Author Archives: Jean

Stained Glass, Weaving

Finishing Up

Posted on by Jean

With the big move to the Lone Star State only a few months off, I’m trying to finish off the various projects that I have.   This is a “stained” glass (what do you call it when the glass is clear textured?) piece I cut several months ago.  If I work on it a little each day I should have it done in a few days.

I’m not in a hurry to finish the towels on the loom.  I want them to last so that I don’t have too little time to warp another project and not enough time to finish up the towels so that I can get the loom ready to ship.   I’m on the 2nd towel.  I’m going to do a different treadling on each one to vary it up a bit.  This one is a really quick and easy treadling that came with the first towel pattern I did. 
 

Spinning

Spindling Progress

Posted on by Jean

I can’t believe that two weeks from now we’ll be in Texas looking at houses.  I’m starting to panic.  There’s so many choices and it’s so hard to decide what to give up and what we must have.  Part of the problem is that we could be in this house for a very long time if things go as planned, but we could also be moving in four years if they don’t.  We haven’t owned a home since before we went to Gemany the first time and I’m so excited and so scared all at once.  The real estate market in Texas hasn’t hurt like the rest of the country because houses there are already so reasonable, but taxes are very high.  Something will turn up and I know that when we walk into the perfect one we’ll just know it… I hope.

 When I’m not on the internet shopping for a house, I’ve been playing with the new spindle I bought at SPA. 

I started a simple Old Shale scarf and am knitting the plied yarn right off the spindle as I go.  I’m anxious to compare the beginning of the scarf to the end to see how much I improve.  I have to say, I saw huge improvement after the very first spindle full.  I was putting way too much twist in both the singles and the plied yarn at first.

Dan and watched a documentary called “Dear Zachary”  last night that left us in disbelief.  It’s easily the best documentary I’ve ever seen.  The story is so sad but it’s a wonderful tribute to a man that was much loved by his friends and family.  Truly unbelievable how crazy some people in this world are.  We’ve seen a lot of crazy with Dan’s career being what it is, but this is unbelievable because of the court system in Newfoundland protecting a murderer and letting her back out on the streets *and* allowing her to have custody of her baby.

Towels, Weaving

Just Go With It

Posted on by Jean

I finally had time to finish threading the loom for the towels.

Before I started weaving I noticed that I’d gotten three threads in one reed slot instead of two.  I thought, “Heck with it.  This is just to get used to the feel and learn.  It won’t make much of a difference.”  See the dark line that runs up the fabric.  And then I noticed that I had a threading mistake.  You can see it in the column of pattern that ends right in the center of the photo.  Dang it all.  That’s okay.  I’ll have something to progress from.  I still have my first handspun skein and I’ll hold on to these towels the same way.

Knitting

Something Blue

Posted on by Jean

I was going to title this post, “Mohair Hell”, but she was worth every swear word I uttered while knitting her… and unknitting her.  I did a lot more unknitting than knitting, that’s for sure.

Pattern: Cleopatra from the book Sensual Knits by Yahaira Ferreira

Yarn: Lana Gatto Mohair Royal from Elann

I hated knitting this in mohair, but now that it’s finished and blocked, I LOVE that it’s in mohair.  I can not believe how much this yarn softened up after blocking.  Love, love, love it. 

If I were to knit it again I’d knit both ends to the center and then graft it.  I followed the pattern and it’s grafted right after the lace at one end.  My neighbors all saw it this morning and assured me that I was crazy when I showed them the “line” where it’s grafted.  Are they blind?!  lol.

Friends, Knitting, Spinning, Travel

Best Weekend. EVER!

Posted on by Jean

I’m a little late on the report.  It’s been a crazy week with the snow storm and all.  SPA was greater than I ever imagined.  I think women owe it to themselves to get away once in a while.  Even though I had a screaming sinus headache the first couple of days I had SUCH a good time.  I didn’t realize how much I needed the break until I could take a nap and sleep in til 10:30, do what *I* wanted to do when I wanted to do it and the very best part, being able to share the love of wool with so many other women.  I had a great time hanging out with Kim, Kathy, Carole, Terry, Laurie, Martha, Lucia, Manise (who I finally got to meet!), Sharon, Di (and her GORGEOUS wheel) and I got to meet Dave from Merlin Tree who so kindly tried to help me with a wheel I wanted to sell.  Like so many others, I had my camera the whole weekend.  I have no idea why I didn’t take one picture.  I guess I was just having too much fun.

Here’s my loot:

A Forrester spindle.   She spins like a dream. I picked this one to remind me of New England when we move to Texas.  The roving is Kim’s (Woolen Rabbit) BFL in “Blues”. 

Ann Hanson’s Butternut Scarf pattern and Kim’s Alpaca in Chocolate Chambord.  YUM!

And evidently I like Kim’s Chocolate Chambord because I bought it in sock yarn the day before.  And I had to get something for Dan so I bought Burgandy Bean to make him some socks.  I know.  Thoughtful huh?  The colors are much darker than the photo shows.  It’s much more Aggie Maroon than it looks.

Dyeing, Family

De Colores

Posted on by Jean

My cousin and baby are still doing well.  I think it’s remarkable that they’ve been able to keep her from going into labor this long.  In a few more weeks everything will be in the clear and it’ll be safer for little Isabelle to make  her appearance.  I’ll keep you updated.

When Joe was a baby the De Colores song would settle him down instantly when he was upset.  That was the first thing I thought of when I was trying to come up with a title for this post.  Whenever I hear that song it reminds me of the days of rocking my youngest.  I really miss those days. 

Last weekend I went to Webs for Barb Parry’s dyeing class.  On top of it being a great class, I got to make a weekend out of it with Kim (Woolen Rabbit).  I brought my camera.  I even brought it to class.  Did I take any pictures?  Nope.  Kim and I have met up at least ten times.  Do we have one picture of us together.  Nope.  Next time, Kim.  Next time.  This was especially nice because it always seems like when Kim and I visit, it always feels rushed because it’s usually when I’m visiting my family up in NH.  This was relaxed and quite and a real treat. 

The class was a blast.  I got to meet Judy from Smatterings, Cindy from CindyKnits and some others and I learned a few things that didn’t click before, so many thanks to Barb. 

This was the same fiber dyed in short stripes along the roving (left) and then in long stripes.  When drafted, it’s amazing how much different they are:

We played with colors ourselves.  Here are a couple that I did.  Barb is mailing the others because we ran out of time.   SO MUCH FUN!

Weaving, Woodworking

Green Warping Board

Posted on by Jean

Thank you all so much for the well wishes for my cousin and the baby.  So far, so good.  Isabelle is growing more each day and Kayla is hanging in there.  I’ll keep you posted.

I did a green thing today.  I used the old parts of my loom after installing the conversion kit.  Look what I made!  The three oak dowels were less than $10.  Not bad, eh?

Knitting

Sweet Sleeping Babies

Posted on by Jean

My cousin isn’t due until April but it seems little Isabelle wants out now.  Kayla’s water has broken so it’s just a matter of time but they are trying to wait as long as possible.  My cousin is young so that’s making this even more difficult for her.  Please say a little prayer.  The preemie hats and booties that I knit for Preemie Project were mailed to her on Friday.  Little did I know I’d need them for my own family.  I asked my aunt to give the other two sets to the hospital.

Finally got a picture of the neighbor’s baby in Helena that I knit at the beginning of December.  While my neighbor is on maternity leave I’m showing her how to knit so she brought the baby over in her Helena so I could take a picture.  How sweet is little Maggie????

I want to remind you about  class that Barbara Parry of Foxfire Fiber  is giving at WEBS  on the 25th. Kim of the Woolen Rabbit is going to join me and we’re going to have a blast and make a mini vacation out of it to chase away the winter blues with lots of color.   So call WEBS, sign up and come have a good time! 

Animals and Nature, Knitting

Hat Drive Total

Posted on by Jean

I finally drove up to Countrywool in Hudson yesterday to pick up the hats and afghan Claudia had.   Some of her students and customers knit them and they’re awesome.  Imagine trumpets, confetti and streamers.  Our total for the hat drive is….. 227!  Mostly hats, some mittens, some scarves and one huge warm throw!  You all rock!  Thank you so much for supporting this endeavor and feel free to send me hats as long as we live here.  I’ll get them to those that need them.

Speaking of salivating.  Here’s Lucky and Aggie this morning while waiting patiently for their slice of turkey bacon.  We told Aggie to get in her bed.  Lucky does what Aggie does.  Since he’s deaf he depends on her to show him what to do.  It’s funny because his bed is right next to hers but he evidently thought that he had to get in the same bed with her in order to get his half of the bacon.

Dyeing, Family, Weaving

Maybe it should be “Nova Scotian Lamb”

Posted on by Jean

I love history.  Especially family history.  I’ve been working on our family history (mostly my paternal grandmother’s line) on and off for about 20 years.  It all started with Gram’s stories about John Allan (my 7th ggreatfather).

If I could have one wish, it would be to be able to go back in time and meet my ancestors.  When I was stationed at NSA I used to take weekends and head to D.C. to do research in the Library of Congress and National Archives.  I have to say the help of the internet and sites like Ancestry.com sure make life a lot easier.

You might remember my find that I’m the direct descendant of many of the Mayflower passengers.   That was a shocker.  Even more so when I found out Gram knew it but never told me.  She only ever talked about our Scottish Heritage.  She was very proud of it.  My ancestor of choice for the last year has been Gram’s grandmother, Margaret E. Fraser Campbell.  She came to America in 1882 and was married to Lemuel Saunders Campbell in Boston in 1885.  After the 1920 census I couldn’t find them and it really bothered me.  I looked everywhere.  I knew they both immigrated from Nova Scotia.  I met a 3rd cousin by way of Lemuel once removed through Ancestry.com.  His his ancestor is Lemuel’s brother.  He gave me a bunch of church records including Lemuel’s parent’s marriage record from a church in Bear River, Nova Scotia. 

Anyway, I was talking to my aunt a few months ago and mentioned my obsession with Margaret.  She surprised me by telling me that they had lived in the Ossipee area.  When we went up over Christmas I asked my grandfather about it and he drew me a map.  Dan, the boys and I set off to find it.   This is the beautiful house that my 3xgreatgrandparents lived in:

On the map Gramps also showed me where a couple of Margaret’s relatives lived!  As soon as I got home I went looking through the 1930 census.  Finally.  I found the missing link to connect Margaret to the John and Ellen Fraser in  the 1891 Canadian Census that I thought might be her parents.  One of the relatives Gramps led me to was Margaret’s youngest sister, Marion.  Marion was the key I needed to link everything together.  They were from McLennan Mountain in Pictou, Nova Scotia.

 Here’s the mind blower.  I started researching the area and found out that McLennan   Mountain had only been founded a few years before John Fraser was born.  Three Fraser came to Nova Scotia just a few years before John’s birth and started the Presbyterian Church there.  Now… get this.  The brothers came to Nova Scotia from THE ISLE OF MULL!!  I’ve been there!  Not once but TWICE!!   What are the odds?!  Is it any wonder I teared up every time we had to leave Scotland?  I definintely bleed plaid.  I’d definitely like the weave the tartans of Clans Campbell and Fraser.

Speaking of weaving, I played with the loom last weekend.   Here’s my first sampler.  I still need to finish it but I think I’m ready to move on to towels now.