So much weaving, so little time

So little time to post, that is. I can't believe I've only posted twice since Mom arrived! It's not for lack of content, I assure you - it's just that she's been working so hard that I feel really guilty playing on the computer for the couple of hours it would take to write one and I've been working so hard that by the time I get to sit at the computer all I feel like doing is reading webcomics and playing WoW.¹ :P Mom is heading home in two days, though (gnaaaah!) and then I will have time to reprise everything we've done for the past month, including the following scarf related activities (in no particular order):

1) Weaving, sewing up and delivering the stole - which turned out so well I can hardly believe it. It was a thing of beauty, ifIdosaysomyself. I still get goosebumps! If only the pictures of it had turned out as well. Oh well, c'est la vie.

I'll write a proper Part IV post about finishing up the stole as soon as I can with much better pictures. This is just a teaser. :)

2) Weaving three happy trombone shawls on a warp I wound ages ago but never used 'cause I didn't have an 8 dent reed or feel like turning the beater bars around on my Minerva. Happily, Mom brought me an 8 dent reed for my birthday and now those shaws are done like dinner. Well, apart from the wet finishing...


3) Winding a TON of mixed fibre warps out of my ridiculously huge yarn stash. Mom has spent several happy hours staring at the walls of her bedroom (my guest room/yarn room) and picking out yarns to put together. She has wound seventeen (17!!) warps long enough for three scarves each and has woven off three of those warps. They are beeeooootiful and, of the four that I took into the shop last week, one of them promptly sold. Which was heartbreaking 'cause I wanted it for myself but one of my best friends and business partners bought it, so I will at least have visiting rights.

4) Weaving another warp worth of the wide scarves like scarves #30, #31 and #32, to test out whether sleying the 4/8 cotton one per dent in an 8 dent reed works out as well or better as sleying it weirdly with wide gaps in a 12 dent reed. More on this later but the verdict is: "meh, tomayto, tomahto."

5) Figuring out a decent display for Many Scarves in the shop and then displaying the forty-two (42!!) Scarf A Day & other scarves that I had ready for Ship #1. Surely it is not a coincidence that there were 42 of them? Apparently weaving falls under the category of "everything." Was very happy in the end with the new display method:

Hello, Chris-hiding-in-the-mirror-with-whales!

Incidentally, it was a great day sales wise - our best first ship of the season to date - and I sold half a dozen scarves, including Scarf #2, Scarf #5, Scarf #9, and Scarf #14. It was also an incredibly cold day, so I wore Shawl #8 the entire time so as not to freeze to death, with price tag dangling like Minnie Pearl.

6) Working on a Very Exciting Super Secret Scarf A Day Project! The warp is wound, the first scarf is woven and the second is half done but there is much yet to do and the weaving at least all has to be done before Mom leaves at an insanely early hour on Friday morning. I cannot tell you much about this Super Secret Project because it is not a Sure Thing^(tm) but I will give you a little hint: it starts with "writing" and ends with "a Scarf A Day article for the SO2009 issue of Handwoven." Woooooot!

7) Appearing in the latest episode of WeaveCast, thanks to Gmail's lovely voice mail feature and Syne Mitchell's audio-wizardry. I haven't had a chance to actually listen to the show yet (might do that while in the shop today - surely cruisers will find it interesting!?) so am a bit anxious - I never sound like I think I sound when I hear myself in a recording. Will be very curious to hear whether I sound okay - I fear I'll sound sing-songy like you do when you're reading something rather than just chatting. Still, is tres exciting!

Hmmm. There may be more scarf related things but they're not coming to mind right now. Sadly, I cannot seem to track down Bella to unload the pictures she's holding, so I have no pics for many of those yet.

There were also non-scarf related things, like setting up the shop, weaving off the wool blankets that have plagued my big loom for some time, sewing up half a dozen small bags and more than a dozen eyeglass cases out of fabric I wove ages ago, delivering scarves to Sunset Gallery, a lovely little gallery in Cheticamp that's carrying my work for the first time this year, weaving a bunch of placemats for another shop I've had things in for several years, having a graphic design student working here for a month, visiting with family and friends while Mom's here, etc. etc. etc.

Woosh. So much of everything, so little time! And now I am running late for Ship Day #2 and really want to take some pics of the newest scarves before they go into the shop and then hopefully off into the world, wrapped round some lucky cruiser's lucky neck. Wish me luck!