The Best Husband a Woman Can Have...

An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have.  

The older she gets, the more interested he is in her.  

~ Agatha Christie

With all due respect to Dame Christie, I must disagree.  The best husband a woman can have is an engineer who is willing to drill holes in the wall of your house, in order to give you a sturdy frame for your backstrap loom...  

And I have one!  :)

Weaving My Way Down the Road

People die... so love them every day.

Beauty fades... so look before it's gone.

Love changes... but not the love you give.

And if you love, you'll never be alone.

~ L. J. Smith

Well, on Friday I packed up my loom in my brand new loom bag and took off on a road trip with my friends.  We were headed up to Georgia, so that they could visit their son/brother who is incarcerated there.

We take this seven hour road trip about twice a year and we stay at a beautiful state park.  A year and a half ago, I convinced them to take a canoe ride with me in the lake.

One was easier to convince than the other!  ;)

This year, we found that the lake had been drained, due to problems with "foreign" plants taking over the ecosystem:

But we still enjoyed walking in the woods:

I should mention that I wasn't the only weaver on this trip. Remember those potholder looms that we used to play with as children? I took one for Mariana and she loved it!

I may be biased, but I think she has a natural feel for colors and patterns.  

While they were visiting, I  set up my backsrap loom outside of our hotel and enjoyed some weaving in the beautiful, Georgia weather!  

I'm doing another supplementary weft pattern on a narrower warp - about 5.5 inches wide:  

Yes, that lone little splash of pink is a mistake...  Or, as they call it in product design, a "feature."  ;)

I'm thinking that, once this is done, I can fold it a couple of times, stitch up the sides, add a button and make a small bag to carry around.  

If it comes out nicely, I may make several (in different colors) and give them as Christmas gifts - although, it's already October!  Yikes!  :(

Anyways, we got home safe and sound on Sunday night and I am enjoying a Columbus Day holiday before I have to get back to work.  I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready for another week!  :)

Victory!

The fight isn't over until you win.  

~ Robin Hobb

The fight is over.  

I won.  :)

Following Advice

To practice any art, no matter how well or badly,

is a way to make your soul grow.  

So do it.  

~ Kurt Vonnegut

I can't speak for any growth in my soul, but I am going to make myself a loom bag if it kills me!  

I've got about 6 inches and 1 pattern left to weave...

 And I've got the "no matter how...  badly" part down pat!  ;)

The Project From Hell

Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing:

ink is the great cure for all human ills, as I have found out long ago.  

~ C. S. Lewis

The front panel of this loom bag is turning into the project from hell.  :(

After my limited success with the bright yellow pattern, I moved on to trying the second pattern:

I tried it in orange, and it was fairly disastrous.  

Don't put too much effort into finding the above pattern in the weaving below - it's a lost cause:  

You can also ignore the pink off to the right...  

I struggled with figuring out the issue and finally realized that the two hanging threads underneath were actually from this section of the warp and so they were probably messing everything up.  

So, I pulled out the pink you see above (off to the right) and fixed the hanging threads and tried the first pattern again, in the middle:  

And it STILL didn't work!  :(

I have pulled out more weft on this project than on all the other projects I've ever woven in my entire life!  :(

Finally, I had one last idea - there are two "sheds" that alternate - one when I lift the string heddles and one when I lift the back bar.  Maybe I was starting on the wrong open shed - maybe I needed to start on the opposite shed...

So, believe it or not, I pulled out the pink mess and tried again:

And look!  You can almost make out the 3 "teepees", with the one in the middle being upside down relative to the other 2...  

It looks like I figured out the issue - now, HOPEFULLY, I can apply that knowledge and get this blankety-blank project done!  

I AM SO OVER IT!!!  

Some Progress...

You don't love someone because they're perfect,

you love them in spite of the fact that they're not.

~ Jodi Picoult

So, after umpteen undo-redo cycles, I finally got something partially resembling the pattern I was trying to imitate.  Here is my weaving:  

And here is the pattern (rotated):  

It looks like two-thirds of my pattern came out okay, but I must have a heddle error that is preventing the last third from lining up nicely...  

If this had been my first try, I would take it out and redo it.  

But as it is my upmteenth and first try, I'm pretty much over it and willing to accept the (massive) imperfections.  

I'm just going to plunge forward and try to finish this panel for my loom bag - maybe the second pattern I picked out will go a little better...  

Fingers crossed!  

Some Encouraging Words...

Don't let the muggles get you down.

~ J. K. Rowling

From Oliver, who told me not to give up on my weaving...

He kept it under control while I took a small break.  Is he a sweetheart, or what?