LA

So, in crazy news, I may be going to LA for the next couple of weeks. Haven't finalized details, but I did get the okay from work (and there will be a job when I come back to town if I wants). Don't have tickets yet, or know when I am leaving, but it will probably be in the next week or so.

I will miss D (my housemate) because this is the sort of thing we do if we have too much fruit on our hands:

And now, since I don't have any pictures of cute puppies, you get pictures of bears:

This is a pouch I made with the baronial crest:
see Jane, see two headed bear, hear two headed bear tummy rumble...run Jane, Run!

Egil's

Another Egil's has come and gone. This is the primary reason for my lack of up-to-date posts recently - that, and I'm lazy.

D and I decided that we needed new outfits for Egil's. Well, I decided I needed a new outfit, D decided she needed a new outfit for her friend L, and her fellow. Her fella' ended up in a hand-me-down of mine, go figure. This dress was somehow made with 14" of ease on me about 6 years ago. For some -bizarre - reason, I never finished the outfit. When D first moved in, her fella' was on a pink kick. And so, she thought it would be fun to see if my enormous dress would fit him, since the dress is pink.

It fit. And he adored it, so it went to a good home, with a few alterations. The sleeves were admittedly short, and the hem was long for a guys tunic, so D took the extra from the hem and added it to the sleeves with some piecing.

We wont even go into the horrors of the other outfit D decided to make for Egil's. Which, by the way, turned out beautifully, just took way too much brain power trying to make it at 5 am the night before we left.



On to my outfit. Here is me at the event trying to stand still as L (out of frame) bastes the hem so the safety pins don't show. This is a gothic fitted dress (gfd) based on Robin Netherton's notes on the construction in Medieval Clothing and Textiles I. D helped me fit it - and did a splendid job of it. The second and third pics are of my new pretty cap for my GFD. This is also based upon an article in Medieval Clothing and Textiles IV on the cap of St. Brigit. The cap is quite easy to construct. I had fun figuring it out, with very few instructions in English, but it is such a simple construction. I would like to make another with my handwoven fabric at somepoint and try the herringbone embroidery used to connect the two halves of the cap.

On another note: Things are growing in our garden!!!

Of Dancing and Sewing

A quick summary of my weekend. Saturday was spent sewing in preparation for The Regency Spring Ball here in town. Sunday was spent sewing and in fun at the Arts & Sciences Social/Baronial Birthday Bash.

Above are two pictures of my finished Regency Gown. Last time I wore it (in winter), I hadn't finished any lacing for the dress, and it was held together by safety pins. D was awesome though, and came home early and finished my eyelets for me this time! And look! They are spiral laced. This is my new favorite technique. For it is awesome, and totally period.



I then took that finished dress and went to a ball. See the dancing and merriment? We danced for 4 hours, and I didn't sit out any sets. So much fun to be had.

Sunday's picture (right) was me teaching 5 people how to fingerloop braid. Which is wonderful. I was so happy so many people wanted to learn. What is fingerloop braiding you ask? Fingerloop braiding is a totally period way of making trim/laces. They have extant period instruction manuals for this technique. Again, wonderful.

I have to work in the morning, so it is off to bed for me.

Shrugs and Stuff

Well, I survived week one of hell. Next week, round 2. Last week was a 6 day work week for me. Saturday was supposed to be 2 hours of work, and turned into 7 instead, so I had a nice full week. This coming weekend is looking very nice.

Not much knitting has happended this week, so I have to content myself with pictures of two shrugs I knit in the past two months that I recently took pictures of.



The first is a little purple shrug I made for a shop sample:
Knitting Pure and Simple #288
2 skeins Touche from Berroco
Size 6 needles



The Second is round two of the same pattern made for my cousin A (pictured here grinning like a maniac)

Knitting Pure and Simple #288
2 skeins Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece

Death by Yarn

Actually, currently it looks like death by too many hours. Over the past several months I have had to contend with too few hours at work (as anyone out there who has listened to my woes knows) but the next two weeks I am working 40 hour weeks. Wahoo? Let me just say, that being receptionist at my office is one of my most hated jobs. And the receptionist is away for the next two weeks, and guess who gets her job on top of mine? A scooby snack to the first person to guess. I may have to do some serious yarn/fabric therapy next month to compensate. At least I will be getting monies.

In other news, I finished this cool project:
a medieval bag with charts based on those in Rutts History of Knitting. I had a lot of fun knitting it, and I think that I will make several more based on Rutts charts and other medieval charts for gifts and such. The fabric you see will be the lining. It is all that is left over from lining the skirt of my Tudor Gown. The braid is a cotton that I used a basic 5 loop fingerloop braid. And now, because I want to show off my pretty project, come more photos:

Happy Pi(e) day!

Happy Pi(e) day all! okay, I'm a little bit late. But Saturday was officially pi(e) day. There was much pie to be had. We had a bunch of people over who all brought pies (of one sort or another). Dorothy and I made Spanikopita, and a Berry Pie (I supervised as I was sick) and D made Quiche (Woot! my spelling is correct on that one). Her fella brought inverted pie in the form of bread pudding. C S and S brought cheese pie, aka cheese cake. Other peoples provided our stomachs with pizza pie, vinager pie, Greek tomato pie, and a pear claufourt (sp?) pie courtesy of K from Monday knitting. There may have been more pies, but the details are a little fuzzy (no, there was no alchohol involved this time).
There was much yumminess to be had. And L provided back rubs for the sick feeling cook.

Yes, for Saturday was full of plague. I feel mostly better today, after having slept most of Sunday. I decided to be a lump and sleep and read Goblin Hero, sequel to Goblin Quest. Funny series by the way for those in search of creative silly writing with a runt of a goblin as the reluctant hero (very reluctant). Recommended by a friend in Salem. Sick days are perfect for catching up on reading.

In work news, I finally have more hours at the Law Office. The next two weeks I even have almost full time as the receptionist is going to be out of town. I can't make up my mind whether to be thrilled or to want to run screaming. Being receptionist isn't the most thrilling esp. with an impatient boss. Who according to the mother unit, might want someone (i.e. me) to work on his website. Because I'm young, so of course I know how websites go together. On the other hand, it would be something to do when our clients don't bother to bring me the paperwork I need. Grumble grumble...

I have been knitting quite a bit while having little to no hours last month. I know have a pattern I am selling at The Knit Shop, where I work.


It takes one skein of kid silk haze. And it took me forever. This was initially going to be a camisole for the shop. Hahahahaha. Why did I decide to do a camisole out of a lace weight mohair? Someone should have shot me then and there. Anyways, after frogging that (oh, 6 months ago...) I decided to make a scarf as the only viable thing to do with the yarn. Then I ripped this pattern out like three times because I was unhappy with the width of the repeat. It is a ruffle scarf (I know, lots of them out right now) but I added a simple lace to the edging because I didn't like how the stockinette of other ruffle scarves curls. Plus, when you do it in a lace weight it is so much more. Here is a close up:I have a skein left over (as the camisole was going to take two skeins) so I am planning on making the Ice Queen Cowl out of the remainder. How much pink do I need again?

If you would like to buy it (support my yarn habbit!): 

Farthinglae: Take 1, 2 and 3

I have been much remiss in telling all of my adventures in costuming of late. As I am sure everyone is dying to hear about the stages of my dress (the good, the bad and the really ugly). My plan is to post information on each step (we'll see how many I skip) in order to document the work that went into this the past three months or so. I made the following layers: Smock, corset, farthingale (hoopskirt), Petticoat/underskirt, dress, partlet, false sleeves and hat.

Today's post is about the trials and tribulation of my farthingale. A Spanish Farthingale is a shaped hoop skirt work in Tudor england. The effect is to turn your dress into a hover car. And when you wear it you can't navigate around your house for the fittings if its messy (as mine is most frequently).

For the farthingale I used fabric that Mom gave me ages ago (since no one sees it anyways) in red with white hoop casing (on the inside I am a candy cane). I used directions from Alcega's 1589 farthingale pattern as interpreted in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion with help from the Elizabethan Costuming Page for interpretation. The hoops are plastic tubing (.19 a foot) from the local hardware store. Review: it kinks...a lot. Yeah, first I tried steaming the plastic to get it to unkink, in the kitchen sink this time. I then placed it in front of the heater with boxes on top of it. It looked unkinked, so I cut lengths and started feeding them to my fabric. No biscuit. As soon as I tried this, the plastic decided it wanted to be a flamanco skirt:

After Dorothy and I laughed ourselves silly, (and tried it on multiple times) I tried the bathtub. I put the tubing in the bathtub and poured hot water on the tubes. I let them sit until they relaxed, took the farthingale out, and let it hang dry. This was moderately sucessful:
But still, my skirt had definite flamanco aspects. And was bathtub shaped.

Next, I tried my shower, seeing as my shower is square and not rectangular as is a bathtub. Again I let the farthingale hang dry so the weight of the skirt would help the hoops hold their shapes. Sucess!

Happy New Year

A Post! And my first of the new year (and in several months as well).
I have been sewing frantically for practically the past 3 months so that can explain my lack of posting. I really will post some pictures of my newest project soon. I swear.
Here is the finished product in any case:

This is the finished product: My 1530's Henrican Court Gown. (For those non-historic geeks out there, that would be Henry VIII). More notes on the trials and tribulations of said costume to come.

Of Stays and Bodies

Well, I completed my regency outfit that I was working on to the point where it was wearable for my evening of dancing and frivolity.
The dress was mostly finished, except that I didn't bind the the bottom of my corset with bias tape (homemade!) and I didn't finish the closures for the back of the gown itself. I also still have plans to make a overgown for evening wear, but had no time to make said garment.
For my outfit I looked heavily at Jessamyn's Regency Costume Page, which is a good resource for Regency Era clothing.
My corset was based on the corset pictured in "Corsets and Crenalines," a nice source for shaping of pieces, but very difficult to use when trying to figure out the stiffening of the corset. I went with cord for my stiffening as the earlier corsets looked to have been stiffened rather than boned in regency, and relied mostly on the busk down the front for any stiffness and posture support. I am very happy with the result, but I still have some fine tuning to do. I need to bind the bottom, add pretty detail work and figure out what is wrong with my busk. I made it out of two layers of a sturdy linen. The eyelets are curtesy of the "Eyelet Fairie," otherwise known as my roommate.

The dress is made of a silk that I got at Egil's from Gold Key this year. Its like butter, and I am in love with it. The front is gathered into the waist band and has a draw string at the top . I chose this method because the pleated fronts are later in Regency period than I wanted to go for. When I complete my lacings for this gown (I had to be safety pinned into it for the dance) I will do spiral lacing. You can't see it, but my corset it spiral laced. This is more period as cris-crossed lacing is a little later. I have found that I like spiral lacing, seems easier to lace to me. Although this corset and the Tudor Bodies are the first I have ever attempted. My Tudor bodies lace spiral up the front and back. Woot!

I also made a simple shift out of a cotton muslin. Pretty impressive for one weeks worth of work?

A pair of bodies in the Closet

I don't even want to say how long it has been since my last post. But, I am moved in, and I have fully functional internet. Life is good.

I lost my phone on my birthday, so if people would like to call me so I can have your phone number (you know who you are).

The past week has been very hectic. I am going to a regency ball this Saturday, and I decided to make a costume. We'll see how well this works out. I have the corset pretty much done. Still have to make the actual dress and a shift etc...

I also am working on a Tudor outfit for 12th night. Currently I have a mostly finished pair of bodies (stays, corset, whatever). I have the fabric all picked out though. Woot!

In food news, I made a pear & honey pie with a cheese pastry and it was yummy! Slice pears, and drizzle with honey. Armored turnips are also lovely and surprisingly easy to make.

I'm done now. I might post later when I am more in possession of all of my mental faculties.

A Much Belated Post

Goodness gracious me, it has been quite a while since I have posted. I apologize profusely for the lack of updates. My life has been fairly busy of late.

-Mom bought a new house (okay, 1925 isn’t really new, but who’s counting) is Eugene and the plan is for me to rent it from her and pay utilities. Exciting? Yes. Very. Kelly and I were planning on renting it together, but she has possibly got a job in the Virgin Islands. In the meantime we have been fixing the house up.

-The electrical system is old from oldsville. Old knob and tube wiring…

-The paint needs updating. In one room they painted around a bookcase leaving the wall blank the last time they painted.

-The floors need to be redone…principally the disgusting harvest gold linoleum in the kitchen.

In other words I have been knitting quite a bit. I have finished the Katharine Hepburn Sweater from Lace Style:

and a cotton cardigan from last summer’s issue of Vogue Knitting:
I also started a summer camisole from Fitted Knits, my new book of prettiness.

On the other hand, I have a new job. Which commenced at about the time I stopped regular posting. I am working at a lawyer’s office and can’t figure out if I don’t have enough work, or too much work.

Egil’s this year was lots of fun. A big gang of us went, but Kelly got the plague and couldn’t come. By the end of the event it was only team “Die Hards” left (Hawhawhaw, I crack myself up). It was still fun at the end, especially the fact that the three of us left had food left for eight. Let’s just say there was plenty of bacon for us all. We also successfully made “mush” from memory. We did pretty well all things considered; we had no recipe to work from.

I also get to work the next two Saturdays at the Knit Shop. I am quite excited about this, since I really miss interacting with proper knitters sometimes. I enjoy the people I work with, but they are definitely not the crafty types, with the possible exception of the receptionist whose mom knits.

Damn Meth Labs

As the title of the post suggests, I am about to embark upon a rant of epic - for me - proportions.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.
Now that that is over, let me just express my sincerest wish that all things related to methamphetamines be stricken from this planet. With the exception of beloved nasal decongestant. Those should be given to me, over the counter, not locked away where I can't clear up my bloody stuffed up head - which, I might add, is making things dastardly difficult to type and alliterate to boot. It's all their fault, well, that and law makers who have taken decongestants - which I can't even manage to type to a point that the dictionary elves hidden within blogger will recognize. Well, when I am not sick, I understand the point of trying to remove a component for the vile drug as a ready source, I bemoan the loss as a sick person.
On to the knitting - meth and knitting, bet you never thought to hear those two in a sentence together, did you?
Not much knitting has been happening, I have been sick since Tuesday. When, I might add, I managed to take my French exam, which I think I passed, it's all a little hazy. I did cast on for a lace shawl Monday and have a bit done on it, not really enough to post pictures of yet, but let me see what I do have pics of to post.
Well, here is my progress with Jaywalkers from Magknits. I am past the heel on both:



And I made a shrug from Fiber Trends, "Shrug your Shoulders"

J'aime chanter

A whole month since my last post, give or take. Not much has changed. My French course has started up (thus the foreignness of the title). I am enjoying French, more than I did the last course in French I took at PLU.
In recent news, I went to a lovely medieval music concert at Beale Hall with Kelly and her mom last Friday. The music was wonderful, and there were a few new pieces that would be worth learning. One was "Annum Novum" (or was it Annus Novus?) for the new year that the group sang by progressing around the music hall while singing the verses. It was wonderful and a nice medieval version of surround sound. There was also a really amusing one about a knight and a peasant girl, where the knight was trying to seduce the girl, and she was quite deliberately putting him in his (rather ridiculous) place.
On the other hand the concert was 3 hours long, and would have been longer if the singers had not commenced to cut out verses following the intermission. Lord, 11 pm was late enough as it was! The last few songs were also modern interpretations of medieval monophonic music, and they were boooring. Though that may have just been that they (the singers) had saved those three songs 'till the very end, and at that point, most of us were wanting to depart.
Sunday I went to the Haunted Corn Maze with Laura and Audrey. I almost chickened out at the last moment (seriously, I am a chicken) but Audrey convinced both Laura and me to go. I am glad she did because I enjoyed myself immensely. And it was really quite funny watching Laura say "hi" to everything in our path (friend, foe or corn stalk). Although, I did get quite freaked out at various points by chainsaw wielding masked villains. One such scare happened when Dad called for our usual Sunday chat. I was talking (quickly) and saying "goodbye," when I was startled by someone with a flashlight (not a villain, just another maze goer) and screamed into the phone. I haven't called him back, so I don't know if he still possesses his hearing...
In knitting news, I am finally finished with Clapotis, pictures coming soon, starting the fronts on the Katharine Hepburn sweater from Lace Style, and making tons of scarves for Christmas..
I am also now on ravelry. If you have not yet checked it out, ravelry is lots of fun for knitters. You can inventory your projects/stash, and get info on new projects, knitting network, etc.

OFF (Of Flocks and Fibers)

Another Sheep to Shawl finished. Sheep to shawl, being (for those less fibre jargonly inclined) a competition to make a shawl in 5 hours by first spinning the yarn, and then weaving a shawl, and all done by 5 spinners and one weaver. Our sheep to shawl wasn't quite the same:

1. No competition actually took place.
2. There were 4 of us (Three people didn't show up).
3. We warped the loom with commercial yarn (a Shetland yarn in the grease).
4. We were aiming for a stole, rather than a shawl...etc.

Well, when I say finished, by that I mean mostly finished. Our shawl wasn't quite complete by 5 pm, so Asher took the shawl home to finish. But that was because we were down on the number of spinners and we chose a time intensive pattern on a table loom. Sheesh. But we did remarkably well, and I love how the shawl is turning out.

It is a herringbone twill with a dark gray warp, and a mix of lime green and turquoise for the weft. Lots of fun. The finished product is ultimately a raffle item to raise money to bring a spinning wheel to an underprivileged youth or some sort. So, all for a good cause.
Remarkably, I came home mostly within budget. I bought 2 lbs of some 21 micron merino blend roving ($10 a lb), a skein of a silk cashmere (90/10) blend, a sock yarn skein (in fire colours, I kid you not), a diz for drafting, and 4 oz of a superwash merino alpaca (80/20) blend. A good haul. And to prove that I have been spinning:

And last but not least, lets see if this works for a banner.

New Camera

So far I find myself able to stick with posting at fairly regular intervals. Fancy that. I looked at the date of my last post, and it is from exactly one week hence. Verbal pat on the back aside, I have spending the interval playing with my new camera. For I finally have one to replace the old, after its sad death.
My new camera, I might add, is mighty pretty. And small. Perfect for midget-me.
Otherwise I have spent my time running around preparing for OFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber for those not in the know). A group of us will be demo-ing a sheep to shawl (very informal) on Sunday from 10 am to 3 (I think?). We had three people at the beginning of this week for said Sheep to Shawl, and the normal amount of people for said recreation is generally 6. 5 spinners and one weaver. And did I mention we had no loom with which to weave? A sad state of affairs.
As of yesterday though, we have 6 people and a loom!
-And there was much rejoicing-
A, Jodie, Erin, Mackie, Katie, and little old me. Plus a table loom someone's mom is loaning us. Should be fun come Sunday.
I also have my first bats made up from my new drum carder (b-day gift from Mom). Here is my new pretty in all its glory:

I also finally have pictures of the snow drop shawl from the Yarn Harlot's website. I am quite proud of it. Only took me 3 months to get up the courage to block it. But I think it was worth it. And the shawl won first prize in lace at the Lane County fair! Woot.

Bread, Bread, Bread

Here I sit (in a chair that is entirely too tall, I might add) in Kelly's kitchen, with a computer open in front of me, and it is time for a new post. May I just say that Kelly's family has more cookbooks than anyone in the entire world?! You say I exaggerate? Surely I jest? I lie not. But all is well, I have recipes to take home, and there is bread in the oven. Cuban bread, if I recall correctly. I'm just hoping that the recipe doesn't call for a half cup of cigars or anything. Hmmm, I think that should that eventuality come to pass, I may have to run screaming for the hills.
But I digress. And my post is starting to sound like one of Kelly's with entirely too many references to food.
On a side note (still on the subject of Kelly's kitchen), it has been highly amusing watching the roofers (or, more accurately what they have thrown off the roof) as we chat. Entertaining, but scary, was their attempt to saw something for the roof using the hot top as a sawing surface.
And through it all Kelly's mutant gray squirrel has calmly been digging to China. Serenely ignoring the disturbing thumps and bumps coming from the roof.
Knitting-wise, I have finally thrown my name in the hat for ravelry. It will be another 10 years before I am accepted into that much lauded group. I have no idea how long the waiting list is now, but the number is sure to be astronomical. Everyone and sisters and mothers (and yarn inclined cats for that matter) seem to be signing up. But I was convinced at knitting that I should sign up.
Off to watch the bread cook.

Belated Posts

This month has been a busy month, thus a distinct lack of posts...
Okay, really, I've just been lazy. But Maine, NH and a birthday party cut into much of my crafting time. And my digital camera bit the dust, terribly, horribly, and is very definitely dead. D-E-D- dead.

But, my goal for this week is a post a day. And I might even get a new camera this week.

On to the knitting. Currently on the needles I have:

1. Jaywalkers with Shibui. These are to the heels (long plane trip to thank).
2. Clapotis with Koigu (Yay!).
3. Cardigan with Dalegarn Tiur from Lace Style (back done)

More from me later. ^_^

Greetings from Maine

I have been sadly remiss in my recent posts. But I finally have pictures of something worth posting.
These past two weeks I have been in Maine, for a family reunion. The weather has been, in general, perfectly lovely. Normally it is hot and muggy here, but it has been tolerable.
I have been spending a vast amount of time in the pool/lake, and next to air conditioning units, knitting, of course. I have worked on:

• The watermelon socks are now finished! And I have worn them as well. I am very happy with how they turned out.
• A linen stitch bag in hand dyed (not by me) indigo yarn from Orting, WA (Heritage Yarn, I think). It's a nice sturdy yarn, good for a bag. Almost done, just need double points for the bottom of the bag.
  
• A red tank top in Kashmir DK, from Louisa Harding. I am basing it off of an Elspeth Lavold pattern from the new Cotton Frappe book. Front's almost finished.
  
• A cell-phone pouch from my leftovers from the socks.
• I bought a skein of yarn from Peace Fleece here in Porter, ME. It's in pretty Peacock colours. I have one skein, and it's a DK weight, 100 grams. Have no idea what I shall do with it yet though.
  

This past week I have been working on my family's loom down at the Jay Historical Society. The ladies (and gents) there were all so sweet and so glad I was working on the loom. Here is a picture in all of it's enormous glory.

History of the loom:
The loom was made in the 1700's (supposedly, and believe me...it is old) in Massachusetts. It was brought to Jay, ME in the early 1800's (not necessarily by my family) and resided in Jay until it was used by my Great Grandfather, Jonas Godding Pike. After his death it stayed in the attic, mostly unused, and unmoved (it's so big!) until the 1960's-ish when my great uncle Stanley donated it to the society.
In recent history, it has been used by a local weaver who set it up and rigged up heddles to go with it and replaced the ropes that were dead. It has been moved several times. And two years ago a drunk on the adjacent highway crashed into it damaging one of the legs. Stupid drunk! Grrrr.

My project:
I wove a rag rug (there was already a linen warp on the loom set up for a rag rug, so I re-tensioned the warp and re-used it) with cotton prints. It took me a day to repair things on the loom and replace ropes and strings, and then 2 hours total to weave it.
It took the longest time to figure out the heddles. I had the worst shed possible until I realized that they were crooked.
Now I have to take a picture of the final project. But here is the weaving in progress:

A Wikipedia Game

Okay, I found this on Knit and Run today. The rules are as follows: Go to Wikipedia, type in your birth month and day.
Then post the folowwing on yer blog.
3 Events
2 Births
1 Holiday
Well, I did so, on a whim (and sleep deprivedness) and came up with the following.
Events

1. 1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora dies suddenly without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty.
2. 1864 - American Civil War: Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
3. 1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris. (I was in Indonesia for this one).

Births

1. 12 - Gaius Caligula, Roman Emperor (d. 41)
2. 161 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (d. 192)

Holiday
St. Aidan of Lindisfarne, patron of firefighters feast day.

In other news, I recieved my swap package from England in the Handspun/Handcraft swap. I love the package! S sent me some lovely handmade jewelry and a journal for my spinning, already in use. She sent a lovely set of shell earrings.

Two other sets of earrings:

And Two lovely bracelets to match:

"Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Shed"

I promise to post several times in the next few days. Really I do. I have been bogged down with finals and black sheep gathering for the past few weeks.
First on the list of updates, however, is my finished weaving project. I made 4 1/2 yards of fabric at 58" wide for weaving this past term in a double plain weave. It was quite a chore.

• 1. I had to dye the yarn. I had two yarns I wanted to combine for the warp, a camel coloured wool/poly (70/30) blend (12 wpi), and Emerald Fantasy (Nature Spun Fingering, 12 wpi) with 16 brown threads and 4 coloured threads to make up the pattern. But the camel was the wrong colour, so I dyed it brown. That was fun, I needed to dye 1.5 lbs of wool. I ended up using one packed of cocoa brown and one of dark brown in rit dye, and it seems to have worked fairly well.
• 2. Warping. God, I couldn't seem to do math for this project. I had to warp in sections (big surprise) and I kept getting the wrong number of colour repeats in my bundles. For one, I decided that 14.5 x 2 = 35. I promise you that it does not. Gah. So I kept have to go and warp more and more thread. And then I ended up warping still more when I realized that I had 31 inches of space in my read, and I had only made my warp 30" wide. So I warped another bundle.
• 3. I hated my loom. It hated me. Let's just say that it was too big for my 4'11.5" frame. And it had a sectional warping thing so I couldn't lean on it, and was continually skewering myself upon said spikes. Again, Gah.
• 4. I had the worst shed in history because of the double weave and the wool yarn. The top shed was fine, but the bottom shed hated me. With a passion. I kept getting the two layers stuck together. We came up with a commandment for weavers the world over: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's shed."
  
• 5. 4.5 yards is a bloody lot of fabric to weave. In actuality, it is like weaving 9 yards of fabric because it is double weave.

In the end I am quite happy with the result:

Next time I get around to posting: "The Trials and Tribulations of Black Sheep" and "My New Swap Package of Coolness."