Still Playing Chicken

 

The gray wool that I bought a while back made that left hand corner a solid dark spot so I ripped out some of it hoping to use some of that new wool that just arrived.

I didn't get too far before I realized I hated it. It had a weird white edge on it that made it look sloppy so it was back to the drawing board. I hate to think how much money I've spent buying gray wool. 

In desperation I tried throwing some light gray strips into some dye. They were too light so I was hoping they'd absorb a bit more color. 

After they dried they were still too light so silly me threw them in even more dye and then they were too dark. Sigh...

So I found even more wool to dye and tried it again.

How hard can it be to get different shades of gray? Really hard. I'm not giving up just yet but I'm getting close. Spiral Chicken might have to go in time out until I can get myself to an in-person vendor of wool bits. The next opportunity would be at the Shenandoah Fiber Fest in September. I need to put that on the calendar. 

The Beginning of the End

 

And so it begins. We don't get much fall color here but every year this little tree is the harbinger of the end of summer. The big trees don't get the message until late October anymore but we'll get spotty color here and there from the vines and bushes. It's not quite pumpkin spice time yet but this is a good sign that cooler weather is around the corner. 

In the meantime, we'll just have to enjoy this break from the dog days as best we can. 

First Friday

 

What a difference a day makes. On Thursday it was hot as blazes and last night I heard someone on the beach complain that it felt more like October than the first of August. 

On the first Friday of the month our twin beach towns hold a big street festival and the weather was perfect for it. There's always a DJ and dancing in the pavilion on the boardwalk. A radio station was holding an ice cream giveaway there tonight so that space was packed.

Food vendors are everywhere. 

There's everything you can think of from seafood to the obligatory taco truck. 

We'd already had dinner but The Mister wanted some fancy beer and a bag of kettle corn. Pup did too but she had to settle for some hush puppies we picked up at the seafood truck. We'll be back there this morning bright and early for the Farmer's Market. There's never a dull moment down at the beach. 

Ouf....I Did it Again

 

Only other weavers will be able to look at this photo and understand what fresh hell I've fallen into. Yes, I've tied some ends on. Yes, there are still some ends that are just laying in the reed and I've still got ends that need to be threaded. Why all this you might ask? Because while starting the plain weave at the beginning of this towel, I noticed that I had made a terrible threading error about a third of the way back. I had, gasp.....threaded two #2 heddles next to each other when I only needed one. It leaves a lump.

Since the lease sticks that keep everything in its place are gone, I have to climb around to the back to put small sections in order and then go back to the front so I can thread them. It takes forever. Since it always seems like I'm inventing new ways to screw up a weaving project, I deserve every minute of this extremely fiddly repair job. You'd think I'd learn to be more careful in the first place.