Cold Weather

Before I moved to Maine from England, I had never experienced the kind of cold weather that is the norm here in New England. Winters in old England tended to be damp and on bad days a few degrees below zero. If there was any snow, it would be a couple of inches that stayed for one or two days, then it would melt away.

When I first arrived at Boston airport in late January 2003, I had no idea what -20 was like. It was a fine sunny day and looked so nice from inside the airport. Walking outside to get the bus, the wind cut through my totally inadequate clothes, almost as though I was not wearing them. Once on the bus up to Maine it was fine.

I arrived in Bangor, Maine at 10:30 that night and jumped into a cab, asking to be taken to a motel. By now the temperature had dropped to -35. The motel was cheap and shabby, with thin covers on the two beds and a hard-presses heater below the window. I put all the bed covers onto one bed and slept with most of my clothes on and was still not completely warm. The only redeeming feature of the motel room was the shower which was strong and hot.

The next morning I was told that I had to cross the road to a garage to get a coffee. I set off past the doors of other rooms. At the end of the building I was faced with the full force of the wind blowing from behind the building. I was so cold I could not walk any further. I had to return to my room without any coffee and call a cab to take me to a coffee shop in a mall as I realised that I had to purchase a thick coat with hood, some strong boots for walking in snow and ice, a warm hat and gloves. Once I had those, I was better able to face the weather.

That was my first impression of the United States - bitter cold and hard walking. Now I love the winters here. I have adjusted to the necessities of winter living and enjoy walking in the snow. I have experienced cross country skiing which I just adore. I drive through snow storms and down ice-covered roads with my music on loud. Winters are great. They are proper winters, fully distinct from other seasons. Going indoors after battling through snow drifts and in -40 wind chills is devine. Getting warm by the wood stove and cooking thick soups on top, with fresh biscuits. What can beat that?

Webathon this weekend

Check out the webathon running this weekend January 17th at 10am, running for 24 hours to raise money for victims of the Costa Rican earthquake last week. There are many different motivational speakers on, and if you know of anyone who would be willing to do a 45 minute spot, please go to the website and contact Bob D-F.

Webathon for Costa Rica Earthquake Victims

I have also discovered a very interesting and thought-provoking course that links the dark and light side of life through a series of daily lessons. I have just finished lesson 2, which looks at the way media forces are used to hide a lot of information and to promote what governments want us to know. There is an eye-opening video to watch, produced by the BBC, about how the public are kept in a state of fear and insecurity so power can be kept by governments. Worth a watch. And the course is definitely worth looking at to see if it is something you can benefit from - it is free, too.

Transformation Course

I think I'll leave this post at that, rather than blather on about other things I've done today while staying indoors out of the bitter cold.

Dressed Loom and Half-Knitted Hat

As soon as I sat down to write this post, I remembered the picture of the loom. I had to put the loom on the floor as the warp consists of mainly dark colours and I had it on a dark table. I took a picture from the front and one from the back. This is the better of the two pictures, taken from the back, showing the rigid heddle loom dressed and ready for the weaving to begin. The silk is dyed a dark purple with random strands of reds and blues running through it.

Now I have to decide on the weft colours. My first idea was to use a darkish dusky pink. I tried a few strands in the warp and was not to keen on the result. I have now found a nice red that matches the main red strands in the warp, and a dark purple. I might use both colours, with the purple as the main colour and work some random stripes in the red. This is an experimental piece in two ways. Firstly using a rigid heddle loom, and secondly weaving silk with rayon chenille. How ever the fabric comes out, I will make the poncho with a crocheted edging to give it more strength. I can wear it around the house or as a bed poncho.

I am just a bit over half way through the patterned area of the hat. I will knit another four stripes before starting the stitch reduction for the top of the hat. I am choosing the stripe colours as I go along, and so far I think they look nice. The colours look a bit brighter in the picture than they really are.

The pattern is called a two colour seed stitch and is very simple to do. It has four rows to each pattern repeat. I am doing four rows in one colour, then two rows in the base grey colour for each stripe. I sit and knit a stripe when I have coffee, three times a day so it is growing quickly and will be finished by the end of the week.

Sticky warp

I have been putting the silk warp on my rigid heddle loom. It has been an extremely difficult task because the warp is the most sticky warp I have ever dealt with. The slightest movement and clump, the threads stick together, wrap around each other, tangle up. I have a 14 inch wide warp at 10 threads per inch and have nearly finished threading the heddle. That leaves tying onto the front beam and tensioning. Everything else is done. I am taking a short break before completing the heddles. Then it's off to bed and finish in the morning.

I had thought of using this silk for weft originally, but was not sure if there would be enough, hence using it as a warp. I have plenty of rayon chenille for the weft and hope the weaving will be relatively painless. At least the weft will stay in place as the silk grabs onto anything! So, tomorrow's post will be a report on how easy or otherwise, this warp is to weave. Maybe I will take a picture of the warped loom as my first picture on the blog.

Tasks are piling up now. I have 5 pairs of trousers hanging by the table waiting for me to take the waist in on each pair by an inch or so. Then some will need hemming as they are unhemmed. I haven't checked lengths yet, as I wanted to make sure the fit was good first. I also have a jacket with sleeves that need taking up a bit. All this is for my hubby, as he has lost some weight recently. Not that he had any weight on him to lose - he is very thin already.

I have knitted about half the first hat. I am not too keen on the ribbed edge with the pattern I am doing. The colours are blending together well. Another picture for the blog coming up, I think.

Quiet Day

Once in a while it is nice to have a quiet day, and today is one of those days. I have been sitting around, writing emails, chatting with my daughter on Skype, and knitting the hat for my hubby.

The knitting has taken a longer than it might have if I had not followed a simple pattern for two needles without thinking about how I needed to change every even row for circular knitting. After doing around an inch I realised the pattern was not what I expected. I made a swatch on two needles to see what it was supposed to look like, then worked out what I needed to do on the circular needle. Unknitting is one of those skills that I have developed over the years, so I quickly got back to a good restarting point. Now the pattern is as I like and I am just concerned with colour changes to get a nice look. As this is for my hubby I have to be a little careful with the colours or he will not wear the hat.

I have also calculated how many warp threads I need to wind for weaving the poncho I described in yesterday's post. I brought my warping board down to the main room, checked the sett or how many threads to the inch I need for the rigid heddle loom, and now can wind the warp. The rigid heddle is 10 threads to the inch, and I will weave a 13 inch cloth. Allowing for draw-in during the weaving, I will wind 140 warp threads, each 2 yards long. I can weave a cloth around 56 inches long on that warp. I hope to have enough silk left to warp a 3 inch scarf about 6 feet long.

So back to knitting now while I listen to some good music on the radio. From the Top has just finished. Those young players are fantastic, and most have a great sense of humour, too. They are truly inspiring and dedicated to music.

Fibre Crafts Again

I knew I had a lot of weaving yarns in a cupboard at the top of the house so I have brought all the bags down to see what is there as my husband has asked me to knit him couple of hats. I found several cones of wool yarn for him to choose from, and a book of knitting patterns to make an interesting colour combination.

I also found 400 yards of handspun and hand-dyed silk yarn. I have been thinking of making myself a small poncho and was wondering what yarn to use. Now here is the answer. I will use the silk as a warp and chenille for the weft, loosely set in. I have a rigid heddle loom that will do the job as I will be weaving a simple tabby. Colours are purples and reds, with a red chenille. It will look and feel so nice. A picture of the completed article will be posted when I have finished.

Another find was three small picture frames warped with strong cotton to do some practice tapestry weaving on. They are staying out too and I will be working samples of tapestry techniques and colour swatches using rayon chenille, as I have a lot of different colours in that fibre. So more pictures there for the blog.

I seem to have found lots of things to do on these extremely cold evenings, after cello practice which has to come first.

Costa Rica Earthquake

On Thursday an earthquake hit Costa Rica, causing a lot of damage and loss of life. There are now many people who have lost their homes and possessions. As of Friday afternoon, the main CNE warehouse has caught fire. Initial reports indicate that most of relief items (food, mattresses), expected to be distributed to the quake victims, are now lost. The Pavas airport, second one in San Jose, is now closed.

The CNE has listed relief items required so far: sleeping bags, milk, non-perishable food, candles and personal hygiene items. CNE has specifically requested 2000 blankets, tents (aprox 200), emergency medical material, as well as logistic (funding for helicopter flight time).

Note that this list may change, since the main CNE warehouse is reported to have burned on Friday afternoon.

One of the main hydroelectrical plant, Cariblanco, has been damaged and will have to cease activities for a long period according to the national power authority (ICE). One secondary concern is possible damage to hydroelectric dam(s) close to San Jose. These are being assessed.

SERIOUS HELP IS NEEDED! Please make a donation at:

Donate to the Costa Rica Relief Fund

100% of your contribution will go towards providing local residents with food and shelter!

(Text taken from above website)

Please help as much as you can.