Showing posts with label isolation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label isolation. Show all posts

Monday, November 9, 2020

Winding Up Projects


Day 27: I'm winding up several projects, both in the figurative and literal senses of the phrase. The blue and white shawl is done, right down to the last twisted fringe, ready to be sent off to the Nisqually Land Trust for auction at a later date. The black slub yardage is also done, although it will remain on the loom until I've finished the multicoloured table runner which uses most of the same warp threads. I wasn't sure how far the slub would extend, so I wound on extra warp, thinking I might make a couple of twill towels using cottons as the weft. As it turned out, I might have been able to squeeze two towels out of the remaining warp, but it would have been tight. I decided it was best to make a runner instead and...oh, hey, look at this! I have just enough of that "Mexicali" perle cotton left! I'd been wondering how I was going to use it up, and bingo, question answered. This is the benefit of isolation. It is compelling me to make use of what I have in my stash (and believe me, my stash is considerable!), so I'm trying to utilize the tag ends of weaving cones and yarn skeins without making it obvious that I've done so. Towels, runners, throw pillows, scarves and shawls are a good way to do that. A stripe here, a wide band there, and Bob's your uncle. It takes a bit more creativity and planning than simply winding a plain warp, but that's the fun of weaving.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Re-cycling



Day 228: My bicycle hasn't seen much use over the last couple of years, largely because there's only one of me, and other forms of exercise have taken precedence. In a normal year, nice weather would find me hiking or kayaking if I had no other pressing obligations, so the bike has pretty much stayed in the garage. However, voluntary isolation has made me rethink my routine. Walking the same stretch of road and the same short wooded trails near home was beginning to get old, and I was feeling the need to change it up, broaden my range, so out came my trusty cheapo Schwinn and off I went on a patrol for Scotch broom infestations. I think walking almost every day has helped keep my legs in shape, but even so, a different set of muscles comes into play when you're pedalling. I made seven miles the first day, ten the next. Both still qualify as "short" trips in my estimation, although the inclines seem steeper than I recall. Couldn't possibly have anything to do with age. Nope. Suffice to say that even being firmly beyond seven decades of existence doesn't keep me from imagining myself to be half that old when the wind is whistling past my ears and the wheels keep going 'round and 'round.