An Interlude, Sunny and Warm

I am counting myself so fortunate.

To be able to get from this:

Waves of snow on the frozen lake

to this:

Waves of blue

with a three-hour flight.

To visit a spot where the blue of the cocktails echoes the blue of sea and sky.

Margarita, the color of the sea

Sea, the color of a Margarita

To visit a spot where the wildlife is exotic.

  

And to visit a spot where the heat of the sun is exceeded only by the warmth of gathering with family.

I’m back home now, to snow flurries, the frozen lake, and a huge backlog of chores. But the warm and sunny interlude will carry me over. Here’s to hoping that you have sun and warmth in your heart this week!

A Week’s Worth of Handwovens from One Wonderful Warp: 7

Other elements of my life are infringing on my blog life this week. Instead of my usual very deep, incredibly insightful, humility-laden, and overly wordy posts, I am going to show you some glamour shots of the woven result of the long warp I’ve been thinking of as Rapunzel’s braid.

Day Seven—The Rosepath Pattern Sampler

This was the starting point for the whole project but it’s the piece that makes me happiest so I saved it for last.

The design is composed of a grid of 4 blocks by 13 blocks, creating 4-inch squares and representing 52 different patterns made possible by the way the loom is set-up at the beginning. Some are so similar it’s hard to see that they aren’t exactly the same. Some are very different. I like some; others don’t appeal.

But I have them, all in one place, to refer back to as I continue to weave! I developed skills, got to try some things that were new to me, worked in a finer thread, and with a much longer warp than I had.

I hemstitched both ends, an effect I love. The finished sampler is about 49 inches by about 15 inches, plus the fringe at two ends.

So, there you have it! Thanks for sticking around for this week’s worth of show and tell. Having someone to share this with makes weaving a lot more fun!

Background:

The warp threads were 7.5 yards longs (a little less than 7 meters). They were mostly unbleached Cottolin, a mix of cotton and linen, with a few threads of dark blue to make vertical stripes.

The project started as a pattern sampler that creates a grid of four patterns across and thirteen patterns from top to bottom. By a combination of the way the loom is threaded and the ways the treadles are pushed, I could get many different patterns in one piece of fabric. For reasons I can’t explain, that makes me ever so happy.

For anyone REALLY interested, I got the pattern for this Rosepath Sampler from pages 16 and 17 in Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book.

Once I was done the sampler portion of the project, I had enough warp left to make six dishtowels. I love dishtowels! I used a different treadling pattern on each one and played around with some different colors.

I’ll show a towel each day this week. On the seventh day, we won’t rest—I’ll show you the sampler, which turned out well enough to make me begin to feel like a real weaver!

I have lots of evidence of how kind and supportive you are, so don’t feel the need to comment every day on every towel!

A Week’s Worth of Handwovens from One Wonderful Warp: 6

Other elements of my life are infringing on my blog life this week. Instead of my usual very deep, incredibly insightful, humility-laden, and overly wordy posts, I am going to show you some glamour shots of the woven result of the long warp I’ve been thinking of as Rapunzel’s braid.

Day Six—Back to Basics

For the last towel, I wanted to see what would happen if I treadled differently than any of the patterns in the book I was using. I did the most basic pattern I could think of and ended up with a herringbone effect! So, in addition to the 52 patterns in the sampler (which you’ll see tomorrow!), I learned that other nice patterns can be created with this basic set-up of the loom.

I went back to colors that are the real me, and combined navy and dark green. Pretty in an understated way but even I think they could use something to perk them up!

Background:

The warp threads were 7.5 yards longs (a little less than 7 meters). They were mostly unbleached Cottolin, a mix of cotton and linen, with a few threads of dark blue to make vertical stripes.

The project started as a pattern sampler that creates a grid of four patterns across and thirteen patterns from top to bottom. By a combination of the way the loom is threaded and the ways the treadles are pushed, I could get many different patterns in one piece of fabric. For reasons I can’t explain, that makes me ever so happy.

For anyone REALLY interested, I got the pattern for this Rosepath Sampler from pages 16 and 17 in Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book.

Once I was done the sampler portion of the project, I had enough warp left to make six dishtowels. I love dishtowels! I used a different treadling pattern on each one and played around with some different colors.

I’ll show a towel each day this week. On the seventh day, we won’t rest—I’ll show you the sampler, which turned out well enough to make me begin to feel like a real weaver!

I have lots of evidence of how kind and supportive you are, so don’t feel the need to comment every day on every towel!

A Week’s Worth of Handwovens from One Wonderful Warp: 5

Other elements of my life are infringing on my blog life this week. Instead of my usual very deep, incredibly insightful, humility-laden, and overly wordy posts, I am going to show you some glamour shots of the woven result of the long warp I’ve been thinking of as Rapunzel’s braid.

Day Five—Wilder Yet, For Me!

I am not a pink person (or purple—don’t get me started). But I found this deep rose in the big bin and I love the way it looks with the navy!

Background:

The warp threads were 7.5 yards longs (a little less than 7 meters). They were mostly unbleached Cottolin, a mix of cotton and linen, with a few threads of dark blue to make vertical stripes.

The project started as a pattern sampler that creates a grid of four patterns across and thirteen patterns from top to bottom. By a combination of the way the loom is threaded and the ways the treadles are pushed, I could get many different patterns in one piece of fabric. For reasons I can’t explain, that makes me ever so happy.

For anyone REALLY interested, I got the pattern for this Rosepath Sampler from pages 16 and 17 in Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book.

Once I was done the sampler portion of the project, I had enough warp left to make six dishtowels. I love dishtowels! I used a different treadling pattern on each one and played around with some different colors.

I’ll show a towel each day this week. On the seventh day, we won’t rest—I’ll show you the sampler, which turned out well enough to make me begin to feel like a real weaver!

I have lots of evidence of how kind and supportive you are, so don’t feel the need to comment every day on every towel!

A Week’s Worth of Handwovens from One Wonderful Warp: 4

Other elements of my life are infringing on my blog life this week. Instead of my usual very deep, incredibly insightful, humility-laden, and overly wordy posts, I am going to show you some glamour shots of the woven result of the long warp I’ve been thinking of as Rapunzel’s braid.

Day Four—Kind of Wild, For Me

 

We have a lot of thread and yarn we bought when we bought our secondhand looms so I went looking through the bin for inspiration. On a gloomy, wintry day, I picked sunny yellow and combined it with the navy blue. I think I’d like it better with white weft thread to make it brighter but I’d run out of white at this point!

Background:

The warp threads were 7.5 yards longs (a little less than 7 meters). They were mostly unbleached Cottolin, a mix of cotton and linen, with a few threads of dark blue to make vertical stripes.

The project started as a pattern sampler that creates a grid of four patterns across and thirteen patterns from top to bottom. By a combination of the way the loom is threaded and the ways the treadles are pushed, I could get many different patterns in one piece of fabric. For reasons I can’t explain, that makes me ever so happy.

For anyone REALLY interested, I got the pattern for this Rosepath Sampler from pages 16 and 17 in Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book.

Once I was done the sampler portion of the project, I had enough warp left to make six dishtowels. I love dishtowels! I used a different treadling pattern on each one and played around with some different colors.

I’ll show a towel each day this week. On the seventh day, we won’t rest—I’ll show you the sampler, which turned out well enough to make me begin to feel like a real weaver!

I have lots of evidence of how kind and supportive you are, so don’t feel the need to comment every day on every towel!

A Week’s Worth of Handwovens from One Wonderful Warp: 3

Other elements of my life are infringing on my blog life this week. Instead of my usual very deep, incredibly insightful, humility-laden, and overly wordy posts, I am going to show you some glamour shots of the woven result of the long warp I’ve been thinking of as Rapunzel’s braid.

Day Three—Different, But No Less Classic

 

Ah, yes, red and white. What’s not to love? The vertical stripes of blue are a constant in all these towels, but this one has the white weft threads for brightness and a red band at both ends.

Background:

The warp threads were 7.5 yards longs (a little less than 7 meters). They were mostly unbleached Cottolin, a mix of cotton and linen, with a few threads of dark blue to make vertical stripes.

The project started as a pattern sampler that creates a grid of four patterns across and thirteen patterns from top to bottom. By a combination of the way the loom is threaded and the ways the treadles are pushed, I could get many different patterns in one piece of fabric. For reasons I can’t explain, that makes me ever so happy.

For anyone REALLY interested, I got the pattern for this Rosepath Sampler from pages 16 and 17 in Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book.

Once I was done the sampler portion of the project, I had enough warp left to make six dishtowels. I love dishtowels! I used a different treadling pattern on each one and played around with some different colors.

I’ll show a towel each day this week. On the seventh day, we won’t rest—I’ll show you the sampler, which turned out well enough to make me begin to feel like a real weaver!

I have lots of evidence of how kind and supportive you are, so don’t feel the need to comment every day on every towel!

A Week’s Worth of Handwovens from One Wonderful Warp: 2

Other elements of my life are infringing on my blog life this week. Instead of my usual very deep, incredibly insightful, humility-laden, and overly wordy posts, I am going to show you some glamour shots of the woven result of the long warp I’ve been thinking of as Rapunzel’s braid.

Day Two—The Classic, Brightened

I love the authentic look of unbleached, natural cotton and linen but look how using white for the weft (horizontal) threads brightens things up in this towel!

Background:

The warp threads were 7.5 yards longs (a little less than 7 meters). They were mostly unbleached Cottolin, a mix of cotton and linen, with a few threads of dark blue to make vertical stripes.

The project started as a pattern sampler that creates a grid of four patterns across and thirteen patterns from top to bottom. By a combination of the way the loom is threaded and the ways the treadles are pushed, I could get many different patterns in one piece of fabric. For reasons I can’t explain, that makes me ever so happy.

For anyone REALLY interested, I got the pattern for this Rosepath Sampler from pages 16 and 17 in Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book.

Once I was done the sampler portion of the project, I had enough warp left to make six dishtowels. I love dishtowels! I used a different treadling pattern on each one and played around with some different colors.

I’ll show a towel each day this week. On the seventh day, we won’t rest—I’ll show you the sampler, which turned out well enough to make me begin to feel like a real weaver!

I have lots of evidence of how kind and supportive you are, so don’t feel the need to comment every day on every towel!

A Week’s Worth of Handwovens from One Wonderful Warp: 1

Other elements of my life are infringing on my blog life this week. Instead of my usual very deep, incredibly insightful, humility-laden, and overly wordy posts, I am going to show you some glamour shots of the woven result of the long warp I’ve been thinking of as Rapunzel’s braid. Background: The warp threads were 7.5 yards longs (a little less than 7 meters). They were mostly unbleached Cottolin, a mix of cotton and linen, with a few threads of dark blue to make vertical stripes. The project started as a pattern sampler that creates a grid of four patterns across and thirteen patterns from top to bottom. By a combination of the way the loom is threaded and the ways the treadles are pushed, I could get many different patterns in one piece of fabric. For reasons I can’t explain, that makes me ever so happy. For anyone REALLY interested, I got the pattern for this Rosepath Sampler from pages 16 and 17 in Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book. Once I was done the sampler portion of the project, I had enough warp left to make six dishtowels. I love dishtowels! I used a different treadling pattern on each one and played around with some different colors. I’ll show a towel each day this week. On the seventh day, we won’t rest—I’ll show you the sampler, which turned out well enough to make me begin to feel like a real weaver! I have lots of evidence of how kind and supportive you are, so don’t feel the need to comment every day on every towel! Day One—The Classic I have a thing for blue and white, another preference I can’t explain. In fact, I saw an ad for a weaving workshop and the pitch was to “get beyond blue and red in your weaving.” I was offended! What could be better than blue and red?! The first of the six towels I made simply had simple dark blue bands against the simple unbleached Cottolin warp. I simply love it.

Spring Senses: The Taste of Maple, in a Scone

It’s early spring in the North Country of upstate New York and one thing says spring here, more than mercurial temperature swings and dirty, muddy snow. One thing says spring even more than news of ice fishermen having to be rescued from the melting lake.

Maple. Maple anything and maple everything—that says spring.

In my continuing yearly celebration of all things maple, I offer to you possibly the best recipe for scones you’ll ever try.

It’s also probably the least healthy recipe for scones you’ll ever see but, really, how many scones could you eat in a day?

Really, that many? Me, too!

My recipe comes directly from The New Best Recipe, by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. This cookbook is a compendium of recipes for popular foods, the kinds of foods for which everyone has a recipe and none of the recipes are the same.

When there are 1000 recipes for chocolate chip cookies, for instance, how do we know which one to use?

I turn to Cook’s Illustrated. The editors comprehensively test these multiple approaches to a given recipe and seek to provide the definitive recipe for such items as pasta with bolognese sauce and macaroni salad and, yes, chocolate chip cookies.

I love this cookbook because, in a very systematic way, it identifies what the cooks were aiming for and then provides details of the different tweaks they made to achieve their goals. This all just really makes my cake bake, literally and figuratively!

The Cook’s Illustrated goal for oatmeal scones was “to pack the chewy nuttiness of oats into a moist and tender breakfast pastry, one that wouldn’t require a firehose to wash down the crumbs” (714). They provide variations for cinnamon raisin oatmeal scones and oatmeal scones with dried cherries and hazelnuts but . . .

It’s spring in the North Country of upstate New York and we’re talking maple here! These scones are tender and amazing, and so very maple.

Glazed Maple-Pecan Oatmeal Scones

from The New Best Recipe

Ingredients

1 ½ cups rolled oats (4 ½ ounces) or quick oats

½ cup chopped pecans

¼ cup whole milk

¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup maple syrup

1 large egg

1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 ½ ounces) (such as Gold Medal or Pillsbury)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon table salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½” cubes

For glaze

3 tablespoons maple syrup

½ cup confectioner’s sugar

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread oats and pecans evenly on one baking sheet and toast in oven until fragrant and lightly browned, 7 to 9 minutes; cool on wire rack. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. When oats are cooled, measure out and reserve 2 tablespoons for dusting the work surface.

2. Whisk milk, cream, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and egg in medium bowl until incorporated; remove and reserve 1 tablespoon to small bowl to brush scones.

3. Pulse flour, baking powder, and salt in food processor until combined, about four 1-second pulses. Scatter cold butter evenly over dry ingredients and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, twelve to fourteen 1-second pulses. Transfer mixture to medium bowl and stir in cooled oats. Using rubber spatula, fold in liquid ingredients until large clumps form. Continue mixing by hand until a mass forms.

4. Dust work surface with half of reserved oats and flour (if needed), turn dough out onto work surface, and dust top with remaining oats. Gently pat into 7-inch circle about 1 inch thick.  Cut dough into 8 wedges and set on parchment-lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Brush surfaces with reserved egg mixture and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes; cool scones on baking sheet on wire rack 5 minutes, then remove scones to cooling rack and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

5. When scones are cooled, whisk maple syrup and confectioner’s sugar until combined; drizzle glaze over scones.

My Kind of Book

It’s a book.

It’s a vintage book.

It’s a vintage book about textiles.

It’s a vintage book about how to make textiles by hand.

It’s as if we belong together!

Embroidery for clothing

Knitting instructions for both hands

Jingoistic oddity–embroidery is identified as “American from away back”?

This is one gesture that wasn’t allowed at our house!

Tatting!

I know how many of you love knitting socks!

Pretty girls in hand knit sweaters

A gorgeous crocheted coverlet

“With her knowledge she can combine her imagination and ingenuity to create new patterns or adapt old ones and so give color and meaning to modern life.”