It was the best of times...

...and the worst of times

Pardon my Dickensian moment there.¹ But it really has summed up the past couple of weeks.

First, we had the end of the Diamonds Weave Along! Endings aren’t usually considered the “best” of times, but the follow-up video was really quite lovely and the participants seemed to enjoy the entire event! I promised to share the video - here it is!

There were also some fantastic finishes towards the end by two rigid heddle weavers, so I wanted to specifically highlight those as well!

KL shared her towels, made using the autumn colorway and the rigid heddle pattern. These look so awesome displayed on her vintage treadle sewing machine table!

CH’s towels, using a red impact color, look amazing! I know some folks who would love towels using this color combo!

Please, email me photos of your finished Mingo’s Corner projects (using the email at the end of every pattern), so I can share it here and on social media! I love our fantastic finishes!

Mingo’s Corner Shop News

The OWAL 2024 pattern will remain in the Etsy shop - but I have plans to rename it “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”² My designs usually name themselves at some point in their creation, but for the ease of marketing the Weave Alongs, the name stayed in the background. That said, it’s actually in the file name of the OWAL you downloaded.³

I did get a quick pattern put up in the shop last week - the Autumn Plaid Hat. It is a pin loom with knitting pattern I wrote for the LYS where I work a few days a month and uses a hand dyed, Aran weight, thick/thin yarn - Grandma Barnes Chunky by Color County Yarns.

I don’t typically work on pin looms, but I made a hat like this several years ago when the Schacht Zoom Loom came on the market. I’ve realized that my pin loom “issue” is that the Zoom really works best (for me) with worsted weight knitting yarns - and my preferred knitting yarn weight is fingering.⁴ So, I had a tool that wasn’t really gauged for my stash. But, I do enjoy the plaids created on the Zoom with hand dyed yarns, so I recreated that former project using current yarns. Obviously, the pattern works with any worsted weight yarn - and it assumes you know how to knit.

An Update

I’ve also been working on that variegated yarn pattern that I mentioned back in this post. I “just” got the first colorway of the finished towels completed and hemmed just before I headed off to a crafting retreat at a nearby church camp for the past weekend. Here’s a sneak peak:

The colors aren’t quite showing, and nothing has been ironed, but I was so excited by them that I immediately contacted Jodi and offered to create a second color way. These will NOT be going to the local artisan shop for sale.

My plan was to write the pattern while at camp, quickly weave-up the second colorway when I got home, and get everything completed and into the Corner Shop.

But it was also the worst of times…

I had plans, lots of them, for camp! I’d been busy the days leading up to the retreat, doing some extra hours in the yarn shop to help out a coworker with a family emergency. I got the variegated towels washed and hemmed, but (obviously) no glamor shots.

Because of my mom’s teetering health, my husband and I have been working under the mantra of “get it done if you can, NOW.” I was being super focused and, as I packed for camp, I decided that I needed to do some bag sewing while there. One of the bags is to be a Christmas gift and the time leading up to Christmas was starting to feel rather compressed. I also had a need to replace a bag I’ve been using to carry my 10” Ashford loom when we travel and also had measurements for a bag specifically designed to carry my loom stand pieces and heddles.

The large bag is for the stand pieces; the grey/fox patterned bag will carry the 10” loom. The small bag in the front is the gift. All of them are very simple box bottom bags, using bag stabilizer to give them shape and some padding.

The small grey bag is based on a pattern/kit from Cotton Clouds called the Wild Bloom Tote. I adapted it, using a striped warp, and made a different bag than the kit makes (but Jodi’s kit is awesome and includes *everything* you need). The bag stabilizer is the biggest change I made as it adds a lot of body to anything you sew with it.⁵ My preferred box-bottom bag tutorial is this one and I typically make the straps demonstrated in it as well. I got my bags finished during the first two days of camp and felt as though anything else I could complete on the weekend was a bonus to finishing these.

Which was good, because my camp time ended early with the passing of my mother.

If you’re new to the Musings, my mom was 97 and had suffered from dementia for at least 20 years. They call dementia the “long goodbye” and that phrase aptly describes the eventual loss of one’s relationship to the individual. She hadn’t known me for a couple of years and her “life” had diminished quite a bit over the past six weeks. We’d had more than one “this could be the end” moment since mid-September, but of course the end is always a surprise.

So, we have a lot to do between now and Thanksgiving. I’m an only child, so on the one hand, I hold all the decision-making power. On the other hand, there is no one to whom I can legally delegate a lot of what needs to happen. It’s going to be a busy few weeks.

The Musings may be a bit hit-or-miss, depending on how things go! But, if I’m not in your inbox quite as often between now and January, I will likely have time for a quick Facebook post. My goal is to get that variegated plaid towel pattern up soon - they are a pretty quick weave, so there’s hope for that.

As I conclude - it’s Veteran’s Day, 11/11. I want to thank all of you who have served our country in whatever capacity in the Armed Forces!

1. The opening line of A Tale of Two Cities, at one time my absolute favorite book.

2. And hope to get that done soon!

3. I was hoping to forestall confusion…

4. I’m sure there are pin looms out there better suited for fingering weight yarns. I just haven’t been compelled to seek them out! I’m not really in need of something “small I can carry to work on in a wide variety of public places.” I’ve got that covered with three other crafts - English Paper Piecing, punch needle, and sock knitting.

5. These bags all used “Soft and Stable” from By Annie.