Son Justin called last Thursday morning asking if we’d like to have Feather spend the night with us.

Our pleasure! She is such a pleasant child when she’s alone with us. She rarely ever makes a fuss: cheerfully eats what’s put in front of her (for the most part); plays with her toys; gently pets and talks to Old Cat, who in turn loves her. She will sit quietly “reading” books, or playing in a sink full of water. She’s helped me dye silk and make play dough. I’ve always been surprised at how well she goes to bed with nary a fuss or stall tactics. When she wakes up in the morning she steals into our room and climbs into bed with us for morning huggers.  Yep, being a grandparent is great – rarely do we have to deal with the tantrums or her very stubborn will.Kitty Time

Warping was postponed a couple of days. Thursday was spent catching up with work put aside on Wednesday, and after Feather left on Friday I scrambled to get out one large, “Must be shipped ASAP” order.  Aurora and I had set Saturday aside for wedding shopping and planning. It was great to get some major items ticked off the lists! I’m beginning to fill stressed with all that there is still to be done. And this was supposed to be a simple wedding!

The sample warp was finally put on the loom Sunday afternoon and now there’s about 6 inches of sample weaving. No picture yet, I want to wait until daylight to get decent pictures of the true colors. Dusk had fallen this evening by the time enough had be woven to warrent a picture.

In the mean time… I’ve been having a super hard time resisting spinning. Recently two different fibers came in the mail:

Today’s showcase is a Merino/tencel mix from Limegreen Jelly , Jo of Freestyle Fibers/Limegreen Jelly has an educated eye for colors and textures. I’d been wanting to sample some of her rovings for some time and finally in a fit of compulsion ordered “Precious” : Precious fiber

Aren’t the colors nicely balanced? I can hardly wait to see what this is going to look like spun into sock yarn. It’s taken a great deal of control not to dive right in and spin this colorway. Must have patience and wait to spin Precious after the stole is finished.

Jo was extra sweet and included a puffy white cloud of merino/cashmere/silk that I haven’t even tried to resist spinning.  (I haven’t managed to capture the sheen and beauty of the white fiber – the camera turns it into a blob.) The singles are coming out at 50 wraps per inch. Originally I thought it’d be nice to add it to Aurora’s stole but the energy in the singles is slowing the weaving process.  The singles were being used as plain weaving between the pattern picks (a pick is one throw/shot or row of the weft) to give the pattern stability. I need to carefully watch and handle each throw to prevent the single from plying back on itself, as I pull the beater forward,  and create little worms to poke through the warp. I rarely sample but this is one time that it’s well worth the extra time and material!