Baby, it's cold...inside!

Ok, I know it doesn't look like I've made much progress since last time. I did get the start of that top bean in the upper left corner started. Also, there was some un- and re-weaving done. And, I spent some time trimming up the loose ends on the back of the piece.

We had more snow this weekend - several inches - and it was just too darned cold out in the studio on Saturday to spend much time sitting still. Some days it warms right up in there and gets very cozy. But other times it just never really gets warm. Probably it would help if I finished insulating under the floor of the building and covered up the sub-floor with actual flooring. Maybe this summer. If I sell the spare loom.

Here are a few other photos for your amusement:

A corner of the studio, showing the Glimakra. I've been weaving those linen napkins forever, but had to quit a few months ago due to a bum knee. I start physical therapy next week, so hopefully I'll be throwing the shuttle again real soon now! Also, you can see the tapestry in the background there, part of the Stash, and my desk.

The last photo du jour was actually taken last week - before the current snowstorm upgraded us to "Winter Wonderland." Again. This is the view I get every time I drive to work at Strauch Fiber Equipement Company. We call it "Happy Valley." It really is lovely there.

The beans progress. The bubble remains.

Lest you think I've been idle for the past two weeks, here is an update on the tapestry.

The beans progress. The bubble remains.

Oh, there's been the usual fits of unweaving and reweaving and unweaving again, but all in all I think it's coming along ok. The egglplant is in sight now, and I'm looking forward to weaving with purple yarn, just for a change of pace.

In other news, I have a new weaving student to look forward to beginning in February. New weavers are always so much fun. All that enthusiasm is contagious.

The thought of having company out in the TeaShanty prompted me to clean and rearrange the studio a bit. I thought it would be nice if she actually had space to sit at a loom. It took me two and a half days, and there's still a little bit of putting away to do. It occurs to me that I might have too much stuff.

Part of the stuff includes too much yarn (of course), tools, books, and twenty-eight years worth of weaving samples - mine and other peoples. You know, guild sample exchanges, samples from workshops, and that sort of thing. Some of them are lovely little snippets, others are less attractive. Unlike some people who are avid and enthusiastic samplers, and swear that they are the most useful things in the world, I rarely look at mine and almost never find them helpful. Every once in a while I think about just throwing them away. But that just seems wrong somehow.

I've got them all in binders now, labeled. And I've sorted out the worksheets and samples of things that I've done myself into a separate notebook. I guess I'll hang on to them for a while longer. Perhaps my new student will find something there of interest....

Bubble, bubble! Oh what trouble!

I have a bubble in my tapestry. This is distressing. Can you see it? It's there in the top green bean on the right where that black line zigs and zags. Here's a closer look:

Now you can really see it, right? I think this all started to go south when I was weaving the tip of the green bean just below there. I really struggled with the colors in that section, so perhaps I wasn't as conscious of proper technique as I should have been. I though it might get better, but alas, it seems to be getting worse! I have a few options here, none of them particularly happy.

• I can unweave nearly half of my tapestry and re-weave the offending section.
• I can leave it be and hope I can block it out when I'm done.
• I can live with it and use the "this was my very first tapestry" and "it was a learning experience" excuses.

I will ponder over this until the weekend. Then I'll have to go back into the studio and make a decision.

Any thoughts? Advice? Offers to come in the dark of night and re-weave it for me?

Winter via Photoshop

It's very Winter here today. Cold, cold, cold! and spitting snow. It's lovely outside, with all the snow still lingering on the ground and sprinkling down from the sky. But darn it, it's cold! I'm not even taking the dogs for their weekly outing at the Flying Fur. Pyper tells me he'd rather just snooze in the closet anyway....

This picture is from a photo I took after our big snow in December. I ran it through Photoshop. I think it needs a red cardinal on the fence post. Maybe next year's Christmas card? Or a tapestry? Or maybe it will just stay right here on iMac.

Happy New Year! a few links, and a baby in a basin.

So, here we are in 2010! How the heck did that happen?

It was a studio day today! Hooray for that. What a great way to start the year -  doing something that I absolutely love!

The tapestry is coming along nicely. Or at least I think it is. I have a few concerns about some ridges that have developed, but not enough concern to want to do a significant amount of unweaving. Hopefully it will settle down in the blocking. We'll see.

I hope everyone has a joyful New Year. Here are a few little things I've happened upon that I'd like to share:

First, a neat tapestry from Tommye Scanlin. She wove a tapestry diary of 2009, committing to weaving a little bit every day. Today she cut it off the loom.

Another great tapestry link: Joan Baxter - Tapestry Artist (Note: the site has music playing - you might want to check your sound before heading off in that direction.) When I grow up I want to weave like Ms. Baxter! I love, love, love her stuff! And she lives in Scotland - my favorite place on the planet.

And if you want to see what my studio looks like - with bagpipes - check out the Teribus website. That's my friend, EJ Jones, in the yellow shirt, playing a bagpipe that he made. He's also a brilliant knitter. (Hi EJ!) There's a movie to watch there too. Bagpipes = bliss :-)

Finally, there's this: Something for Everyone

Happy New Year everyone.