Ten discoveries I have made in the not too distant past.
1. KALE!! And Bragg. Sorry to repeat myself, but I do love it.
2.Fleet Feet, a wonderful store on Wolf Rd, in Albany, NY. They find the walking/running shoe that really fits your feet. I have never had such attention paid to my feet, not even at the podiatrist. They even have a little indoor track in the store, so they can watch you in motion. I bought a pair of walking shoes, and after 3 miles, my feet don't hurt. JUBILATION.
3. My new favorite sandwich: Take a crusty bread, put cheese of your choice on it. You're gonna have to butter both outside pieces, so get over your aversion to FAT. Inside you put slices of a big juicy tomato, and PESTO. Grill it in the frying pan, or on one of those grilling machines.
YUM. Very good.
This brings to mind several years ago, when I grew a garden full of basil. My old friend, Rosie, came to my little house in the country, and we made pesto.....all day! We had a mess that could not be rivaled. We each got about 20 freezer bags of pesto. Pesto is best frozen, and my kids and I ate pasta with pesto all winter long.
4. My new I Touch. Such fun. I have lots of favorite tunes on it, and 'apps'....my grandson laughed when I didn't know what 'apps' meant.
I do now.
I listen to podcasts on all subjects, and now that I have a speaker dock, I can educate myself while I weave.
My question is, after I fill my head full of all this new info, am I going to end up being one of the smartest older than dirt weavers you ever knew?
5. My Kindle. It is sending me to sleep nirvana every night, without the benefit of stacks of books falling off the night stand. And when this book is done, I can have another one downloaded in about two minutes, no matter where I am.
How cool is that?
6.OK, this a weaving discovery. It isn't complicated. Honest. First of all, for you non weavers: the threads that run vertically in a rug, and make up the fringe, are the warp. The fabric that goes horizontally back and forth is the weft.
I have always woven rugs with an 8 or a 10 epi.....which simply means that there are 8 or 10 warp threads per inch.......epi=ends per inch, and thus there are half that amount of threads showing on the face of the rug.
For some reason, I started threading a different way........putting two threads in each dent (slot), and then skipping one, etc. This gives you still 8 or 10 (whichever you choose) epi, but they are "working as 4 or 5". I love the look, it lets more of the fabric 'shine' through, making it a weft faced rug.
Y'all got it???
Here are a couple of pics.
First, the old way.
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| From Crazy as a Loom |
And then, my new way.
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| From Crazy as a Loom |
7. Masonry heaters. Have you ever heard of them? My neighbor, who is brilliant, made one for their camp, and more recently, one for their house. It has a pizza oven, a stove top, a regular oven, and it heats their house. It is gorgeous, and like nothing I have ever seen. The ashes in it are white....it burns that clean.
Here is a stock photo of one......his is similar, but you can't see the kitchen side of this one, and I am sure there is a kitchen side.
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| From Crazy as a Loom |
There is a whole web site dedicated to these marvelous things, and you can read more about it here.
8. Wheat grass for cats. Yes, my cats need their greens. They chew it up, knock it over, eat it, spit it out. You name it. But they seem to like it.
9. The Happiness Project. Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun.
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| From Crazy as a Loom |
You can find it on Amazon.
10. Fage . Authentic greek yogurt. Recently, they opened a plant in Johnstown, NY. So now we have FageUSA. The people that work there actually went to Greece, to learn how to make it.
Very cool.
Also, thick and delicious.
So there you have it.
And today, I finished this rug. It is a bit on the wild side. What do you think?
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| From Crazy as a Loom |
The jury is still out.
I barely made it out of the driveway at the studio.
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| From Crazy as a Loom |
But my little Hyundai Santa Fe pulled through, and I am home safe and sound.
Love the rug! It reminds me of a Mexican serape! Very cool, Hilary.
ReplyDeleteDi
The Blue Ridge Gal
I love the rug too! I think I would call it a runner, it is so long! So let me ask you, it looks like you are threading 2 ends thru the same harness/heddle and thru the same dent, is that correct?
ReplyDeleteYes, two threads through a dent, then skip a dent, two threads through the next, skip.....etc.
ReplyDeleteBut the heddles are one thread per heddle. On a two harness loom, they are threaded 1,1, 2,2, 1,1, 2,2, and so on.
Is that as clear as mud?
So while your epi can be 8 or 10, you have those threads working as 4 or 5. Get it?
That's quite the list. I wonder if I can think of ten things. That's more of a morning activity. I do love Trader Joes Greek Yogurt and like it on everything from granola to potatoes. I do like the rug. I'm about a week away from starting one of my own!!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading all about your new discoveries and I really want to visit Fleet Feet. I need to do something about that.
ReplyDeleteso glad you love your Kindle. I know what apps are but have no idea how to use an iPod. None whatsoever. This is bad, I know.
Cool about the weaving discovery, too. And I don't think the rug looks too wild.
Well that is a very cool ten, and that is one serious load of Armageddon snow you have there. Good lord! Is it nuclear winter and no one told me? Dig that pic of the new rug, btw. Wild is good. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the rug and your newly discovered way of weaving.
ReplyDeleteI love kale and Bragg too. Bragg is even good as a salad dressing on a simple salad.
Love the 1,1,2,2,1,1 etc...I really like that you can see more of the fabric. Does it work well with the loopers?
ReplyDeleteWhat a wealth of good to know things! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThat was a very fun list to read. And I really love *the new way* of #6. It's hard to describe why but I'm loving the texture of the double threads.
ReplyDeleteThe new rug is definitely, yes, a bit on the wild side, but very very FUN!
Hi Hilary; I like the results of your new way of threading...there seems to be more definition to the fabric. If I ever get myself a loom, I'll try it!
ReplyDeleteCheers from Rural Revival's Mom
You think that threading would work on a 12 dent reed? Or would it be too tight for two threads to fit in one spot?
ReplyDeleteGood idea threading the reed this way ,it looks like a half panama right ?
ReplyDeleteall the best Patricia
Great post!!!
ReplyDeleteMakes me think about what I've learned over the year.
Sure do like the weaving tip and love your rug!!
I use this same threading on my sock rugs....it makes them look 'bumpy' and I like the look.
ReplyDeleteI think you could do it with a 12 dent reed, yes.
Half panama??? Not sure what you mean.