Friday, January 15, 2010

yet another textile hobby

Hmm, it must have been a bit over a year ago now... I purchased an old Spear's loom on trademe. It was $10 and I couldn't resist. But it sat and sat and sat until last December when I got a bee in my bonnet and decided it would be useful to help me bust my stash, especially those odds and ends. After a trip to the hardware store for some replacement bolts and some youtube instruction videos on how to warp, I was off.

This is my first creation. The warp is some touch yarns fingering weight merino that I had left over from a lace scarf and the weft is a worsted/aran weight handspun I bought before I started spinning. I had also knit a few little things with this yarn and even now I still have some of each left. Guess I should have made the scarf a little bigger.Since this little number went so quickly I warped up for another project, this one a xmas present for blue. I used touch possum merino for the warp and weft with some little stripes of noro silk garden in both (to use up some bits left in my stash). I also double threaded a few of the slots for added texture. But because this project was wider, longer and with thinner yarn, it wasn't as quick and I just finished it the other day.I fulled it a bit to finish, but the noro didn't full at the same rate as the other stuff so it's a bit puckery. Other than that it turned out pretty well and is a good size. I don't really remember what the specs are, you know the kind that I appreciate when other weavers provide, maybe I'll have to start writing them down in the future.The $10 loom is alright and does the trick if you're willing, but since I enjoyed the weaving process/results I bought another old used loom. Only slightly more expensive and not just intended for a child's toy. It also needs a little love and attention which will hopefully happen soon so I can keep busting my stash!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

(first) road trip! (with baby)

We took our first road trip with baby, it was a whole new way to travel!

Packed up the car with baby and all her gear and headed down to Dunedin.
Had a bit of a walk around the city in the evening. The next morning packed up again and headed to the Catlin Coast via Milton. Stopped by the illustrious Mill, but...
so i fed my baby on the front steps instead of shopping... almost the same thing :(The Catlin Coast was beautiful. We spent a few nights there, saw lots of pretty sights and tried to stay dry - it rained off and on for 3 days (and we forgot an umbrella).

Here are just a few of the things we saw.

a sea lion resting in Surat Bay:
the southern most sheep on the south island (slope point):
southern most sleeping baby on the south island:
some pretty little nuggets at nugget point:

(photos 2,4,5 &8 were taken by blue. you're my boy blue, you're my boy)

Friday, January 01, 2010

2010!

Happy New Year! Yesterday we went out to visit our friend Nicola who lives by the beach and took a nice stroll and checked out the local flavors. We got to talking about the last decade and we all concluded that 10 years ago we weren't even thinking about 2010 and where we were going to be, but that most of us wouldn't have imagined it how it turned out. I would have never guessed that I would be living in New Zealand. Married with a child, yeah I think that would have been imaginable, but it still seems a bit surreal to me now. We also pondered "should we be thinking about where we will be in 2020?" I've got no idea where I'll be living a year from now so 10 years is a bit far off.