Funny Farm

A fearsome foray into my fiber follies. I talk about weaving, knitting, spinning and dyeing. Some chatter about the sheep, goats, pigs and chickens.

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Location: North-east PA, United States

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Ducks


We now have 11 ducks. One, Woody, won't stay in the duck yard and is currently residing under the van. Last night he wanted to join the layers in their house. They were not pleased and put up quite a fuss. He went back under the van. I hope I can herd him back down the hill to the duck yard. Our two ducks have been trained to a whistle and now I must try and train the other 9. I can't until we have a proper duck house. Just going out and whistling to them won't do a darned thing. Two of the new ducks have discovered the wee duck pond, though they're staying in the shallow end.
The cotton blanket is off the loom. Now I need to decide how I will put the panels together. It's much easier with wool, in that the seam is more forgiving and has the tendency, usually, to disappear after lightly fulling. Joining panels has been a topic recently on one of the weaving lists. I may try the crochet method; sc1 on one side, sc1 on the other side. I think I can handle that. I suppose the trick will be deciding what size hook to use. I have a fair amount of small, steel hooks around, so hopefully one of them will be appropriate for the job.
Next on the loom will be chenille, for someone else. I think the warp is 15 yards. All plain weave. I'll need to get a "talking book" so I can plow through this.
One of my sons wants a blanket so I'm playing the design game in my head. We'll see what I come up with. I rather like the recent blanket Bonnie wove, well, is actually still weaving. I like her ikat panels and think that Patrick would like something very similar. The men in my family think wild and crazy colors are shades of gray. My Father, on the other hand, loved wild and crazy colors and frequently reminded me of a walking color wheel after he retired. I suppose this change in him was 32 years wearing Army uniforms and moving to Sun City, AZ. It didn't help that he was color blind. And his colors were often blinding.
I've continued knitting the pullover, knowing that winter will arrive at some point. I'm loving the weather lately. I can still wear shorts and light weight t-shirts and not get bundled up to do chores. But soon it'll be freezing out and the different flocks will need the water carried out to them. Not fun.
I am anxious to dye something while the weather is still warm. Perhaps I'll wind some warp for Patrick's blanket. It's more interesting than what is on today's "to do" list....like shovel sh*t.

4 Comments:

Blogger Sharon said...

I didn't know you had ducks in Afghanistan - just kidding. I hope you'll post a picture of your seamed blanket. I've wanted to make a blanket but not enough to learn double weave.

9:59 PM  
Blogger Leigh said...

I'll be interested in how your panel joining works out. I've thought about this too, but haven't been sure about sewing some panels together without a quilt-like effect.

Very cute about your ducks? Didn't know there was such a thing as a proper duck house.

10:44 AM  
Blogger Marie said...

Overall, I've been happy with seaming wool blankets. This is a first for cotton. I've avoided it, even after weaving a zillion yards for a table cloth. It still sits in the closet waiting for the right moment. Two days ago I sat down to seam the cotton blanket and tried three methods and wasn't terribly pleased. The nicest join was the crocheted method. I just don't think it would hold up really well if used as a blanket. We all seem to "fight" sheets and blankets when we sleep. I wrote to Bonnie and asked about her technique and she replied that she will be demonstrating it on her blog soon. So, the blanket sits. BTW, said blanket may become another table cloth.

2:15 PM  
Blogger Terri said...

I enjoyed looking at your blog.

We having something in common other than our FLAK sweaters and that's weaving! I like Bonnie Tarses' work too. I miss my big looms when I'm on Nantucket so I purchased an old wooden tabletop Structo Artcraft Loom from eBay the other day. It needs some restoration but I'm hoping it will fill the void.

Enjoy the ducks!

3:47 PM  

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