my weaving certificate years ago.  Perhaps it was the yarn I’d chosen but it certainly wasn’t one of my favourite weaves.  I saw some waffle weave bath mitts in a recent Handwoven and knew I had some of the same 6/2 cotton in the stash. 

I thought face washers might be good and had the warp on and off the loom in almost no time.  I realised that waffle weave was much better than I thought.  It was rewarding to weave and any mistakes were obvious and easy to correct.  I’ve made 9 for the first batch,

I wonder if they will sell?

I haven’t been doing a lot of weaving as I’ve had a sore hip and shoulder.  I convinced myself that it was either weaver’s bottom or some other strain from too much weaving but when it didn’t improve after a break from weaving, I eventually sought some professional help.  I don’t have weaver’s bottom, I do have some exercises which I’m doing diligently.  I can see some improvement already and have been told that as long as weaving doesn’t cause an increase in discomfort, it’s better to keep moving.  There was another bonus – the kilo weights I needed for the exercises were just right to weight the face washer warp, it was one of the straightest and best warps I’ve had for a long time

I treated myself to a copy of Marian Stubenitsky’s book, The Stubeninsky Code and have been making some teatowels.  I finished the first one and wet finished it because I knew that the cotton shrank quite a lot and I wanted the motifs to be round not oval.  They were close to round, pity about the error, just left of centre, which showed up more in a photo that on the loom. 

I found that I had missed one thread, so I fixed it and tied the warp back on.  They are now threading error free, can’t guarantee that there will be none in the treadling and I will have to keep the first for me, its drying qualities will be unaffected by the threading error

A few weeks ago a friend and I went for a drive towards the area where the bush fires had been.  While we were out a fierce hailstorm came through my neighbourhood.  It broke both my skylights, narrowly missing my sewing cabinet

and somewhat surprisingly, they were sealed with what looked like sticky tape – very good quality sticky tape – and they have not given me any problems while I wait for the replacements. 

The one over the carpet is sealed and the one in the bathroom leaks just a little on to the tiled floor. 

My friend was not so fortunate, her car had so much hail damage it was a write off.  All we were trying to do was celebrate her birthday

While I was having a break from weaving, I decided to do some sewing as I needed a few new things for the Summer.  Vogue patterns were on sale at a very good price and I went shopping for fabric in my own stash. 

I ended up making two tops,

and two jackets each with a co-ordinating top, one in a jacquard weave

and the other in a Japanese linen with little birds on it

and 2 pairs of exercise pants.  The patterns, trim and some interfacing cost about $30, so a very economical new wardrobe.

I was reading an article this morning by a writer from the UK confessing, with a little embarrassment, that she had started to stockpile food in case COVID -19 starts to affect supplies.  Then it struck me – what if I ended up in quarantine at home, well enough to weave but not well enough to go to work and there wasn’t enough yarn and fabric in my stash?  For a moment I even contemplated sending off a yarn order, but then I relaxed, I know there’s plenty of yarn and fabric for a couple of weeks.  There’s probably enough for several months, although by that time, I might have to work with some interesting colour combinations.  Hopefully it won’t come to that.

Helen