Category: Ramblings

Doctor Who Scarf Update

26/1/2023

Warping a loom and weaving is not always the easiest thing... mostly the warping. Things can and will go wrong sometimes, especially if you are as new to it as I am!
I thought I had the warp correctly applied to the loom, only to learn that I was wrong. I had to unweave a nice chunk of the scarf to fix the warp and then start over again. Thankfully, I have an amazing friend, Annette, who is helping me to learn this wonderful craft.
She was even trying to explain a color change technique that meant I would not have to cut threads on the more minor changes, and the words were not making sense. I'm a visual learner for things like this. She was telling Molly, a wonderful woman who is also a guild member, and Molly made a little video for me! I am using the technique.
So here are some photos, including those showing the warp messed up.

The loom is warped.

Hmmm, something is not right.

Well crude. Need to determine what happened here.

Not sure if this is just due to the dropped warp thread or if one is also crossed. *growl grumble*

Dang it. The thread is supposed to be through the eye of the heddle, not below it.

Replaced the heddle around the one dropped thread. Pulled the warp back through the front and rewrapped it on the back beam before reattaching it to the front beam. Looks like the dropped thread was the entire issue. Woohoo.

First small section with color changes.

Next section with color changes and it's still looking good.

Moving right along. Weeeeeeee

This shows where I left off a couple days ago. Been having some issues with exhaustion. I will be back at it today though.

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Doctor Who Scarf on a Loom?

21/1/2023

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Everyone that knows me knows that I also do many different types of crafting, not just writing.

For my next crafting project, I will be attempting to weave the scarf from Season 18 of Doctor Who, the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, on one of my looms.

I’ve researched quite a few websites about it and driven to quite several shops to try and find the yarn I need. The brand and colors used in the 1970s when created are discontinued, so I will use what I can find in 2023.

You might be wondering why I would want to attempt this on a loom. Well, for starters, there is no way in Hades I have the time or the inclination to try and crochet a 26-foot scarf! LMAO, Plus, I don’t think it’s been done that way yet. The directions I can find are for either knitting it or crocheting it. I also am genuinely wanting to get better at using my looms. I seem to be collecting them, so I better start using them!

I have the warp created. The warp goes from the front to the back of the loom for those who don’t know. In movies where they’ve shown people weaving, the warp is what gets altered by moving the heddles up and down and holds the weft together.

The weft gets shot through the middle of the warp; this is the colored part and is also what you use for creating designs within the weaving.

I will be using a four-harness table loom to create the scarf. I sincerely hope it turns out, as I’ve never tried anything like this. I will post photos as the project goes along. To start the images, I will post the warp still mounted to the warping board, the yarn colors I will use for this creation (weft), and the loom I will use for this project. I will also post some images of Tom Baker, the 4th Doctor, wearing the scarf I will try to recreate.

Wish me luck!

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Missing in Action

2/8/2015

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Bridhe, sleeping is what is supposed to be a flower bed.

I know that I’ve been MIA for a while now. Sometimes life is just a bit overwhelming. My husband was in a car accident at the end of June, so my focus was on him and dealing with the insurance companies. July is also a busy month for Scottish Highland Games for us since we work most of them. I did tell my husband that I’m tired of running the clan tent at all the games. It just isn’t fun anymore; it is just more stress than what I want to deal with on such a consistent basis.

If I could learn to relax like my dogs, I’m sure life would be so much simpler. Lol Work is still continuing at the Happy Place property. The old fridge that was in the trailer has been removed, and the small apartment style fridge has been set up in that hole. I found a free full sized fridge for us to have there; it isn’t the prettiest thing to look at but the inside is clean, and it works. The septic line had to be dug up and replaced as one of the prior owners had buried the flexible hose line. The flexible hoses should never be buried, this one had been and it was breaking down due to that, and no protection for it from the gravel or people walking in that area. I managed to offset some of the cost by digging up that line and disposing of it. Now, we have a proper septic line, and hopefully not many more things like this will crop up for us. I also found some wonderful plates, bowls, serving platters and two large bowls one sale. The most expensive piece was $12 as it was all clearance items and then 50% off the last marked price.

Trying to get any writing done has been difficult not just due to the activities listed above but the cluster migraines that I’ve been having. For those of my readers that don’t know what having a migraine is like, I truly hope that you never learn it. I’ve tried so many different medications it is disturbing, and worse yet is the fact that they all only work so many times for me before I have to switch it up again. Recently my dizzy spells have been getting worse. I’ve always had low blood pressure, and the last few times I’ve been at the doctor’s office he’s asked inquired if anything has changed. Normally a person’s blood pressure is at least slightly elevated when they go to see the doctor. We all know that stress will cause it to rise at least a bit. I’m lucky if mine is 100/56 when I’ve gone to the doctor the last few times.

With only one set of highland games left for us to work this summer, I am hoping that things will level out and I can settle back to a routine for writing again. I just need to get the migraines back under control once again. That and figuring out a way to not be depressed when my husband gets sent out of town for weeks at a time related to work would also be helpful.

I hope that everyone has been well and that the following week finds you all safe and happy.

Blessed Be.

The pattern on the dinnerware that I found.

The pathway is now marked with stepping stones, inside the lot.

The pathway on the outside of the fencing for the lot.

Tala in her happy spot at the Happy Place.

Found a sort of sidewalk area under all the dirt and pine needs.

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Getting Busy with Cleaning up

14/6/2015

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A few weeks ago I posted a blog titled Busy Time is Summer Time. I shared images of the property my husband, and I were getting not too far from home but would be a nice little getaway area.
This last Friday my husband and I went up and started some initial clean up. It looked worse when we got there as the weeds had gotten taller. And for those of you that read that post I'm sure you remember how bad the roof was looking due to tree branches. Well, I'm happy to say it is looking much better with just a bit of work; and thanks to some friends that were there we had access to a ladder thus access to the roof. And yes, by us I mean my husband for going up on the roof. lol
The little area around the building, the fire pit and the roof are looking so much better than what it had been. There is still a ton of work to be done but there is already a very noticeable difference, and that makes me very happy.
I will be going up with my little vacuum as it has attachments for both carpeting and the linoleum floors. Trying to sweep things up was just a waste of time so I will not be trying that again there.
I also found a beautiful piece of art buried under weeds next to a tree. It is now cleaned up and next to the totem post. I also got the moss all cleaned off of the three little cement mushrooms. I took a little gargoyle up that I found, someone at some point had painted on him, this will be corrected as soon as I have the time.
I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend and that your summer vacation is starting off nicely.
Blessed Be Everyone.

You can really see the fire pit now. Yes, the Foxglove plant was left there on purpose. The honeybees were loving it and I am for helping them not hindering them.

Looking out and across the road. This is the area I'm going to put stepping stones for a little path into our place.

The little mushrooms and the gargoyle that needs to be repainted.

He had me toss him up a broom so he could sweep the leave and such off the roof.

Looking better all the time.

My husband is amazing!

You can see the ground now instead of just weeds. lol

From the outside looking in for what will be the stepping stone pathway.

You can already tell that my husband has cleaned off part of the roof in this image.

Trimming up of some of the branches. Ones we had thought were broken off and just laying up there are actually still attached to the trees!

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Life, Gardening and Writing

31/5/2015

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Black Walnut start

This last week has been crazy busy with work, school, getting papers filled out for the property at the lake and trying to get plants repotted. It feels like there has been very little time to write anything.
Thankfully that is not the case. I had some new characters start chattering away at me, and I have over 2,200 words written for a new story. I have the feeling it is going to be a few different new stories that will be listed as adult content.
I have managed to get new fencing up with the help of my wonderful husband in the backyard. The new set up will make it much easier for me to get to all my plants for repotting, watering and weeding. It has also opened up a new little area for the dogs to play in. Looking over my mint plants I’ve so far managed to get a start from the lemon mint and will be getting starts from the pineapple, Kentucky and the chocolate mints. The other four plants are still too small to try and get starts from without doing potential harm to the entire plant.
I will be getting starts off of my sage and oregano plants as well as taking quite a few strawberry plants and pansies up to the lake once the area is ready for planting. We should be signing this Friday and since the Bellingham Highland Games are that same weekend I won’t start going up to work on the weeding until the week of the 8th. I found a great buy at Target, some little solar garden lights that were only a dollar each.
I have managed to replant a small Black Walnut tree and what I think is a plum tree. Only time will tell for sure and then once I know they are doing well enough I will have to find someone that wants them and will continue to care for them while they are little.
Our radishes are going crazy, and our carrots are finally starting to really show themselves. And the little cherry tomato plant that I rescued is doing just grand. I read an article about getting starts off of your tomato plants and I’m going to be trying it. I’ll keep you all posted on that event.
As always I’ve added some photos to this post.
Blessed Be Everyone.