The Paper Pile

Merry does love it when I get a shipment from my weaving thread supplier because it means I can replenish his Paper Pile with crisp, new material which crickles good when he pounces on/in it. He loves the Paper Pile! It's probably the best cat toy ever. He hides Fish in it (that's Fish in the foreground), and then digs Fish back out again. He drags the Paper Pile over to his ball race, covers it up, then spins the balls around and watches for them when they appear between the folds. It's a very noisy game. And best yet? He hides in the Paper Pile, covering himself up entirely, to lie in wait for an unsuspecting Mama to walk by. More than once, I've been startled out of my skin when the Paper Pile suddenly erupted a Cat. Even when the paper has gotten rather limp from constant use, it's still fun. Of course, it's a bit of a trip hazard for the Mama because it occupies a large area of the living room floor, and I find myself having to make long detours to move my band looms over to my chair, but in the order of things, Merry's enjoyment takes precedence.

Weaving "Little Guys"

Since I have a fairly simple project on Daisy, I decided to do something a bit more challenging on rigid heddle, i.e., double the sett, and use both a pickup stick and a heddle rod. The draft I chose was a huck variation, something my mother called "little guys" for the floats with "legs" and narrow "waists." My mom wove exclusively on rigid heddle and inkle, and I was always surprised by the patterns and textures she could achieve using a single heddle and pickup sticks. She worked in heavier threads than I prefer, but I was sure I could adapt her instructions to a two-heddle loom so I could weave with my usual 8/2 cotton. There are 252 ends here, using two 10-dent heddles. The "up" sheds include either the pickup stick or the heddle rod to create the floats, and are a bit tricky to get a shuttle through, but I got roughly 9 inches done yesterday. I'm not sure I'll ever repeat this experiment because it is rather tedious to weave, but when I'm done, I should have two towels and possibly a washrag of "little guys."

His Birthday Present

 

During the construction process of Merry's birthday present, he was more interested in bolts than the soft parts, at least until I got the scratch post in an upright position. The deedly-ball only merited a few minutes of investigation, but in the end, the birthday scratcher/bed received full approval.

He's Two!

He was such a little teacup cat when I brought him home, little pocket cat I could hold in one hand, fast as lightning and smart as a whip. Today, he celebrates his second birthday, and he's matured into a 17-plus pound moose! There's no question as to who rules the roost here, either. He has me trained well to respond to his whims, whether it's providing treats or playtime, or determining when it's time to go to bed or to get up. And he makes me laugh a hundred times a day. Yesterday, I saw him run across the living room but didn't see where he went. I came in from the kitchen asking, "Where's that silly little cat? Where did Merry go?" He wasn't in the window, wasn't on any of his customary perches, wasn't behind the loom, so I figured he was hiding in the overturned box, intending to grab my ankle as I went by. I got down on the floor, stuck the tip of a finger underneath one corner, trying to tempt him to attack it. Nothing. I wiggled the finger. Still nothing. I tried several more times before giving it up, and as I started to stand up, the pile of brown packing paper erupted (it's one of his favourite toys, and fills a large part of the living room)! He had hidden himself inside it, to lay in wait for the unsuspecting Mama. I shrieked and fell over backwards (on purpose), "You got me! You got me good!" which was the precise reaction he'd been anticipating. So, for the joy my Merry brings, please join me in wishing him a happy birthday.

Texture Stripes

Daisy stood empty for about an hour after I took the green "Cornerstones" off. I had already wound a warp for her next project, so it was simply a matter of mounting it and threading before I could start weaving. Or at least that was what I was anticipating. I was nearly done winding on when a small but impactful tornado passed through the remaining warp chain at high speed, tangling his feet in it and managing to escape after breaking only one thread. It was not the Cat-astrophe it might have been, but nevertheless, I threatened him with being turned into a Cat-ass-trophy, and it took the better part of half an hour to find both ends of the broken thread. But the crisis had passed, and by bedtime, I was weaving more towels to replenish my stock, this time in a simple textured stripe, using ends of cones and dye lots for the colour sections.

Kevin's Party

Kevin's retirement party was today. His retirement present from me (inset) was
in a box
in a box
in a box
in a bag
in a box
wrapped in paper
in a box
wrapped in paper
in a box
in a box
in a box
wrapped in paper
in a box
wrapped in paper

It was a gift certificate to our favourite Chinese restaurant, tied up like a scroll with a little blue ribbon.

Weekly Weaving

Since cutting back on my internet time, I've been doing a lot more weaving. With Daisy in the living room, I find that sitting down to weave a motif on the overshot (green) is more like taking a break than being a job in and of itself, even if I've been weaving on the rigid heddle. As for the rigid heddle, the natural-coloured extra-long thrums coupled with pastels turned into an adorable fingertip towel and matching washcloth woven as a 2/1 twill, and I so enjoyed the process that I warped another longer 2/1 twill in autumn shades. I also finished up the most trouble-free band I've ever woven on my Leksand loom, thanks to making some revisions to the way I warped and threaded it. I had no issues with slack in the pattern threads, having run them through the slots in the heddle (rather than through the holes, which was the way I had been instructed to do it). It's been a productive and educational week!