Restless Knitter

I got an email from the Loom Guy saying they still had the bench if I wanted to come back for it. Heck yeah! Then he emailed again and said they’d found the tension box and another weaving thing that I probably already had one of but I was welcome to take it if I wanted to. I didn’t take a picture of the bench, which is too tall to be a bench but it looks and acts like a weaving bench (it has a drawer the full width of it) so I’ll use it for a table. Or I’ll cut it’s legs off a little and make it a bench. But I did take pictures of a few of the other things I brought back with me.

The blue thing is an adjustable loom (which was in the trash, makes me sad because I wonder what other goodies have been tossed), think one of those old potholder or weave-it type looms. The light colored wood thing is the tension box. The thing on the left

is a 2 harness loom. There’s no name on it, I’m guessing it’s handmade. It’s so cute! The reed is all wood, the heddles are all handmade string heddles, and the tie-ups feel like shoelaces. They also left a stick shuttle for me, and another thing that I have no clue what it is but I don’t think it goes with anything. Imagine 2 dowels rods, forming a T. At this rate, we may have to build a room onto the house.

Thanks to everyone who helped one of my babies hatch! I’ve picked up more eggs too. The good thing about these little things is that they don’t take up space in the house, unlike some of the other things I’ve picked up lately Now head over to La’s, she’s picked up some eggs too. Keep clicking, my babies will love you for it! And if you’ve picked up your own eggs, let me know and I’ll click yours too.

Just for my record, I got my hair cut yesterday. It’s the shortest I’ve had it in… I don’t know how long, maybe when I was a teen. It feels a lot better. Instead of feeling like I’m running my fingers through straw, it feels like actual hair. Poor lady, I was a wreck. I’m scared. I don’t know if I want to cut it that short (and it’s still not real short by most standards). It will grow back, right? RIGHT?? I’m glad I did it, though.

How can time stand still and fly right by at the same time? There are certain things that you look back on and say Wow, it sure doesn’t seem like it’s been that long but yet Wow, that was so long ago. For instance, The Man and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on August 1. Ten years sounds like a long time, but it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. That’s not the point.

On a different subject, yet the same issue, I had to look back through the archives to recall exactly when it was that I got my first loom. I was SO freaking excited when I found that loom. She was dirty and rusty and missing a crank but I was so proud of her. I cleaned her up as best I could, which I think was pretty darn good, and she gave me much pleasure. Even when her leathers broke and I had to rig her with nylon cord, even though I didn’t use her that much, she still made me happy. And, as we know, 10 months later I gave her a baby brother, an 8 shaft table loom. He’s pretty nifty too. I can move him around a lot easier, I can sit on the floor to use him, and he has 4 extra shafts to play with. Sadly, I haven’t played with those extra shafts.

Miss Harrisville (floor loom Dec 2006) and Mr Montana (table loom Oct 2007), 10 months apart. It’s Aug 2008. Ten months since a new-to-me loom has come to live here. Do you see a pattern? Any guess as to what is coming to my house on Tuesday? If you guessed a loom, you’d be right. Who cares that we really don’t have room for a 45″ Leclerc Nilus 4 shaft/6 treadle loom. But you know, if something is FREE, you don’t just say no. Yes, that’s right. FREE! You can’t say no. The other looms are special and I don’t want to think of getting rid of them, but something will have to go. I’ve only seen pictures of the Nilus so far but it looks to be in good condition.

But that’s not all folks. Behind door number 2 (well, really door number 1 because this was a done deal before the Nilus but I’m mentioning it 2nd so it’s door number 2. Got that?!), I’m also getting a Schacht inkle loom in exchange for some yarn. I’m going to use it for tablet weaving but I might do some inkle weaving on it too. If I find I like it and I want to weave longer lengths than the Schacht will handle, The Man will build a larger one for me. By the way, all you people out there that think your Peter Collingwood - The Techniques of Tablet Weaving is worth gold, it’s not. It’s also not out of print. You can get a brand spanking new copy from Village Spinning & Weaving for a lot less than the $100 for a used copy. And you know, you can’t just order a book without also purchasing some perle cotton in anticipation of tablet weaving. Or so I’ve, uh, been told.

Hmm, it just occurred to me. After the first 10 months, I added 1 loom. At the second 10 months, I’m adding 2 looms. What’s going to happen in June 2009???

P.S. Don’t hate me. I’ve been watching for another floor loom for months and months, though I was looking for something closer to 30 - 36″, not 45″. I actually thought I had one 2 months ago on ebay. It was listed as a no reserve auction, about 10-15 miles from my house. The seller had a friend bid it up, then relisted it for $100 more than the ending bid. So much for no reserve. But he got no bids on it when he relisted so ha!

San Francisco was nice. We did some touristy things, like seeing the redwoods

visiting the Cakebread winery

and driving on steep winding roads that scared the crap out of me.

There were also a couple of yarn shop visits. First stop was Marin Fiber Arts, where I bought Drops Alpaca for a Wrapped In Comfort shawl. The other shop was Imagiknit. There I bought some Misti Alpaca Lace, possibly for something from Victorian Lace Today. I liked both shops. They were both friendly without being overbearing, which is why I felt the need to purchase something. Both had nice ranges of yarn to choose from, though Imagiknit had a larger space so a larger selection.

I started a sock before I left (something about trying to make sure that first round isn’t twisted on an airplane doesn’t appeal to me) and ran into a bump. I emailed the designer for clarification but I wasn’t able to check email until after I got home. I did get about 2 inches into the sock after we got home but I’m going to frog it. The socks (Dream Twister Socks) are pretty, I’d really like to make them, but they’re too fiddly. It would be a miracle if I finished the first one, let alone get up the motivation to do the second one.

Bella found a new friend yesterday. You can click for bigger if you want a better look.

That is what is known as a Western Rattlesnake. Also known as OMG BELLA GET IN THE HOUSE WHERE IS THE SHOVEL I HOPE IT DOESN’T GET ME BEFORE I GET IT! The Man was visiting family over an hour away so I was on my own. This little guy was right outside the back door, against the house. The wood in the bottom right corner is the decking that he slithered out from under. I’m assuming he slithered, I didn’t see him come out. Bella was giving little barks at him where he is. Our lawn chair has a nylon canvas back and seat so I turned it on it’s side to make a barrier between me and the snake. I got the shovel but with the lawn chair and the snake being right up against the house, I was having a hard time getting the shovel pointed just right. I slowly started lowering the shovel to make sure I was going to hit him and not just rock, and he finally had enough. He retreated under the deck, rattling his little tail off. Fantastic, he still has his head! By the way, I didn’t get as close to him as it seems. Thank goodness there’s a zoom feature on cameras.

I’ll end with a more pleasant picture, taken by The Man

It’s really hard to sum up SAFF with one word. If I had to choose just one, it would be AWESOME! but that word doesn’t fully explain the joy of seeing missed friends, spending time with them, the laughter, the shopping, the animals, the beautiful scenery, and just plain relaxing.

If you want to see some pictures, they’re here. As much as I’ve tried to write up a proper post, it ends up being too long and I delete it. So in a nutshell:

• Left at 1am Thurs morning, arrived at hotel around 10:30 or 11:00am
• Started a sock in the airport, slept a bit on the plane
• Room wasn’t ready until 2:30 so knit in lobby
• Shopped on Friday, spent more than I should have
• Much fun at dinner
• Weaving class Saturday morning
• More shopping after class, someone stop me!
• Blogger/ravelry meetup (where I was too shy to talk to anyone, ugh)
• Early to bed Sat night, early to rise Sun morn (4:15, yuck)
• Delayed flight to Atl
• 20 min to run to flight from Atl to LA
• Home

Maybe I’ll write up a proper post in a day or two.  For now, check out posts made by ESC and Grace.