Bonnie Inouye - The Big Twill Workshop

I attended a 3-day weaving workshop with Bonnie Inouye called The Big Twill. It was a combination of lecture and round-robin weaving. In class we had a variety of 4-shaft, 8-shaft, and a 12-shaft loom. We received our threading ahead of time and were to arrive the first day with our looms warped. Each loom was warped differently. During the "hands on" part of the class we went round-robin weaving our "treadling" sequence on other's "threading".

Bonnie brought many examples of her work to illustrate points she was lecturing on.

During lecture Bonnie used FiberWorks PCW weaving design software and a digital projector. The sofware is amazing and made learning easier.

At the end of class the samples were cut off the looms. Each column represents a different loom. Bonnie then spent time discussing the samples.

More photos can be viewed here. I would love to take this class again and recommend it highly.

Catching Up

I'm back from Nantucket. The extensive renovation of our cottage is about 1-2 months from completion. The cottage is located in the Town of Nantucket in the Old Historic District on a little quiet one-way street. At one time this street was just a foot path.

I stayed with my good friend Nancy Chase who is an island treasure and renowned ivory carver and scrimshander. Here Nancy is working on a very large wooden whale she started carving many years ago but never finished. On the right side of the picture you can see the whale's mouth. The timber is several centuries old and came from the First Congregational Church of Nantucket c. 1834 when it was renovated in 1980 to rebuild Bennett Hall into a real theater for the Theater Workshop.Nancy and I will be working on the whale together and she is giving it to me as a gift for our cottage. I can't express what this means to me or how excited I am. In this picture I'm using a grinder to shape the whale's tail.
Nancy taught me how to play Cribbage. We had great fun playing. I plan to make my own Cribbage board.
While away I cast on Sirdal for Dale's of Nor(th America) KAL . Sirdal has a hemmed ribbing and I decided on the spur of the moment to create a picot edge. I really like it.

I purchased 2 books with my Barnes & Noble gift card. I'm not a lace knitter but I just may be after perusing the first book, Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby. The photos are gorgeous and the patterns appear to be well written and for various skill levels.
The second book is Yarnplay by Lisa Shobhana Mason. I purchased this book because of the cover sweater. The V-Neck pullover is called Poppy.

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Nantucket to check on the progress of our house remodel. The Dale's of Nor(th America) KAL starts January 20th. I won't get home until the afternoon of the 22nd so I'll miss the 'official' cast-on date. For those of you participating in the KAL have fun and I'll catch up with you when I get back.

Stranded Mittens

I finished the Squirrel and Oak mittens minus the Squirrel and Oak (motif) for Stranded: The Colorwork Challenge. The mittens were fun to knit and I plan on knitting another pair but this time with the Squirrel and Oak. The original pattern called for 48 sts and 53 rnds but I had to knit 60 sts and 63 rnds to fit my hands. This was a fun knit.Since I will be away for the 'official' cast-on of Dales's of Nor(th America) KAL slated for January 20, 2007, I decided to go ahead and start swatching. Sirdal calls for a gauge of 24 sts and 28 rnds on 3mm or 3.5mm and 4". I wasn't even close using 3.5mm (US 4) needles. I got 28sts and 32rnds.
Hey, do you think I could double dip and use my Dale's of Nor(th America) project for Stranded: The Colorwork Challenge? Hmmmm...

Dale of Nor(th America)

I ordered a kit for Dale of Norway's Sirdal from Susan at Spin Blessing and it arrived yesterday!

Sirdal is in Heilo 60th Anniversary Book (#147) and also individual pattern #6007 as a pullover or #14702 as a cardigan. My kit included the braid pak and I chose to do Sirdal in colorway I charcoal heather (0083) and off white (0017). Sirdal can be knit with Heilo, Falk, or Hauk.

Here is a stock picture of Sirdal.