I love January!  Happiness is a month with no meetings and a loom with a long warp on.  The only thing better is having two looms with long warps on.  I've been working between these cotton table napkins with gold rayon accents and half-bleached linen table runners and mats. (More about the linen at a later date.)  Both looms are working well and I have been almost on auto-pilot, with just the odd oopps moment.

That was caused by auto-pilot bobbin-filling and forgetting to stop!  I was really keen to make these napkins as I had made them before and they were very successful - but when it came to the crunch I couldn't find the cotton that I knew I had stashed away.  It probably wasn't wise but I used some finer cotton from goodness-knows-where and used it double for the warp and then got some mercerised cotton from our group's stash for the weft.  Two days before I finished the weaving of course I found the original cotton. I have an idea I will regret not waiting to find it before I started. (Note to anyone wanting to hide something from me - put it up high!)  Now the job is done and while it is good to think I have 16 napkins to finish I now have to face 32 hems!  However, a couple of weeks on grandmother duty will give me an opportunity to deal with at least some of them.  Here is the length coming off the loom today.

 What I have called a long warp is 8 yards which is long for me these days.  I pulled out a "warp in waiting" this week  (I think it's been waiting about 30 years) thought it would be perfect for some fabric I have in mind to weave. I discovered it is planned to be 40 inches wide at 24 epi and 12 1/2 yards long.  I'm not sure whether to use it and drop off heaps of it or start again from the beginning. I am going to run away now for a couple of weeks and not think about it till I come back.

At Brayshaw Park today. . . no need for 1000 words on Marlborough's weather!

OK then, it seems this is not going to be a 'daily photo' blog, at least not yet for a while.

Look what arrived in my letterbox today.  As I look after the catalogue for the Marlborough Creative Fibre Guild library I get to see all the new magazines and books.  Two of these mags were new to me today so guess what my Sunday afternoon 'activity' has been ?

Two highlights today: while my car was undergoing its six-monthly warrant of fitness check I took myself to the movies to see Quartet.  What a thoroughly delightful film and a pleasant couple of hours to sit down and not move while also escaping the heat and the blustery nor'west wind.

And then there is this kereru. These photos were taken by my son-in-law James Salisbury.  If the wood pigeons leave any plums I can see Esther will be making a lot of jam/sauce/chutney/whatever because the tree is loaded.

2 January

 Poor hollyhock. It was very tall and beautiful till the wind and rain flattened it.

Here I am, blowing my own trumpet!  

I think for a while anyway I will use this blog more or less as a daily photo with occasional weaving updates.  I'll see how it goes.

New Year's Day 1 January 2013

Happy New Year!
 

My friend Meg has, for the last few years, encouraged her weaving friends to photograph their looms on New Year's Day to give a snapshot of who's weaving what around the world.  So here is my contribution.

Most visible because it is in my lounge is my inherited 4 shaft jack loom.  I have a warp of cream cotton on for table napkins and am using just a touch of gold rayon to make them special.  I had thought I might weave one napkin a day but for some reason that hasn't worked.

Also in my lounge, tucked down between the chairs and the bookshelves, is my 8 shaft table loom. I frequently ask myself why I had to buy the 'biggest, brightest and best' when what I really needed was a SMALL sample loom.  I live and learn.

Completing the collection is my 8 shaft custom built countermarch - in a state which I don't like to see. It's empty!

On the bench is the fabric I cut off yesterday, still to be washed and pressed. It is to be part of a jacket - if it works!  I'll post a photo later if it does.  In the foreground is part of a warp I was ready to rush into yesterday but some common-sense elf (or something) sitting on my shoulder whispered in my ear that I really should sample the yarn I was going to use with it for a warp as it is completely unknown and untried. I'm not even quite sure what it is but I'm calling it linen. I did a couple of samples and am still undecided. I want this to be a fabric length to enter into Creative Fibre 2013 National Exhibition so I want to get it right.

SO, will I finally get to put on a white linen warp for table runners/mats that has been waiting patiently?  It's all set to start but I'm procrastinating . . .decisions . . . decisions.

In the meantime I've been tatting and used the non-weaving time to negotiate my way around a corner so I am pleased with myself on that front. It may not look much but believe me a corner is a big deal!

All this dithering reminds me of A.A. Milne's 'old sailor my grandfather knew who had so many things that he wanted to do . . .'  I seem to have inadvertently taken him as a role model - not the most auspicious start to the year!

I'm not sure how/if this blog is going to continue . . . no promises and no new year resolutions.