Yarns from the Lake

Danube River Cruise Vacation Part 2: Our day in Munich

This post is the second in a series about our Danube River Cruise vacation that happened this June 2024. Click here for the link to Part 1: Planning and Getting to Munich. Part 2 is about our day in old town Munich.

Our trip included two full days in Munich before the cruise (which meant that we were not eligible for the free transfer to the ship). The first day we walked around Old Town Munich on our own, taking in the sights and getting in 20,000 steps. The second day we had purchased a tour ahead of time to see a castle and a medieval town. The morning after that we made our way to the ship via train, bus and taxi, which turned out to be a bit more of an adventure than we had expected.

Our cell phone company, AT&T, has a couple of options for international phone service. Wayne used the $12 per day International Day Pass plan. We used his phone for navigating, phone calls to our travel companions, looking up information, etc. I had my phone on airplane mode the entire trip, but with the option to make calls or texts for emergencies with a reasonable per use fee. When we got to the ship later there was free (sketchy) wifi, but at least I could send and receive emails and texts. I tried to stay off my phone as much as possible, but I did not want to have 1000 emails when I got home.

We thought it might be raining in Munich, but fortunately the very wet period of weather was over by the time we got there. Even though it was dry, I was glad I brought my hiking shoes as they are very comfortable for extensive walking. The temperatures were a little cool but good for sight seeing. As we walked around Munich there were so many interesting things to notice, in addition to seeking out the typical tourist sites.

Our number one observation in Munich was that the Euro2024 soccer tournament was a huge deal. It was really fun to get in on the mania. There were thousands of soccer fans everywhere, including many from Scotland decked out in kilts and team shirts. Our son went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which is known for challenging academics as well as hard partying. One time when we visited campus on a football game weekend, many people were out drinking and being crazy starting at 10:00 in the morning. Munich on this Friday at the beginning of the soccer tournament was like Madison on game day, times 10.

Soccer fans from Scotland wearing kilts were out in droves

There were many options for public transportation to get around the city. Munich was also extremely bike friendly. Many of the streets we walked along had dedicated bike lanes that were designed as part of the sidewalk, rather than a marked off area in the street. In addition to many bike commuters, we saw a mini UPS delivery trailer towed by a bike, and several variations of cargo style bikes, some with a built in enclosed child carrier. We also saw a two decker bike storage rack.

It is impossible to include enough photos or information to get a complete idea of all that we saw and did. I have included a few photos here that I took while we walked around all day in the old town area of Munich.

We made sure to be at Marienplatz, the main central plaza since the middle ages, at the right time to see and hear the famous Glockenspiel Clock.

The following photo is zoomed in a little closer to the life size characters on the Glockenspiel Clock on the tower that move and tell stories of Munich’s history several times a day.

Some musicians in their Scottish gear were performing in the square.

Every city we went to has a big Cathedral. Frauen Church in Munich is late Gothic style from the 15th century.

Frauen Church has two big towers that are landmarks in the city. You can go up inside one of the towers for an excellent view of the city. We did that, and following is a photo looking out from there to the other tower. We could see the Marienplatz square from above, which at this time was closed off for an event related to the soccer tournament. It was wall to wall people, so we were glad we had visited the square earlier.

We had lunch at Hofbrau Haus, Germany’s most famous beer hall.

Me outside Hofbrau Haus, Munich’s most famous beer hall

Following are a couple of photos from Residence, a huge ornate government building and Royal Palace complex used from 1508 to 1918.

The next photo is Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan, known as “the yellow church”.

The English Garden is an urban park in Munich, even larger than Central Park in New York City. It is a beautiful green space with gardens and paths for walking and biking. We saw only a fraction of the place. One of the more unusual things there was a rapids area of the Eisbach river that is popular for surfing.

We happened upon a restaurant for dinner with access from inside a courtyard. It was pretty empty, which seemed unusual for a Friday evening. It turned out that all the customers that might have been there were either at the Scotland vs Germany soccer game, or watching it somewhere. There were big screen TVs set up in many locations for watch parties. Lucky for us, as we were able to have a quiet dinner with personal attention and conversation with the staff. At this restaurant and a couple of others later the staff apparently thought we were locals. I guess that is a good thing. Once they realized we were Americans they brought us menus in English.

That night at the hotel there were soccer fans partying loudly until the wee hours. Normally I would be unhappy about that, but it was all part of the soccer experience we did not even know we were going to have. We had to get up first thing the next morning for our tour to Harburg Castle and the town of Rothenburg. The tour, as well as getting from Munich to where the cruise started in Passau, is featured in the next post, Part 3.

Danube River Cruise Vacation Part 1: Planning and Getting to Munich

Over a year ago we made plans with Wayne’s two sisters and their husbands to go on a Viking River Cruise to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary. I had been wanting to do this for a long time after seeing the advertisements on PBS, and hearing from other people who had been on a river cruise. This vacation finally happened in June 2024. It was a big trip with too much to write about for one post. In this first post I will write about planning for the trip, and getting to Munich a couple of days before the cruise started.

Once the group decided on a time frame (June), length (a week), and cruise company (Viking) for the trip, there were three options of itineraries. One was a cruise on the Rhine River starting in Amsterdam, and two were similar itineraries on the Danube starting in Germany. We easily picked the Danube itinerary starting in Passau, Germany, and ending in Budapest, Hungary. I have to confess I had never heard of Passau, and I knew hardly anything about most of the other ports. The itinerary included stops along the way at three cities in Austria (Linz, Krems, and Vienna) and in Bratislava, Slovakia. Interestingly, when sharing our plans with friends later, two different people said they had just recently been to Passau on a biking vacation. Following is a map of our itinerary from the Viking web site.

We had heard about the possibility of low water levels on the Danube which can affect the ability of ships to navigate the river. This seemed to be more of an issue later in the summer, so it was a factor in deciding to book for June. What we did not think of was that high water levels also present problems. We started to get worried a few weeks before our departure date after seeing weather reports with tons of rain and flooding in the areas where we were going. Oh no. More on that later.

Another planning decision was whether to purchase airfare from the cruise line or buy that on our own. The fare offered by the cruise line was a good deal, and we would be able to cancel it if we changed our mind up to a certain date. Airfare includes transportation to and from the ship if you are going directly there and home. There is limited ability to make adjustments to whatever itinerary they assign you. We all paid for the cruise line airfare which I am sure was the best deal. Because Wayne and I decided to fly into Munich a few days early, we were not eligible for the free transfer to the ship about two hours away. We were comfortable with getting there on our own. At the end of the cruise, we all took advantage of the cruise line transfers and went directly home from Budapest (at least that was the plan).

After we made these decisions and paid our deposit, there was not any other preparation needed for a long time until the final payment was due. When it finally came time for the vacation, it seemed like it was free since we had paid for it a long time ago. Haha.

I was planning what clothing and other items to bring for months ahead of time, with a list that I added notes to here and there as I thought of things. On the other hand, Wayne suddenly realized he could use a couple of new clothing items about 2 weeks before the cruise. We wanted to travel with one carryon size rollaway bag and backpack each, since we knew we would be dragging them around on our own in Munich and getting to the ship. In the end we changed out one of the carryon bags for a slightly larger rollaway bag that might have been considered a carryon bag years ago. We were able to easily fit everything we wanted to bring in this amount of luggage, including at the last minute deciding to bring hiking shoes and rain gear due to wet conditions in the weather reports.

Suitcases at our son’s house ready to go to the airport

We have been on several ocean cruises in the past. Ocean cruises have changed over the years, and river cruises are a different thing all together. Luggage for our first ocean cruise over 20 years ago included giant suitcases and clothes for “formal night” (a long gown and appropriate shoes and accessories for me) and “theme night” (Wayne brought cowboy boots)! Since then ocean cruises have become less formal with more options for casual meals and skipping the formal night if you are not into that. More about how river cruises are different in a later post.

I had a pair of denim capris for many years that fit perfectly and that I wore often, but they were stained and the fabric was wearing out. I tried to find a replacement pair for this trip. In the search process I found out that capris were coming back into style. What? I did not know they went out of style. I bought and returned several pairs but none of them matched the fit and comfort of the old pair. I gave up looking and instead took a pair of ankle pant jeans I already owned that fit but never seemed to be the right length, and cut them off into capris. I also added panels to make them flair a bit at the bottom. I bought a new pair of very stretchy denim like pants that would be comfortable for the long plane flight and for sightseeing in cooler weather, and a few other clothing items.

I needed a knitting project to bring on the Viking River Cruise trip. A friend suggested that this trip could be a time to disconnect and take a break from my normal life, including knitting. Maybe. Sometimes if I am knitting I am so focused on the project that I am oblivious to what is going on around me. On this trip I did not want to miss any scenery or anything else going on. However there was also a very long plane ride, and probably down times when I wouldn’t miss anything if I was knitting.

I decided on a cowl / bandana pattern that could be knit up with one skein of yarn from my stash. The free pattern is Bandana Cowl from Purl Soho. I found some yarn I bought while on a friend’s trip to the Traverse City area of Michigan in the summer of 2022. I wrote about that trip here. The yarn is Araucania, hand dyed in Chile. It is 30% alpaca / 45% merino wool / 15% silk / 10% donegal. I have not heard of donegal, but determined it is merino tweed from Ireland. This yarn is super soft, which is good for a cowl that will be up against the face. The green color does not go with my jacket, so it will be a gift for someone TBD. Or maybe it is time for me to buy a new jacket!

Yarn for bandana / cowl knitting project

The time for the trip finally arrived after a long period of anticipation and planning. Since we live in West Central Minnesota, we had to drive to the Twin Cities to catch our flight. Most of the flights to Europe are red-eye flights that leave later in the day and fly overnight. Our flight did not leave until 7:50pm, so we could have driven the three hours down to the Cities that morning. However we wanted to see our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, so we drove down the day before.

Once we were finally at the airport it was real! We checked the larger bag and carried on the smaller bag, with clothing for each of us in the one carry on in case the checked bag got delayed. While waiting at the gate for boarding, I cast on the cowl knitting project.

The long flight to Paris on Air France was uneventful. I knitted some and read a book on my kindle, and tried to sleep. We were served several meals, including the cucumber and cream cheese sandwich in the next photo. A packet of celery salt came with the tomato juice I ordered. I guess you were supposed to put it in the tomato juice, but it was good sprinkled on the sandwich.

At the airport in Paris it was the next morning. We had to walk a long way to another terminal, get our checked bag, go through customs, and go through security again before finding our gate for the second leg of the journey from Paris to Munich. I can understand why my mom said she was done with air travel by her late seventies.

At the gate for our flight to Munich we thought it was unusual to see a guy in a kilt. Soon we saw another guy in a kilt. Then a bunch more. Wayne started googling and determined there was a big soccer tournament in Munich over the weekend, including a game with Scotland vs Munich. As the flight took off, the pilot welcomed all the soccer fans, which resulted in loud cheering, chanting and signing of team songs.

Wayne has never been to Paris, so we had considered spending a few days in Paris before the cruise, but ended up deciding that was too much for this trip. As we took off from Paris, Wayne could see the Eiffel Towel from the airplane window. We joked that now we do not need to come back to Paris. Haha. The flight from Paris to Munich was relatively short and before long we already landing.

I do not know any German. Wayne had taken German in high school but that was pretty useless. Virtually everyone we interacted with on this entire trip spoke English. Wayne had selected a hotel in the city that was accessible from the airport by train, and about a 15 minute walk to the Munich old town area. It was not too hard to follow the signage in the airport to get our one checked bag, get from there to the airport train stop, buy a train ticket from a machine, and find the right train to the city center. By the time we checked in to our hotel, it was mid to late afternoon local time on our second day of travel, but our body clocks were at close to midnight. We were ready for a nap.

The hotel looked like it had been recently remodeled. The bedding was typical for Europe with individual duvets, no top sheets.

European style bedding in our Munich hotel

Wayne enjoyed a coffee on the small balcony that overlooked a courtyard.

After napping, we walked to Paulaner Brauhaus, a popular local brewhouse, for a German dinner.

We both had very German meals. If you are trying for a lighter Mediterranean diet, this is not the place.

Braumeisterschnitzel
Hällischer Schweinerücken vom Grill, pikante Obatzda-Braumalzkruste,
saftig geschmortes Wurzelgemüse, Kartoffelnockerl, frische Kräuter 18,00
brewmaster Schnitzel, pork loin, spicy crust of cream cheese & brewers malt, juicy root vegetables,
gnocchi, fresh herbs

We saw posters for the soccer tournament all over. Many folks out and about were clearly in town the event.

By the time we were done with dinner, it was late evening local time and seven hours later our time. After getting a decent nights sleep at the hotel, we were ready to tackle old town Munich, already day three of the trip. Sightseeing in Munich, a bus tour to Harburg Castle and the medieval town of Rothenburg, and getting to the ship in Passau will be featured in the next post.

Another Baby Ensemble

I knit a baby sweater while anticipating the birth of our granddaughter in June 2023. I used some pinkish yarn from Valley Yarns in a 48% cotton/ 46% modal/ 6 % silk blend. Modal is a fiber make from beech tree cellulose that is a breathable, absorbent alternative to cotton. It is very soft. Not ideal if you are going to wash it a bunch of times, but I had it on hand.

The pattern I used is called “Another 5 Hour Baby Sweater”. It is knit in the round from the top down, my preferred method for sweaters. It is available for free on Ravelry. Click here for the pattern.

The sweater is knit in stockinette stitch flat, with rows alternating between knit and purl stitches. The first three stitches are always knit on every row, even on the purl rows, which makes a mock front band and keeps the knitting from curling over.

I made a mistake on one of the front openings. I purled all the way across and forgot to knit the last three stitches. I noticed it after I had knit about 10 or 12 more rows. I tried to fix it by undoing those columns (one at a time), and reknitting the stitches using a crochet hook. I did not do it correctly on every stitch and eventually gave up, but my attempt camouflaged the problem a little, and it is covered up by the other side with the button holes. I forgot to take a photo.

I don’t know if it took five hours, but it was not long before the baby sized sweater was finished. The color is more accurate in the earlier photos, the following photo looks washed out.

The sweater looked very small. Unless you are comparing it to an actual baby, it is hard to guess what size it is. I remember when my daughter, Britta, was about 7 months old we travelled to see my friend and her infant twins. Being twins and premature, they were quite small. Britta had seemed like an average baby until she was up next to the tiny twins. My friend commented that Britta looked like she was ready to get a part time job in comparison.

I sewed a pair of flowered pants for Britta when she was a baby. The fabric matches the sweater, but they did not seem like the same size as the sweater. This outfit looks cute in the photo, but I did not think the two items would work as an ensemble. The pants seemed to me a bigger size than the sweater.

Over the holidays when Blair was about six months old I got a photo of her wearing the pink sweater, with a onesie and pants I found in her closet. She is wearing a Hanna Andersson cotton knit pilot cap. The flowered pants were at our house, not available to try on.

Blair wearing the pink sweater and a Hanna Andersson pilot cap

I used to have Hanna Andersson pilot caps for my son James (Blair’s dad) when he was an infant. Following is a photo of James at two months old looking very pudgy and wearing his pilot cap. For the record, he grew out of his baby fat nicely and is now almost 6′ 5″ tall and slender.

My son, Blair’s dad, at age two months wearing a Hanna Andersson pilot cap

After we got back from Arizona this spring, I wondered if the flowered pants might be the right size. When we went to James and Kelsey’s house I brought the pants along. The pink sweater was too small by this time. The flowered pants were the right size around the waist and bottom, but they were capri length. I don’t think they were supposed to be capri pants. Here she is wearing the flowered pants with a fishing shirt that Kelsey had as a baby.

I remember having a hard time managing all the baby clothes that people gave us. There were clothes that were only worn once, some that were never worn at all. I guess we will never know if the pink sweater and flowered pants might have worked together after all.

More Floor Loom Towels

After weaving the rest of the warp yarn that came on my vintage Structo Artcraft loom (read about that here), I was ready to make something on my floor loom. I had not used it since before Christmas, because I cannot bring it to Arizona! I decided to make another set of towels with the same cotton and linen yarn as I used for towels I made on my rigid heddle loom in Arizona (read about that project here), with different colors and a more complicated pattern.

The warp yarn is blue 100% cotton, off white 100% cotton, and a bit of yellow Gist Duet cotton/linen blend. The weft yarn is the same off white and yellow, but instead of the blue cotton, I used 100% blue linen yarn that I had dyed myself.

Hand dyed blue linen yarn, 100% cotton yarn in blue and off white, and yellow Gist Duet cotton/linen blend yarn

I used a pattern from Gist, adapting it for towel width.

I am still looking for the perfect place to use my warping board for measuring out warp yarn. It should be the right height so I am not bending over or reaching up high. It needs to be stable, not wobbling or jiggling. Nothing should be sticking out between the pegs or interfering with the path of the yarn. The yarn should flow easily off the cone or ball from the floor below. This time I hung the warping board on some cabinet door knobs above my kitchen desk, as it seemed like a good height and nothing was sticking out in the wrong place. I tied it on to the knobs with a ribbon, and then used painters tape to keep it immobile. It was not perfect as the yarn had to sit on the desk rather than the floor, and the wall of the pantry was right there. It worked as well or better than the other places in the house I have tried.

Blue cotton yarn measured out for towels

There are different ways to measure out multiple colors of warp yarn. I decided to measure out each of the three colors separately. In retrospect, knowing how that would affect the “sleying the reed” step, I would have done it differently.

Following is a photo with the three different warp yarn bundles, or “chains” as they are called, ready to be threaded through the reed. The red towels with similar yarn I made in Arizona had 12 warp yarns per inch. For this project I used the eight dent reed with two ends per slot, for a denser fabric with 16 yarns per inch.

All three colors of warp yarn measured and ready to go

The way to keep the warp yarn in order for floor loom projects is with a “cross” that forms as the yarn is measured out on the warping board. Two sticks are used to keep this cross in place as you “sley the reed” (thread the yarn ends through the slots in the reed), so the ends can be threaded in the same order as they were measured out. In the following photo the “cross” of the blue yarn is visible between the two sticks. The white warp bundle is bunched up on the sticks to the left of the blue yarn.

Threading the blue yarn through the reed, leaving empty spaces for the white and yellow

The pattern has seven blue ends, alternating with a block of seven ends composed of off white with one yellow in the middle. After threading on some of the blue, leaving empty slots for the off white and yellow, I realized that the off white ends would have to majorly reach across the blue ends as they filled in the spaces between the blocks of blue. The next photo is a close up of the blue ends threaded through the reed, with the empty slots waiting for white and yellow.

Close up of the blue ends through the reed, with spaces left for the off white and yellow

I wrote out some notes to help keep track of what order to thread the yarn ends through the slots. It was a little confusing given I was using two ends per slot with an odd number in the color blocks, so some slots have two different colors.

My threading notes for threading the reed and heddles

After threading all the blue yarn through the slots in the reed, it was time to figure out what to do about the white. My previous floor loom projects had all the warp yarns wound consecutively into one warp chain, with every slot in the reed filled as I went, leaving no spaces. I looked through various instructions in books and online, and found a suggestion that made sense to me to use another set of sticks for the white yarn that could sit on top of the blue yarn. I found two yard sticks that worked for the purpose. It was still messy looking but allowed the white yarn to spread out across the reed on top of the blue yarn, rather than reach way across from one side.

Threading the off white yarn through the reed using another set of sticks on top of the blue yarn

There were only 22 ends of yellow (one per pattern repeat), so I used a method of holding that bundle in my hand while maintaining the “cross” as I threaded (instead of using the lease sticks). I did not get a photo because both my hands were occupied. Following is a photo taken after all three colors were threaded through the slots of the reed.

All three colors threaded through the slots in the reed

The yellow Duet cotton/linen yarn is slightly thinner than the blue and off white cotton yarn, with one end of yellow in every repeat of 14 yarns. As I was working I wondered if the yellow was going to get lost in the pattern and not show up very well. Of course I should have thought about this before I measured out all the yarn for the project and starting sleying the reed. While it was still possible, if not ideal, I decided to add a strand of some yellow Cottolin yarn in with each end of the Duet yellow ends. Cottolin and Duet are both cotton / linen blends, but the Cottolin is thinner and the color I had was a little more goldish than the Duet. One strand of each together is thicker and would pop out better. The next photo shows the yellow Cottolin yarn next to the yellow Duet yarn.

Two yellow yarns together seemed better than the yellow Duet by itself

After threading all the colors and ends (317 ends, about 20″ across) through the reed, it was time to thread them through the heddles and tie them on at the back.

Threading the ends through the heddles and tying them on to the bar at the back of the loom

All warp ends threaded and tied on the back

After all the ends were tied on, I wound the warp yarn around the beam at the back, and then I was ready to tie the other ends of the warp yarn on to the front.

Tying the warp yarn on at the front of the loom

The colors I chose make this towel look very Swedish.

The second towel of the set has a slightly different pattern with three rows of white instead of five. I used white instead of blue for the border and hem stitching.

Following is my post-it note with the treadling pattern for the second towel. The first row is harness one and two in white yarn. The second row is harness two and three in white yarn. There are 10 rows in one pattern repeat.

The next photo shows a close up of the yellow and white yarns being carried up the side while weaving a blue row. The odd number of rows in each color caused the carrying up of yarn to alternate sides, so it was a but lumpy but symmetrical.

I had measured out warp yarn to weave three towels. This involves estimating how much yarn is needed for loom waste, fringe between towels, take-up, and shrinkage. I looked at my notes from other towel projects. I have had the problem of not enough warp yarn before, so I wanted to make sure I had enough this time.

I wove 24″ for the first and second towel. When I got to the third towel I used the same pattern as the second towel. When I got to 24″, there was still a lot of warp yarn left so I kept weaving for 31″. That was as long as I wanted to go, and I needed to be done with this project . There was still warp yarn left, but it was hard to tell how much exactly without unwinding it from the back.

I cut the project off the loom, cut the towels apart, wove in the ends, and then washed the three towels in the washing machine and ran them through the dryer. I noticed something wrong on one of the towels while ironing them. I used the wrong treadling pattern for two blue rows, and possibly some of the rows between. My head hurts trying to figure it out. There is probably a way to fix it, but I do not have time or energy for that in the near future. Can you spot the incorrect rows?

Following is a close up photo showing the two different weft patterns side by side.

Following are photos of this current set of towels, next to the towels I made on my rigid heddle loom in Arizona with the same yarns in different colors. The warp yarns in both cases are 100% 8/4 cotton and Gist Duet cotton/linen blend. The weft yarns are 100% 8/4 cotton and 100% linen hand dyed. The blue and yellow towels have a more complicated four harness pattern with 16 ends per inch. The red towels are plain weave with the pattern formed by the colors, with 12 ends per inch.

My sister asked me if the blue and yellow towels were “harder” than the cottolin towels I wove before the holidays (and wrote about here). Maybe she thought that was the case due to the pattern formed by the colors, but the answer is no. The warping was a little harder due to the way I measured each color separately, but not because of the pattern. Weaving the pattern of weft rows was easier because of the multiple colors. I could tell exactly where I was in the pattern by looking at what color row should be next (although that did not stop me from making mistakes). The cottolin towels had a long repeat and it was not easy to tell exactly which row I was on. With the multiple colors I had to carry the colors up the sides as I wove, so that was an extra step but not “hard”. The next photo shows one of the cottolin towels next to one from this blue and yellow set.

Cottolin towel from December project, next to current towel just finished

Later in the summer I may try to tie more warp yarn on to the warp yarn still on the loom, leftover from this towel project. I hate to waste the excess warp yarn that I did not use. I tried tying warp yarn on to leftover warp yarn another time that did not go well, but I think I did not use the right type of knot and there may have been other problems. It should work, and reduce the time needed to get another project warped.

At some point over the summer I am going to have to fold and move my floor loom out of the living room when our flooring re-do project happens. Also this summer we have two trips, our annual family reunion at the cabin, and another family get together. One thing at a time.

Spring Fiber Day 2024

I have quite a few friends and family members who like to attend Fiber Day at the Ellison’s sheep farm in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. It is more than a day trip from Minneapolis, and the spring event is Mother’s Day weekend, so often people have conflicts. Spring Fiber Day is usually the same day as Fishing Opener in Minnesota. My husband is normally away on an annual fishing opener trip with some friends.

Some years all my people are busy with other things. I do not mind attending Fiber Day on my own and having a solo weekend to focus on what I want to do. This year I had a houseful of people. We lucked out and had a beautiful day and a fun girls weekend (plus one young man!).

Deb, a former coworker and knitter friend, came from Minneapolis. She had never been to Fiber Day before, but was excited to check it out. Another friend who has attended many times, Mary Lou, came with a knitting project. They enjoyed talking knitting, and Mary Lou was able to pick Deb’s mind while figuring out a complicated part of a pattern.

My cousin Lisa came with her seven year old daughter, plus three young adult children. It was her way of celebrating Mother’s Day. Her 20 year old son Everett tagged along for the weekend, without having any idea what “Fiber Day” was. He is a great kid interested in many things. At the event he sat down at a table with 90 something year old Grandma Alice and made a beautiful felted landscape. Everett has also done some blacksmithing, and talked to Dave Ellison about his forge. I did know know Dave had a forge. Everett added his name to the mailing list for future Fiber Day events.

There was a chair behind the house that looked like it had been out there for a long time. I thought it was kind of funny and artistic. Fortunately, there were plenty of other chairs for actual sitting.

My sister Betsy used to do quilting, but lately has been taking painting classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She set up her equipment behind the Ellison’s house and worked on a landscape painting, while most of the other people were working on something related to knitting, spinning, felting, or dyeing.

Betsy enjoyed the day working outside on a landscape painting

I brought my spinning wheel along, but never set it up. My knitting project never made it out of the bag either. Instead I was busy loading my blending board with fiber to make rolags, and working on a couple of dyeing projects. Following is a photo with me and other people looking over dyeing supplies.

The pots for wool dyeing were over the fire and ready to go.

Deb and I bought skeins of yarn from the Ellison’s sheep for dyeing. One of the dye pots had dye left from someone else’s project, so we added more in a slightly different color and dropped our yarn in. After simmering for about 20 minutes we took it out to cool off, and then rinsed it carefully in cold water.

Yarn from the Ellison’s sheep dyed turquoise

The yarn turned out a beautiful turquoise color.

I had brought some 100% linen yarn from home, plus an old white tee shirt, to dye in jars using the cold method with a different type of dye for cotton and linen fibers.

Jars with linen yarn and a tee shirt ready for dyeing

I had wanted to dye the yarn and tee shirt lavender, but there were only a few colors of dye that did not include purple or blue. There were several jars of yellow and red dye, so instead I tried for a light orange color. After soaking the items in water with soda ash, I added the water and dye to the jars without measuring very carefully, and then stuffed in the skeins of yarn and the tee shirt. I left the jars soaking overnight which was longer than necessary.

Dye jars with yarn and a tee shirt back at my house

One of the skeins of yarn turned out darker than the other one. They both have some variegation. The tee shirt came out quite tie dyed looking from being bunched up in the jar.

Yarn and tee shirt after rinsing out the extra dye

It seemed like part of the lighter skein of yarn did not take any dye, but when comparing it to the original undyed natural yarn, it was a different color.

Variations in color compared to the original undyed linen yarn

I have not used my Blending Board in quite a while. After watching a School of Sweet Georgia class called Blending Boards: From Rolags to Roving, I wanted to make rolags. They are rolls of fiber that are fun to spin. Fiber Day seemed like a good opportunity to use a block of time for this. Ahead of time at home I dug through my fiber stash closet and picked out some various types of fiber that went together. I weighed all the fiber and divided it into six groups of about one ounce each. The fibers included wool roving from the Ellison’s, a silk/camel roving from a fiber fair, two different colors of Alpaca locks, and some Angora rabbit. After I had weighed and divided it all, I decided to throw in some orange wool for a pop of color.

Measuring out one ounce of fiber to blend on the Blending Board

Six groups of fiber about one ounce each

I didn’t get a picture of loading the Blending Board in action, but following are photos of the board with layers of fiber on it.

Back at home I used dowels to lift and roll fiber off the board into rolags. I got three or four rolags off of one board full of fiber.

Making a rolag off the board of bended fiber

I tried to “diz” off the blending board, which is pulling the fiber off the board through a tiny hole to make roving. It worked, but was not going smoothly, so I went back to making rolags, which was what I wanted anyway.

Some fiber I “dizzed” off the blending board into roving

I finished making the rolags back at home. Spinning them into yarn will be for another time, after I finish two other spinning projects in process.

Friday evening before Fiber Day was the night when many areas around the country had Northern Lights. We went outside at about 10:00 pm and could see them from the yard. With my eyes I could see shimmering lights, but not the colors. When I looked through my phone camera I could see the colors. I saw photos other people posted with more brilliant colors, but following are a couple I took. I considered getting up later in the night to see if the sky looked different, but that did not happen.

The colors in the Northern Lights would make a beautiful blended yarn colorway! I might even have fiber in all those colors that I could blend on my blending board or drum carder some day.

Last weekend was our extended family cabin work weekend. We had family at our house and a full schedule of maintenance projects. In addition to some weeding, I was in charge of group lunches and dinners for the work crew, with assistance from a few others. The peonies along the road were planted by my great grandmother. One end of the bed had a gap, followed by a very unhealthy looking plant. On the spur of the moment while weeding, I made the executive decision to move the edging bricks over leaving a smaller symmetrical garden with less future maintenance. It looks nice now, but it will be full of weeds again in a couple of weeks.

It is going to be a busy summer with a couple of trips, and groups of people coming to stay at our house and the cabin. We are also in the process of picking out what product to use in place of 24 year old living room, dining area and bedroom carpeting. At one time I had hoped to have that project complete by June, but that was not realistic. It is difficult finding time to work on the projects I already have in progress, and it is not even summer yet.

Baby Hats

I like knitting for my granddaughter, who was born last summer. One problem is that usually I have no idea how old she is going to be when a particular item will fit. I knit two baby size hats using the same pattern, one tiny and one bigger. I was not necessarily trying to achieve different sizes, it was just how they turned out based on the yarn I chose from my stash.

The pattern I used for both hats is called Pixie Baby Cap, available on Ravelry. Yarn for the first hat is Lang Amira 93% cotton / 7 % nylon. It is described as a “chainette” yarn with suggested needle size of nine or ten. It is really soft.

I cast on with a size nine needle, but after knitting for a few inches I started over with size eight. Following is a photo showing the beginning of the project.

This is one of those patterns where you have no idea what is going on but just have to go with it, and eventually it starts to make sense.

It is knitted flat and then folded in half, with one side seamed that becomes the top. The next image is from the pattern.

Following are photos showing the hat ready to seam the top with a three needle bind off, and then part way done with the bind off.

Part way done with three needle bind off

The pattern suggested making I-Cord for the ties. I tried to make a length of I-Cord using three stitches, but it was too thick. I abandoned that and instead cut three lengths of yarn for each tie, pulled them through the corner, and braided it. It came out more appropriately sized for the hat. Following is a photo of the hat, with one braided tie attached, and the too thick I-Cord below.

Hat with one braided tie, and the too thick I-Cord below

This pattern is quick to knit, and unless you are trying to get a certain exact size, you don’t have to worry much about gauge.

I gave the hat to my son and daughter-in-law for the baby. I never got a photo and now she is too big for this size.

The second hat from the same pattern was knit with 50% acrylic / 40% wool / 10% nylon Berroco Vintage Chunky yarn. It came out bigger. I may have cast on more stitches. Once you figure out how the pattern works, it is easy to make it with different sizes of yarn or a different number of stitches. I did not take any work-in-progress photos, but following are pictures of the finished blue version of the hat.

Recently we were in St. Paul visiting James and Kelsey (and more importantly, Blair haha). The blue hat was just the right size, and the weather was cool enough to warrant wearing it on a walk outside.

Last year I posted about a baby sweater I had knit out of the same blue yarn. I gave the sweater to Kelsey at the baby shower before Blair was born. Following is the link for the blog post about the sweater: https://yarnsfromthelake.com/2023/08/10/baby-ensemble/

I had forgotten about the blue sweater at the time Blair was wearing the hat. Later Kelsey found it in the closet and sent me a couple of Instagram worthy photos with the hat and sweater on together. Love Love Love!!

The sweater is a little big. Maybe if she is going to wear it out of the house she will also have pants on. I could sew some cute matching baby pants, but I will have to decide if I really want to break out the sewing machine. It is going to be a busy summer, so I have to be careful not to plan more projects than I can really do.

Structo Artcraft Loom

I friend of mine was helping clean out a storage room at her church. It was packed with crafting supplies that had not been used in a long time, including a table top weaving loom. She sent me a photo of the loom and asked if I wanted it. YES! I wanted this vintage four shaft Structo Artcraft loom.

Vintage Structo Artcraft loom from the front

I was not familiar with the brand, but found information online. Structo Artcraft looms have an interesting history starting in the early 1900’s. Structo Manufacturing, located in Freeport, Illinois, made metal toys. In 1921 they started making toy looms out of the same metal. Later they made looms for adults out of wood, eventually selling the Structo Artcraft Loom business to Dick Blick in 1972. The Dick Blick company manufactured and sold several sizes and models of the looms until 1981. You can find listings for Structo Artcraft looms on ebay, Etsy, and Craigs List. What you can’t find are current replacement parts. There is a Facebook group for people interested in these looms, so that is a place to look for information, advice or parts.

This loom is a hybrid of my other two looms. It has four harnesses, the same as my floor loom. The wood frame is 30″ wide with a weaving width of about 26″. My rigid heddle loom has a weaving width of 15″, while my floor loom has a weaving width of 36″. The 15 dent (ends per inch) reed on the Structo Artcraft loom is more dense than the reeds I have for my other looms. It seems to be in working condition, with a rag rug in progress.

I am not interested in making a rag rug at this time, and I do not have the right materials to finish the one partway done on the loom. I had intended on cutting the rug off and re warping the loom with a different project. Then it occurred to me that I could just stop weaving the rug weft rows, and start weaving weft rows with some other yarn that I have, in order to try the loom and not waste the warp yarn.

From the side, the front handle is missing

One concern is that the handle to turn the front beam is missing, as shown in the photo above. On my floor loom there is one handle that is used for both the front and back beam. It is easy to move it back and forth as needed. On this Structo Artcraft loom the handle on the back beam is firmly attached, and I have seen photos of other Structo looms with two handles.

The yarn warped on the loom is something like 8/4 rug warp cotton, and not threaded through every slot in the reed. Instead there are two yarn ends together in a slot, followed by two empty slots. The weft “yarn” for the rug is a series of stretchy strips of fabric joined in a chain. The large space between warp yarns is needed for the thick rug weft “yarn”.

Warp yarns through the slots in the reed

I found a couple of options for weft yarn in my stash. For my first attempt at weaving on this loom I chose some green Peaches & Creme 100% cotton yarn. It is not nearly as thick as the rug “yarn”, but it seemed like it would work. I wove a couple of rows, packing them close together, which resulted in a “weft faced” look where the weft yarn is dominant, like the rug.

First rows of weaving with Peaches & Creme yarn packed tightly

After talking to Torri, my weaving mentor, I started to place the weft rows farther apart in order to achieve a more “balanced” weave. This was all experimentation, a good opportunity to try some different things.

More rows Peaches & Creme yarn packed for a more balanced weave

After using up the green cotton warp yarn on the shuttle, I was ready to try something else. I had some Berroco Espresso yarn that is thicker than the Peaches & Creme cotton. It is a 50% cotton / 50% polyester chain type (rather than plied) yarn. The colors went well with the various colors of warp yarn and the texture of the yarn made it more interesting.

Next section with Berroco Espresso chain plied yarn

I got around the problem of the missing handle by using a pair of pliers on the piece of metal sticking out where the handle would be attached, so I could turn the front beam. However my husband pointed out that would strip the grooves on the piece of metal that maybe were needed to hold the handle on, if there was one. After that I used my hands to roll the completed weaving onto the front beam.

After I ran out of the Berroco yarn I wove with two strands together of 8/4 cotton, one green and one white, which I believe is about the same thickness as the warp yarn. It is quite open, although it will shrink some when I wash it.

End of the Berroco weft yarn, beginning of weaving with 2 strands of 8/4 cotton

Following is a closeup photo of the three different weft yarns I tried (Peaches & Creme cotton, Berroco cotton/polyester, two strands of 8/4 cotton).

Three different yarns used for sections of weft rows

I was very interested in getting a better look at the loom once I got to the end of the warp yarn. The next photo shows the back of the loom after I had woven as much warp yarn as I could. A flat metal bar is tied on to the back beam. The warp yarn is wrapped around a length of square wood dowel, that is tied on to the flat piece of metal.

Warp yarn ends tied on at the back of the loom

After examining what was going on at the back of the loom, I cut the warp yarns and unwound the completed weaving from the front beam. Following is a photo showing the beginning of the project where it was tied on at the front of the loom. The front beam is a thick round piece of wood that is warped. As on the back, there is a flat piece of metal tied on to the front beam that is warped and bent out of shape. A wood dowel bar is tied on to the flat piece of metal. The beginning of the rug is lashed on to the wood dowel.

Warp yarn lashed on to the front of the loom

Close up of warp yarn lashed on to the front of the loom

It looks like the person who started this rug was also experimenting with different warp yarns. There are some rows of two different colors of some kind of flat shiny “yarn”, followed by a couple of rows of purple worsted weight cotton (something like Peaches & Creme yarn), followed by the thick stretchy rag rug “yarn”.

My sections of weaving are shown below, as they came off the loom. First there are rows of the green Peaches & Creme cotton, and then the Berroco variegated color chain type yarn, followed by the green and white strands of 8/4 cotton together.

Berroco Espresso cotton/polyester blend warp yarn

Close up of the Berroco Espresso weft yarn rows

Larger section with 2 strands of 8/4 cotton warp yarn

I was able to remove some screws and take off a strip of wood at the top of the reed, which allowed me to remove the reed from the loom. The reed is very rusty, but it looks like the same size as replacements available from the Schacht company.

Identification stamped on the side of the reed

I communicated with a woman on the Structo Loom Owners – Repair & Refurb Facebook group regarding the date that my loom might have been made. She has a list of serial numbers with their associated production dates. Between the serial number stamped on my loom and the number stamped on the reed, she is pretty sure my loom was manufactured in 1971.

705 is at the beginning of the serial number which should indicate the model number. However information I found online indicates that it is more likely a model 740, which is an eight shaft version of the model 705. My loom currently has only four shafts but there are spaces for four more. 740 is what you get when you multiply the ends per inch of the reed by two ends per inch by the weaving width, for the maximum number of threads you could have in a warp (15 x 2 x 25 = 740).

The next photo taken from the top shows the four harnesses, and some empty slots for two more. There are spaces for two more in between the harnesses on the loom, that you cannot see given the angle of the photo.

From the top you can see spaces for more harnesses. There are slots for a total of eight harnesses.

I wove in the loose ends and washed the individual sections of weaving (except for the rug at the beginning). As expected, they shrunk some, ending up with a slightly more dense weave, but still on the loose side. I think the large section of all 8/4 cotton could be used as a towel.

Section with two strands of 8/4 cotton yarn, after washing and shrinking

I was not expecting to have any usable final product from weaving off the rest of the warp yarn that came on this vintage loom. However I did end up a table runner of sorts, and a string bag! The section woven with the Berroco weft yarn works as a runner on my dining room table, adorned with the ceramic turtle bowl and lid that my mom made. My four harness floor loom is in the background waiting for another project.

The section with Berroco yarn works as a table runner

The shorter section woven with Peaches & Creme cotton could have been a loosely woven narrow towel, but I was inspired to make it into a small string bag.

Smaller section woven with Peache & Creme cotton yarn

String bag made out of the small section with Peaches & Creme yarn

Now that the Structo loom is free of a project, I plan on cleaning it and fixing it up as much as I can before using it again. That will include wiping it down with some wood conditioner, trying to figure out a replacement handle for the front beam, replacing the dowels that warp yarn is tied to at the front and back, and ordering a new reed.

Sometime in the next couple of months, we will be replacing the flooring in our living / dining area. I dread having to move all the furniture, including emptying out and moving my mom’s large china cabinet. Once that is all happening, my floor loom will be folded up and moved out of the way. My next weaving project will be on the floor loom, while it is still accessible and before the flooring chaos starts.

Gold Canyon 2024

We are back home in West Central Minnesota now. Some snowbirders stay in Arizona (or wherever they go) for as long as 6 months. I am starting to miss home before the end of our three month reservation at Gold Canyon RV & Golf Resort.

This winter of 2023/2024 was a non event in Minnesota with record warm temperatures, hardly any snow, open water on the lakes at Christmas, and one of the earliest ice-outs on record in March. On the other hand, there were more than average cooler and wetter days than normal in the Phoenix area. The many days with temperatures in the 60’s were great for hiking or biking, going on outings, or generally walking around outside without winter coats, so I am not complaining. The rainy days working on knitting or weaving projects and listening to the rain patter on the roof of the RV were quite cozy.

This year I took advantage of some exercise classes and even learned a few line dances. I spent time on my blog and on my part time “job” of being the treasurer for our extended family cabin LLC. We got to know some of our neighbors. I knit a pair of socks, and wove shoelaces and a scarf. I worked on a counted cross stitch project that is very slow going, and that I won’t be able to write about for months.

We spent time with Wayne’s sister and brother-in-law who were there for two months, and with friends and family visitors including our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. The time goes fast.

Outings included Boyce Thompson Arboretum, about 20 miles east of Gold Canyon, and the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. We bought a membership at Boyce Thompson, and then realized it is good at many arboretums around the country, including the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum west of Minneapolis. There was a fun collection of giant colorful art cacti at Boyce Thompson, created by Oliverio Balcells to celebrate 100 years of the arboretum.

Outdoor art at Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, AZ

Cacti at the The Desert Botanical Garden were adorned with foam cups to protect against freezing when we went there in January.

I experienced the Mesa Market, otherwise known as the Swap Meet, a place with hundreds of stalls for vendors selling all kinds of things including clothing, yard art, household goods, golf equipment, and you name it. I am not into shopping, but I braved the giant parking lot and crowded maze of hallways at this place once to buy an Arizona theme sweatshirt. At a block party on our street at the resort, we talked to a woman we had not met before. When asked what she liked to do, she said she goes to the Swap Meet on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, every weekend. Oh my. Then she said they had only been at the resort for a couple of weeks and she was buying gifts for people back home, so it made a little more sense.

We went on a day trip with Wayne’s sister and brother-in-law, Marlene and Steve, to see Cliff Dwellings at Tonto National Monument, about 1 1/2 hours away near Roosevelt Lake. After the long drive and time in the visitor center, there was a hike to get up to the Cliff Dwellings. The site is amazing and the view is beautiful.

Cliff Dwellings at Tonto National Monument with view of Roosevelt Lake

Gold Canyon is east of Apache Junction, on the far east side of the Phoenix metro. It has a very wild west vibe, where you might see a trailer with a horse in it at the nice grocery store parking lot.

Horse in a trailer in the grocery store parking lot

The Superstition Mountain Museum in Apache Junction was worthy of several outings. Click here for a link to the website for this attraction that includes a historical museum, assorted old west buildings, some old Mining machinery, and a cool model train. We attended a couple of events there including “Western Cowboy Day” where we watched a fake old west shoot out, and cowboy “Teton Ken” flirted with Marlene.

Posing with more cowboys from the fake shootout

We also went to the Native American Arts Festival at the Superstition Mountain Museum, where we saw hoop dancing by the Yellow Bird Indian Dancers. It was hard to get a good photo, so following is a picture from the brochure. Click here for a link to info about the talented Duncan family. Click here for a video of champion dancer Tony Duncan.

Members of the Duncan family at the Native American Arts Festival

From1960 to 2004 there was an 1800 acre old west town movie set in Gold Canyon called Apacheland Movie Ranch. Classic western movies and TV shows were filmed there, including Bonanza, Death Valley Days, Gunfight at the OK Corral, and Charro. A fire in 2004 burned down most of the buildings, but the barn, chapel, and gallows were saved and moved to the site of the Superstition Mountain Museum. No visit to Gold Canyon is complete without a stop at the Elvis Chapel.

The Elvis Chapel at the Superstition Mountain Museum, originally from the Apache Land Movie Ranch

There is a large display of photos and memorabilia from the Apacheland Movie Ranch inside the barn, including photos of Ronald Reagan, Clint Eastwood, Elvis Presley and many movie stars who were before my time.

Barn relocated from Apache Land Movie Ranch to the Superstition Mountain Museum

The following collage was on display in a local restaurant.

There are a couple of saloons in Apache Junction where locals arrive on their horse and tie it on a rail while partaking of happy hour. Our granddaughter got to see her first horse up close at the Hitching Post Saloon.

First in person encounter with a horse at the Hitching Post Saloon, Apache Junction

Gold Field Ghost Town is another activity in Apache Junction that is on the list of places to take visitors. It is a very touristy 1890’s old west town, and the other place with a real saloon where locals arrive on their horse. There is outdoor seating in the back of the Mammoth Steakhouse and Saloon with a great view of the Superstition Mountains. Note that if you are vegetarian or vegan, find a different place for dinner!

Behind the Mammoth Steakhouse & Saloon at Goldfield Ghost Town

The Apache Trail Scenic Drive starts in Apache Junction near Goldfield Ghost Town, and goes on for 40 miles of beautiful scenery. We did this outing twice. The road was constructed in the early 1900’s to connect Apache Junction with Roosevelt Lake. Before that it was an Apache Indian trail, and then a Stage Coach route. If you are not familiar with this area, you do not think of lakes in Arizona, but there are a couple of them east of Phoenix. The Apache Trail goes past Canyon Lake, which you can see in the background at the scenic overlook in the next photo. There is camping, as well as a marina and restaurant at Canyon Lake.

Bringing my knitting on the Apache Trail Scenic drive

Tortilla Flat is the next stop after Canyon Lake on the Apache Trail. Tortilla Flat is a one block long “town” with a population of six. There are a couple of touristy buildings including a saloon and gift shop, and an outdoor space with bar food and live music every afternoon. The ladies room has some unique art on the stall doors.

Stall doors in the ladies room at Tortilla Flat

A few miles after Tortilla Flat the road is no longer paved, and becomes very windy, narrow and scary. There is an overlook at a Fish Creek Hill that looks like a mini Grand Canyon. At this point you cannot go any further due the road being washed out. If you could continue on, or if they fix the road, you would be able to continue on to Roosevelt Lake and Roosevelt Dam. The next photo was taken at the Fish Creek overlook. If this looks familiar, I already used it in a previous blog post. If it does not look familiar, then you are not really reading my posts. LOL.

Fish Creek Overlook on the Apache Trail Scenic Drive

Continuing with the “wild west” theme, I have a photo of my granddaughter wearing our friend’s western hat, while we visited at the pool.

And then there is a photo of the repurposed cowboy boot bag that I bought at an art fair, that I also used in a previous post.

Following are random hiking photos from this year.

The Hieroglyphics trail, Superstition Mountains

The Hieroglyphics trail with my friend Kris from back home

Photo from a hike in the Superstition Mountains

I am glad we have the opportunity to get away from winter, and take advantage of all the things to do in Arizona that we can’t do in Minnesota. It is nice to be able to be outside a lot, and also have minimal chores living in our 5th Wheel Trailer. But by the end of our time there I am ready for my normal routine at home, and maybe the RV is starting to feel a little too cozy.

After being home for over a week, I am finally starting to feel like my life is back in order here. The taxes are done, but I still have to put the Christmas decorations away. We moved them all down to the basement bedroom in late December. Out of sight, out of mind. Going for a walk around here is not quite as dramatic as hiking in the Superstition Mountains, but the rolling hills and lakes of Otter Tail County are beautiful too.

Rigid Heddle Scarf

Like most knitters, I have many random skeins of yarn that I love, but don’t know what to do with. Some I spun myself, some I bought while on vacation, some I bought on sale, others I thought I was going to use but never made that project. They look beautiful sitting in baskets. They fill up plastic tubs. I try to think of ways to use the yarn that are worthy of their quality and beauty.

I looked through my stash in December while planning for our Arizona trip this winter. I found two skeins of yarn that worked well together for a woven scarf on my Rigid Heddle Loom. For the warp I had some Berroco Ultra Alpaca 50% Alpaca / 50% Wool leftover from a sweater, very smooth and squishy. For the weft I had a skein of Cascade Yarns Melilla 45% Silk / 35% Wool / 20% Nylon. It has a more inconsistent texture with nubs.

Warp and weft yarn from my stash for a woven scarf

I wove a small sample with eight ends per inch to get an idea what they would look like together. The Melilla yarn for the weft has multiple colors that do not show up on the photo of the sample. I happened to get a section of the weft yarn that was close to the same color as the warp yarn. The woven sample was soft and I love the colors separately and together.

This is the weaving project I mentioned in my last post that involved wasting an hour and a half of time. I wanted to get this scarf warped on my rigid heddle loom, and figured it would go quickly. I took my loom and supplies over to a room in the community building at the RV Resort, where there was enough space for direct warping. After getting about 2/3 of the warp yarn on the loom the ball of yarn ran out, so I looked in my bag to get the other ball. I was swearing in my head when I saw that the other ball of yarn was not a ball of yarn. It was warp yarn that I had already measured out on my warping board at home, so that I could warp the project indirectly in the RV, without reserving a community room at the Resort. AAAHHHH. This meant that I had to remove the yarn that I had just warped on to the loom and start over.

The warp yarn was one long thread going in and out of the reed on the loom. I could have cut it off easily, but that would have ruined the yarn. Instead I pulled it out one slot at a time which took longer than it took to get it on there. I should have taken a photo of this laborious process, but I was not sure I wanted to admit I had been so dumb. After finishing that and being really disgusted with myself, I packed up all my stuff and went back to the RV. I was back to square one. It was already close to dinner time, so best to save this project for another day when I could start fresh. It was a waste of that time, but nothing else was lost.

Following is a photo of the bundle of warp yarn (“warp chain”) that I had measured at home, ready to go on the loom.

The “warp chain” that I measured out at home on my warping board

I may have warped my rigid heddle loom indirectly once before, but I wanted to review the process before starting to avoid any more dumb mistakes. As with everything, there are many sources of instruction online with many variations of steps to warp directly and indirectly. I re-watched the section from the School of Sweet Georgia class on Rigid Heddle Weaving Basics that was specifically about indirect warping.

The School of Sweet Georgia instructions suggested using lease sticks to keep the yarn ends in order, the same as when using a floor loom. That is not the only way to do it, but I decided to try their method. It was also suggested to put the yarn ends loops around the back bar instead of tying the ends on, which is essentially how it would be if I had threaded it directly. The rest of the process was similar to direct warping.

Following is a photo of the front of the loom with the yarn ends going through some makeshift lease sticks and then through the slots of the reed.

The next photo is the back of the loom, showing the loops of yarn from my warp bundle wrapped around the back bar.

The School of Sweet Georgia method recommends holding the length of warp yarn across the loom from the front to the back, creating even tension as you wind the yarn on.

After winding the warp yarn on to the back, moving one yarn end from each slot to the adjacent hole, and tying the ends on to the front apron bar, I was ready to weave. The beginning of my weft yarn was a pretty dark violet color, very different from what my small sample looks like.

I did not measure the weaving as I went, so I didn’t know how long it was when I got to the end of the warp. When I got to the end of the weft yarn on the shuttle there were a few more inches of warp available. I wanted to make sure the scarf was not too short.

The weft yarn was variegated with different colors of blue and purple. The result was different than I expected, more Ombre than stripes. For some reason I don’t remember, I had unwound a few yards of blue at the beginning of the skein of weft yarn and set it aside. The weft yarn was purple when I got to the end of what was on the shuttle. After the purple, in order to made sure the scarf was long enough, I added the blue that I had separated off at the beginning. I worked the hem stitch so I could remove the weaving from the loom and see how long it was. Following are two photos of the weaving at the end of the loom with the extra blue yarn added after the purple.

Blue added abruptly after purple at the end of the scarf

The scarf turned out to be very long, and the abrupt transition from purple to blue did not look right, compared to the more gradual changes of color in the rest of the scarf. After seeing it off the loom, it was clear the scarf would have been plenty long and look better without the extra couple of inches of blue. I decided to remove the extra blue rows.

I worked some hem stitch at the end of the purple, and then removed the blue that did not look right. The next two photos are the entire scarf with the hem stitch added after the purple, but before I removed all of the blue.

The entire scarf off the loom, with hem stitch added between the purple and blue

Close up of hem stitch added after the purple

Following is a photo after the extra blue had all been removed, and I had trimmed the warp yarn evenly for fringe.

Leaving the loose warp yarn at the ends was an option, but instead I started working twisted fringe by hand.

After gently soaking the scarf in warm water with a bit of dish soap and then rinsing, I squeezed out the extra water with a towel and laid it flat to try on the picnic table outside our RV. It was a warm day, so the scarf dried fast in the very dry Arizona conditions. Not including the fringe, the scarf is 98″ long (2.7 yards) and 6 1/2″ wide.

Drying outside on a towel after gently washing

The next day I went over to the laundromat at the RV park and used the ironing board and iron to gently steam and press the scarf, using a linen kitchen towel for a pressing cloth.

After steaming with an iron and pressing cloth

The scarf is long enough to wrap around my neck twice. Ombre is not my favorite, but when wound and bunched up, you just notice the pretty colors.

Our time in Arizona is over for this year. The weather has been inconsistent with more rain than usual. One day last week we wore shorts and tee shirts while bike riding. The next day a sweatshirt with the new scarf was comfortable.

After being here for three months, I am ready to go home. I am even a little disappointed that we missed the winter storm that happened last week in Minnesota. As long as I do not have to go anywhere, I love working on a project in the house while watching a storm outside.

Last winter there was a lot of snow in Minnesota. When we got home in April the side of the driveway where we park the RV was piled high with a big snowbank. This year there was hardly any snow until now. The report from back home is that we got almost 10″ of snow from the recent storm, but likely it will melt by the time we get there. I would not be surprised or disappointed if there is another late season snowstorm in April, giving me an opportunity to sit inside knitting and watching the weather outside.

Socks Re-Do

I made this pair of socks two years ago when we were in Arizona (click here for blog post). They looked great but they did not fit right. The pattern was complicated, they took forever to complete, there were too few stitches around, and the cable pattern made them even tighter. I used a new heel pattern that I started in the wrong place. They ended up being too long and too narrow.

I considered re-doing the toes to make them shorter, and giving them to my aunt who is very petite. I assumed her feet would be small. It turned out they were not that much smaller than mine, so they would not fit her either.

After a year of pondering this problem, I decided to “frog” (rip out) the socks and start over. The Madelinetosh Twist Light yarn is good quality and I really like it, so better to have a pair of socks I can actually wear. Following is a photo of the original skein of yarn.

One of the things I like about knitting is that if, or rather when, you make a mistake, you can unravel that section and do it over again. Or even frog an entire finished object and reuse the yarn. I used to sew clothes back in the day. Once you cut the pattern pieces out of the fabric, there is only so much you can do if you make a mistake. You can’t get the original length of fabric back. I have read about people who want to knit with good quality yarn, but do not have the budget for it. They find really nice sweaters at thrift shops, unravel them, and use the yarn for something else. There are many tips online about how to pick out sweaters that will work best for this.

Unraveled yarn is very kinky, as the wool remembers the state it has been in. It is OK to knit with kinky yarn, but I thought it would be distracting. Instead of rolling the yarn into a ball as I unraveled it, I wound it into skeins on the back of a chair, so it would be ready for washing to remove the kinks.

After tying the skeins and removing from the chair, they bunched up into funny looking blobs like big kitchen scrubbers. I do not know why one of the skeins looks smaller. As far as I know the two socks were the same size. I might have wrapped the one on the left of the photo tighter around the chair as it relaxed into a smaller blob than the other one.

I was recently reading about sock blanks on the School of Sweet Georgia web site. A sock blank is sock yarn that has been machine knitted flat or into a tube. White sock blanks are dyed for self striping yarn. They can be purchased white or already dyed. You start at one end and knit directly with the yarn as you unravel it, in which case it will be kinky like my yarn above.

Following is a photo of a sock blank from Sweet Georgia Yarns. You can see how colors have been added in gradations for self striping socks.

Following is a photo of my unraveled sock yarn soaking with some hand knit socks.

The yarn looked good, and was ready for a new project after drying flat. One of the skeins looks a bit smaller. The two original socks should have been the same, but maybe they weren’t.

I don’t have my ball winder in the RV, so I rolled the two skeins of yarn into balls the old fashioned way by hand and I was ready to begin. I liked the School of Sweet Georgia pattern “Custom Toe Up Socks” that I used for the green socks I knit recently, so I used it again for this pair.

I have never been much of a swatch maker. The pattern (click here for the link) includes making a “faux circular swatch”, so it seemed like a good exercise to follow the pattern and make the swatch. The faux swatch instructions are also available as a stand alone module (click here for the link). Knitting stockinette stitch in the round will get you a slightly different gauge than knitting stockinette flat back and forth. The faux circular swatch is knit flat on double pointed or circular needles so you can slide the yarn across to the other side after each row, creating a long loop on the back where the working yarn is carried across. Sort of messy looking but resulting in a more accurate gauge. Sometime I will knit a regular plain old swatch AND a faux circular swatch with the same yarn to see how different they are. The next photos are the front and back of my faux circular swatch.

I measured my gauge using the swatch, and then using my foot length and circumference, I filled in the worksheet for the School of Sweet Georgia toe up socks pattern. I was pretty sure I would want to have 60 stitches around based on the other socks I have made using the same yarn, so luckily that is what the worksheet came up with.

The pattern suggests using Judy’s Magic Cast-On for the stitches at the beginning of the toe. I have used this before, but it had been awhile. The School of Sweet Georgia pattern has video showing how to do it in detail, and there are other videos online. It is a good cast-on for toe up socks but I find it a bit mind bending. I watched the video multiple times and started over more than once before I got it right and felt comfortable. The toe is easy once you get the stitches cast on. I ripped out the swatch and wound that yarn back on the ball since I needed all of it for the second sock. That yarn was kinky, but I went ahead and knit with it that way.

The two balls of yarn I was using for the socks re-do came from the original two socks, which began as one skein of yarn. The two new socks started out with one lighter in color and one slightly bigger than the other. One of the balls is bigger, so now I am wondering if the bigger blob of kinky yarn (pictured above) is due to the yarn being different rather than the way I wound it on the chair. The differences in color and weight are a mystery. The kinky looking yarn on the smaller and lighter ball is due to being unwound from the swatch.

One ball of yarn is lighter in color and smaller

I worked on sock knitting feverishly over a period of several days, including bringing the project in the car on some outings. We went on the Apache Trail Scenic drive (north and east of Phoenix) when Wayne’s brother was visiting. We have done this multiple times, but it is always a great outing with visitors. We took a photo at a scenic overlook, and then later I kicked myself because I should have been holding the sock knitting project.

Scenic overlook on the Apache Trail, the socks project is in the car

At the end of our scenic drive we ate dinner in a Mexican restaurant in Apache Junction. I got a photo with my knitting there, sitting next to my sister-in-law Marlene.

I was worried about running out of yarn, after I realized that I was using it up faster for this pair than the original pair I ripped out due to having more stitches around. It was a relief when I finished the Fish Lips Kiss heels and there was plenty of yarn left for cuffs.

I was not sure how long the remaining yarn would last. Shorter cuffs would stay up better with K1P1 ribbing, so I went with that. Following is a photo of the socks with several inches of cuff in K1P1 ribbing. Hmmm, it is OK but not my favorite look.

As it turned out there was plenty of yarn for the cuffs. These socks seem boring compared to the original pair I ripped out, and to “fancy” socks I have seen other people knit. I have to remember not to compare myself with other people as far as knitting, and also anything else in life. Each day is different. Sometimes we barely make it through the day. Other days we are up for more challenging tasks. Each person is on their own journey.

After getting toward the end of the yarn with the K1P1 ribbing, I was not liking it, and it seemed a little bit tight at the point where the ribbing started. I considered doing a picot bind-off to make it more interesting. I had that dreaded decision of “should I just keep going and it will be fine” versus “rip back the part that isn’t quite right and do it over”.

The “Up North Socks” I knit last fall fit very well and have a similar gauge, so I looked at my notes for how many stitches I had at different points in the sock. Without going into too much detail for the non knitters (I probably lost them a long time ago) the ribbing had more stitches than the foot. If the only problem was the style of ribbing, I might have just left it, but it seemed worth it to adjust the fit also. Soooooo I ripped the ribbing and a few more rows out until I had the right number of stitches around for a cuff that would fit me better. On the same day I also wasted an hour and a half on a weaving project, but that will be a story for another post.

Following is another photo after re-knitting the cuff in K2P2 ribbing, with a couple of more stitches around. I like the look better, and more importantly, they fit me better.

Socks with K2P2 ribbing, instead of K1P1

Meanwhile I saw an ad from Twice Sheared Sheep for “Tip Ties”, an ingenious version of knitting needle tip protectors. I have tried to use old fashioned needle tip protectors to keep my knitting from falling off, but they do not stay on. This product is a flexible tube that you stick on the ends of your needles. They stay on, keep the knitting from coming off, and also keep the needles from poking through my fabric project bag.

Needle tip protectors from Twice Sheared Sheep

Tip protectors on my circular needles needles

As I got to the end of the yarn, I wanted to use up as much as I could, without running out in the middle of binding off. I unwound and measured the remaining yarn, adding some markers so I could see how much was used up knitting one round. After some math, I estimated that I could knit for another inch or so before binding off.

After binding off the first half of the stitches on both socks, there was not enough yarn to bind off the second half of one sock, and lots of yarn left on the other sock. I don’t know how I could have knit more rows on one sock when knitting two at a time. And it is consistent with one of the balls of yarn being bigger at the beginning. Maybe one of the original socks was bigger. I used some of the yarn from the sock that had extra to finish binding off the other one. When I was all done I had about five inches of ribbing and a total of one yard of yarn leftover.

After hand washing and laying out flat to dry, the socks were done.

My husband is a big fisherman. We have all seen photos of people with their fish held way out towards the camera to make them look bigger. I saw some photos of a woman showing off her hand knit socks like they were a fish, so I copied the idea.

The socks fit well and I like them. No fancy pattern or bling. They are boring, but I guess I like boring and functional.