WhimsicalFibers and What Have Ewes: What I learned today

There seemed to be alot of posts with out pictures lately so I am going to add some here to make life just a little more fun. But first a story... I finally ended the school year and while I loved my kids, I am very happy. This is going to be the summer for me. Okay yes, it's a little selfish but so what. I work hard and while broke, totally something I am not going to whine about, I have a health stash and will explore it throughly. Anyway, I bought (maybe why I am broke), 5 cones of 8/2 cotton for dish towels and cut 490 ends to begin my hand made christmas presents. SOME little voice said, "Hey, do you have enough heddles for that". Answer no, enter more frustration and a 70 dollar order to yarn barn. (Another reason for broke) There seems to be a pattern here. Then I realized that I could edit the pattern and make some wash clothes to go with the dish towels. YAHOOO.. SO stole some warp and off I went. I then realized that I made some mistakes but thanks to the folks at Ravely, i learned how to fix my warping errors and have been weaving this morning. As a teacher, it is sometimes very good for you to learn to learn again. I am at the 2nd grade of weaving and just learning to read. Because our little world is growing ever smaller thanks to this Internet thing! :) It's so nice to be able to find someone who knows more than you and go from there. well maybe a boring story but one that has filled me with encouragement.

Making up pickup patterns, sorta ;)

On the knitting front, I am almost done DD stocking and the pattern is not getting written up anytime soon :) Why, because lil peep calls my name all the time. I also am very excited because one of my patterns is soon to be (hopefully) accepted by a well known yarn company. That thrills me to no end because my goal for this year was to write and sell some original works. I feel like I am accomplishing some major things year. Now if that money tree would just start producing fruit. Oh well, that isn't what life is about and I am thankful for what and who I have in my life. The other really cool thing is I was gifted a schacht inkle loom that has a little crack (now no laughing) in it, and it seems to fit very nicely into my somewhat cracked life. :) I had an Ashford Inklette loom which I got a little lesson on..and am learning to do pick up -not well- so here is a little peak of what I have done so far. This is a challenge as there seems to be very little in the way of books to learn to do this on your own. I love the challenge of digging into a book and coming out on the other side. It seems I might have to actually take a class on this one. However, there is hope. There is an online class you take from an inkle loom maker so here is hoping that I will get what I need from that class and can continue learning on my own. Wonder why I don't feel comfortable taking a class. I guess it's because I want things to be at my pace and when I need it. I will have to remember this feeling when I hit the classroom next year.