Several years ago I was very blessed to inherit my grandmother's 36" 8 harness/10 treadle solid (and very heavy!) cherry Kessenich floor loom.  I enjoyed taking it apart to clean the decades of dust and fabric fuzzies off, putting it back together, learning to dress the loom, and especially love weaving on it.

When the loom first came to live with me from halfway across the country, my grandmother did not give me much direction other than a masking tape label on the beater so I would know to install it with the shuttle race towards the front.  That minimal note made me feel like we shared a secret language - she was confident that even though I never used a loom before, just like her, I would be able to crack the code.  That little strip of tape was the perfect "psst - start here" challenge.

Contrary to what the evidence indicates, I have not disappeared.  Instead, I have been busy with life - and even found time to fit in a few projects.  First, three scarves and a cowl:

Next, some colorwork socks for my mom, hat for my sister, and more socks for Mom:

Grandmother, I hope you know how much you are loved and missed.  My heart is heavy today, but I am so glad I got to be your granddaughter.  Rest in peace.

Not done with this project, not by any means, but the past couple of weeks I have made a lot of progress in photographing and weighing each and every yarn in my stash.  Since the majority of my stash came from my Grandmother's very extensive collection and many of the yarns are discontinued, vintage, or missing labels, this is no small feat.

I am pleased to have finally begin cataloging each individual yarn in my Ravelry stash, and hope that this makes project planning much easier.  In spite of some poor-lighting photos staged on my sad-colored sofa, I enjoy being able to scroll down the page and see what yarns might play nicely together.  Let the daydreaming begin!

...they may be chirping outside tonight, but in spite of the lack of posts I really have been busy lately.  Here is a sneak peek at my recent projects - my new favorite socks, a couple of baby items for a soon-to-arrive nephew, and a gauzy, barely-there scarf:

Now that summer is winding down and back-to-school tasks are picking up, I decided it is time to do some spring cleaning.  And since the virtual type of cleaning much more pleasant than the real deal, I chose to freshen up the site a bit.  So far I like the new look.  :)

What do you think of the facelift?

Woops - two posts in one day!  I will keep this one short and sweet.  Just wanted to share the conclusion to my commissioned stoles saga.

The final stole came off the loom last Saturday and its fringes were twisted in a mad knotting marathon that same afternoon.

I managed to wear my fingerprints smooth in the process...  Hopefully you agree that the results were worth it.  :)

More to come - enjoy!

After a few days of muggy, heavy weather, we are enjoying a batch of deliciously cool summer weather.  What better project than some thick, cushy, wool socks?  Starting with a brown toe, this pair will fade to blue at the heel, then raspberry at the cuff.

Reed substitution charts are certainly easy to find these days, but I wanted to see the possibilities available from some of the more obscure dent sizes.  Not finding a ready-made chart that included them, I created my own.  Enjoy!