Tuesday textiles, also chocolate

I spent the morning experimenting with the latest idea in the narrow band caper. I decided to end work on the current design and move on  up the warp to make room for more ideas.

Most of them didn't work,since changing the weft color completely obliterated the design, so that was good to know. Then I tried another idea and realized it was for a nine pattern thread set-up, not the five I had in place. Then I did a few other things, all useful learning, none resulting in anything to see.  Just as well I'm used to setbacks. 

So I improved the shining hour by making fruit and nut chocolate chunks.

And noticed a weird phenomenon, shadows where they can't be 

The eastern sun was catching the chrome headlight on a car outside and bouncing the shadow back through the kitchen window curtain onto the opposite wall. Accidental art.

Then, too hot for knitting group today, I was catered to by a visit yesterday from one of the group with kimonos to give away.

Back story: not just a skilled knitter, she's the colorwork person whose sweaters you've seen in my knitting group reports, she's also an opera singer and has  produced opera, too. 

A few years ago she needed kimonos for a local amateur production of Mikado, and acquired, cheap, sight unseen, a box of what turned out to be wonderful garments. She's now trying to rehome them to people who'll appreciate what they're getting. Including the knitters. 

So since she knew it would be too hot for me today, when she planned to bring them to the group, yesterday she came here to show me.

They're silk mainly, with beautiful details, lined cuffs, lovely inner fastenings, matched designs over seams. A private trunk show!

One is coming to live with me. It's wearable as a robe, I think. Here it is 

Then on to Textiles and Tea with a great young weaver who has burst onto the scene with such rapidly developed skills it's hard to realize how young he is. 

This piece is about the danger and passion of the life of a young gay man. He's very much influenced by the drawings of Egon Schiele, and if you're not familiar, check him out, great artist.

Detail of the piece above 

His parents on their wedding day, amazing techniques.

This piece won an award, very early in his weaving life.

He's an impressive man as well as a great weaver with huge art skills. 

Happy day everyone. My Tuesday was full even without the knitting group. 

Keep cool if you're in the heat band. Eat chocolate.

Happy Mothers Day, and change of plan

Lovely ecard arrived from Handsome Son, who's working a full day today, so can't visit.  I played it several times!

And here's some good thoughts about art

Yes to just about all of this.

The weaving needed a change of plan, because I forgot, when I threaded, that pattern threads need to be doubled. My single threads didn't show up legibly. So I decided to continue anyway, with a medley of pattern motifs to see how it works.

Each mistake I make shows me why things are done the way they are. All good experience. And this band is giving me the chance to try a lot of the five pattern thread motifs in the book. They'll look different because of the single threading, and that will be interesting.

I think soup will be on today. Carrot, pumpkin, red lentils. This will be a nice color. 

The containers are whey from the paneer making, and I added in potatoes as well as the ingredients you see here, to make it thicker. I used two containers of whey and the third, still frozen, is back in the freezer.

Here's lunch, decorated with the last of the chive blossoms from the paneer.  It was a golden lunch, because dessert was mango chunks with the last of the paneer 

I had a great postprandial walk, local kids at the start playing football 

Then down the greenway between houses and golf course 

Then chats with neighbors and exchanged greetings for Mother's Day, to turtle watching at the pond 

And young golfers out doing pretty well. These are not the duffers.

Home again and the honesty is developing seedpods. I'm going to have a good harvest. The plants coming up among the sage are interesting -- they're running to seed while the sage blossoms are budding out. Outside there are iris budding up, after years of foliage.  I think they too are glad the butterfly bush is gone. 

So, reading on the deck, sleeping happened too, pot of tea, after checking the iris 

These are heirloom purple and white bearded iris, descended from some planted nearly 100 years on a now deceased friend's grandmother's farm south of here. There are others I gave to neighbors now in bloom, because they're in a sunnier location.

Tea featured several visits from a squirrel who kept forgetting I was there and suddenly realizing ohemgee a human, and dashing away, once with a carpenter bee in pursuit. They're territorial insects, and the squirrel was pottering about in the honesty where the bee was being busy.

Lovely Mother's Day, texted wishes, in person wishes, ecard, it was all good.

Now back to weaving, I realized you can try out a series of designs without making a whole band for each. Just because that's the tradition doesn't mean I hafta. This way I'll have a band that's also a sampler, and a few experiments thrown in. 

Happy day everyone. For some people this is a difficult day. If that's you -- it's just one day, soon done. Hang in there, sez Ted and Big Ursy and Pony and Ursula.

Tuesday is textiles and friends

Today started with weaving a bit, still in my robe, couldn't wait.

One side and t'other side. This is definitely a learning piece, many do-overs and some goofs I found today when I looked at the back. I can see where I finally got the hang of it and started doing it right.

The first few inches are the best I could do at the time. But when I take it off the loom I can unravel the first few inches and be left with a much better band.  

This was a difficult project for a beginner, the threads being so hard to tell apart, because of the variegation. Plain color is better but I didn't have any. What I do have is a lot of plans for more designs. 

Then on to the afternoon and in the middle of the knitting group meeting, more HOA paperwork. I had to get a document notarized. This is for the townhouse I live in. Fortunately I could get it done at minimal cost at the very library I was already at.

The other HOA, don't get me started. I dread sending them information because they get back objecting. I this case three objections of which two I knocked down, and one I added information. It's very stressful waiting to see what they are fussing about. At this point by Friday afternoon all the current demands of both HOAs will be met. One more thing is not due till July. 

Anyway the knitting group was very supportive and fun and here's what's up 

 M. is borrowing my Spurtzleur to try her hand at spinning on it. She's a skilled spinner with wheel and spindle but this is a new method for her.

The reveal! Toad in his suit! Eyes to come.

 The shawl nearly finished.

Chat ranged over travel to France including my old stamping grounds, Aix en Provence, Germany, bureaucracy, notarizing documents, baby talk, seed exchange, trains, planes, cats, twins, sons, and more.

Quick stop at the PO, watch your mailbox, Mary, then home to Textiles and Tea with

Some of her works are hung on the wall behind her.

Her weaving, in cotton, is abstract, for wall hanging. She specializes in color and illusion as you see from the dazzle effect between her blocks.  There's a lot to see in these apparently simple designs. 

She teaches color and design and was a grade school art teacher for many years, and really focuses on color and shape rather than weave patterns. She stitches her work on to linen canvas attached to artist's stretchers, for hanging taut. 

Her work is worth sitting with. There's a lot to see.

Happy day everyone! Mine was, a lot happening, all of it good.