Meanderings of a Mermaid

 Here is the first thing I made with the flour I ground myself. It is the Italian Bread recipe that I make the most often. Really it is the leftover dough from a pizza dough that I love to make. It turned out delicious. It was a very successful test of the new mill and the new grain.  And the first pizza from the same dough as above. The crust was more flavourful than I am used to and have more of a crispiness which I love too.  Here is the brute that did all the work. I received it in a swap from a friend who wanted my alto saxophone. This is very easy to use. My first whole grain experiment is with hard white wheat. I will probably use it most of the time for that. I set the coarseness to about one sixth of the way from the fine end of things. And yesterday I made some tortillas with the same hard white wheat. They eventually went into the making of chicken enchiladas. I also made a chunky guacamole for topping. I am sure going to have fun with the...

 I am here. Texas. And it feels so good. Do you know that feeling when you have found a place that suits your soul. It is not the same as being at camp but it is a close second! Okay we made it fine and now live where there is electricity and fibre optic and fast internet. So look out! Above is a shot of the warp chain I am planning to put on my loom next. The natural colour is linen, the purples are cotton and the hits of gold are superwash wool. Let's hope they all get along somewhat in the shibori-crimp cloth project I am planning. I am excited to be using linen that I brought all the way from Lithuania as a youngster.  Here is the Whirling Dervish support spindle I bought used this summer. It is made by Malcom Fielding and is a joy to spin on. I am just using up some gifted fibre there....just goofing around. Oh there are rubber tubes protecting both ends.  And get a load of this riot of colour. This fiber came with a video I recently watched about the man...

This sunrise greeted me today. Time to head south once again . I KNOW IT IS EARLY. and i really don't want to go yet....but we have new family members to go and meet. Also we have icy weather in the forecast to try to beat. So there you have it. We are in Shut Down Mode already . Oh and my laptop keys are not working , thus the paucity of posts. I will catch up down south. Promise.

And here is the exciting final installment regarding the crimp cloth scarf. I left you hanging, literally. In the above photo the steamed cloth is cooling and drying outside on the clothesline. The drawing threads are clearly visible. Once dry I snipped and pulled the bright yellow threads out. And I finally got to see that, YES! , the crinkles in the cloth are set in place.  It worked! Why am I washing again? Well  most weaving yarns are sold with a sizing product applied to the yarn to make them slick and behave well. That needs to be washed out. The red silk threads also wanted to bleed out a little pink juice. Back to the clothesline. You can definitely see the texture of hills and valleys. some ridges are longer than others and that is due to the pattern draft. The colours are divine. The final steps involved pressing the ruffle portion at either end and creating a narrow hem. No rocket science here. Fold, press and machine stitch.  Fold, ...

Continuing on with the crimp cloth scarf project.... here it is freshly off the loom. Boy it is pretty just the way it is! Check out the lovely lustre of the fabric. It was a joy to weave. At this point I sat down to darn in a few ends of weft (where I had changed bobbins). This image is showing the beginning of the drawing in process. You can also see the ruffle potion that will not be crimped. The hems are not yet sewn in, but there is a line of zig zagging there. All drawn up and tied into knots. I have not measured this scarf but it is between six and seven feet long. And now the project moved into the kitchen. Boiling water is in the bottom of the pot. A cheesecloth hammock will hold up the tied fabric. The scarf is arrayed on top of the cheesecloth and ready for its sauna treatment. The lid went on and the steam worked its magic. Right now I have the result hanging off the clothesline drying out. Stay tuned to this blog for the exciting conclusion...

The start of a new project is always exciting, This one even more so, because I am learning a technique I have not done before. Diane Totten designed this pattern and project and it is in the current Handwoven magazine.  The warp threads are mostly tencel and the deep red are silk. They are all fine. Aren't the colours really wonderful? While sleying the reed I had to insert two ends per dent (30 epi) and so I strung a cord across the mid point. The first thread of the pair went below and the second above. Granted, in this design I would say this is not a critical distinction (keeping the warp thread sequence) but it was good practice. I did make some mistakes with sleying and threading but nothing major. I suspect not even I will be able to find those mistakes at the end. Just tied on and ready to begin throwing picks. The design is an overshot draft and makes use of two shuttles. I really enjoyed sitting at the loom and working on this, mostly because the ...

Well you know that the other half of the equation does not ever sit still. A lot has been going on here with the landscape and with building stuff.  Here is a view from across Turtle Bay of what 20 loads of gravel look like atop our landing. The footprint of the landing has not changed. But we have jacked up the elevation by almost two feet. The flooding of our lake is happening with more frequency (every year for some years) and we were unable to use our landing or dock,  Wouldn't you know it the lake has been dropping markedly every day since this gravel was brought in. I believe this is unusual for late July and early August. We can't seem to get a break with consistent water levels . We might have to take the big boat out of the water soon or else we might not be able to tie up at the dock anymore. Here is the generator shack being built. BS is using his engi-nerding experience to make something that will keep the new generator protected from rain. Also it wi...