Start, Restart, and Finish

This week has been one of finishing one project, starting a second project, and redoing another.  I have the third project from my first DVD woven.  Now I’m sewing the slits together and advancing it on the loom to make room for the next project, which is the project from the second DVD.  I was under the impression there were three projects on the second DVD, however, there is just one long project.  Interestingly, It’s not entirely charted out, and I’ll need to create my own pattern to make a cartoon from.  That’s part of the lesson, ‘How To Design’.  The second DVD calls for a warp only 10 inches wide, but I have 14 inches warped.  It’s a good bit longer than I left myself too.  As such, I’ve watched and re-watched the DVD and I can easily see a couple of techniques I can combine into one section.  So I plan to chart my design according to the warp I have available on the loom, rather than re-warp my loom.  I am anxious to get the completed weaving off the loom, but I hate to waste all that warp.

I watched the DVD and absorbed some of the techniques she demonstrated.  Therefore, It’s easy to picture how this will be useful for the future projects I have in my head.  For instance, there is a lot of shading and working with color, which is where I have the least experience.  However, for my tapestry weaving to have a realistic feel, color and shading are important.  Additionally, I may invest in some how-to books for painting as they may guide me in color choice and shading.  A big bonus I discovered is the book that Nancy Harvey wrote, is now in print again, as of 2015.  Therefore, I may invest in a hard cover copy.  Not surprisingly, it has 24 reviews and all of them good.  The lowest has **** four stars and the reviewer dropped a star because there is always room for improvement.  It’s two books that Nancy Harvey wrote combined into one.  Tapestry Weaving, A Comprehensive Study Guide is available though Amazon.  I watched the DVD one more time to scout out what was expected for each section of the project and to take some notes.

For my second project, I have a fascination with hand knitted socks.  There are many beautiful sock patterns and incredible sock yarns.  However, every time I see a great sock pattern, or a sock yarn I want to buy I ask myself, why don’t I knit socks?  Consequently, when I was given an easy sock pattern from a friend, I read through it and I can’t see a reason not to have a pair on the needles all the time.  I bought the same yarn called for in the pattern just in case I had a problem, I can’t blame it on the yarn.  As such, I always seem to have a problem with my gauge.  I knit my gauge swatch perfect, but when I started my sock, it was coming out too large.  As a result, I have pulled out all my work and started over with smaller needles and a death grip on my yarn.  Of course, the sock was too small.  So once again I pulled out my work and began again.  I started with too much tension on the yarn again, but I loosened up when I got the foot area.  I have skinny ankles so it will be fine if its small at the ankle.  I also made them short, as I don’t care for my socks too high.  I prefer them to just cover my ankles – so there’s no reason to waste yarn or work making them long.  I’m nearly done with this sock, then we’ll see if I have second sock syndrome, or if I can get the other one done too.  I’ve decided since I could get bored doing two of everything that hand knit socks don’t have to match – there,  it’s just a matter of perspective.  Once I have a few more socks under my belt I may give two at a time on one needle a try.

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